4 Common Lighting Styles to Get the Perfect Portrait

When you begin doing portrait lighting for the first time, the general advice you get is to put your light at 45º to your subject, and aim it down at 45º. It’s a quick way to get something reasonably good, without a lot of understanding. With a little more knowledge, you can make better lighting decisions, and get more dramatic images.

Light has four main properties:

1. Quantity
2. Quality
3. Color
4. Direction

In this article, we’re looking at direction of light only. If you look at the work of the Masters in painting, you’ll notice that they go to great pains to create light and shadow through their brush strokes. You can of course translate these to your own lighting. So let’s look at the different portrait lighting styles or patterns you can use.

To be able to see these patterns, your subject should be facing the camera. The key to seeing what’s happening is to pay attention to what the shadow is doing, especially the nose shadow.

Short lighting style

For this setup, I’ve used an Elinchrom BXR500 with a 44cm white beauty dish. The deflector is translucent, and I’ve added a grid to control the spill of the light. The Camera was a Fujifilm X-T10 with a Fujinon 18-55 lens.

The Portrait Lighting Styles

1. Butterfly Lighting

Butterfly lighting refers to the shape of the shadow under the nose that this pattern creates. It’s meant to look like a butterfly in flight, viewed from straight on. It’s also called Paramount lighting when used with guys to sound more masculine. If you look at the work of 30s and 40s Hollywood photographers like George Hurrell, you’ll see this lighting style in operation.

The basic butterfly portrait lighting, with no reflector.

First you should place your light on a boom stand, and position it so it creates a line between you, the light, and your subject. Your light should be high enough to create the butterfly shadow. If it’s too low, you won’t get a shadow and the light will be too flat. If it’s too high, you’ll have the nose shadow will cut into the lip.

As you look into the eyes of your subject, make sure you can see a reflection of your light. This reflection is called a catchlight, and helps give life to the eyes. If you cannot see the catchlight, lower your light a bit.

The basic butterfly portrait lighting, with silver reflector.

With Butterfly Lighting, it’s common practice to put a reflector (or even another light at lower power) underneath the chin to bounce light back up. This helps soften the look, and reduces the shadows caused by your light position. You’re not trying to overpower the light from above, as doing this will cast shadow upwards on the face, which isn’t particularly flattering.

Behind the scenes shot of the basic butterfly lighting, with a reflector.

2. Loop Lighting

For Loop Lighting, you’re looking for a loop shaped nose shadow. Move your light to the left, or light from the centre. You’ll see the shadow change shape. With Loop Lighting, the nose shadow shouldn’t touch the shadow side of the cheek.

Loop Lighting

You should aim to have the bottom of the nose shadow about halfway between the lip and the nose in position. With Loop lighting, you’ve got two main options for filling in shadows. You can use a reflector, or a second light from the opposite side of the face as the key light, or you can use an on axis (behind the camera) fill light (like a ring light or an Octabox).

3. Rembrandt Lighting

If you move the key light around a farther, the nose shadow will meet the cheek. Some refer to this as closed loop lighting, with the normal Loop Lighting being referred to as open loop lighting. From a technical standpoint, Rembrandt Lighting usually has a higher light position than closed loop lighting, but for most the term Rembrandt refers to any light that creates a triangle of light below the eye opposite the light source.

Rembrandt Lighting

You can probably guess that the name is based on the work of the painter Rembrandt. A lot of his portraits were painted while the subject was lit from a skylight or high window, giving that famous look.

Behind the scenes making a Rembrandt Lighting.

4. Split Lighting

You’ve moved the light slowly from straight on, and your final light style is when the light is perpendicular to the camera. You’re lighting only one half of the face. One of the most famous uses of this is The Beatles album ‘With The Beatles’, where all four members are split lit. You should only be able to see one eye in the shot for this pattern (the other will be in shadow).

Split Lighting.

Behind the scenes for Split Lighting.

Broad and Short Lighting

To show how the patterns work, you’ve shot straight on to your subject. In real life this is only one view that you’d capture. By turning the face to the side you get even more options. When the face is at an angle, there are two parts of the face visible, the broad side, and the short side. The broad side is the one nearest you, from the ear to the nose. The short side is the small bit of the side facing away from you, that you can actually see.

