Clamshell lighting is very popular for beauty lighting, and with good reason. Models appear luminescent and glowing, and shadows are minimal if visible at all. One way of producing clamshell lighting is using a large soft box above your model, and a reflector below your model to bounce the light back up. But not all reflectors are the same. I use a Lastolite Trilite Reflector for my clamshell lighting.
The Trilite is made up of 3 separate reflectors (silver or white) that bounce light back onto your model’s face. This unique reflector creates three bright highlights in the eyes for a very specular look. Recently I had the chance to photograph Olivia, a high school student, during one of my wife’s photography classes. Olivia’s beautiful skin tone glowed with this reflective light, creating the soft mood in the portrait at the top of this post.