Temple Star Studios  •  Free Guide

The 5 Lighting Setups Behind 95% of All Studio Work

Photographers set up their lighting every day in our Temple, TX studio. It’s these 5 every time. Use your new cheatsheet to copy these professional setups and see stunning results.

By Marc Elieson — 15-year pro, featured twice by National Geographic.

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The 5 setups

The 5 most popular setups of 2026, mapped light by light in a way that’s easy to follow. Get pro results in minutes.

High-key beauty portrait shot with the 1-light setup
1 Light

High-Key Beauty

The clean, bright look clients ask for by name.

Professional headshot shot with the 2-light setup
2 Lights

Headshot

The corporate headshot companies pay $200 a seat for.

Family group photo shot with the 2-light setup
2 Lights

Group Photo

Light a family of six evenly so nobody’s face falls into shadow, even on the ends.

Athletic hero shot with the 3-light setup
3 Lights

Hero Shot

Carves muscle and edge. Athletes, seniors, anything dramatic.

Editorial portrait with spotlight background from the 4-light optical spot setup
4 Lights

Optical Spot

The MOST popular client request in 2026. Looks like a magazine cover.

Sample page from the guide: the 2-light headshot setup diagram with power settings and distances

Your cheatsheet to studio success

An actual page from the guide

Here’s what’s pictured: the lights, modifiers, angles, pose breakdown with feet placement, the distances in feet, the power in fractions, and the camera settings that pair with them. Rebuild it easily from this one page.

Every setup in the guide gets the same treatment: a mapped diagram, the exact settings, and photos of the real rig on our studio floor.

  • Make studio setup mindless. Setup #1 requires only one light and already lets you charge more. Master the rest and there’s no client request in 2026 that scares you.
  • Skip a 15-year learning curve. Marc spent 15 years teaching himself these shots. Copy his exact settings and get his results in 5 minutes.
  • Stand out from other photographers. Setup #5 is the magazine-cover spotlight look. You already know clients want it. You’ll never have to turn them away again. See page 14.
  • Illustrated so you can’t get lost. Every light is shown with its angle, distance, and power settings. Camera settings come printed beside every diagram. You’ve got everything you need.

Stop relying on natural light, once and for all

If you just unboxed strobes you don’t know how to fire, you never cracked the code, or you’ve simply never worked in a studio before, the answer is the same. You need easy-to-follow recipes that make it simple. That’s this guide.

Written by Marc Elieson, a professional photographer of 15 years featured twice by National Geographic. Marc runs Temple Star Studios, a photography rental studio in Temple, TX, where hundreds of photographers set up their lighting every year. These are the most popular in 2026. Now they’re mapped so you can build them too. Marc Elieson • Temple Star Studios • Temple, TX

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