High-key lighting is about an image which is very bright, with a range of light tones and whites. The picture will not have much blacks or mid-tones. In high-key photography, the mid-range tone will look very brighter, closer to a -white tones. This style of lighting was originally developed for films and television, back when the technology was not 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.
High-key images can usually have small amounts of black. These very small areas of black and middle tones will stop the image from looking washed out. The small point of black – on the model’s pupils, for example, a shadow under her hair – will show the difference between a high-key image and one that is just plain overexposed.
Studio lighting for high-key photography
To set up a studio lighting for high-key photography make sure you have a key light and a fill light, with your key light make it two times the brightness of the fill. The background should be lit independently–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.
This is an example of a high key lightening. I was only able to use one light becausse when I turned the second light on the shadows completely disappeared!
High-key lighting focuses on light tones and whites; low-key lighting is about the shadows, deep blacks and darker tones, with very few whites and middle tones. The mood is opposite, as well – while high-key lighting is hopeful and "optimistic", low-key lighting is somber, mysterious and moody, dramatic or even "ominous" depending on the subject.
High-key images are flatter with less contrast than an image that qualifies as mid-key, which is most of the images that photographers produce. Low key images, on the other hand, tend to have a lot of contrast, with the primary impact coming from the shadows.
Studio lighting for low-key photography
A low-key studio set up is very easy than a high key one.All you need is a single light source and a dark or black backdrop. You may find having a reflector on hand can be helpful, too, all you will need is a single light source. As a general rule, keep the light off of your back drop and on your subject, but other than that you have a lot of freedom as far as where you choose to place your light source.
A low-key image is not the same as an underexposed image. Underexposed images will be flat, with no good highlights or whites in the image. This is in fact the opposite of what you want in a low-key image. While the image does indeed rely on the shadows for its impact, low-key images need to have high contrast , which means a good white as well as plenty of deep blacks.
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