# Generated by SAISO v2.7.0 # Mastering Portrait Photography > Mastering Portrait Photography ## Important Pages - [Blog](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/blog/) - [Get Your Free imageniQ Credits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/imageniq-mpp-credits/) This is where you set up your link to imageniQ.com - copy the token and paste it into the imageniQ form here - [Mastering Portrait Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/) Unlock the secrets of portrait photography for beginners. Discover essential tips and techniques to capture stunning portraits that tell a story. - [The Portrait Photography Glossary](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/glossary/) Unlock the language of portrait photography with our comprehensive portrait photography glossary. Discover essential terms and tips that will elevate your photography skills today! Demystifying Portrait Photography: Key Terms Explained Understanding the intricacies of portrait photography can feel like learning a new language, filled with technical jargon and nuanced terms that can leave beginners feeling lost. This glossary will demystify common photography terminology and clarify technical terms crucial to capturing stunning images. From concepts like aperture and ambient light to advanced techniques like back-button focus and butterfly lighting, this guide breaks down the jargon in a way that's accessible... Categories: Uncategorized - [The Academy: Portrait Photography Workshops & Mentoring](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/academy-portrait-workshops-mentoring/) Elevate your portrait photography skills with hands-on workshops that focus on real results. Join us for expert guidance and create stunning images you'll love. If you love portrait photography and want to get better, faster, you are in the right place. Our studio sits neatly between Oxford and London and is built for learning - proper space, proper kit, proper coffee. Whether you are full-time pro or happily aspiring, you will leave with pictures you are proud of and a process you can repeat. Why come to us Real portraits, real people, real results. For the past twenty years... - [Used Images Index](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/used-images-index/) There are so many images on this site, it can be hard to know where to look! This is an index of every image used in an article and a link to that article. - [Resources & Tools For Portrait Photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/portrait-photography-resources/) Discover a treasure trove of portrait photography resources, from background textures to room mockups. All created from real-world experience to inspire your art. Here you'll find a comprehensive collection of resources and tools for portrait photographers, specifically designed to elevate your craft. From background textures for photography to photo mockup templates, everything listed here has been crafted for our own business, Paul Wilkinson Photography, so I can genuinely vouch for their usefulness! Our Frame Mockups, also known as Room Sets, are created to resemble our clients' homes, to varying degrees. We've learned that when clients can visualize their... - [Latest Updates](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/latest-updates/) Latest Updates Sometimes you just want to have a quick look and see what's new! - [Most Popular Portrait Pages](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/most-popular/) Discover our most popular portrait pages all in one spot. Explore our trending topics, navigate easily, and ensure you're in the know. Check it out today! Our Most Popular Portrait Pages Explore the Most Popular Portrait Pages, a curated collection of invaluable resources that cater to every aspect of portrait photography. Whether you're looking to enhance your skills through workshops, master lighting techniques, or learn about the nuances of posing, this hub offers a wealth of content to guide you. From immersive masterclasses to insightful podcasts and practical tips, it's all about helping you elevate your portrait game and discover what... - [Meet The Team](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/about/) Meet our Mastering Portrait Photography team! Each of us is dedicated to authentic portrait photography in our various roles, whether creating the imagery, running the studio, planning our workshops or creating our social media. We're all about providing our members and workshop attendees with everything they need to take their portrait photography to the next level! Paul Wilkinson Hon.FBIPP FSWPP Yup, Paul also has a Doctorate in Artificial Intelligence, though you might not guess it... - [The Visual Vault](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/) Welcome to the Visual Vault: Real-World Portrait Photography Tutorials When I first started out, I didn't want endless theory or techy waffle - I wanted to see how great portraits were made. Real shoots, real light, real decisions. That's what the Visual Vault is all about. Inside, you'll find an ever-growing collection of lighting diagrams, behind-the-scenes guides, and practical how-to's - all designed to help you understand not just what works, but why. From beautifully... - [Contact](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/contact/) Drop Us A Line... (we always love to hear from you!) - [Dashboard](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/dashboard/) Hey ! Welcome back! Below, you'll find links to all the important areas of your membership site. Please feel free peruse the site and definitely let us know if you have any questions. ## Portrait Lighting Techniques ### [Ordinary to Extraordinary: Portraits in Crappy Locations (The Societies Convention)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/portraits-difficult-locations/) ### Ordinary to Extraordinary: Portraits in Crappy Locations There's a special kind of location photographers know all too well. Not a "location", really. More a "this will do" space. A meeting room with ceiling lights that flatten everything into corporate sadness. A corridor with carpet that's seen things. A basement that feels like it was designed by someone who actively dislikes joy. And yet these are the places we're asked to make portraits. Not golden hour in Tuscany. Not a beautiful studio with big north-facing windows and a coffee machine that makes you feel like a functioning adult. Just a slightly awkward space and the polite instruction to "work your magic". Last week at The Societies Convention, we leaned right into that reality with my Superclass: Ordinary to Extraordinary: Portraits in Crappy Locations. The group were brilliant. Proper up for exploring, experimenting, and laughing as we wandered around the hotel looking for pockets of light and backgrounds that didn't scream "conference package". That's the whole point of the class: building a repeatable process you can use when the location isn't helping and you don't have time to sulk about it. We had two absolute stars to work with. The gorgeous Emily - Irish, very tall, wonderfully expressive - and her partner Joe - Welsh, also very tall, and an absolute joy to photograph. The kind of models who make teaching easier because they can move, react, and give you expression without needing ten minutes of explanation and a small interpretive dance. We started in the meeting room. It's the perfect reminder that you can make something strong even when the environment is doing its best to resist you. We looked at how to assess a space quickly, find usable light, simplify the frame, and get clean compositions without loads of kit or a minor renovation budget. Then we did the sensible thing and nipped outside. The group switched into full "hunt mode". We found light, reflections, and angles that made the hotel feel less... hotel. A bit of bright sky became a softbox. A reflective surface gave us depth and interest. It's amazing how quickly things improve when you stop fighting the ceiling lights and start treating the place like a puzzle. My favourite images of the whole afternoon came from a little corridor behind the escalators. Not glamorous. Not dramatic. Just useful. Great lines, manageable light, a clean-ish background, and enough separation from the chaos to make the portraits feel intentional. That corridor proved the point perfectly: you're not looking for "nice". You're looking for workable. And then we finished in the basement. We started by playing with what was around us - teaspoons and perspex card holders, using reflections to create little highlights and unexpected shapes. Then we brought out my video light and the Phottix tube lights, added the red and blue filters, and suddenly the basement stopped being a basement and became a set. Bold, graphic, cinematic portraits from a space that, five minutes earlier, looked completely uninspiring. I was at the show as part of the judging team as well as speaking for The Societies and Elinchrom. Honestly, I can't think of a better way to start the year. Tiring, yes. But also a real creative energiser. And if the photographers who joined the Superclass left feeling even a slice of that, then I'm a happy man. #### Small and portable kit I had in my bag - NEEWER BASICS RGB Photography Flashlight - Amazon - around £45 - Phottix T200R RGB LED Tube Light - Wex / Amazon / The Flash Centre - around £50 - SmallRig RGBWW Video Light - SmallRig / Wex / Amazon - around £70 Thank you to Barnett Photo Studio for the BTS images. ## Uncategorized ### [Back in the Studio (and Back in the Swing)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/back-in-the-studio-and-back-in-the-swing/) After a few whirlwind months, we're back. Fresh-well, slightly jet-lagged-from working on a cruise around South America, and full of ideas, energy, and a mountain of photos to sort through. (Honestly, the hard drive is groaning under the weight of it all.) The last few months have been brilliantly busy. Between the cruise, client shoots, and the usual day-to-day magic that happens in the studio, it's been non-stop. But now that we're home, the kettle is back on, the lighting stands are back out, and the whiteboard is filling up fast. We're diving straight into creative mode-new frame mockups are being tested, lighting diagrams are getting scribbled and re-scribbled, and the studio is once again echoing with the sound of enthusiastic "what if we tried this?" brainstorming. It feels good to be back in that flow. Portrait work is also back in full swing. Dogs, kids, families-you name it, we're photographing it. That wonderful rhythm of capturing real stories and making meaningful images is exactly what keeps us going. It's the heartbeat of the studio, and we love it. ### New Workshop Dates Released We're also buzzing about what's happening over in the Academy section. We've just launched a brand new set of Mastering workshops-designed to be hands-on, practical, and full of the real-world tools we actually use every day. If you've been wanting to grow your skills (or just hang out with fellow photography nerds and talk lighting setups over biscuits), these are for you: - Mastering Ordinary to Extraordinary - 27th June - Mastering Environmental Portraits - 18th July - Mastering Family Photography - 1st August - Mastering Dog Photography: From Shutter to Print - 12th September - Mastering High Key & Low Key Studio Lighting - 26th September Each one is a deep dive into its topic-lots of demos, laughter, hands on experience and those little lightbulb moments that make workshops special. We'd love to see you there! So yes-we're back. Slightly sun-kissed, creatively recharged, and very much ready for whatever comes next. ### [Christmas Is Done, Now Back To It (If We Even Stopped At All!)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/christmas-is-done-now-back-to-it-if-we-even-stopped-at-all/) Well, Christmas sort of got in the way. Apologies if that sounds a little Scroogy, but it did. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE the festive season, but this year, it feels like I crashed right through it. Usually, I would say I crashed INTO it and came to a grinding halt, but this year, nope, it feels like we simply failed to stop and we obliterated everything in our path. As I sit typing this, I am looking at a pile of festive gifts, decorations and chaos, so I have resorted to ignoring it and keeping going. It has been lovely, though. We had family around, shot a late-December wedding, numerous portrait sessions, a surprise engagement and numerous events at the Royal Institution Of Great Britain (an annual highlight for me is the recording of the BBC Christmas lectures that begin their run tonight, December 29th, on BBC4) On that note, I wrote an article on how we created some of the PR shots for Dr Chris Van Tulleken for Professional Photo. Hopefully it's worth a read! If there is a slight panic in my voice, there's good reason: in five weeks' time, Sarah and I are working on Crystal Cruises again, travelling around South America for seven weeks. Yup, you read that right: seven weeks. It's a long stint to be working out of the studio, but it'll be a blast! Anyway, back to the updates here on the website: a few new Frame Mockups (I put some nice Graphistudio arrangements above a stairway, which was fun - more of these to follow), a quick lighting breakdown for you as well as an article on image formats that was triggered by a discussion in our Facebook group about eliminating 'banding' in certain smooth sections of your image. Enjoy! ### [Dogs, Fog, Twins and Cake: A Week in the Studio (and Out On The Road)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/dogs-fog-twins-and-cake-a-week-in-the-studio-and-out-on-the-road/) It's been one of those lovely, full-to-the-brim weeks here-one of those where you collapse on Friday with a cup of tea in one hand and a biscuit in the other, wondering how on earth we squeezed it all in... and also wondering if anyone would notice if you had another Colin the Caterpillar and maybe a glass of wine! We kicked things off with our Mastering Dogs and Owners Photography workshop. I absolutely love this one-not just for the gorgeous dogs (and their equally gorgeous owners), but for the energy our delegates bring. There's something really special about photographing dogs and the people who adore them. Add in the full team, a fabulous work placement student, and a well-timed burst of sunshine, and you've got the kind of day that makes this job feel like an absolute joy. (Also, the Colin the Caterpillars went down very well. Essential mid-afternoon brain food, if you ask me.) Elsewhere in the week, I had the absolute joy of running a one-to-one masterclass on environmental portraiture, along with a portfolio review. I really enjoy these sessions-there's something brilliant about sitting down with someone's work, talking it through, and helping them figure out where they want to go next. It's a proper creative conversation. We also headed out on the road to photograph a couple of our artisan clients (always a treat), and-miraculously-the weather behaved itself. Which, let's be honest, is nothing short of a miracle here in the UK! We also welcomed a few families into the studio for portraits. One in particular-featuring two-year-old twins-had me laughing from start to finish. You know those sessions where the chaos is part of the magic? That was this. Just brilliant. I cannot wait to share the results with the family (and with you lot, too). You can see more of our regular portrait work over at www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk And today? Back photographing at Hearing Dogs, soaking up the sunshine and being very professionally mauled by six puppies. One of them was an eight-week-old cockapoo, and I think I fell a little bit in love. They've got teeth like needles, though-fair warning if you're thinking of adopting one soon! Behind the scenes, we've been filming a new video on using smoke/fog machines-well, we filmed most of it last week, but I've just finished the post-production section, showing how I brought the final image to life in Photoshop. As you know, I'm a big believer that half the work is done in-camera, and the other half is done with care in post. It's a partnership, not a shortcut. And finally, bookings have started coming in for our latest training days, which we're planning right now. They're going to be an absolute blast. If you're thinking of joining us, or have any questions about them-or anything else-we're just at the other end of the inbox. Till next time... be kind to yourself. ### [In The Press!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/photography-magazine-contributor-press/) ### Writing for the Photography Press Well, honestly, I write for the photography press quite a lot. More than I ever expected to, if I'm being truthful. It started as something of a sideline and has quietly become a genuinely important part of what I do - partly because I love it, and partly because I think there's real value in photographers sharing what they've actually learned rather than just what sounds good in theory. ### From N-Photo to Digital Camera World I was a monthly contributor to N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon magazine that I absolutely loved - before it was retired. Writing for N-Photo was a brilliant discipline. Those monthly deadlines kept me sharp, and there's something wonderfully focusing about having to distil a technique or an idea into a tight, readable piece for a specific audience. A sad moment when it closed, of course, but things have a way of working out. So I have now started writing short-form articles for Digital Camera World. You can read my first one here, where I slightly tongue-in-cheek mutter about technology. It's one of those pieces that started as a genuine internal argument I was having with myself - do we actually need the latest kit, or don't we? - and somehow turned into an article. The best ones usually do start that way, I find. ### Five Years Writing for Professional Photo Magazine More importantly - at least in terms of longevity - I have been writing for Professional Photo magazine for five or six years now. This is a glorious publication under the leadership of editor Terry Hope, who everyone in the photography press knows. Terry has this wonderful ability to let contributors write in their own voice whilst still pulling the whole thing together into something coherent and authoritative. These are longer articles, and at least for the past few years have focused on "The Anatomy Of A Shoot" or something similar - which suits me perfectly, because I love unpacking how a session actually comes together from start to finish. Not just the pretty pictures at the end, but the thinking, the lighting decisions, the moments where things didn't quite go to plan and what happened next. The publication has now gone fully online and, although I genuinely miss the printed version dropping through our door - there was something rather lovely about holding it, flicking through the pages over a cup of tea - it does mean it's easy to link directly to the articles. No more hunting through a pile of back issues to find the one you wanted. #### My Latest Article - Reviewing the Datacolor Spyder Pro If you fancy a read of my latest piece in the photography press, you can find it here. It's a review of the incredible Datacolor Spyder Pro - something that has lived in my kit bag for years. Colour accuracy in your images starts with a properly calibrated monitor, and the Spyder Pro is simply the tool I trust to do that. If your monitor isn't calibrated, you're essentially editing blind - what you see on screen and what your client sees when the prints arrive can be two very different things. It's one of those pieces of kit that quietly does an essential job without ever making a fuss about it. Please do subscribe to both of these brilliant publications - Digital Camera World and Professional Photo. They're both genuinely worth your time, whether you're just starting out or you've been doing this for decades. And who knew, when I was battling it out with my O Level English teacher, that writing for the photography press would become something I love nearly as much as creating images? She'd probably be quietly pleased, even if she'd never admit it. Enjoy! ### [Portraits, Pints, and Pizza with Harriet - This Was The Week That Was](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/portraits-pints-and-pizza-with-harriet-this-was-the-week-that-was/) You ever have one of those weeks where, by the time you sit down to catch your breath, you can't quite remember what you've just done? One of those slightly chaotic, blink-and-you-miss-it weeks where you're not entirely sure what day it is, but you're pretty certain you've had too much coffee and not enough sleep? Yeah, that. First up, Friday was a wedding - beautiful people, a bit of chaos, a lot of love, and enough confetti to clog a vacuum cleaner. Now, just to be clear, I am a portrait photographer - that's my thing - but weddings sneak onto the calendar now and then. And honestly, they're not so different. Portraits, but with more hugging, a bit more champagne, and the occasional dance floor catastrophe. It's about capturing people in the middle of one of the best days of their lives - the love, the hugs, the tears, and those slightly tipsy, rambling speeches. What's not to love? Back late, cards backed up, batteries on charge, and then - bliss - a few days off for the bank holiday. Devon with the in-laws. Sunshine, sea, a few too many chips, and the satisfaction of knowing you've dodged the worst of the traffic - like winning a small, petrol-scented lottery. There's something about the sea air that clears your head, and a pint of local ale that makes you wonder why you ever bother going back to work. I needed that. Back to it on Tuesday - filming day. Always a laugh when it's me, Sarah, Katie, and Abbie, wrestling lights and tripods and trying not to trip over each other. Filming days are a bit like a live-action comedy sketch - all laughter, occasional swearing, and a steady flow of coffee. The footage is all captured, which means a mountain of edits is now glaring at me from my to-do list like a disapproving headmaster. Then a couple of portrait reveals, which always remind me why I love this job - those moments when clients see their images for the first time, often with a tear or two and a little disbelief at just how good they look. (It's not just the lighting, honest - though it definitely helps. That, and making sure you've told them to lift their chin about 30 times during the session.) Wednesday? Dashing into London for the Barclays Bank AGM, where I got to spend the evening with Harriet - our daughter - and it turns out the best way to recover from a corporate shoot is a pizza, a margarita (or two), and a lot of laughter with your grown-up kid. It's moments like those when you realise being a dad is, without doubt, the best job title you'll ever have. Thursday, a new client meeting, scampering around their vast office, planning an upcoming portrait series - each image with a different background, each person with their own story. More laughter, a little problem-solving, and some seriously good coffee. It's a good job I'm not into hot desking, or I'd never know where to hang my coat. Then it was back to the studio for a few more shoots, a wedding pitch (we won it), and then head down to plan next week's bootcamp. Two full days of nothing but portrait photography - all the posing, lighting, and creative chaos you can cram into 48 hours. I can't wait. And as I sit here typing this, I couldn't be further from the physical world - head full of edits, battery levels, and to-do lists - but in a few hours, I'll be back with a family, a camera, and a big grin. The physical world, where all the good stuff happens. Right. Time to find my shoes and until next time, be kind to yourself! ### [Puppies, Pixels, and a Trip Down Memory Lane](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/puppies-pixels-and-a-trip-down-memory-lane/) Well, I wasn't planning to write a blog today - but here I am, mid-upload, waiting for a monstrous set of wedding files to finish chugging their way into the cloud, and suddenly there's a rare pocket of time. You know the sort: can't leave the desk, can't do anything processor-heavy, can't even really move in case the connection drops... so here I am, saying hello. It's been a lovely, if slightly frantic week. The highlight so far? Photographing puppies. Actual Hearing Dogs puppies, to be precise - all floppy ears and boundless energy and, my word, the sharpest teeth I've encountered in a long time. You forget, don't you? Just how needle-like those little jaws can be when they're gnawing on your laces (or, let's be honest, your ankle). But honestly, utterly adorable - and such a joy to work with. There's something about photographing animals that makes you slow down and pay attention. Or possibly sprint and yelp. Either way, you're present. Tomorrow I'm heading up to my hometown in North Wales to photograph an incredible woman and her Hearing Dog. It's going to be one of those shoots that feels special before it even begins - not just because of the story we'll be telling, but because of the location. I haven't been back in years. Even my mum lives down here in Haddenham now, so there's rarely a reason to head that way. It's going to feel a bit strange, I think - all those childhood streets and teenage haunts. But good-strange. A kind of loop-closing moment, I hope. Meanwhile, back at HQ, Katie's been putting the finishing touches on our smoke and fog video - which is looking brilliant - and has discovered an unexpected talent for cartooning. Who knew? One minute she's storyboarding lens fog, the next she's sketching out characters like she's been doing it for years. It's always a joy seeing hidden talents appear like that. I'm slightly worried she'll be running the place by the end of the month, to be honest. And this afternoon I had a lovely moment in the studio with a recent client - a mum of twins who came in for her viewing session. She absolutely loved the pictures (always such a relief when they do - you never quite stop holding your breath, do you?) and announced that she'd be coming back every year. Apparently, it's now a family tradition in the making! Even better, she's agreed to model for us in future - she's got this incredible presence on camera. One of those people who just lands in a frame. Can't wait to work with her again. And then of course there's the beast of a wedding from last weekend - 300 people, music so loud it made your bones hum, and 14 hours of non-stop photography. I'm not exaggerating when I say nearly a thousand finished images came out of it - and that's just mine. Even Sarah shot over a thousand, and she's normally far more disciplined with the shutter than I am. I'm more of a "shoot first, sort it later" type. But we're hoping we'll get permission to share some of it because it was something else. Energy, colour, joy - all wrapped up in one very, very long day. Anyway, the uploads have ticked over and I need to go and kick off the next batch before the internet has a wobble. But I just wanted to check in, share a little of what's going on behind the scenes, and say thanks - as always - for being part of this funny, wonderful, slightly chaotic world we're building. Be kind to yourself. PS. If you're wondering about the latest workshop dates - Here are the dates for our newly announced workshops: - Mastering Ordinary to Extraordinary Workshop - 27th June 2025 - Mastering Environmental Portraits Workshop - 18th July 2025 - Mastering Family Photography Workshop - 1st August 2025 - Mastering Dog Photography: From Shutter to Print - 12th September 2025 - Mastering High Key & Low Key Studio Lighting Workshop - 26th September 2025 We also have limited availability on some of our current ones - head over to the Academy section for all the details! ### [Roundup: Animations, Awards And An Honourary Fellowship](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/roundup-animations-awards-and-an-honourary-fellowship/) This past fortnight has been as much about my day-job (i.e. professional portrait photographer) as much as it has been about the Mastering Portrait Photography website and all that it entails. Which is to say, busy! ### The BIPP Annual Awards 2024/2025 It was the British Institute Of Professional Photographers Awards this week and it was my last formal duty has Chair Of Qualifications And Awards. I am stepping down after three years in the role to let someone else drive it forward. I am massively proud of what we've done in that time, having set the standards for the Institute going forward, created a hugely successful monthly competition and driven the idea that high standards are crucial if we're going to compete as an industry. It was a lovely (if slightly sad) evening as, although I am not leaving the BIPP in any way, I have massively enjoyed my time as Chair. If it weren't for the time pressures on everything else I'm doing, I would stay in the role! #### An Honourary Fellowship - I Have Some New Letters! As a footnote, I was honoured (thrilled is a much better word!) to be awarded an Honourary Fellowship for the work that Sarah and I have done with BIPP and the wider industry. Achieving an Hon. FBIPP is the pinnacle of any professional photographer's career - seriously, there are only 26 or so of them in existence - so to say it floored me would be an understatement! THANK YOU to everyone at the BIPP and, in particular, the CEO, Martin Baynes for both asking me to be the Chair (an honour in itself) and then nominating me for the award (an even bigger honour!). I'd say I'm lost for words but you all know that couldn't be true and, as if to prove the point, I recorded the latest podcast on my way back home in our trusty, though noisy, Land Rover Defender! ### Five "Ideas" Are Better Than One "How To" Most of this week has been spent creating animations for our video "Five Ideas For High-Key and Low-Key Photography" that will be in the Visual Vault in the next week or so. We've come up with this idea of "Five Ideas For..." as it seems a nicer way of enthusing photographers than "How To....", though there is clearly a space for the latter as well. In the "Five Ideas" videos, we strive to provide ideas (the clue is in the title I guess) that you can use as inspiration or a starting point. Sometimes there are techniques, sometimes just a way of seeing things, sometimes just me being excited about photography but they are all full of beautiful imagery and animations like the one below, to illustrate a point (this one is the lighting setup for a theatrical fog-filled hero shot!) ### In Other News Well, there are new Frame Mockups, our latest Workshops are selling well (the recent Day To Night Workshop was a blast, if a little chilly!) and we're constantly working up new content. So there you have it. What a week or two and that's without talking about the numerous portrait shoots, the one-to-one mentoring sessions (I am beyond excited about working directly with professional photographers) and all the things we have planned! Maybe I'll get to talk about those next time! So until then, Be kind to yourself. Take care Cheers P. ### [The Icons Have It - The Key To The Articles](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the-icons-have-it-the-key-to-the-articles/) We've been busily organising the site and uploading content at a pace (at the same time, I'm still creating new content for Mastering Portrait Photography, Professional Photo, Digital Camera World and the podcast. ) We're categorizing all of our content and making sure everything is tagged, is in a logical place to be easy to find, and we have implemented a 'Boookmarks' system so you can save pretty much any of our pages and resources to come back to. Anyway, I thought I'd quickly post a quick key to the little icons on each of the article thumbnails: The article is for our subscribers only This article includes a lighting / setup diagram (couldn't find a better symbol than the binoculars!) This includes a long-form text article. If you prefer reading to watching then these are the articles for you! On the other hand, maybe you love watching videos! This denotes the link will take you to one of our workshops in the acadamy Shut your eyes, lay back and just listen. Unless you're driving. In which case, don't! Hope all the things we're doing are useful! ### [There's A Lot Going On!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/portrait-photography-website-resources/) The Mastering Portrait Photography website has been going strong since 2014, when we first published our book, "Mastering Portrait Photography", and since then we have quietly been adding content, producing videos, creating lighting diagrams and generally having a lovely time with you, our crowd of portrait photographers. What started as a companion to the book gradually took on a life of its own, growing into something far bigger and more useful than we ever originally imagined. Well, it's almost exactly a decade later, and we have grown older, wiser and more enthusiastic than ever about portrait photography. The website has just gone through a VAST update, with new tagging, classifications, bookmarks, mockups, backgrounds, actions and content. If you've visited before and things look a little different, that's why. We've spent a serious amount of time rethinking how everything is organised so that you can actually find what you're looking for quickly, rather than digging through pages of content hoping to stumble across it. Basically, everything we can think of when it comes to making our lives as portrait photographers just that little bit better! Up until now, we haven't really needed a blog, but as of October 2024, now is the time. We simply have too much to talk about and not enough room to say it anywhere else. There are techniques we want to share, behind-the-scenes stories from the studio, thoughts on the industry, kit we've been using and plenty more besides. Rather than trying to squeeze all of that into a video description or a caption, the blog gives us the space to actually do the subject justice. We'll use the blog to tell you what we've been up to, and you can see the Latest Updates page to keep an eye on new articles, videos and mockups as they land. It's worth bookmarking that page if you want to stay in the loop. Enjoy! PS. This is me and our studio dog, Rufus. If you've ever listened to the podcast, you'll know he's quite a character - the sort of dog who has an opinion on everything and absolutely no interest in keeping it to himself. Sarah took this photo, and she is annoyingly talented at everything she turns her hand to, which is both wonderful and, frankly, a little humbling at times. There is also a whole team here behind the scenes who will all get properly introduced at some point in the future. Until then, it's me an' the dog! ### [Walking The Walk (With Smoke, Fellowship Panels And A Lot Of Retouching)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/walking-the-walk-with-smoke-fellowship-panels-and-a-lot-of-retouching/) It's been one of those gloriously full-on weeks - shoots, mentoring, editing, more shoots, and just enough coffee to keep it all ticking over. We kicked off with a couple of one-to-one mentoring sessions. The first was about being more spontaneous - helping a brilliant photographer loosen up their sessions and trust those beautifully unscripted moments. You know the kind: less "pose like this," more "do whatever makes you laugh." The results? Way more human, way more joyful. The second session was something a bit special - a panel review for someone aiming for their Fellowship. Now that's no small thing. Their imagery was already stunning, but Fellowship is as much about storytelling, layout, and consistency as it is about individual frames. So we spent time planning how to shape the submission for real impact. Big ideas, lots of ambition, and some very exciting possibilities. In between all that, I was in the studio (and out on location) creating portraits for families - the same kind of beautiful images we teach through Mastering Portrait Photography, because, well, it is my day job. This stuff doesn't happen in theory - it happens in muddy fields, studio backdrops, and kids who've just had a biscuit. And then there's been the usual late nights buried in Photoshop and Evoto, polishing final images for our regular clients. It's not glamorous, but it's vital - making sure every image that leaves the studio looks exactly how it felt when we pressed the shutter. ### New This Week on the Website #### New Video: Portraits With Smoke Jess. An umbrella. One light. A lot of atmosphere. This is how I use smoke to add cinematic drama to portraits without setting off the fire alarm. It's simpler than it looks, but the results are pure magic. #### New Podcast: AI Wrote Me An Email After a short break, I reflect on why portrait photography still matters, even in a world where bots are getting better at faking it. As ever, it's a mix of stories, tech, and the occasional heartfelt rant. #### Photoshop Short: Removing Colour Casts Green shadows from trees? Red bounce from a nearby wall? This quick tip shows you how to zap those colour casts without wrecking the rest of your image. #### New Lighting Articles: High Key, Low Key & Studio Tricks Three brand-new lighting breakdowns: from the quiet power of a low angle to feathered softboxes and light that whispers. Practical, beautiful, and ready to be borrowed for your next session. #### New Workshop Dates for Summer 2025 A fresh batch of Friday workshops - a mix of old favourites and brand-new masterclasses. Always packed with aha-moments, bad jokes, and the best lunch in the busines!. And tomorrow? I'll be out shooting a wedding. Because if you're going to teach this stuff - really teach it - you've got to walk the walk. And I regularly walk the walk. Usually with a camera, occasionally with a spare pair of socks. ## Site Pages ### [Dashboard](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/dashboard/) Hey ! Welcome back! Below, you'll find links to all the important areas of your membership site. Please feel free peruse the site and definitely let us know if you have any questions. ### [Get Your Free imageniQ Credits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/imageniq-mpp-credits/) This is where you set up your link to imageniQ.com - copy the token and paste it into the imageniQ form here ### [Join Now](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/join-now/) Join Us Now! Learn how to create and capture world-class portraits with hundreds of video tutorials, articles and discussions, plus new content added each week. Get instant access with free membership and then upgrade for access to Foundations and other premium content in the future! "MasteringPortraitPhotography.com is an incredible resource. I've used it to fill in gaps in my camera knowledge that I wasn't aware I had, and that's made my photography so much stronger. Now I understand how light works and how best to use it. The videos are awesome, well put together and easy to follow, with lots of pointers and tips for improving my photography. I can't recommend the site enough, there's so much more to learn!" Taryn Everdeen, Norfolk, @taryneverdeenphotography "If you are interested in portrait photography at all, this is THE one-stop website to use. It doesn't matter if you are a complete beginner or more experienced, the site has everything you need. It has an enormous range of information pages covering everything from lighting to posing to editing and the best, straight-to-the-point tutorial videos that I have come across explaining so much, so quickly and making it all seem so easy. The video critiques of images from site users are highly instructive and the lively, friendly forum lets me interact with other portrait photographers at all levels so I really feel part of a community of like-minded and sharing people. I think it's great that we can make suggestions for new videos and information pages from Paul himself. Useful weekly emails keep me up to date on what's going on too, since the site is constantly growing and adding more content so there's always a point in coming back for more and topping up my skills and knowledge. It's definitely the best portrait photography site that I have come across so well done to Paul and his team!" Ian Bennett, Weymouth "I've found the MasteringPortraitPhotography.com website a very useful aid on my photography journey. I particularly like the videos and podcasts as they add another dimension and are really interesting (and the fact that Paul has such a lovely voice makes it even easier to follow along!)." Zoe Joiner, Bicester "MasteringPortraitPhotography.com is the perfect solution, explaining in a positive, energetic and inspiring way the key components to mastering both the art and business of portrait photography. Paul and the MPP team have shown me how to see light in a new way. My skills have significantly improved. Not only am I creating more images that my clients are delighted with, but my confidence has dramatically improved, too. Of all the online training courses that I've tried (and I've tried a few!), MasteringPortraitPhotography.com is the one that has taught me the most. Given Paul's Master Photographer status, being able to ask questions about anything I'm unsure about is particularly brilliant." Rachel Thornhill, Surrey (www.rachelthornhill.co.uk) . ### [Meet The Team](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/about/) Meet our Mastering Portrait Photography team! Each of us is dedicated to authentic portrait photography in our various roles, whether creating the imagery, running the studio, planning our workshops or creating our social media. We're all about providing our members and workshop attendees with everything they need to take their portrait photography to the next level! #### Paul Wilkinson Hon.FBIPP FSWPP Yup, Paul also has a Doctorate in Artificial Intelligence, though you might not guess it from meeting him! He is one of the most in-demand photographers in the UK (and across the globe too these days.) He is the co-author of Mastering Portrait Photography. He likes single Malt Whisky. #### Sarah Wilkinson Sarah is an economist and marketeer and a bit of superbrain. She has a huge whiteboard plan to keep us all on track (as much as you can when working with creatives!) She is also married to Paul which is a job in itself. Where Paul is loud and bouncy, she is calm and gentle. Opposites attract huh? She is the owner and best friend of our studio dog, Rufus. #### Michelle Cartwright If you pick up the phone and call in, you'll probably talk to this amazing person. Michelle has worked with Paul and Sarah for 13 years and knows more about the photographic industry than anyone on the team (she worked at Spicer Hallfield for many years.) She never misses a detail and is super lovely. #### Katie Mawer Meet the newest member of the team! We first met Katie eight years ago, when she came as part of a family photo session. Since then she has graduated from university with a degree in Film And Media and is now an integral part of our production capability looking after our videos and much of our social media. She is always laughing and, along with Sarah & Michelle, spoils our dog, Rufus, waaaaay too much!A Bit More About Paul Paul Wilkinson is a multi-award-winning portrait photographer, educator, author, and host of the hugely popular Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. Based just outside Oxford, Paul runs a boutique studio where he captures everything from families and entrepreneurs to celebrities and the occasional muddy dog. He is the Partner Photographer to the prestigious Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, renowned for his characterful, instinctive portrait style. With a deep passion for teaching, Paul helps photographers sharpen their craft through workshops, mentoring, and online education. His podcast has been recognised by FeedSpot as one of the Top 100 Photography Podcasts worldwide, a Top 10 in Portrait Photography, and one of the Top 35 UK Photography Podcasts on the web. Paul is an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Professional Photography (HonFMBIPP), a Fellow of both the BIPP and the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (FSWPP), and an international judge for The Societies of Photographers and the Federation of European Photography Awards. Across his career, Paul has won numerous accolades including Best Solo Portrait in the 2024 PMI-Gear Global Portrait Competition, MPA UK Portrait Photographer of the Year, and a long list of national and regional awards spanning classical, fashion, lifestyle, commercial, and children's portraiture. He is a Brand Ambassador for Graphistudio, Elinchrom Lighting, and Pixellu Smart Albums, and is known for his straight-talking, warm-hearted approach to helping photographers find their creative voice. ### [Membership Cancelled](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/membership-cancelled/) We're sorry, but your membership has been cancelled. You'll need to re-register in order to re-gain access to the site. Please contact us if you feel you've received this message in error. ### [Most Popular Portrait Pages](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/most-popular/) Our Most Popular Portrait Pages Explore the Most Popular Portrait Pages, a curated collection of invaluable resources that cater to every aspect of portrait photography. Whether you're looking to enhance your skills through workshops, master lighting techniques, or learn about the nuances of posing, this hub offers a wealth of content to guide you. From immersive masterclasses to insightful podcasts and practical tips, it's all about helping you elevate your portrait game and discover what truly captivates in the world of photography. Dive in and find the inspiration and knowledge you need to create stunning portraits. ### [Oops! Wrong Membership Level](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/oops-wrong-membership-level/) You do not have the correct privileges to access this content. Please upgrade your membership level in order to access this content. ### [Privacy Policy](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/privacy-policy/) Website Privacy Notice This privacy notice forms part of the agreement that controls your use of our website, MasteringPortraitPhotography.com and explains how we use any personal information we collect from you through our website. We will treat your data in the same way that we would wish our own personal information to be treated. #### Collecting your information Some of the pages and content on our website can be accessed without giving us your personal information. If, however, you sign up for membership or set up an account with us, we'll ask you for your personal information including your name and email address. We also record your activity and preferences when visiting our website through the use of cookies (see the Cookies section below). #### Using your information We'll use your personal information to activate your membership and set up your account with us. We undertake this processing because it is necessary to take steps to enter into a contract with you. If you agree to receive email updates from us, we'll use your name and email address to send this information to you. By sending this information to you, we are pursuing our legitimate interest to provide you with information regarding MasteringPortraitPhotography.com. You have the right to object or restrict to this processing at any time, just let us know (see the Contact section below), or click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of every email we send. We promise not to bombard you with information or irrelevant offers. We use Mailchimp to send our newsletters. Please see Mailchimp‘s privacy notice for further information. 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Where we have given you or where you have chosen a password which enables you to access your account, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. #### Transferring your data outside of the EEA By using our third-party providers, Mailchimp and Facebook, we transfer the personal information we collect about you to the USA in order to perform our contract with you. Mailchimp and Facebook are registered with the US Privacy Shield. This means that the USA has been deemed by the European Commission to provide an adequate level of protection for your personal information. ##### How long will we keep your personal data for? We'll keep hold of your data during the period we provide our service to you plus six years from the end of the last company financial year they related to, in order to comply with UK company record-keeping requirements. #### Your rights to your personal data and complaints You're entitled to know what personal information we hold about you and how that information is processed, which means you can ask us to do any of the following things: - to access your data; - to rectify any mistakes relating to your data; - to erase your data; - to stop processing your data; - to receive an electronic copy of your data; - to object to our processing of your data; - to object to any automated decision making that we may do using your personal data; and - to receive a notification of any breach of your personal data. Just let us know (see Contact section below) if you'd like to exercise any of your rights. If you're unhappy with how any access request has been dealt with, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner by calling their helpline: 0303 123 1113 or by starting a live chat at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/. #### Cookies MasteringPortraitPhotography.com contains cookies (a small text-only file that is placed on your computer by another computer on the internet to enable that computer to know when you are visiting a particular site). They are widely used in order to make sites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to website owners. Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. Please be aware that if you decline to accept cookies, it may prevent you from taking full advantage of our site. MasteringPortraitPhotography.com uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our site and to distinguish which webpages are being used. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. we only use information collected from cookies for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. Overall, cookies help us to provide you with a better site by enabling us to monitor which webpages you find useful and which you do not. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and also allows us to improve our site. Our site uses: - functionality cookies. These cookies are used to recognise you when you return to our site. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences. - strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our site. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our site, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services. - Google Analytics / performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors, to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it, provides us with information about the type of browser they are using, device and remembers if users have closed our pop-up information. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. #### Contact We welcome any queries or enquiries or requests in respect of this notice, you can contact us by sending us an email to info@masteringportraitphotography.com Our company details are as follows: Mastering Photography Registered office address 22 High Street Haddenham Aylesbury Bucks United Kingdom HP17 8ER ### [Professional Photo Magazine](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/professional-photo-magazine/) ##### Welcome To Readers Of Professional Photo Magazine Any friend of this magazine is a friend of us here at Mastering Portrait Photography - brimming with great articles, viewpoints, images (and of course, our series on portrait photography) this magazine is a must for any photographer whether a full-time pro, those thinking of the next step or simply anyone looking for great ideas! ##### Come On In, Make Yourself At Home! Come and have a look around - whether you like to read articles, watch video content, submit images for critiques, get involved with the forums or (like me) you're just a browser and like to see where life takes you, come on in and make yourself at home (but keep your feet off the couch!) Below you'll find some content we've pulled together that we think you might enjoy. ### Making The Best Of The Sales Room It's no secret that the more you can get your client to visualise how their images might look in their home (or office of course) the easier the sales process is going to be. One of the most effective ways to do that is to use visuals - and the more realistic (and beautiful) you can make those visuals the better. I have been creating various tools to help us with our own clients for many years and now we are very pleased to make some of those available on our store and you can read how to use them in this article. ### Adding A Little Texture Sometimes, an image just needs, well, a little texture behind the subject. From the subtle to the ridiculous, adding a background texture can just add that little bit of magic. You can find a range of background textures in our store and there is a quick walkthrough on a simple way to use them here. ### Something For The Ears With an audience from all corners of the globe, our little podcast about life as a professional portrait photographer has become synonymous with the website! Sometimes interviews, sometimes the diary of a working pro, sometimes top tips, sometimes simply me harping on. But always genuine, from the heart and about life as a photographer. Here are just a few to get you started: ##### Paul Wilkinson FMPA FSWPP Paul is one of the UK's top portrait photographers - not just for his eye for an image but for the manner in which they are created (mostly laughing, always relaxed!) His images have adorned numerous publications from the BBC to the Times and have won countless awards as well as giving him the accolade of Fellowship of the Master Photographers Association and the MPA Presidential Award in 2017. He is the co-author of Mastering Portrait Photography, the best-selling reference book that's been re-printed, translated into German and Italian and licensed by National Geographic. He and his team are based near Oxford in the UK though often you'll find him clutching his passport and his cameras as he creates images for people across the globe! While Paul is the familiar face of Mastering Portrait Photography, it is Sarah Wilkinson who has masterminded Paul's hugely successful and respected photography business from a one-man band to the global name that it now is. ### [Report An Issue Or Change](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/report-an-issue-or-change/) Please use the form below to report a bug, an issue or simply to request a change to the site that you think would improve it! Thank you! Take Care Cheers Paul and the Mastering Portrait Photography team. ### [Resources & Tools For Portrait Photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/portrait-photography-resources/) Here you'll find a comprehensive collection of resources and tools for portrait photographers, specifically designed to elevate your craft. From background textures for photography to photo mockup templates, everything listed here has been crafted for our own business, Paul Wilkinson Photography, so I can genuinely vouch for their usefulness! Our Frame Mockups, also known as Room Sets, are created to resemble our clients' homes, to varying degrees. We've learned that when clients can visualize their portraits in a real setting, our sales increase. However, as a portrait photographer, it's not always feasible for clients to physically touch the product. That's why I developed these mockups-to help me and my team showcase how stunning their images can look framed, displayed on a wall, in a book, or within a portfolio box. They're incredibly user-friendly: just download, unzip, double-click on the desired layer, drag in your image, and voilà! These multi-layered PSD mockup files for photographers allow you to adjust reflections and other details to ensure both the room and your artwork appear realistic. If there's a specific room or product you'd like us to create a mockup for, please don't hesitate to reach out-we might be able to assist! Here you'll find a comprehensive collection of portrait photography resources designed specifically for portrait photographers. From background textures for photography to photo mockup templates, everything you see here has been crafted for our own business, Paul Wilkinson Photography, so I can vouch for their usefulness! Our Frame Mockups, also known as Room Sets, are tailored to resemble our clients' homes, to varying degrees. We've discovered that when clients can visualize their portraits in a real setting, our sales see a significant boost. However, as a portrait photographer, it's not always possible for clients to physically interact with the product. That's why I developed these mockups-to assist my team and me in showcasing how stunning their images can look framed, displayed on a wall, in a book, or within a portfolio box. They're incredibly user-friendly: just download, unzip, double-click on the desired layer, drag in your image, and voilà! These multi-layered PSD mockup files for photographers allow you to adjust reflections and other details, ensuring both the room and your artwork appear realistic. If there's a specific room or product you'd like us to create a mockup for, please don't hesitate to reach out-we might be able to assist! All of our resources are FREE to our subscribers which is an absolute bargain (well, I think so anyway!) Please join our memberships here! ##### ##### Room And Art Mockups For Photographers It is well known that creating stunning visuals for our clients helps them to imagine just how beautiful their images might look. As photographers, we're so used to seeing our images and imaging how they might look on a wall that it's easy to forget that our clients might not find it so easy. I developed these for our own use here at our studio so we know they work! Use these room sets to add your images and to show your clients for a little inspiration and an increase in sales. They're really easy to use - just double-click on the relevant layer and drag your own image on top. There is a video showing how straightforward it is here. View All Room Sets ##### Background Textures Looking for some texture to add a little interest to a plain background? There is a video walkthrough showing how to add backgrounds using Photoshop here. View All Textures If you're looking for the tools, from Colour Wheels to Presets, you can find them here: View All Tools ### [Sitemap](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/sitemap/) Sitemap Ah, yes, an index of everything. Well, not quite EVERYTHING, but you get the gist. All in one nice alphabetical list. ### [Thanks for Joining!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/thanks-for-joining/) Hey ! Thanks for joining our membership! Below, you'll find links to all the important areas of your membership site. Please feel free peruse the site and definitely let us know if you have any questions. ### [The Academy: Portrait Photography Workshops & Mentoring](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/academy-portrait-workshops-mentoring/) If you love portrait photography and want to get better, faster, you are in the right place. Our studio sits neatly between Oxford and London and is built for learning - proper space, proper kit, proper coffee. Whether you are full-time pro or happily aspiring, you will leave with pictures you are proud of and a process you can repeat. #### Why come to us Real portraits, real people, real results. For the past twenty years we've been creating award-winning imagery for our clients. We are perfectly placed to teach the stuff a photography business needs: lighting that flatters, direction that relaxes, and workflows that keep you and your business at the top of the game.. #### What you'll learn - Lighting that serves the story: natural light, studio light, off-camera flash, mixing ambient and strobe, hard vs soft, subtractive light, feathering, grids, flags, v-flats, negative fill. - Layout and lens choice: where to place the pieces so the eye goes where you want it to. - Posing and direction: how to read people, build trust, and guide micro-adjustments that change everything. - Expression and connection: getting past "cheese" to something honest. - Camera craft: exposure logic, repeatable setups, working fast on location, shooting tethered when it helps. - Problem solving: shiny foreheads, glasses glare, groups with height chaos, dark outfits on dark backgrounds, dogs and kids with their own opinions. - Post-production: clean, professional retouching, colour and tone control, print-ready files. - Business and client experience: pricing, enquiry to reveal, products, sales flow, print competition insight so you can judge your own work with clearer eyes. #### How we teach Small groups, big energy. We demo a setup, explain the why, then you shoot it for yourself. I'm at your shoulder while you work - adjusting a light, changing your angle, nudging a pose. We show the "safe" shot and the "let's push it" version so you learn range, not just recipes. Questions are encouraged (in fact, they're demanded). Tangents are welcomed if they help you make better portraits. #### Who it's for Portrait photographers who want to be confident on any day with any face - from seasoned pros sharpening their edge to enthusiastic shooters building a solid foundation. #### Ready to level up your portraits? Browse the workshops below, book your place and we will get the kettle on. If you already have the new book, bring it for a signature. If you don't, you can grab a signed copy at the studio. Be kind to yourself. ### Fancy A Discount? Current members of The SWPP, The BIPP, The Guild of Photographers, and the Mastering Portrait Photography Website get a reduction. Just ask and we will sort it. ### One-Year Mentoring Programme If you want sustained progress and proper accountability, this is for you. A full year where we work together on your photography and your business. #### What it includes - Monthly one-to-one sessions online or in the studio - Portfolio development with image critiques and editing reviews - Lighting and posing drills set between sessions so progress sticks - Business tune-up: pricing, products, marketing, client journey - Competition preparation and panel strategy if you want it - Accountability and support by email between sessions - Clear goals and milestones so you can see momentum building Places are limited because mentoring needs time and attention. If you want consistency, confidence and a gentle kick when you need it, this is the route. Contact us for details. ### Current Workshops ### [The Podcast](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/) The Podcast Paul chats about life, the universe and anything portrait photography. You can listen to the podcasts here or you can subscribe on your favorite podcast player. Search the podcasts: ### [Ep.1 On Finding My Feet](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-1-on-finding-my-feet/) This is really just a pilot to see if I can do this quickly, efficiently and (most importantly of all) create something that people might actually listen to! In this episode, we talk about this, the new Mastering Portrait Photography website, what to expect and look forward. I talk about the reason I love this industry so much and how I got to photograph the late, great Sir Roger Bannister (of the first-four-minute-mile fame!) ### [Ep.10 Are Qualifications Relevant In Today's Marketplace?