By aiming the light at the broad side of the face, you see the face in detail, with very little shadow. On the other hand, if you light the short side of the face, you get more shadow. These lighting positions are referred to as Broad and Short Lighting respectively.

You can use Short Light to flatter heavier subjects, as the shadow tends to hide weight in the face. Broad lighting is better for thinner people, and is often used in fashion. For the Short Light example, the light was in the same position as our Split Lighting, the model has just been turned towards the light. For Broad Lighting, you can have it any where in front, though for this example, it was off to camera right.

Broad Lighting (main light is to camera right).

Short Lighting (main light is to camera left, closer to the background than the subject).

Creating Drama

The trick to creating drama is to use shadow effectively. For this reason Short Lighting is the best option. You can use each pattern in a short light fashion.

Remember at the start, you were told to pay attention to the nose shadow? For Butterfly, you’re still looking for the butterfly shadow. The light will be directly in front of your subject’s nose to get this. As you move the light away, towards Loop position, it’ll start to become more dramatic. You can even do a Rembrandt portrait for really dramatic effect.

Rembrandt Lighting, Short lit with no fill.

Rembrandt Lighting, Short lit with silver reflector fill.

So that’s how to use common portrait lighting styles or patterns. You should get familiar with them, and as you look at magazines and online, you’ll start to see them in use.

Examples of Portait Lighting in photos

Short Lit Loop Light

Split Lighting

Butterfly Lighting

Short Lighting with a Butterfly pattern.

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Sports Photography at CMU

Earlier this summer I posted an article about cityscape and architecture photography in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I am extremely grateful for the positive response that article received; thank you! Many photographers specialize in one genre, but urban environments make up less than half of my subjects. Sports photography is my other passion, and it is what inspired me to begin my journey as a photographer.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 100, 1/1250, f/3.2

From the age of eleven I have been a competitive swimmer. I was recruited by Carnegie Mellon University to be a member of their swim team, and I swam for the entirety of my time in college. I got my first digital camera (not counting my iPhone) during my third year at CMU because I wanted to photograph my teammates competing. I enjoyed swimming photography so much that I joined CMU’s sports information staff at the beginning of my senior year. As an “official” photographer I was granted access to all home athletic events.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 2000, 1/1000, f/2.8

The vast majority of my sports images were taken with a Nikon D750 (PL review) body and a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II (PL review) lens. 200mm on full frame is the bare minimum you need to photograph sports, and in many cases it is too short. In this article I will discuss the five main sports I photographed: soccer, football, swimming, basketball, and track & field.

NIKON D810 @ 24mm, ISO 200, 1/320, f/4.0

In the interest of length I will not be explaining the rules of each sport; rather, I will highlight key aspects of a sport that impact how it is photographed. Additionally, I will assume that the reader already possesses knowledge on how to freeze action by using an appropriately fast shutter speed (generally between 1/500 and 1/2000 of a second).

Soccer

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, but many Americans do not know this because they focus most of their energy on football, baseball, and basketball. Despite its relative lack of popularity in the USA I enjoyed photographing soccer more than the three sports I mentioned above. The game has a rhythm that is more predictable than most ball-oriented sports, making it easy to find good shooting positions on the sidelines. Patience and strategy are the keys to successfully photographing this field sport.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 320, 1/1600, f/2.8

A college soccer field is roughly 120 yards long and 80 yards wide, larger than an American football field! Photographing players in an area measuring 9600 square yards is a challenge with even the longest lens, let alone a relatively short 200mm. When dealing with a field of this size it is critical to realize that you will not get a shot of every piece of action that occurs during the game. Luckily, at 90 minutes of regulation playing time there is plenty of opportunity to capture exciting moments.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 400, 1/1600, f/2.8

The key to walking away from a soccer match with a solid batch of images is to position yourself effectively on the sidelines. I photographed sports at a NCAA Division III school, meaning that I could go virtually anywhere on the sidelines. Many photographers will not be afforded this luxury, but the principles of finding a good shooting position do not change.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 400, 1/1600, f/2.8

The most important thing to consider when choosing where to shoot from is the lighting. You want to shoot with your back to the sun such that players’ faces are illuminated. If this is impossible, then you can expose for the faces, but your backgrounds may be overexposed. Next you should consider which side of the field your team is attacking. You are most likely to get head-on shots of your players if you are on the opponent’s side of the field. The last component to look at is the flow of the game. Is your team playing more defensively or offensively? Where is most of the action taking place? Which team has the momentum? These questions can help guide you to an optimal location. Sitting dead center of the sidelines is often not the best approach.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 900, 1/1600, f/3.2

