Less is more!  Less light?! Absolutely…    Low key lighting is perhaps my favorite style of studio lighting. There’s just something about the mood and drama that is created when you have a dark background with the subject standing out against it. Combine this lighting with some creative and dramatic posing and you have the power to create images that will be cherished for generations – Tim Solley

I read this somewhere on the internet and I thought HEY that is exactly the way I feel about low-key images!

Low-key lighting creates an effect called the chiaroscuro effect.  Which is basically the subtle changes in shade between light and dark.  Here is an example of a traditional black and white photography, low-key lighting design called the three point setup:

—————————————————  -Background

                          ^                      - Backlight

                         o_o                     -Subject

^^^                                              -Key light

                                         ^^       -Fill light

At the back we have the backlight to create a rimlight around the subject and to lift them out of the background, used especially when your subject is wearing dark clothing. 

  The KEY-light is placed to the one side of the subject approximitely 45 degrees to one side of your subject then fine tune it from there to suit your tastes.  Low key lighting usually consists of lowering the KEY-light to above the subjects eyeline to throw a triangle of light onto the other side of the face just to soften the effect a bit.  Especially when photographing women and their children, photos with men tend to be harder ie. light only on one side of the face withou the triangle spilling over.

Fill lighting is used when you dont want your photograph to be too contrasty and need to have a little bit of detail in the shdaow areas.  For instance when your photographing a pregnant woman you want to accentuate her lovely tummy but it’s nice to have a little bit of detail on the rest of her body.

Me myself, I’m not a big fan of using more than one light for my low-key photography as I find this complicates matters especially when you have llimited space available in your studio.  I prefer using only one light which will be used exactly the same as the KEY light mentioned above.

But always remember, nothing is set in stone, photography is about being creative.  I read some wise words:’Learn the rules so that you know how to break them properly’ and I live by it

Riani