High-key photography
High-key photography
High-key images are photographs characterized by an extremely bright, minimalist appearance. High-key photography has minimal shadows and low contrast between light and dark areas, resulting in a soft and airy aesthetic and typically fure a predominantly white or bright background, creating a sense of brightness and positivity.
How can you make High-key images?
Creating a high-key comprises two primary parts shooting and editing.
Shooting
When shooting high-key images, it's critical to over-expose while maintaining details in your subject and other crucial elements in the image. Increase your exposure until most of the image is white, but you can still see the shape and defining characteristics of the environment.
Editing
Since high-key images are overexposed your primary objective is to separate your subject from its environment. To do so, try and create a high-contrast image.
First, adjust your exposure such that the image is still overexposed and you can still see some of the environment.
Then, increase your contrasts to start separating your subject from the environment, drop your highlights and lift the shadows slightly to keep the image balanced.
Lastly, lift the whites and drop the blacks.
Be sure to keep your edits to a minimum so the image still looks and feels natural.
High-key photography is often used to convey a cheerful or dreamy mood and is achieved through abundant lighting-controlled exposure settings and creative editing. Although shooting high-key can be difficult keep practising and you'll get the hang of it in no time.
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