Football

I think it is fair to say that gridiron football is the most popular sport in the USA. Football is played on a field that is roughly 120 yards long and 53 yards wide, narrower than a soccer field. For this reason you might believe that football is easier to photograph than soccer, but you would be incorrect. During a football game the majority of the action takes place in the center of the field. Additionally, the game is conducted through a series of quick plays which are intentionally unpredictable. As such, intuition and a long lens are great assets when photographing this sport.

NIKON D750 @ 300mm, ISO 180, 1/1600, f/3.5

College football games are 60 minutes long, broken into four 15-minute quarters. Despite relatively short playing time, football games generally last about three hours due to time taken between plays, time outs, and rest between quarters. As such, as a photographer you will be doing a lot of waiting. During idle time it is best to focus on preparing yourself for the next play by repositioning yourself on the sidelines, if possible, and attempting to predict what the next play could be. As someone new to shooting football I often followed the veterans’ movements in an attempt to increase my own experience.

NIKON D750 @ 300mm, ISO 320, 1/1600, f/3.5

Football is difficult to shoot without a 300mm lens (on full frame) or longer because, unlike with soccer, you cannot simply wait for action to come to you. Most pros use a 400mm f/2.8, and for a good reason: action starts in the center of the field and moves unpredictably from there. If you are like me, limited to 200mm, then you must wait and hope for the best. Even those easy shots of the quarterback throwing are mostly out of reach.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 640, 1/1000, f/2.8

On one occasion I rented a Nikon 300mm f/2.8G VR II lens. This lens proved to be incredibly helpful, and I missed it at all of the football games I attended without it. On the other hand, the 300mm felt unbalanced on my small D750 body. A lens of this size is probably best suited for a larger pro-level body.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 1600, 1/1000, f/2.8

Swimming

While growing up and through college I dedicated a large portion of my life to swimming; for this reason it is my favorite sport to photograph. Swimming is not particularly glamorous, and it often takes place indoors. As such, it is uncommon to see quality images of swimmers at or below the college level. The opportunity to create inspiring images of my teammates led me to get my first digital camera. As silly as it may sound, my goal was to make my teammates look like professional athletes.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 1600, 1/1000, f/2.8

Like most races, swimming is a time-based sport. Naturally, excellent timing is the most important skill to possess when photographing swimming. The majority of a swimmer’s race is spent with their face in the water, but faces are crucial to a successful image, so the photographer must carefully time their shots to intersect with the swimmer’s breathing. In backstroke this is not an issue. In breaststroke the swimmer breaths ever stroke (this is a rule). In butterfly most swimmers breath every other stroke, but this can vary quite a bit. In freestyle the breathing pattern depends on the swimmer and the race. Learning your subject’s breathing pattern is critical.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 3200, 1/1000, f/3.2

As mentioned earlier, college swimming usually takes place indoors because it is a winter sport. Indoor sports require a fast lens and a body that can shoot at 1600 ISO or greater while maintaining good image quality. Most of my swimming images are taken close to 1/1000s, f/2.8, 3200 ISO, but this can vary a lot depending on the pool. Swimmers do not move super quickly in the water, so a shutter speed of around 1/500s is sufficient to get a sharp face, but water droplets and arms may blur at this speed, making 1/1000s optimal.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 2500, 1/1000, f/2.8

Unlike field sports, swimming is generally easy to photograph with 200mm lens. Swimmers move up and down their lanes predictably, so all you need to do is track them with continuous autofocus while waiting for their upper body to fill the frame. Short-axis strokes (breast and fly) are best shot head-on or at a slight angle. Long-axis strokes (free and back) are best photographed from the side. If you are shooting a large meet or at an Olympic-sized (50 meters long) pool, then a longer lens may be useful.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 3200, 1/1000, f/2.8

Basketball

Of all the sports I have photographed I feel that basketball is the trickiest. A college basketball court is only 94 feet long and 50 feet wide; this initially led me to believe that shooting basketball would be easy compared to field sports where a long lens is necessary. While it is true that basketball photography does not necessitate a long lens, this does not make shooting it any easier. Players move quickly and unpredictably on the court. They are constantly passing the ball and blocking other players. Good hand-eye coordination and a fast autofocus system are your best bet for achieving success with basketball.

