There was a time when hard lighting (light that produces sharp and distinct shadows) was the norm in studio photography. In the 1930s and 40s very complex lighting setups, with as many as seven or eight lights were used to illuminate models and still life. Light ratios had to be very exact with such large numbers of lights.

Soft light (light that produces no distinct or diffused shadows) is prevalent in most studios today with the use of soft boxes and umbrella

“Light Layering” (my term) is a technique that can produce an effect similar to a complex multi-lighting setup, and only requires one light. The concept is to capture six or seven images with the light coming from different angles as each image is captured.  Those images are then merged together in Photoshop, thus creating a different layer for each capture.

You will need a good tripod and a free moving light source. A shoe-mount camera flash is a good choice.  Since the flash is used from different angles to the subject, a cable from the flash unit to the shoe mount is required.  If your camera and flash unit permits remote flash, that works fine.  I prefer to use a snoot on my flash unit to give the effect of a spot light (A household flashlight will work fine as is) Honlphoto & LumiQuest make snoots for shoe-mount camera flashes that are under $30. Use a shutter release cable (or the camera’s self timer if you don’t have a shutter release cable) to trip the shutter.  Camera and subject movement is one of the biggest technical issues you will face. How gently you walk near your subject can have an influence.

Taking the Photos is fairly straight forward. Start with the camera on a sturdy tripod and the subject on a solid and sturdy base. Take six or seven photos while changing the direction of the light. Have at least a few shots with the light far off to the sides to produce a rim lighting effect (GET CREATIVE!).

The next step is to merge the images in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Choose the darkest photo that you took as you first photo to open. Every photo you add as a layer will lighten the photo over all, and since you cannot change the opacity or blend mode of the “Background Layer”, it’s best to start with a dark image and work your way up from there.

Open a second photo from the set and use the “Move Tool” (Pictured on the right), and drag the photo you just opened over the first opened image. Holding down the Shift key while dragging the image and keeping it down before you un-click the mouse, will cause the two images to align in register. To check the alignment you can zoom in to the photo at a screen view of 100 % and turn the eye (the visibility icon) on the top layer, on and off to see if anything moves. If you do see movement it means something moved when you were taking the photos. This is the time to fix any misalignment with the “Move Tool” if needed. Remember to turn the top layer’s visibility back on after you are finished inspecting the alignment!

In the “Layers Panel” choose ether “Lighten” or “Screen” as the blend mode for the new layer (“Layer 1” in the example above”). The “Screen Mode” is the more aggressive of the two, and blends the two images together like a double exposure. This blend mode will brighten your image very quickly and works best with under exposed images. The “Lighten Mode” (The one that you will most likely use most), only shows the brightest pixels of the two layers and tends to build a little slower. If the two layers blend together too brightly still, you can lower the opacity of the layer you are working on to bring thing back into balance. The opacity slider in the layer pallet will work like a dimmer switch on the selected layer you are working on. The opacity slider is the most creative and intuitive tool you have for working out your light ratios. Take your time and see what effect the opacity slider has if you change your blend mode from “Lighten” to “Screen”. After you have six or seven images, and you feel you are done, it’s a good Idea to go back and click on each layer and readjust the opacity slider. Most times you will find nuances in the image that you did not see during building process.

Example of an image done using a flashlight instead of a flash-unit