Flat light is a lighting pattern used in portrait photography and it involves facing your light source directly in front of your subject. Using flat lighting means the face of the subject will be well lit and there’s no shadow along their face; you have to eliminate shadows by allowing flow over your subject face.
Why use flat lighting? Flat light is soft on the subject’s face and the main aim is to eliminate shadows. It is also often used for an airy style of photography.
How do you use flat lighting? The light direction in flat lighting is faced directly at the subject to allow the face flow on the subject’s face and to reduce shadow. It is not a common lighting procedure or system used by portrait photography, the butterfly lighting, loop lighting, and rim lighting are preferable.
Advantages of Flat light
- It helps in minimizing shadow and highlights the subject’s face. It also helps creates uniformity all over the skin of the subject.
- It is also useful when shooting a subject in front of a white background. This helps accentuate the face in front of the background.
A disadvantage of Flat light
- While fashion and beauty photographers may prefer flat lighting, nature photographers consider it not useful
To get familiar with the procedures, constantly practice the lighting and make sure it’s the appropriate light to use in a particular setting.