NIKON D750 @ 70mm, ISO 4000, 1/1000, f/2.8

Like swimming, basketball is played indoors in the winter. Indoor sports present a challenge for even the best image sensors and autofocus systems. Newer facilities tend to have better lighting, but the facility I shot at was built in 1924, and the lighting was less than ideal. Some lights were different colors than others, making accurate white balance nearly impossible. I used a device called ExpoDisc to help set white balance manually, but even so I generally had to make corrections in post-production. Luckily, the gym had big windows that helped tremendously during daytime games.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 4000, 1/1000, f/2.8

Lighting challenges were just one of my frustrations when it came to basketball; grabbing accurate focus proved to be exceedingly difficult even with the D750’s superb autofocus system. The players moved so quickly and erratically that tracking them was a big challenge. To make matters worse, players constantly block and cross over each other which confuses the camera. Ultimately, my solution was to improve my hand-eye coordination through practice. Over time I got better at predicting players’ movements and tracking them accordingly. Landing focus on high-contrast areas, like numbered jerseys, and using dynamic autofocus helped a lot, too.

NIKON D750 @ 110mm, ISO 3200, 1/1000, f/2.8

When shooting basketball you will most likely be positioned on the right side of the basket near the baseline. This location is generally designated for media, and it is a good place to get shots of players going for a basket. Some of the best action shots in basketball are of players driving for the goal or performing a layup or even doing a slam dunk; this is where tracking becomes tough. In terms of lenses, I typically used a 24-70mm f/2.8 and a 70-200mm f/2.8, but I have seen photographers use fisheyes, 85mm, and 300mm lens.

NIKON D750 @ 24mm, ISO 6400, 1/800, f/2.8

Track & Field

Track & field is one of the most exciting sports to photograph because of the wide range of events that take place during a meet. Throwing, jumping, and running are the three categories of events, and each one is photographed differently. I found that it is possible to get good track & field images while limited to 200mm, but in many cases a longer lens would be helpful. Basically, the longer your lens, the more you can sit back and wait for the athletes to come to you without needing to get uncomfortably close to the action.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 200, 1/2500, f/4.0

Throwing events, such as shot put and discus, are a display of strength and technique. Generally, I try to get a close up shot of the athlete’s upper body as they attempt to hurl the object as far as possible. Intense facial expressions are important here. Some of these events take place within a cage or net for safety reasons. In this case your best bet is a long lens or you can try getting very close to the cage while using a small f-stop (large aperture) such that it becomes completely blurred out.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 250, 1/1600, f/4.0

Jumping events are great fun to photograph; few images are more compelling than an athlete flying through the air. There are two focusing techniques you can use here. The first is tracking which works for long jump and triple jump where the athlete lands in a sand pit. Track the jumper as they run towards the pit and shoot off a burst of shots as they leap into the air and land in a flurry of sand. The second technique is prefocusing which works for high jump and pole vault where the jumper attempts to clear a bar, or standard. Prefocus on the bar while using a medium f-stop for increased depth of field and shoot off a burst as the jump is attempted.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 110, 1/1600, f/4.0

In my experience, the best running shots come from good positioning around the track. First, keep your back to the sun. Second, look for places around the track where an exciting moment is likely to occur. Turns, hurdles, and the finish line are some of my favorites. I feel that the end of the race creates the most exciting images because runners are sweating and grimacing. A recent iconic image of Usain Bolt showed him smiling during a panning shot. Panning can work for running, but this requires a lot of practice.

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 200, 1/2000, f/3.5

What’s Next?

I love sports photography because it gets you closer to the action than any other spectator, and the excitement at this distance is addicting. On top of this, a good set of images allows you to relive the event forever. In this article I have provided my insight into photographing five collegiate sports. In addition to those five I have shot volleyball, tennis, golf, lacrosse, water polo, hockey, and baseball. I look forward to even more sports adventures in the future. You can see more of my sports photography at http://ift.tt/1J6Ti4Y.

