Studio Lighting
If you’ve got a studio, then poor weather or the onset of night need never stop you shooting. However, even if you don’t have access to a studio, learning studio lighting will improve your available light and location light portraits. Simply visualise where you would place the lights in a studio setting, then find ways to replicate that with whatever light you have available to you.
One-light low key studio portrait
You've got one light. One subject dressed in dark clothing. And one dark paper background. All the ingredients for a ...
Photographing both light and dark skin tones with a single studio light
Sometimes photographing multiple clients at once is pretty straightforward. If the people in front of your camera have similar face ...
Action gymnast portrait in the studio
There’s specific studio lighting know-how you’ll need if you want to try your hand at catching an athlete mid-air with ...
Flattering Faces: Broad and Narrow Lighting
Different face shapes benefit from different lighting patterns. Read on to find out how to slim down a wide face ...
Award-Winning Portrait Of A Modern-Day Explorer
When an extreme adventurer came into our studio for some commercial clothing shots, my favourite picture happened when we ventured ...
Sculpting Faces With Shadow
Shadows give your portraits a sense of depth and shape. Here’s how to achieve the ‘Rembrandt’ lighting pattern, and turn ...
Teenager Headshots
Of all the age groups I photograph, teenagers are by far my favourite. They are at their physical peak, and ...
Traditional Lighting Patterns
These are the traditional lighting set-ups that studio photographers used to be taught as standard. The set-ups create different ‘light ...
How To Feather Studio Light
Sometimes a gentle, subtle portrait is the best representation of your subject. Here I used feathered, low key lighting and ...
A Cover Story
The cover of Mastering Portrait Photography features a portrait of young Ben (who is now a professional rower!). Here’s the ...
Sensual Portraits
Sensual portraits tease the viewer's imagination. Learn why it’s best not to reveal too much, and how to feather your ...
Hollywood Glamour Portrait
The pros and cons of working with a beauty dish, and how to use subtractors to reduce the amount of ...
Low Key Hair Salon Portraits
Sometimes you’re aiming for a specific look, but your subject arrives wearing something that doesn’t align with your vision. Here, ...
Channeling James Dean
Bruno walked into my studio wearing his leather jacket. It appealed to me from a photographic point of view and ...
One-Light Studio Portrait
Often, the simplest things are the best. Here’s how you can replicate my go-to studio set-up to get flattering lighting ...
Beautiful, Studio-Lit Stranger
There's only one complete stranger that I've approached, asking her out-of-the-blue if I could photograph her: that's Dory, who you ...
High Key Striplight Portrait
Can you shoot a pale subject on a pale background? Yes, you can, if you control your lights. Here’s how ...