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-10-are-qualifications-relevant-in-todays-marketplace/) Ep.10 Are Qualifications Relevant In Today's Marketplace? In this podcast, we muse a little on whether qualifications from the big photographic associations have any relevance in the current marketplace. Enjoy! ### [Ep.11 On Workflow And Being Kind (To Yourself)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-11-on-workflow-and-being-kind-to-yourself/) Ep.11 On Workflow And Being Kind (To Yourself) Your photography production workflow is supremely important, though it is often an overlooked component. Thinking it through, however, will bring benefits in the long run. Being kind to yourself is even harder - I talk about why I recommend it! ### [Ep.12 On Developing Your Own Distinctive Style](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-12-on-developing-your-own-distinctive-style/) Ep.12 On Developing Your Own Distinctive Style Someone asked me about developing your own distinctive portrait photography style: if I'm honest, I was never certain I had one but, well, I guess I probably have these days. These are just a few musings on the steps to developing your own style, selecting images for marketing and why it's often best to plough your own furrow (to use an old idiom!) ### [Ep.13 On What I'd Buy If I Started Again](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-13-on-what-id-buy-if-i-started-again/) Ep.13 On What I'd Buy If I Started Again I am frequently asked to advise on what would I buy if I started from scratch so, as I drink a last coffee (decaf of course!) before heading out to shoot a glorious, sunny wedding, I ponder on those initial purchases: what and why. And it includes good shoes. Who knew? ### [Ep.14 On Setting Up Your Edit Suite](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-14-on-setting-up-your-edit-suite/) Ep.14 On Setting Up Your Edit Suite Whether or not you like it, the modern portrait photographer is going to spend a not insignificant amount of time sitting in front of Lightroom and Photoshop. Setting up your workspace to make this as painless as possible is critical (or you're going to need the Aspirin!) Here I chat about some of the things I have done to make my edit workload as palatable as possible: it's all about the comfy chair! ### [Ep.15 On Photography Judges Comments](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-15-on-photography-judges-comments/) Ep.15 On Photography Judges Comments Sometimes you have to make the best of the time you have and today, well, today I have spent the day on the road - just me, the satnav and my trusty Land Rover Defender. This podcast (with a healthy dose of TD5 engine noise) talks about some of the things I've heard judges comment on when judging photography print competitions - either at Camera Clubs or International Competitions. So if competing is your thing, grab a notebook and see if any of the tips I offer might apply. And, even if you don't ever compete, the things I've heard apply nearly as much in general! Enjoy! ### [Ep.16 On What's In The Bag](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-16-on-whats-in-the-bag/) Ep.16 On What's In The Bag We all have a bag of some sort: big, small, with wheels, with back-breaking straps, modest, flamboyant, chock full or half empty. We ALL have a bag. This is what's in mine from bodies to brushes, gizmos to gum. ### [Ep.17 Q&A](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-17-qa/) Ep.17 Q&A This week's episode is mainly a Q&A in response to a young photographer. Oh, and I have a rant about service: the WAY you create pictures is just as important as the pictures you create! ### [Ep.18 On Whether You Need A Studio](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-18-on-whether-you-need-a-studio/) Ep.18 On Whether You Need A Studio It's a question we're often asked: "Do you need a studio to succeed (in portrait photography)?" I am not sure there is one, single, satisfactory answer to that question but, well, you know I have to try. In this podcast I describe the setup we have here, the setup we used to have (a converted garage) and, prior to that, how I survived without a studio at all. Do you need one? Have a listen and see if you agree with me. ### [Ep.19 On Why Competitions Terrify Me (But Why I Do Them Anyway)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-19-on-why-competitions-terrify-me-but-why-i-do-them-anyway/) Ep.19 On Why Competitions Terrify Me (But Why I Do Them Anyway) England are playing in the FIFA World Cup today and so I am avoiding the tv and radio - I am not good around anything competitive (it really does bring out the worst in me!) However, with a lot of help from my mentor (we all should have one) entering print competitions is a worthwhile exercise in spite of what it brings out in me! This podcast talks about mentors and competitions and why they are both worthwhile! ### [Ep.2 On Creativity & Pre-Visualisation](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-2-on-creativity-pre-visualisation/) Ep.2 On Creativity & Pre-Visualisation Today it's all about different things for different people, whether it's about creativity, your approach to photography or being a musician! Being authentic and 'who you are' is at the core of being creative. A short but sweet podcast in the pouring rain. ### [Ep.20 Interview With James Musselwhite FMPA](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-20-interview-with-james-musselwhite-fmpa/) Ep.20 Interview With James Musselwhite FMPA James Musselwhite is one of the most exciting portrait photographers working in the UK: with his iconic monochrome portraits of wrestlers, he has built a global fan base who prize his imagery. In this interview (in a noisy pub in southern England!) we chat about life, passion, encouragement and the state of the photography industry. And we laugh. Quite a lot! ### [Ep.21 On Mentoring And Keeping Calm](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-21-on-mentoring-and-keeping-calm/) Ep.21 On Mentoring And Keeping Calm It's been a busy week here with portrait shoots (both family and commercial) and a wedding thrown in for good measure! But it's not all been work, it's also been our local Summer Beer Festival which is a glorious celebration of all things summer with some ale, cider, Pimms, gin and laughter for good measure: plus it was the World Cup with England playing Sweden so it was always going to be a lively affair! And it's the football that set me thinking about coaching (or as we, in the photography fraternity prefer to call it: mentoring) - it's importance and it's benefits. This week also saw one of our shoots rearranged on the fly and I talk a little about the psychology of dealing with a dramatic change in the schedule while still (somehow) satisfying the brief. All in all, a busy week! ### [Ep.22 On Files, Files, Files](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-22-on-files-files-files/) Ep.22 On Files, Files, Files In today's digital age of photography it's impossible to avoid conversations about selling files. In this podcast (from the deepest depths of beautiful Cornwall I might add, with sounds of birds tweeting in the background) we discuss the pressures on photography businesses to sell their files and give up copyright. As a rule we don't sell high-resolution files (by high-resolution I mean the same pixel resolution as the camera sensor - full size files) but we do sell files that can be printed up to about 10x8". I'll try and explain the logic! ### [Ep.23 Interview with Jeremy Price, MD Graphistudio UK](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-23-interview-with-jeremy-price-md-graphistudio-uk/) Ep.23 Interview with Jeremy Price, MD Graphistudio UK Ah, in this episode I have a chance to sit down with an old friend of ours, Jeremy Price, the Managing Director of Graphistudio UK. Graphistudio is the biggest album supplier in the world and the inventor of the original 'lay-flat' wedding book - something we have built our business around here. We mostly talk about the industry, what is happening and how photographers can get more out of Graphistudio and their products. We have worked with Graphistudio for many years now and have built a great relationship with them but when you're starting out it can be daunting. Jeremey gives some advice on how to get information and start your journey with them. Oh yes, and Jeremy ignores a call from his partner and I get cross about bank accounts. Hey ho. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. Enjoy! ### [Ep.24 Interview with Sarah Wilkinson, my business partner and wife](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-24-interview-with-sarah-wilkinson-my-business-partner-and-wife/) Ep.24 Interview with Sarah Wilkinson, my business partner and wife Well, I finally managed to persuade my beautiful wife Sarah to don a microphone and give me her view on what it's like co-running our business and being married to me all at the same time. We talk about bits and pieces but mostly things that we've learnt about building a successful portrait photography business and how to cope with some of the stresses and strains. The interview starts on a hill and ends in a pub (well, why wouldn't it?), so also includes sound effects from aircraft, wildlife and pub revellers. In that order. Along with that, having read various threads around the place lamenting the state of the industry (since when did negativity ever help anyone?!), I am having a whine of my own. Well, strictly speaking it's a WINE of the week (d'you see what I did there?) Sarah has a phenomenal memory, is a super-taster and flew her Wine And Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 exams with a mere 98%! Which means I get to drink really nice wine. I thought I'd capitlise on this in-house talent and so every week Sarah is going to pick out a wine that comes highly recommended and won't break the bank. As an added bonus, this forces me to have drink it. Oh, the hardship. ### [Ep.25 On Correcting Your Mistakes](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-25-on-correcting-your-mistakes/) Ep.25 On Correcting Your Mistakes So it's Sunday evening after a long day of beautiful portrait photography and I'm sitting down to muse on the past week. Weddings, portraits, Hearing Dogs and meetings seem to have been the order of the day (or, more accurately, 7 days.) In this podcast we talk mostly about what happens when you make mistakes - and we use a very real (and very expensive) example right here in our own studio. Luckily these things don't happen too often but, ouch, did this one hurt! If you enjoy this podcast, you can subscribe on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. Enjoy! ### [Ep.26 On Packing For A Location Shoot](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-26-on-packing-for-a-location-shoot/) Ep.26 On Packing For A Location Shoot In this episode I talk about packing the bag ready for a fashion-portrait session out on location; the kit, the thought process and why I take what I do. Keep an eye on the website for the finished images. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. Enjoy! ### [Ep.27 On The Need For Creativity](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-27-on-the-need-for-creativity/) Ep.27 On The Need For Creativity This week's episode focuses on the need to be creative during portrait shoots. It's scary sometimes, being out there without knowing quite what you're going to create, but it's always worth pushing - both for you personally and because it helps drive sales. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. Enjoy! ### [Ep.28 Building On The Positives](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-28-building-on-the-positives/) Ep.28 Building On The Positives In this slightly noisy podcast - yup, I recorded it while driving my Land Rover Defender which, it must be said, is not known for it's quiet, studio-like ambience - I talk about life and the need to be positive, even when you know there are weaknesses in your own images. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or if you would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. Enjoy! ### [Ep.29 Live Q&A With James Musselwhite FMPA](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-29-live-qa-with-james-musselwhite-fmpa/) Ep.29 Live Q&A With James Musselwhite FMPA This episode is a live Q&A taken from the Master Photographers Association "Meet The Masters" day. Myself and James Musselwhite FMPA were fielding questions from the floor (no prepping!) so what you hear is raw and heart-felt. The topics discussed range from "what is your signature image?" to "how do I spend less time editing" and "how do you market yourself?". If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. ### [Ep.3 On Lighting And Keeping It Simple](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep3-on-lighting-and-keeping-it-simple/) Ep.3 On Lighting And Keeping It Simple This podcast concerns just one image: Bruno. Simple is always best (in my opinion at least) and this image epitomises that approach: simple light, simple pose, simple finish, simply gorgeous. A good day in the studio! During the podcast I mention that is was originally intended to be used as part of a composite of the two brothers together - here is that composite: ### [Ep.30 Interview: Kenny Martin On Life And Running A (Successful) Photography Business](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-30-interview-kenny-martin-on-life-and-running-a-successful-photography-business/) Ep.30 Interview: Kenny Martin On Life And Running A (Successful) Photography Business This episode is an interview with the industry giant that is Kenny Martin. Kenny started out as a photographer, ultimately running one of the most successful Venture Studios in the UK up in Edinburgh. These days he spends most of his time travelling the length and bredth of the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia helping photography studios to be, well, profitable - not something that comes naturally to every photographer! He's also a very lovely (and very entertaining) guy! If you'd like to see some of Kenny's photography (or learn more about his consulting services) head over to his website. This podcast is a little longer than our normal but the chat was just too interesting to cut short! If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. ### [Ep.31 The Client Experience](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-31-the-client-experience/) Ep.31 The Client Experience In this episode it's back to just me on my own - feels a bit weird not having someone to interview (and yet I STILL managed to create a one-hour podcast! Someone stop me!) Anyway, this one is all about the client experience and how it feels from their (not your) point of view. Enjoy!! If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.32 Learning Lessons In Las Vegas](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-32-learning-lessons-in-las-vegas/) Ep.32 Learning Lessons In Las Vegas In this podcast, I have returned from a family trip to Las Vegas where I saw the most amazing things, ate incredible food and had a wonderful holiday. Along the way, I learned a few lessons about how it feels to BE a customer and how some people can make you feel valued (and others struggle with the concept!) In the end, a great customer experience can lead to great sales! If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.33 Interview with Katy Walsh, Red Fox Studios](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-33-interview-with-kate-walsh-red-fox-studios/) Ep.33 Interview with Katy Walsh, Red Fox Studios This podcast is an interview with Katy Walsh, photographer, owner of Red Fox Studios in Henley and the founder of a new venture: We Are Curious Photography Workshops. Katy is lovely and we talk about her background, how she founded the studio and what she's hoping will come from the new workshops. If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE head over to iTunes and leave us a review - they're really useful for driving up our audience and our position in search engines! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact us at info@masteringportraitphotography.com. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.34 Interview: Martin Baynes Of Graphistudio](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-34-interview-martin-baynes-of-graphistudio/) Ep.34 Interview: Martin Baynes Of Graphistudio "'Sales' is not a dirty word: it's giving your clients the opportunity to purchase quality products", Martin Baynes. One of the great joys of creating this podcast is that I get to talk to lots of people who I genuinely like and find interesting. This week it's Martin Baynes, Sales And Marketing Director For Graphistudio UK And Ireland. Sarah and I have been friends with Martin for a very long time now and so I thought it would be fun to put that relationship to the test and stick him in front of a microphone! We have used Graphistudio albums for about ten years now and their incredible products sit right at the heart of our business (our clients love them - particularly the hand-finishing and the gorgeous leathers!) but the reason I asked Martin to come and be interviewed is because his experience is much broader than that and he brings a viewpoint that encompasses so much of this industry. If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE head over to iTunes and leave us a review - they're really useful for driving up our audience and our position in search engines! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.35 Interview With Juliet Jones Of The Societies](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-35-interview-with-juliet-jones-of-the-societies/) Ep.35 Interview With Juliet Jones Of The Societies One of the most useful things any photographer can do is attend seminars, workshops and trades shows, and one of the biggest of those in the UK is the SWPP Convention. I have always loved this convention for its mix of networking and learning - plus it's just after Christmas which gives me something in the calendar to look forward to as the memory of sherry, mince pies, pine needles stuck in your socks, refuse cans stuffed full of discarded (and non-recyclable wrapping paper), the fire hazard that is tinsel, bloated stomachs, impressively average cracker jokes, the Queen's speech and dodgy afternoon movies fades into the dim and distant past. Just when you think the next thing to get excited about is an Easter egg or the hope of a Valentine's card, there's the SWPP Convention to cheer you up and set you on your way for the year. In this podcast it is my pleasure to be chatting to Juliet Jones who, as Managing Director of the Societies, is responsible for putting on one of my favourite networking events of the year. The photographers that enter the competitions, go for qualifications, do mentoring, come to the Convention... ...pay to see classes... ...will succeed. Juliet Jones Details of the Convention can be found at http://swpp.co.uk/convention/ and you can find more information about the Superclass and Masterclass that I'm hosting at http://swpp.co.uk/convention/2019/speaker-bio-Wilkinson4840.htm These proved to be hugely popular last year (though I don't think I'll be presenting in black tie this year!) and we would love to see you in 2019! Please do come along and make this party everything we'd love it to be! If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also head over to iTunes and leave us a review - they're really useful for driving up our audience and our position in search engines! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.36 Interview With Terrie Jones On Photography Competitions](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-36-interview-with-terrie-jones-on-photography-competitions/) Ep.36 Interview With Terrie Jones On Photography Competitions Photography competitions can be a bit of a mystery: what are judges looking for; how do I prep the images; what subjects do better than others; how much post-production is encouraged? The list goes one. As Head Of Judging for the Societies, Terrie Jones is in charge of one of the biggest photographic competitions in the UK and so I thought it would be fun to have a chat about her views and to talk about the fast-approaching SWPP Convention in London in January 2019. If you're curious about photography competitions then it is well worth listening to what she has to say as there are plenty of insights in this interview. Terrie recommends a book during the podcast: it's called 'Book Of Judges' and is by Vincent O'Byrne and can be bought directly from his website here. Details of the Convention can be found at http://swpp.co.uk/convention/ and you can find more information about the Superclass and Masterclass that I'm hosting at http://swpp.co.uk/convention/2019/speaker-bio-Wilkinson4840.htm These proved to be hugely popular last year (though I don't think I'll be presenting in black tie this year!) and we would love to see you in 2019! Please do come along and make this party everything we'd love it to be! If you enjoy this podcast, head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also head over to iTunes and leave us a review - they're really useful for driving up our audience and our position in search engines! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.37 Be Careful Who You Listen To](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-37-be-careful-who-you-listen-to/) Ep.37 Be Careful Who You Listen To Happy New Year! Here's to a fantastic 2019! Had a few weeks off and feeling pretty excited about what this year will bring. And am back recording new podcasts having enjoyed the break. This podcast is just me musing on why it's important to be careful of what and who you pay attention to. Why? Well, if you're anything like me, you swing between creative confidence and complete self-doubt - and the more photographers I speak to, the more I realise that many of us feel the same way. You have to pick and choose with a little care if you don't want to feel demotivated and insecure rather than inspired and driven. If you enjoy this podcast, you can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also head over to iTunes and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.38 Interview With David Stanbury](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-38-interview-with-david-stanbury/) Ep.38 Interview With David Stanbury In this interview it is my pleasure to be interviewing a great friend of mine and supreme wedding photographer, David Stanbury, where we talk about how he became a photographer, how being forced into a position where it had to make money might not have been such a bad thing (though it didn't feel like it at the time) and why he prefers red cabbage to Brussel sprouts. Who knew. We're also talking about the workshop myself and Dave are going to be hosting in Italy towards the end of March this year (details can be found at www.the2fellows.co.uk). At the time of publishing the podcast, we have a couple of places left so if you fancy a week talking of nothing but the business of wedding and portrait photography, drinking a little wine, eating a little pizza and laughing an awful lot then this is the workshop you've been waiting for. Visit the website to see why. Dave also mentions an amazing book during the interview: it's called Shades Of Grey by the incredible Oscar Marzaroli and you can still get copies on Amazon. If you enjoy this podcast, please do leave us a review on iTunes and subscribe on whatever is your preferred platform for your podcasts! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.39 Interview With David Calvert](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-39-interview-with-david-calvert/) Ep.39 Interview With David Calvert In this episode, it is my great pleasure to interview renowned photographer David Calvert FMPA FBIPP who is not only a wonderful photographer, but a true gentleman in the industry as well! The conversation talks about his passion for portraits, how he first became a photographer, his aversion to debt (he learned that the hard way) and how he came to photograph a family's pet dog that had already ceased to be. There are many useful nuggets in here - about anxiety, running a photography business and how getting qualified can help negate your insecurities. During the interview he mentions a couple of photographers - notably David Bailey and Patrick Lichfield - and refer's to Lichfield's book The Most Beautiful Women which was published back in 1981. If you're curious, you can buy a secondhand copy of the book for just a few pounds on Amazon UK. PLEASE also head over to iTunes and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.4 On Life, Lists and Still Loving The Job](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-4-on-life-lists-and-still-loving-the-job/) Ep.4 On Life, Lists and Still Loving The Job It's been one of those days when being a Profession Portrait Photographer is both brilliant and frustrating: that list of things to do just seems to be running away with me! ### [Ep.40 Idle Musings on Lists, Plans & Avoiding Disasters!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-40-idle-musings-on-lists-plans-avoiding-disasters/) Ep.40 Idle Musings on Lists, Plans & Avoiding Disasters! Just me in this one. Me, a microphone, a failed hard drive, a hacked website and some notes on lists and plans. It's been an interesting couple of days! If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also head over to iTunes and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.41 Interview: Ellie Sanderson, Bridal Gown Boutique Owner](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-41-interview-ellie-sanderson-bridal-gown-boutique-owner/) Ep.41 Interview: Ellie Sanderson, Bridal Gown Boutique Owner The great thing about having my own podcast is that I get to talk to lots of interesting people - not, necessarily, from within the photographic industry. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my industry, but I think there is much to be learned from outside the industry too and, besides, the world is full of really cool people full stories, experiences and insight that just might (and I stress just might) be useful when it comes to running a photography business. While this interview focusses on Ellie's hugely successful wedding gown boutiques, there are plenty of snippets that are useful from customer care, looking after employees, using data and, most importantly, some top tips when photographing wedding gowns. Ellie's website is worth a look as it is beautifully designed. Much to be learned there too! It can be found at https://elliesanderson.co.uk/ If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.42 Portraits On A Cruise Ship? Things You Never Considered.](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-42-things-you-never-knew-about-creating-portraits-on-a-cruise-ship/) Ep.42 Portraits On A Cruise Ship? Things You Never Considered. It's just me for this episode: me, a microphone and my musings on creating portraits when on board a ship. When I first encountered the luxury cruise ship that was to be our home and business for the next month, I thought that creating images on board would be a simple extension of what we do here at the studio. Of course, there are similarities but there are also innumerable unexpected factors to consider. Such as what happens when the ship changes it's bearing or how the different spaces of the ship are utilised during the day, making picking a spot that bit more complicated! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.43 Interview: Keith Roberts Paragon Pixels Founder](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-43-interview-keith-roberts-paragon-pixels-founder/) Ep.43 Interview: Keith Roberts Paragon Pixels Founder In this interview, I get to chat with Keith Roberts who had the masterstroke idea of matching top portrait photographers with the world's top cruise line. He talks about his life prior to setting up Paragon Pixels with many funny stories along the way (listen out for how he managed to screw up a critical roll of film while working in medical photography, leaving him barricaded inside the hospital dark room!) Keith is a remarkable guy on a number of levels - not least of which, is that he is a phenomenal photographer in his own right but has spent most of his life promoting the work of others (something that is all too rare!) It was his idea to match up some of the world's top portrait photographers with the world's top cruise line and, along with Phil, his brother, he set up the company which now delivers beautiful images to discerning passengers around the globe. And I am very lucky to BE one of those photographers! Keith cites his favourite book as Steve McCurry's South Southeast. Enjoy! If you did enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.44 Interview: Scott Johnson, The Edge Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-44-interview-scott-johnson-the-edge-photography/) Ep.44 Interview: Scott Johnson, The Edge Photography So it's been a week or three since recording a podcast primarily due to being out on location in Italy co-hosting The 2 Fellows workshop with David Stanbury (shameless plug: if you'd like details of the 2020 workshop then head over to the2fellows.co.uk where we'll be releasing details for next year.) In this podcast, I get to chat (in a VERY loud restaurant) to the inimitable wedding photographer, Scott Johnson, about his work, his history and his business. Lots of great things in here - listen out for how selling files on USB nearly cost him his business (his words, not mine.) Also listen out for a cacophony of culinary sound effects in the background! Scott mentions a couple of books in the podcast: - The Magnum Contact Sheets - Vivian Maier: Street Photographer Both these books are well worth a read - I'm ordering them for our studio library! Enjoy! If you did enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.45 Photography Judges Should Not Be Rude](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-45-photography-judges-should-not-be-rude/) Ep.45 Photography Judges Should Not Be Rude It's just me this episode, wittering away about the week that's been and something that was raised during a recent presentation to a camera club: that photography judges can be pretty rude. And I don't think it's right or proper that this is the case: judges should be polite, constructive, inspiring, entertaining and, most of all, supportive. During this episode, I also mention the announcement of The 2 Fellows Workshop - details for the 2020 workshop in Graphistudio's Castello Ceconi can be found at www.the2fellows.co.uk. We'd love to see you there! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.46 Interview: David Bostock, Wedding Photographer](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-46-interview-david-bostock-wedding-photographer/) Ep.46 Interview: David Bostock, Wedding Photographer This episode was recorded in the hotel lobby at The Societies Convention 2019, so forgive the background noise (and the unexpected accompaniment of a random pianist!) I am interviewing the incredible wedding photographer and all-round nice guy, David Bostock. We talk about all things photography, saxophone playing, the importance of pursuing the image and the strategy of always selling albums. David also mentions his favourite photographers (Bob Carlos Clarke and Horst P. Horst) and his favourite book Clarke's The Dark Summer. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.47 All Things Brand From Cars To Conversations](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-47-all-things-brand-from-cars-to-conversations/) Ep.47 All Things Brand From Cars To Conversations This podcast was triggered by us selling our trusty Land Rover Defender (though we are replacing it with a newer one) and pondering on why we chose such an esoteric car at the heart of our business. Well, of course, it's all part of the brand we decided to build. And so I thought I'd chat a bit about just that: brand. It's so easy to think the brand is your logo, or website, or brochure design or, simply, your images but, of course, it's not quite so simple. Your brand is everything your clients experiences, and I do mean everything. And that includes my beloved Land Rover. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.48 Mark Seymour, Documentary Photographer](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-48-mark-seymour-documentary-photographer/) Ep.48 Mark Seymour, Documentary Photographer In this podcast it is an absolute joy to interview the fantastic documentary photographer, Mark Seymour. Mark has spent many years at the top of the wedding profession but is equally at home (maybe more at home these days) creating iconic street documentary images - so much so that images are featured in the National Geographic magazine. In the interview we talk about many aspects of life, the job and family and Mark's disaster one fateful day when a concerned wedding venue had to call to ask him why he hadn't yet arrived! As an avid collector of books, Mark mentions three in particular (though the titles here are not quite as he recalls): - Contact Sheets, Magnum (one that we have featured previously) - The Life Of A Photograph by Sam Abell (during the podcast, Mark refers to this as "Two Shots" which may have been an overseas title of the book - at least, I couldn't find any reference to a book of that name but, given Mark's description, this appears to be the correct one.) - The World from My Front Porch by Larry Towell These links go to abebooks.co.uk which has a vast range of titles available and is noticeably cheaper than Amazon! If you're interested in attending one of Mark's incredible Street Photography courses, details can be found here. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.49 On The Way Home From The Gym...](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-49-on-the-way-home-from-the-gym/) Ep.49 On The Way Home From The Gym... This podcast really is about the importance of relationships - particularly those with your clients - how some of those can play out in your career. I don't know if this podcast makes too much of an intellectual point other than it being a vehicle for me to be proud of our son, Jake. That's the nice thing about a podcast: I occasionally get a chance to wax lyrical about the people I love around me, whether family, friends or clients. Still, it's only a short one so you can get through it in the time it takes to have a cup of tea, import the images from a couple of memory cards or play a few levels on Lemmings! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.5 On Truth And Writing A Book](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-5-on-truth-and-writing-a-book/) Ep.5 On Truth And Writing A Book In this episode, I explain why truth is so important to me and what it was like to co-author the book Mastering Portrait Photography with Sarah Plater. Enjoy! ### [Ep.50 Terry Hope, Editor Professional Photo Magazine](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-50-terry-hope-editor-professional-photo-magazine/) Ep.50 Terry Hope, Editor Professional Photo Magazine In this podcast I get to chat with Terry Hope, the long standing editor of Professional Photo Magazine and its newbie publisher, having acquired the magazine just a few short weeks ago. Having trained as a photographer Terry went straight into journalism and has worked on titles as varied as Camera Weekly, Amateur Photographer and Professional Photographer. He was part of the team that launched Bright Publishing 13 years ago and was launch editor of Digital Photo Pro, which morphed into Professional Photo a few years back. As the new owner Terry is looking to shake up the title and to introduce lots of fresh ideas and online features, and to kick things off a new website at www.professionalphoto.online has just been launched. In this interview, he chats about his life, career, the industry (magazine and photography) and how he used to play bass in a punk band. During the interview, as we always do, Terry added the book "Dogs" by Elliott Erwitt to our ever-expanding photographer's libary - you can buy your copy at Abe Books. Our library is growing fast (we order a copy of each of the books mentioned as I have always loved being surrounded by books!) ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.51 Thinking About Clients](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-51-thinking-about-clients/) Well, it's just me in this podcast: me, a microphone, a couple of hours in the car and Friday night rush hour traffic. Clearly I had time to kill so in this podcast I chat away about bits and pieces but mostly about figuring out clients and why you have to stay positive no matter what happens. I also take the opportunity to add a new book to the Photographer's Library: Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell. I admit it's been a while since I read it (and I am NOT necessarily advocating ACTUALLY hugging your customers but this is a good book for some ideas about building your business!) ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.52 Tom Stogdon, Sculptor](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-52-tom-stogdon-sculptor/) Ep.52 Tom Stogdon, Sculptor One of the greatest pleasures of recording this podcast is that I get to talk to all sorts of people and, in this episode, it gave me the opportunity to chat with an incredible, internationally renowned sculptor, Tom Stogdon. We talk about all things creative from leaving his job as a greengrocer (his love of arranging fruit and vegetables in many and various ways is still with him) to how you develop your own, unique style. And all of this with the sounds of chickens, cockerels and song birds in the background. You can see his stunning work here. Tom mentions Richard Serra - you can find a list of some of his books here. He also mentions the book Play With Your Food. One for you and the kids! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.53 Chris Cooze from Hasselblad](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-53-chris-cooze-from-hasselblad/) Ep.53 Chris Cooze from Hasselblad In this episode, I get to to sit and chat with Chris Cooze, Technical Communications & Training Manager at Hasselblad. It has been a real pleasure for me to have both the Hasselblad X1D and H6D for a couple of months here at the studio and it was Chris, along with Hasselblad's European Marketing Manager, Mark Witney, who came to the studio to help me get the most out of the kit. Who knows, maybe we'll add medium format to the capability here for our studio portraits! In the interview, we chat about life, the universe (well, the moon anyway) and the future of medium format. Chris is a lovely guy and an accomplished photographer in his own right, as well as being Hasselblad's technical go-to person, and his own work can be found on his personal website. As we build our little photographer's library, Chris recommends Patrick Demarchelier during the interview. He has a vast back-catalogue of fashion images so this link takes you to Abe Books and lists the titles he has available there. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.54, Interview With Steve Gregory, Founder Of Fitlife Gym](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-54-interview-with-steve-gregory-founder-of-fitlife-gym/) Ep.54, Interview With Steve Gregory, Founder Of Fitlife Gym "To keep them coming, to keep them inspired, you have to give them an experience." So true. In this episode I talk to Steve Gregory, founder and owner of the inspirational Fitlife Gym about his career as professional footballer (soccer player for my U.S. friends), his motiviation for fitness and how he deals with the highs and lows of running a business. A wonderfully frank interview that deals with the low points of suddenly running a successful business (yes, that is often how it can feel), having good mentors and finding ways to keep the business exciting and fast moving. This is one of those interviews where the parallels to the photography industry are all too apparent. Except for the fitness bit... This episode's addition to our every-expanding library is Start With Why by Simon Sinek - a great book if you're building a new business! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.55 Karen Massey, Photographer](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-55-karen-massey-photographer/) Ep.55 Karen Massey, Photographer "You soon start to learn a lot more about business" In this interview, I get to talk to Karen Massey, wedding and portrait photographer. Karen is a successful photographer and business owner, having started out owning a beauticians and then transferring her not inconsiderable business skills to setting up a brilliant photography studio. She talks about how she has always worked from an early age, how she had to 'soften her accent' (not something you could be asked by an employer to do in this day and age!) and her plans for her new venture: RISE PFP, a group for professional female photographers. Plenty for everyone in this podcast from business insights to how she runs her weddings. Oh, and she's really lovely too! Not only did Karen bring ideas for books for our little library, but she brought the actual books too! - The first is A Coastal Reflection by Mary Shayler. This can be found here on Blurb books - The second is the Aston Martin Centenary Collection Programme 1913-2013. One for all you petrol heads out there! As I suspected in the podcast, this isn't one that you can buy (though a few copies do appear to be on eBay.) A real one off for our library! Both worthy additions to our library! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.56 Faith, Fear, Fatigue: The ‘F' Words Of A Photography Business](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-56-faith-fear-fatigue-the-f-words-of-a-photography-business/) Ep.56 Faith, Fear, Fatigue: The ‘F' Words Of A Photography Business In this episode, I am talking about the all-too familiar feelings of running a photography business: faith, fear and fatigue (and possibly one or two other 'F' words!) When you start, you set out from some point of having nothing more than an idea - and a whole heap of faith! Insecurity, sure, ignorance, naivity, risk, maybe a little poverty - but, in the end, an utter belief that it's the right thing to do. You may not be right, of course, but that faith carries you into the new venture. Then it works. And the fatigue and the fear kick in. This podcast is just me chatting away about those feelings and reading out the email I sent to Sarah way back in 2006 that described how I hoped things might pan out and firmly setting the two of us as the team that would make it happen (even though both of us were in different careers at that point!) I mentioned a book by Anita Roddick in the email I sent to Sarah - I think she bought the book for me as a Christmas present. That book is 'Business Unusual' and can be found on Amazon for 1 pence (the postage is probably a tenner...) ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.57 Interview With Rob Panting, Communications Manager, OxLEP](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/p-57-interview-with-rob-panting-communications-manager-oxlep/) Ep.57 Interview With Rob Panting, Communications Manager, OxLEP Meet one of our clients. Rob Panting, Communications Officer for OxLEP (The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership) has been a commissioning client of ours for nearly decade - starting at the Hearing Dogs charity in 2011 and then with Affinity Trust, Bucks Care and his current employer, OxLEP. I thought it would be interesting to ask him what he values when selecting (and retaining) suppliers such as photographers. Of course, the answer to that question is a useful insight (and the answer is NOT the quality of the photography!) It was a pleasure to chat with someone who I really love working with and whose organisation really does value and use photography well - if you look at their website you'll see what I mean. Rob came to our studio to chat along with Leona Weston who is their star apprentice and she also chats a little about why she chose an apprenticeship rather than college or university. Plenty of stuff in this interview if you want to run a successful photography business. As usual, I asked our guest to recommend a book for our virtual library and Rob recommended two. There's enthusiasm for you. The first is Coming Back To Me - the autobiography of Marcus Trescothick. This is a true-life sporting memoir of one of the best batsman in the game who stunned the cricket world when he prematurely ended his own England career. Trescothick's brave and soul-baring account of his mental frailties opens the way to a better understanding of the unique pressures experienced by modern-day professional sportsmen. The second is not a book but a magazine: Sports Illustrated. You'll have to listen to the interview to understand Rob's passion for sports photography. While I can't give a link to be able to download the one book, you can subscribe to the magazine (if you fancy)_ here. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.58 Interview With Melanie East, Newborn Photographer](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-58-interview-with-melanie-east-newborn-photographer/) Ep.58 Interview With Melanie East, Newborn Photographer In this interview, I get to spend a very happy hour in the company of Melanie East, an extraordinary Newborn Photographer and Trainer: Melanie is known around the world for her passion and creativity for newborn photography and is the author of the book The Art Of Newborn Photography. She is equally passionate about running a business which is key to the success of any social photographer! We get to talk about how (and why) she became a newborn photographer; her views on safety; running a business; the love of the sales process and her taste in soft furnishings (which, it has to be said, is flawless.) Her chosen book - which I initially struggle to spot under a huge pile of publications that permanently resides on her coffee table - is the Icons Of Photography by Peter Stepan which is a wonderfully worthy addition to our ever-expanding library. And you can get 2nd-hand copies for less than a fiver! Bargain. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.59 Constancy Or Invention: The Photographer's Dilemma](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-59-constancy-or-invention-the-photographers-dilemma/) Ep.59 Constancy Or Invention: The Photographer's Dilemma Well, I'm back on the microphone! Had a bit of a break as the summer peak workload kicked in but once more, I am sitting in the cab of the Land Rover Defender, muttering musings into the microphone on the move. Haha, a little alliteration for you. Anyway, this episode's topic is the choice between constancy or invention: should we, as photographers, creatives, artists, strive for constancy - recognisable, familiar images - or push the boundaries of invention, looking for new images, new ideas, originality. Of course, there is no easy answer to this; it is more of a discussion about personal preference and effective business choice, but it's an interesting topic nonetheless and one that was actually driven by conversations with my clients so I thought it might be of use. Let me know your thoughts! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.6 On Plagiarism (Of A Good Sort) And Being Critical Like A Judge](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-6-on-plagiarism-of-a-good-sort-and-being-critical-like-a-judge/) Ep.6 On Plagiarism (Of A Good Sort) And Being Critical Like A Judge This podcast talks about plagiarism - but of the right kind - and why it's a useful skill to think like a photography judge! ### [Ep.60 Dealing With That Disappointment](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-60-dealing-with-that-disappointment/) Ep.60 Dealing With That Disappointment You've finished your shoot (in this case, a wedding), everything is packed up, the memory cards are shared between you (you know, just in case you're in a car crash - you have clean underwear on too, just like your mum told you) and you're trundling your way home. And then it hits you. That all-too-familiar wave of paranoia and disappointment. You start to think of all the images that you didn't take. Ignoring the hundreds, maybe thousands, that you did capture - beautiful images, maybe even a competition image or two. And the constraints of a wedding. And the UK weather. Yet still, you focus on the things you didn't manage to capture. And it's a normal feeling. Uncomfortable? Yes of course, but still normal. This podcast is all about that disappointment. Enjoy (and don't be disappointed!) ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.61 Interview With Su Kaye, MPA Chair Of Judges](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-61-interview-with-su-kaye-mpa-chair-of-judges/) Ep.61 Interview With Su Kaye, MPA Chair Of Judges It's always a pleasure when I get to sit and chat with someone with such a wide and interesting view of photography as Su Kaye, MPA's Chair Of Judges. I've known Su for a few years and, as ever, she is intriguing, knowledgeable and engagingly honest about her life, career and what the future holds for her and the photography industry. As always, I asked my interviewee to choose a book or two for our ever-expanding library and she chose the following brilliant editions: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846149649/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_bx1TDbYEFFBMM Obama: An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclops-Collection-Photographs-Albert-Watson/dp/0821223887 Cyclops: A Collection of Photographs by Albert Watson I've used the Amazon links for these (as these offered the best value I could find) but they're available in various online booksellers. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.62 Think About The WHY Not Just The WHAT!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-62-think-about-the-why-not-just-the-what/) Ep.62 Think About The WHY Not Just The WHAT! In this episode, I ponder on WHY on earth I am taking the shot? There has to be a reason, right? Surely I am not just lying in the dirt for the fun of it! In this day and age it is all too easy to simply take the photograph because you can - not because it's a good image or there's a profound reason to take it. These are my thoughts on some reasons why you should create that image - and some thoughts on not bothering if there's no good reason to. Enjoy! If you do enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify. PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.63 Interview With Photographer Richard Bradbury FBIPP FMPA](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-63-interview-with-photographer-richard-bradbury-fbipp-fmpa/) Ep.63 Interview With Photographer Richard Bradbury FBIPP FMPA A real pleasure to have interviewed Richard Bradbury FBIPP FMPA. Richard is one of the world's great photographers and an all round nice guy and the interview is full of little gems about preparing for sales, customer service and authenticity. In fact, our chat in his west London studio is full of useful stuff for anyone interested in running a photography business. As is our way, I asked Richard to recommend a book or two for our ever-expanding library of interesting books. Richard recommended Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind and The Work Of Hipgnosis : Walk Away Renee by Storm Thorgerson. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.64 The Importance Of Being Present](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-64-the-importance-of-being-present/) Ep.64 The Importance Of Being Present So you know what it's like: you're in the middle of a busy week, the weather is crappy, you're tired and you have a shoot to do... Not exactly conducive to creativity. And yet, and yet... your job is to weave your magic - from the experience to the images, your clients rely on you, nay your business relies on you to kick into gear and perform to the absolute limit of your ability. Even if you'd rather be sitting with a cup of tea (or a glass of wine!) And that is always the case. No matter what, it is crucial that you turn up and you're present. 100%. Each. And. Every. Time. Your clients deserve it. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.65 2020 Vision: Twelve Months In Training](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-65-2020-vision-twelve-months-in-training/) Ep.65 2020 Vision: Twelve Months In Training Ah, and so here we are: 2020. We've careered through the holidays like a kid on a brand new scooter, bouncing down the road until we've crashed headlong into the New Year, and here we are, bruised and smiling, all ready to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and get back on for the ride ahead. This year, this year, is all about development and learning. I LOVE this job - more than you can imagine - but by the end of 2019 I was utterly shattered. Now, don't get me wrong here, 2019 was the best year we've ever had in terms of clients, shoots and, ultimately, revenue, but it was a brutal 12 months and by the time we bounced into the festive season, I was feeling anything other than festive. Unless by 'festive' you mean sat useless in an armchair craving, of all things, sherry, a little junk TV and a sausage roll or two. Or four. It had not been a year for taking time for personal development. So we kick off this year while the paint is still wet and it's going to be a year of learning. I need to spend 2020 focussing (forgive the pun) on driving my creativity forward. I don't quite know where that will lead - or how I'll do it - but I am utterly determined to get out there and adding some new arrows to the quiver, tools to the toolbox, colours to the palette: basically, I need to get out there and learn some new stuff. And I cannot wait to get started! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.66 It's January And It's A Studio Revamp](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-66-its-january-and-its-a-studio-revamp/) Ep.66 It's January And It's A Studio Revamp We are already 2% of the way through 2020. 0.02 of 2020. Go figure. I've used that time so far to grab tools, some wood and to hack away at our studio - goodness knows it (and me) needed it. It's a long time since I've drawn up engineering drawings and I am, honestly, loving every second. Oh, and I've been creating pictures too. So you didn't need to worry that I had retired the cameras. They're just having a breather. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.67 You Have To Relate (Whatever It Takes!)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-67-you-have-to-relate-whatever-it-takes/) Ep.67 You Have To Relate (Whatever It Takes!) Relating to your client is a key skill in social photography - and there is no escaping it. Whatever it takes, you need to find ways of having a meaningful conversation even if you're client is (literally) a rocket scientist! Right now I am sitting at the 2020 Societies Of Photographers Convention, typing this in the hotel bar, watching photographers laughing and joking as we begin the annual print judging. Always fun. Hopefully I'll get a chance to record daily updates while I'm here but we'll see how it goes! In the meantime Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.68 Print-Judging Comments From The Societies Convention](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-68-print-judging-comments-from-the-societies-convention/) Ep.68 Print-Judging Comments From The Societies Convention I've just returned from the Societies Of Photographers Convention in London which has been an absolute ball! Though I admit, I am hurting just a little. A week of laughter and learning. And maybe just a little socialising. Having sat as one of the print competition judges once again, I thought it might be helpful to relay some of the comments I heard during the process of picking this year's winning images to help you create higher scoring photographs in the future. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.69 Where Have All Our Teaspoons Gone?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-69-where-have-all-our-teaspoons-gone/) Ep.69 Where Have All Our Teaspoons Gone? Where have all our teaspoons gone? Seriously. They just seem to evaporate from the studio! Soon we'll be using the handle of a knife to stir the coffee around here! But that's not really the topic of the podcast - in this podcast, a budding photographer from Glasgow emailed some questions and so I thought it would be a good way to both answer her curiosity AND have a topic for a podcast. Ah, a little efficiency around here is definitely a good thing. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.7 On The Power Of Conversation](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-7-on-the-power-of-conversation/) Ep.7 On The Power Of Conversation Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast 007. In this podcast, we discuss the merits of talking a lot. Oh, the irony. ### [Ep.70 - Interview With Gary Hill](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-70-interview-with-gary-hill/) Ep.70 - Interview With Gary Hill It's so lovely to be in the position to sit and chat with some incredible people - and that they agree to it when I ask! This episode is with Gary Hill - a fantastic photographer, trainer, judge and all-round lovely bloke. Admittedly we were chatting in the bar of the SWPP Convention in London which does inject a kind of 'authentic ambience' to the whole affair (which is to say - it's noisy!) We get to chat about judging, the joy of printing and the story of how Gary became a photographer - it's quite a story! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.71 First And Foremost, First Impressions](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-71-first-and-foremost-first-impressions/) Ep.71 First And Foremost, First Impressions During a conversation the other day, a visiting photographer to the studio passed a comment about the frames he displayed in the entrance to his own studio. This one, short, passing comment, led me to the obvious observation that first impressions count. And, importantly, you cannot have a second go at it. But everyone knows that right? Of course. So I thought I'd take a walk through our studio here to see if we live up to that very same ideal that I so often advise others. Listen to the podcast to see if our clients' initial impact when arriving at the studio is everything I think it should be! During the podcast I mention the one-on-one workshops we run here at our studio, right in the heart of our little village. More details can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops/ Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.72 Staying Positive In These Weird Times](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-72-staying-positive-in-these-weird-times/) Ep.72 Staying Positive In These Weird Times Well, in just one week things have changed incredibly rapidly! But we're stocked up, we have each other and we are staying positive. Together we can get through this thing. So, for a while at least, the podcast will be shorter and (hopefully) more frequent. That way I might just be able to keep up with the latest news! Stay safe and be kind to yourself. Oh, and be kind to others too. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.73 - Spread A Little Joy](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-73-spread-a-little-joy/) Ep.73 - Spread A Little Joy How is everyone doing? I have to be honest, I am finding it all a little surreal - if it weren't so catastrophic it would be fascinating: from the chaotic economy to the psychology of being interned in your own home, I would love to be reading about this in the history books rather than living through it. However, life continues and I am naturally a pretty positive kind of person so we crack on and do what we can to keep the business going and to add a little joy to the world. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.74 Get Your Portfolio Sorted (Now Is A Good Time!)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-74-get-your-portfolio-sorted-now-is-a-good-time/) Ep.74 Get Your Portfolio Sorted (Now Is A Good Time!) Still here, still in lockdown, still working like crazy to make sure we're ready for when things eventually open up again, as they must, inevitably do. Right now, things are busy: we're re-designing our website and rebuilding a platform for our portfolio - a wonderful opportunity to go through images old and new and to decide which images we'll use for the next year or two in all of our literature and articles. It's great fun but hard work! This podcast is all about that task. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.75 To Me, To You, Two Metres Or More](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-75-to-me-to-you-two-metres-or-more/) Ep.75 To Me, To You, Two Metres Or More So, how are things with you? Still in lockdown? Well we are here - just trying to make the best of things. Anyway, good news (for me at least!): we've been listed as the top Portrait Photography Podcast on Feedspot (https://blog.feedspot.com/portrait_photography_podcasts/) which is lovely! I only started this podcast for fun (and because I simply love audio nearly as much as I love photography - though I freely admit I'm better with the camera than the recorder!) We're also a regular in the top 20 iTunes podcast charts for both the UK and the US. OK, well we are for Visual Arts podcasts anyway. haha. I don't know how many Visual Arts podcasts there are around the world - maybe not so many - but it still feels good that we listeners and subscribers out there. Thank you! In this podcast, I mention a few things - firstly two incredible magazines: Nphoto and Professional Photo magazines. We've featured regularly in both of them and I'd love to direct you all to both of them: - https://professionalphoto.online/ - https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/springph/ I also mention two of the best of the Associations in the UK - the BIPP and the SWPP - http://www.bipp.com/ - http://swpp.co.uk/ If you're a professional photographer (or about to become a professional photoghers) then these are definitely worth looking into as they provide incredible support for photographers like you and me. Anyway, in the midst of everything going on around us, this podcast is really about optimism and planning for the future - at a 2-metre distance of course! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [Ep.8 On How I Came To Be A Photographer](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-8-on-how-i-came-to-be-a-photographer/) Ep.8 On How I Came To Be A Photographer In this podcast, I chat through a series of questions we were sent by a student in Maryland, USA (there are quite a few so it is split over two podcasts!) Hopefully she will find the answers illuminating! ### [Ep.9 On What It Takes To Make It (contd.)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep-9-on-what-it-takes-to-make-it-contd/) Ep.9 On What It Takes To Make It (contd.) Still answering questions - mostly about business factors and what it takes to make a successful photography business. ### [EP100 An Evening In With My Missus: My Favourite Place To Be!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep100-an-evening-in-with-my-missus-my-favourite-place-to-be/) EP100 An Evening In With My Missus: My Favourite Place To Be! Well, it's been 99 episodes to date, and now this, the 100th! Whoever thought we'd get to that milestone? Well, it's entirely down to you amazing people, our subscribers and the feedback we get: that and the cathartic effect of chatting about life as a professional portrait photographer. Over the past 99 episodes, some of my favourites have been the various interviews with many more to come, and there isn't anyone I'd rather be chatting with than my amazing wife and co-director Sarah. So I thought this episode would be a nice moment to grab a glass of wine and look forward to the lockdown restrictions being lifted. Oh, and to reminisce about some of the things that have gone wrong over the years! All while trying to silently consume olives, peanuts, ciabatta and wine! Ah, you gotta love a romantic Friday evening; just the two of us and microphones. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP101 Interview With Terrie & Colin Jones Of The Societies Of Photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep101-interview-with-terrie-and-colin-jones-of-the-societies-of-photographers/) EP101 Interview With Terrie & Colin Jones Of The Societies Of Photographers After the last episode's interview with Sarah (my one-and-only!), this week, I am talking to another husband and wife team - Terrie and Colin Jones from The Societies Of Photographers. I have been a very happy member of The Societies (when I joined it was still just The Society Of Wedding And Portrait Photographers - The SWPP) and so it so good to sit and chat - remotely I might add - with two of the nicest, hardest working people in the industry. The Societies provides a range of benefits for photographers from mentoring, training, networking, promotions, negotiating discounts for members, magazine subscription, qualifications, competitions and so much more. If you're interested in the benefits mentioned by Colin, head to this page and you can see the various links there. As always, I ask my interviewees for a book nomination for our ever-growing library of things to fascinate photographers. Terrie and Colin nominated Mastering Lighting & Flash Photography by our good friend, and incredible photographer, Richard Bradbury. I loved this interview: two genuinely nice people, 60 minutes of chit chat and a lot of laughing. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP102 On Leaving Lockdown And Loving To Laugh!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep102-on-leaving-lockdown-and-loving-to-laugh/) EP102 On Leaving Lockdown And Loving To Laugh! It's been an amazing week and you can really feel the change in energy as the Covid lockdown is gradually eased. Emails coming in, the phones are ringing, shoots are happening (rather than perpetually postponed) and in-person sales sessions are back and in full force! Yay! On the other hand, everything feels rusty, unfamiliar and slightly unnerving. Weird. Getting back up to speed is going to be an exciting process for us here at the studio! Every day is a school day huh? As long as we're laughing all the way, things will be just fine! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP103 On The Witchery Of Words (And The Power Of The Positive)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep103-on-the-witchery-of-words-and-the-power-of-the-positive/) EP103 On The Witchery Of Words (And The Power Of The Positive) Have you ever wondered how just a few words can make your day or break your heart? In this episode I ponder on how words are the backbone of portrait photography: during the shoot, they're the only thing you have! From the minute your client arrives, to the moment you're saying your goodbyes and waving them from your doorstep (you do actually make the effort to see them to their card don't you?!), it's your words and what you say with your body language that is going to make or break the shoot. Yes, the images will ultimately be the thing you sell, but the experience and the way your client feels during the shoot are so much important than any pixels can be. Words. It's all in the witchery of the words. I mention a piece of software called FoCal in the episode - this is a fantastic app for calibrating your lenses if you happen to own a Nikon or Canon camera (sorry Fuji, Sony, and Olympus users!) It was recommended by one of our Mastering Portrait Photography members - Bob Foyers (https://foyers.photography/) and may be one of the most useful apps I will see all year! FoCal can be found here: https://www.reikanfocal.com/ You're welcome. Oh, and thanks to Bob for mentioning it! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP104 On The Courage For Competitions](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep104-on-the-courage-for-competitions/) EP104 On The Courage For Competitions Well, this episode is recorded from my nearly-finished workshop which, while it is ultimately built for making things, also seems to have great acoustics! That wasn't a design choice but it makes for a coincidentally glorious recording studio! It's great at the studio right now, as everything is opening back up and the business is returning to its familiar buzz. This episode, sponsored by Panasonic Eneloop Pro Batteries, discusses entering and learning from image competitions: you cannot win if you don't enter - and there may be other rewards beyond the obvious prizes! Besides, if you're careful about which ones you enter, they're completely anonymous unless you win something! How scary can it be? And yet, they are just that: scary. But if you can find a way past the fear, the rewards make the nerves worthwhile. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP105 On Using Your Own Portfolio To Inspire YOU!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep105-on-using-your-own-portfolio-to-inspire-you/) EP105 On Using Your Own Portfolio To Inspire YOU! In this episode I'm back in the Land Rover Defender heading out to buy our evening's supper: fish'n'chips! We were due to go and sit on a hill side and eat them with a pint of beer but, sadly, the brassic weather has other ideas. Instead, I am pootling through Midsommer Murders territory on a wet and wild Friday evening. In this episode, sponsored by Panasonic Eneloop Pro Batteries, I have an idea about how you might use your own portfolio - the images that you've taken that you love - to inspire you and keep you energised ready for whatever walks through the door. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP106 On Taking Pride In Everything You Do](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep106-on-taking-pride-in-everything-you-do/) EP106 On Taking Pride In Everything You Do In this episode, sponsored by Panasonic eneloop Pro Rechargeable Batteries, I am pondering on the difference between being 'proud' and 'taking pride' in everything you do. A subtle but important distinction - particularly if you're British and have been brought up that pride always comes before a fall! Some ideas about how to get around that familiar feeling of not wanting to brag about your images - tell the client how amazing they look instead! Much more comfortable for us Brits and has the added bonus of making the client feel great too! Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP107 On The Importance Of Polished Shoes](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep107-on-the-importance-of-polished-shoes/) EP107 On The Importance Of Polished Shoes As a kid, I hated polishing my shoes. Every week, on a Sunday evening before school, I would be sent out, brushes in hand, to put some shine on my trusty (and boring) Clarke's shoes. These days, I do it religiously before each and every wedding. And I do it willingly. In this episode, I muse about that and why such inconsequential details matter so much. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP108 On Treating Each Client Like They're You're ONLY Client](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep108-on-treating-each-client-like-theyre-youre-only-client/) EP108 On Treating Each Client Like They're You're ONLY Client Have you ever stood back and thought about how you feel when your suppliers forget that, while you may be one of the thousands of customers to them, they are the ONLY supplier to you? It has always irritated me that companies forget themselves and send out blanket messages that remind me that I am just one of their masses, yet another annoying customer - possibly the worst message you can possibly receive. The asymmetry of that relationship between a client and a company is really at the heart of customer service: making sure that your clients feel truly unique is one of the keys to a successful business. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP109 On Why Being Busy Creates Energy All Of Its Own](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/podcast-template-copy-before-using/) EP109 On Why Being Busy Creates Energy All Of Its Own Dad was always right. Of course, it took me a decade or two to acknowledge that fact, but dad was always right. Of many pearls (of the wisdom variety) he threw in my direction, is this: if you want something doing, give it to someone who's already busy. I don't know if I believed it at the time. That's the thing about fathers: you don't like to tell them they're right. But he always was. And on this one, he was spot on. If you want something doing, get someone who's already busy to do it. Dad's wisdom extends to your business. The busier you are, the more you will get done. And, more importantly, the more people will book you. Life is funny like that. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP110 Interview With Best Selling Author Eni Obi](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep110-interview-with-best-selling-author-eni-obi/) EP110 Interview With Best Selling Author Eni Obi Every day new clients, new stories, new laughter. That is the joy of a portrait photographer. At the end of a recent headshot session, it seemed a shame to stop the laughter. So we didn't. Instead of packing up and going home, we plugged in some microphones and recorded a podcast. The portrait session had been sunny and full of stories and the interview is much the same! I love when that happens: you meet someone new and the session flies past, with as much chat as creativity. Serendipity, karma, the luck of the righteous; whoever is looking after me, it is true that I get to meet and talk to some amazing people! And Eni Obi, best-selling author, speaker and coach is one of those people. The podcast touches on her life, her career, her book, her energy and her positivity. If you're curious, her bestselling book, Your Life Is Calling: How To DO YOU And Live Without Regrets is available on Amazon. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP111 On Technique vs Imagination](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep111-on-technique-vs-imagination/) EP111 On Technique vs Imagination I am so sorry it's been a couple of months since I last published an episode - a very busy few months here at the studio! In this episode, numerous conversations at The UK Photography Show 2021 started me thinking about whether technique is more important than imagination (or vice versa). What do you think? Let me know in the comments or drop me an email (paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk) - I'm genuinely curious! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP112 Interview With Julia Fensom, Sleep Consultant And Author](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep112-interview-with-julia-fensom-sleep-consultant-and-author/) EP112 Interview With Julia Fensom, Sleep Consultant And Author I knew this would be an entertaining podcast and so it proved to be: Julia Fensom, author of With Sleep I Can Do Anything: The First Year - A Manual is always funny, energetic and full of ideas. So this interview was always going to be interesting - and long! When the two of us get together it is always a very funny hour or two, laughing about life, having families and running a small business. While, admittedly, we do talk a bit about babies (and photographing them), mostly the interview is about life, business and what it takes to work well with clients (some of whom are only a few weeks old!) As usual, I asked Julia to nominate a book - or maybe two - that could be added to the ever-expanding library of interesting reads: Cribsheet By Emily Oster A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788164490/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_QMAF854F9DEE3JCQ8QVY Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0141983760/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_1TYQTNRNTM1PX0JYZ81X Both these links will take you to the Amazon book store but I am sure they are available elsewhere! Also, it would be remiss if I didn't include Julia's own book: With sleep, I can do anything: The first year - A manual https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1983378925/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_C8XC47XMX02A5NRK4VKA So with 90 minutes of listening time, this might not fit within your regular commute but, hopefully, it'll be interesting enough to pick back up on the way home! Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP113 On Moving To Mirrorless](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep113-on-moving-to-mirrorless/) EP113 On Moving To Mirrorless Switching to a mirrorless system was always going to happen - SLRs (and their requisite mirrors) are slowly heading the same way as film, dark rooms, Black Forest gateaux, prawn cocktail and sandals with socks. Though I happen to love Black Forest gateaux. And film. And the darkroom. Prawn cocktails and sandals with socks, well they can stay in the history books! Anyway, James Keen DM'd me on Instagram and asked for an update on my move to mirrorless and so, while clattering my way home in the Land Rover from a perfect Oxfordshire wedding, here are my thoughts. With a few rattly sound effects in the background just for authenticity. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP114 On Why The Studio Is NOT A Dull White Box](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep114-on-why-the-studio-is-not-a-dull-white-box/) EP114 On Why The Studio Is NOT A Dull White Box When I first set out in this crazy, camera-carrying career, I had mixed views about working in the studio - I much preferred being outside in natural light with the environment as my backdrop. Over the years, that changed as I realised much of my cynicism was partly because I didn't understand it and partly because many of those who had taught me didn't excite me. Now? Well, now I think of studio portrait photography as some of the finest, most inspiring imagery you can imagine. In this podcast, I try to explain why. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP115 On Why Mirrorless Is About To Come Of Age - The Nikon Z9](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep115-on-why-mirrorless-is-about-to-come-of-age-the-nikon-z9/) EP115 On Why Mirrorless Is About To Come Of Age - The Nikon Z9 So it's Sunday as I both record and write this and I'm having a frankly chilled day. Not that this is in any way your worry, but I thought I'd tell you. This episode is a rebuttal of my own grumpy podcast (EP113) when I seem to have spent most of it muttering about my Z7ii and how it isn't quite there yet. Well, this one is the other extreme - here are the reasons I think mirrorless and, by extension, the Nikon Z9 is about to come of age. If the spec of the Z9 is correct (I don't have my hands on one yet - it's ordered and paid for but could be a while) then this camera won't just be the pinnacle of mirrorless as we know it, it will be the start of a whole new generation of cameras and capability. Seriously. I also give a shameless (and, just to be clear, unpaid) plug for the wonderful institution that is Grays Of Westminster - simply the best Nikon shop in the world. I should add, I don't know if there are other dedicated Nikon shops in the world. I don't care if there are: Grays would still come out on top. It is truly like Ollivander's Wand Shop in Harry Potter. But with lenses not wands. And customer service that is every bit as personal. If you're curious they can be found at https://www.graysofwestminster.co.uk/ and they also have a fabulous range of 2nd hand kit in their online store. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP116 Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow: Your Business Is An Engine](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep116-suck-squeeze-bang-blow-your-business-is-an-engine/) EP116 Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow: Your Business Is An Engine Suck, squeeze, bang, blow: four words that drive an engine. OK, so maybe an obtuse analogy but a business is much like a power unit - once it's running, it doesn't take too much to keep it going but you need to keep it fuelled and maintained. Ignore these things at your own peril! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP117 Interview With Grays Of Westminster](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep117-interview-with-grays-of-westminster/) EP117 Interview With Grays Of Westminster Well, this is the last episode of 2021. Unless I find a moment to drag myself away from the turkey, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, cheese, Quality Street, sherry, wine, stuffing, more turkey, more cheese and maybe just a tad more sherry. Oh go on then, if I must, best make it a small one. In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with Grays Of Westminster - a legendary shop of all things Nikon. I am speaking with Becky and Kon from the shop who not only run rings around me with their knowledge of Nikon gear but are two of the nicest people you can imagine! It is a lovely interview, irrespective of the camera brand you use. Mostly we chat kit, customer service and the imminent Z9! In the interview, I ask them both for the book recommendations. Kon recommended Wonderland, by Annie Leibovitz: ‘Looking back at my work, I see that fashion has always been there,' Annie Leibovitz observes in the preface to Wonderland. ‘Fashion plays a part in the scheme of everything, but photography always comes first for me. The photograph is the most important part. And photography is so big that it can encompass journalism, portraiture, reportage, family photographs, fashion ... My work for Vogue fueled the fire for a kind of photography that I might not otherwise have explored.' Becky recommended The Real Deal, by Jo McNally 'Joe writes about everything from the crucial ability to know how to use (and make!) window light to the importance of creating long-term relationships built on trust; from lessons learned after a day in the field to the need to follow your imagination wherever it takes you; from the random and lucky moments that propel one's career to the wonders and pitfalls of today s camera technology. For every mention of f-stops and shutter speeds, there is equal discussion about the importance of access, the occasional moment of hubris, and the idea of becoming iconic. Before Joe was a celebrated and award-winning photographer, before he was a well-respected educator and author of multiple bestselling books, he was just Joe, hustling every day, from one assignment to the next, piecing together a portfolio, a skill set, a reputation, a career. He imagined a life and then took pictures of it. Here are a few frames.' I'll be adding them to the library! If you'd like to see some of their videos, they can be found on YouTube (or just search for 'Grays Of Westminster') Have a wonderful Christmas, one and all and here's to a happy New Year! Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP118 Admit It. Own It. Fix It.](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep118-admit-it-own-it-fix-it/) EP118 Admit It. Own It. Fix It. It's 2022 and I have to say it's starting off in a very positive mood! Admittedly New Year didn't go quite to plan, thanks to Covid and family injury, but other than that all good. And besides, my Nikon Z9 has arrived and I am now having a ball with what can only be described as the best camera I've ever had the pleasure to use. More on that in this and future podcasts! We had a wonderful email today from a client saying how happy she was with everything we'd done - a truly lovely email to receive! But here's the thing: during this particular job, a mistake had crept in. They sometimes do; we are a team of humans! But how we dealt with it, how we managed it, how we reacted to that client and made sure we did everything possible to apologise and fix it, well that made all the difference. And we have an email to prove it! Running a business is never going to be easy but dealing with mistakes has to be at the very heart of what you do. Just remember: Admit It, Own It, Fix It. Oh and here are a few pictures from a walk we had in the Welsh Hills (the Clywdian Hills to be precise): Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP119 Everyone Included: Interview With Author Helen May](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep119-everyone-included-interview-with-author-helen-may/) EP119 Everyone Included: Interview With Author Helen May If there is one skill I have, it's recognising an opportunity when it bops me on the nose. Today was one of those moments. Helen May actually came to the studio to update her headshots but the minute we sat and talked about her work on diversity and inclusion, I knew she would be perfect to have on the podcast. Luckily both of our diaries had some time after her session and so we sat, chatted and laughed about her life, her work, her new book and how photographers (like me) can learn and improve our approach both as company owners and as people who interact with people on a daily (or hourly!) basis. Helen's new book Everyone Included is available on Amazon:  Diversity and inclusion isn't just an HR exercise - it can make a real difference to your team performance too. By making everyone in your team feel like they belong, you'll be able to boost motivation and productivity. Everyone Included helps you make inclusion, belonging and wellbeing central to your team. By helping everyone feel that they belong, your team will foster genuine inclusion and be ready to adapt and evolve in the future. With a step-by-step plan to design and implement a diversity and inclusion plan that brings results: - Where are you now? - Understand your team profile now by conducting a belonging Audit to identify how inclusive your team is. - What do I do next? - Design a D&I plan, including a business case to win support, and identify key metrics to measure its effectiveness - How do I keep going? - Ensure your programme continually improves and remains relevant by creating measurements and feedback loops Everyone Included is your comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating a diversity and inclusion strategy that delivers results for your team. As always, I asked my interviewee for a book recommendation for our little library and she recommended The Art Of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli - and can be found here on Amazon. It was a very funny, very informative hour or so and well worth a listen. Of course, I would say that but have a listen and see what you think! And if you're thinking that Helen and I hit it off immediately? Well, you'd be absolutely right! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP120 Service Is King, No Matter The Price](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep120-service-is-king-no-matter-the-price/) EP120 Service Is King, No Matter The Price So it's been a month since recording the last podcast. A busy month. A very very busy month. But during that time I did manage to get some time out with Sarah and our trusty spaniel, Rufus, and go for a walking holiday in South Wales. Wales is my home country so it is always a real joy to be back - there is something about the country, its ruggedness and its friendliness in equal measure: a week of walking, enjoying the sights and laughing. Glorious. During the week, I had a chance to experience customer service in all its glory (and otherwise) and I took the opportunity of paying attention to see if there is anything we could learn. During this podcast, I mention some workshops we've introduced here at our studio. Details of these can be found here on our website. Enjoy! Cheers P. ### [EP121 Portraits Are Portraits, Even If They're Corporate!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep121-portraits-are-portraits-even-if-theyre-corporate/) I think I may have mentioned this before, but I LOVE creating portraits. The past couple of days have been all about headshots - part corporate, part creative branding. Either way, these are just portraits. And that is something that I cannot stress enough: if you're a portrait photographer, creating cool, engaging headshots is no different to creating fine-art portraits - and you get to meet some incredibly interesting people along the way. When you're designing your photography business, it is worth remembering that there is more than one way to generate revenue if you have a talent for capturing portraits! During this episode, I mention the workshops we've introduced here at our studio. Details of these can be found here on our website. Enjoy! ### [EP122 Fireworks and Finding Freedom In The Studio](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep122-fireworks-and-finding-freedom-in-the-studio/) It's late and I'm driving back from a beautiful spring wedding, shot in uncharacteristic April sunshine. I am, to put it mildly, hot and tired. in spite of this, I thought it would be an idea to record a quick podcast on my way home, so here it is - various musings on finding freedom in the studio and the joy of using the Z9 as a wedding photographer. Oh, and I got to photograph some fireworks which is always a lot of fun! During this episode, I mention the workshops we've introduced here at our studio. Details of these can be found here on our website. Enjoy! ### [EP123 Interview With Street Photographer Ross Grieve](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep123-interview-with-street-photographer-ross-grieve/) This episode was recorded in a bar - possibly my favourite but, in contrast to our studio garden - not the quietest place to record audio. But it makes me happy. It was at this year's incredible Societies of Photographers Convention in London where I spent the week judging and, well, generally feeling liberated from the previous two years of lockdown! The interview is with one of the nicest guys in the industry - Ross Grieve - who is a street and portrait photographer as well as a videographer and Panasonic Ambassador. He is also the host of the Talking Shot podcast - details of which he gives in the interview. As always, I asked my interviewee to nominate a book that would make us smile and what a choice it is! The. Far Side, by Gary Larson is one of those books you just can't put down and can't help but feel better for reading. Well, it is choc-full of funny cartoons after all! Of course, being in a bar, we had bought ourselves a pint or two and we commence with the obligatory cheers... During this episode, I also mention the workshops we've introduced here at our studio. Details of these can be found here on our website. Enjoy! ### [EP127 - Things Change (The Z9 Has Changed Them)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep127-things-change-the-z9-has-changed-them/) Well, I admit it; I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but I am now shooting as much in Auto (well, Aperture-Priority anyway) as much as I am in Manual. I have spent my entire life both shooting and teaching manual control of your camera, and here I am in a world of auto exposure. Why? Well, the Nikon Z9 has changed absolutely everything for me! Have a listen to hear why!So this week, Sarah and I found ourselves in an exhibition of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood At the Ashmolean museum in Oxford. Now I'm not really that clued up on classical art, but there are three groups of artists where if I happened to find an exhibition, I will go in and see them. The first of course are the Dutch Masters, the 17th century, Rembrandt, Vermeer. And well, if they're on, I will go and see them. I say, when they were on, of course, they're long dead, but you know what I mean? If I see an exhibition with any of those guys, their understanding of light and mood and tone and characterization, it's every portrait, photographer's dream. One year when Sarah and I were working in Sydney, working on a cruise ship And there it was the posters for Rembrandt. And so we trawled our way across the city in spite of being on the other side of the world to go and see something that is well, from this side of the world and it was absolutely glorious. A couple of other groups of artists that I will always go and see other Glasgow boys and the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. Now, both of these groups of artists are fairly recent - sort of mid 19th century to very, very early 20th century. And both had the same sort of idea: to tear up the classical rulebook. But I just love their artistry. I love the romance of it. I love the way they paint and the way they sketch. So you can imagine my pleasure when we were sitting in a queue in Oxford and I noticed on the side of a bus a large banner saying the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, sketches and watercolors on now at the Oxford Ashmolian museum. So we went, we enjoyed and it was worth every single penny. It was beautiful. Every sketch. Every idea, the way they brought characters together, the romance of it, and more than anything else for me as a photographer, the way they drew the light in someone's eyes. Just stunning. And at a camera club the other night, we sold some of the books, some of my mastering portrait photography books, and someone paid me cash: 20 quid. Now, I don't, I don't remember the last time I had cash in my pocket, 20 quid and as I left the exhibition, I noticed that they had a book that accompanied it: It was 20 quid. So I dragged the 20 quid from whoever had given me that for my book and I bought a copy of another book, seems like a fair trade to me. Cannot wait to sit over the coming wintery months and peruse every detail, every nuance, every technique, and every idea. I'm Paul, this is the mastering portrait photography 📍 podcast. So, how are you? Well, I hope you're all well. Uh, talking to things that have moved on from oil paintings to photography, our daughter, our daughter Harriet has decided that she would like a film camera. So I've been going through all of our old cameras, And figuring out which ones are still working. I loaded up a couple with some XP2 film, and the reason for using XP2 rather than anything else is that it's as a color film, it's easy to develop, but as a black and white film. It's about half the price of all the color films. Call me a cheapskate. Anyway. It was really funny to be loading up some black and white film into my old Zenith and my dad's old Kodak, something or other um, and trying to get these things to work. Well this week, we took them into Snappy Snaps and had them developed. Now I think the cameras probably need a little bit of servicing. One in particular appears to be scraping the surface of the negative, which isn't ideal. Uh, but I'll get that sorted I assume a bit of grit has got into the pressure plate, but that's easy enough to clean. Um, and like two small children, Sarah, and I ate a little bit of lunch and opened up the packets of prints, the packets of prints. Do you remember doing I had to laugh. I was, I was surprised there weren't more oval stickers telling me how bad a job I'd done. , of taking different pictures. They were slightly, out of focus, more or less the exposure was okay , but, , certainly one of the cameras is working better than the other. My Zenith E M with it's 50mm f2 Helios, lens on the front, is still working just fine. Yes. Okay. It all needs a little bit of a service, and it's a bit it took me, about five minutes to load the film in it's so long since I've done, it must be 25 years since I've loaded that camera with film, I'm trying to think back before I had my Nikon D100, it would have been a Pentax MZS, it was an MZS. Which of course was fully automatic. So you stuck the film in, pressed it against the pressure plate, closed the back of the camera and it loaded itself pretty much. And it did everything for you. But going back to the Zenith where it's very much a hand-crank was actually quite funny. Um, but I'm hopeful because the photos have come out all right. Admittedly , the focusing doesn't seem to be that accurate, but I think that might just be my eyes because of course, on my Nikon Z9 or all of the Nikons really, is I can adjust the diopter of the viewfinder, to suit my eyes and the Zenith well, that really doesn't have any kind of adjustments. You just look through the lens and you sort of twist it until it looks vaguely sharp in the middle, but it is at least working and I'm going to hand it over to our daughter this week with two packs of photos where, when we went out for her birthday meal and there's her and her boyfriend, myself, Jake and Sarah. And the pictures are not great, but at least they have come out and that in itself, I think is a miracle. But it is funny going back to working with a manual camera. Well I say manual camera. I mean, it is a manual camera, but it does have a little kind of slidey needley thing on the top of it. So you point it at your subject, you then match up various dials, until one overlaps another. In the end, I found an easy way of doing it, is to use a little app on the iPhone that you point at the scene and it will give you the exposure. Broadly speaking it's a very clever light meter. And then you set the camera up and I say the exposures, weren't the problem in the end. But what it got me thinking about is how much the Nikon Z9, which I now carry for every shoot is changing the way I think. Let me, let me expand. For nearly all of my career, I have both used and taught manual exposure. Total control. Don't leave it to chance. Total control. Take a picture, check your histogram. Or if you have to use a light meter in the older film days, Check your lighting, set your camera. Take a picture. Obviously with digital things have evolved. So you take a picture, you check the histogram. And for me, I stopped using light meters when I got my D 100, because I figured, and I believe this is exactly true, is that the histogram on the back of a camera is by far the most accurate light meter that you can have. Why do I say that? Well, a light meter when you're using a light meter, it tells you how much light is striking a subject. And with that, you interpret it into what the picture, how, how you want to light the picture, how much exposure you want in your picture. You interpret those numbers and turn it into something in your head. And then you create a, you craft a picture around that. Well, the histogram tells you whether you succeeded or not. Unlike a light meter that tells you at the beginning of the process, the histogram tells you at the end of the process. So once you've learned to decode a histogram. There really isn't any need for a light meter anymore. Take a picture, look at the histogram, adjust it. Do it again. So I still use manual or up until this point have still used manual. And then the Z9 came along. Now there's a couple of things about the Z9 that I didn't appreciate that I was going to love as much as I do now. I've already got a, Nikon Z7ii, the Nikon Z7ii, and it's a pretty good camera. Uh, it was the camera when Sarah and I went away to Italy last week or two weeks ago, whenever it was, um, it's the camera I took without its battery pack on the bottom. So it's pretty small, but it's still packing a 50 megapixel punch. It's still got Nikon's optics. It's still got my lenses on the front. So this is really a very small, but incredibly capable camera. But I still drive that camera as I always did my D5, my D6. The EVF, the electronic view finder. It's okay. But it's not all that. Now I didn't struggle with it, but I know I'm looking through an electronic viewfinder. When I bought the Z9, I had no idea just how much. Of a difference. It was going to make to the way I shoot. And I'm guessing the way I will teach photography. Firstly, it's nearly silent. It makes no noise at all. If I don't want it to. And that is precisely how I shoot at the moment; it's almost like holding a video camera. I press the button. It takes a photograph. Nobody knows. And on that note, dear Nikon please. Could we have just a little bit of haptics in that camera I don't want it to go "bip-bip" every time I focus it, I want it to go "zz-zz" and just let my hands know. When I take a photograph, I don't want the screen to go momentarily blank because I don't always notice it. I don't want the four bars around the edge of the screen because I don't always notice it. But equally, I really don't want the crappy noise that you've put in it because it's horrible. There's no excuse for it. Really. It's clever in that, the sound elongates when the shutter speed is slow, so I can hear that it's wrong, but that really isn't good enough. I really want to feel it. Now I understand there are reasons why you might not want to vibrate a camera while it's taking a photograph. I get that. But there must be something that can happen that just lets my hands know. The physicality of using my Zenith with some film in it is really lovely. I can't say that I'm ever going to go back to film. I'm not, I love the idea of it, and I admire those people that still use film and enjoy film. And there has been a little bit of nostalgia for me loading up my old camera, the camera. I saved the money up from my market stall days and my paper rounds to buy, but no, no, I'm not going back to film. But what I did love is the "clack" of the shutter release. Now there's quite a lot going on in any SLR with a physical mirror and a physical shutter, and Zenith did very little to hide it. It goes off with a little bit of a bang. But. I loved that sense of being in touch with the photograph being taken. And sound in a sense, doesn't really do that - certainly not the sounds that Nikon have put in the camera. I'd love something that just gives me a little kick. A little bit of noise, a bit like a game controller, really, I mean, PlayStation and Microsoft, the X-Box have all got haptics inside it. Even the iPhone has haptics when I press a button. It would be really nice if something on the camera body just let me, let me know. Not my client, not my subject, not the people around me. Let me know that something has happened. That said the totally silent operation where the people around me don't know that I've taken a picture is really useful. So yesterday , that photographing a wedding, I went as I always do at the beginning as I arrived at the church, I went and found the priest or the vicar who was presiding and asked her what does she not like? And she said, I don't want you to take any photographs, during the ceremony. And I kind of looked at her very quietly. Didn't say very much, I smiled - I was holding my Nikon - and she looked at me and she said, but with that thing, she said, that's completely silent. And so if you stood at the back. And I can't hear you. And I don't notice you then. Who's going to know you're taking any photographs? I smiled said thanks, went to the back of the church and photographed the entire thing. Because as long as I'm not disrupting anything, as long as I'm not making any sound at all, as long as I'm not distracting people from what is actually the purpose of a wedding ceremony, then what does it matter? And with the low- light capability of the Nikon well, frankly, I don't need flash, I don't need light and this was, well, it was a beautiful church on a stunning September day. As an aside, oh, boy, do I love this time of year? The light, the air, the cool. Ah, this church was absolutely glorious, but the point being I could do all of this because the camera is completely silent. Now, one of the things I used to do with the D5, if it was one of those really irritating sunny then dark, then sunny then dark days, which we get sometimes in this country where the clouds are skidding across a blue sky and the sun seems to just go off and on and off and on like an annoying overheating, lightbulb, is I would put the camera into aperture priority - essentially. Auto. I'd set the shot so that I knew what the aperture was and let's set everything else, but I'd let it sort itself out just to take the pressure off, so I didn't have to be constantly adjusting. Because when you're looking through an optical viewfinder, of course, you're having to keep an eye on your settings, remember that every shot you take, particularly when you're running through a crowd or walking through a crowd, trying to catch those little moments, those little bits of magic of interaction that are going on. Well, with the Z9. I don't need to worry: in aperture priority mode, there's a function that allows it to expose for faces. I set the focusing system to recognize a face and then the exposure system decides how bright to make it. Simple as that. Now that in itself wouldn't be all that useful, except for the fact that looking through the electronic viewfinder now, I know exactly what I'm going to get. I've got so much information, not least of which is the picture that I'm actually about to take, not an optical version and then allowing for the exposure, the actual picture that I'm going to take. Now there is a bit of me that thinks it might be useful if I could have, let's say the picture that I think I'm going to take in the viewfinder, but when the actual picture is taken it's maybe, I don't know, half a stop. Third of a stop underexposed. So I could have a difference between the two. There you go, dear Nikon it might be a nice function. Only because sometimes when I'm reacting really quickly and I'm looking at an image in really bright light. So I'm working in sunshine, looking through the viewfinder, sometimes it's hard to gauge just how bright an image is because of course you're getting sun flare everywhere and ,as someone who wears glasses, that can be quite intrusive. But nonetheless, looking through the viewfinder, I know what I'm going to get. And actually I discovered yesterday, I had forgotten that it's electronic. I don't notice at all, it's such a clear, crisp view through that viewfinder on the Nikon Z9, I forgot completely that I'm not looking at something that isn't purely optical. I'm looking at basically a little TV screen. And there's so much information in there. I've got histograms, I've got horizontal lines. I can program it. I'll admit I haven't yet programmed it, because I'm still, even after nearly a year of having the camera, I'm still figuring out how I want it to behave but I can change multiple different settings, I can have 3, 4, 5, 6 different versions of the viewfinder. Maybe have one with a histogram on with the horizontal lines. I can place the histogram in different places. I can do whatever I like. And I love that. I absolutely love it. So now when I'm working in auto, well, I'm not really because I'm guiding the camera throughout, I'm pushing up and down using the control wheels on the front and the back of the camera. I'm controlling everything. But the camera actually is setting the majority of it. I'm just making sure it's doing what I want it to do. And at the end of the day, that is what we all do as photographers. We're trying to get the camera to do what we wanted to do. And even though when I taught manual, the starting point for any manual exposure at all, was where was the needle in the plus minus scale on the bottom. If there's a bright scene, you wanted that needle to be on the plus side, if it's a dark scene, you wanted that needle to be on the darker side. Now the camera's showing me exactly what I'm going to get and I'm having to completely rewrite how I expose my images. On top of that. I never ever thought I'd like using a flip screen. Never: don't like it can't use them. Just feels uncomfortable unless, I'm looking through the viewfinder, I can't really see the image and there's some peering through a tiny hole, everything felt completely weird. Now, well, now I've got a horizontal flip screen that flicks into a vertical flip screen and it's so bright that it's almost, it's almost unheard of that I can't use it to compose and take the images. When I'm photographing with the Hearing Dogs and I've got a dog running towards me, I used to always, always have my eye planted to the back of that viewfinder. Now I have the flip screen out and I'm watching almost like a filmmaker rather than a photographer, the dog running towards me and I've learnt really very quickly, how to compose and track. And the tracking on the camera is well, it's a dark, dark magic. I don't know how it does it, but it's brilliant. Whether I've got it in people mode when I'm working with faces and working with weddings, or I'm working with portraits. Whether I've got it in animal mode when I'm working with the hearing dogs or the auto detect mode when let's say I've got a Hearing Dog with its family of humans, then it's just electric. I used to always focus, recompose focus, recomposed. That was my absolute mantra. Focus recompose. You'd hear my camera going "bip-bip" click, "bip-bip" click, "bip-bip" click. Every single time. Now I don't even bother putting it into single shot focus. I put it into continuous focus. And I use the AF button on the back of the camera, the back focusing button that I spent probably a year of my life learning how to use; basically, I've just got my finger planted on it for most of the time. Not all. I do still go back to a little bit more control when I need it. When it's not quite locking onto the right thing, but with just a flick of a switch, flick of a dial, I can change which focus which face is in focus. And it just tracks, it locks onto the face and it just tracks. It's almost addictive in its dark magical capability. Also the response time. This camera is quick. Well, quick doesn't really, doesn't really describe it. Hit the button. You've got a picture, put it into high speed shooting. Hit the button. You've got 20 pictures. Now I do have a problem in that if I've put it into completely silent mode and I forget, let's say I was doing a confetti shot while I run it at 20 frames a second, and I forget that I've still got it at 20 frames a second, is I'll press the button for the next couple of minutes and I've got a whole memory card full of pictures that I didn't need, all almost identical. It's an irritant, but well, I'll live. It hasn't caused me any harm so far. It does give us a little bit of a problem downstream when Sarah has to pick out the pictures that we want to use, because now she's got, instead of one picture, probably 20. However small price to pay and I will eventually figure out how to not forget to turn it back off from high-speed shooting. This thing really is changing the way I shoot, everything about it. Now there are a few problems. One thing I do keep doing, and this is a product of having so much information inside the viewfinder is I keep laying it out as if it was a piece of graphical design. So what do I mean by that? And I'm laying out. I mean, I'm laying out the image that I see. So for a while, I kept noticing that my portraits were ever so slightly left of center and slightly higher up in the frame then I would normally shoot. The picture just seemed to be out of kilter. And it was only when I paid attention to what I was doing when I was shooting with Z9 that I noticed that the histogram is in the bottom right of the viewfinder. So when I shoot, I was laying it out as a poster with my subject in the top-left and my histogram in the bottom-right. Literally laying it out as a graphic designer. So I've had to get used to that, I've had to pay attention to where the center marks are. I've had to pay attention to whether I just turn the histogram off when I don't need it. I will figure that out and play around with it. Uh, it's not really, it's nothing to do with Nikon, it's not their fault that is happening. That's just me, being a little bit stupid, but it is quite funny. Uh, I wish there were haptics. I've mentioned that I wish the thing just gave me some kind of physical confirmation that something's in focus and that I've taken a photograph and, well, when it comes to working in low light, the little green led is frankly silly. This is a professional camera: it's one of the best cameras, if not the best mirrorless camera on But the little green led that glows for the AF is simply not good enough. Now I know that they've had to disable the little red lasers that we're also used to on our Speedlights because mirrorless cameras focus on the green channel, not the red. So there's no point chucking red light around a scene, the mirrorless unit, isn't going to focus on it. So, helpfully Nikon put a little green light onto their camera. The problem is it's so close to the axis of the lens, that unless you've got a 50 mil lens on the front of it, it never gets to the middle of the frame. So, what you have to do is have your focus spot somewhere to the right, when you're in landscape mode anyway. Somewhere to the right and it might just reach it. But if you've got your subject to the left, It isn't going to reach it and you end up doing focus and recomposed using the led to light your way. It doesn't seem particularly clever that to me, Now, I don't know what the solution might be. Maybe, maybe release some Speedlights out there at the same time you release the camera But, Hey, you know, that's a small gripe and it's low light capability capability is actually very, very good. But it would have been nice had they been able to do that. The other thing is even now I looked up to get batteries for the Z9: still not an easy thing to get hold of. I'm fortunate in that I already own a D5 and I have a load of batteries that will fit the Z9. But if you just bought one cold, you're going to struggle with just one battery. And it's really hard to get more. And they're expensive too it's 300 quid I think for a Z9 battery, which seems like quite a lot of money. However. Probably worth it. So anyway, back to having changed my technique. I suppose there's a bit of me that's thinking am I now just admitting to becoming lazy? Hmmm more importantly, is it a bad thing? Well, as for the lazy thing, judging by the pain in my knees after I'd shot a wedding, I never slowed down. I didn't stop working. I didn't stop creating images. I didn't stop looking for interesting angles so no, I don't think I've become lazy. Is it a bad thing? Not if the pictures are really beautifully exposed and they're sharp. No, it's not a bad thing. It's just technology, right? Now, I suppose you could argue that moving away from manual and camera's becoming increasingly adept at sorting much of what you used to have to do all of. Sorting it out in camera with a camera technology, actually looking after that for you. You could argue it's cheapening things in the same way I suppose, we argued that digital cheapened film. But having gone back to film just for a brief moment, so I could check a camera for our daughter, it reminded me how exciting digital is. And yes, okay, making some of these techniques readily available to absolutely anybody who can pick up a camera, you might argue that it's cheapening the art, I suppose maybe you could, as a professional photographer, maybe you could argue that. I don't subscribed to that though. I would argue that what it does is it firmly plants the spotlight on the point of difference of a great photographer and someone who just knows how to hold a camera. It doesn't matter what technology is in there. It doesn't matter that the exposures will always be good. It doesn't matter that the technology will make sure every face you point the thing at is in focus. It really doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day, photographers, it's what they see. That makes all the difference. It's the interactions with the people. It's the understanding of light of form of composition, of all of the factors that we use as professional photographers to make not just a picture, but to make a great picture. To make something that is magical. That split second between you and your sitter, that makes all the difference. No amount of technology is ever going to change that. What the technology does do is, it means you can focus on that. You can make that your point of difference, make the artistry, rather than the technique, the actual difference between you and someone who's trying to be you. I'm really happy about that. It makes me smile. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway, thank you for listening. Uh, if you're listening to this before the 20th of September, 2022. Well, if you listen to this after the 20th of September, 2022 you can switch off now. Please subscribe. Leave us a review. If you're listening to it before the 20th at 1:00 PM, Sarah and I will be at the photography show. We're going to be on the Graphistudio stand, whole lotta product there with our pictures on it. We're going to be talking about some of the things that have helped make this a very successful business, some of the well, five of the numerous factors, that are worth bearing in mind, if you too would like to have a successful photography business. And we would love to see you there. The more the merrier come and have a chat. Uh, we're going to be tub-thumping, standing on a soap box. And, uh, telling people what we think, rightly or wrongly we'll also be during the day, at the BIPP also as an aside, if you, uh, saw the images that I was asking which version you would like or thought would make a great frame to go in our studio, that frame or those frames are on the Graphistudio stand right now at the photography show. Uh, they picked, based on the results we got from the vote, we whittled it down to a couple and with our, colleagues at Graphistudio, we picked out the one that we thought that would make the highest impact, both on the Graphistudio stand at the photography show and here, ultimately in our studio, uh, I'll release a little quick video of that onto social media when I get a chance to see it. But if you're at the photography show, go and have a nose. So anyway, if you've enjoyed this podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening as always. It's greatly appreciated. If you've enjoyed it, please do leave us a review and a five-star rating. And if you would like to hear the podcast every time a new episode arrives, simply subscribe wherever it is that you consume your podcasts or more likely wherever it is, you're listening to it right now. And until next time. Be kind to yourself. 📍 Take care. ### [EP128 Stay Positive: That 'No' Might Just Be A 'Yes' For A Later Date](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep128-stay-positive-that-no-might-just-be-a-yes-for-a-later-date/) I have honestly grown to love the sales process - from pitch to payment, it is something I never thought I'd get my head around but have surprised myself. One key aspect is understanding that a 'no' may not be all it seems. In this episode, Sarah and I have stood out in the weather at Thame Food Festival, pitching to prospective clients. Not everyone says 'yes' but learning that there are grades of success when it comes to selling, helps me not worry about those who've said 'no'. During this episode, I mention a piece of software we're now using to expedite our colour correction. It's called ImagenAI and it uses machine learning to learn how YOU like YOUR colours, and then applies them. It's very fast, it's very cool, it's incredibly accurate and it's cost-effective. And, no, I am not in any way being paid to say that - it's just that this podcast was always meant to be helpful to other photographers and this is one of those moments when software is part of that value. It can be found at https://www.imagen-ai.com/ Enjoy this episode! Cheers P. Well, it's been three glorious days of portraiture. Two days ago, it was corporate headshots in London; yesterday, a beautiful bride and groom here in the studio, and today, well, today I've been creating portraits for the guys at the Hearing Dogs For Deaf People. I am really, really, truly in my happy place when I'm pointing the camera at someone rather than some thing. I've no idea why it is, but it's people that seem to make everything well, all okay. Even in London, when I had to create a few shots of really beautiful empty offices, those offices really only came to life when they had faces to photograph. Same office empty was stunning. But it was only when I could hear the sound of laughter that I really felt that magic. Why is that? Well, Who knows, but whatever it is for me, at least, it works. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. So what's up people? Hope you're well, as usual, we have a lot going on here. It is seven o'clock in the evening, and I've just about managed to squeeze some time in to record this podcast. , It's been an incredibly busy week or so. I had anticipated that we would be able to record a podcast once every seven days and in the entire history, the entire history of the podcast, I think I've managed that twice. Maybe. I managed to release two last week. Uh, but there's always so much going on. Just a quick heads up. Our workshops are all booked up, or certainly the current batch are all booked up; we had the final booking for our, uh, mastering, the business of portrait photography workshop that's in the next few weeks, that was booked up, uh, this week. So keep your eyes peeled, we will be releasing some new dates in the next week or two. Uh, so shout, if you think of anything that you might like us to put onto the list, I know we've had a few emails and it looks like we're going to be running, a beginners day on studio lighting. In particular, I think it'll be around things like, uh, headshots and simple portraits. Which will be a huge amount of fun - I absolutely love doing that kind of a portraiture. I love headshots. I really do love doing headshots 'cause a headshot for me is just another portrait. So we're going to be running probably a day on that. Uh, but if there's anybody that fancies something different, give us a shout. And if you'd like to have early notice of that particular workshop, then please do drop me an email. It's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. That's Paul at Paul Wilkinson photography. Dot co.uk. Um, I'm going to start this podcast with a little bit of useful software. Now, just bear in mind that I'm not an ambassador for this. This is just a piece of software that we picked up last week and I've been working with it for the past 10 days or so. It's called. "ImagenAI" that's, I-M-A-G-E-N-A-I. I'll put a link to this bit of software in the notes. Now, one of the things we've always struggled with here, is getting our color correction done externally. Um, we did have some lovely, color-correction guys in Canada that we used for years and when they decided during COVID to close their doors, which is a real shame, we've been hunting around. And one of the puzzles has always been, how do I get someone else to create the colors that I love, which is basically saying, how do I get someone else to colour-correct like I do. And even the guys in Canada, I spent a lot of time adjusting things. They didn't quite do it the way I loved it. And there's always something to do. Anyway. We have been looking for an automated tool, actually to be fair. I haven't, I've been looking for any solution at all that's consistent and produces to the style that I like um, and we tripped over, ImagenAI or I tripped over Imagen AI, probably on a, I'm guessing on an Instagram ad or something. I don't know. And so, we've, we'd running it all week and I have to be honest: I love it. So Imagen is an automated color-correction tool that hooks into Lightroom Classic. So if you're a, a Capture One user, this, might not be that useful for you. But if you're a Lightroom Classic user, like I am Adobe Lightroom Classic, then it's absolutely seamless. You simply upload your images and you get them back color-corrected. Now let me just explain a bit more about that. I don't know anything about the technology, I'm not an ambassador, I've nothing other than what I've read and learned, but I do have a PhD. oddly enough in artificial intelligence. So when I see a bit of software, that's using AI for this kind of work, then of course, I'm really going to be interested in it. And what it does, basically, is it learns how you do your own images, and then when you upload new images, It makes them exactly the way you do them. Now I've always wanted a way of automating the process of generating our color so that creates colors that I love the colors that, um, I want them to be the way I like the coloring and the brightness which is very peculiar to me. And yes, all right, there's a million variations out there and you can download color profiles and all the rest of it. But what I wanted was something that would fine tune for every image I shoot, it would find tune the colors to give me the finish that I'm always looking for. So I uploaded 16,000 color corrected images and yes, you did hear that, right; that is 16,000 images with their attached color correction. So those are raw files with their color correction. The tool lets you do this, you don't go through one by one, uploading 16,000 images. You tell the tool which folders to upload. And I'm very lucky here. We have such a big archive and we catalog and keep everything so well organized, that I could find 5,000 images of each of the different types I wanted to create and then push them up for the system to learn. So we did one for portraits, one for weddings, and one for our Hearing Dogs. I'm in a good position to be able to do that. It might not be something everyone can do, but I could do it. So we uploaded 16,000 images and created three different profiles. Like I said, one for portraits, one for weddings, one for Hearing Dogs, you can create as many as you like. So if you wanted to, for instance, you could create a landscapes one, you could create, one where you only put up portrait studio images. You could, if you wished have different styles. So if for some gigs you like the colors to be really clean, let's say you do commercial portraiture. Uh, you could create a profile of those. And if for some stuff you like it a little bit more grungy in the raw file stage, then, of course you can create that too. Now it does take a day or two for the AI system, the artificial intelligence system to learn what you like. So what it's doing is it's looking at every image that you put up, every raw file you upload in this case, I've used RAW files And then it's looking at the color correction that you applied to that image. It's learning, I'm guessing a few different bits, but it's learning how to recognize that image, it's then learning what color you wanted it to end up looking like, and it buries that away. So next time it sees an image, something like that, in your upload, it will give you the colors, something like the ones you asked for. Very simple, really in theory. But of course the technology to do this is all relatively new. So. Uh, to create a profile, you open the software, you select the catalog of all those files, you tell it what I was going to be called you upload it. You leave it, learn for a couple of days. Once you get to use the software, all you do is that you select your Lightroom catalog. You choose the images in it that you want color corrected, you choose the profile, so let's say after today I've been working with the Hearing Dogs, tomorrow we'll do a selection do a cull. We'll select those images in Imagen in the catalog. I'll upload them. And within about, I guess, 15 minutes, something like that, depending on the speed of your network to upload the images, we'll get the colors back. And seriously. The best bit of this for me is that the colors look like how I would have set them. Now. Some bits are not quite right. You know, sometimes, in certain lighting conditions the colours are a little adrift. And all that really means is that when I created the profile, when I uploaded the training images, probably I missed that out. Maybe there wasn't. Uh, an image would that peculiar combination of light and background? Well, no worries. I'll fine tune those and then when I finished, I'll upload those images into the same profile and the system will continue to learn and evolve. And what I love is it, honestly, I opened the catalog when I'd finished and it just looked like I'd done the color correction. Now, if you don't have access to 5,000 images for each profile, then that's not necessarily a problem, you can choose from a whole load of other peoples they're called talent profiles. You can choose one of those and apply those colors. I did try that. I had a play around with that. The colors weren't quite what I wanted, because really I wasn't looking for anything artistic, I was looking for something or someone who would color-correct the way I like to color-correct. And this seems to do it. I'm an early user. I've only been working with it for 10 days or so. Uh, I will give you an update in a future episode. But what I love is that it's so far appears to do precisely what I need it to do. Now, if you fancy having a go at this, you can, log in, you can create a membership and it will give you the first thousand images for free. Uh, and after that it's 5 cents an image. So for us, let's say I do a wedding of 400 images, then that's about $20, which the way the pound is going at the moment is about 80 pounds. It's not ideal is really not ideal. Uh, that it's priced in dollars, but what can I say? I can't do anything about our crazy government and what they're doing It's 5 cents an image, first thousand images of free. And for me that is completely and utterly manageable. And just a reminder, I need to be really clear about this. I am not in any way, shape or form, at least at the time of recording, I am not, an ambassador for this software. I'm not being paid for this plug. It's just that when I put this podcast together, The whole point of it was to help and find tools, or processes or ideas or ways of thinking or business tips that would be useful, right. Um, and this is one of them. I found a bit of software that really, really, really saves us time. Uh, I've been looking for it for a long time. It seems to do the job, certainly, uh, this point. Uh, at this point in And so if you fancy it, it's called Imagen and, uh, I'll put the link in the podcast notes. Anyway. The point of this particular podcast, wasn't it. Wasn't to talk about this, a bit of software. I found though it's brilliant, you should try it ,it's to talk about, uh, something that occurred to me while I was at, Thame Food Festival, so that's Thame spelled T-H-A-M-E it's our local town. And they have every year, a huge food festival. And Sarah and myself took the Land Rover and a gazebo and a whole load of product and we ran a little campaign down there. And we do that most years. well, I say most years we did it once. And then COVID kiboshed it, and then we've done two more. So we've done it three times. Now we're always looking for different ways as a reason for reaching out to our clients. You can use awards, so you can do something where you've been in the news. Uh, you can even to celebrate my birthday. I've done X, Y, Z, and throughout the year, there are reasons why you might want to send out a newsletter, or maybe generate a campaign, maybe do some Facebook advertising. Well, one of the things we do here is once a year, we take our stuff and go and stand on a field with a whole load of other people, mostly interested in food and drink. You've never seen so many gin companies in all your life. And you get to meet a lot of clients and generally well chat and have a nice time. We give out vouchers or say we sell vouchers. And the vouchers that we sold historically are worth about 10% of our annual revenue. So we sell enough vouchers that the value of those when eventually they're cashed in. So people come for the shoot, they never settle for just a small frame because the pictures we create, they really want. They will buy some frames, they'll buy some albums, uh, they might buy some additional prints, but historically those vouchers that we sell in these two days are worth about 10% of our annual revenue. And just as importantly, it helps us connect with our community. This isn't a show that's hundreds of miles away. It's a show that's 10 minutes down the road. And it was so nice to see everyone. I mean, it's just, we're part of this village, we're part of the town we're part of the area. And everybody really knows us for that, so he gave us a chance, admittedly, to stand in the cold and in the hot, and then the cold in the hot, it was one of those crazy weekends where the temperature, as it does sometimes at this time of year, it goes up and uh, like a yo-yo uh, We took, Rufus this year, a cheap trick. It wasn't meant to be a cheap trick. It's just that we didn't have anyone to look after the dog, it's a dog-friendly show. So we took him with us. And actually what happened was 90% of the people came to stroke him and we sat him we, we were dreadful. We sat him underneath a big poster of him. Uh, because a picture of him won an award a few years ago, and so we sat him underneath that on his mat. He was really happy, loved to see everybody sat in the sunshine. And generally attracted people. Now one of my favorite moments when someone came hurtling across the field. Speaking on a phone. And she was being, we could hear she was on speaker phone. We could hear someone going, you've got to go. I need you to go now and get one of these vouchers because we only sell a limited number. And she was being instructed by a friend to come and buy a voucher from us .Her friend couldn't make it to the show. And so she was being directed. It was really funny to watch because you could see her looking as he was trying to figure out where we were and eventually spotted us because we were watching her and she came running across, uh, to buy a voucher because as her friend said it was the best picture she'd ever had taken. And while we're running the campaign, she wanted to buy a voucher. It's a lovely thing when you get repeat business like that, we had fantastic neighbors in the stalls either side of us. It was a company called, Belazu who make, uh, or produce beautiful ingredients like olive oils, Virgin olive oils. Different flavored olive oils, different vinegars, different