NIKON D750 @ 135mm, ISO 6400, 1/800, f/2.8

NIKON D750 @ 200mm, ISO 160, 1/2000, f/2.8

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This guest post was submitted by Matt Nielsen, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University where he studied Information Systems and competed on the varsity swim team. Please visit his gallery at 500px to see more of his work.

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How to Use an iPad as a Softbox or Custom Background

What I really like about the iPad is the retina display screen; the quality of the images displayed on it is simply stunning. The brightness emitted from the screen is also quite powerful, so I was curious to see what apps are available in harnessing the light to aid photographers and see if the iPad can be used as a small softbox.

A glass tumbler shot on an iPad. I created the custom pattern using Photoshop.

For this article, I wanted to see how useful some of these apps on the iPad are for photographers. In particular, if you are only starting out in photography and you need to understand more about lighting. Or you are stuck in a hotel room, and you want to have a bit of fun experimenting with a light source.

Can an iPad be used as a Softbox? Or is it just an interesting alternative light source to explore your photography skills?

I will also demonstrate a simple step-by-step Photoshop tutorial on how to create simple pattern preset images for your iPad or tablet, that you can use as creative backgrounds for your shots.

If you are not interested in creating your own, you can simply download the free ones I’ve created specially for this article. Please click on the download button at the bottom.

What is a softbox?

A softbox is really only a light modifier, similar to an umbrella. However, a softbox controls the shape and direction of light more so than an umbrella does. A softbox has the flash (strobe) enclosed behind a diffuser, which prevents light-spill from occurring. They come in different shapes and sizes. The more common ones are square, rectangular and octagonal.

Softboxes also have the advantage of being able to produce natural-looking light by mimicking the shape of a window. As the name suggests, they produce a soft light for all types of shooting, be it food, product, portraiture, and so forth.

The regular size iPad has 9.7 inch (1536x2048px) display, and most softboxes range from small (12″) to quite large (four by six feet). This makes the iPad a very small softbox. A good rule of thumb is the bigger the light source relative to distance to the subject, the softer the light.

How to use a soft box?

A quick on search on iTunes and I came up with the following apps:

• Photo Soft Box Pro HD – $ 2.99
• Soft Box Color – FREE
• SoftBox Pro for iPad – $ 2.99
• Photo Light HD (SoftBox) – $ 1.99
• Refboard – FREE (This app acts more like a board reflector)

As I can’t make the iPad bigger, I’m going to use the iPad as a softbox in four different ways:

My daughter shot with an iPad I used the Photo Light HD (Softbox) app

As a main light source

The first method is using the iPad as my main light source. I had the iPad on a tripod, close to my daughter’s face. You do need to turn off all other light sources. Having the iPad on a tripod made it easier for me to direct my subject. I downloaded the Photo Light HD app to test it out.

The Photo Light HD (SoftBox) app comes with 24 preset pattern images.

One of the preset images that comes with the Photo Light HD (Softbox) app

It comes with 24 preset images. I used the second one here (see above photo). I was also able to use my iPhone as a remote with this app. I wanted a more dramatic portrait, where half of her face is illuminated, and the other half falls off to darkness. I did bump up the ISO quite high, as I handheld my camera.

Tip: You can mount your camera on a tripod and reduce the ISO, which will also help reduce noise in your photos.

Of course you don’t have to download this app. You could try out the Refboard or Soft Box Color apps instead, which are both free.

The Soft Box Color app is free to download.

Set the background color to white. Use a willing subject or object, and experiment by moving the iPad nearer or closer. You will see how the light wraps around the subject. Pay attention to how the shadows appear and drop off. See animated gif below.

By moving the iPad nearer or further away from your subject. You can determine how soft or hard the light will be.

Monster lighting

The second method is called Monster Lighting. This is done by placing the main light directly underneath the subject. So I positioned a toy gorilla on the iPad, and displayed a patterned image that I created to add more drama to the photo.

Monster Lighting – where the light source is directly underneath the subject.

Another example of the Monster Light effect. The reflection of the pattern image highlighted just under the mouth of the Lego figure adds to the drama. I wish I could say that this was intentional but it was purely experimental.

In the photo of the Lego figure above, I used a different pattern. You can download this one for free along with two others. See the link at the bottom.

