With a little experience, a basic one light headshot is something you can set up and shoot in a couple of quick minutes. Of course, if you’re on a job, you probably don’t want to tell the subject that or they might balk at the fees (and that’s why charging an hourly rate isn’t recommended – the more experienced you get, the faster you work, the less you make). All you really need is a very basic lighting setup – a strobe in an umbrella or Lastolite Ezy-box and a room corner (preferably white, gray or some other neutral color).

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Position your light at a 45 degree angle to where the subject will be, and facing down. Don’t go too high though – 30-45 degrees is all you need. The wall to the other side will serve to reflect light and operate as fill.

One key ratio to remember is that between the flash:subject distance and the flash:background distance. If you want a bright background, your flash and subject need to be close to the background wall. If you want it dark, move them further away. The same applies to the shadow side of the subject that is getting the fill from the reflection. Closer to the wall will provide more light from the reflection, further away more shadow.

Practice this at home with you family and friends. Start with your subject 1m from the flash, background and side wall. Shoot it, see how the light falls and then adjust the distances as necessary. Keep it simple by only changing one dimension at a time – say, moving the subject away from the background but keeping the same distance from the side wall and flash. Experiment until you find a combination that looks good. Remember this and use it as your beginning setup each time, although you’ll still probably need to make a few adjustments to suit different locations.

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