spices, different nuts it was just lovely. Couldn't help ourselves, yes, we bought a load of it. And then the other side was company called Resin Chopping Boards, not the most original name, but boy are the boards they make stunning. They were so beautiful. Sarah kept walking over throughout the two days. Stroking them looking at them. Coming back saying, no, we can't get one, then she'd go back again and then she'd return. No, can't get one. And at the end of the day, I have to say thanks to the guys. Uh, because they dragged her in and said, which one do you like? They offered us a deal we could not say no to And so I bought her one just because we'd had a really good, really, really good couple of days. And so just to celebrate that we bought ourselves, I bought Sarah a beautiful, I think it's Walnut and Birch chopping board, just stunning. And Rufus enjoyed every minute of it. And of course the Land Rover also attracted an awful lot of conversation. Now with the two of us, one of the things you have to be able to do is hold people's attention. And that's partly why we have things like the Land Rover, we had the TV screen up there though you couldn't see it very clearly in the sunshine, which is a bit of a shame. Um, can't do a lot about that. Uh, so we had the Landrover, Rufus and the TV. Because if there's only two of us and we start to get people on to the stand. Of course, we don't have any way of slowing them down and we might just lose them. So we have things that you can talk about. We have things that you can look at. We have leaflets and magazines. Anything to slow them down and give us a chance to say hello Because we get a chance to say hello, I get a chance to pitch as to why they should buy the voucher and what that means and how much they'll spend if they come to the shoot. Now we've always been an incredibly honest business. I built it on that exact value. One of the many we have, one of them is complete honesty. Now I know it's not very English is to be willing to talk about money. But of course you have to. So every time somebody bought a voucher, we chat to them them. Of course the inevitable question comes up is what you get for the money. And of course they worry that we're going to do a hard sell later. I would say we're not 'cause we don't, but I don't deny that people are going to spend a lot of money. I know the averages from last year and I simply quote them. Now that's a big number. But on the whole people appreciate the honesty. I say that we archive the images. We never delete them. And that's true. We never do, which is why. I was able to find 16,000 color corrected images to upload, on to Imagen. we don't ever delete the images that would be. For me, something I wouldn't feel comfortable with. Now, I know plenty of sales techniques say you apply, scarcity and scarcity in this instance would probably be, you've got two weeks after the shoot. Then you delete them. And lots of people ask me about what happens when they come to the shoot. And when they come to the reveal later. So I talk them through it. I talk them through the shoot, I talk them through the process. I talk them through the fun we're going to have. I talk them through how we capture those little magic moments. I talk them, through the studio an' our garden and I talk them through what happens when they come to the reveal. Of course, they asked me is it hard sell? Am I going to end up spending thousands of pounds? And I say there's no hard sell. None at all, but you might just end up spending thousands of pounds. But not because of anything that I'm doing; you'll spend the money because what you're seeing on the screens and what we're showing you, you want. It's a really obvious thing, but it can feel a bit alien when you first start to do this is to say to someone, yep. You're going to spend thousands. But I'm not going to make you spend thousands. You can come and just take the little frame if you want. And it will be beautiful. We'll make it as beautiful as I can, because I don't want anything out there that isn't stunning Now of course, in that process, not everyone is going to bite, I think everybody, I spoke to bar one, did. But one didn't and she was really honest with me. And she said, listen, she said, cause I she'd asked, do I sell files? No. Do I sell prints? Yes. But they're really expensive. So I showed her a signed and mounted print and said how much that cost and she kind of blanched a little bit and I showed her a different way of buying prints that would have brought the price down by about 30 or 40%. But you have to buy 10 or 15. And I could see the look on her face. And I knew that probably I was pitching to someone who either didn't value the quality of the product as much as the sale price or simply didn't have the budget. Things are tight. Read the news right now. I don't know if for my friends in the UK, you're reading the news right here. For my friends around the world, I'm guessing. you're reading it too. . , it's not been a good few weeks. If like most of us, with your electricity bills with mortgage repayments, if you have a mortgage. Um, and just generally the doom and gloom, both of the press social media, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that right now we're not being led by people who know what they're doing. So it's a tough market. And I could see that she wasn't particularly. Um, She hadn't bought into it. And so she told me, she said, look, she said," if I could have bought prints for less than you sell them, I would have come. I love your work, but I can't afford you." And I think that's fair enough. And I think actually in some ways that's a good answer. Because the worst thing you can do. Is something like, if you let's say you do a free shoot voucher, we don't, we charge for it but if you did a free shoot voucher to get people into the studio, It's better for you for someone to say no. and not come than it is for them to say yes, and then not buying anything. Now I know it's a gamble and I'm aware of this particular model. But the reality is if you've pumped energy, and you've pumped time and you've pumped effort and probably cost into someone's shoot, and then they buy nothing. That's all money you've lost. So it's better for them to say no at the beginning. But there is a sort Scale of success and it got me thinking about the different ways in which you might regard the outcome of a conversation with someone when you're trying to pitch a shoot. The best outcome of course is they say, yes, they come for a shoot and they buy something. Preferably something HUGE for the wall! The second best is probably a sale, but you didn't upsell after the shoot. So they bought into the pitch. They bought into the sboot but they didn't buy anything. That's not ideal because, like I said, you've now put in effort and you've got nothing from it. But what you want is a positive story out of it. So don't feel downhearted, but make sure they leave with a positive story. Next down the scale is that there's no sale they didn't buy the voucher. But they did go away with a good story. So in my case, the lady that came. And walked away. She walked away with a smile on her face. She'd made a fuss of the dog She loved the photography and in the end she was price restricted. That's all. That's always going to be the case you know, I'd love to have a Bentley, but I don't because I can't afford one That doesn't mean I don't like the Bentley. It doesn't mean, I won't say to someone that Bentley's beautiful. It doesn't mean that if somebody said they're getting a Bentley, I'd say, oh, don't do it. It's a no sale. I'm not buying it, but I still have a positive story. And that lady went away with a positive story. Further down the scale, you've got no sale and no story, that's just a very dull outcome, but you're not going to win any work from that. If they walk away and they don't think anything, well, you really haven't done a job of telling a story that they can retell, but at least they're not doing any damage. You've just wasted 10 minutes or 20 minutes, whatever your pitch time was. And not got anywhere. And then the worst. The worst. Of course. Is that you have no sale and a bad story. You don't want You really, really don't want that because as we all know, A bad story is eight times more likely to be told than a good story. People love - and you have to read the papers at the moment - people love a crappy story. So you want to avoid that at all costs. So if you don't get a sale, Don't worry about it, make sure that when, the prospect leaves or they leave at the end of a reveal, even if they've come for a shoot and not bought anything, they leave with a positive story to tell whatever that story might be. The other thing you learn and we've been doing this a long time. Is that there are various timeframes for your stories. Some are quick. Some are like that. You've made a sale. Brilliant. It's done. Some are very slow burn though. Sometimes people come back to us. Years and years and years later, even today, I had to sign three, signed a mounted prints from a shoot. That must be at least 10 years old. To be honest, I recognize the people in it, but I could not place the date. It's that old But that was another, I don't know what that was. Hundreds of pounds worth of prints that went out. Sometimes things take time. And the better the story you can tell, the more time you have to turn it into a successful sale, if a positive story stays with someone, they may just come back or they may just tell a friend who will come back. So over these few days, we've sold vouchers generated quite a lot of social media and made an awful lot of new friends, as well as re-kindling some old ones. And all of those, all of those are really important. The sales are important. The conversations are important. Meeting our new friends is really important because it's always just lovely to be around people, particularly after two years when we've been locked in, Well, on and off locked-in. And then of course, some of the old friends where we've had a chance to catch up. You cannot think of a no sale as a failure. Standing on a stand at a show is always, even for people like us, where we've done it a long time. It's still nerve-wracking because you really want people to love your work. And more importantly, you want to have a stream of business over the coming months. So there's a pressure to it. But you cannot think of a no sale. Someone telling you, "no thanks, that's not for me" as a failure. It might feel that way at that moment, but in the end, the only one of these that's really a fail. This is when a bad story is there to be told. So make sure you tell a good story. Make sure the person you're talking to. Gets a chance to go away. And tell that story. Only a bad story is really a fail. Everything else is either a success right now. Or it's a success for the future. Ultimately your business is built. On stories. So make sure you're telling the stories that you want to be heard. For us, that was the Land Rover, it was the dog. And it was me and Sarah having a great, great time for two days. Meeting people, greeting people, laughing with people and talking about photography, as well as talking about families, life food. And of course, because it's British. The weather. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please do leave us a rating and a review. And of course, wherever it is that you are listening to this podcast right now hit that subscribe button. So that next time we release an episode, it'll arrive immediately onto your gadget, into your ears and into your world, which is where we'd like to be. If you have any questions Please do email Paul at Paul Wilkinson Dot co.uk. And if you are a portrait photographer, why not head over to mastering portrait photography.com, where there's a whole ton of useful content, all dedicated to the art. And the business of portrait photography. But until next time, whatever else is going on in the world. Interest rates are going up. The value of the pound is going down. Ah, man, there's never been a more important time to be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP129 - What Is Your Inner Energy Source?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep129-what-is-your-inner-energy-source/) At the end of a long week, the exhaustion can creep up on you. Fatigue is not an unusual feeling for a professional photographer. But finding your source of energy, whether it's your work, your clients, your colleagues or just some time out with family, is crucial. For me? Well, for me it's always been about people in one form or another! The details of the Photo Hubs Oxford workshop mentioned in this episode can be found at: https://photohubs.co.uk/product/oxford-light/ This is a hands-on, three-hour workshop for no more than ten people and is all about the thing that I love doing most: finding and using available light for fantastic portraits! Would love to see you there! Cheers P. There is, it seems, a sweet spot for a professional photographer. Too few shoots and every session becomes supercritical. Too busy? Well, being too busy rapidly leads to exhaustion and burnout. I will admit. I'm at the latter end of that spectrum just now. But we are working hard to find a little balance. I'm Paul, and this is a slightly weary mastering portrait photography podcast. Hello, one and all right; before we begin, If you are listening to this podcast before the 16th of October, 2022 years, 2022. Here's a quick advert from my sponsor. Well, that'll be me. I'm just bigging myself, Sarah, Michelle, and my team up a little. So I hope that's okay. I do admit, at some point, I need to get the hang of placing ads in these podcasts so that when the date of an event passes well, they stop being played, but with everything else going on, ah, that's just one lesson I haven't had time to sit and well, learn. Apologies if you are listening to this after the 16th of October, maybe by the time you do get to hear it, I will have gotten the hang of things, and mistimed ads are no longer appearing. But I wouldn't bet my lunch on it if I was a betting man. Anyway, I'm just letting you know that a few spaces are left on a workshop that Sarah and I are running at the upcoming photo hub in Oxford on Sunday, the 16th of October. So the theme of the workshop is straightforward. Have you ever been caught in a situation with nothing but a camera and your subject, and you still have to get a great photo? Come to think that is my day job, and it's precisely what I love to do. And it's what my clients pay me to do. So I love the sense that as long as you have some light on a face, you will be able to create some kind of beautiful portrait. And that is the subject of our workshop. So if You're, thinking of going to the photo hubs, why not come and spend, uh, no matter what the weather is doing, come and spend some time. It's a three-hour workshop on mastering available light. Uh, it's an intensive portrait photography workshop. We're going to cover everything you need to create pictures in whatever light you might find, which is the light you have around you. We're going to hunt down locations, hunt down pockets of light using just the world around us for inspiration, and create our images. Now, whether you're an aspiring pro or an experienced enthusiast, come along and learn how to take beautiful portraits with a sharp eye and a little imagination with nothing more than your camera. The workshop will cover the fundamentals of reading the light, and getting incredible light out of everyday situations. How light affects your images and how to make the very best of any location posing and guiding a subject to get the best out of them, and you'll be putting the skill straight into practice with this very much hands-on workshop. You will bring a camera. And you will have a ball. The workshop is limited to 10 people, and it's only £150 for the three hours. The full details can be found at https://photohubs.co.uk/product/oxford-light/ Photo Hubs Oxford is a two-day photography event, although I'm only doing one of the workshops and there are plenty of workshops and presentations by a handful of incredible photographers, Glyn Dewis, Russ Jackson. I can't even say Russ Jackson, Panikos Hajistily, Heather Burns and Olivia Bossert and it costs 10 pounds for the two day pass to attend the, uh, event. Now also, if you happen to be a Graphistudio customer have I mentioned that Sarah and I are ambassadors for this incredible album and wall art company? Well, if you happen to be a Graphi customer, head over to their Facebook pages, where you will find discount codes, that will get you into the event for free and will also reduce the price of our workshop to just 125 pounds for the three hours. 125 quid. Uh, if you happen to be a Graphic customer, which I think is a bit of a bargain. So the light today Has been utterly stunning, very luckily, but even if the weather is crappy next week on the 16th, we will still be creating beautiful images because that is the very point of the workshop: creating images, no matter what. Uh, a situation you find yourself in, though I have to say today has been stunning with that autumn lights waking across the sky. And pinging off the autumn red leaves. I love it. Anyway, I will put all the links and the details. Into the show notes for this 📍 episode. Uh, so for this week, so for this week, What has been going on? Well, as you, might've got for my introduction. Uh, we're very busy. Uh, I've been chairing qualifications for the British Institute of professional photographers. Now when I decided to, uh, leave my previous career as an it Consultant and pick up my camera as a professional, little did I know that it would take me this far. And here I am now chairing judging for one of the oldest and most recognized photographic associations in the world. And I love doing it too. It can be possibly a little stressful, but it's truly an honor at the same time. Like all of the judges. I just want every panel to be a successful panel. I want every photographer to be rewarded for the effort that they've put in. Genuinely, we want every photographer to have a successful panel. And that's the thing. Everyone who submits their images has worked incredibly hard, but sometimes. Sometimes it's just not to be. And the panel of five judges would agree with me. Qualifications is essentially a peer review, five judges and a chair discussing. Debating assessing, reviewing. And I guess arguing sometimes, but mostly drilling into the panel to make sure that when we do award the creator, those all-important letters. Every other photographer who's been recognized before them, nods their head in wise agreement. Sure photography is subjective, but when it comes down to it, there are key things that judges are looking for at each level, from licenciate, all the way through to fellowship. At Licentiate, We're essentially looking for solid professional standard after all the BIPP that British Institute of professional photographers as its name suggests is an association dedicated to the art and craft of the professional photographer. And when you get all the way up to fellowship, we're looking for creativity and technical excellence. Of the very, very highest order. Last week, we were lucky to achieve all of those. things with several of the panels and seeing the candidates thrill at the news will never really leave me. It's always, always exciting. Now, sadly. A few of the panels weren't successful this time. Note my words though, the panel, the panel, the images, the panel of images wasn't successful this time. Why do I choose my words so carefully? Why do I think it's really important. Just by getting your work together and subjecting it to any kind of evaluation, whether it's a critique, mentoring competition, or in this case qualifications, every single photographer who steps forward. Is already a success. Maybe, maybe the peer review didn't go the way they'd like for a million very good reasons. But trust me, every photographer I've seen who puts themselves through it, pushes themselves forward, takes advice, takes the time, dedicate themselves to in this case, producing a panel of 20 images. Is on the way to success. Every step a photographer takes towards qualification submission from taking the time with their mentor, assessing their images, designing the panel and yes, yes, you do design a panel and I cannot stress this enough. You don't just pick 20 individual images. You design a panel that hangs together. And when you display it, it looks coherent. Otherwise, all you're really doing is highlighting the differences in your images. And it's one mistake. I have seen quite a lot over the years. And that is that a photographer very often wants to show just how eclectic they can be, how every image, every moment, every client is a completely different style. This is rarely, when you think about it, a good idea. If you really do have a wide breadth of styles, Then go the whole hog and enter separate panels for each of these genres or each of these styles, finishes, call it what you will. Yes, it's expensive, but you're much more likely to succeed at a qualification when it can be seen as a collection rather than as a scrapbook. I have to admit when I submitted my panels a few years, well, quite a few years ago. Now I remember the terror of it all too. Well, it's expensive. In emotions and finances. It's terrifying. It's utterly terrifying. It's cost you a small fortune. It's cost you time. It's cost you. Energy is probably knocked your confidence a bit as a mentor is having to guide you into the things you need to improve. And in so many ways that feeling doesn't entirely leave you. But it is worth. Every second. And after my fellowship panel, I honestly felt a sense of release, a sense of. The shackles are off. Now I can do anything I like. It didn't last of course - once you Get your head back into the business, very quickly, very quickly. You're reminded that you have to produce these results. Every day for your clients? Yes. Yes. You've got your letters. But the world keeps turning, but that sense of achievement and the confidence, that I could now do anything if I chose to has driven me ever since. And here I am, as one of a handful of people in the country, chairing judging. And I love it, I absolutely love it. Judging Is an opportunity to enjoy hundreds, maybe thousands of images, alongside other eminent photographers. When we're judging, we debate, we discuss. We may agree. We may argue a little bit, but one thing is for sure. We all take the time to appreciate this craft. And I always come away. With an odd mix of enthusiasm, ideas, maybe little insecurity. Yeah, there is, again, that sense of. I don't know if underachievement is the right word, but the idea that I could do better. And one panel in particular, this last session. I don't think it was just me, but it certainly left me truly in awe, truly inspired, truly, truly in wonderment. And also just a little envious of what that photographer had had achieved. It really, really was that good. But whatever it was, whatever those couple of days of judging where I came away, absolutely buzzing and full of energy. A question that floats around the industry is why do people like me, people who judge people who mentor or organize, organize events. Why do we do it? There's no money in it. And there's very little recognition. But for me, at least it is truly an honor. It's truly an honor to be there, to be able to pay back to this industry. That's been so kind to me and to help lay the groundwork for the professional photographers of the future, the people entering the industry. Now the youngsters may be, there are people like me who transitioned. A little bit later in their careers and decided photography was for them. Maybe like me, they will go on to get involved and maybe help drive standards and professionalism in this industry. Maybe they'll get the same joy out of being part of something bigger than just me or them in the studio. Honestly, I always come away more enthusiastic and more driven. Even if I, well, occasionally I'm a little jealous of someone else's raw talent. But it isn't just judging. It is just getting involved in industry that fires me up. I said at the start of this podcast that I am exhausted. And I am, you can hear it in my voice. I can hear it in my voice. I've got headphones on as I'm recording this and you can hear when I'm really tired, it's a Saturday evening and you can hear. My voice is lower than it is normally, and that's just tiredness. This year is a complex one. I think, certainly emotionally. And going forward. There's no doubt that the global economy is uncertain at its very best and the UK economy. Wow. That's not just uncertain and that's complete and utter chaos. And I'm reasonably good at separating the business pressures from the creative ones. But it's not a science. I've always loved being on top of the news. I've always loved. No, it's going and current in current affairs, it's one of the reasons our business has been successful and Sarah really do keep on top of things. We do know what's going on. We do know where the markets are shifting, or at the very least... we try to keep up! But it's not a science. And. This year, this year, I think. It's been really tough and I'm not convinced it's going to be an awful lot easier next year. No matter how good I am a separating the business pressures from the creative ones. Sometimes they just can't help but creep into each other. Sometimes I might be feeling massively creative. And it gives me confidence in the business when other times it might be the other way round and the business is flying and it can help fuel my creativity. If one side's going well, then the other side gets dragged along by it sometimes though. Sometimes this business can feel a bit flat on both sides of the line, both creatively. And from a business point of view and you really, really, really don't want that to happen because at the moments when you have to be at your best. it's hard to feel.. creative . Now we're lucky here. I am. Honestly lucky here. We really don't have tricky clients. I've no idea how we've done it. And I wish I could parcel up the ingredients for how we've managed to attract the clients we do. It would be worth an absolute fortune. But we certainly do have something. Some. Intangible thing. That draws the nicest people to us, but business is still business and sometimes it really can feel like running through treacle. At the same time, sometimes it can feel like I've become a derivative of myself. I'm still producing images. I love. And thankfully that our clients love to. But I have this nagging doubt in the back of my head that I've become a little stuck. Maybe it's a little lazy, maybe. Everything's just become a little too familiar. Right now. I've been in one of these patches for a week or three. It happens. I'm used to it. I'm used to the idea that for awhile, I'll be progressing and changing and moving and it's all developing. And then. Without even noticing it. Suddenly all of that stuff sort of slows down. It's in those times, I need a boost, but I also need to remember, that In those times when I am feeling flat and uncreative, all that's really happening. Is that things are sorting and sorting themselves out in my head. New ideas are there. They're just taking time to surface. But it can sap my energy, it can sap my drive and it's in these times. I always need a bit of a boost. So this past fortnight, it's come from a handful of places. This is where I get my energy I've already mentioned the judging and I love it. Judging everything about it. But Our clients have the same effect. We have had two separate wedding, , reveals this week. , we've also had two clients come in to pick up their finished products. We've had four portrait shoots and a wedding as well. Now the wedding itself. Than the wedding itself. , it didn't entirely. Go to plan. There was a huge and catastrophic water main breakage. And along with most of the Oxford area and surrounding villages. The Manoir, the hotel where the wedding was to be held, had no water. It turns out you can't open your doors without water. If you have no You have no flushable toilets. So you simply cannot have guests. Or staff for that matter. Now, luckily the guys at Le Manoir worked tirelessly to make whatever they could. Possible. They handled rebooking all of the guests into different and equally beautiful hotels and they managed to stage just the ceremony and a few photographs in the grounds. So it wasn't a complete write-off. We managed to get the ceremony and the handful of photos. And it was fine. As long as you didn't need the loo or as I discovered you didn't want ice in your drink. It was apart from the obvious a perfect ceremony. But unfortunately there was then an hour and a half drive to the next hotel for the wedding breakfast again. A stunning hotel. But we've now lost 90 minutes, Of what is always going to be a fully packed day. On the upside, we were short of a taxi so , the bride and groom, along with the groom's mom hopped into our land Rover defender, and we laughed our way through the rush hour traffic. I don't know if I am truly an extrovert but I certainly am outwardly confident though, that doesn't really diminish the insecurities that I have, or the fact that I always feel quite shy when I'm not in work mode. I don't know if it's the same for But holding the camera in my hands is an amazing uniform. It's sort of a shield, a barrier. That lets me be a performer and it suppresses my normal nerves. But what is true? What is true? Is that these are the things that help me recharge my batteries. People always the people. Whether it's the judges, the mentors, the candidates. The wider industry or my clients. I'm not a psychologist, but I think the definition of extrovert. Is if I refuel my batteries when I'm around people and for probably 80% of my time. That's exactly what I do. This morning, I photographed a lovely couple , to celebrate their encasement. The minute I opened the door, the laughter started and it didn't stop until we were saying goodbye. It's a lovely thing to be in the company of others, having an absolutely wonderful time. And of course, Creating beautiful images as we go. Now, back to that wedding as I was leaving one of the older guests asked if I'd be willing to travel to photograph her daughter's wedding. And of course I pointed out to her, that she hadn't even seen a single picture. Picture from the day as of that point. But she responded that it had nothing to do with the photography. It was all to do with the laughter and the joy of the day. And I guess. For a people photographer. That is the biggest compliment of them all. And I've always wanted to be a good photographer. It's always been about. The images, but maybe in the context of shooting a wedding or shooting a family or shooting people, maybe being a good guest. Or a good companion. Is equally, if not more important, maybe, maybe just maybe. Getting people to laugh is the key. At least for me. As my engagement, couple pointed out this morning. There is, it seems a certain skill to it. Mostly by bringing energy, joy, and positivity. It's one of them said this It put me a little bit on the back foot, but she said to me, she describes the way I work as and I quote. Strategic strike. I can't even say it. Strategically deployed ridiculousness . I love it. It's a great line. She's much clever than me strategically deployed ridiculousness. Now I'm not quite sure what that means. I think she might simply been calling me a clown, or just an idiot. Either way strategically deployed ridiculousness is the way And this afternoon in a similar vein, we had a wedding reveal, at the end of which the client wrote on, we have a little frame. Uh, that they sign. And she wrote the following and this is just a small excerpt from it. And it says, and I quote from the moment we first stepped into your studio. And by the way, her handwriting has those really nice w over their eyes. She does a circle. It's just quite cute. Ah, I love that kind of writing. I don't, I dunno why it just, I dunno, it makes me smile anyway to carry on. And I quote, we were instantly laughing, nonstop and had no doubt you were going to be our photographer for our big day. And that's a big day with a capital B, a capital D and a good old circle over the letter i. So that was what came out of today. And she was describing my original wedding pitch when they turned up and I won it because we laughed. I mean, I'm hoping, obviously the inner creative of me hopes, I want some of it because the photography is beautiful, but the reality is it's whatever it takes If making people laugh and have a good time. Is what it is then fine. Because running a business. Is exhausting. And you have to find your fuel. Now, whatever that may be, you have to find it. Whether it's the photography itself, whether it's your clients. Maybe it's the cathartic nature of doing some post-production some Photoshopping or some grading. Maybe it's creating a beautiful print and putting it to a wall, or maybe as I have done the many others is getting involved with the industry and doing some mentoring or doing some judging or whatever it is. It doesn't really matter. You have to find things. That recharge your batteries. And I have come to the end of the day at the end of a week. In which the workload looked honestly, like it might just break me and I've ended it. With laughter and a lot of hugs all round. And it is absolutely the energy that I need. I thought I'd finished today, broken and instead I finished it. Exhausted. But on a high. So as of tomorrow, I'm taking a week out with Sarah and then our kids, I say, kids. Both in the twenties. I don't know why describing those kids anyway. I cannot be more excited and the way that today. Has ended. It's the perfect beginning to a few days out. You need to find. Ways to recharge your energy ways that keep you energized. These are just a few of mine. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please do leave us a five star rating and a written review. It really does help new listeners to find us. Also wherever it is that you're listening to this podcast right now hit the subscribe button. And next time there's an episode out. You'll be the first to hear it. When you're going to be the first, I'll be the first. But you might be the second to hear it anyway. Please do subscribe. If you have any questions or comments or things you want us to talk about. And please do email Paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. That's Paul. At Paul Wilkinson 📍 photography.co.uk. And whatever else is going on in your life, whatever chaos is going on with interest rates going on with gas prices, energy prices, inflation, or simply just the weather. Whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care guys. ### [EP130 Invest In Things That Benefit Your Client](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep130-invest-in-things-that-benefit-your-client/) I recorded this podcast at 7am while sat in the studio, waiting for a new TV to be delivered. Luckily it actually arrived when they said it would! The TV is for our Client Reveal Room as we want our customers to have the best possible experience when they come back to see their pictures. But exactly how do you figure out where to spend your limited budget? On things that benefit your client, that's where! In this episode, I mention a couple of different things. Firstly, a reminder of the colour correction tool I love: Imagen AI If you use this link: https://www.imagen-ai.com/start?ref=paulwilkinson the lovely guys at Imagen AI will give you 1500 free (yes 1500 FREE) file corrections. I get some as well, so feel free to use the link, and we BOTH get a freebie! We have just announced a brand new workshop: Mastering The Essentials Of Studio Lighting.. This workshop is very anyone who is venturing into studio lighting and wants to get to grips with creating stunning images with simple techniques and easily available kit. We'll go through everything you need to know, from setting up the camera to getting the best out of your space. Details can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/store/workshops/mastering-essential-studio-lighting-21st-november-2022/ As always with our workshops, the number of attendees is strictly limited to 6 (or half a dozen if you prefer it in words) so everyone gets plenty of time to try things out and ask questions. At the mentioned workshop, we'll be serving a delicious lunch care of the guys at What's Cooking. Admittedly this link is a little geo-restrictive (I doubt it's much use to listeners more than a few miles away!), but the lunch was sooooo good at the last workshop that I felt we just had to give a quick link! Enjoy! ### [EP131 National Print Competition | Notes From The Judging](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep131-national-print-competition-notes-from-the-judging/) A couple of weeks ago, we judged the British Institute Of Professional Photographers (BIPP) 2022 national print competition. I have always loved being a judge and now, in my role as Chair Of Qualifications And Awards for the BIPP, I couldn't be happier! I get to see so many incredible images and sit with so many incredible photographers. It's one of the best gigs imaginable. In the first half of the episode, I step through the rigour of judging, how it is done, and how we ensure it is fair. In the second half of the episode, I go through some of the notes I made while the judges assessed and commented on each of the entries. If you are curious about image competitions or fancy entering one - not just the BIPP competition - some of the things we spotted might be of use to you! Enjoy! Cheers P. [00:00:00] Paul: So here's the thing that annoys me more than anything. Well, probably not more than anything, but it still annoys me. Call centers who are always experiencing an unusually high volume of calls. Surely if it's always that way. And it is always that way, it can't be unusual. And trust me, I do not feel like they value my call! [00:00:24] It drives me nuts. I'm Paul, and this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:00:29] Sometimes it's good just to have a little bit of a moan. [00:00:50] Hello one and all. I hope you will. I don't know why that popped into my head - possibly because this week we've had to spend a little bit of time talking to different people and you get the invariable [00:01:00] "we're ever so sorry, but we're an experiencing an unusually high volume of calls at the moment. " [00:01:04] And it just, well, gets my back up. [00:01:07] Uh, it's chucking it down outside. So if it seems like you can hear a roaring sound in the background, then it is just the rain. A bit later on, I'm gonna have to walk home - regretting the decision not to bring a coat. [00:01:19] And sadly it has been a week of weather. On Monday, we were filming. [00:01:25] So, we are ambassadors for Pixellu Smart Albums and Graphistudio, albums and wall art, sorry. Pixellu smart. Albums is a brilliant piece of software that we use here at the studio to help us design the amazing Graphistudio albums. And we are ambassadors for both these companies and we recorded a video about that on Monday. [00:01:44] In the rain. [00:01:46] All of the storyboards, all of the scripts, everything involves Sarah and I walking around this beautiful village of ours with the dog, of course think everything was to involve sunshine of one form or another; I spoke to [00:02:00] the director and the closing shot. Uh, that she had in her mind was the two of us or the three of us walking off into the sunshine. Well, that didn't happen we had to in the end kill a lot of the outside stuff because the heavens opened just as they are right now. Right now is also our busiest time of year. It's a good time. of year to try and fit in. Uh, film shooting, but we have deadlines the summer shoots have all, ordered their product, we still have reveals going on, we still have shoots going on. It's like everything compresses into this short period of time. . [00:02:34] Over The past week or so. Is that when I last recorded a podcast? We've done a couple of hearing dogs shoots back there again tomorrow. Numerous portrait shoots. And an absolutely stunning wedding. [00:02:48] Uh, this time of year also, as it happens is the time that the British Institute of Professional Photographers from henceforth, I will call it the BIPP because frankly The British Institute of [00:03:00] Professional Photographers. Is a bit of a mouthful. Anyway, it's the BIPP it's when we judge the national print competition and as chair of judges, uh, along with six other eminent, eminent judges, eminent people, eminent photographers. [00:03:15] We spent three days in an equally - rain is a theme, all right, rain is a theme right now - but we spent three days in the Northwest, up in a very wet. Preston. Sitting judging. The images or the submissions for the national print competition. [00:03:34] Just stunning. [00:03:36] It's a few days that I absolutely love being involved in because I get to see some of the very best photography and some of the very best prints that you can possibly imagine. [00:03:48] Uh, And so given, we've just done that. And given I haven't done one of these sort of podcasts on things I've learned during judging for a little bit of time, I thought this episode, this episode would be the one to go [00:04:00] through. Some of the things I learnt. I kept notes throughout listening in, listen to this. [00:04:05] Yep. That's my well battered, it's my scoring sheets that has all sorts of things on it, but most importantly, every time I noticed something or I heard a judge say something, then I'd make a quick note of it. Partly because as chair, I need to keep a track of things that we can do better. And partly because I thought it would make for some interesting learning for, not just for me, but for other people too. [00:04:30] Uh the first thing to say about all of this. So everything that follows, please remember that it is a print competition. That's absolutely crucial. It is a print competition now there's a huge debate at the moment. WPPI for 2023 have decided to take a break from having the international print competition. [00:04:54] Citing All sorts of reasons. Um, We are really, I think at an interesting [00:05:00] time in the industry where the costs of making prints, the difficulty of making prints, some of the things that are going on out there with inflation and the cost of living crisis make prints something that a lot of photographers might not want to do. [00:05:15] I get that. [00:05:17] And I honestly think that digital. For an awful lot of photographers, digital. Is the only medium they know he never goes to print, but there is a reason we use print for judging some of the competitions. And that is it exposes flaws that you don't always see when you're looking at a file . [00:05:37] Now, of course, if you have huge and high dynamic range, Adobe RGB color space, calibrated monitors. You see pretty much everything. But there is still something that when you lay those pixels down onto paper it exposes things in a way that seeing it as a [00:06:00] digital file, just doesn't, that's why photographers, like me judges like me love print competitions, because it really is a sign of true class. True quality, a true craftsmanship is the ability to take all of that photographic creativity and turn it into a successful print. [00:06:23] And that's the why. [00:06:25] So this whole conversation now is about a print competition, but many of the notes apply to digital submissions as much as they do to print competitions, but I just want it to be clear that that's how we're judging it. [00:06:38] So on that note, how do we judge it? Okay. So we have six judges in a room over a couple of days. The judges are all fellows. They're all highly qualified, highly experienced photographers from various genres. So we've always got an expert in every genre in the room. [00:06:54] At any one time, five judges, five judges, are [00:07:00] assessing the print in front of them. We go by category, so we judge let's say studio portraits or documentary weddings. We judge each category at a time - image after image, after image, each print is brought in by a print handler. It's very carefully placed onto a light box in front of the five judges. [00:07:23] Of the five, the two judges who are sitting at the edges, the two outer judges step forward. And assess the print it's on a D50 light box that these light boxes are absolutely phenomenal. It makes the inks and the pigments absolutely iridesce on the page, you really can see a tremendous amount of detail in the print. [00:07:45] So each of the outer judges steps in and they spend as much time as they until they've made a decision as to how to score the image. They sit back then the next two judges, the two middle judges they step forward and they have their go and then finally, the judge who was sitting in the middle [00:08:00] seat, they get to step forward and make their decision assessing the print. [00:08:05] Now we use a brilliant judging system at the BIPP and every judge has an iPad with them. That has a tiny thumbnail of the image, which we use to cross check that everyone's on the right image. [00:08:17] And then they can enter their score. And me as chair, I get to see those schools come in and then we get to, or the system tells me what the average is. [00:08:26] And that's fine. However, of course having five judges means we're going to see some differences. My favorite times are when all of the judges give the same score or very close because it means they all concur and we can move on to the next picture. [00:08:43] However, there are different ways that that can raise a challenge. [00:08:49] So there are three broad ways a judge or rather an image may be challenged that can be a judge raising a challenge because he thinks that the score, the final school. It doesn't reflect. [00:09:00] The quality that he saw in the image, either higher or lower. [00:09:05] Secondly, I can raise as a chair, I can raise a challenge - maybe I just want to double check to make sure all of the judges are comfortable with the score. Sometimes you feel it, you see it in body language, you can see that one of the judges is uncomfortable with the score, but doesn't really want to raise a challenge or maybe, I don't know, maybe I feel that the scores are drifting. Fatigue can set in, whatever, as chair, I have the opportunity to raise a challenge. [00:09:32] And then there's an automatic challenge, which is when there are 10 or more points between the highest and the lowest judges scores. Each challenge is managed really carefully and slightly different ways. But broadly speaking the highest score or the judge challenging will begin to talk about why that image should score what . they think it deserves. Then going along the row, each other judge gives their opinion. The whole way through this [00:10:00] process, every judge is listening to every other judge. [00:10:02] It's absolutely crucial that the judges work as a panel. So they're respectful. They're quiet. Judging is done in silence, unless there's a challenge going on, they take on board each, uh, point that's raised and it moves on to the next judge all the way round. If the challenge was raised by one of the judges, that original judge has the opportunity for a rebuttal and a rebuttal is simply an opportunity to counter each of the points that the other four judges may have raised. [00:10:31] At the end of that, the images is re-scored and provided every judge is now happy and the chair is happy, then the image goes on with that score. [00:10:41] If at any time a judge feels they cannot judge the image. For whatever reason, it might be that they have mentored the author. At that point, they raise their hand, let the chair know that they can't judge it. And that's when the sixth judge steps in and The image on their behalf. [00:10:59] Every 10 or [00:11:00] so images, we change the judges, so we take one judge off the end. The other judges move Along one chair and the six judge who was sitting at the back, watching they step in and become judge number one. And that's how we do it. And it goes on like that for a couple of days, over many hundreds of prints. [00:11:16] My job as chair is to keep everybody fresh. Keep everybody focused, make sure that there's no questions arising, make sure that every image, every image, is given due consideration, it must be fairly assessed. [00:11:29] Now of course, timings are crucial. We have hundreds of images to get through. And one of the things that is a challenge is trying to make sure that we have enough time on each image, but also enough time that every image gets about the same fair consideration . Um, that's a little bit of a trick in keeping an eye on how long judges take to assess the image, how long the challenges are taking and broadly speaking, how long we think we have left. The very final round. So at the end of all of that is we have however many categories there are each of the [00:12:00] category winners. We assess all of those against each other. [00:12:04] Now that might seem a little strange , I guess, in the sense that, the assumption would be the highest scoring image, in each category. Is compared to all the other high scoring images and the highest scoring image of overall wins. That is certainly one way of doing it, but the challenge I would have with that, with a problem I would have Is that an image that's judged at nine o'clock in the morning by a panel of judges may not get the same score if it was judged at eight o'clock in the evening. [00:12:35] All of the images judged in a given category, will be consistent with the others Within that same category. But an early morning category may well show a score difference when compared to an evening category. Just the way life works, fatigue, which panel of judges is on, how long they've been sitting there, who knows - there's a million things, hunger, thirst, who knows. Long drift in the scores is something that we have to keep an eye on. And taking each of the [00:13:00] winning images out and letting all six judges have a look at them and by a series of votes, decide the winners is a much fairer way of doing it. In spite of the fact it throws the paradox that possibly, just possibly, , the ultimate winning image may have scored fractionally fewer marks than the highest scoring image over the two days . That certainly is one of those conundrums and there's no pure and easy answer to it. [00:13:24] But the way we do it means that every Is fairly assessed and at the end, The winners. Uh, are voted on and considered by the whole panel of judges. And at the closing bit of the whole thing, it's to make sure that the panel of judges are, happy with the results of each of the categories. And they're happy with the winning image. [00:13:47] Through the whole process, we have a set of criteria, he says, dragging up his criteria sheet - see? Paper! You got to love paper! I've printed it. Sort of spiritually in tune with the idea of a print competition, huh? [00:13:58] Uh, the [00:14:00] criteria, depending on which association or which competition is being judged, there's always a list of criteria. Now they change and they vary, but broadly speaking, these are the things we're looking for as judges. [00:14:12] And the reason we put them into criteria headings is partly to allow you to be analytical , as a judge, but also when we're giving critiques or we're giving challenges is to use these criteria as the foundation of your comments In a way that is logical so that each judge knows what you're talking about. [00:14:29] So, let me just very quickly, I'll go down the ones that we were using for this particular competition. [00:14:34] Visual impact, uh, which is always or initial impact. Is always the starting point. And that will be the same for every competition there is: initial impact. [00:14:43] What we're looking for is that "bam!", that "wow!" factor. Now that's not quite the same as how the image will score. An example I gave here on the score sheet is that if you just showed a large, bright red square on a page, it will have impact. [00:15:00] Certainly it will have impact, but it won't stay that way. And the judges very quickly, will realize that they're not looking at a high scoring image - there are lots of other factors involved. [00:15:09] Please don't enter a big red square just because I said a big red square has impact. It does have impact, but it ain't going anywhere. [00:15:16] Uh, then there's vision style and creativity. This particular title moves around, but basically what we're looking for is, is there something about the image that is exciting, and new, not necessarily impactful. It might not be part of that initial impact, but we're looking for the photographer's ideas. [00:15:33] We're looking for the creativity. We're looking for their style, something about it that says, wow, haven't seen that before. Ideally, haven't seen that before. If it's something we have been seen before it's been done in a way that is creative and it's pushing on a boundary somewhere. It doesn't have to be avant-garde. It just has to be, I don't know, well, fantastic. [00:15:55] Uh, then we go into image production where we're looking at things like blown highlights [00:16:00] is the image sharp. Um, I mean by sharp, I mean, sharpened too much. Is there any aliasing or cloning artifacts? They're the details that happen during the image production. [00:16:10] Uh, we see things like repeating patterns when people clone, over sharpening is a really common problem when it comes to particularly print. Obviously there must be tutorials out there that tell you to sharpen your images. But trust me, I've never heard a judge. No, I've heard it once. I'm going to say I've nearly never heard a judge say "this image needed more sharpening," but in every single print competition or image competition I've judged, a judge at some point will say that image is over sharpened. And it usually happens two or three times during a competition, that image is oversharpened. Trust me. You don't need to sharpen your images too much. [00:16:50] Next we're looking at the layout -different words are used for this, sometimes it's called composition, center of interest, layout, graphic design, all sorts of terms, but what we're looking for. Is the way the [00:17:00] component pieces of the image have been placed into the frame or in this case onto the print really important. [00:17:06] Then there's photographic technique, which is all the usual stuff: has the right choice of lens, appropriate depth of field. Um, things like what came up. [00:17:15] Uh, last year, or this was one: a, photographer used F22 or F F one over 22. As the f-stop for pretty much every landscape image and every cityscape image. The problem with that is on the one hand, it gave quite a pretty little starburst out of every pinpoint of light. So if you've got a nine blade diaphragm, you're going to get a nine pointed star, et cetera, et cetera, it looks quite cute, but it also creates a small amount of diffraction. [00:17:42] So your lens is not working at the sharpest or typically not working at the sharpest when you're working at one over at 1 22 F one F 22. So. Using F 22 for everything might be counterproductive. And if the judges spot fringing, or you're seeing. abberations or something, it may well be [00:18:00] that that will lose some points. [00:18:02] Next there's Color balance and tonal range. [00:18:04] I've put these two together as one heading , because basically it's the way the colors and the, different, areas of the image from the darks through to the highlights are controlled. We're looking for color harmony, or disharmony if you want to draw attention to something. We're looking for receding blues greens, maybe to oranges and reds to the foreground . If that's your subject, we're looking for complimentary colors. We're looking for a tonal range, maybe in a black and white image, we're looking for the subject to be the lightest or darkest element. there's something about the tonal range that helps the viewer into the image, the subject. [00:18:41] Then there's the quality of the light. Of course light is the foundation of every single great photograph. So idoes the lighting support the story that's in the image? Is it a soft moment, lit softly? Is it maybe a dynamic brutal, maybe [00:19:00] Uh, concert, in which case, hard lighting, lots of colored lighting may be absolutely applicable. [00:19:06] But if you're, let's say photographing a mother with a newborn baby. You probably don't want harsh light. You probably want soft light. And we're looking for that quality in the lighting, sympathetic lighting, understanding of light, the way light shapes and gives form. [00:19:20] Obviously photographs are two dimensional, but almost always, what we're looking at is a two dimensional rendering of a three-dimensional subject and we're looking for light that shapes it or flatters it, or draws the story out we're looking for the quality in the light. [00:19:37] Uh, then there's story and subject matter, which essentially is what's what's going on. [00:19:42] Is there something about it now? Of course. In something as simple as let's say, a head shot, that might not be obvious in which case all of the story possibly is in the expression and the eyes. Maybe it's been added to by clever lighting and [00:20:00] clever post production, but in the end, probably it's in the expression and the connection of the sitter with the author. [00:20:07] Maybe on a landscape it's to do with the way there's a really moody sky over, I don't know, derelict buildings. It's all about the story that the photographer is trying to tell. And a key point here is that it's not the judge's job to understand what the author was trying to tell us it's the author's job to tell the judges - if we, if we don't understand the story as judges, that's not the judge's fault. [00:20:35] Anyway over the page, Uh, okay. [00:20:37] Presentation, print presentation. In this case, print presentation. So it's a print competition remember and print presentation is crucial. So it's all about choice of paper, it's all about how the paper sits into the mount, it's all about the choice of the mount, the way, the whole entity that we're looking on, looking at on the light box, the [00:21:00] way all of it sits together, we're looking for quality. We are looking for, let's say a black and white image, a monochrome image. We are looking for the paper color, for instance, maybe to match the mount color. So if there are areas of white or highlights in the print, and it's printed on a cream paper, probably. It's going to look better if it's mounted in a cream mount. Or maybe a black mount. If the image is really dark and moody may be a black cord, black mount will work. But maybe you need to put a key line round, in which case? A white cored, a white core black Mount, easy for me to say a white core black mount might just do the trick. 'cause then you get that beautiful, crisp, white key line all the way around it. [00:21:44] So that's what we're doing throughout this process. What we're really looking Is the photographer's craft. We're looking for the input of the photographer, the photographer. The work and the knowledge and the creativity and the skill [00:22:00] of the author. That's what all of these headings are trying to get us or guiding us towards and at the end of all of that assessment, a judge will assign a score. In this particular instance, from 70 all the way through to 100, those are the scores. And that's what we're looking for, is to be able to create a score that not only properly reflects the the, the judge's view of that image, but it's something that could be spoken about and justified. [00:22:31] Obviously when you're judging it's subjective, this is not objective. I wish it was because it would be really easy to be easy to, um judge and it would be easy to enter because you'd know exactly what boxes to tick. Away, you go. Everything's That's not how anything like this. It's not how music works. It's not how, I don't know flavors in food work. It's not how poetry or literature or any other creative art works. [00:22:58] It's in the end. [00:23:00] It's a subjective process. And what we're trying to do is make sure that every judge has given each image fair and due consideration based on their experience and their skills the fact that we have to have an automatic challenge when two judges are 10 uh, points apart tells you everything you need to know. [00:23:17] And I did judging a few years ago. I won't give any names in this. But the judges, there was a. Uh, married couple brilliant photographers industry well-known. And at one end was the husband. One end of the panel of judges was the husband and the other end of the panel of judges was his wife, the other photographer, two of them. Brilliant. [00:23:37] I'm sat in the middle with two other judges. There's five of us. An image comes up. And. There's an automatic challenge. To which one of these two, one of Husband and wife team said, I don't really. You can't paraphrasing here is a little bit, a little bit more hot headed than this, but I'm paraphrasing. [00:23:55] Said words along the lines of, I don't understand why anybody has given this a [00:24:00] high score who has given this image a high score to which, or the other end of his panel, his wife, part of the two man team who work together, creating images said "I do. I think it deserves it. " The three of us in the middle ducked and the other two basically argued it out. [00:24:19] It tells you everything you need to know when a husband and wife team who photograph and create images together and have almost identical styles, almost identical ideas, still didn't agree when it came to this one particular image. This is not an objective process. It is subjective. [00:24:37] And so in the end, you have to accept the fact that if you had a different set of judges on a different day, any image submitted could conceivably get a different score. Hopefully not a majorly different score, but certainly a different score. [00:24:53] So that's how we did it. We did that image by image, by image, by image, over the hundreds that had been entered [00:25:00] and eventually came down to one image, one winning image for each category. And then ultimately, ultimately one image who will be the British Institute of Professional Photographers photographer of the year 2022. [00:25:17] And it was an absolute thrill. I loved every single second of it. I always love it. I love judging. I love seeing the very best of the very best of the very best images presented well, put on a light box. Just there's, something about the magic. And then on top of that, there is something about the process, the joy of sitting in room with all of these incredible photographers, these incredible judges who each has a view on each image and I love the challenges. I don't like challenges in the sense that they take time. And they can also be quite emotional. I don't like that bit of it, but what I do love is that's the moment every judge talks about the image and [00:26:00] explains what they see or they don't see explains. Maybe the really incredible bits or maybe they see the things that could have been done slightly differently to improve the image. And I find it fascinating. If you ever get a chance to see a live judging, sadly, this one is not alive judging event. [00:26:18] We are talking about it but go, go and see it go and listen to the judges' comments. For me, I find that incredibly useful, incredibly valuable. But I find it very hard when it's, my images being critiqued. So I tend to go and view a category that my images are not in because I learn loads and yes. Okay. Yes. Okay maybe I should go and listen, when it's, my images being judged. But, I still find, I, I don't mind, I'll send somebody else to take notes, so I get all of the notes, but, Sarah, over the years, for instance, has learned how to give me bad news or good news. She knows how to deliver it in a way that, I will find constructive. [00:27:00] And won't find heartbreaking because of course, like everybody, if I knew the answer every single time I pressed the shutter, of course I'd win like every other judge. So judges don't always win because there is no formula to this. There are just all of these considerations and you know it, when you see it. [00:27:20] Anyway, during the process of the challenges, I noticed a few things and I made the following notes. He says, turning his page. Let me just turn to. This is the clean back page in my thing. Right. So in no particular order, these are some of the things that I heard judges talk about. So I thought I'd relay them. [00:27:36] Tea. Okay. So firstly are a few bits on print quality. Blown highlights. So a lot of blown highlights, what's a blown highlight. It simply means there's a patch of the image that is completely white in the file. All channels, the red, green, and blue channels have all blown out to 255, 255, 255 red green, blue. It's white. [00:28:00] [00:28:00] The problem Is that when you see it on a print, It becomes quite apparent. You don't necessarily see it on a screen when you're looking at it, but you will certainly see it on a print because what shines through is the paper. The rest of the paper has ink on it, but the bit that's gone to white has no ink on it so you can see it. [00:28:19] Similarly when you get, blocked up blacks and what do we mean by blocked blacks? We mean, it's just a lump of black, just a lump of no detail, just black. [00:28:29] Now let's say you're shooting a portrait on a black velvet background. You want that inky black, that's fine. That's clearly an intent of the photographer, but if you looked at let's say a cityscape on a stormy night. And areas of the image, let's say in the shadows, in a gutter or the shadows under window sills are inky black, these are, these are not really like I'm making these examples up by the way. So if you happen to enter in this year's competition, a shot of a wet wet city scape. I [00:29:00] really don't know I'm making things up , I'm making, I'm just inventing things But if there are areas in there that block up to black, you're going to get it spotted. It will show up again on a screen you don't always see it, but you will certainly see it in the print. Lack of contrast. So when all of the tones are laid down on the paper, when you print your image, you want all of the tones that best represent that image. Ideally, you're going to have some blacks and you're going to have just under some whites. Not every image will have that. If you photographed a white cat in snow, possibly the irises of the cat and possibly a bit of shadow between the claws might turn a bit just, just to black. But actually the whole image might be tones. Of mid mid-tones all the way up to white and not a lot else. Equally a black cat in a coal hole, you want to have nearly, all of the terms are going to be right down that bottom in the spectrum, but you still want detail in there with just a few bits of highlight in the eyes let's say. What you're looking for is that lovely range [00:30:00] that control of the tones, from the darkest to the lightest. [00:30:04] Similarly, uh, lack of contrast. We saw this in a few images where the tour with fine art map papers, lots of photographers use fine art map papers. We do here too as well, but you have to use firstly special inks. You can't just use a gloss ink on a map paper. Most of the modern high-end printers now have a matte black that takes that, depth of the black just that little bit darker than you'll get with a normal black but they do tend to have a lower DMax. Now the DMax is the overall range of tones that any single paper can display and they will have a slightly lower one. So some images look fantastic on a fine art map paper, some do not. You have to choose your paper carefully because you're trying to take a digital file and display it to us in a way that shows everything you wanted to: the quality the artistry, all of those tones. [00:30:58] One or two [00:31:00] prints that we had this year, you could best describe them as muddy. And that just means there's something in the printing where there's a lack of contrast. There's a lack of tonality. There's a lack of definition in each of the different areas - very muddy prints. [00:31:14] Associated to this are color casts. A few black and whites, actually a few just general images, one or two came up as having a slightly magenta cast, one or two came up as having a slightly green cast. Now we're looking at these under calibrated D50 lights. If you don't have a calibrated light source, go buy one. You don't have to spend a fortune. [00:31:35] Just get some high CRI CRI is the color index of a light. You need a high, very, very high CRI lighting that, it shows all of the, all of the frequencies of light, at a controlled temperature, whether it's a 5,000 Kelvin 5500 Kelvin 6500 Kelvin. We're using D50 which is a very specific light source. You can Google it, you can find it, you can buy bulbs and things for it, we are judging the prints under that.