Colored patterns as a backdrop

For the third method, I used colored patterns on the iPad as an illuminated backdrop. I created my own in Photoshop, see the step-by-step tutorial below demonstrating how I created them. This is where you can get really creative, and have fun taking these types of shots.

By placing an ordinary tumbler on the iPad with a preset pattern image, you can get really interesting refractions in the glass. Experiment by moving your camera position slightly up or down, to find the angle that best suits your shot.

I love the way the pattern image is distorted by the glass.

I also shot this small plastic yellow ball, placed on another preset pattern of green circles, to create an abstract composition.

A small yellow plastic practice golf ball, shot on another custom pattern image on the iPad.

Create a silhouette

Creating a silhouette is simple to do. Use the Soft Box Color or the Refboard app, set to white. They are both free to download. Just make sure your brightness level on your iPad is set all the way to the right (brightest) in Settings. In the example below, I used a toy ostrich to create a silhouette.

A toy Ostrich silhouetted against an iPad, using the Soft Box Color app, set to white.

Creating your own patterned images in Photoshop

In this quick Photoshop tutorial I will show how easy it is to make these patterned image,s by using the Step and Repeat technique in Photoshop.

Start by opening a new document 2048px by 1536px. You can ignore the DPI setting. This only matters when you want to print your images. You will be saving this file as a PNG format which discard pixel density. Our concern here is pixel dimensions. I’m going to leave the background as white. You can choose any color you want.

In this example, I’m going to name the document “Circle Pattern” and click OK.

Make a shape

Click-and-hold on the Rectangle tool in the Toolbox and choose the Ellipse Tool from the menu. If you want a different shape, for example a star or diamond shape, you can select the Custom Shape Tool. There are many preset shapes to choose from.

Ellipse tool

Custom shapes

Then, up in the Options Bar, make sure the Shape Layers icon is selected. Choose whatever fill color you want. For this tutorial, I chose Black (with no stroke).

Hold down the Shift key and draw out a circle. The Shift key keeps the aspect ratio 1:1. I chose 154px, but again choose whatever size circle you want. With the Move tool (shortcut V on the keyboard) place the circle in the very top left corner of the new document file. Have the Info Panel open. Go to Window>Info.

Duplicating your shape

Pressing CMD/CNTL+T on your keyboard brings up the Free Transform Tool. But instead, hold down the Alt key as well so: CMD/CNTL+Alt+T. This is the important step, move the cursor over the circle shape. The cursor becomes a black arrow head. Hold down the Shift key and move the duplicated circle shape over by 154px, or equal to the width of your circle or shape. Look at your info panel when moving the circle shape. Release and click on the commit transform button or press Enter. That is the “Step” part of this technique.

To repeat this shape, hold down CMD/CNTL+Alt+Shift+T again. Keep holding down CMD/CNTL+Alt+Shift while pressing T multiple times, to create a line of circles across the document. Make sure the last circle goes beyond the document boundary (off the edge).

In your layers panel, you’ll notice that we have only the one layer and not duplicated layers for each circle. To create a new line of circles. Hold down the Shift+Alt keys and drag down by 154px. Continue all the way down the document until you have a document full of circles. Now go over to the Layers panel and select all the layers and put them into a group folder.

Creating a custom pattern image using the Step and Repeat technique in Photoshop.

Select all your shape layers

Make a group of all the shape layers

You can now use the Free Transform tool to hold to scale the shapes (CMD/CNTL+T ), so that they are all contained within the document boundaries to create a seamless pattern effect.

Go to File>Save for the Web. Choose PNG-8 for the file format and click Save. Another pop dialog box appears. Name your file and select the location on your computer and click Save.

You now have a pattern preset image to transfer to your iPad or tablet.

If you haven’t got Photoshop, feel free to download the preset images by downloading the ones I made below, enjoy (just right-click and choose “open link in new tab”, then right click and choose “Save Image As”).

Summary

Can an iPad be used for photography? Well not in the professional world. If you a beginner to photography and experimenting with artificial light for the first time, give it a try if you have an iPad or tablet. But I wouldn’t suggest going out to purchase an iPad for this reason only.

I am great believer in using whatever light source(s) are available, to explore different shooting techniques and styles. So if you don’t have an iPad/tablet or photography lights, why not experiment with just a flashlight or LED light!

Do you have an iPad/tablet? If so what photography apps have you used? Please leave your comments below.

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