High-key photography

High-key lighting simply refers to images that are mostly bright, with a range of light tones and whites and not very many blacks or mid-tones. In high-key photography, tones that generally would have been mid-range become much brighter, near-white tones become white and white becomes, well, white. This style of lighting was originally developed for films and television, back when the technology wasn’t very good at capturing high contrast ratios. Today high key is purely an artistic decision – photographers and filmmakers choose it when they want an image or story to be upbeat, optimistic or youthful.

A common misconception is that a high-key image does not need to have a true black. And while that is sometimes true, high-key images can and often do have very small amounts of black. These very small areas of black and middle tones will prevent the image from looking washed out. That small point of black – your model’s pupils, for example, or a shadow under her hair – can mean the difference between a high-key image and one that is just plain overexposed.

Studio lighting for high-key photography:

A basic studio lighting set up for high-key photography consists of a key light and a fill light, with your key light two times the brightness of the fill. The background should be lit independently–preferably with two lights positioned three to five feet away at 45-degree angles. These background lights should be at least one stop brighter than your subject lighting. This will result in the blown-out background that you’re looking for in a high-key image.

High-key images can also be obtained in the studio with a pastel-colored background, though white is more common and generally simpler to work with. As for your model, you can certainly achieve a high-key effect regardless of what she’s wearing, but you may find yourself more satisfied with your work if she’s dressed in lighter colors or in white.

Examples of high-key photographs:

References:

1. Peterson, D. and Profile (no date) How lighting affects the mood of your photos. Available at: http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/3558/using-lighting-style-to-create-mood-high-key-and-low-key-lighting/ .
2. O_O (2007) Available at: http://www.deviantart.com/art/O-O-50612452 .
3. Pinterest (no date) Available at: https://ro.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=high%20key&rs=remove&term_meta%5B%5D=high%7Ctyped&term_meta%5B%5D=key%7Ctyped&remove_refine=wedding%7Ctyped (Accessed: 2015).