low key, high key, just pick a key!

my preferred key seems to be low key, but as my friend jvan pointed out in her comment, whatever key you chose, keep it beautiful ;)

after spending some more thoughts on defining the difference, i now think of high-key as the lighting situation in which the photos come out, well...mostly bright, and low-key as the lighting situation in which the photos come out with more shades and shadows.

i suppose the confusion in terms for me has always been HIGH-key = LESS contrasty, and LOW-key = MORE contrasty. high equates to less, low equates to more, how does that work?

an author also suggests nevermind the confusion...if you photograph your subjects in front of a white screen, it's high-key, and if you photograph your subjects against a dark background, it's low-key ;)