"Catchlights" are the reflections in the eyes of your subject. They're a great way of analyzing the lighting technique used in a portrait. With studio shots it's usually more obvious, whereas outdoor shots can have rather more vague catchlights.
Look closely at the reflections in the eyes of my subject here...
Zooming in you can see the reflection of me in front of a large octabox. One big light did the trick for that shot.
In this shot you can see from the reflections that I used "clamshell" lighting as I mentioned in my previous post.
Zooming in, it's clear the fill light was not a modified strobe, but a reflector. Indeed, an old reflector with a hole in the middle!
With practice, you can quickly analyze the lighting technique of any photo, mainly by observing the catchlights in the eyes.
Ringlight:
Clamshell - Beauty dish & reflector:
Clamshell - Large modifier, with reflector (and rim lights)
Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully you found this helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please rock away in the comment section.
