Home

10%

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

By MagMod

December 4^th, 2023

Engagement photography sessions offer an excellent opportunity to flex your creativity and wow your clients, who might also possibly be future wedding photography clients.

One of the best ways to capitalize on this opportunity is to use off-camera flash. Fortunately, for those who are new to or afraid of using flash, it’s easier than you might think, and the results can quickly elevate your photography.

To prove it, Pye Jirsa has put together his five top lighting setups that include everything from a quick-yet-dramatic one-light setup to the multilight magic of the 'Rainmaker.’

In the following article, you’ll go behind the scenes and discover the process for five lighting setups for engagement shoots and explore the nuances of these lighting recipes.

Get to know the "why" and "how" behind compositional choices, ambient exposure settings, and even the selections for the modifiers being used. Following these tips, you should be able to replicate these effects in your own work.

Let’s get into it!

Video: Five Lighting Recipes for Engagement Sessions

Gear Checklist

Here’s a quick overview of the gear used in the recipes featured below:

C.A.M.P. Framework

The following recipes will all unfold using the C.A.M.P. Framework (Composition, Ambient Exposure, Modify/Add Light, Pose & Photo Capture), which we’ve shared in previous tutorials. It’s helpful to use this workflow in order to stay mindful throughout the session and shoot intentionally and consistently.

Recipe #1: “The One”

Our first lighting recipe is a dramatic one-light setup. You can find these setups referenced by name in our free Lighting Guide.

Composition

Walk-up, point-and-shoot shot (left) vs a composed shot (right)

As mentioned earlier, start the process by composing your shot. For this shot, the palm trees in the scene made for great background elements as well as effective leading lines, especially with the couple framed between them and when shot from a lower angle.

Ambient Exposure

28-70mm at 28mm, 1/200, f/14, ISO 50

Once the composition is set, it’s time to dial in the ambient exposure. Because the intention here is to create a dramatic shot, the ambient exposure in-camera will fall on the darker side.

Add and/or Modify Light

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

In addition to setting the ambient exposure towards the darker side, you’ll need to add some flash to build the dramatic look. For this shot, the available 500 watt seconds of power from the Profoto B10+ makes it a solid option to pump out enough light.

You can use whatever strobe you have available, however. Place the light off to the side at a 45-degree angle, somewhere between 5-10 feet away. Also, make sure to elevate the light so that it’s positioned a bit higher than the couple. See the image above for reference.

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

Once the light is set up, you can decide whether or not you need or want to modify it. In this scenario, a MagMod Reflector XL works well to help control and slightly diffuse the light falling onto the subjects. An added MagSphere XL can also help diffuse the light a bit and reduce some of the specularity of that light.

Pose & Photograph

Final Image: 1/200, f/11, ISO 50, Full Flash Power (1/1 or 500 Watt Seconds)

All that’s left is to direct your subjects into a variety of poses and capture the shots. Feel free to make adjustments to any of your previous settings if needed.

Recipe #2: The Explosion

The next lighting setup is called “The Explosion,” or the Stadium Light recipe in the free Lighting Guide. Really, it’s a silhouette shot that works particularly well when your scene or location doesn’t have much to offer.

Composition

28-70mm at 55mm, 1/400, f/2, ISO 50

One of the location’s redeeming qualities for the second shot is a somewhat constant pattern on the wall. Walls like this lend themselves well to silhouette portraits.

Ambient Exposure

This will sound familiar, and you’ll hear it again, but once your composition is set, dial in your ambient exposure settings. Remember, it’s a silhouette shot, so the ambient exposure should be pretty dark.

Add and/or Modify Light

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

With the ambient exposure dark and the goal to create a silhouette, you’ll need to add some light. Place your light directly behind your subjects (in this case the male subject), just above waist high, and aim it at the wall at an upward angle to light the wall behind the couple. This light will be modified with the Reflector XL.

1/200, f/14, ISO 50, Full Flash Power (1/1 or 500 Watt Seconds)

Above, you can see what we get straight out of camera by following the steps thus far. The tree pattern is caused by the sun shining through a tree behind the camera, and it works well to add extra depth to the scene.

Pose & Photograph

Final Image: 1/200, f/14, ISO 50, Full Flash Power (1/1 or 500 Watt Seconds)

Silhouette shots usually work best when the subjects face one another in a profile pose like the one featured above. Go ahead and frame the shot to taste, shooting wider or tighter, depending on your preference.

Recipe #3: “Stadium” Modified (aka Hollywood Two-Light)

This modified version of the “Stadium” recipe from the free Lighting Guide is also called “The Hollywood Two-Light.” It’s one of the more complex setups on this list.

Composition

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

Basically, the composition entails placing two subjects back-to-back in the center of the frame, just in front of a spherical fountain. In this example, the subjects are holding hands and looking down towards their respective sides. Of course, there’s room for you to vary the pose as you see fit.

