These three screenshots that are shown below are of a website called ''River Island'' and this is their homepage. River Island sell all sorts including clothing, shoes/boots, accessories, jewellery, watches, sunglasses and beauty.
River Island advertise their clothing by using models and this is all done in the studio as you can see by the photos that show on the homepage. The pictures on the homepage of the girl and boy that are modeling have slight shadows under both of their jawlines but it is still very high key. It seems that they have used soft boxes for the background to soften the lighting and also used a beauty dish which provides a soft, diffused directional light. The lighting on both of these models hits them from the righthand side, leaving the other side darker with shadows.
On their homepage, they also advertise handbags, shoes, etc. And these are all items of the still life category. As you can see below, these items have also been photographed in the studio. They also have a very direct, straight forward lighting coming from the righthand side leaving a slight shadow underneath the platform of the heal.
This is the set up that I will be using in the studio when I photograph my shoots. The lighting on the lefthand side of the camera is called a soft-box, a soft-box is basically a light modifier. A soft-box will diffuse the light into a pleasing soft, even light. If used properly, it reduces the hard shadows which you may have. The closer to the model or subject, the softer the light appears.
The lighting that you can see above the subject on the righthand side is called a small reflector. This is basically so you can reflect the lighting on where you would like it to go. Light reflectors can come in different sizes from small to large. A larger one will make the lighting a whole lot softer but are difficult to manage when you're only capturing an portrait.
