High-key photography
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High-key is a technical and creative style in modern photography in which light colors, soft light and low contrasts predominate. The counterpart is low-key photography .
Description and application
The images show light to white areas in the background and light colored or light gray tones in the representation of the objects. In high-key photography, it is important that the bright backgrounds and motifs are illuminated evenly and softly. A slight overexposure of one to two f-stops is also recommended.
In order to carry out a high-key image in a technically professional manner in the studio, exposure correction and an illuminated studio background are necessary. Alternatively, the same effect can also be achieved with digital post-processing.
What is specific to the high-key technology is that the focus is not on the modeling of shapes, although this is also possible for experienced photographers, but rather an alienated representation with the suppression of the smallest image details and skin blemishes in the persons shown. The latter also makes it particularly suitable for advertising and fashion photography, because a level representation of people as a type is often desired here.
origin
The origin of the term comes from classic Hollywood cinema. Here the protagonists were often illuminated with a high-hanging three-point main light ("key light"), whereas the opponent was illuminated with a main light coming from below.
