As many readers will know, I am a regular contributor to many photography magazines. I’ve shot and written hundreds of stories through the years for various photography publications; I really enjoy these assignments. Recently Digital Photo magazine asked me a great question: what is the most versatile, effective lighting technique. My job was to write and photograph a story based on my answer. Hmmm, that question can be answered a lot of ways…it just depends.
But I finally settled on cross-lighting as being the most versatile and effective way to light for a variety of moods and concepts in portraits. Here is the story online and at Digital Photo magazine. As the story points out, you only need one flash to create this style of lighting if the sun is out. Using a single soft light is easier, faster and beautiful, but cross lighting offers more creative choices…you are using two light sources.
If you don’t subscribe to publications like Digital Photo, Outdoor Photographer or Digital Photo Pro, you might reconsider. They are excellent resources, great learning tools, and I often get inspired reading stories from other photographers. For the price of lunch, you can get a year subscription to one of the magazines.