I'm not interested in the endless debates about which lights are best, which modifiers people should get or who sells the cheapest gear. What I am interested in is getting good lighting on my subject, and in having lights that produce high quality, consistent power of exactly the same colour temperature every time. Because of this I only use the makes that actually deliver on their promises, which is why I use Lencarta.

I like simple lighting, especially when I’m shooting people, and this is about as simple as it gets.
I used 2 softboxes here, they were both behind and to the side of my subject so that they lit the edge and spilled some of the light across her back. The one on the right was higher because although I didn't want to light he back of her head I did want to light her face.

The important thing here was to get the lighting level the same on each side, and that needed lights that could be adjusted to the exact level I needed. Lights that don’t have stepless adjustment and lights that can’t be relied upon to produce exactly the same level of light every time simply aren’t up to the job. That’s why I use lights that I can rely on to be consistent and to work every time.

I like to keep my people photography lighting as simple as possible because although complex lighting arrangements can make dynamic, creative shots, they can also make life difficult for the model, especially if s/he doesn't have much experience in front of the camera. There are no ‘rules’ but, most of the time, I position my lights very close to my subjects to control the fall off of light and to stop light from bouncing around where it isn’t wanted, and too many lights within 2-3 feet can be pretty intimidating for most models. That doesn’t mean that everything can be done with just a single light, what it does mean is that once I’ve decided on the effect I want to achieve I use a single light to get as close to that effect as I possibly can. If you think about it, it makes sense to use just one light if possible because they’re only one sun. Often, when a single light doesn’t produce the goods I just add a reflector, which is much simpler (and cheaper) than a second light. Of course, if I need to add accent lights, hair lights or whatever then I do so, but only once I’m sure that they really do improve the shot.

Let’s move on to some examples with just a single light.
There is no such thing as a ‘correct’ lighting tool, just the right one for a particular job and, usually I end up combining light from different lighting tools in the same shot to get the effect I want.
One of my favourite lighting tools is a Beauty Dish – it gives a sculptured, very directional light that emphasises eyes and high cheekbones. It can be fairly soft (especially if I put the diffuser on it, which makes it fairly similar to a round softbox) and it can be a much harsher light if I put the honeycomb on it.

Being able to change its qualities by adding a diffuser, a honeycomb or both, and by using it at different distances without the light bouncing around everywhere makes it a pretty versatile tool.

When I’m using softboxes as the only light I usually find that the softbox needs to go at more or less 45 deg above and 45 deg to one side, but that doesn’t work with Beauty Dishes. I find that the best place is normally still fairly high, but directly in line with the face – if the model is looking straight at me then the beauty dish is normally straight above my own head, if she’s looking off to the right then the beauty dish is off to the right too, in line with her face, as in the shot on the right.

Here's another example, again with the beauty dish in line with my model. This was shot without a diffuser fitted and the light is pretty harsh, which I feel suits the subject well, but this type of lighting does tend to show up any skin defects and because of this some retouching is normally needed. Please click on the picture on the left to see a larger, slightly retouched version

But of course, putting the light in the position in which it emphasises the model's beauty only works when I want the model to actually look beautiful. In the shot below I wanted that fairly hard lighting to show her looking vulnerable and frightened, desperate to escape from a cage.

Ringflashes are single lights too
The light from ringflashes is very flat and the few shadows that do exist radiate gently outwards. The closer the camera is to the subject, the greater the ringflash effect. One of the benefits of ringflash photography is that it’s very flattering to the skin and, normally, no retouching is needed.

Here’s another shot of the same model against a white background, which shows the reverse halo created by a ringflash.
Ringflashes, used set to a fairly low power, are the perfect fill light for portraits when used in conjunction with more directional lighting because they are in the best possible place for a fill light to be, as close as possible to the camera lens.

People (and camera magazines!) who think that a fill light should be on the side opposite to a key light simply don’t understand the basics of lighting. The fill light must be in the one place where it illuminates the whole of the subject as seen by the lens, which means that if you haven’t got a ringflash then the fill light needs to be either immediately above or immediately below the lens. Professional ringflashes are also perfect for wedding photography, not only because of the quality of the light but also because they are the only fill light with enough power to cope with groups in bright sunlight.

Of course, not every shot works with simple lighting.

Using several lights on people shots.This was probably more complex than it looks - which is fine, because we want our shots to look simple even when they'e not. You can see the main light, a Lencarta folding softbox to the right, and an umbrella to the left, creating just a hint of light on her back, very clearly but there were two other lights too - the window (which is actually part of my studio) which was not only a prop but which also provided some backlighting, and there was a ringflash on the camera too, to create a little frontal fill lighting.

And here's another bed shot, not really a people shot as the model was included just to add some interest and a bit of sex appeal. This time the key light was the fresnel spotlight set to run over the top of the bed, emphasising the depth of the quilting. There was enough light left over to light the model. A softbox, set at very low power, provided all the fill I needed.

And here's a glamour shot which again includes the lighting setup I used. The softbox was pointed downwards because that's where I wanted the light to be - there was enough light spill, even at this close distance, for her face to get the amount of lighting I needed, and a beauty dish was placed behind the model to accentuate her hair and provide some backlighting.