Creating a Dramatic Portrait with Checkerboard Lighting

In today’s Photo Deconstruction I show you how I use a single umbrella and Checkerboard lighting to create a dramatic male portrait.

First of all, what is Checkerboard lighting?

Checkerboard Lighting (as it pertains to portraits) is a common photography term used to describe when a subject has a highlight side of the face against the shadow side of the background, and the shadow side of the face against the highlight side of the background. Whew, that was a mouthful lol.

Basically it’s black, white, black white, hence checkerboard!

For this portrait I opted to go with a large umbrella with diffusion as I wanted soft, beautiful light raking across the subject. If you don’t have a large umbrella, you could also use a 3x4’ softbox or Octabox for similar results.

Alternatively, you don't have to use a soft light source to achieve checkerboard lighting either, you can use a hard light source, bare bulb , beauty dish etc.

As for the position of the light, I feathered it so that very little was hitting the background which would help with that checkerboard effect.

I found that the background wasn’t dark enough and the subject was blending into it so I had to introduce a black v-flat to help flag some of that light from hitting the background.

Here is straight out of camera: (3:39)

For post processing I increased the clarify and contrast a bit, desaturated the image and added some coolness to the shadows for the color version: 5:09

Ultimately, I decided to change the image to black and white to achieve a more dramatic and timeless looking portrait. 5:44

There's really no rule that says your image has to be color or black and white (especially as it pertains to checkerboard lighting) it’s really up to you and what you’re looking to achieve. I just felt that the black and white version worked better.

If you notice too, the subject never blends into the background, so even though there’s a lot of darker tones going on here, the checkerboard lighting helps separate the subject from the background.

The image shown in this Photo Deconstruction was taken during my Studio Lighting Bootcamp. So if you're interested in learning in person how to achieve this, definitely check the link below.

👇 Let me know in the comments below if you've ever tried checkerboard lighting and what you think.

📸 Camera Settings:

✅ Shutter speed: 1/200th
✅ F/stop: F8
✅ ISO: 200
✅ Focal length: 81mm

📸 Gear Used:

✅ Canon EOS R5: https://adorama.rfvk.net/JxzdE
✅ Canon EF 24-105 4.0: https://adorama.rfvk.net/KG0ne
✅ Profoto D2: https://adorama.rfvk.net/qvB7y
✅ Profoto Large Umbrella: https://adorama.rfvk.net/bKGzg
✅ Profoto Large Umbrella Diffuser: https://adorama.rfvk.net/JAyMe
✅ V-Flat: https://lindsayadler.photo/vflatworld
✅ Gravity Backdrops Warm Gray backdrop: https://gravitybackdropsus.sjv.io/9gg4Me
✅ Savage C-Stand: https://adorama.rfvk.net/J1ZW2
✅ Profoto Remote: https://adorama.rfvk.net/W3o5G
✅ Tether Tools Tether Cable: https://lindsayadler.photo/tethertools

Resources mentioned in this video:

🔥 One Light Artistry class: https://lindsayadler.photo/onelight
🔥 Studio Lighting Bootcamp: https://lindsayadler.photo/lightingbo...

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