Hair Light 101. Everything you need to know about hairlights. 

Tutorials can be tricky because they are either too simplistic or too advanced for the audience. This one hit the sweet spot for me. THANKS SO MUCH for helping this beginner improve!

Thank you for your well-paced delivery of information. Creators who speak like an auctioneer make it hard to absorb information.

Thanks John, your videos are always full of great, concise information.

Yours videos only gets better! A lot of information that I couldn't online. Congrats! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Great! Yes, decades ago the style was(as you mentioned in another video)to have the lights show up in this case Hair Light. But also as you mentioned its about giving a hint of separation and detail. Thanks for making and sharing great information through your videos on your great channel!

So specific, so didactic. Thanks for that! Love your work

John, thank you; again. Over the past year I've noticed every time I'm looking for specific information, hair lights in this instance, I end up on your channel first. (yes, I'm a subscriber).

Thank-you for this John. I’ve literally had “hair lights” in my Google search bar this week, but... it turned up a lot of light therapy boxes for hair growth 😜. This was the video I needed!

Thank you so much for making this video...You ROCK BABY BABY BABY

Thanks for this detailed explanation

Good solid advice, thanks.

Back then we called those portraits “glamour” portraits. With lots of light and if you wanted to go over the top you would put a softar on your lens! I use sometimes a 70cm beauty dish as a hair light with a grid. But I like to keep my portraits as dark as possible and i want only light on something i want to show. Style choice I guess. Thx again. Great work and awesome models!

Love you, love the channel. I'd also kill to see this in process someday. Back in the long-fore days of theatre we'd say 'Show me don't tell me", and for as much as I love your format, I find myself pausing on the still images of your in-progress still shots and poring over the placement of your scrims, lights, models and backgrounds. In any event...keep it up! Here's to a 2021 of gratefulness and education! Call you mom! -m

Thank you love this

always very helpful

great tutorial

Good video as always John. Historically I haven't used hair lights often and to be honest I think it's mostly been due to laziness, lol. I've been making a point this year to remove that laziness when I'm shooting. Appreciate the tips/knowledge.

very useful tutorial

Thanks for the info - subscribed. I’m far more inclined to watch a video on lighting where the lighting looks great. I’m crazy that way.

Well explained sir.... Older photographers say to maintain hair light one or two stops lighter than main light but that style of lighting doesn't work now. True words by John gress loved.... Cool explanation. I sometimes avoid hair light for grey hair people. To get separation I will through some light on background. Thank you❤ Learning a lot from you

I hope you can please tell me before I buy which is the best Elinchrom-Litemotiv direct 120 or Rotalux 175 regarding the quality of light for fashion and beauty for women?Amazing video thank you!Subscribed

Super ,Very Nice ,Congratulations,*** நன்றாக இருக்கிறது👌👌👌❤️❤️❤️வாழ்த்துக்கள் .........by R.MANOHAR- CHENNAI

I’m wondering how you did the strip of red light on that one model’s face tho… super cool!

Really enjoy your vids John! How would you compensate for a group with light and dark hair? Luckily, the members of the group @3:10 have all dark hair.

When you call your mom and she TOO recommends John Gress. :D

thank you for this. question on one of the pics shown with the red backdrop is that a hand painted canvas? or a savage paper backdrop(if so, what shade of red is that? :) )

What is the modifier at 40 seconds in?

Great video! One quick question. Do you use a strobe in the hair light softbox? Or are you using a constant light source? Thank you!

How far behind the subject should the back light be? I have a large shooting area so I can put it anywhere I want. Love the videos thanks

Hello, what brand of backdrop do you use is very nice.

Hi John, what would you suggest a hair/separation light for a very small space with a ceiling 8ft high? I cant find a slim enough strip box for the sides...Is my best option a LED/constant light?

John! Where does one find that recessed diffuser for the 35x90?

Hey John - useful tips here as ever. Without wanting to overstep the mark, but could I ask? In a couple of weeks I am shooting some "bridal hair trials" at a local salon near me - basically brides-to-be having their hair styled for their upcoming weddings. The salon is underground in a renovated basement. The max height in the middle is about 6 foot, and its a brick arch, so about 5 feet at the edges, and its about 4m square. There's a couple of fairly dull lights on the ceiling, and some lights around the mirror but no natural light. And the rest of the area is quite small, and there's sinks and things in it too! So not much room!! They have agreed for me to take my Bowens GM750PRO with shoot-though-umbrella (soft box is too big I think), but I'm not sure there will be room for a 2 or 3 light setup. I am proposing having the flash and umbrella fairly high on the stand (which would be a bout 5.5 feet), pointing down at around 45 deg. Or do you think that would be unwise if there's the couple of ceiling lights above already (which are not especially bright)? I'll be using my Blad 501CM which has max sync speed of 1/500th

Which video light do you like to put into your strip box for hair, and why?

Something seems off about this video. I think it's the lack of suit or turtleneck! Great stuff John!

Than you very much for the video! But I have one question: how about photographing bald guys? Should I avoid hair light for them, or just turn the effect down a bit?

What lighting should I place so that shine can be seen on white hair

6:06 is a great shot. Do you recall the light setup for that?

Hi, John, do you recommend to get a light meter for portrait? I have a second hand POLARIS, it is a old one but seems it donot works very well. thanks.

Hello John...love your videos...would like to know from you whether lights such as profoto b10 plus would be a better choice in terms of filling a softbox evenly..i read one of your articles where you compared d1 and pro heads and explained the shortcomings of profoto for filling a large modifier evenly with light...i am seriously thinking of buying a b10 plus due to its flexibility as an outdoor/indoor light and use it with elinchrom deep octa 39"...i would also like to know how the 2500 lumen modelling light on b10 plus fares against the 20w bulb on elc 500...

Hello and thanks for your informative Video! One question: Hairlight would also work with other colors, not just white right?

Ahh that’s probably my problem. It needs to be above, right? Just behind you and to an angle isn’t gonna cut it?

I'm a people photographer, in studio and on location. I pretty much always use a strip box with a grid for my hairlight. I've not seen all of your videos but the ones I have seen you feature all male subjects, which is odd to me because after being in this business for over 30 years I'd have to say about 99% of my clients are female. I don't agree about the hair light being 2 or more stops less than the light on the subject's face, but that's probably personal taste as far as the lighting I like versus the lighting you like.

I'm guessing that for bald heads you would keep the same fstop as the face?

what about color? I use my window diffused with a white sheet as my key and have been playing with a hair light that's 55k but is noticeably amber on my hair and shoulders vs a very cold light on my face. I can't tell if it looks wrong or not. Are our minds smart enough to conclude its a window vs artificial or is this off putting visually

For people with low ceilings, say not even 8 feet, is there an LED stick light or something else very low profile that could achieve a hair light result?

Nice models. 😂

You didn't mention snoots???

Not everything I need to know. Hair light is dependent on the hairstyle of the talent. For example, a bald person should have a different hairlight than a person with full hair. A woman with long straight hair should get a different hair light than someone with perm curly hair (or not?) Should you light up the shoulder or try not to? Is hair light purely done for separation? Does the technique differs if you don't need separation but want to make the hair more attractive? ...