High Key vs Low Key Lighting If you flip through the pages of your favorite photography or fashion magazine, you'll notice that most of the photos are bright and well lit In fashion photography, in particular, the trend is towards more light and fewer shadows2109 · Light in photography refers to how the light source, which can be natural or artificial, is positioned in relation to your subject The position and quality of light can affect any number of things in your final photo, from clarity to tone to emotion and so much more By paying attention to how light plays off of the angles and curves of your subject, and which parts of the subject areAs long as you can control where the light goes, you'll be able to nail a low key portrait You can even block your light from the background using a black card (items that block light are referred to as flags) Creating a low key portrait from scratch For the examples below, I used an Elinchrom softbox with a white beauty dish and a white ...