12 Lighting Styles to Achieve Beautiful Low Key Portraits

A low key portrait is not an under-exposed image. It is an image with a majority of darker tones. There are degrees of Low key. Some may have a quite normal mid tone range with some highlights but a majority of quite dark tones. Some may have a substantial amount of pure black with a few mid tones and maybe a few highlights.
The "feel" of a low key image is generally one of deeper colours and tones.
One way that we can control the light in our low key portraits is to use lights that restrict the spread of light in the scene. Modifiers such as grids, snoots, barn doors, flags and silks allow us to control where and how much light hits our subject and background.
In this video I will show you twelve lighting set-ups to achieve a low key image.