[00:32:00] [00:32:00] and then the other thing that we saw quite a lot of in the print is banding. Now I've heard all sorts of different terms of this, but I will use the term banding. And banding is where you see a color shift, so if you have a gray, let's see you have a background on a paper background in a studio, and you have a slight vignette across the background ideally, what you want is a really smooth transition of no color shifts. You just want the smooth transition all the way across the page. Unfortunately, what you get sometimes is a slight color kick, where using an eight bit file as you change the gradation across the page, it ever so slightly changes color. You get a slight step in it and you can see it. Similarly, if you photograph a beautiful blue sky, no clouds, no sun, just a beautiful blue gradation, eight bit files will struggle to get that absolutely smooth. And what you might need to do is switch to using 16 bit files and then printing them incredibly carefully. [00:32:57] Similarly on the same lines is paper choice. I kinda [00:33:00] mentioned a minute ago that you can get a lack of contrast like of DMax Maybe, maybe a bit of muddiness based on your paper choice. Choose your papers wisely. [00:33:09] Choose papers that show off the image to the best that they can. Don't just choose a ha a fine art map paper, because you think you've taken a fine art print. That's not how it works. We're looking for absolutely every detail, every color, bright areas, dark areas detailed in all of those areas. And find out map papers are great for certain images and then not so good for others. And it's not genre specific, it's image specific. We saw some utterly, utterly, gorgeous prints, some wildlife prints, some fine art prints, some studio prints one or two wedding prints on a fine art mat paper. And I saw some incredible, fine art, what we would call fine art photography printed on high gloss. We also saw the opposite of that one particular set of images it looked like it [00:34:00] had a laminate on it,it had no detail is very muddy, but we could see, I can see on the competition system. I can see the file. So I know how much range there was, at least in the JPEG that was uploaded onto the competition system and it's in a different world. If the author had printed it on a glossy paper, You could have added significantly to their scores. [00:34:22] And I've mentioned it before the combination of the, paper to the mount and the mount itself is really important. So if you have a slightly yellower yellowy print paper, and you want a slightly yellowy or creamy mount, if you have a very blue substrate a very blue paper under a black and white, let's say you're probably going to want a very blue, white high white, a bright white mount around it. [00:34:45] The mount is important. [00:34:47] The way you present your image is important. And it's worth noting that prints get damaged in transit and we allow for that. So if we see a scratch, every [00:35:00] print as it arrives is double-checked by the team at the BIPP head office and any, anything that's arrived slightly scratched we'll note. [00:35:08] But after that still they're being handled, they're being stacked. And I would just say that having a print in a recessed mount is a good idea because it protects the print. It protects the print. [00:35:20] Make sure your prints when they're mounted though are really well taped inside, preferably these are, we get into this thing where with mounting prints in mounts, we use T hinges now T-hinges, just two little bits of tape and it allows the print. If you're framing you use T-hinges because it allows the print to fall and then any changes in humidity mean the print doesn't wrinkle because the paper, the tea hinges, the cardboard of the mount, they all move and they allow everything just to settle So the correct way of mounting a print museum-grade print is to use T-hinges. The problem with T hinges is they don't take much abuse. When you're [00:36:00] submitting images for a print competition. These are not, these are not museum grade hangings. What you want to do is print is display your print for the duration of the competition to the best that it can be. So either tape it in really well round all edges or ideally mount it onto a self-adhesive backing board. So that it's absolutely solid. There's no wrinkling. There's no bending. There's no change. It comes out completely crisp, completely sharp, completely flat - one or two prints, were submitted the print had slid down inside the mound because there's just two little bits of tape holding it there and they slid . We moved them around and tried to get them back in. But of course, all of this risks, firstly not putting it back where the author intended. And secondly, of course you're risking scratching the prints as you move them around. [00:36:51] Originality and cliche. I've written this down, because I heard, the judges say it, but of course, how do you know whether something's original or a cliche? You [00:37:00] don't, you, you. I mean, there's so much photography out there. And if you land on a, an image or you create an image that judge has seen before. They might just suggest that it's not original. It's a little bit of a cliche. What I would suggest is try to try to submit images that are not something you see every day. [00:37:20] If you're going to submit, let's say a headshot. I'm a portrait photographer, right? This is my specialism. If you're going to submit a headshot, there has to be something about that shot. Something about the timing or the connection with the sitter or the way the lighting just glances off a cheek or the way the eyes have just popped or something, there has to be something that means it's just not, I don't know, a company executive sitting in a boardroom. There's got to be something about it. [00:37:48] Right. This one parts of the subject, creeping close to the edge of the frame or edge detail cropping. Quite a few images, when we looked, cause I can see the file, when I looked at the file, there's a little bit of [00:38:00] space around him, but once it was put in the mount, the bits of the image got very close to the edge or were cut across by the border . You really want space for all of your subject to be contained inside the frame. You need space at the edge, so think carefully about.placing all of the bits of the page, it goes back to layout. Placing the component, parts of it image and making sure that there's space around them. So that let's say the tip of the foot isn't cropped off, or just the top of a Mohican is missing out the top of the frame, those kinds of things. They happen a lot. [00:38:36] We saw a lot of them. Unfortunately, I heard this phrase a Parts of the image were too close to the edge. There's not enough headroom. There's not enough room below. [00:38:43] So just be careful of that. [00:38:45] Dust spots. I have to be honest, I really did not expect to see dust spots in a competition print, But there they were loads of them and one particular image, it was a great image, too. It was a well crafted image. It would have scored really quite [00:39:00] well, except for the fact it was completely covered in dust spots. And you can see that they are sensor dust spots because the way they're sharp and in focus over the top of things that are not, dust spots have a very particular look and they're in the file as well. So we know, it wasn't a printing error. Dust spots. [00:39:17] Titles. [00:39:17] Now. This is an interesting one. You'll have noticed earlier when I went through the criteria, the titles are not judged, not in any way, shape or form. So how come I'm saying. You know, titles, pick your titles, write your titles, choose your titles carefully. [00:39:35] Well, The evidence seems to be, from asking around and being involved with judging of different competitions that, one, one chair of one judging competition in particular said, a good title all at one mark to your image. Interesting. Don't know if I entirely subscribe to that. But I do know that a good title, a clever title, an interesting title will help draw the judges to the bit of the [00:40:00] image that you're really interested in, whether it's the emotion of it, whether it's the color of it, whether it's the cropping of it, whatever it is. [00:40:06] An interesting title will help your image, whereas a poor choice of title could conceivably work against you slightly. And certainly no title is doing nothing. So from if a competition allows you to enter a title for the image - and not all competitions do - and frankly, I'm slightly against it. I don't think we should be looking at titles, but as long as they're, create an interesting title and pop it in to the file so that it's there and the judges can read it. [00:40:37] Oh, wow. This one. Please allow a ton, a ton of time, to get your prints submitted. So get your prince back from wherever you get them done. Get them mounted. If they haven't been done for you. And get them up to the wherever the competition is being held with plenty of time. [00:40:57] Every year, we have prints that Simply didn't arrive. Maybe they Got held [00:41:00] up in customs. And they didn't arrive. [00:41:02] And having paid all of that money. You've gone through the first round, the digital round. You've got to the second round. You've obviously paid your fees to enter. You've now paid for the prints to be made. And we still don't have them. That's not. our fault. That is entirely down to pre-planning and making sure that everything arrives on time. Now you can blame the suppliers, I suppose you can blame the outsource printing, but in the end, it's down to the photographer, the author, to get everything up to us in time. [00:41:33] Lens choices came up a couple of times. Actually. It's an interesting debate lens choice. Make sure that the choice of lens you're using to take the shot, compliments the image, one particular image because it was shot on a slightly wider lens and close in or slightly closer in, it meant that anything that came forward in the frame and in this particular instance, it was hands - the subject's hands. Obviously they grow, they become bigger. [00:41:57] There's a bit of a debate about whether that was good or [00:42:00] not. What was really curious about it was the lens choice really does bear thinking about. So if you want the viewer or the judge to feel like they're part of a conversation with a portrait, then a slightly wider lens might well work Because it draws the photographer closer to the subject and you feel it, you feel like you're inside the frame. The problem with that of course, is things like a big nose also get enlarged because they disproportionately become closer to the camera. So if you're doing beauty work, probably a longer lens is more appropriate. If you're doing conversational or documentary, probably a wider lens is more interesting. Either way, don't think that the judges don't notice the lens choice. [00:42:43] Skin tones. Yeah, usual stuff. One or two hands with different colors, to one or two faces, one or two faces were different colors to want to, to next, be careful with your retouching. There are a myriad, myriad or myriad I don't know if you do put words off at the end of myriad. I always do. So I'm [00:43:00] going to go with it. Myriad of. [00:43:02] Plugins out there and actions out there that purport. To make skin retouching easy, two clicks and you're done. Well, that's a lie. You can't do it like that. You have to be simple. Sympathetic to the image. And while AI artificial intelligence is truly coming of age in the next decade. Right now, it isn't, it's not there yet. [00:43:25] So it does good work with the face, but it doesn't spot, for instance, that maybe the hands are a slightly different color. If you're photographing in the cold, you get this, or maybe the neckline is a slightly different color and you get this if a makeup artist hasn't properly matched the foundation color of a face to the natural skin color of someone's neck and shoulders, or they should have applied foundation to all of it. [00:43:47] Also just random digits appearing out from behind things. If you're going to put, you know, this happens a lot with people but you get it in all sorts of things where just bits of other things, appearing from bits of things in front. [00:43:59] The one we had a [00:44:00] long conversation about was some fingers of someone holding an object in a photograph. It wasn't obvious what they were. It was just these random fingers sticking out from behind something. And it was only that someone was holding an object which is completely natural, but once, you'd seen it. You couldn't get past it. [00:44:15] You really, really, really have to study any image entry you put in. Study it in the finest detail, turn the image upside down, turn it into a negative, do whatever you like to find those little things that the judges are going to spot because these judges have the sharpest eyes of any photographers I've ever met. [00:44:35] They spot things. And I'm a judge too, and I don't see everything. None. I mean, none of us see everything. Every judge has a particular thing that they will, identify. So things like little bits of fingers sticking out from behind things, converging verticals is the last of the ones I wrote down. This happens a little bit where a lower camera angle and anything. If the camera angle is tilted back or tilted down, [00:44:59] With a wider [00:45:00] lens, anything that's vertical will converge in one direction or another. That's fine if it's deliberate. [00:45:06] The problem is if we're not certain it's deliberate, it can look jarring -verticals are a minor thing, ok, well they're really important. If you photograph architecture. massively important. If you photograph architecture [00:45:20] But what we're saying is if you are in a situation where you have verticals, make sure the judges know it's deliberate. If they're converging are diverging. Because of course, thatt, can we use this great leading lines? It's not always that you want them to be absolutely vertical. Make sure the judges make sure you're telling the judges in the way you've done it, that it's clearly not an Similarly, horizons. The sea is always horizontal, unless it isn't. Don't have it just a few degrees out because the judges will say that image isn't level. If it's going to be 45 degrees out, the judges might disagree with your [00:46:00] creative choices. Sure. But they can't argue that you didn't do it deliberately. [00:46:04] What they're looking for is the photographer's control. They're looking for knowledge and skill and creativity. They're not looking for you to make everything straight. But if things are nearly straight? They're going to start to wonder how much control you And throughout this, throughout this, remember that line. [00:46:21] Judges shouldn't have to work to enjoy an image. And that's a real line from one of the judges. And I looked around the room and five of the judges were nodding in agreement. Judges shouldn't have to work to enjoy an image, the enjoyment should be there for the judges to find. [00:46:39] So those are the things I wrote down. I hope they useful. [00:46:42] If not, if they're not useful that you probably haven't got to this bit of the podcast - the bit where I close. I hope all that is useful because, actually entering print competitions, or entering image competitions in general is a fantastic thing to do. It's even better if you can get feedback, but certainly just [00:47:00] entering them, trying things, pushing your own boundaries - you don't have to be pushing creative boundaries, but pushing your own boundaries - producing images of the very highest quality is crucial to the development of your art and the great thing about competitions is it gives you an excuse, it gives you an opportunity to prepare files to print images, to finish the post production, retouching, whatever it might be to a level that maybe just maybe, you don't get the opportunity to when you're just working on your regular client work. [00:47:34] So there you go. There's my penny'th on judging and why you should enter competitions. [00:47:39] If you have enjoyed this podcast and thank you for getting to the very end of it. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please do subscribe wherever it is that you're listening to my voice right now. Please also leave us a review and some comments, ideally on iTunes as that still is the biggest platform for us at least, [00:48:00] but wherever it is, you consume this podcast. Please do leave us a five star. A rating and a review. We'd love to read your words. If you want more stuff about portrait photography do head over to mastering portrait photography.com, where there are a whole load of videos and articles and it's the sort of spiritual home of this podcast, the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:48:21] Please do head over there and have a look around. Whatever else is going on in your world, I hope it's all good. I hope inflation isn't too inflatory. I hope that the midterms for my friends in the states have gone the way you hope they went to whichever way that is Of course. Half. If you're going to be all right, half of you, less so, I would guess. [00:48:43] But I hope that everything is as it should be. I hope the weather is improving wherever you are. Particularly again, my friends actually down in Australia I hear Sydney. Is having some pretty nasty weather. But whatever you're doing, whatever the weather's doing, until next time, be kind to yourself. Take care.[00:49:00] ### [EP132 Interview With Michele Jennings, Former CEO Hearing Dogs For Deaf People](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep132-interview-with-michele-jennings-former-ceo-hearing-dogs-for-deaf-people/) We are a lucky business. OK, I know you make your own luck to a greater or lesser degree, but we really are a lucky business. Every day I work with people I love - from our team in the studio to our clients across the UK and further afield. As we run into the festive holidays, our studio has been full of laughter (and the smell of gingerbread, thanks to our Christmas candles!) as clients come to pick up their last-minute gifts as well as albums and frames they ordered during the year. The shelves have creaked under the weight of the boxes; each bowed with our distinctive ribbons and tags. Today, with just a few days to Christmas, the shelves look empty, with just a few items left to be picked up. Every client through the door has brought joy and festive cheer and taken away photographs it has been a joy to create. Like I said, we are a lucky business. And so it is that I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with my guest for this interview for the past decade. Michele Jennings was, up until a couple of months ago, the CEO of Hearing Dogs For Deaf People - an incredible charity that provides assistance dogs for deaf adults and children. I have worked with the organisation for the past 11 years and so it has been my pleasure to spend time with Michele and her team, creating images for the brand. This is a lovely interview, and we cover all sorts of things, from positivity to passion, from vision to values. As ever, I asked Michele to nominate a book and she recommended Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman and it's available on Amazon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Time-How/dp/1847924018 Definitely worth a read! If you're curious, Hearing Dogs For Deaf People can be found here: https://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/ Anyway, I hope you enjoy the interview! ### [EP133 Dealing With The Year Ahead With Joy And Positivity!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep133-dealing-with-the-year-ahead-with-joy-and-positivity/) So it's 2023 already! What happened to 2022? This episode says a big thank you for 2022 and kicks off the year ahead with some thoughts on how to deal with so much negativity in the years and the media. We're hitting it all with positivity, energy, creativity and laughter! Well, you wouldn't expect anything different from us would you? We also say thanks to some incredible brands who have put a little faith in us and asked us to be ambassadors: Graphistudio (they create the best photographic albums on the planet!) https://www.graphistudio.com/en/ Pixellu (we use their brilliant Smart Albums application to do the heavy lifting for all of our album designs). If you fancy a discount use the following link and discount code: https://www.pixellu.com/?fpr=masteringportraitphotography Code: MPP@2022 Panasonic Eneloop Batteries (not as sexy maybe as let's say, a camera but massively important!) These guys have very kindly helped with a little funding for the podcast - useful given that we entirely fund it, write it and produce it ourselves. A little help like this goes a long way - just like the life of their AA batteries (sorry, couldn't resist!) https://amzn.eu/d/gbinUuT Finally, we mention a package that is proving priceless for us in our colour correction - Imagen AI. Machine Learning (aka. Artificial Intelligence) is certainly going to be a huge part of all of our lives in the future - some of it for good and some of it otherwise - and one or two applications have already emerged that are stunningly elegant in the way they support our business: this is one. Since we added this to our workflow, it has not only saved us hour upon hour but has also improved the consistency of our colours and grading. Ai isn't all bad! If you fancy getting 1500 free edits, use this link: https://www.imagen-ai.com/start?ref=paulwilkinson We also want to thank all of our clients - both as subjects and as delegates to our workshops - we could not be happier and more grateful that you're part of our lives! THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU and here's to a fabulous year ahead! Cheers P.So it's new year's day. I'm sitting in the studio on Sunday, January the first, 2023. Actually. I'm standing here in the studio: one of the jobs I've managed to get done today is getting one of these sit-stand desks. Uh, because it was doing my back in constantly sitting in front of monitors, and this is the first go-round at recording the podcast standing up. Go me. It's completely deserted in the studio, which is why I've had the time to rearrange my desk and get this bit of kit to work, rewiring everything, though. It does need a bit more time. Even the heating's off. There are no fans running. It's just me, what's left of the residual Christmas decorations and peace. I have a mug of coffee. It's in my cup that says the boss, which Michelle ironically purchased. Everybody knows I'm not the boss around here, but it's full of coffee. And goodness knows. Goodness knows. Where on earth did 2022 go?! So we're already here. It's 2023, a brand new year; it's shiny and unsullied. And these are not words. I guess that could easily be applied to me. I am anything but new, shiny and unsullied, but whether I am sullied or not, I'm Paul, and this is a New Year's Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Now, before we get any further, I have to tell you this is the second time I've recorded this because I did not notice that the audio was clipping the first time. I recorded the whole thing and got to the end of it, only to realize the audio was quite cruddy and it upset me so much I'm now rerecording it from the ground up Also, I am rustling a little bit - I don't know if you can hear that. That's my coat. Because it's so cold in here. So let me ask you, how do you feel about the new year? Is it, is it a new year for you? Does it feel like, can you, yes. It's something you look forward to? Is it something you dread? Is it just another day? So here at the studio for us, it genuinely does. I think mark, the beginning of a new season, there's no getting away from it. Uh, it's not like the transition from let's say June to July. Much as I'd like it to be. It just isn't because of the way we sync with retail, we sync with other people's lives. And of course, we have careered into everything needed to be finished in time for Christmas. So all of the shelves are empty. All of the orders are gone. And now we have a diary full of new stuff to create. I mean, there is a ton of stuff in the diary. We've lots of show shoots books, some weddings, lots of workshops. And I'm judging. I'm still currently. Chair of judges for the British Institute of professional photographers. And it just a couple of weeks, I'll be headlong into judging for the Federation of European photographers. Which is something the FEP, which is something I absolutely love to do, but it is a huge, is a huge amount of work. we did ultimately finish 2022 on quite a high, it was ultimately the third highest revenue of any year we've had since we set up this business. Uh, which isn't a bad thing. When you think about it, particularly when you cast your mind back to that, we were coming out of the back end of the pandemic lockdowns at the beginning of the year, it was a little bit rattly. And so to end the year on such a high really is something else. Admittedly, we have, we do seem to have had fewer shoots and we've had over previous years, but those shoots have netted more revenue per shoot. And if you could write down a single characteristic that you would like out of a photography business, It would always be to do fewer shoots and make more money per shoot. Work less earn more. So in the end it's a really good thing. Or is it, of course. Being a photographer and naturally worried. I do have my concerns. It may be that we're seeing a little bit. Of stratification in the marketplace between those that can afford things. And those who maybe can't . Either way there's not a lot I can do to change that. Uh, but it does just, it is worth keeping an eye on. But whatever happened. There's no denying that last year was a weird year with some ridiculous politics, some crazy, crazy economics, a war in Europe, the end of the Queen's reign and the beginning of king Charles's time on the throne. Of course in the UK. I do try to keep on top of, or keep in touch what's going on in the world. But right now for us, we have high inflation. High interest rates or at least for recent times , and wall-to-wall repeats on the tele. Uh, honestly, going through the TV was just like, is there anything on, is it actually. And it all feels a bit gloomy. I mean, has it been raining for a couple of days and that never helps. But, we did spend this year, the most glorious Christmas up in north Wales in my, at my mom's and my family and with Sarah's folks as well. There were 14 of us and it was brilliant. Tons of laughter lots of food. Uh, my mom has one of those old fashioned kitchen ranges to cook on. And Sarah and I took on cooking Christmas dinner. Now, when I say Sarah and I cooked Christmas dinner. I am definitely, definitely. Uh, wallowing in a little bit of her glory. I just did, as I was told, um, fix things, chop things, peel things, fetch things. Uh, kept people out of the kitchen. Which was a task in its own, right? So that Sarah, broadly speaking, had a free run to get everything out. And we battled it out with this great big range. We started the morning with a, it cut out. They had cutout lights all over it. So at 11 o'clock in the morning, when the Turkey should be going in, there was no cooker. Uh, luckily, uh, an engineer and, uh, an instruction manual. Uh, we managed to figure out where the resets, where they can get it reset and get it up and running. Uh, but like I said, a bit of about, but it was absolutely wonderful. A beautiful Christmas. Um, And, uh, tons and tons of wonderful thoughtful gifts from the family and given to the family. Uh, this beautiful picture. So Harriet, our daughter has painted this gorgeous, this most incredible water color of our house. Our little thatched cottage which needs a needs to go into a really beautiful frame, and we'll get that up on the wall, but it's just a Christmas full of those little moments. Uh, but afterwards UN. At least not in my family, but certainly out in the great wide world, people seem to be a little bit Aggie. So the drive back home. I'll tell you what one Audi is lucky. It kept all four wheels on the road. Because it undertook a whole load of us. It careered its way through the traffic. And then it's last lunatic lane change was to almost slide sideways through the gap in front of me. Now how he missed my bumper. I do not know. Um, He caught it so tight. So the queue of traffic must only been doing about 40 miles an hour, but he was doing about 70, at least. That's how he felt. I've got video of it somewhere. I've got a dash cam, so we'll have a look. Um, but how he didn't clip my bumper and go airborne. I do not note. And it feels a little bit like that. It feels like people are frustrated. It feels like, uh, people across and then. This Audi driver. Howie squished that car into that game. It's like a Harry Potter moment. There must be a spell or an, or an enchantment or something. Uh, where. The car just became really small, momentarily and crept through a gap that I did not think was there. Um, but everywhere you go, it feels like people are a little bit cross. Now I can't change anything to do with what's going out in the news. I can't change what's out there in the economy. I can't change politics. Can't I can't do anything about it. But I do think as a business, we have choices. I can choose. How to react. I can choose. How we assess how we deal with how we predict. And how we react. So many of these market conditions, any of the ones that we're looking at, whether it's high interest rates, high inflation, High cost of living, the things we're seeing out there. All of these are things I've got no control over. But I can control what we do. I can control how I feel about it. And it's really hard to stay positive when all you hear is negativity and really crappy news. But we can make a decision. And so this year, when we get, as we do every year, we get to the end of the year, Sarah and I take a bit of a breather. I did some shoots last week. Which is unusual for me to be shooting in between. Uh, Christmas and new year, but we decided we needed to do it. Um, For a numerous reasons and just wonderful clients. It was so lovely to do. Um, but we take a little bit of, uh, we take a bit of a breath. With just capture our heartbeat a little. Slow things down and have a look at what we're going to do for the following year. So planning for the next year. It isn't as straightforward as people might think in as much as. At the time we really should be laying down all of our plans, which has sort of September time planning, sort of three or four months ahead. We're at our busiest, very hard to see the wood for the trees at that time of year. And so we really do use use this time. Now, these couple of weeks to slow things down. Just take a breather and figure out what we're going to do. I haven't quite got there yet. Uh, but this year there's very much a broad brush strategy. Now, I don't know if I've told this story. I think I have, but I'll tell it very briefly again. Back in 2008, when I went full-time into the photography business, I came out of a really well-paid consultancy job, working in London for a, I was working as an it consultant for a big corporates. And in March of 2008. Jacked it all in. I became a photographer at precisely the same time. Gordon brown. Uh, our then chancellor was bailing out the banks as fast as they could, because we were just careering into the world's greatest financial crash. Everywhere. We, every bit of news, every newspaper, every TV article was all talking about financial meltdown and there I was a new photographer. Just. Entering into the market. And so Sarah came to a wedding that was shooting cause she came to give me a hand later in the day that particular wedding. And I called her. She walked in and muttered, and people listened to the news. They're going to, they're saying it's going to be the worst. Recession his country's ever faced on the world's ever faced. What do I do? We've just become very exposed as a brand new business. And she. In the way that Sarah does laughed at me. And told me that was the last time she ever wanted me to hear me being negative like that. From now on end, it was all about joy. It was all about positivity. It was all about creativity. It was all about energy. It was all about all of the good things. And that was exactly our strategy back then. And that's where we are today. That's what we're doing right now. That's not a strategy as such, but it's our broad brush. Under which, or over which on top of everything else. Uh, we will set out exactly what we're going to do. The details, the money, the shoots, the timetabling, the diary. The pricing, all of those things. Being joyous and spreading happiness is not exactly a strategy. But it is a behavior. And behaviors are important, particularly in a business like ours, where it's all about other people, it's all about clients, you know, I'm not a wildlife photographer. I'm not a product photographer. I. I don't sit in a room on my own. I don't photograph buildings when there's no one on the street. I am a people photographer. I spend my entire life in the company. Of others. And that's why we need to be spreading joy. So funnily enough, it feels like we've wound the clock round. We started in 2008 with these precise. Uh, ideas and here we are in 2023. About to do the same thing again. With all of the news that is out there is so miserable. And I don't know whether it's just because that's what's going on at the moment or that's because that's how to get people to pick up a newspaper or click on a webpage. I have no idea, but I do know if I'm reading really rubbishy stories. My clients are reading really rubbishy stories too. And on top of that, there is a truth in the fact. That the cost of living has climbed. People are not as buoyant as they have been. And so just for a moment, whether it's corporate headshots, whether it's personal branding, whether it's the training workshops and master classes, weekly run, whatever it is. Every email, every post, and even, even this podcast, it's all about spreading some positivity, spreading a little happiness into other people's lives, because if we can do that, If we can do that. Then we'll be fine. The photography is great. I'm not, well, I say I'm not worried about the photography. I'm a photographer. So I'm, I'm inherently. Worried about the photography. Uh, you know, I wake up in the morning worrying. I'm not going to be to do it. I worked my way through a shoot wearing that. I am not doing it. I get to the end of the day, worrying that I didn't do it. I looked back two days later and think it's all right. I look back a week later and think it's really good. I looked back a year later and thought that I was doing some decent stuff. And I looked back two years later and think actually I should have entered some of those images into competitions. That is my life. But Sarah and Michelle are not worried about the photography. So that's not the strategic focus. The strategic focus is all about how we make our clients feel. How do we add something to their day, to their month , to their year? How do we make what we do an experience, how do we write emails? How do we greet them at the door? How do we work in the sales room. And of course, at least as far as I'm concerned, How do I behave during a shoot? Now, luckily for me, I'm already high energy. You may have got that. Um, nearly, always on a high, when I'm with a client, I have energy and enthusiasm. I'm always laughing. Of course I have a massive inferiority complex, but Hey, that's just me. And I'm guessing a lot of photographers have the same thing. My job is to both take pictures, but also to bring joy to impart laughter or positivity or energy or confidence or whatever it is. It's to talk with people and possibly more importantly to listen to people. Now, obviously, as I've said already, that isn't quite a strategy. If you wrote that down as a strategy book. I don't think it would sell that. Well. But it is an ethos. It is a belief system that by bringing joy, bringing energy, bringing the stuff that is good into people's lives, we will run a really effective year once again. They're Sarah Michelle, Sarah, Michelle, and myself, have an absolute ball running this company. We have the nicest people come through the building. I get to work with two of the nicest people in the world every day, we laugh a lot. We talk a lot. We get stuff done. Um, we're very flexible in the business. We can work when we want to, of course I worked long hours. Um, I had a very funny. We'll say it was very funny. My serious article is a serious piece. Uh, the Guild Of Photographers asked me for a magazine article and one of the questions they asked me was how do I stay motivated? And I, every time I read the question, even now thinking of the question makes me laugh. Stay motivated. Trust me, motivation. Isn't a problem. Sarah dragging me away from it. That might be something that she needs to do or wish she knew how to do. I love it. I love all of this world. I love the photography. I love the creativity. I love the people. I love the technology. I love. All of it, all of it. I'm fascinated by it. I'm fascinated by people and am fascinated by things. I'm fascinated by technology. Well, Staying motivated is not a problem. And that energy is what this business needs. That's what we're going to have to do. So, although I'm not necessarily a big believer in new year's resolutions, I honestly have a funny relationship with new user solutions in as much as I don't do them. Um, I've never really understood why people wait until January the first to say, they're going to do something. If you've thought of it. Don't wait. I do it now, obviously things like, you know, you're going to eat less. Is a problem. If you try to do that before Christmas, I do get that. But so many times I think people set up news resolutions. They're too easy to say. And then the too easy to break. And one, one other thing. Dry January. Uh, really, sorry. No way not doing it. If there's ever a month, I need a drink in January. Is it? It is cold. It is dark. We've just got over the joy of Christmas. We've been with our families and now we've all had to go back to work. Um, even though I love what I do. I don't ever think I'll have a dry January. So that's not to say that I won't set some goals. Um, and of course that's what we're doing. That's what we're doing right now. Is beginning to think about. What the photography is going to look like, how are we going to shape the business? What are we going to do with clients? What's the focus to forgive the pun. What's the focus of the business. And this is such a good time to do it. So there is. It's all about joy. So we're going to take a little bit of a break from the business just for a moment to get our heads together and think about the things we're gonna do. And when I'm standing here looking around the studio, and one of the things we're going to do is spend a couple of weeks tidying up, taking it apart and putting it back together. Again, I have got my sit-stand desk in, uh, but I have kind of shoehorned into a very cluttered desk already. But think is it, we, you see these things. So, uh, there's some, uh, some friends of ours that we've been working with recently, uh, about an hour's drive from here. And we went over to their new studio brand new they've just moved studios and it looked glorious. It looked absolutely brilliant. It's full of opportunity because everything's tidy and organized. And they're just trying to figure out how to use the building. Whereas we've been here a decade now. And of course that makes a difference. And so as we want to spend a couple of weeks, or I want to spend a couple of weeks. Emptying out boxes that probably should have been jettisoned years ago. Tidying up shelves, doing a bit of painting, getting things organized and seeing if we can really get back to that idea, that to see the studio assay, to see the studio as someone else would. Now I found a list. I was tidying up a little the other day and I found a list. We had an intern. Junior year. And I asked her to walk through the building as a stranger. What do I mean by that? Well, the thing is when you go to the same locations every day, you become blind to it. So I asked her to walk through the building as if she was a new client or just walked in here for the first time. Um, I asked her to do it on the first day she was here. So it still be, everything would still be quite fresh. And tell me the things I didn't notice. Where was the clutter? Where are the things that just looked out of place? Cause I don't notice it. I just don't notice it. And I still have that list. It's scary it's quite, a lot of stuff on it. So I've got to sort all of that. Out. And it's all part and parcel of just setting out what we're going to do. This is such a good time to do it. Setting out. Uh, for the year ahead. Uh, anyway, I'm going to just say a few thank you's really, um, firstly, to some of the people who have asked us to be ambassadors. It's a lovely thing to be asked to be an ambassador. Particularly when it's companies, you already use. They're products we already swear by they're products that we already provide for our clients. Not because I'm an ambassador for them, but because, well, they're the best products. It's as simple as that. Um, and so after having worked with, uh, some of these guys for quite a long time, actually to be asked to be an ambassador, because we thoroughly believe in the product, we know the product really well. He's a real honor. Uh, the first of those up is Graphistudio of course the Italian album manufacturer. We've worked with those guys for a decade. All of our albums are made there. And they are simply brilliant, but it's not just about the quality of the product. It's all about customer service. Now, you know, I've talked about this before. Don't spread yourself thin amongst your. Suppliers. So we only use one supplier for our albums. That's it. Why. Well, you can always be tempted away with an offer here and offer. There are different style of book, or maybe someone has a really cool product somewhere else. But if you don't send enough business through a supplier, then you're not important enough to them. I mean, every client, every, so every supplier will tell you. That your business is important to them, but if you put all of your album product through someone, well, you're a bit more important than someone only puts one a year through. And there's no going away from that. And I meet too many photographers who will buy this bit of a product from over there and another supplier will do this for them. And then I'll get these things, these widgets from this other place, try not to do that. And we've never done that. Graphistudio are brilliant. They make the best albums. They have the most beautiful leathers and boxes. They're an innovator in terms of their technology. That's never really been something that fascinates me. It's not important to me as a business. What's really important is the quality of the product. And the quality of their customer service. So on Christmas Eve this year, We delivered the last of our wedding albums from the air to our client, or they came here actually and picked it up. It had actually arrived. Four. For five weeks earlier than that, but it had a slight fault . Now you could say that's not great. . It had a fault. You will always get fault. They're always going to happen. And I'm really hoping to Graphistudio aren't cross some heat for saying this. Things go wrong. I'm acutely aware of that. And I don't actually worry too much. And there's a podcast I've done called own it. Fix it. When things go wrong, it's how it gets solved that makes the difference. And the guys at Graffie pulled up. All the stops. For this album we'd found the fault. It went back. Back to Italy. So we've got borders and border control and customs and everything else. And it came back to us with literally no wiggle room. It was a little bit. A little bit finger, finger chewing. Uh, but arrived just in time for our client to pick it up. They loved it. And then for me to close up the studio and head away for Christmas. That's why. We use Graphistudio. Best albums. That's a given. But customer service I can rely on and more importantly, my clients can rely on. So it's just an honor to be an ambassador and a ambasciatore. Uh, and it, Sarah and myself are ambassadors for them. Because it's Sarah, in fact, In many ways Sarah uses the much or talks to much, much more than I do. Yes. All right. It's my name on the door. It's my photography that goes in them. But as he, as a company, it's Sarah and it's Sarah and Michelle. He'll deal with Graphistudio all the time. And so it's a real honor that they haven't just recognized me for the photography, I guess. But they've recognized both of us for what we do in our business and how we service our clients. So thank you to Graphistudio. On that note also Pixellu. The smart albums product from Pixellu. Um, Sarah and I, again, have been asked to be ambassadors for them. Then we use smart albums to do all of the heavy lifting. Uh, with our album design it's absolutely phenomenal! It changed everything. When we put that into the workflow. Um, Sarah used to do all of the design in Indesign and actually was really, really good at it. But it took a long time and I had to write scripts. In fact, we still use scripts in InDesign. To error check and make sure that there's no. You know, a picture hasn't appeared twice by accident, for instance. Stuff. That's a little bit more tricky in InDesign and it is. Then smart albums, smart albums allow us to do all of the heavy lifting, and it does it in a way that makes design both fast. And better. It's a proper. Oh, yeah, we like that a lot. All right. You pay for another software license and you do find over a year. We spend a lot of money on software licenses, but this thing. He is absolutely brilliant. And again, it's actually, Sarah really has driven that. Yeah, I get some credit. Um, but it's, Sarah's design work and she's a phenomenal album designer. I love watching her work. Because she takes the chaos. I create with a camera and pieces it together. Not only so that aesthetically, every spread looks beautiful. But also so that it tells the story of somebody's day, particularly a wedding day. And it's, Pixellu smart albums that, uh, really does make that a completely possible. Also, uh, find a, one of the people that we are, uh, have been ambassadors for. And, uh, this is a unusual thing. It's hard to get excited about rechargeable batteries, however, I have to say that we've been using Panasonic Eneloop AA batteries, not just in my, uh, recorder, that's recording this way now my Zoom F4, uh, but also my speed lights and. Isn't it, you call it really excited about AA batteries and chargers. When you probably can. Um, but I'm, I, they're just, I'm very pragmatic when it comes to the things, but I do have to say it's a real pleasure to have these Panasonic battery chargers that work perfectly. They tell you when the batteries need conditioning and to have batteries that have a hugely long life, they don't fade when they're in my bag. And why does that matter? Well, it means I don't have to keep checking them. I charge them up and then sometimes they're left in their, just in their boxes for maybe eight weeks because I didn't flatten the batteries that are actually in the speedlight. I'll take them out and rotate them and just make sure all is well. But what I've learned with these things is they are ultra reliable. Um, and I can't say better than that, and it's really kind of them. They have sponsored the podcast over the past year, they helped us a little bit with some funding, which is really nice of them. So, it's nice to be able to talk about a product that I really like. And that's true of all of the things we're ambassadors for. But, it's Panasonic Eneloop who've given us a little bit of funding. So thank you to those guys too. And if you're looking for AA batteries, please do give Panasonic Eneloop a try. So what else is there? So these are, there's a couple of other, companies that, are used an awful lot of about. Well, I'm not an ambassador for, by any shape, but this year has been a year of some new technology. Uh, I've obviously spoken about the Nikon Z9 at the beginning of the year. And so after a year of using it would not give that up ever. This thing is phenomenal. It's absolutely brilliant. Um, just rock solid assured focusing, um, It handles beautifully. It's seamless into our workflow. It feels like a natural extension of me. I mean, I've used Nikon for the past. Well, I don't know, my first Nikon camera was a Nikon D100. I got one of the first ones when it came out. That's how, how long I've used Nikon for then this is the first year when I've actually had to change all my lenses to get the new Z-Series fittings. I do have the adapters to use my old lenses, but in the end, if you're going to use new technology, you might as well go the whole hog. So, I mean, we've laid out probably 20 something thousand pounds on switching over to the Z9. And a new bag of lenses, but it's absolutely brilliant. Uh, things like it's really subtle little stuff. Like I now shoot a 2.8 constantly. With the D5, which I came across from, I never trusted it quite that much. I'd shoot at f4, just a little bit of depth of field. To give it a little bit of bite now, quite happy, just letting it lock onto someone's eyes. And when we were shooting with the Hearing Dogs, we used to do three or four runs with a dog coming at the camera to get just half a dozen pictures, pin sharp. Now every run I do. I'll get essentially every image, pin sharp at 2.8. Which means I can have a ridiculously fast shutter speed, a lovely out of focus background and a dog that's razor sharp in the middle. And you can't say better than that. The pictures are just beautiful. Also, you've heard me talk a little bit about AI this year and another product that kind of walked its way into our world, is ImagenAI, I pick this up. I actually looked at it last year, but didn't have time to do it properly. And this year I really got my head round. It. So we uploaded 15,000 images, which is no small commitment. I grant you a 5,000 portrait images, 5,000 hearing dogs, images, and 5,000 wedding images. Not that I create completely different colours for each of these, But they are slightly different scenarios. And so understanding the way AI works and the way biasing works. I wanted each of those color sets to represent how I would normally expect a wedding for instance, to look so for a wedding, there's no studio shots for instance, but with the portrait side, Uh, there are hearing dogs. Also. There are, but there's a lot of greenery because with the hearing dogs, one of their. Uh, brand. Uh, requirements is that I shoot things with a nice mushy out of focus green background, because that's the way they like it to look. So ImagenAI is the perfect use of artificial intelligence. And by that, I mean, the thing with AI is it biases . Artificial intelligence learns what you teach it and ONLY what you teach it! And this is perfect for colour correction I want to use AI in a way that biasing rewards me. I don't want my images to be beautiful colors for everybody, every other photographer. I don't want to train it so that every photographer's colors come out like that. I want it. So that mine too. So. Understanding my dataset and knowing it's biased actually helps the color correction. It actually makes it better. Not worse. So it's one of those rare moments where a limitation of artificial intelligence actually plays for me. And to give you a great example of that this year. I don't know if you know, I photograph the Royal institution every year. , have done for the past, , 12 or 13 years. And I photograph the behind the scenes stills for the Royal institution. , Christmas lectures that go out on the BBC at this time of year. Now the way the stage is set. The way it's lit the way it's colored, the way the theater is, the way the behind the scenes stuff looks. That hasn't really changed that much over the years, each set is completely different and they'd light it differently. But the feel is very similar. And I want my images to feel similar from year to year to year. So I uploaded another 4,000 images. Over the past 13 years of images I took. At the Christmas lectures and trained image, I say I trained. I didn't train it. Also they, the engineers sets. I guessing software sticks it all in. And greeted me a new profile. So I've now got a fourth profile along with my portraits, weddings and hearing dogs. I've now got one for Royal institution. Now the colors for those are slightly different. Because the way I wanted him to look, I want it to look very similar to the way the TV cameras were picking up the way the lighting worked. So it's a little bit different for me. So there's no point in me using the colors that I maybe use for a wedding. Cause that's biased towards a wedding. So I created a new dataset. That's biased, directly bias towards the Royal institution. Guess what? 1500 images went through it in a heartbeat. The colors are pretty much spot on the brightness is all exactly as I want it. Yes, there's some fine tuning, but not a lot. Absolutely perfect use of artificial intelligence and I loved it. That's imagine AI. Now the guys are. Uh, imagine we're not ambassadors for them. I just use their software. Uh, but they have very kindly given me a link and a discount code if you want it. Which gives you, I think, 15% off. Uh, it gives you some trials, some free trials. We also get a bonus . There's no getting away from that. If you use it for a period of time, then we also get some money off our costs because I'm using it for absolutely everything we do. It is brilliant. Uh, it's absolutely perfect. This imagined AI I'll put links, including the discount codes into the show notes. Uh, right. Where am I? Oh, no, sorry. I was just reading my I'm just reading my script. Uh, one of the things I will do in the coming weeks is to do a podcast on what AI is likely to bring to the photography industry. Obviously I've talked about some of the good. , the cameras are using AI. The way they focusing is a lot of that is machine learning. And given, this is what my PhD is in, is really intriguing for me. , imagine AI, the products I've just talked about that is absolutely phenomenal. , and that is truly perfect use of this type of, artificial intelligence and machine learning. , whereas one or two areas, I think. , are not so I, I I'm nervous about. The way people are talking about it, but what's actually happening. Um, I, I'm not convinced that AI is the answer to everything and that's from someone else a PhD, and that you'd think. Yeah, this is great. And it is great. But it can't be sort of thing, but it can be really good for is it's transcribing right now this podcast, and I love that I'm using a bit of software called Descript. and as I talk it transcribes and it's remarkably accurate. , anyway in wrapping up. I'd really, what I wanted to do is say a big thank you to everybody who has listened to the podcast. Every client that's come through the door, the beautiful photographers who've come to the workshops. I just wanted to say thank you to every single one of you. And I must give out a quick shout to Bob and Sylvia from . Georgia. In the states, they came over for one of our workshops. , and when I saw that they were flying over. I just assumed they were on holiday and decided to also come to the workshop. Nope. They came over for the workshop. So we headed out for them the night before into Oxford. I've told this story a couple of times. And had the loveliest evening drank a beer in Oxford. They came to the workshop and. You never know quite where you'll make friends as you go through life, but make friends we have, and it's people like that. It's the photographers. It's the clients. It's the people we've met along the way. Our suppliers it's you who listened to subscribe to the podcast? All of it. All of it brings us so much joy. I cannot tell you. And I cannot say thank you. Enough. What the year ahead will bring. I honestly don't know. But what I do know is how we're going to react to it. We're going to have a joyous, a creative, a positive and energized new year. So here's to all of you, every one of you. Here's to 📍 happiness health. Positivity and creativity. And if you really, really, really must make a new year's resolution, make it this one. To be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP134 The Power Of Thank You](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep134-the-power-of-thank-you/) Photographers are supremely visual, right? Of course. But have you ever wondered about the power of words? Two words, in particular, can have a bigger impact than any image ever can (and I am speaking as someone whose entire life is living and breathing pictures). The words? "Thank You". These two words, when given or received, can bring a huge amount of joy. Trust me. In the podcast, I mention the dates of our upcoming workshops: - 6th March, Mastering Essential Studio Lighting - 20th March, Mastering Available Light - 3rd April, Mastering Headshot Photography - 17th April, Mastering Your Creative Workflow From Shutter To Print - 15th May, Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting - 5th June, Mastering Available Light On Location In Oxford These can all be found on our website. Every workshop is limited to six delegates so we can fine-tune the content for the attendees. They're an absolute blast! If you're a portrait photographer, whether a pro or looking to break into the industry, these workshops are perfect for you. We also provide a delicious lunch! Never underestimate the need for good food! haha. Enjoy![00:00:00] Over the weekend. Our daughter was home. Now our daughter is super smart and very funny. And for her work, she works for creative agency. She has to put together a presentation about chat GPT. Now if you know, Harriet. You'll know that wherever she turns her hand to is absolutely brilliant. And this particular presentation is no different. [00:00:20] The one thing certainly came to the fore: it really does lift the lid on a fundamental truth about artificial intelligence. And that is, you cannot accept what it gives you without double or possibly triple checking the facts. It has no concept of truth, none, nothing. It's not human. We think it is. [00:00:41] Chat G.P.T is Not lying. It's simply making inferences based on the training that it has it only infers answers from the data it has seen. And if the data is incorrect or simply not present, It doesn't necessarily have a sense of accuracy. [00:00:56] So purely for fun, we searched for me and two things [00:01:00] spring out. Firstly. And quite importantly, is it got some facts wrong. Simply. Wrong. They're not true. Never happened. Never will happen. Just not right. And we double-checked which of the many Paul Wilkinsons there are out there it was talking about. No, it was definitely talking about me. It simply got it wrong. [00:01:19] However on the flip side of that coin, the bits that he got right. It got so right, that the sales material that It accidentally produced is better than anything I could do for myself. Interesting huh?. So where it got it wrong, it got it very, very wrong, and when it got it right, it got it better than right. So from now on, in, I think I'm going to use chat GPT for all of my marketing materials provided. [00:01:46] Provided that. You go and research to make sure. It's true. [00:01:51] I'm Paul. I'm an ex astronaut and portrait photographer, author of many, many books, international Emprasario father of eight. And the one thing you can [00:02:00] rely on in this particular bit of text. Is, this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:02:05] Uh, yes. Artificial intelligence. I do promise at some point I'll do a proper in-depth. As to what's going on and why AI has to be taken with a massive pinch of salt. Not saying it's not useful. But I am saying it really isn't what an awful lot of that hype is describing it as, but that's one for a later episode. [00:02:41] So what has happened in the past couple of weeks? Well, let's say past couple of weeks. Technically couple of months. Seriously. I really did think that I would get to do podcasts every couple of weeks this year we've got it all scheduled out. Uh, our timetable has been modified to allow time [00:03:00] supposedly allow time and all that's happened, is that like every photography studio we got busy. Uh, so eight weeks ago I recorded the last one, although I didn't publish it, until I returned from a skiing trip. And on that note, that's exactly what we did after Christmas. Uh, had a fantastic couple of weeks on the snow. I don't remember the last time I did that and we did it with our family. [00:03:20] Uh, some friends of ours and very kind generous, lovely people, have a chalet in the Italian Dolomites, which by the way, if you've never been is more beautiful is more reliable snow, is it's simply stunning. Uh, and, uh, yeah, everyone heads to the Alps and they don't. For the entire, I don't entirely know why try the Dolomites. You will absolutely love it. Um, [00:03:45] So we had a couple of weeks skiing got back and then of course, raced straight in to, uh, the job. [00:03:51] A couple of weeks ago, uh, saw Peter Kay. Oh, man. If you get a chance to go, you should go. It's absolutely brilliant. I [00:04:00] think the only fly in the ointment was, or probably is. Cause I doubt this is going to change anytime soon. [00:04:05] Is that London? Transport for London, TFL. I dug up the Jubilee line, which meant that essentially you couldn't get to the O two arena. That's 80,000 tickets, uh, every night and they dug up the one underground ground line to get there. Brilliant. Well done. TFL, that's that's really smart of you. [00:04:25] So London, certainly that part of London just heading across the river, was utterly gridlocked. We had booked with some friends to go and have a meal, and then go see Peter Kay. So a whole afternoon and evening. And in fact, we spent the whole afternoon in a traffic jam. It was so bad that at one point the taxi driver started to panic that his car was visibly overheating. You could see the needle just climbing. We've been sat in a traffic jam for an hour and a bit and, for whatever reason, I suspect he hasn't had his fans serviced for a while. Uh, it was just going to overheat. We were going to end up stranded. And [00:05:00] luckily for me, the ghost of my father. the ghost of my dad. In my ears because me and him always owned old cars. And the trick, the trick is to turn your fans on full turn the heat up to maximum, and just open the windows because you're going to sweat, but having the heat, being extracted through the fans, draws the heat out of the engine. And gives you a fighting chance of keeping the thing alive. And it did. We arrived. We managed to just about grab the most important thing a round of gin and tonics and a beer for me. [00:05:29] And, uh, had a little bit of sushi. And had the best night in ages, Peter Kay was absolutely. Ah, brilliant. [00:05:38] Uh, we've had some beautiful shoots you'd expect me to say that. I suppose hearing dogs have been absolutely flying, uh, photographing for those guys. It seems that we've run into a, a sequence of every week being down there, which is always, always good fun. [00:05:52] Plenty of portrait shoots. [00:05:53] Uh, weddings haven't done any weddings this year. Uh, they come up in the next couple of weeks. Uh, we didn't take any bookings for the early [00:06:00] part of the year, cause we weren't quite certain. Uh, what we would be planning, but we are winding those down a little bit. Hopefully. anyway . This year. We'll see how that goes, because right now we are really focusing on mastering portrait photography and all of our portrait work. [00:06:15] Uh, what else have we done? Sorting, judging, sorting the judging for the British Institute. Of professional photographers. Now, you know this, you know, I love. Judging and being chair of awards and qualifications for the BIPP is not just an honor. And it is an honor. It is also a complete pleasure because I get to judge regularly. I get to sit with other photographers learning, critiquing, encouraging, cajoling, just by, assessing people's work. And it is one of the highlights of the year. So the planning for that is very much going in. [00:06:51] And it's Sarah who is making that possible as you might expect, because I am not the world's greatest planner. Uh, I can put [00:07:00] together the schedules, but then it takes just someone who is list oriented and I am anything but list oriented. Uh, I'm really not. And I'm sitting, recording this podcast without a script as normal. [00:07:12] I've got some bullet points to hit, but that's about all. Um, and so Sarah has given me a hand getting that all organized and in the diary. So on that note, if you are a BIPP member and you have been thinking about and putting off no doubt. Doing your qualifications. Uh, the first round there's some spaces on the first round. [00:07:30] It is the 28th of March 28th and 29th of March. You have just about enough time to get your panel sorted and get them in. So why not have a chat with your mentor? See if you can do it because. Now. Qualifications, are not everybody's cup of tea. I do understand that. I really do. Um, not everybody thinks that having letters after your name makes any difference at all. And again, that's absolutely true. Not everybody has letters after the name of some of the best photographers I've ever met never went near an [00:08:00] association or a qualifications process and they're stunning photographers. They don't need it. But I don't think you can argue that going through the process. Isn't a good thing. I'm not saying not going through the process will necessarily inhibit you. I am saying that going through the process will definitely create opportunities to improve. There's no doubt about that I don't think :the whole process, the thought process, the self. Analysis going through your images, sitting with a mentor, putting together a panel of 20 images. Everything about that process makes you a better photographer. Or at least gives you the opportunity to be a better photographer. So, uh, I know it's expensive. I do understand that. Of course it is. And at this particular period in our economy, that may not be something everyone can stomach. But think about it the other way around. Think about the value that it will bring to you and your business, or think about the things you might be missing out on. For instance, with the judging, we can only have fellows who are judging. And yet I know some incredible [00:09:00] photographers who I'd love to have on that panel of judges, but you must be a fellow Why?. Is it because you're a better photographer? Not entirely. , it's because you know the process, you know what it takes to, to get to that level. That's why we choose fellows. That's why we use them. Um, so if you have the opportunity to, why not talk to your mentor? 