Add/Modify Light

For this shot, we’ve placed two flashes in the background to add a kick of light to the subjects. From the camera position, the strobes should be at the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock position, off to the sides of the subjects and slightly behind them.

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

The B10 on the male subject’s side of the frame has a MagMod Reflector XL on it, and it’s pointed directly towards the male subject.

Because of how the light is positioned as well as how the subject is posed and where he’s looking, the light will create a Rembrandt light pattern on the subject. The same holds true for the lighting pattern on the opposite side.

However, it’s worth noting the use of the B10+ on the female subject’s side because the sun is on the left side of the frame. As a result, the sun will naturally make the right side of the frame brighter.

Once the lights are in place, take a test shot.

1/200, f/11, ISO 50, Full Flash Power

You’ll notice in the test shot that the strobes are creating reflections on the sphere, which means there’s room for modification.

Ambient + Added Modified Light

To solve the issue of the strobes creating reflections on the sphere, place a MagGrid XLS on each strobe. These 40-degree grids should eliminate the light spill that is creating the reflections. The grids will take away some of the light power, so you’ll need to adjust your exposure, such as bringing up your ISO (e.g., from ISO 50 to ISO 100).

You can always add different color gels to the flashes to get a little creative and have some fun with the shot. Just remember, if you're doing this midday, putting gels onto the strobes will take away even more light power and you’ll need to adjust, or possibly use additional lights.

Pose and Photograph

Final Image: 1/200, f/11, ISO 100, Full Flash Power

Recipe #4: Pinlight

For the fourth lighting recipe for engagement sessions, you’ll use a grid to create a pin light. The pin light will allow you to light your subjects without lighting the scene around them. This is a great go-to setup for shooting wider shots with a bit of distance between you and the subjects.

Composition

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

The thought behind the composition for this image is to use a tree in the distance to frame the subjects.

Ambient Exposure

1/800, f/2.8, ISO 100

With the composition set, jump into setting your ambient exposure. The look of this particular shot should fall a bit on the darker side.

Add/Modify Light

We want to add light to increase the drama in this scene. To do that, place the strobe off to the side of the frame, positioned just a bit higher than the subjects. Here’s a quick look at what the scene looks like without the grid, with light spilling everywhere and a distracting reflection shining on the wall.

1/800, f/2.8, ISO 100, Full Flash Power

This is where the pin light technique can prove helpful, especially if you're in a reception room where light is going to flash and spill everywhere. It will kill your ambient exposure. How do we fix this? Add a grid! In this case, the MagGrid XL 40 in combination with the MagMod Reflector XL works beautifully.

Final Image: 1/800, f/2.8, ISO 100, Full Flash Power with Grid

As a result of these light modifications, the reflection on the wall is eliminated.

Pose and Photograph

Again, work through some pose variations and shoot from different angles and focal lengths to add a wider selection of images to your session.

Recipe #5: Rainmaker

The last light setup recipe for this collection is known as the “rainmaker.” Despite its epic name, it’s actually a pretty simple technique to use. The goal here is to simply add a warm backlight.

Composition and Ambient Exposure

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

What you want to look for is a solid backdrop that is already dark or can be made dark with your in-camera exposure. Without this, the backlight will get lost.

Add/Modify Light

Five Top Lighting Setups for Engagement Shoots

Light placement and modification is important when using this technique. In this example, you can see that Pye is using a Profoto B10 positioned around hip-height, just behind the couple, angled up and towards their faces.

You’ll also notice the B10 has been modified with a MagSphere XL and a Zoom to soften up the light a bit and make it bloom.

Pose and Photograph

The couple has moved into a closed pose, where they face each other at a close distance. Here’s a test shot using a tight crop.

1/200, f/5.6, ISO 100, Full Flash Power

Next, play around with different angles and perspectives. For the following examples, Pye moved farther back from the couple and used the foliage in the foreground to frame the couple in different ways.

1/200, f/5.6, ISO 100, Full Flash Power

1/200, f/5.6, ISO 100, Full Flash Power

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed these five lighting recipes for engagement sessions. Use all the lighting recipes we’ve provided, which you can also get in the free Lighting Guide, and get out there and create beautiful imagery.

© 2026 MagMod

A Beginner’s Guide to TTL/ETTL

and why Manual Flash is better!

The Essential Flash Companion:

Discovering the MagMod Starter Kit

How to Use Flash to Turn Day Into Night

February 1^st, 2024

Collab with MagMod!

⚡️ Let's Get Insta-Famous! ⚡️

The Epic Flash Photography Shoot-Off: Pye Jirsa vs. Marlies Hartmann

January 6^th, 2024

Five Tips for Photographers Using Off-Camera Flash

October 31^st, 2023

Loading, please hold on.