Camera Set Ups (High Key)

High key images are ones where the light tones dominate. Dark tones are eliminated or reduced by careful choice of the tonal range of the subject matter. Soft diffused lighting from a broad expansive light source is used to reduce shadows. Backgrounds may be flooded with light so that little detail is seen. Increased exposure ensures that all the tones are predominantly light. Hard edges might be reduced by the use of a soft focus filter." (Child J & Galer M, 1999, p96)


As a rule of thumb you are not allowed to eat or drink in the studio, this is because you are working with equipment that is very expensive and is easily damaged, and also coloured back drops can be easily ruined by having food or drink spilt on them.

When setting up in the studio you will need

• A camera
• Universal hot shoe adaptor
• Tripod
• SYNC lead
• Beauty Dish
• Lights

When setting up your camera you will need to first put it in manual mode, the shutter speed will need to be 1/160 and the ISO should be about 100, the higher the ISO the brighter the picture will be, however doing this too much diminishes the quality of the picture. When shooting a portrait make sure that the middle of the lens is positioned in the middle of the face.

When shooting you can use a tethering cable so all the images shot off the camera will come up on the MAC, this is good but is not necessary at the moment.

To get the best high key beauty shot position the beauty dish directly above the camera and have the model sat straight in front of the camera, if there is shadows underneath the neck or nose you can use a reflector to reflect the light at brighten up these dark areas.

Child J and Galer M (1999). Essential Skills Photographic Lighting. Oxford: Focal Press. p2 - 135.