28th, 29th of March for the BIPP. Uh, and I simply cannot wait. [00:09:26] Uh, what else? Oh, workshops. We have set out a program of workshops. The last workshop we ran was the mastering advanced studio lighting. [00:09:34] All of our workshops have the word mastering in because as you might've gathered, we piggybacked off the brand of mastering portrait photography, which is the book Sarah Plater and I created back in 2015, um, still, still selling. I still get requests for signed copies, um, which is flattering. It's just lovely. [00:09:53] Uh, but we've piggybacked all of our workshops off the name mastering. Because as a brand, that seems to be a really [00:10:00] good idea. So we ran the first workshop of this year, which is mastering advanced studio lighting, which basically was modifiers gobos gel scims. You, you name it. We tried it and when I say try it, I mean, that so although we put together with every workshop, we put together a kind of schedule, a tick list of things that we think we'll cover, in the end, when we meet the attendees or in advance of the workshop, we ask the attendees as well. What would you like to go through? So we have a very limited numbers, only, ever six. Uh, six attendees on a workshop, which gives us the flexibility to change and adapt each of the workshops to allow us to truly represent what people want to learn. [00:10:43] And sure enough, we got a load of request for different things. So we did a ton of work with gels. We did work with scrims. We used some gobos. Uh, to project different patterns onto walls and onto model's faces and things. It's none of it's particularly complicated, but [00:11:00] sometimes it's not the complexity of the actual techniques, but it's just having a go and firing off each other. It's just brilliant to be in a room actually with a whole load of people. Uh, having a ball and that's something, I don't know that necessarily. I appreciated when we set out on this road, but absolutely I love running the workshops. [00:11:19] They are brilliant. They're funny. We get a room full of creative people. I come away with stuff. They come away with stuff. And on top of that, we have the best lunch. In the world, which also as you'd know, cause I'm quite stomach oriented. Uh, or food oriented. Like a dog, really? Um, I have to have a really nice lunch. So we have set out the program of workshops for the coming few months and I will talk through those at the end of the podcast. So either you can listen to the rest of this podcast or you can crank your way to the end and Get pen and paper out. Uh, but I'll also put them down in the show notes. So that's what we've been up to a very busy. Uh, lots [00:12:00] going on. I thought, well, the idea has been to slow everything down and give me plenty of opportunity to record podcasts. Get on top of the training side of it. Uh, and in fact, all it's really happened for a moment. Uh, is we filled it with a client work. [00:12:12] Anyway, onto the topic of this particular podcast. [00:12:17] So one of the things about being a photographer of course, is that we are all incredibly visual people. You might use other words. I suppose for photographers, slightly flaky, creative. Obviously visual. People people, most of us, although I suspect those that like to sit in a hide or up on a mountain top for weeks on end. Maybe they're not people, people, maybe they're purely. [00:12:39] Visual people, but for the people in the sectors that I work in, very people, very huggy. On the whole very huggy. I love that. I love that, but we tend to think of everything about being pictures, but words, words, I mean, think about this podcast is all words, our blogs are words. I will guarantee. That 99% of you, the first time someone said [00:13:00] they loved you. They used the words I love you. They didn't show you a picture of it. And they might've hinted at it, I suppose, but it's the words, it's the words that can truly build you up or truly knock you flat. So here's a note that dropped through our door last week. Now this is handwritten. [00:13:19] I dropped through a door last week. It's handwritten. So it'll take me a minute. And it doesn't matter how many times I've read it. I still get caught up. Uh, in the words. [00:13:26] Dear Paul. This is a long overdue, but nonetheless heartfelt, thank you to you, Sarah and Michelle. For the astounding. I think it says astounding and beautiful photography, exceptional experience and service for a wedding day on the 6th of October and our follow up visit to the studio in November. [00:13:47] We cannot express enough gratitude for the energy you brought to our special day. And also your understanding going above and beyond on the day's events or sorry, as the day's events unfolded, as we were relocated [00:14:00] from our original venue to a new venue and even giving us a lift there to boot. So it's good. That's a nice phrase to boot. It's not one I use very much. I might adopt that. Uh, you were a huge part of our day and we are so glad we chose you. You have created a very special experience and service from our first meeting the day itself. To our show show real reveal with Sarah. [00:14:22] Who is wonderful. And the generous lunch served up to the X. It goes back to the lunch. Notice back to the lunch. We always have a nice lunch. To the excellent served up. Uh, sorry to the generous lunch, served up to the excellent coordination with Michelle. It felt like we were being looked after by a very professional and friendly team who cared about our day, our day, as much as us. [00:14:44] We cannot. Thank you enough. And we are so looking forward to seeing the final album. And our chosen prints. [00:14:51] With enormous gratitude, very best wishes to you and all the team. [00:14:56] So that note dropped in our door. Uh, I guess probably 10 [00:15:00] days ago now. And we are still smiling. Now we get a lot of thank you notes. [00:15:04] Uh, but usually a they're usually a bit shorter than that. And I love every single one of them. Just someone writing to us to say we did a good job. Now we charge for the job. We're a service industry, right? This is the photography business. Not the photography hobby. So I'm charging for all of this work and yet still having charged a client that is still, the thank you note that they wrote to us. And it got me thinking a little bit about saying thank you. It's one of the most powerful tools we have in our toolbox. And it's not just when our clients write to us. It's when we say thank you, to the people that make our job possible. [00:15:44] To our clients. Of course I'm always grateful because they're the people. That put money in the bank. Now I went to, a photography seminar 15 years ago, I think. Uh, probably at focus on imaging as I think it was [00:16:00] back then, at the NEC in Birmingham and I went with a mate of mine, to go and see a particular photographer who I've been a fan of for a long time. [00:16:08] So I went to see his seminar and for the entire thing, all he did was bitch about his clients. He didn't have a nice thing to say about them, everything he said, was well, pretty horrible, to be honest. And I came away. Demoralized. I w I was just on the cusp at that point of deciding to come into the industry. [00:16:30] And I nearly decided it wasn't the place for me. Everything. He said he was derogatory. He was rude. He thought he was being funny, but I took away that, he really didn't like and respect his clients. Now that's fine. If you work in a sector where you don't have to deal with your clients, you can be as rude as you like. [00:16:50] But imagine being face-to-face he was a wedding and portrait photographer, imagine being face-to-face. With people that actually in the back of your mind, you don't like everyday. And I would highly recommend that [00:17:00] if that's how you feel about people. Go do something else. It really, really upset me. [00:17:06] We here could not be further from that. I am forever. Thrilled that I have our clients I'm forever grateful. Even this weekend. A photographer actually, and her family came for a shoot. It was an absolute joy. It was full of energy. Full of laughter. A little bit of nerves, obviously, whenever you're photographing a photographer, there's an added layer of insecurity, I suppose. Because people bring in with them, their own expectations. Uh, it's not the first time. Photographed them. Um, so it wasn't that I was worried, but there's still, I don't know. You get an additional adrenaline kick. But it was just a ball. And I'm forever grateful. And I think it's important to know. [00:17:50] And to say, so. Tell your clients. Tell your clients, thank you. Say to them. It's just been an absolute pleasure. Working with you and not because you don't [00:18:00] mean it, not because it's a marketing line. It isn't, you have to actually believe it. Be grateful for the people that put food on your table. [00:18:07] Also your suppliers. We have the most incredible suppliers. I talk about them fairly often and I meet them reasonably regularly. Whenever I can, to be honest. And. Thank you goes a long way, just saying, thanks. It's easy to pick up the phone or drop an email. Where your, where something has gone wrong. [00:18:24] Where something isn't quite right. And so you've picked the phone up and said, can you fix this? But then remember to pick it up at the end and say, thanks. Say, thanks for doing a good job. Sometimes even if when everything is running smoothly , just say, thanks. And it's lovely listening to my team. Michelle and Sarah, because they are supremely good at this. [00:18:43] They will email back or ring. A supplier. And just say, thank you. That was brilliant. Thank you ever so much. They're really, really good at it. And because of that, we have incredible supplier loyalty. The guys I work with, well, they're the best in the world and I absolutely love it. But for [00:19:00] me to, to Michelle and Sarah, probably I need to say thank you more. [00:19:04] I do try. I do try to say thanks for an incredible job for thanks. Just thanks for being there sometimes. Thanks for laughing when I'm feeling down. Cause I do. Just thanks. I think that's just a really lovely thing far more than any picture. I know they say a picture. He says a thousand words, but I think the words thank and you say 10 times that. Try it. You might just like it. [00:19:29] Right. There you go. Sometimes, sometimes it's podcast is me just floating along and then sometimes it does sound like I've climbed onto a soap box. So on that happy note. Thank you to you. Our listeners. For being there and listening to this podcast. I didn't lovely note last night. [00:19:46] That's from a landscape photographer in north Wales. It dropped in and it just said is a landscape photographer. I don't do portraits. But having landed on mastering portrait photography and listened to that and loving it. I think he said he'd loving the podcast. Uh, he's [00:20:00] thinking about doing portraits, what a lovely thing. [00:20:02] So, thank you. Thank you to each of you for listening. Uh, it's an absolute pleasure to have you there to know that I'm not just recording this and it's disappearing out into the ether. [00:20:13] Uh, right. So here's the end of the podcast. And here are the dates for the workshops that we have in the diary. [00:20:19] 6th of March, that's a week today. I'm recording this on the 27th of February, 6th of March. Mastering essential studio lighting. Which is a day messing around in the studio, trying things out, showing just how much you can achieve. With very little, to be honest. I laugh a lot at photographers because we do love a bit of Rembrandt lighting. [00:20:43] And then we, we sort of hold it up as the epitome of moody light and it is. But it was lit with one light. You end up in the studio with 25 lights and really well, you just need one and know where to place it. So that's essential studio lighting, uh, 6th of March. [00:20:58] 20th of March, [00:21:00] mastering available light. Available light portraiture, technically. This is all about people. Uh, every one of these is about people. I am really a portrait photographer, so that's the 20th of March mastering available light. [00:21:11] 3rd of April mastering headshot photography. So, unusually for us, this is one that's topic driven as opposed to technique driven, if you see what I mean. We're trying some things out to see whether it's more fun or more useful to arrange it, build it around a particular topic such as headshots or child portraiture or whatever, as opposed to techniques such as studio lighting. [00:21:31] 17th of April mastering your creative workflow from shutter to print. Uh, this is one that is always slightly harder to sell. [00:21:39] But it's probably the most important of all the workshops that we run. It's all about getting results quickly. Because at the end of the day, this is a business. And the, all of these courses are premised on being pro or semi-pro or earning money from your photography. And getting your workflow, right, making sure that [00:22:00] from the minute you import the data, onto your computers., that it's managed correctly, it's managed quickly, it's managed efficiently. And then all the way through some very fast Photoshop techniques to absolutely lift your images. These are not full on beauty retouch techniques. I can do those too. Uh, but 99% of our work here is not that it's normal family portraiture. And for that, there's a certain level of retouching that's useful. Beyond that yes, it's lovely to do it for competitions, and it's lovely to do it when you get the opportunity to do it. But unless you can find a way of monetizing all of those, all of those hours, all of those hours sat in front of one image. Uh, then it's probably not economically the right way to go. So that's the 17th of April mastering your creative workflow. Workflow can't even say workflow from shutter to print. Maybe I should actually only do courses where I can say the words easily. [00:22:53] Uh, right. 15th of May mastering advanced studio light. So that's a rework. That's a [00:23:00] rework of the one we did. A few weeks ago. Uh, it was just brilliant. That was a wonderful day. Uh, seriously, I came away with as much energy and enthusiasm as the guys who were attending it, it was such a ball being in a room with creative people, seeing everyone's faces light up with new ideas and techniques to take and use in their studios! a lot of fun, a lot of inspiration and lots of really beautiful images came out of that one. [00:23:24] And then on the 5th of June, this is the last one that we've got in the diary just yet. Uh, but we'll keep them updated. Uh, that's mastering available light, but on location in Oxford, that's quite different. So we're going to do essentially a walking tour of Oxford with a camera. Uh, finding pockets of light. Of course, I've no idea where we'll end up because it depends entirely on the weather, whether it's sunny, whether we have a flat light day, whether it's cold, whether it's warm. Uh, we will use every bit of light that we can from the beautiful sandstone streets in Oxford, uh, probably down to the greenery. Cause [00:24:00] it's, June so it'll all be lush and green, uh, down near Christchurch college, down by the parks. Uh, we will see where we end up. Usually I end up on a back street with some graffiti on a corrugated iron wall. Uh, and I find that just as interesting. So that's the 5th of June mastering available light on location in Oxford. [00:24:19] Although each of those workshops is we've already set out. If you go to our website at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk, you'll find them, we set out what each one likely will include, but just to be clear again, [00:24:31] Uh, the attendees help us drive the shape or help us shape each of the courses. So if everybody turns up and they want to learn a very particular thing, then of course we simply adapt and change. Uh, it's a majority driven thing. So we set out the kind of baseline topics, but then it's down to everyone who comes. So that truly you get, you all get something out of it. [00:24:54] Uh, what was I going to say? Oh, and of course at the end of each of the sessions, if you want to stick around for a [00:25:00] bit, if there's something we couldn't cover. And you want to just come and stick around and ask questions. Then, of course you're very welcome to do so I'll stay around though. I can't guarantee the models will! [00:25:08] So if it's something photographic, uh, we might just have to grab someone, uh, someone else who stuck around and put them in front of the camera. [00:25:15] So those are the dates. 6th of March, 20th of March, 3rd of April, 17th of April, 15th of May and 5th of June. If you Google Paul Wilkinson photography workshops. [00:25:25] Uh, you will find our site at the moment. All of these are on paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. Uh, eventually I think we'll move them across onto the masteringportraitphotography.com site. Uh, but that's a piece of work that I haven't got to yet. Uh, we're slowly piecing together what we're going to do with each of the different brands we own: Paul Wilkinson Photography and of course Mastering Portrait Photography. [00:25:48] There are places have sold pretty quick. Um, For the courses we've announced so far, the one I'm cause I'm going to push today. We have a few places available. Is the one next week, which is the 6th of March mastering essential [00:26:00] studio lighting. So if you fancy that it'll be lots of techniques, some of which have a headshot, some of which are for, uh, family portraits, we might do a little bit dramatic low key, but it's lots of things that you can try with very simple, very simple lighting in your studio, ranging from. Umbrellas bare head. Uh, we probably use a soft box or two. We might play with a bit of continuous light. If somebody fancies it. Uh, we have all of it, our fingertips, so we can do anything you like. [00:26:27] Actually as an aside, one of the things I've always hated about studio lighting workshops is you have to keep switching to triggers. We even have a set of triggers so that once they're bolted to your camera, you don't need to change them. That. A pet peeve of mine. And I think it's important. [00:26:44] So If you do fancy it, there are places available. Just search for Paul Wilkinson photography workshops and book your space now. Ooh. That was quite salesy. Book your space now. Call to action. I think that's called in sales parlance. [00:27:00] Uh, it would get me being all salesy anyway. Do it. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [00:27:07] For listening to the very end of this mastering portrait photography podcast. I'm sorry if I'm rambling on, but Hey, you know, we're an episode, episode, 134. I still can't say the word episode, but we are on episode. 134. So there must be people out there listening. It keeps itself in the charts for photography podcasts, which I think is just wonderful. So thank you to each of you for listening and thank you in particular for getting to the end. Remember, whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP135 Winning (Or Not) And Finding Positives - Whatever The Outcome](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep135-winning-or-not-and-finding-positives-whatever-the-outcome/) Well, this weekend has two big events: Mother's Day and the Societies Of Photographers Annual Convention In London. Sadly I wasn't able to make the Convention this year - though I was there in spirit! That didn't stop me entering the print competition though. I didn't come away with any gongs this year and that always stings just a little. Somehow, I have to convert the feeling of missing out on a fantastic convention with photographers who I love to spend time with (FOMO anyone?) and also not getting the scores I would have loved for my entries. It's all part of the puzzle when it comes to entering photographic competitions. Enjoy!Add the transcript here... ### [EP136 Interview With Margaret And Peter Aldington OBE | On Creativity And Relationships](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep136-interview-with-margaret-and-peter-aldington-obe-on-creativity-and-relationships/) Peter Aldington OBE, world-renowned architect and garden designer, with his wife Margaret - whose energy and partnership have been as fundamental to his success as any other creative's, though she professes to not being a designer of any kind. I have wanted to record this interview for a long time. Peter is a world-renowned architect, having achieved no less than 9 (yes, you're reading that correctly, 9) listed buildings in his lifetime. Each of the nine houses he designed while working as an architect, along with the garden that he created in the eighties, is listed (aka protected) by English Heritage. Some record. He's also a charming guy. We have based our photography business in the original studio where he began his architectural practice, Aldington, Craig and Collinge, a building we have completely fallen in love with in the past 11 years. As you can imagine, I wanted to record an interview with him; in particular, I wanted to ask him about creativity and how he turned his influences into something tangible. Sometimes, however, the more exciting topics creep in as you talk, which was the case during this interview. Sitting with Peter and his wife Margaret, it quickly became apparent that the more important questions were about relationships: relationships with colleagues, clients and, of course (and you'll hear this throughout the interview), the relationship between Peter and Margaret and their family. It's funny how you can plan all you like, but ultimately, life (and creativity) have a way of taking you on unexpected journeys. But for me, well, I think it is a lovely interview with an architect who has made an immeasurable contribution to architecture and garden design. Usually, I would ask Peter and Margaret for their book choice, but I have chosen two that feature Peter's work for this episode. The first is A Garden and Three Houses: The Story of Architect Peter Aldington's Garden and Three Village Houses by Jane Brown. The second is Houses: Created by Peter Aldington, a beautiful book choc full of stunning line drawings (and if you know anything about me, you'll know just how much I adore exceptional illustrations!) Enjoy!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 the transcript here... ### [EP137 Habit Hackers: Supercharging Your Studio with Good Habits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep137-habit-hackers-supercharging-your-studio-with-good-habits/) Pick up any book on business in your local bookstore, and it will almost certainly talk about processes. Yawn. But what if we thought about processes as good habits? The things you do every day that you don't need to think about. As a business, you need good processes: doing the right things, at the right time in the right way is the foundation of any successful studio. And besides, it gives you more time to do the things you love! Enjoy!JTNDc2NyaXB0JTIwYXN5bmMlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnBhZ2VhZDIuZ29vZ2xlc3luZGljYXRpb24uY29tJTJGcGFnZWFkJTJGanMlMkZhZHNieWdvb2dsZS5qcyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRnNjcmlwdCUzRSUwQSUzQyUyMS0tJTIwTVBQJTIwUmVzcG9uc2l2ZSUyMEFkJTIwMSUyMC0tJTNFJTBBJTNDaW5zJTIwY2xhc3MlM0QlMjJhZHNieWdvb2dsZSUyMiUwQSUyMCUyMCUyMCUyMCUyMHN0eWxlJTNEJTIyZGlzcGxheSUzQWJsb2NrJTIyJTBBJTIwJTIwJTIwJTIwJTIwZGF0YS1hZC1jbGllbnQlM0QlMjJjYS1wdWItNjIwNjEwOTc1NDU3MzEzNyUyMiUwQSUyMCUyMCUyMCUyMCUyMGRhdGEtYWQtc2xvdCUzRCUyMjQzNzU1OTE2NDElMjIlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlMjBkYXRhLWFkLWZvcm1hdCUzRCUyMmF1dG8lMjIlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlMjBkYXRhLWZ1bGwtd2lkdGgtcmVzcG9uc2l2ZSUzRCUyMnRydWUlMjIlM0UlM0MlMkZpbnMlM0UlMEElM0NzY3JpcHQlM0UlMEElMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlMjAlMjhhZHNieWdvb2dsZSUyMCUzRCUyMHdpbmRvdy5hZHNieWdvb2dsZSUyMCU3QyU3QyUyMCU1QiU1RCUyOS5wdXNoJTI4JTdCJTdEJTI5JTNCJTBBJTNDJTJGc2NyaXB0JTNFWell, the sun is shining here in the UK, just at the moment and has pretty much been doing that. For the past six weeks Or so. And it's just glorious. I'm sitting here in the studio. It's streaming in through the windows. As I walked down here this morning. It was just so, so. Well, so beautiful. The light is just incredible. The temperatures, that lovely temperature, where you can still wear a t-shirt. But it's just that little bit cooler than it is later on in the day. Ah, just stunning. Now I am going to start this particular podcast by blowing my own trumpet. Yes, just a little. I have lost a little bit of weight now. I'm not that good at losing weight. I have a natural gift for accumulating it, but when it comes to shedding it, well, not so much, but recently. I have a bit of a knee problem. It's my left knee. If you're curious and it's. Not one, that's going to go away. The pain that is not the knee. Uh, it's not going to go away without a replacement. However, one thing that certainly will help. It's maybe, maybe just asking it not to have to support quite so much tonnage. Above it. So I've got back on the Peleton. Yes. Yes. I know. Uh, but I do actually love the thing. Um, genuinely I'm torn between my love of EDM and house and the 63 beats per minute climbs that. Uh, they give you. Uh, or, well, just trips down memory lane to the classics of the eighties. Anyway, over the past three months. I have lost a stone. All of that's well, yeah, six and a half kilos to my metric listeners, but a stone to people like me who love eighties music. Though I admit I probably do have another couple of stone to go. Uh, anything, anything to take the pressure off my knee? I will honestly admit to feeling just a little bit pleased with myself. And I have done it almost exclusively through exercise and just well eating a little less bread. Having no toast in the mornings is not the greatest hardship. Um, I still like a big sandwich at lunchtime. Can't stop myself and the alcohol. Well, the alcohol has stayed. Frankly in my diet, because if I'm honest, I need it. But it turns out that burning a thousand calories each session on the bike. Um, gives me enough calorie deficit. To have lost some weight. And I think people think I'm always a little bit. And on the energetic side anyway, but some of that energy, it felt like it was waning. Cause it's hard to be bouncy with a brittle and frankly, excruciating knee. Uh, and caring a little too much weight. So recently I think some of the bounces back, and I'm no longer out of breath dragging my camera back up the stairs after being out on the road. I'm Paul. And this is a slightly less heavy mastering portrait photography 📍 podcast. Hey, just, just as an aside. Just before I started to record this, I saw a headline come in from the BBC that says the UK in the UK, we've paid an extra six P a liter, a liter. The fuel. Uh, the pumps because there's been weakened competition and what my money back, frankly. I want my money back. The Landrover has a pretty big tank and I want my money back six Plet because they can't sort out the competition stuff. I want my money back. Dreadful anyway. So what's been going on. Uh, well, we've had one of the busiest months we've had, uh, also also one of the worst hayfever seasons I've ever had. Uh, one reason that I haven't recorded quite so many podcasts recently is that I have a permanently blocked up nose. And I sound like, or have sounded like an advert for Vicks VapoRub. Well, I mean, as in Vicks VapoRub, before application of Vick's VapoRub and it didn't make for a great recording sound. Uh, but we've had a load of portraits. So the commercial couple of weddings. And the cricket, well, I mean, I say quick, I don't, I'm not a sports photographer. I just mean it's the ashes series now, obviously to my Australian friends. Yes. Yes. You two. Nil up on a five series. But what's been a huge victory in our household is that Jake, our son has brought cricket into the house and all four of us. Are now talking about cricket, almost non-stop test match cricket in particular, but cricket. Uh, yesterday sitting with Harriet. She has developed. A real nose for it. Uh, I don't know where she's getting all of her knowledge from, but she was educating me on some of the ins and outs and nuances. Of cricket. And I don't know if Jake who's, it's been Jake's domain since he was about seven years old. Uh, you could hear him swishing a bat in the backyard. From a very early age. Uh, and even now he does it when he comes home from uni or from working at English cricket board. Uh, he, uh, swishes, it stands in the backyard and just practicing his strokes. Uh, and I think he's had a bit of a solitary time of it because none of us were really into it until I suppose the last couple of years. And that's really gained traction in the past couple of months. So, uh, we went to, Edgbaston for the very first. Ball of the first ashes. Sorry, the first test of this series of the ashes. Uh, cracking for it was great. We thought it was going to be just all. Uh, all, uh, all downhill from there. Well, it has been all down hill from there, really? And then over the weekend, we went to Lord's to see the fourth day of the second test . All of it, exciting, all of it. Brilliant. And it's just lovely as a family to have. What is one of the worlds? Most obscure sports. Uh, you have to admit, I mean, any sport that you play over five days and then you do it five times is a strain sport. Uh, but it's been absolutely brilliant. It was also Sarah's birthday this month. Now that's a multi-day event. So it was birthday. Isn't a singular. A singular date. It's a multi-day event and it, as it happens, isn't yet concluded. As we're off to go and see Matilda. Uh, the musical in London by the Royal Shakespeare company. I don't. I don't know why the Royal Shakespeare company, maybe that's just a. At aside for them, maybe it's just a light relief. Uh, anyway, we're going off into London as a family to go and see a Matilda and a couple of weeks. Uh, what else? Oh, yes. We've had part of the house gutted and this is kind of the trigger for this whole podcast. So we live in a very old house. Uh, and at the back of it are what, we're almost certainly a couple of little cow sheds or something. It was a little small holding. Uh, it's 600, 700 years old. Nobody's quite sure, but it's pretty old. Our house. And there are a couple of cow sheds at the back that were an office and a bathroom before we moved in and it was a kitchen and a bathroom. But it's never, we've never done anything with it. And we've lived in the house for 24 years now. Oh, 23 years. Uh, we never really did anything with it, except to gut it a little, uh, dry it out, paint it, and then live with it. Um, but it needed to improperly it needed to go back to the original walls. New dry lining new floor, new ceiling, new wiring. New bathroom. Uh, you name it. We've had it all in the process of having it done. Now there are parts of it that are great relief. So when we took all of the old stuff down the stuff I had done, the stuff that people before me had done. The people before the people before. I had done. It turns out the walls were in good condition. It's dry. We'd have to re we've had the roof freedom anyway, so that it's watertight. And the whole place was looking pretty good. But watching, uh, Brian, who's the guy who's looking after the whole project go through each stage of it. Made me think of processes for everything he does. He knows where he's at any stage. He knows where that, which bit of it he's doing. He knows whether it's measuring. He knows whether he's ordering stuff in. He knows the lead times. It's really interesting. To watch. And it got me thinking about processes. Now, if you think about it, we all have processes. Whether it's the way we get up in the morning. Uh, the stages of that to having a shower, having a shave, cleaning your teeth. It's the way you get in the car and start the engine and head off to wherever you go, the way you put your seatbelts on adjust your mirrors, tune the radio in, stick your phone in the bracket, whatever it is. They see even the way you had to work, maybe buying a coffee on the way these are all processes in some full. They are the things you do. Every day and probably never really think about it. They just kind of happen. And you don't even notice they are habitual and that's the point. Processes are habits. They're habitual. They are. Things you do that are almost automatic or they should be. They can be good habits. They can be efficient. They can be quick. They can make you happy. They can be bad habits. They can be inefficient. They can still make you happy. Uh, but they can, you know, take longer than they should do. So for instance, do you always open a bottle of wine after a day in the studio? That might be a well-organized habit, but it's probably not great for you. Though I'm with you on that one anyway, but they are things that you do. Regularly. And there is comfort in that regularity and that rhythm in that habit. And to be an effective business, you must have. Processes. Two. Imagine in life when you're getting up, you don't know what order to do things in, or you don't know if you've done them. You change them every day. Maybe you forget to clean your teeth. Maybe you forget to put on socks. Uh, business without processes is more or less a sockless human with bad breath. Now there are a couple of ways. I'm sure there are numerous ways, but there are a couple of primary ways to create your processes on the one extreme. The first way and the one that I think big corporates love, it's certainly the way when I was working with big corporates, we worked is you sit down and you design one. You ask for lots of inputs from lots of people. That you decide. And write it down. But you could, of course, in this day and age as chat GPT to design it for you now as an exercise, I actually did this. Uh, I asked it to design an effective process for here and I quote. Design an effective process for handling client inquiries in a photography studio. And here's what it gave me. One initial inquiry. Provide multiple contact channels offer various ways for clients to reach out. I don't think that's a process really. Uh, to, uh, well, no, sorry. Part of still part of one. Create a dedicated email address. So by the way, as an aside, Don't use a Google email address. Get your brand name, sorted. Get your web domain sorted, and then have an email address at that. Uh, domain don't do paulWilkinson@gmail.com. It doesn't look good. You don't need to do it. It's really easy to have a web address. I have an email address based on your web domain. Just this isn't from Chet GPT, by the way, this is just my pet peeve. I hate it when somebody sends me an email from google.com and there are professional. Uh, anyway, carrying on include a clear call to action on your website. Social media profiles are micro. I still not sure that's processed, but that's what chat GPT has given me. Stage two, the inquiry triaged. It feels like there should be a drum roll for that inquiry tree. It sounds like. Our casualty triage!!!!! . Uh, anyway, uh, regularly check and monitor all inquiry channels, prioritize urgent inquiries, respond to them promptly. I sought and categorize inquiries based on their nature. Fairly logical. Number three inquired response. Craft a template response that can knowledges. Acknowledges the inquiry and express his gratitude for the client. I'm so grateful. For the client's interest, personalize the response by referring to the specific details. Provide essential information. So just due to availability, pricing, packages, any other relevant details. Include a clear call to action, encouraging the client to take the next step, whatever that might be. Number four consultation, offer the option for an in-person or virtual consultation to discuss the client's requirements of detail. Shed jewel, the consultation as a mutually mutually convenient time. Preparedness to questions to understand the client's needs, showcase your portfolio, explain your photography style and provide detailed information about your pricing. Uh, number five proposal and booking, uh, based on the consultation, it create a customized proposal that outlines the agreed services. Clearly communicate. Uh, the booking process, including an innocent of deposits, et cetera, provide multiple payment options such as online payment gateway. So direct bank transfers. Set a deadline. And once the client accepts send a confirmation email number six, follow up after the booking is confirmed. Flip the client, send reminders, maintain regular communication with the client, leading up to the shoot to address any. Questions or concerns. Number seven, the final stage, it says, chat, DPT, send the thing, you know, it's a client expressing gratitude for the business and trust in your services. It's missed out the shoot bit. Let's not get too. I don't know. I don't want to be too critical. It's missed out the shoot. Anyway, post shoot number seven, post shoot. Send. Thank you. Note. Provide a timeline of what you're going to do. Share a sneak peek. A follow-up to confirm the client's satisfaction and address any feedback or concerns they may have. It does say at the bottom, remember each photography studio is unique. So adapt this process to see your specific needs and clientele. Continuously refine and prove your process based on client feedback. To ensure a seamless experience from inquiry to final delivery. And that last paragraph is the most important of the entire thing. Remember each one of us is unique. Remember to adapt your processes. As you go, keep refining them, keep improving them and listen to your clients to make sure they're the best they can be anyway. So that's why that's method. One is you sit down and you either. As I have their boiler plated one from chat GPT from AI, which let's just remember where the AI, that it's not inventing that process. It's reading. The internet in 2021. All of the documentation available and I would lay you a bet. If I searched. For processes for photography studio. I will find that or something very similar to that out there. Uh, that a photographer or multiple photographers have written online. Uh, however, it's useful to have it. You could sit down and design it from scratch. Decide just to get a big piece of paper and write down all of the contact points with your client and what you'd like them to be. And then for each of those contact points, Write down exactly what you're going to write and send out as emails and how you're going to do it. So just a way of designing a process. The second way is just to get into a good habit. So I like him process design, a good process design. So. I think I've talked about this. Certainly talk about it in our workshops on business processes. Uh, but it's a useful thing to remember. If you're ever stood at the corner of a large green space in a city. Where there's, uh, Uh, path at a Tod or gritted or graveled or, you know, uh, constructed path. Round the edge of it. Look at where the grass is worn. And I lay you a bet. It's across the corners. Because architects and urban planners love to have a park. With paths that go in zigzags and corners and all the rest of it. People on the other hand, want to get from a, to B in the most efficient way possible, and they'll walk across the grass and eventually you'll see by virtue of a muddy trail. You will see exactly how people wanted that to be. And that is when that's, when you design processes using habits. You will find a much better process this way, but it takes a long time to get there. Over time as you do things and you do them repeatedly, you very quickly get a feel for what works, but it just takes a lot longer than sitting and designing a process. So, whatever you do, there's no right answer. I would suggest the most obvious way of doing it is to sit and design your process. But remember that it's not finished yet, and it may not be finished for many, many years. Uh, it may never be finished. And I was change all the time. As we listen to our clients, we respond to changes in the marketplace. We respond to changes in how we want to work. We even risk even internally. For instance, the package imaging, AI, which we do use for all of our color correction has meant that we've changed fundamentally who and where the color correction is done. Who? Sorry. Who runs the color correction and where it's done, because I didn't have the ability, for instance, for Sarah to run all of the colors. Whereas when I was doing it, myself, all that to come back to me. So we've changed the process. So now I don't do the colors. Technically it's, it's outsourced to a software package and that AI artificial intelligence package. Uh, but Sarah can run it. Brilliant. Um, and it's not just working processes up. It's not just about the obviously obvious things. Like how do you respond to a client? It's actually about everything you do in this Juju. It's your inquiry process, color culling coloring. And post-production, it's your complaint handling process. Let's hope you don't have complaints, but you've always got to have a process in place to know how to deal with it efficiently. I've recorded a podcast on that. You know, if you make mistakes own it. Fix it. Uh, you're in shoot process. People don't think about this, but actually how you run a shoot. Has a process, what you do during the session, what you say, how you say it may be, even when you say it. Uh, I'll give you a good example of this. Is for us to do the sales work we do. And we have a very successful sales room. It's really important that I brief the client at the end of the shoot . As to what to expect next. It's part of my shoot process. I have regular habits that I use when I'm actually creating imagery. But at the end of the shoot, I always take a breath. I will show the client stuff on the walls. I will hand over a magazine of our work. And I will give them a price list. That's really clear, but I was still explaining it. I'll tell them everything on it, what it means, why we do it, how we do it and what we expect of them. When they come back to pick out their pictures in the reveal, or some of you call it a sales consultation. If I don't do that part of the process properly. Michelle or Sarah who's in the sales room later. So two weeks later, they're going to have a much tougher time of it running their process because I haven't put the inputs. Into that process correctly. I know this all sounds a little bit dweeby, a little bit corporate. When I talk about process. But all it means is I've got into the habit of telling our clients what to expect and how excited I am for what they'll put on their walls. And here's how much it's going to cost. So that they're excited, but they're also realistic and they know they can, they know what they want and they know how much it's gonna cost. And then they bring that into the sales consultation. I went Sarah and Michelle at there. They're not having to explain. Oh, no, that's quite expensive. The client already. He knows. All right. So that's how processes and habits work. It may even be for instance, that you have a habit that on a Monday, as I do, I do things for mastering portrait photography. So even which days of the week, you do certain things in your business on. I may actually be part of your process or part of your habits. And it can also be how quickly you do things you may need to actually think about speed. Because one thing is for sure in this day and age immediacy. Is part of our puzzle. People want things and they want them right now. And it was a studio here we've made a really quite conscious decision to slow things down. We craft our images and we give our clients an experience. They can remember. But not when it comes to the processes behind it, timing is everything. So we try to respond for instance. To all inquiries within the same working day. As in our working day, our studio is open Tuesday to Friday. But usually it's within the same working hour. Immediacy is actually part of the puzzle now. And processes are not a technical thing. They're habitual. They are just get into the habit, get into the rhythm, get into the pulse. Of how you do things when you do things and what you do in your time. But why bother? Good question. Why do you go to the effort of setting this stuff out? Well, if I'm honest, Mostly it's so that you can offer a great service with minimum. Thinking about it, you can concentrate on other things with good processes. You don't really need to constantly think about what's the next step. What should you be doing? When should you be doing it with really good processes in place. You will know. Which means you don't need to be, oh, where's that template? What should they do now? What should I write in this email? It's all done for you now. That's not to say I'm a fan of automating emails. For instance, I'm not. I think emails should be hand. Crafted. But there were common things you say in them, they're a normal links. Your pricing, et cetera, et cetera. I'm just saying there should be a pattern that is familiar to you so that you don't have to think too much so that you can concentrate on the things you really do need to think about, which is a photographer nine times out of 10. Is the imagery itself. And having good processes gives you the flexibility in the time. To concentrate on the thing. You probably love more than anything else. Which is producing beautiful pixels. It also stops you missing things. Um, There are three of us in our studio here. So we have to have reasonably clear pathways through all of the work the studio does. Who looks after what? Uh, when some things are immutable. Uh, it's me, for instance, that creates the imagery. Whereas cell are flexible. It may be either Sarah or Michelle. Who's looking after the client reveal of the sales consultation, or if you want to call it. But all of us know exactly what is going on at any one stage. Even things like the way folders on our hard drives are organized. Tells us which stage the images are at. So the guys will know I haven't finished the images until they appear in a certain folder when they appear in that certain folder. My. Part of the process is done and they know they can pick them up and carry on with that process all the way through to the sales room. It's all about having habits, knowing and knowing what comes next. That. I know processes may sound daunting and corporate, and I'm from a corporate background. So I don't, and I apologize. I know I'm not really apologizing for it. The reason corporates are full of processes is because they've learned. That it's the right thing to do. Now I know many of us in this industry in particular have fled from those big corporate organizations. You know, some of the guys I worked with had bigger teams. And bigger budgets that were hundreds of times the entire turnover. Have a small photographer, took photography studio for one function. They would have had dozens, maybe even hundreds of processes mapped out for different things. And yeah. Okay. Maybe you don't need to think quite like that. When there's just one or two or three of you running a studio, but they are good habits. They're not enforceable rule books. They're just. Uh, way of doing things that is repeatable. And efficient. And if you do it. You'll have happier clients. And the happiest UGA. For me here. I honestly even have a process for how I think of ideas, right. Record and edit these podcasts. Uh, even if I don't do them. Often. Enough. And on that happy note on that happy note, thank you for getting to the end of another podcast. No interview this time, just me on my own and a microphone. Uh, I am in the process of adding more content to mastering portrait photography, co.com. Sarah and I are working busily on that behind the scenes. You should start to see. Uh, new articles and new ideas started to appear on there. That's mastering portrait, photography.com. And of course, That is the spiritual home of this particular podcast. , if you're interested in, if our workshops or masterclasses. Uh, Paul Wilkinson photography.com. If you just search for Paul Wilkinson photography training, you'll find it. Um, I hope you'll find it. I haven't checked that. I keep saying that I haven't checked it. Google it. See what happens. Paul, look into photography workshops or portions. Photography training. Uh, we will be releasing the dates of those soon. And of course. Whatever else you can hear. My nose is bringing up already. It's. I've made as they get was how long has this podcast. What about 25 minutes, something like 📍 that. I've managed to find it without sounding too bunked up, but now. I can feel it. Blow in hay fever on that happy and slightly. Uh, knowing pollinated note. Remember this. Be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP138 Interview With Toastmaster Simon Shirley | Simple Steps For A Successful Client Business](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep138-interview-with-toastmaster-simon-shirley-simple-steps-for-a-successful-client-business/) In this interview with an old friend of ours, Simon Shirley, Toastmaster extraordinaire, we end up chatting about some of the simple things that make for a successful client-facing business for responding quickly, to getting a crowd onside (even when the odds are stacked against you!) I mention a few workshops we'll be running, so here are the links: Sunday 10th September 2023 The Guild Of Photographers Photohub Event Oxford Mastering Off-Camera Flash https://photohubs.photoguild.co.uk/the-oxford-belfry-photohub/ Thursday 28th September 2023 The Guild Of Photographers Photohub Event Peebles, Scotland Mastering Available Light https://photohubs.photoguild.co.uk/peebles-hydro-photohub-2/ Monday September 11, 2023 Full-Day Workshop At Our Studio near Oxford Mastering Dog Photography From Shutter To Print https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/store/workshops/mastering-dog-photography-from-shutter-to-print-11th-september-2023/ Monday October 9, 2023 Full-Day Workshop At Our Studio near Oxford Mastering Personal Branding Photography https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/store/workshops/mastering-personal-branding-photography-9th-october-2023/ Monday October 23, 2023 Full-Day Workshop At Our Studio near Oxford Mastering Available Light https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/store/workshops/mastering-available-light-23rd-october-2023/ Enjoy! Cheers P.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 the transcript here... ### [EP139 The Judging Is Done (And So What Have I Learned?)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep139-the-judging-is-done-and-so-what-have-i-learned/) The judging for the BIPP 2023/2024 International Print Awards is done and dusted and there some simply stunning images have been on the lightbox. The results come out later in the year, but I thought I'd muse on some of the things I learned along the way by listening to the judges as well as some observations of my own. Some of these you've heard me mention before, but one or two may be new to you (and to me for that matter - who knew that all judges have the same problem when it comes to picking out their own competition images?!) but all of them are useful. Enjoy! Cheers P. 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 Today is my birthday. So before I get any further, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's posted on my Facebook timeline, in WhatsApp, in text messages. Every year, every year, I forget that the internet knows when we are all born. I even had a couple of birthday bonuses from a few of our software suppliers, which is weird, but very clever marketing. Anyway, thank you to everybody who has, and as I look at it right now, still is, wishing me birthday greetings. I will endeavour to get to all of them to say thanks. I also have to say, this morning, I have just had one of the best gifts. Sarah has bought me an ice cream maker. I cannot tell you how excited I am. I've always wanted one. I've always coveted them. I've seen them on, , MasterChef and these baking programs. And I've just loved the idea that I can pour some milk, some cream, some flavoring into this machine and out comes ice cream. It's just the little kid in me, I can't help myself and it's just, I'm opening it this morning and I was beyond excited. So I am Paul, tonight I will mostly be eating ice cream and this, well this, is the Mastering Portrait 📍 Photography Podcast. Hello one and all. So what has happened or has been happening in our busy little studio? Well, a couple of highlights actually, one of which was travelling over to Limerick, or near Limerick, to a place called Adare in Southern Ireland to photograph Niall and Elaine's wedding. Sarah and I took the opportunity of doing a full on road trip starting in Belfast, heading up to Londonderry and then down through the West coast of Southern Ireland and ending or not ending, spending a couple of days at a Dare Manor in near Limerick, which is just amazing. The most beautiful. Intense wedding for a number of reasons, quite a high pressure one, but both Sarah and I were shooting it and it was just the most amount of fun. The weather didn't entirely play ball, we did see some incredible rain. Luckily I was ensconced in the church doing a final few bits of wrap up. Sarah, unfortunately, was trapped outside a gate trying to get back to the car, ready for us to scoot back to the hotel. And unfortunately got absolutely soaked, but it was still a stunning, stunning day with drummers, uh, Irish dancing, , more speeches than I think I've ever photographed in a wedding, and a huge amount of fun. Some of those pictures already going up onto our Instagram feed, uh, but, uh, what an absolute week. A ton of portrait shoots, in particular one that stands out is a shoot we did for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the RI. Now, every year I get to this stage of the year and I am talking about, uh, the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and this year's no different. Uh, we've just published an article with Professional Photo Magazine on one of the key shots we took of that. Uh, and having a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, as I do, makes this year's topic absolutely Fascinating. This year, the Royal Institution, the lectures all talk about artificial intelligence, what it is, what it means, what the future holds, how we could benefit and some of the dangers of it. And so we spent the day or half a day in London and half a day in Oxford photographing an incredible guy, Professor Mike Waldridge, who is an eminent, eminent an eminent scientist in this particular field. We photographed in the lecture theatres, we photographed in the streets, we photographed in one of the oldest libraries in the world, the Bodleian Library in Oxford. We photographed with these huge robot dogs, which were frankly frightening, but also really cool as they strutted their way across the college grounds. And we photographed in a basement server room. Now these pictures you see. of people in server rooms. They always look flash and big and glorious. But of course, that was never going to be the case for us. We were in a very small server room that was incredibly loud. People don't realise how loud server rooms are, and so we spent most of the time with ear defenders on and only asked Mike to take them off when we needed the photograph, which meant nearly all of the setup was done using hand gestures. And trying to mimic things. And then on top of that, we had to turn the lights off, the house lights, to be able to take the photographs because the house lights were not particularly attractive. So we've taken a couple of LED lights in with us to create the lighting. We want blue gels, as you might expect, but an awful lot of fun and a couple of really beautiful pictures. And one of those I've just written up and put out in one of the future editions of Professional Photo Magazine . Last week, we, or the last couple of weeks, we've held two different guild, or two different workshops, rather, for the Guild of Photographers. Both have been an absolute blast. The first was Oxford, and it was all about off camera flash. Which, in my opinion, is probably the hardest of all the aspects of portrait photography to learn, because... When you're working in the studio, we're using nothing but Studio Flash, well, the light is the light. When you fire them, that's what you get. When you're working outside with available light, or working in a building with just available light, again, what you see is what you get. It's all very straightforward. But bringing the two together, that has its challenges. It's not impossibly hard, but you do have to sort of understand which bits are doing what, the power of the lighting compared to the ambient lighting, when you adjust your shutter speed, it makes no difference to the strobes, when you adjust the aperture, it makes all the difference as it does with the ISO, and yet invariably you end up adjusting the wrong thing, and I've been doing this a very long time. So that was an absolute joy, although Oxford Did throw the worst weather you could imagine, and sadly the hotel didn't entirely, it didn't entirely, uh, help us because the air conditioning unit wasn't working. One of the hottest days of the year, we're in a room with no air con, so we stepped outside, and no sooner had we stepped outside... into the heat than a huge storm came and we all got wet. So then it was back indoors trying to find an area that was cool, but nonetheless had an awful lot of fun, created some beautiful pictures. So thank you to everyone who came onto that particular workshop. And then the second one we've we went up to Scotland just recently for a two day event. Uh, up in Peebles, which it turns out is in the middle of nowhere. Uh, most beautiful, the most beautiful drive up there. Now we arrive late in the evening and it, I don't know if it, if this is the same with you, but when you know you're going somewhere and people are waiting for you to have a meal and have a drink and have a chat, then it's just the loveliest thing. It's the best way to arrive at a hotel. So, uh, Jeremy, Neil, and Miranda, all from Graphistudio, we knew they were waiting for us because they were texting us. And we were heading there up through the winding roads of, uh, southern Scotland and it really was a little hair raising because we were in the middle of a torrential storm and even my trusty Land Rover Defender, uh, at one point I did think we were about to stack it, uh, as the road wound The road wound down through a valley, and we hit the most incredible, uh, wash of water that was running across the road. And just for the briefest of moments, it was a complete whiteout. Couldn't see a thing, and I knew the road had a corner coming up, uh, and it took a minute. Uh, and some very careful braking, and some very, uh, careful maneuvering to make sure we stayed on the road. Uh, but we arrived, the guys were waiting for us, and it was into the bar for some nice food. A pint and a whiskey and some incredible conversations. So thank you to Miranda, Jeremy and Neil, who waited for us to have our food. And then of course, thank you to everyone who put on, uh, the, um, the workshop. So Steve, Leslie and Amy from the Guild and Gary Hill was there up as well. So it's always just going to be the best. A couple of days. The workshop, well that was a lot of fun. The workshop we were running this particular time was Available Light, which is my favourite kind of light, because it basically means whatever you've got available to you, let's see what we can do. We then went off over to Dumfries, to just west of Dumfries, to spend a few days with friends. As usual, customer service seems to run a thread through. Everything. So, we're in this little hotel in, uh, Dumfries, west of Scotland, and the couple have just taken the place over. And the big tick box is they were lovely. On the downside though, a little disorganised. When we came to pay the bill, uh, they had not put everything on it. And, uh, to be fair to Sarah and myself, we were very honest and said, you've missed a night's worth of drinks. And it was also the most expensive night's worth of drinks, because it was the first night we'd arrived. And we'd spent the night... So basically, we'd spent the night drinking and watching Sarah play pool. So Sarah is an absolute demon, which she walks into a bar, and there's a pool table. So, immediately we went and got some change, and we're shoving pound coins in this thing. I think she only lost once, and that was the last game of the night to me. Every other game, she beat myself and our two friends repeatedly. It was only the very last game, and I can't help but think she might have left me. Win. Oh, might have let me win. Rather, just out of charity. She got her eye in, she's drinking a pint, and, well, she is a pool demon. Uh, ArtCentre, there's an incredible ArtCentre up there, which our friends work for. And they, uh, Had a couple of shows and a beer tasting, which we attended, and again, customer service, just wonderful, they made us feel so welcome, which, given we're south of, we've come up from south of the border, isn't necessarily, in this little village of 300 people, in this art centre, isn't necessarily the way it's gonna go, but everyone was so welcoming, it was just brilliant. On the way back, uh, yesterday... Things didn't go quite to plan. We'd done about 25 miles, I think, when an engine warning light came on, on the Land Rover, and the power dipped away. And I had just enough power to get us turned round and back to a Starbucks. So if you're going to break down, it's a rule of thumb, right? If you're going to break down, make it warm and comfortable. So, uh, we contacted the RSC, uh, and within an hour they arrived. They put the engine test stuff on it, and they could see that the, uh, secondary oxygen sensor was reporting, uh, the air quality sensor, whichever one it is, was reporting some errors. So, he climbed all over this engine, and it, uh, you've ever seen the inside of a Land Rover Defender engine, or the engine