Side Lighting

Side lighting can have a very strong effect on photos. The light comes from the right or left of your subject and this tends to cast one side in total darkness, while putting the other in the spot light. This is a good technique to add mystery to a photograph and also for adding depth. It is good for emphasising masculine features, for example the jaw line. The darkness on photograph’s using side lighting could be used to suggest evil or a character’s dark side.

Side lighting is useful in emphasizing the texture of an object. It creates shadows and depth and gives the viewer a good feeling of what the object may feel like, further enhancing the viewing experience.

Front Lighting

Also known as butterfly lighting or glamour lighting. Front lighting is when the subject is directly in front of the sun or studio lighting. Front lighting ensures that shadows aren't clearly visible -- resulting in a flat and two dimensional appearance, but also illuminating everything which is visible. It suggests the powerfulness in a subject and makes it look captivating. A good use for front lighting is when you have an image with a lot of colour that doesn't rely on depth and texture. With front lighting the part of the subject to be photographed is facing the sun.

A photograph may be described as overexposed when it has a loss of highlight detail that is, when the bright parts of an image are effectively all white, known as "blown out highlights". A photograph may be described as underexposed when it has a loss of shadow detail, that is, the dark areas indistinguishable from black.