• Portrait photography often involves two light sources, in this case front and left of the model.Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  Lighting styles for a photography studio vary with the type of photography practiced. Lighting is one of the principle tools used to set the scene and create the tone of a picture. Understanding the picture you want to create is the first step in determining the lighting style to set up in the photography studio.
  
  

Portrait Photography

• Portrait photography involves lighting focused directly on the subject with lesser amounts of light on the background or props. Portrait lighting commonly involves two light sources, according to the website Professional Photography 101. Set up a light source at the camera point, usually above it to cast shadows down behind the subject, and a second light to one side. The second light usually also is placed high to cast shadows down and away from the subject of the photograph. The side light shadows one side of the subject's profile, creating more visual interest.
  
  

Continuous Lights

• Photography lights that stay on constantly offer some advantages to photographers. The continuous light makes positioning other lights to eliminate shadows easier for specialties such as product photography. Continuous lights can be ceiling mounted, which are tough to relocate for varying scenes, or mounted on stands to be moved as needed. The lights can be traditional tungsten lights or compact fluorescent. Compact fluorescent lights are cooler and require less electricity to operate.
  
  

Cold Lights

• Photographers sometimes refer to flash lighting systems as cold lights. Studio electronic flash units are much brighter than camera-mounted flash units. Many of these studio flash units include a low-wattage continuous light called a modeling light used to determine the proper position of the lighting. The ultimate determination of proper light placement usually is done with test shots, a much simpler process in the days of digital photography compared with those of film. Cold lights are triggered by attachments to the camera or by a "slave" function in which lights are triggered when one of the flash lights, connected to the camera, is fired.