compartment, there's no room at all. And variously, uh, between the two of us, we're trying to find what might have gone wrong. And eventually he says, I think I can hear an air leak. He said, I'm going to drive it. So off he went. At which point, Sarah and I did have a brief discussion about, uh, what happens if this was a scam. And I've been left with an RAC van and he's got all of my cameras, all of our computers. All of the images we've photographed over the past couple of days in our Land Rover. Anyway, fortunately, he came back and he was absolutely resolute. I think it's down there. I can hear it. Sure enough, after another half an hour of hunting around. He found one of the hoses, a big air intake hose, that got actually a pretty small hole in it, but that hole was imbalancing the whole of the engine. So, uh, whipped that out, adhesive in it, gaffer tape, put it back together, and we were back on the road within two and a quarter hours. So to Martin, the RAC engineer, who came out and fixed the car, I have to say thank you because the customer service was exemplary. He was absolutely determined to find this fault. He was convinced it wasn't anything major, but equally, I couldn't drive the car without fixing it because there was no power. So thank you to Martin from the RSC. Again, customer service. Whatever else you do in your business, customer service runs through it. And then one other workshop we've run here in the time since the last podcast was the Mastering Dog Photography workshop. We've changed the format a little this time. We're still photographing dogs, but in the afternoon, so in the morning we're photographing dogs, and in the afternoon I spent it going through the photoshopping. So we took some of the images. That, uh, we'd shot in the morning and then we finished them up and showed exactly how I would prep them, how we'd import them, how we'd name them, how we'd prep them, how we'd finish them. So you get the full, uh, workflow, uh, and it seemed to work really, really well. The feedback seems to reflect that that is definitely a thing that we will do quite a lot more of. There are more workshops on our website and I'll give you some dates at the end of the podcast. One other thing, and this is actually the topic of the podcast really, is as Chair of Awards and Qualifications, or Qualifications and Awards for the BIP, for the British Institute of Professional Photographers, um, I... I oversaw the international image competition 20 or print competition 2023 2024. And during that, obviously, I've got six judges, brilliant, brilliant photographers, all fellows and experienced judges, looking at the images and scoring them one by one by one by one by one. And we've got 300 or so images to get through over two days. And it was really interesting, not just. Obviously, I get to see these incredible images, but I get to hear the things that judges are talking about. So every time there's some kind of challenge, whether it's because there's a wide score difference or whether it's because one judge feels that an image is either been overscored or has been underscored, then there's a discussion. Each judge in turn states their case and the image is re judged. And of course, during that process, I get to hear the things that the judges are talking about, both good and bad. And so I'll talk through some of those. And not only that, but when we went for a drink in the evenings, the judges also talked about things that are going on in their lives. And so there's a couple of little bits in there that I thought, or there's one in anyway, that I thought might be interesting. So let's have a think, or let's talk rather, about some of the things I heard during the judging. The first and the most common is over sharpening. In theory, If you've taken a sharp image with a half decent lens, you probably don't need to do any sharpening at all, certainly for a decent print. Yet an awful lot of the images that we're seeing, um, some were over sharpened, where clearly they thought I want some bite to the print, so I'll turn the sharpening up. And what you actually get if you look carefully, and judges do look carefully, is you get little tiny halos. Around hair, where dark areas meet light areas, you get these sort of really weird tiny, we call it haloing, but it's really where you get a tiny little light and dark line around the edge. And that actually is what sharpening does. There's no such thing as sharpening, it's not a thing. What it does is it changes the contrast between darker and lighter areas, a variable amount, and if you overdo it, it becomes visible. But on top of that, there's another effect that we're seeing a bit more of recently, and I just warn people to be careful of it. If you're entering print competitions and it's either called clarity or it's called structure depending which particular package you're using and it's essentially a local contrast. So sharpening is a hyper local contrast. You really are talking about pixels next to each other, local contrast, clarity or structure are. Still local contrast, but over a slightly larger area, and they add sort of texture almost to an image, and that also is playing into this. So we're seeing these images where it feels like an additional layer of this detail enhancement, whether it's clarity or structure or local. Contrast is being added in and you don't really need to do it on a great print. Um, you can use it for effect. Some monochromes really benefit from it. If you have got a picture of an old fisherman, this is the kind of effect that you see quite a lot, but I'd be very cautious of over sharpening. Also, if you have a grainy image, if you have an image with sensor noise on it, as you turn the sharpening up, we're going to see that in the grain itself. Now there are a couple of excellent plugins kicking around at the moment. one is called DxO Pure Raw. Which is a phenomenal plugin for cleaning an image up based on the lens characteristics. It removes distortions, it removes aberrations, but you really don't want it to be removing the lens softness. Because it is, again, applying a sharpener. And what people are not really looking at is they're seeing this image and at first glance it looks nice and sharp, but the reality is these things introduce these halos. So that was one and it was really... Really common. That came up over and over and over again. Right. Next thing, colour casts in the printing. So when you're printing, you really need to see your own print. Now, I don't know how many people have calibrated lights to look at their printing. I don't know how many people use labs. I don't know how many people use printers in their own studio. But the truth of it is every person. Entering an image or print competition needs to have seen their own print and we assume as judges that you have. So when we're looking at it, you will never see or never hear a judge saying, well, that could be the lab adding a colour cast. It might be. the photographer never saw the image and it might be that there is a colour cast coming out of the lab. But that's not the lab's problem and it certainly isn't the judge's problem. It's the photographer's problem. Now, if you haven't seen your print, Well, that's still your problem. If you have seen your print, well, it's definitely your problem. So look carefully when you prepare your images on the screen, you should have calibrated screens. Calibration kit, the Spyder, the Datacolor Spyder stuff is really not very expensive now. It's about 150 quid for a really, what, what only a few years ago would have been a thousand pounds worth of calibration is now done in a heartbeat. You do not need to spend more than that. So yeah, 150 quid or so, and you will get. You'll get your screen calibrated. Then you run a print and you check to see what your print looks like. If your print's slightly green, then you know it's in the print or it's in the profile that you're using to print with. So check your prints. It's up to you to do that. It's not up to the judges to make allowances that might have come straight from our lab. And we saw quite a lot where the prints were... Just off on the color and the difference between what we're seeing or I'm seeing on the chairs screen, because I see each original image come up on my screen. The judges don't see it quite the same way. But I do get to see it. So I get to see on a calibrated screen what the original image was and then I get to see the print. And some of them were... Worlds of different apart. Now that's not necessarily an issue. It might be that in the print you wanted muted tones. You wanted to print on a fine art matte paper. You didn't want the contrast that you were getting out of the file. That's fine. Got no problem with that. But there were times when we're looking at it and thinking, I think there's a colour cast off that paper. And the photographer, the person who's entered the image, has either not seen it at all. Or when they have seen it, it has ignored it. It's down to you. Colour casting your printing, get your workflow calibrated. Uh, by the way, just because, I mean, I calibrate our screens here, but I've been running prints off our printers for so long. I know exactly what's going to come out. They're not quite the same. I know that my calibrated screens and the printer are not going to quite match, but I do know in which ways they differ. And I know that because I've been just doing it a lot. So it doesn't necessarily mean everything is, you know, a screen is always going to give you a slightly different set of colours, uh, to paper. But I do know the difference between the two, and I prepare the files ready for it. Uh, right, OK, matching your mount to your print. This is subtle and it's all to do with, or it's generally to do with, either the primary colour of your image matching the mount or not matching the mount, or it's to do with the colour of the paper not matching the type of board that the mount is made from. As a general rule, it's a good idea, the safest way of doing it is to have a matte. A mount mat that is made from the same coloured, has the same coloured surface colour as the paper on which you're printing. Now that's, it doesn't, it's not always like that, but if you print, let's say you print a black and white print, so there's no colour in your print, it's just monochrome. The colour of the paper is going to come through. Any, any, any parts of the image that are nearly white, the paper is going to be the same colour, or rather the white's going to be the same colour as the paper. In which case it's a good idea to have the mount made from... The same colored. Why? Well, if you've got a very blue paper with lots of brightness in it and you mount it in a vanilla mount, it looks really weird and vice versa. If you've got a fine art paper with a slightly yellow tone and you mount it in a brightened or white, high white, bluish white mount, again, that mismatch looks really weird. One or two, um, Prints where the colour, the predominant colour of the prints, even though there's no white showing through, the colour of the print didn't suit the mount that came in. Equally, one or two absolutely popped. There were one or two really beautiful, low key pictures, very dark, moody pictures printed into, I'm sorry, mounted into a blackboard mount. Absolutely stunning. So when you're presenting your image, think carefully about how you want the judges to see the whole. Remember we're talking about print here. And as an aside, just as a short thought is... Why do we use print? Well the reason we use print still is we're not really, and I'm talking, I'm going to talk a lot about the print quality, but what we're not talking about as such is the print. We're talking about the photographer's ability to prepare a file for print and to prove that it's good by printing it. So if a print is over sharpened, it suggests that that photographer is over sharpening their images, even if... They don't normally end up printed. It allows us to see detail in a way that on the screens is a little tougher to do. You can do it, uh, the high, high quality ISO monitors, some of the BenQ monitors will allow you to see detail, and of course, in theory, we could zoom in and zoom in and zoom in, but that's not really how the photographer intended it to be viewed, so we don't tend to do that too much when we're judging. Um, but when we're judging a print, we see it literally as the photographer should have seen it. Essentially, you print it, you mount it, you as the photographer check it, you put it into a, into some packaging, you send it to us, we open it, we then look at it. It's the safest and most assured way of ensuring, there's a lot of insurings in there, it's the best way of ensuring that the, uh, what we're seeing is exactly what you, the photographer, Intended us as judges to see. And the same when I enter competitions I make sure that I've had eyes on every single one of those prints and when it goes into the the packaging I know the next time a photographer looks at it they're going to see. Exactly what I saw. Now they will find defects in that, that I didn't see. That's slightly different, but I know that it's exactly what I saw. Whereas if we did it digitally, if we did it on screens, that process is a little less certain. So if you're working on an iMac and then we put it on an ISO monitor, if you're working on a Windows machine and I put it on a Mac, all of these have subtle variations in the colour. Even if you've calibrated. So, at the moment, the best way we have of knowing that what we see is what you intended us to see or what, you know, what judges, uh, for judges to be certain that what they're seeing is what the photographer intended them to see is to use print, which is why we do it. Right, back to the things I heard. Uh, blown highlights and blocked blacks. Fairly common these, uh, what do we mean by those? Well basically, a blown highlight means that when you lay down ink on the paper, all we're seeing is the original paper showing through. No ink goes down onto it. Similarly with blocked up blacks, there's no detail in there, there's no shape, there's no nothing, it's just black. Now you can have both of these things in an image and it'd be completely successful. If you photographed, uh, a snowy... scene with, uh, uh, I don't know, a hare, or a, or a, what's it, a snowy fox, arctic fox in a scene, then of course you can have highlights right up to the very top of what the paper will allow. Essentially, as little ink as you could lay down. But it's still a good idea to make sure that there's some detail in those highlights. Because when we move around the print, you can see where there's no ink that's been laid down. Similarly, and I do a lot of these, uh, for the hearing dogs, is black dog and a black background. You can have a completely black background if you wish to, and it can be very effective. But learn the techniques for making sure it doesn't look like you've just got a floating dog in space. Um, if you're going to do black, make sure that they are, it's not quite black. You just notch it up a little bit because there's an ink transition. If you print something and it's using only the black ink, that looks very different to something just a little bit lighter where it's probably using all of the inks to lay down that colour. So just be careful of those. There's some simple. Bits and pieces you can do to make that work. Also, if you've got a dog or an animal on a jet black background, there are going to be parts of the animal that would also be jet black. Don't just cut out an image and stick it on black and hope it's going to work. If you've got scenes where there's high contrast, you still want detail in those shadows. If it's just a normal, let's say it's a portrait of someone in a dark room, you need to retain detail. Not only detail in your file, but detail in your print, and that's a little bit trickier to do than people realise. So check your prints, make sure that you haven't blown out the highlights, uh, and you haven't blocked up any blacks. Uh, okay, here's one. You cannot... Pull back focus detail. If your image was out of focus, it's still out of focus. No matter what Topaz will tell you, the guys that make these, the Topaz AI sharpener. Now you can do certain things. There are techniques for improving using AI, improving a perception of a lack of softness, a lack of sharpness rather. But in the end, you're still running very quickly into it being apparent that you've hauled that focus. Back because there's, you're still adding detail that wasn't there. You're going to create halos. You're going to create little tiny bits of detail that just don't look quite right. And we will, or the judges rather, will spot it. And they did. A couple of really beautiful images came through in front of us that when we looked at really closely, you could see that at some point, um, They'd applied a sharpening filter to try and drag, uh, some sharpness out of an image that, uh, wasn't quite the right bit of the image that had been focused on and was sharp. Uh, and we spotted it. Uh, right. Uh, paper to image. Uh, of course, when you print, you've got to make a decision about what. Paper to use. Uh, commercial images typically are going to look good on glossier papers with richer colours, those deep saturations. That's typically the way you'd expect to see commercial advertising images. Fine art, I mean the papers are even called fine art papers. Very often they'll look great on a matte paper, but not always, they're not, these are not hard and fast rules, but print your image on a couple of different papers and see which one you like best. Don't just run at it and say, well, I've got a box of fine art matte paper, I'm going to do everything fine art matte, because fine art matte papers typically have Lower DMAX, they have a lower contrast, which means your blacks are not going to be quite as black as they would be. Um, on a glossier paper, your colours are not going to be quite as rich and saturated, and that might suit the image, of course it might suit the image. But equally, you might find that a black and white portrait of, I don't know, a centenarian. Might look better on a, almost a semi gloss paper where you get that richness in the black and white. Have a look, print, print your images on different papers and try them out because quite a few images that we saw this year and this is every year. This is not any different to any other. I find myself every year after I've done a load of judging. Broadly speaking, highlighting the same issue. So there is some new stuff this year because there are some new plugins that are sharpening images that probably you thought previously you couldn't use. And now people are thinking they can use, but just be very careful. Make sure you print it, make sure you look at it in the cold, hard light of day. Uh, composition and layout. Quite a few images, the judges ended up talking about, or said things like, they needed to let the subject breathe. They needed a bit more room around the edges, or they'd say something like, it's a shame that the subject is just clipped by the mount. And I'm looking at it on the screen, and I can see that the original file had space around it, but when it's gone into the mount, That space is now gone and whatever, you know, sometimes it's the tip of a nose or the edge of a hand or something is now touching the mounting, it's touching the mat. Um, be very careful, allow your images to breathe, let the subject do its job. That's not to say that we don't like to see a really tight crop. My general rule of thumb is either crop or don't. For me, I really like a tight crop, I like it. You know, no extraneous details, the subject is the subject, um, and everything else is gone. Equally, I love the idea of space. So my particular thing as a judge is I look for space around an image, or I look for that punch that is created by properly going in. Now, not every judge will feel the same way about me, and that's the point of having a panel of judges. Um, but all of us would agree, if your subject is just touching the edge of the frame, probably you need to allow a little bit more space. Making sure that your Photoshop work is in visible. Um, I taught this on our Mastering Dog Photography workshop the other day. We were doing vignettes and you never want to hear someone say, Oh, that's a nice vignette. The idea of a vignette is that you never see it. Similarly, when you're doing. Any kind of Photoshop work. There was a couple of images where we spotted how the image had been created because we could see it. We could see the Photoshopping that had been done. So be very careful, very, very careful when you're Photoshopping to always go back to the original image and just check that the changes you've made aren't drawing your eye to the changes you've made. It takes skill, it takes time, and you certainly can't do it the night before the entry, the night before you have to enter your image. So just be cautious of that. Overblurring of backgrounds, this came up quite a bit in various categories where your subject You wanted it to stand forward from your background or photographer wanted to stand forward from the background and then they've gone in and photoshopped it. They've removed saturation in the background, they've blurred the background, they've photoshopped the background, they've vignetted the background, you know, and it ends up looking sludgy and artificial. That's not to say if you do it well, it isn't incredibly effective, but. We saw quite a lot of it, and by the time we've seen 10 images that have these sorts of techniques, you start to sort of, one of the top things we look for in an image is impact. And if we've just seen five or six or 10 images that are very similar in their treatment, with this strong blurring and darkening and sort of vignetting, we're going to get a little bit sort of, the impact is lost. To all of us, to the judges, to me, uh, and probably to the market as well if these are the images you're selling. Uh, skin softening, particularly when it's on children. Now, high end fashion retouching is a very particular skill and it... gives you a very particular finish to the image. There are plenty of techniques out there, even including using things like texture overlays to totally smooth out the skin and then you put artificial texture back onto it. That works when you're talking about really high end, high, highly retouched fashion beauty skin work. Particularly if the model has had incredible makeup on as well. But when it's kids A couple of times it came up and there was, you know, one judge actually said it's such a shame to see children's skin so heavily worked. They don't need it. And I think that's true. We saw a few, um, and just, it's just kind of be careful of it. You rarely need to do very much to children's skin. Okay, there's the obvious snot, dribble, spots, bruises. Stray hairs, dirt, the occasional cut or scratch, but you really shouldn't need to do very much more. Now, obviously, if your image is, you're going for a painterly finish, as if it was painted in oils or painted in watercolour, or that's the look you're going for, then that's slightly different. That smoothness in the skin will sit comfortably in the image. But if it's just a straight portrait and you've overworked the skin, over sharpened the highlights in the eyes, over lightened the bottom of the eyes, particularly with children, is it just looks a little bit odd because they just don't need it. So just be careful on that front. Uh, connection with the subject. This is one, uh, we heard it a few times where. I think a few of the judges sort of questioned how miserable some children were being made to look in the photographs. Most kids are pretty joyous. And I know talking to Jeremy over at the Guild over the weekend, he was surprised when I said that you don't see very many happy pictures winning competitions. And I think it's a shame, as does he. But I do understand why. If you think about the Mona Lisa, the most famous... Headshot in the world, really. Um, there's an enigma in her gaze, her expression, the way she's looking at you, the viewer, that enigma draws emotions out of you and gives you a sense of emotion. in your relationship with that picture. That's why enigmatic pictures, rather than anything too obvious, tend to do a little bit better because they, they draw a visceral response in any viewer. And that, of course, includes judges. But there is a difference between miserable and enigmatic. And one or two pictures we saw, and we see this every year, it's not news, you couldn't quite work out whether the child was sad or emotional. There's an enigma about them. Again, that line is very much about your personal style and what you like. But we did, it did come up in conversation a couple of times as to what's the appropriate level of mood in the portraiture, particularly around children. Storytelling, I say this every year. It is the, it is the photographer's job. It's the entrance job. If I'm entering a competition, it's my job to get the story and the drama across to the judges. It's not the judge's job to figure it out. Now you hope the judges figure it out, but you've got to give everything they need to do it. So if it's a dramatic image, if it's a news story image, you've got to have everything that you wanted to convey. That sense of moment, the sense of storytelling, the sense of theatre and drama, piecing all of the bits of the puzzle together, so that when somebody looks at it, they know exactly what it was you were either telling, what story you're telling, or what moment you're covering. And it's... Down to the photographer to get that across. It is not down to the judges to spend hours figuring it out. Uh, Titles. Titles on competition images. Now I'll be honest here, I hate them. I don't like titles because I'm a reasonably good photographer. Uh, I am not, uh, I'm a writer. I'm, you know, I do some writing, but that's, my strength is in the creation and the production of the imagery. It really isn't in me thinking up titles for my images, but they're there. And given they're there, you have to make use of them and you have to spend some time thinking about them. So, you might as well use them to help either create emotion or draw the judge's attention to something, or preferably both. So, thinking off the top of my head, and I'm making these up, alright, these are not titles that we saw. An image such as image number one is not going to do as well as, let's say, Lockdown Lovers, or The Last Goodbye, or Her First Smile. Try... And think of a title that adds a little bit of romance, or a little bit of drama, or a little bit of theatre, or draws the judge's attention, uh, to, you know, maybe, maybe it's something like his first black eye. If you can't Photoshop out a black eye, make it the subject of the story. I've no idea. What I do know is that having titles in a competition, and they're there, means you have to use them, and you have to use them well. Don't think that just because you, like I, don't like titles, then you can just call it... Image number one. That's not helpful. Uh, another thing I noticed about the judging was that the judges rarely agree completely. And that is the point. We have a panel of five judges with one sitting out at any one time. And I think only after having judged 300 images, I think I saw five where the scores were in two or three. Over the five judges, nearly all of the rest of the time, there was wider, much wider disparity between the scores because each judge is seeing things in an image based on their experience, based on their particular passions and skill sets. And that's why we do it that way. It's so that if you have a judge who is passionate about Let's say print quality, if there's a judge who's passionate about storytelling or colour or black and whites or monochromes or particularly photographing wildlife, you know, all of these judges work together and come to a conclusion on balance as to which images or what score each image receives. And that's really, really cool and really, really interesting to be a part of. It's a shame at this stage that we can't get everybody to come and watch the BRPP judging, but the Society's judging is live. You can go and sit in the auditorium and listen to the judges critique when they're asked to or when they have a challenge. And it's fascinating to hear what each judge does or does not see, does agree with, doesn't agree with, has awarded points for. And sometimes you get a judge who might award points for a certain thing and another judge may have deducted points for a certain thing. It depends entirely on their viewpoint and their skills and their experience. Um, but in the end, and trust me on this, is when we got down to the final images, the winning images for each category, they are, they are stunning. The cream really does rise and the process we use absolutely, uh, does that. It brings the very best of the images to the top. And those images that you'll see in a few weeks... As part of the BIP award ceremony, they are absolutely incredible. And there's no doubt at all in my mind that, uh, well, I always say the same thing that if you have different judges on a different day, you will get slightly different scores. We may even have had a different winner because at the end of the day, you know, two or three images we right up there at the top. And I've asked this panel of judges. to select the winning image. But you will absolutely see the most beautiful images and the process by which we get there is rock solid and it was a real joy to see. Now as a word of reassurance at the end, the most momentous thing I heard was actually over dinner when we'd finished and the judges got chatting about the Selecting their own images, how we as judges as well select our images to enter into other competitions, and how well we do at that. And on the whole, every judge had at least one story where there's an image that they loved. And when either they entered it or they showed it to a mentor, the mentor would either advise against entering it, or when it went into the competition, it just didn't score very well. In spite of the fact that they thought it would. As the author, they thought it would. And that's even the judges. And you'd really think, as judges, we'd be better placed to select what to enter, to prep it, to finish it, and get it up to competition standard. And while that is true, to an extent, there is some truth that we do know what to look for. We certainly know how to print and prep a file. Assessing your own work without bias is incredibly tricky, even if you don't look at your images for a year or two and you come back to them, it's still really hard because you are laying on top of it everything you were trying to achieve and everything you experienced at that moment, whether it's with a client, whether it's with a landscape, whatever, you will have memories that change your perception of the image. So when you're entering All In competitions, be aware that even the judges themselves don't always get it right in terms of selecting their own work. Because everyone, and I do mean this, everyone who enters an image into a competition believes it stands a chance of winning. Or why would you do it? Every image from every contestant in every competition has that one thing. The author thinks it stands a chance. And that's true of every entrant. And that's true of us as judges. And I mean that as a kind of reassurance, that no matter what the results to this competition, no matter how well each of The content of the entrance the authors did, it still stands for us to as judges, that we're forever surprised and disappointed at how our own images sometimes. Anyway, on that happy note, I hope that's useful, if not interesting, or hopefully it's interesting and useful. Quick outro then, before I wrap up. We still have a few workshops coming up in the next month or two. On October the 9th, we have a workshop here at our studio, which is called Mastering Personal Branding Photography, which is all about headshots and personal branding, so portraiture, but with different sort of mixes of lighting. We'll do some studio, we'll do some available light. We'll talk about, uh, styling. We'll talk about how you represent brands and people and characterization, all of those things. If you're into that part of the market. We have a couple of places or have a place I think left on mastering personal branding photography that's on October the 9th that's coming up in a week's time. October the 23rd we have mastering available like my favorite topic of the lot because you literally walk out with a camera whether it's in a hotel, whether it's in a street, whether you're in your studio, whatever you have available to you to create imagery, to create beautiful portraits. That's on October the 21st, sorry, October the 23rd, and on November the 6th, so the day after Bonfire Night, we've got Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting. This is an absolute ball, this particular workshop, because we just play. We drag out every bit of kit I can think of. We try things, we experiment, we play, we use gels and gobos and focusing spots. You name it, we play with it. Not all of it will be applicable to everyone who comes, but the imagery we create with those is just a huge amount of fun. So there's your three workshops that we have currently in. Our list coming up, October the 9th, Mastering Personal Branding, October the 23rd, Mastering Available Light, and November the 6th, Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting. They're all here at our studio, they're full day workshops, they start at 9, they finish at 5. We serve the best lunch of any workshop. Anywhere! I know that because we made it so and we get the feedback that says yeah you have and I'm very proud of that. I like to think we also teach some really cool stuff about photography but in the end if you get a great lunch, have a good chat, enjoy it, then you'll leave with energy and confidence and you'll want to go and try the things that we're teaching. So head across to paulwilkinsonphotography. co. uk and go to our training area. You can book those, uh, these workshops. If you are a member of any one of the associations, or even a member of Mastering Portrait Photography, there are discount codes for them. We try to make sure we look after people who are involved with the same things that we are. So there are discounts. If you can't find them, then drop us an email. And one of us will get back to you, uh, with a discount code that, uh, well, you know, savings are savings, right? It's always good. Uh, on that happy note, thank you to get, for getting to the end of the podcast. I hope once again it was useful. Uh, I have an appointment with an ice cream machine. I'm very, very excited. But until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take 📍 care. ### [EP140 Perfection Is A Luxury You (And Your Clients) Can Ill Afford](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep140-perfection-is-a-luxury-you-and-your-clients-can-ill-afford/) At this time of year, more than any other, I find myself chasing my tail to complete everything I need to get done before the seasonal deadlines (otherwise our clients will be disappointed!) Of course, I want everything I do to be perfect but, as I have learned time and again, perfection is something that is unattainable and it is bad business too - finding the sweet spot balancing quality and time is the trick here. In the end, if you spend limitless hours reaching for something that cannot be reached, it would be tough to find clients who could afford it! I mention an EP that a friend of ours recorded and created a vinyl record as well as uploaded to Spotfy. The EP can be found here on Spotify. I only played on "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Teenage Dirtbag" but let me know what you think! The Superclass and Masterclass we will be running at the Societies Convention 2024 can be found at https://thesocieties.net/convention/speakers/paul-wilkinson/ and we would love to see you there - either at the workshops or just for a well-deserved pint! Finally, all of our workshops at our studio can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ Enjoy! Cheers P.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, I'll be honest, I'm a little bit tired. This is episode 140. Can you believe there are 139 other episodes of the podcast before this one? This is episode 140, and I will admit... It has been a while. One person actually did say to me the other day that she was very sad that I've stopped doing the podcast, and I haven't really. It's just been so busy at this time of year, I haven't had a chance to do it. Even now, it is 10 to 10 in the evening. I'm still in the studio, just been finishing up everything I needed to get done. And of course, on my list, I wanted to record another episode of the podcast. Not just because a few people have said, it's a shame I don't do it. But because of one email, which I will mention at the end, that jogged me into getting back on and finding the time to do it. So just to prove that the podcast is alive and well, I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Protocol. I can't even say it. I've been saying it for years. I can't even say it. Right, here we go. One more go. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast, done like a 📍 professional. So I am sitting here in the studio, having spent the day speed editing, essentially. Speed editing. I think I've got through four different jobs today, as well as a multitude of other things that needed doing. It's one of those weeks because, , as of tomorrow evening, so it's Wednesday, it's Tuesday now, but as of Wednesday evening, I'm up in Birmingham, , with the rest of the team from the British Institute of Professional Photography, the BIPP, uh, because it's our annual award celebrating the very best, the very best of professional photography around the world. Uh, a couple of days up there, and then after that, first thing Saturday morning, and when I say first thing, I really do mean first thing. thing. Uh, Sarah and I are taking the kids away just for a couple of nights to go and have some fun. Uh, haven't done it for a little bit and it's always such a thrill when the four of us are together. They're in their 20s now so they're not really kids, well they'll always be kids to me and Sarah I guess, uh, but I cannot wait to get some time away. But whenever it's like this and I have consecutively sort of four or five nights or four or five days. Out of the studio, of course, I have to get everything cleared that needs to be done, not just for this week, but for the coming week as well, so that Michelle, who will still be in the studio, can continue to meet clients and do the things that need to be done. This year... Uh, one of the things, or one of the things that, uh, Sarah has just been doing is putting together next year's timetable of workshops, or at least the first few. Uh, this year has been an incredible year for our training and our workshops and our coaching, and when I started out, I honestly didn't foresee that I would end up running workshops and things like that at our studio. If I'm honest, I'm not sure that I thought I'd be any good at it. But well, you know, you try these things, people ask you to do these things, and it has been a blast. Now I always knew we had the facilities to do it, and I always knew that enthusiasm can get you a long way. But my real passion, the thing I love more than anything else, is when I have a camera in my hand and I'm creating images. Images. And I was a bit concerned, I guess, when it came to workshops that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't get the chance to do that quite so much. And anything, if anything, that could not be further from the truth. Actually, when I'm running workshops, it's all we do, we mess around, we laugh, we get creative, we create images, and people keep coming back. So I'm assuming we're doing something well, and we do have the perfect space for it. This studio is an exceptional space to feel creative, to feel like you want to learn and develop, and I do that here every single day. And in this space, we have met some of the nicest. People imaginable. So a huge shout out to everyone who has been on one of our workshops and those who have just booked for some of next year's Trunch. Sarah has worked solidly for the last couple of days, figuring out the dates, figuring out who's been on waiting lists, getting everything together and planned out for the workshops that start next year. In January next year, he says, checking his notes. Yes, it is January next year. Sarah's giving me a crib sheet. Hear that? That's my crib sheet of dates. Uh, so the workshops for next year. Uh, we're starting off, we kick off the program for 2024 at the end of January. Um, one of them is already full. It sold out within hours of us publicizing it. When I say publicizing it, We didn't publicise it outside of everyone who's already been on our workshop. So one of the things we've done is if you've come on one of our workshops, we have a Facebook group that's entirely closed except for people who have been on one of our workshops, along with a few people from the trade who can answer specific questions if necessary. So for instance, the guys from Graphistudio are on there. Big shout out to those guys. So if anyone has a question about creating albums maybe, then I've got not just my expertise and Sarah's expertise, but I have people from the trade in there as well. And that's really useful. And the first place we do whenever we release new dates is push them into that group, so that people in there get first dibs on any dates. And one of the classes, one on photographic dogs of all things. Have I reminded you that I'm not a dog photographer? Well, you know, I've worked out. We've done 438 shoots for the hearing dog, so I suspect me protesting that I'm not a dog photographer. I'm a people photographer, probably doesn't hold much weight these days. I hang on to it, but in the end, I do love creating these images, and the dog photography workshop went in a heartbeat, so we've added another one into the mix later in the year, but that one sold out within just a few hours. Anyway, Sarah spent ages getting the plans together, getting them up onto the website, making sure everything's tagged, and they are now available, so if anyone . is interested, he says as a slight cross sell, then please do head to paulwilkinsonphotography. co. uk and look for the workshop section or simply google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops and it will land you straight on to the program. Like I said, the first one sold out in just a few hours and spaces are certainly being snapped up. And do remember that there is a discount if you are a member of the BIP, the MPA, the Societies, the Guild or even just a registered member. of the masteringportraitphotography. com website. It's just a way of us encouraging you to register so that we can send out emails to you. On that note, or on the note rather of workshops and masterclasses, I am beyond thrilled to say that I'm going to be back, or Sarah and I are going to be back at the Societies Convention in January. We will be running both a superclass and a masterclass. So the superclass is four hours. Messing around with lighting. Messing around with cameras. Messing around with locations. We're going to be creating headshots and personal branding. So headshots, to me... These are my favourite type of portrait. I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about the purity of just having someone's face. In front of the camera, beautifully lit, with expression, with eye contact, with connection, with laughter, with seriousness, with engagement, all of these kinds of words, I absolutely love it. So the superclass is going to be four hours or so of messing around, creating beautiful headshots. And it's a hands on superclass. So bring a camera, if you're going to come into that work, to that superclass rather. Bring a camera and we're going to be playing around and trying different things. The masterclass, which is the following day, is a couple of hours, so it's an hour and a half, and it's called Two Lights, Ten Looks, One Personal Brand. That's Two Lights, Ten Looks, One Personal Brand. It came out of an idea that I had. of showing people how to create beautiful lighting with essentially very basic kit. A couple of small lights, a couple of soft boxes, uh, and we will create some magic and show you how to do it in a reliable and repeatable way. Uh, because, um, We've, you know, we've learned over the years that it's all very well, uh, people say to me, you know, it's fine for you, you've got this pro photo kit, you've got this lighting, you've got the studio. And actually, though that is all absolutely true, I spend a good chunk of my working life out in other people's offices, out on location, with whatever I can carry on my back. So, simple lighting, simple setup. But still creating beautiful portraiture. Of course there is a trade off, you know, uh, with the big lights or the, you know, the big, uh, Profoto monoblocks. You get a lot more power, uh, which makes life a little bit easier. But in the end, you can work magic with very... Basic kit. So that's what we're going to be doing, covering basically everything you might need when creating personal brand photography with a couple of lights and a couple of softboxes, modifiers. And if you think the two workshops are a little bit similar ones on headshots and the other sort of swinging around personal branding, it's because we were honoured. We actually only applied to do the masterclass, which is the two lights, ten looks, one personal brand. Um, but the societies... Got in touch, and we were honoured to be asked to put on a superclass, uh, all about, uh, headshots. So they actually had a look at some of the workshops we've been running over the year, and fancied the idea of me taking a chunk of that, a small chunk of that, uh, over to the convention in January. So that's two classes, and both are on my favourite kind of portraiture. The superclass is on the 17th of January 2024, so if you're listening to this in June 2024. You've missed it. Head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and see if we're running any courses soon. So the Superclass, 17th of January from 9am to 1pm, uh, it's in London, while the Masterclass is the following day from 11. 30 to 1pm. So for the Superclass, you better have a decent breakfast, uh, because if... If you know me and if you've ever been on one of our workshops, uh, you know, I will already be bouncing off the walls by 9am because I'll have a camera in my hand, we'll be talking about photography and I will be having the time of my life. Uh, anyway, whether or not you do decide to come to one of our classes. It would be truly wonderful to see you at the convention, as sadly, I couldn't be there last time round, and so I'm beyond excited. I cannot wait to be back in the mix this coming January, for what is, at least in my opinion, not only the coolest event of the year, but by far the best way to start your year. And although, you know, when you run a small business, you know, there's not really a sense of a year, but I think as a photographer, As soon as a portrait photographer, there is a sense that as we head towards Christmas, that there's the closing out of one business year and the opening up of another. And I can, I can honestly say my favorite way of starting a new year is to go to the convention, have a few beers. Meet some of the nicest people on the planet and do nothing much but laugh, maybe argue a little, but certainly talk shop all about photography and the business of photography. Talking of events, and I have mentioned this already, it is the BIPP, the BIPP award tonight coming up on this Thursday. There has been so much going on recently with judging qualifications and awards and I cannot wait to see everyone. at the coming awards night. And if you're curious, and you should be, I will be wearing black tie. Uh, I might see if I can get someone to take a quick picture of us. Uh, Sarah has got a beautiful green dress and as always will look incredible. So I will do my very best, uh, not to, uh, I'll do my very best to look smart, not to show her up, uh, by being scruffy. I'm gonna, I will be in black tie, full regalia, looking like a penguin or. Maybe a bouncer , who knows? Uh, but I will be there black tie because I think it's gonna be a really incredible, uh, evening. Uh, being chair of qualifications and awards for the bips is not only an honor, it is an honor. It's a lot of work, but it is an honor. Uh, but it does have, its. Perks. And the biggest, I think, is that I get to talk and listen to the most amazing judges, just as we did a few weeks ago for the BIP qualifications round. So two days at the Flash Centre in Birmingham. Big shout out, by the way, to the guys at the Flash Centre in Birmingham. Thank you for your hospitality. It was greatly appreciated. I did, of course, spend some money. Couldn't resist. What do you do when you're in a shop that sells nothing but lighting kit? Well, you buy some. That's what you do. But anyway, The qualifications were brilliant, we had the most beautiful images, we had insightful and intelligent judging from the team, the panel of judges that we pulled together. At this time, as well as in the side, we're using some quite clever tech, so we're recording the judges discussions and using some clever transcription tech, because of course we're surrounded by AI technology just at the moment. So we're using some of that to describe the discussions and I'm hoping, hoping, if I can figure out how to make it both, both useful and full of details that are, would be valuable, but I still need to be able to anonymize it completely so that although we will have, um, um, Judge's discussion. I don't want there to be any details of who they're discussing and who the judges are. But I do want to somehow be able to capture all of this really valuable, really rich information from the judges. So we're working on that behind the scenes and that will hopefully start to appear in the coming 📍 year. Every year, I say every year, every year, at this time of year, I feel completely overwhelmed when we get towards the end of November. Christmas is looming and I haven't even thought of an idea for this year's Christmas card, let alone shot it and finished it. Maybe I should just stick some... Questions in the chat GPT and see what carnage it sends back to me. It's going to be something, right? Every year we shoot a new festive card and every year I do it at the last possible second. But the nights are dark, the weather is damp, and we are working flat out to get everything ordered in time for this year's Christmas deliveries. And even though it is every year, and even though Actually, technically, I've been doing this a long time. It always amazes me how I struggle with never getting anything finished the way I want it. I think it was the very first, was it the very first episode? I think it was the very first episode of the podcast, 139 episodes ago. I talk about not waiting for things to be perfect before you get on and do something. Sadly, being perfect is not. A luxury you can afford. When I went, when I finished my PhD, which coincidentally is in artificial intelligence, I really should do something with that. Here I am with qualifications in something that is going to profoundly change our industry. I should probably do something with that. Hmm, who knows? Anyway, my first job interview, I went to what was then a Anderson Consulting. As a new, I was a new graduate, I got a PhD in something pretty techy, um, and I went and had a job interview. And in the job interview they do that thing where they ask you a series of questions and you do that thing where you give them rehearsed answers where they will say things like, what's your biggest weakness? And rather than give them an actual weakness, Like, I can't sing, I can't dance, wouldn't make much of a male model. You give them something like, I'm way too, I'm way too focused and passionate about quality. About detail, about making everything perfect. Now, I was young, I was naive, and I gave essentially that answer. The question came, what are your weaknesses? And amongst them, I threw out there, promptly regretted it, but I threw out there, uh, I like things to be absolutely right, and I will work tirelessly to make, to have, like, that level of quality in everything I do. To which the really nice guy who's interviewing me put his pen down, and he looked at me, and he said, Who's paying for that? And I said, well, I, you know, because of course, up until that point, essentially I'd been in academia, nobody paid for it. My job was just to do things right. He said, who's going to pay for that? And I kind of flustered a little bit and blustered a little bit. And he said, your client isn't paying you. for perfection. Your client is paying for you to deliver the very best that they can afford to give the business benefits they've asked for. That's your job. Yes, quality, quality, quality. At that time the word quality ran through everything in project management. You don't have the luxury of a limitless time. And it's amazing, even now, that I get frustrated when I can't Get images finished to the right level, the website up to the right level, even the podcast. Even this podcast that I created just for some fun. I get frustrated that I can't get the quality where I'd love it to be. But the reality is, you can't. The reality is, in particularly when you run a business, time is not a luxury. Time is what you turn into a profit. And there isn't the time. I try, I try my best to deliver the very best that I can and I do work long hours and I will work seven days a week. Um, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that every image that goes out on social media, every image that goes out to a client, every image I produce is as good as I can get it to be. But the reality is it can never be as good as I want it to be because you don't have that much time. Now a couple of weeks ago, honestly so much has happened since the last episode, but a couple of weeks ago, a friend of ours decided, or he must have decided this further back but I didn't know about it, decided to record an LP, a proper So Vinyl LP. I didn't even know you can get them made in the sum total of one, but he has. He decided to record some covers for his wife. It's her 50th birthday, he could not work out what to buy her, so he basically, he bought himself some recording kit to record vocals, guitar, keyboards. Um, but on a couple of the tracks, so it's an EP rather than an LP, it's an EP. Um, he needed live drums. Now, he gave me a week's notice. Now a long time ago, way back in the day, I was actually a musician's union, registered, subscribed, paid up member, a professional drummer, session drummer. I used to go out and do shows, play drums all over the place, play drums all around the world. Um, always thought that would be my living, but it turns out that, you know, the careers advice from school suggests otherwise. And eventually, after much bouncing around, ended up as a techie engineer. And it was only much later, when that was all grounded, I decided I really did want to do something creative. The drumming, by now, or by then, had probably escaped me. So thankfully, I still had my camera and turned this into my living. But I stepped away from drumming and the last time I actually played a kit was at Sarah and my... Mine and Sarah's wedding. 20 years. 20. That's the last time I picked up a pair of sticks. Now you'd think... You'd think that, um, after 20 years of not playing, you know, I'd need a little bit of notice. I've got seven days to think about the one track. And then in the email that confirmed the studio we were going to go in to record this track, um, he mentioned quietly in the text that we're recording two tracks. It turns out I didn't know about one of them, so I now had 24 hours to think about the other. Now, I'm very proud to say that the drumming doesn't sound too bad. Um, I will post a link. The album has been uploaded onto Spotify. You can listen to the couple of tracks that I do play on. Uh, they are out there. Uh, they don't sound too crappy. You know, if you're a purist drummer, I'm sure you'll hear the bits where my hands are a little bit tighter than they should be. Because after 20 years, my head in my head. I could hear how I wanted each note to be, how I wanted each part of the shuffle pattern, how I wanted all of it to hang together. But of course, muscle memory is not what it was. Now the idea that it's like falling off a bike does to an extent hold true, In the same way that I pick up a camera, it's automatic. And now I surprise myself at how automatic, um, it has been picking up a pair of drumsticks. But you can still hear. Or I think you can still hear. That's slight. I don't know what the right word for it is, uh, but there's a couple of bits where I can hear, uh, just how in my head I can hear what I'm trying to do, but my hands didn't quite keep up. On top of that, He suddenly said, oh, and we're going to need a cover for it, we're going to need a photograph and some design. Again, almost no notice. This time, I think I had one night, uh, in which to take a photograph of him, uh, and create a cover. Now, admittedly, the cover does look a little like a, uh, maybe, you know, a Peter Gabriel image, or a picture of Steve... Jobs or Bruce Springsteen, because I really had no time and I went for something that I knew we could get to work without too much trouble. Nice and contrasty monochrome, quite old school and I love it, I have to admit I love it, but original it probably isn't. Now I can't say either my playing or my graphic creativity are what I would have loved. Them to have been with more time, but if you double the time, I doubt I would've doubled my satisfaction and I certainly wouldn't have doubled my client's satisfaction. The old adage that 80% of the success is created in 20% of the time is probably about right, and that is just as true tonight as I finish working through the last of the images that I've gotta sort out. If I had twice as much time, I just know that I wouldn't be twice as happy with the end result. Perfection really is something not many people have the luxury they can afford. And certainly in my business, that's very, very true. So on that happy note, remember that workshops, if you want to find out about our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops or head over to paulwilkinsonphotography. co. uk and hit the coaching menu item. Alternatively, if you're just curious about Just tons of information about portrait photography. Why not head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, where there's a whole heap of videos, articles, diagrams, ideas, and of course, it is the spiritual home of this very podcast. Finally, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who emails us, and in particular this time around, I wanted to thank Craig. If you're listening Craig, I just genuinely wanted to say thanks for emailing in and describing how You are now working back through all of the episodes for the second time, I think the email says, starting again at 1 and working way up to 139, uh, well now 140. It was a lovely email and it was that email that gave me the kick, uh, because I have been slacking. I know the podcast. Has not been out for a while. We've been incredibly busy. There's just a lot going on and something had to give and for a while it was the podcast because the podcast relies on me sitting for an hour or two on my own with a pair of headphones and a microphone piecing together my thoughts and putting it into hopefully some kind of coherent sort of I guess, um, and finding the headspace and the physical time to do that has just been a little bit of a challenge. But here I am, I have a microphone, I have headphones and with a little bit of luck, this podcast has been at least Intelligible, if not coherent. So thank you, Craig, for giving me the kick. As ever, if like Craig did, you want to get in touch, you can email me at paul at paul wilkinson photography. 📍 co. uk. That's paul at paul wilkinson photography. co. uk. And of course, whatever else you do while you're chasing that elusive perfection. Remember this, be kind to yourself, take care. ### [EP141 New Year, New Adventures | Our Thoughts On The Year Ahead](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep141-new-year-new-adventures-our-thoughts-on-the-year-ahead/) So we're kicking off 2024 with a slightly random podcast from the cab of my Land Rover (thank you Craig from New Zealand for telling me he quite likes the rawness - pretty much gave me permission to once again strap on my Madonna-esque headset mic and ad-lib my way through the first episode of the year!) This episode is a blend of a summary of 2023 and some ideas for 2024. If anyone is curious, the lighting I mention is the Aputure LS60x and LS60d (tunable, focussable LED spotlights), the Aputure Accent B7c and the Phottix TR200R RGB Tube Lights. All brilliant. The Superclass and Masterclass we will be running at the Societies Convention 2024 can be found at https://thesocieties.net/convention/speakers/paul-wilkinson/ and we would love to see you there - either at the workshops or just for a well-deserved pint! Finally, all of our workshops at our studio can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ Enjoy! Cheers P. 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 [00:00:00] I wasn't intending to do too many more podcasts on the Land Rover. Um, however, However a nice guy called Craig from New Zealand emailed me over the Christmas period to say how much he enjoyed the podcast, how much he enjoyed Mastering Portrait Photography the website, and most importantly, at least from the perspective of this particular episode. How much he liked the ones from the Land Rover. To use his words, they feel a little bit more raw, and I don't know what that means. Whether it means unscripted, or whether the sounds of a rattling Land Rover as I travel from point A to point B is somehow an interesting soundbed. I've no idea, he doesn't elaborate. However, thanks Craig partly because it's always nice to know that what you're doing doesn't just disappear into the ether, and I think as photographers we would All appreciate that sensation but also that even when I'm recording things literally in the last few minutes I have between jobs, because that's all the [00:01:00] time I'm managing to find, then even those episodes have their value. So one way or another. A very happy new year. Please forgive the sound quality. