There are many ways to light a subject, both complex and simplistic, and while you might be always tempted to go for the most complicated setups, knowing the classics is important too. Classic lighting is classic for a reason and you may find yourself using it more often than you expect.

Like many photographers, I initially wanted to shoot primarily natural light portraits. I did have a fairly good reason — I kept needing to do extreme run-and-gun shooting and even moving a single light made my life worse — but I also hadn’t experimented too much with lighting setups. Once I bit the bullet and decided to add some setups to my arsenal for editorial shoots, I realized how much I enjoyed it.

In this video, Jiggie Alejandrino walks through a classic, go-to lighting setup that uses two strobe lights. I have said many times that behind-the-scenes photography tutorials are particularly valuable as learning resources, but when they’re executed like this, they’re invaluable. Alejandrino shows exactly what each light does individually, as well as the reflector, and explains all the decisions he makes. For those looking to learn how to do simple strobe lighting for portraiture, this is a superb starting point.