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Do you know one of the things you're meant to do as a sound engineer if you're recording for either, I guess, a podcast or radio or for video, is to record a sound bed, to record the ambient noise. So, forgive me while I record little bits like this. Yes, just, I suppose in theory it should be silence, but in a Land Rover nothing is silent. But I'm going to need lots of little bits of the audio if I have to do any corrections. I'm off to another shoot. I'm working with the Hearing Dogs [00:02:00] today, just a few miles down the road, in the UK, a typically average journey, I suppose, half an hour or so. Uh, half an hour out, half an hour back. If you live in the US, that's literally like tripping over your own doorstep because it's a journey under two hours. But here in the UK, we're used to slightly shorter journeys. The year has already got off to a ridiculous start. Uh, I actually thought, and every year I think this, that December will quieten down, I'll have a great break over Christmas, January will be quiet until it ramps up. And actually all that happens is I tear through the whole of the holiday period at a hundred miles an hour, hoping I can get a breather. December was really busy, which was good. 2023 however wasn't the year that I'd like to relive. It hasn't been a bad year, but we've had to fight every inch of the way. Nothing has ever landed in our lap. Both Sarah and I and Michelle. are grafters, [00:03:00] all of us work, and work hard for our living. But, last year really was a little bit of a brutal year. Um, just felt like the atmosphere out there in the marketplace wasn't everything it could have been. Um, we've got very, or have had, very high inflation in the UK, certainly for this country. Now, if you're listening to us in Venezuela or somewhere, possibly not quite the same thing. But with inflation rates kicking up, uh, touching out somewhere near 10 percent and then obviously hikes in interest rates by the Bank of England to bring that back down, essentially what you've got is the perfect storm for people like us who work in the service sector, because our costs of production have gone up in line with inflation. At the same time, the costs of living for our clients have gone up by the same amount, and so the battle for us to be one of their priority spends is that little bit more tricky. However, we've [00:04:00] done it, we had a really good year in the end, but like I said, we have fought tooth and nail, uh, to do it, and I think that's the making of a business. I've said over the years, and I think it's probably out there on a podcast, I'd be surprised if it wasn't, that being a successful business when things are going well is actually really easy. There's not an awful lot to it. You do your job, you create what you create, you sell it, you move on to the next one. Don't get me wrong, I know it's much more nuanced than that, I live this world. But broadly speaking, when things are going right, this job isn't that hard. It's when things are tough, that they show your real character. So, I've spoken about customer service, it's when it goes wrong, really, that you show the true Skillset, the true worth in everything that you do. When things are a little bit tougher, that's when you have to dig deep. It's when you have to show what you are made of. And we've done that over the past 12 months, and we ended December with some beautiful shoots, some lovely clients, [00:05:00] one or two unexpected sales that came in from jobs that I guess there was at least one that I had mothballed, to the point of it being in the archive when the orders eventually came in. Didn't expect to hear from them, hadn't heard from them in 18 months. So for a business like ours, where we are very much about a personal service, it's in person sales, it's an in-person experience, it's about memories, it's about laughter, it's about feeling valued. Wherever possible, we do not do remote sales. I don't do remote sales for precisely the reason that it's taken 18 months for one of our clients to come back and order their pictures. And that's in spite of us doing all the usual stuff, we've emailed them, we've called them. Not to be, not to hassle them. Just to see if there's anything we can do to help. But the problem with non in person sales, online sales is of course. You have very few levers you can pull, and there's not a lot you can do. You can [00:06:00] say you're going to take the album down, which we did. In fact, the album was dormant for probably two thirds of that time. We'd just changed the password so that no one could log in. But of course, when they emailed and said, Oh, I've just noticed I can't log in, we opened it back up. So it's not a real lever, it's just A way of us knowing that they're looking at the album again. And the order came through, and it was a beautiful order. So it's great. It's a proper Christmas bonus. Unexpected. Out of the blue. Beautiful album. Beautiful Graphistudio album. Beautiful frames. Big frames. And the whole thing, in the end, closed out at a really nice value sale. So there's a lesson in there somewhere, which is, you know, don't ever write anything off. And we don't write anything off. I didn't know what the title of this podcast would be. Maybe that's what it should be. It's, you know, don't write any job off. But actually, this is one of those unscripted podcasts where I haven't really got a clue exactly what it was I was going to talk about. So I have this kind of list of things in my head, but who knows whether I'll get to the bottom of [00:07:00] it. Uh, on this year, on the title or on the topic of it being a New Year, of course everybody sits down and makes their list of New Year's resolutions, which actually I don't. I've never been a believer, and I think, I thought that's what the title of this podcast was going to be. I've never been a believer in New Year's resolutions. I don't know why, I just think if you want to do something, do it. Make, make every day the opportunity for a resolution. That's not to say that I'm really good at doing that. That's not to say that every time I've thought, you know what, I'm going to make that happen this year. I'm going to lose three stone and get fit, for instance. You know, doesn't happen. I'm going to stop drinking, doesn't happen. I'm going to become a vegetarian like my daughter, doesn't happen. There are plenty of things that I'd like to do that just Do you know what? They haven't happened. But Equally, I don't wait till New Year to change the big stuff. But, and there is a but, is that New Year does mark a [00:08:00] natural transition, certainly when it comes to reporting your successes as a photography business. We actually don't report our profits December to December. our accounting period is September to September. But we do Internally, track it in standard calendar years. Why? Well, actually because for social photographers there is a natural hiatus around about the end of December. People will have rollover jobs, we will very often have jobs in the diary. In the gap between Christmas and New Year simply because they book in for those. So it's not a perfectly clean break where , it stops, it starts. But there's definitely a feeling in the marketplace that, oh, let's wait till next year. If somebody rings us and says, I want to do a shoot for my family, and if it's any time around November, the chances are they're gonna say, oh, do you know what, let's push that into next year. Let's see what next year brings. There's a lot of that. And so it's [00:09:00] good for us to have a data point that I can compare year on year, decade, on decade these days, . And of course, covid sort of flung that up in the air, uh, three or two and a bit years of not really being able to rely on anything. Our data is absolutely shot: the trajectories, the averages, our historical patterns have somewhat collapsed. We are getting back, I'll be honest about that, things are beginning to look a little bit more familiar, the end of last year, or the bulk of last year, it was definitely starting to feel that way. However, things that we are looking forward to doing, so some of this stuff kicked off last year, and some of it is things we're gonna do this year. So last year was a big sort of step up in us building our workshops and our workshop community. Lots to do on that front, we're not by any means in the position we are with our photography. Photography was a solid vision [00:10:00] for us. We can take a picture, we've worked out that the quality was good, we have fab suppliers, we have solid workflows, efficient practices, we knew our way around the marketing. Over a few years we built the business reasonably sure footedly. Obviously, we've tripped over some things like all businesses do. Not gonna say for a minute we got it all perfect. But it was something we could get our arms around and could understand. And the minute I knew we had a good product then I knew we could build a business around it. And I knew we had a good product because I've been taking pictures since I was a kid. I've been creating images and portraits since I was 10 years old, so I knew I could take a picture in the end, ignoring the whole kind of self confidence or insecurity bits and the imposter syndromes and all of the rest of the stuff we talk about all the time. I knew I could take a picture. Training courses and workshops are slightly different. I still know I can take a picture, but whether or not we could run good workshops, whether or not we could supply great materials, [00:11:00] these were questions that we still had in our heads. So, for instance, one of the things I was curious about was whether it would be a good idea to set the context of each workshop with a little presentation. I'm, I'm not a fan. When I go on a training course, I really, really, really want to see or want to understand how the person giving a workshop does what they do. Whatever it's in, whether it's marketing, sales, Photoshopping 3D, visuals. Customer relationships, I don't know, many, many different aspects to this business. But if I want to go and learn from someone, I want them to hit the road sorry, hit, yeah, no, hit the road quick and get into the nitty gritty. I'm not a big fan of spending hours in a preamble. However, one of the things I did pick up on is that you do need to be organized in your approach. And whether I like it or not, and whether I'm comfortable with it or not, I'm not that guy. I'm not the guy that thinks in a linear fashion. I can [00:12:00] when I have to. You know, I spent 10 years working as a manager in IT. Trust me, I can when I have to. But that's not my natural skill set. I'm not linear. And I can, if I could see Sarah's face when she listens to this podcast, she'd be like, yeah, no shit, Sherlock. You are not linear. Because Sarah's very organized, very drilled, very Put together, and I'm so not those things. I wish I was, sometimes, but out of the same chaos comes the imagery and the ideas that we have. So, I can't turn it off. I don't want to turn it off. If anything, being slightly chaotic is my superpower, because it brings ideas, and it brings energy, and it brings drive. But, equally, it brings inconsistency. It brings me being really easily distracted. Distracted by breathing, you know? It's just ridiculous. So, some of the things we did last year were to [00:13:00] try and see if there are ways in which I can help myself and help the delegates on our workshops not suffer at the hands of my own chaos. And one of them is we do a quick presentation, half an hour, forty minutes. If I get that right, of course that becomes a piece of collateral that we can send out to you if you come on one of our workshops. It becomes a series of ideas and diagrams that maybe I can use for training videos. It becomes some words that maybe I can re craft into maybe a podcast or for when I'm writing with NPhoto magazine or whether I'm writing for Professional Photographer. So these are just parts of the puzzle. And we got that together last year and the feedback we're getting from our workshops is just phenomenal. It's absolutely brilliant that people have come on it. They seem to enjoy it. They come back. So to all of those people who are multiple offenders, thank you. It's so lovely to see you all. It feels [00:14:00] like we're beginning to build a little community. So now I know I've got the product right or we're in the, we're going in the right direction with the product. Now we can really start to focus on it. Forgive the pun. We can really start to drive that home just like we did with the core photography business. And that's the target of this year. Mostly is to drive the training. Drive The platforms, the videos, all of the stuff that goes around that. The podcast is a big part of that. But finding the time when I'm on my own To sit and record is or has proven tricky over the past month or two. So, Christmas and New Year were lovely. I digress here a little bit, but there's a slight point to it. Christmas and New Year were lovely. So, we stopped, we shut the studio down. Day before or two days before Christmas Eve I went shopping with my boy to do some mop up. Spent a really, just had a really lovely day the day before Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve onwards up until, really up [00:15:00] until New Year's Day was spent with family and friends. And I really do mean pretty much every waking minute was with people I love. And now I'm an extrovert. In theory, as an extrovert, every one of those moments with family and friends is a moment to recharge. It's a moment for me to really feel energised. Yeah, that's, that's an extravert I love being around people. But I tell you what, when I got to New Year's Day, all I really wanted to do was just find myself in a dark room. And switch the social side of my brain off and do something much less much less social I suppose is the only word I can think of. I've had a couple of days of that and I'm beginning to get myself back together. And then, uh, last or two nights ago straight back out photographing the Christmas party for the Le Manoir chefs. And the staff, [00:16:00] which is riotous. Now those guys, Le Manoir is two Michelin starred hotel and restaurant, or restaurant with rooms, I think is how they like to call it. It's an amazing place, beautiful food, voted one of the top hotels in the world. It's in the top 50 every year, I think it was in the top 10 this year. Absolutely phenomenal place, and they work hours that make mine look kind of shabby, I think. They work long hours, it's hard graft, they love it, they're brilliant. But when you're thrown into their Christmas party, they don't half let off a little bit of steam, and it is great. So it was really nice to have a couple of quieter days, and then the Christmas party at La Manoire with my friends who are chefs, front of house gardeners, housekeeping you name it, the management team, marketing, sales, the HR team who asked me to do it. They're just brilliant, and I've come away from it buzzing and energized all over again. So I cannot wait for the year. [00:17:00] And on that, we are building the workshops up. On that note, we have a couple actually, I'm going to be at the convention, the Societies of Photographers convention in January, I'm hoping there's some structure to this podcast by the way I'm gonna have to finish in about 5 to 10 minutes because I'll arrive at my client and I'll pick it up again, but I'll let you bet I'll repeat a bit because I won't remember where I got to, and I don't want to have to spend hours in edit, I don't have time to spend hours in the edit, so this is gonna be one of those podcasts That is pretty raw, it's gonna come out of the recording unit as it is, and it's gonna go straight out. As you're hearing it, I don't think there'll have been very much editing except to stick in some music underneath it, and just to check the sound quality's alright. So, forgive me for that. But it's gonna be well I'm at the convention, 17th, I'm at the whole of the convention, but I'm doing two workshops, I'm doing a super class on the 17th. And a Masterclass on the 18th. The Superclass you have to book in advance. I think there's one place left. That's all. If anybody fancies [00:18:00] it, head over to the Society's Convention and look for the Superclasses. We're gonna spend the whole of that three, three and a half hours. Creating headshots and personal branding images. I've never met the couple who are my models. I'm looking forward to meeting them. They sound really cool. But we're going to explore lighting, how you interact. We're going to talk about whatever people want to talk about. Whether it's the marketing side of it, whether it's the business side of it. Whether it's how you tell a story through the photos. It's whether, how you weave the story of the shoot. Because I think that's an underrepresented part of social photography is how you thread your way in a meaningful fashion through the shoots. That's the superclass. That's on the 17th. On the 18th, I'm doing a masterclass, you don't need to book for that, but I'd love to see you. It's free if you have a ticket to the event. Come along and we're going to be talking about specifically ten lighting patterns. I'm going to put together ten easy lighting patterns that you can replicate. One of the things I'm acutely aware of is, [00:19:00] I find much of taking a portrait second nature to me. I do it Automatically, I can see light, I can feel it, I can almost smell it out. anD I, I don't know why or how that should be, but it is. So when I'm positioning lights, I know exactly what I'm doing, because I'm simply looking at what's in front of me. But, I've had to critique a few images some people have been on a workshop, some people have simply have asked me for some mentoring, and reading light, it turns out, is not the most natural thing in the world, and I, I assumed it was. So I've clearly misunderstood some aspects of what, how we can teach this, so part of the Masterclass really, or part of the idea behind the Masterclass really, is to see if we can nail down ten lighting patterns with two lights, so we use one light, we'll use two lights, we'll create some drama, we'll create some theatre, we'll create some very basic stuff, [00:20:00] But the idea is we're going to hand over some real examples done live in front of the audience as to how you can do this with basic equipment. We're going to do it in a normal room. It's just one of the meeting rooms in a hotel. We're going to do it with normal kit. I will have two lights I will, I think, have a pop up backdrop, which I'll bring in, just so I've got a plain backdrop, because I can't guarantee it. And we're going to go through some of the ideas. And that's kind of where we're taking all of our workshops now, is to give our delegates things they can take away with them. Proper, right, okay, if you do this, that will work. One of the things I've always fought against, the reason we haven't really gone down that road up until now, is I've Rebelled a lot against people telling me how I should do it. And I never ever, still don't, want to be the guy that says this is how you should do it. And I try really hard to remember at the beginning of every workshop, every presentation I [00:21:00] ever do. I did one the other day, we did a webinar, and I started by telling everybody on it. It's very personal to me. My eyes, my clients, my lights, my camera, my style. All of it is about me and what I like. It might not work for everybody. So I can give you insights into the thought process and this is what I thought we would do. We'll give insights, we'll give ideas, we'll give inspiration, we'll energize. And all of that works. But the problem is if you don't understand the fundamentals or can't read it like some photographers can, then it becomes slightly trickier. So the masterclass, the second of the two classes, the masterclass at the convention on the 18th of January, it's gonna be much to do with that. So if you're round the convention, you're a loose end. I think it's 11 till one 30 on the 18th. So it's a mid-morning slot. You'll finish your breakfast, you'll have had a couple of cups of coffee. You'll be thinking, what the hell am I gonna do today? Why not stick your head in and come and have a play?[00:22:00] So that's what we're going to do. And at that stage, I'm going to break off here now, because as I turn this left hand bend on a very wet road. Here we go. I'm just going to arrive at my client, which is great. I'm photographing for the Hearing Dogs this afternoon. I'm photographing a re a recipient, so a partnership, a hearing dog and a a deaf person whose story is both heartbreaking and inspirational in equal measure. So I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a lovely shoot. I will pick up again when I've broken off and let you know how that went. and finish off this podcast. Once again. Craig, thank you very much for telling me that I can, if I wish to record podcasts in the car, So just to pick up where I left off, just come to the end of a lovely shoot. Sorry, also weaving, or trying to weave through traffic in a very small Buckinghamshire town. Wilmslow, it turns out, is full of tiny little [00:23:00] streets. Many of which I'm navigating a large Land Rover through. It's not easy and speaking at the same time. Apparently, it turns out, I can just about walk and chew gum at the same time, but cannot talk and drive a Land Rover at the same time. too: must be two different bits of my brain. Okay. And a nice person's let me out, and another person has refused to let me out. And there's a motorbike, and I've just landed into school traffic. In Bucks, which means that no one's paying attention at all to anyone except their own journey home and trying to get back for our, I'm assuming, a cup of tea and to get the kids a sandwich. Where are we? So yes, I just finished a really beautiful shoot with a really lovely person who she lost her hearing. Well, she had an illness, went into a coma, came out of the coma, and discovered that she had lost her hearing, one heck of a shock. And so she now has a Hearing Dog, but she's profoundly [00:24:00] deaf, has absolutely no hearing at all. And the hearing dog provides all of the support that she needs. So if the doorbell goes, the phone goes. Smoke alarms, obviously. Every minutiae of life that we take for granted, the hearing dog supports them. A hearing dog. A beautiful spaniel. I'm not going to give any names away, because that's not my place to. But an absolutely wonderful shoot. And I read in the notes that she wasn't particularly keen on being photographed. Not someone who's used to being photographed, not someone who enjoys being photographed. And you read these notes and I would say 80 percent of my clients sit in that bracket. Um, there are days, there are days when I wake up and wished everybody I photographed really, really, really wanted to be photographed. Models and the like. Because man, wouldn't that be just glorious? Really easy too. It'd be wonderful that every person in [00:25:00] front of the camera wanted to show off, and they just loved it, and they were confident, and knew how beautiful they were. But that's just not my world. So the lady, really super smart lawyer didn't really want to be, well my note said that she didn't really feel comfortable being photographed, but it turns out, uh, She could not have been lovelier. Did I just say that right? Lovelier, lovelier. She could not have I'm concentrating on driving. Lovelier. And the shoot has just been absolutely beautiful. The dog was stunning. The light has been really nice. We're under a rain warning at the moment. We're about to get some really heavy rain, but it held off long enough that we've done the whole shoot in the dry. Well, in the dry, but not on the dry. Everywhere. I don't know what it's like where you are around the world, but in Britain, just at the moment, we've had back to back rainstorms of one sort or another. Some of them big enough to be given names. And we've got another tranche of it coming in in about an hour. Oh, half an hour, about half an hour. [00:26:00] I don't know why that matters. I'm one of those people that have to suddenly get to detail. I don't know why. I apologize. Anyway, it's been a brilliant afternoon, and it's these kinds of shoots that remind me why I do what I do. Because just having people like the lady I've just photographed in front of the camera who full of energy, and smart, and laughter. She can hear nothing. Everything is being done through lip reading, which is, for me, is not I mean, I'm used to working around the deaf community, but I'm one of those people that spends a lot of time looking to the sides to see where the next shot's coming from. So, mid sentence, I'll suddenly find myself looking away. And, until working with the Hearing Dogs For Deaf People, I didn't even know I did it. And, of course, it becomes a profound challenge that I need to concentrate and I've spent the afternoon concentrating on making sure no matter who I'm talking to or what I'm thinking for the next shot I must always [00:27:00] have eye contact with the person, the hearing dog recipient because They're relying on seeing my lip movements to be able to understand what's going on. And it, you become acutely aware of it. but equally, she said, it's really bad when people try to talk slowly because that changes her understanding of the words. Because she's lip, because she's lip reading, if you speak slowly, actually that makes it harder to understand the wording. So all in all something I need to continue to work on and get better at. At least I'm aware of it, and I try, I try pretty hard, but the photos we've got are absolutely beautiful. So where were we, where were we? Oh, I think we'd come to a bit, some of that training, I've no idea, I told you I'd lose track. podcast part two, I'm Paul, and this is still the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. As I wind my way through the lanes. Other things that are happening in the studio. Obviously we're working on the setup of our training and our workshops. I'm about to re [00:28:00] platform all of our websites onto a new platform. Not quite sure which one it's going to be just yet. But one of the challenges I guess all of us have is our web presence is really important, and so I built all my own websites built it all on WordPress. So all hosted it's all currently hosted on Siteground but over the years, a combination of price walking, which simply means every year it's got more and more expensive. You can get a good deal to start with, but gradually, I mean, we pay now. For two, the two main of our websites, I think the basic hosting is about 1200 quid a year for the two. And on top of that are all the little plug ins that we've had to buy and put in to run things like the shop, to run things like the automated side of it, the emails, to do certain things like display the images the way I want them. All of these bits of software are licensed. [00:29:00] Which is fine, but if you added all of that in to get in as well, rather, I think you get up into the region of sort of 1, 500 quid a year, 1, 600 pounds a year, somewhere around there for the two websites. Now that's fine, we're a big business. We work really hard at what we do, and we can justify paying properly, and paying, well pay our licenses anyway, but we can justify all of the expense of the website simply because it's a part of our turnover. However, what irks me is firstly how difficult it is to keep on top of all of the updates of all of the component bits of software and also just how expensive it is when it doesn't need to be. It's not about the fact that I have to invest in it, it's about the fact that I don't think I need to do, I need to invest the time and the finances to the level we are. So I'm hunting around at the moment. I think I know what we're gonna do, and I think I know how I'm gonna do it. It'll take time, which is [00:30:00] something I don't have a lot of, but it's still got to be done. But if I can get all of the websites into one place, simplify them down, they don't need to be as comp, I'm really proud of our websites, but they do not need to be as complicated as they have evolved to be. And it's not that I set out to make them complicated, or I set out to do stuff that's particularly difficult. It's just that, year on year on year, as you add functionality, as you try to do new things, as you get on top of SEO, and structuring, and then keeping a track of 301s and 404s, and then you've got to have, like, an SEO tool to help you make sure your SEO's alright. And then you've got albums and portfolio bits of kit. You've got sliders. Oh man, there's so many bits of software. All of which is necessary to do what I have in my head. So what I've got to do first is figure out what's the bare minimum I can get away with. And then secondly, re platform all of that. So the websites will still be [00:31:00] beautiful. But if I can get it all under one roof, it'll be much easier to manage. And I don't have the time, to manage everything anymore, I simply don't. So that's, that's on the list for this year. And the other thing we're gonna do this year, or I've already started doing, is gradually pushing more into continuous lighting and away from strobes. Now, this is one which I don't yet know quite where the journey's gonna take me, but the foray that we've had into it so far has been incredibly rewarding. LED technology now with high CRI LEDs is at the standard where the quality is nearly as good as strobes. It's not, I still love the light you get off a Zenon strobe. There's something really beautiful about the quality of light, and of course, massively punchy. You get a huge amount of light, [00:32:00] a huge amount of kick. out of pretty much any strobe compared to an LED. If you had LEDs as bright as the strobe, as bright as the instantaneous flash of a strobe, people wouldn't be able to see. It's, you know, so bright, there's so much energy in that tiny fraction of a second, that, I don't know, thousandths of a second of light burst. But working with LED makes it easier to do video and you really can see What you're gonna get. And my logic is a very simple one. If it's good enough for the film industry, and the TV industry, Netflix and the like, then it's good enough for photography. Yes, alright, there are some things I'm gonna have to learn how to do differently. But I love doing that anyway. I'm a quick learner on most things. And so, I'm really excited about it. We've started I bought I've got a couple of Aputure Lightstorm Focusable, so these have got focusing lenses on the front focusable spots, and [00:33:00] they've got the old Bowens S type mounts on them, so we can mount pretty much anything. I use Profoto strobes in the studio but I've got these Aperture Lightstorm tunable lights, which are absolutely phenomenal. Really bright when you want them to be. If you turn them right down, they'll last for hours on a single charge. Also I've got a couple of, they were just cheap. I was working in the flash centre doing judging for the BIPP. And it was the flash centre in Birmingham were hosting us. And they had these light strips, just light rods. LED, Phottix. I think they were 40 quid each. I mean, they're really pennies. You know, a tank of fuel in this Land Rover is about 80 quid, so for the price of a tank of fuel, I can get two highly tunable, full spectrum lights that will do any color on the color wheel. As well as doing normal presets. They also do some clever things with, you can make, turn them into police lights and all the rest of it. They're quite cool. [00:34:00] So I got those working in the studio, but one of the challenges when you're working with Available light is the camera is going to capture everything it sees. With strobes, I don't worry about the lighting in the studio because the strobe overpowers it. Doesn't really matter. But with LED, you have to get the lighting, the whole lighting, exactly as you want it. And it caught us out a little bit when we were recording a video recently, and the video is simply too dark because I've lit my subject perfectly. But I haven't lit the rest of the studio because it never really occurred to me, and I need to do it, and it's fine. Everything's okay, and certainly the subject looks incredible, but when you look at the footage of me talking to camera, for instance, I'm in the gloom somewhere. And although we tried to sort it out a little bit, we haven't quite got there. So I've now retrofitted all of the lighting in the studio, so all of our normal overheads, office lighting if you like, in the studio, with, again, made by Aputure. They are, I can't, I think they're called [00:35:00] B7Cs or BL7Cs, which are, they look like a fat light bulb with an Edison screw thread, so they'll fit pretty much any light fitting from 100 volts up to about 250 volts. You screw them into a light fitting, and in normal mode, they just behave like normal light bulbs, except that you can hook them up to the same app I use for the Aputure Lightstorms, and you can control them completely from the phone. So I can control how strong they are. I can also control, again, like the Phottix, light sticks, I can control exactly what color they are. So these things, they're only about 50 quid each, but they are fully tunable. Any color I like and some special effects, if ever I did video that needed to feature, I don't know, police, car or fireworks or firelight, , it does all of those, that's of almost no interest to me. It's quite a cool thing to do, but. Not really for what I do. But I can control their light to be any colour [00:36:00] temperature and any power. On top of that, if you unscrew the light, it becomes a battery powered light. It simply can sit in someone's hand, or you can put it into any light fitting, even if it's not plugged in, and it will work exactly the same. It doesn't really make any difference. It'll last for about seven hours off the battery. These are really cool. So, we've started to experiment. A little way to go. I need some slightly, some LED panels. I've got a couple of bits. I do have some LED panels, but they're slightly older and the high CRI on the newer LEDs, you can really see the difference when you're illuminating skin. But it's a whole new adventure and it does change the way you shoot. So at the moment when I'm shooting, particularly when I'm doing headshots, I'll use, I'll do some with strobes because you get that glorious, clean light. With really deep depths of field. And obviously, ProPhoto units that modifies everything is absolutely stunning. So that's not something I'm gonna [00:37:00] completely get rid of anytime soon because I'm addicted to the quality of the light. But in the second half of the shoot, or maybe for certain shots, I'll bring out some LED lighting, maybe with a soft box or maybe LED, the strips and. You then get this beautiful thing where you can have much shallower depths of field. So, and total control, you can see exactly how the light's going to play. You can change the colours of the lights as if I was gelling the strobes, but it's so much easier. Literally, I can just dial it in to the app and change the colour of the lights. It's opening up new avenues to explore where we can play with colour because it's quicker. We can play with really shallow depths of field. I'm unlikely to ever be able to light, a family easily, because the power you'd need to get the depth of field you need, at least with the ISOs that we're still using at the moment, is possibly a bit too bright. But, [00:38:00] ISOs are becoming normal. The party I shot for the hotel I shot nearly all of it. Our ISO 10,000, ISO 10 K. That's just ridiculous in terms of sensitivity. But I wanted to capture the colors of the party. I wanted to capture the candlelight. I wanted to capture the sort of fairy lights and effects lights that the events company had put on. I wanted all of that, and I didn't wanna bounce, flash in and kill it. I did, obviously, when they're doing their awards. I used a flash gun. I used a, a speedlight on the camera because. Me being creative with the lighting is really not part of that puzzle. They need to be well lit, they need to be clear, they want to be able to celebrate the awards they've won. But, when it comes to the event side of it, the party side of it, I shot nearly all of it at ISO 10, 000 and then simply ran it through, for this particular run, I ran it through Adobe Lightroom, the AI noise reducer. I didn't turn the noise [00:39:00] reduction up very much, 20%? Tiny. But it has a really profound quality to it now. So you can run at ISO 10, 000 and still get pretty clean images. You lose a little bit of detail, it can get a little bit mushy. But it's a 50 megapixel camera, the Z9. And these pictures are not going to be used anywhere bigger, I'm going to guess, than 7x5. That's it. They're not hero pictures, they're not going out as posters. So, I've got a huge amount of latitude. And to be fair, I probably didn't even need to put the noise reducer on it, but I did just because, it's like somebody's going to zoom in and go, that's a bit grainy. Why do you need high ISOs, or clean high ISOs with LED? Well, think about it. Let's say I want to get to f8, right? Let's say I want to photograph a group of four or five people, and I'm going to need f8. To get the front to back bite in the image. So that the person at the front of the shot is nice and sharp, the person at the back of the shot is nice and sharp. Now, with a strobe, [00:40:00] that's really easy. With a strobe, I can turn the power wherever I like it, it won't make an awful lot of difference to the people in the shot, it's just a bright flash, and it's done. And I can set the camera at ISO 100, F8, F11, F16, whatever. Doesn't matter. It'll override all the light in the room, and I've got plenty of depth of field. Really easy. Now. If I turned my LEDs, and I'd need a few more than I own, up to get ISO 100, 100th of a second, f11, that is bright sunlight. That's effectively daylight, but on a sunny day. So, that's not really practical in a studio if I don't want people to be squinting. I could turn the power of the lights down, and use less power on the lights, but then of course I'm going to need to use slower shutter speeds, wider apertures, or higher ISOs. And now, with the ability to clean up even high ISO, [00:41:00] I'm starting to teeter on the edge of being able to do practically what you can do with strobes, with LEDs instead. Not there yet, but we're heading In the right direction. So that's on my list. That's part of this year. I'm gonna re-platform, the websites we're gonna switch over to LED. And we're gonna just see whether, for instance, we can create better videos, more videos, so it in, in the end. This year, it is all about making the changes we need to the business that we are looking forwards to. More about training, more about workshops, more about creating videos, about creating educational materials. Who knows, who knows, one day I might even get around to writing a second book to go with the very successful Mastering Portrait Photography. Mastering Portrait Photography Part 2, the sequel. This time it's personal. Mastering Portrait Photography Armageddon. I don't know, maybe I'll do it like Fast and Furious. We'll just do two, then three, then four, then [00:42:00] five, and then twenty eight. Who knows. But at the moment I haven't got that in me. The problem is always, of course, like all of us, our real clients, the clients that pay our everyday bills, the portrait clients, the wedding clients, the commercial clients I'm gonna have to service those guys first. And that's always the kicker, is how do I manage to keep the revenue coming in just as we need it, while still effectively building an entire add on or new business. It's a new business. So that's the puzzle. I will get to the bottom of it. I will figure it out. I'm enjoying the process very much. And so that, for us, is the year ahead. As I drive through, the rain has just arrived. It's dark and gloomy. My windscreen wipers are now squeaking in the background. I'm sure you can hear that on the recording. I'm driving through a very beautiful bit of the country. I'm running along one of the ridges in the Ridgeway. That's the Chiltern Hills. Just driving along and in spite of it being gloomy and dramatic, there's [00:43:00] fields full of sheep, there's just past an old farm, it's actually one of my clients here, and it's beautiful I'm guessing that is a medieval farmhouse, that is well old, that's got to be, and you're looking at the roof line, it's all sagged and these tiny little bricks and the road dips and drives around into the distance, it's Quite beautiful in spite of the rain. So there you have it. Please do head over to Mastering Portrait Photography. Also have a look if you're interested in the workshops that we're running this year. They're all out all up. The first six, at least, are up. The first few sold out literally within a day or so. Which is really flattering, but then gives me the problem of having to immediately schedule in new ones. There are a few spaces on some of the others though, so if you fancy coming and having an absolute blast about portrait photography in particular, whether it's you want to talk about the business side, the photoshopping side, or camera craft [00:44:00] or studio lighting, then please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the section on workshops. You can just google Paul Wilkinson Photography workshops. And you'll find them pretty quick. Whatever else happens, I hope your holiday season was peaceful. I hope you had a lovely, restful one. If not, I hope you're having an absolute party. And so, here's to 2024. Let's hope that it's Well, let's hope that it's a nicer year than it seems to have been in the first few days. There's nothing in the news that fills me with very much joy. So I'm just ignoring the news. I'm not paying any attention to it. I'm not getting involved. It just upsets me. I'm going to continue to do what I do and enjoy spending time with my clients, enjoy spending time with other photographers. Basically, I'm just going to make the most of my time on the planet. Here's to 2024 and whatever else, remember, be kind to yourself. Take care. [00:45:00] ### [EP142 Building Your Business One Client At A Time](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep142-building-your-business-one-client-at-a-time/) Hi all! I am sitting writing this late on a Sunday evening with a glass of whisky in one hand (a small glass I hasten to add) and typing with the other. It's already a business year and we're only a week or two in! In this episode, I have been pondering how you build your business and how, in particular, you do it one client at a time. It's the Societies Convention in London next week and I spent much of today figuring out exactly what I'm going to be doing. It's been a lot of fun, but it has highlighted my lack of liner thinking, that's for sure! The Superclass and Masterclass we will be running at the Societies Convention 2024 can be found at https://thesocieties.net/convention/speakers/paul-wilkinson/ and we would love to see you there - either at the workshops or just for a well-deserved pint! Finally, all of our workshops at our studio can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ 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[00:00:00] SO it's late Sunday evening, and I'm sitting here on my own, the fire is ticking over, Sarah's fast asleep, and I have a glass in my hand of something, well, rather lovely. It's a glass of whiskey from my in laws who brought me a bottle of Dartmoor whiskey for my Christmas. Tonight, Sarah and I have sat and watched Vera. Of all things, how middle aged can you get we sat and watched Vera on ITV? Why? Well, on Friday night we watched Oppenheimer. On Saturday night, we watched Saltburn. Tonight, we needed something, frankly, a lot less stressful. Harriet, our daughter, did warn us that Saltburn was a little bit on the, how do I put this, fruity side? But, I'm not sure Sarah or I were necessarily predicting it to be quite As lively as it was. And so tonight, we really did need something very gentle. Something very uncomplicated. A whodunit actually is relatively obvious and with no [00:01:00] major stress. Very, very different to the other two films. Which may explain why I'm sitting here drinking a large whiskey that was bought by my in laws. It's been a busy week and I've just prepped a wedding which made me laugh. So, it's a wedding I shot a couple of weeks ago just before Christmas and at this wedding I met a pilot. Now, I've always had a theory that pilots get recruited on their debonair looks and their ability to say what they need to say over the microphone and sound reassuring. Sure enough, as I got talking to him, both things became markedly apparent. So, I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:02:00] Haha! So January appears to be running at full throttle and that is not an understatement. I don't know what's going on for a moment emails coming in, inquiries coming in, the phone is ringing we're booked up solid, and next week of course is the Society's Convention, which I'm very, very much looking forward to. It was a shame when it moved around the year a little bit. I couldn't be there last year but this year back very much in full effect. I'm running two workshops, one of which is sold out, the other I hope to see a large crowd. So on the 18th from 11. 30 to 1, headshots. And on that note today I spent the whole day. Piecing together exactly what we're going to cover because the way I've decided to do it is to just have two very basic strobes. Obviously, when you're doing a workshop at a convention, they give you a list of the kit you can cherry pick from and I could have had the very best of the very best. [00:03:00] But the lighting I've chosen isn't, it's not that it's not great lighting, but it's not sophisticated lighting. Very simple lighting that every photographer would start out with, and for both my workshops, both the superclass and the masterclass, I'm going to use this very, very simple kit. Because I get a little bit frustrated when people say to you, oh, you must have amazing lights, or you must have an amazing camera. In the end, it's what you do with these things. And not only that, but after we've finished doing a workshop, I want people to go away and say, Do you know what? I can do that. Otherwise, there's no point in doing a workshop if you're just gonna do a workshop. And in the end, everyone's gonna go can I do that with my lights? And the answer is, no. Or, can I do that with my camera? No. Can I do that with my models? No. There's no point coming to a workshop like that, you know, or rather, there's no point running a workshop like that. So I've backed everything off. We have two simple lights with two small softboxes. That is it. They're mains powered, so I'm going to be tripping over live cables, which I [00:04:00] hate. But today, to try and get my head around exactly what we're going to do, because in the second Masterclass, I committed to doing two lights, ten looks, one and a half hours, one personal.brand, so it's portraits but based around personal branding. I picked on that because it's a very topical thing at the moment. Lots of personal branding, lots of headshots going on. So it seemed like a good vehicle for it. But in the end, it's portraiture. Lit beautifully, lit quickly. You should be able to create pretty much anything you want to with just two lights. In fact, I've won more awards with one light than I have for any other combination of studio strobes. So. I'm running a workshop around just these two lights, but the problem is that I do not have a linear mind. I wish I did, but I don't. I'll give you the example today. Very kindly, one of my clients someone who's modeled for us a lot is both a [00:05:00] client, the daughter of a client and has been one of those handful of people who's been in front of our camera more than anybody else. Stepped in on her Sunday afternoon off to help me figure a path through what we're going to show. I had it all written out, I had it listed. I spent an hour this morning going through that so that I could work my way through a shoot and work out what we're going to do in the workshop. Within seconds of Libby arriving and standing in the middle of the studio, I changed my mind four times. I had to keep going back to the list to remind myself what I was supposed to be doing, what Is it that I intended to do? Because honestly, I don't think like that. I just, I see the person in front of me. I look at the lighting I have and ideas just spring to mind. Not always good ideas. I never said they were good ideas. Just ideas. Or I suppose if you're someone who works in a linear fashion, you might call them distractions. I would call it creativity. Everybody else [00:06:00] might just call it a lack of focus. Forgive the pun. But I did spend today figuring out. Different lighting patterns with the two lights that not only can I do, but they create beautiful imagery and they show just what can be achieved with the simplest of kit and some knowledge of how you're using it. Of course, one of the challenges is going to be in the hotel next week. is it's not a nice dark studio, I don't have all my equipment to hand, anything I'm going to use, the only things that the convention are giving me are a model and two lights and two softboxes, they've said this year, no background, so anything I want to shoot in front of, I've got to take in with me, as well as the stands for it. Which is fine, it's not a big deal, but I need to be able to travel light because I do not want to be traipsing on the train and on the tube across London with tons of equipment if I can avoid it. So I'm going to try and do this in very light touch, very simple equipment and that lends itself to being [00:07:00] something that if you are just starting out in photography, if you've just started to think, you know what? I'm going to do some studio lighting. Then this is going to be one heck of a masterclass for you because I'm literally using the equipment that I started out on. In fact, the equipment we're going to use is even more sophisticated than what I started out on, but that's because everything has evolved. When I started out, everything had analog sliders to set the power. They were great, but they were unreliable as hell. You had to do everything by eye or by light meter, I suppose. And some days, the little sliders would work really well, and it'd be, you know, linear, and as you moved it up a little bit, it would change a little bit, move it down a little bit, it would change a little bit. Heh heh. Uh, but then of course, gradually over time, the carbon tracks wore, and you'd move it up a little bit, and the light would go really bright! And then you'd move it down a little bit, and the light would go off. And I'm like, why am I in the dark now? And then, the modeling light would be a very different power. You could never get them, even though there was two sliders side by side, the modeling light never tracked against the actual [00:08:00] power. Oh, a million things. So, of course, in this day and age of digital control, where you set the numbers on the back of your light, no matter how basic your light is, you're going to set a number, either with a click wheel or with a digital input, and it's going to be pretty much spot on, certainly compared to how people like me, who started out You know, I started out with second hand Elinchrom, a pair of Elinchrom EL500s. I think they were, they were great, but they got very hot, the fans were noisy, they didn't always go off. You didn't have radios back then, we had wires. Um, you had a mains cable, you had a trigger cable. If you were lucky, you could get the little Magic Eye thing to work. I had these, I bought them second hand, but they were fantastic and I loved it. But if you compare that technology to what we're using today, of course, what we've got today, and even the most basic kit, is so sophisticated. Anyway, today I've spent the whole day, or I haven't, I've spent the afternoon, stepping through [00:09:00] the lighting patterns we're going to use, and I'm really excited about it because the images are absolutely stunning. Well, I think they are. You may disagree. They weren't what I expected to do, even though I had a list, but then, I guess, if there's one thing you would expect from me, it's that I'm not going to do what was expected of me, but that's, that's not by choice, I'm not a rebel, it's just I don't think in a linear fashion. That's not my superpower. Sarah and Michelle both do, and that's their superpower. They're very organized. They're very methodical. They're very step by step by step. And I am so not, except in one key area, and that's our workflow. So if ever I talk about workflow, it's actually, it's, it's, in some ways, it's the most. Exciting thing because it's super organized and it's super organized because over the years, I've spent a lot of time making sure I've got it absolutely how I want it. On the other hand, it's not that exciting because it's linear and I'd much rather be out there [00:10:00] being creative. But nonetheless, the one part of my life that is truly methodical is how we ingest images, how we bring them into Lightroom, how we rename them, the workflow from Sarah through to Imagine to do the coloring and back to me. Very linear. There's no messing around with it. If, if the files are brought in they don't go anywhere until there's another backup of them and that's on a different disk. The memory cards are never formatted until the backups are done. The jobs are logged on a big spreadsheet, so I know exactly where everything is. They go to Sarah. I know exactly the workflow of everything. Until yesterday, until yesterday, when Lightroom decided to corrupt the catalog. Now, in itself, not a big problem. It's not a big deal. It hasn't corrupted the images. It's only corrupted the catalogue, but the catalogue has a lot of areas in it, including collections, including certain colourings, and although I've set it to write [00:11:00] any changes in the develop area back down to either the XMP sidecars, or directly into the Photoshop files, that's not as reliable as you would like because of the way it does it. The catalogue is backed up, it's backed up a couple of times, so again, shouldn't be a problem. But it's a big catalogue. It's 11 gig. It's got 738, 000 images in it, as of when I looked a couple of hours ago. So it's a big catalogue. And it was yesterday failing to load. I could kill Lightroom and load a small catalogue. So we, the way Sarah and I move images between the two of us is I export a little catalogue with Smart Previews. She can do whatever she needs. It can go to ImagenAI. It comes back to me. I import it, take all those settings off the Smart Previews. And apply them to the master files. Very straightforward. So we have lots of little catalogues I can use to check that it's not Lightroom that's broken, it's the [00:12:00] catalogue. Try it on a small catalogue, works fine. Try it on our main catalogue, nothing. So, in the end, last night, I left it just running. It was doing nothing, the system was saying Lightroom had crashed, but it was still ticking over, so I just let it go. I went back in this morning, and the catalogue was up, but it wasn't happy. Something has glitched in the catalogue. We had a little bit of a, a sequence of events that led to power glitching, and it must have been writing into the database, and although it's not supposed to cause a problem, it did. So, this morning, I tried to load the catalogue up again. Although it was there, it wasn't happy, so I left Lightroom. Tried to open it again to see if it would flush a cache or two. Now it's not really opening. So, I downloaded a backup. So we have backups. I use Backblaze, which is really good. It just ticks over in the background. And I've got a backup from the last day or two, which is fine. I know exactly what things have changed since that [00:13:00] backup. Because that's the problem with backups, right? Backups are not something that are always today's data. By definition, they're going to be data that you had. Yesterday, or the day before. And that's true here too. But nonetheless, Backblazed downloaded the 11 gig file, told Lightroom to open it, same problems. So I'm not quite sure what's gone wrong, or when it's gone wrong, but it's certainly causing a problem. So, now what I've done is, this morning I set it rolling. And left it ticking over, and as of right now, which is what, midnight, it still hasn't entirely finished re importing and reconfiguring the database. Tomorrow I shall find out whether my efforts to fix it have worked. But the point is always back up your work and always have a solid, methodical, linear process for how you bring your images in, how you catalogue them, how you back them up, how you archive them, and what happens if you have failure, because you're going to [00:14:00] have it. I know that, you know that, everybody knows that. So have a plan as to what you're going to do. It's another reason why, for instance, one of, one part of our workflow is that I don't use Just Lightroom to manage which images are where. It's actually done in folders on the hard drives and then Lightroom reflects those. Why? Well, for precisely the reasons from today. Sometimes things go wrong and the only thing you're left with is a folder of, I don't know Portraits, a folder of weddings at this venue, weddings at that venue. And that way if you do that, at least you're not beholden to the Lightroom side. And I'm pretty chilled about it because I know in the end, if the worst came to the worst, I would simply recatalogue the main drive, which is also backed up twice. It's all fine, everything's still there, I can still get to every image, it's just that I can't get to things like the collections, virtual copies, different crop variations of different images, because of course [00:15:00] they are stored in the Lightroom catalogue. Anyway, I'll get it sorted, I will get it sorted. January's rolling on at a pace and I could have done with it rolling a lot slower today, it would have given me a chance to actually get in there and I know that I've got breathing space for planning and things, but that's not to be. What do we have last week? We did I was shooting a Paralympian, an amazing lady. Of course, these things are always, when I get to speak about them, still under embargo. But it's for the hearing dogs. She's an incredible human being. I might ask if she'd come on the podcast, actually, because she is someone who would be really interesting to talk about the psychology of winning, to some degree, against the odds, but the psychology of winning, absolutely incredible person to work with, just made us laugh. And then another day I spent working with Kent, Sussex and Surrey Air Ambulance, KSS Air Ambulance, photographing doctors, paramedics. Patients, pilots, and of [00:16:00] course, helicopters. And we had one of those really odd days where twice the helicopter was called out, and twice it came back really quickly. I don't know the reasons for that, but it meant I got pictures in this beautiful, crisp, sunny day, a rare one. We haven't had many days like that up until now this year. Of the helicopter lifting, and off it went into the, into the blue sky. It turned around at about half a mile, it came straight back and landed, and it did it twice during the day. And then obviously we were there all day some night time photography as well. And then really all I'm doing now is doing the prep for next week's convention. I can't wait to be there. It's been a while and I am super excited. I'm going to be there Tuesday night all the way through to Saturday doing a super class on Wednesday. Masterclass on Thursday. If you're around and about that, the superclasses sold out, sold out a couple of weeks ago. Apologies if you wanted to come to that. Of course, you could come across to our studio and go to one of our workshops [00:17:00] here. Just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. There's a whole suite of those. in the next few weeks, which is, uh, literally this year, it was just going at 100 miles an hour. I don't know, I didn't anticipate it was going to be quite like that. But if you can't, if you fancy coming and talking, doing headshots, for instance, we are running a headshot workshop here at the studio in the next couple of months. So feel free to look at those, Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, if you fancy it. The Masterclass on Thursday, which is free with your convention ticket. Come along. We're gonna be doing, like I said, two lights, ten looks, one brand. Just having a look at how you can create a lot of variety out of the simplest of things. But not just variety, some beautiful imagery. And that's what I've been doing today, is putting a plan together, because like I said, and you can hear it in the podcast, you know, I just, I can't help myself. I head in one direction, and before I know it, I'm heading in another. Anyway, my thought for this particular episode, it's only a short one, [00:18:00] the episode and the thought, it's not a particularly deep thought, it's fine. It's clearly January, Christmas is only just past, New Year is Just behind us I'm sitting with a glass of whiskey. This is not in depth psychology, but have you ever wondered when you're sitting on the motorway, as I was coming back from the air ambulance, I had a couple of hours on the motorway looking at all of the cars, every one of those cars is a little ecosystem of people. It's a driver, probably some family members, friends, business, business relationships. The car is going from somewhere to somewhere. It's an individual at the wheel. Yeah, we see it as a traffic jam. We see it as traffic. We see it as a crowd, and yet actually when you're sitting there looking at each of these cars, there's a life, there's a family, there's parents, there might be kids, definitely parents, might be kids. There are Emotions. There are stories. [00:19:00] What are they listening to? Where are they going? What have they been doing? And when you think about it, a traffic jam and all of that chaos on the M25 around London is not a crowd. It's not, it is a car park, it feels like it, but it's lots of individuals. When you think of it like that, it starts to play in your mind about how we look to win customers in our business. It's easy to get drawn into this idea of social media influencing, having a presence, having tens of thousands of followers, I'm going to get a thousand likes on this post, I'm going to interact with this group, that group, every day I'm going to post five or six messages out there. And you can very easily lose sight of the fact that your business isn't a crowd. Your customers are not a crowd. [00:20:00] Your customers are individuals, with parents possibly, with kids, with lives, with jobs, with income. Hopefully enough income they can afford your services. And, when you think of it like that, everything becomes a little bit clearer as to how you should approach. winning your clients. In my opinion, it's not a smart move to just go for glory and have thousands of likes or thousands of conversations because you don't have time to service them. You're not going to service them particularly effectively. You get lost in the noise. Whereas today Libby, she is a client. She's also worked for us as a model. Her father is coming on a workshop In the coming weeks, they bought a voucher for him to come on one of our workshops at Christmas, because he can't stop talking about photography. Their friends came to us for a shoot the other day because they liked what they'd seen on Libby's [00:21:00] family walls. And so the thread continues. And if you ask me about any one of our clients, I can tell you a story that's very similar. One story in particular is of an incredible person called Nikki, who was a bride of mine. I won her wedding. I went round to see her. It was in the days when I would go and visit people to put the pitch in, before we had a really posh studio. I would drive out. I'd take the albums out and I'd arrive. And I arrived at her home in Henley. A little terraced house, beautiful, but a little terraced house. Took me ages to park because it's all little one way streets. Knocked on the door, and I don't think they'd forgotten I was coming as such, but they certainly weren't ready for me, and they were still eating their Chinese takeaway. So I sat, we chatted, got on really well. I won the wedding. Before I'd even shot the wedding, Nikki got back in touch and said, did I fancy pitching to become the photographer for the Hearing Dogs? Forgive me if you've heard this story. [00:22:00] And of course, I said to her, well I've never photographed dogs before, I'm very much a people photographer, it's very much about portraiture. What does it entail? And she said, well that's why I'm asking you, is because I don't want it to be about the dogs, I want to make the hearing dogs a brand that represents helping people with hearing loss. It's not about the dogs. The dogs are hearing aids for people who suffer with hearing loss. Would you consider it? So I said I'd consider it. I pitched for the work. I worked out a photograph of some dogs. I won it. And I'm still there. That's what, 11, 12 years ago? Still doing it. Still loving it. That's where I was with the Paralympian this week. And coincidentally, Nikki now works at Air Ambulance. And she's dragged me over there. Dragged me, that sounds terrible. She's pulled me into working with them as well. One client, one person, an individual who we've looked after throughout. Right from the minute I sat on her sofa, while her and her fiancé sat and ate their Chinese takeaway in front of me. And the one [00:23:00] thing about that, I was starving. I was sitting there thinking, oh God, give me some food. I had to wait until I had closed the pitch out. I'd thrown everything back into the Land Rover and was heading my way back and I could find something to eat. But you should always think of your business, not as a crowd, not, I mean, we do, sorry, I'm contradicting myself slightly here. We work on averages and Sarah and I constantly talk about it's an averages game. It's an averages game. And so it is when you're looking at your numbers and analyzing your sales per shoot, your margins, your revenue per year. Yes, that's an averages game. But your clients are not. Each of your clients is truly unique. And if you're a photographer, I mean that in the absolute strictest sense. They are unique. Banks, shopping centers, car [00:24:00] servicing, they use lines like that. You're unique. You're important to us. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They don't have to mean it. They can get away with saying it. But not really meaning it, because we're all expecting exactly the same service from them. But, if you're a hair salon, or a beautician, or a personal trainer, or of course, a photographer, when we say to a client, you are unique, you better mean it, because it's true. You build a business, one client. By one client, by one client, and you treat each of them uniquely. If you drift into that whole kind of rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, not only are you going to run an. inefficient business that doesn't do justice to your clients, my suspicion is you're going to get pretty bored because that type of photography, at least for me, isn't at all interesting. I love the idea that [00:25:00] in every one of those cars, I saw on the M25. was another client who would look differently, would be wearing something different, would look different, would have their hair different, I'd have to light them differently, they had a different business or occupation, so we'd probably have to tune if we're doing headshots, it'd be different, or if they're a family, doing it differently. Every client is unique. You build a business. One client, by one client, by one client, and that's my view on the matter. See, I told you it wasn't deep, but I do really believe it. You really do need to think of this kind of, certainly this kind of business, where your client is in front of your camera. You build a business, one client at a time. And on that happy note, on that happy note I'd love to see you next week, or this week, it is now At the convention, if you're around, I'd love to catch up and have a beer. Mine's a Guinness. That sounds really bad. Buy me a drink. That's not what I'm saying at all. I really am not saying that. I'm simply saying I would love to sit and have a drink. I'll buy [00:26:00] you a drink. Well, not everyone. There's a lot of you, but I'll, you know, we'll have a drink, have a chat. I'm so excited to be going. It's going to be clearly if January is anything to go by, this is going to be one heck of a year. So I hope it's the same for you. I hope you're firing on cylinders. I hope you're having a time of your life. If not, let's have a chat about motivation and excitement at the convention. If it is, well, maybe you could do the same to me to keep me buoyed up too. And in the meantime, whatever else, ladies and gentlemen, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP143 It's Up To You To Walk The Energy Into The Room](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep143-its-up-to-you-to-walk-the-energy-into-the-room/) Well we're back from The Societies Convention in London and it's been a blast (though I am a little weary!) However, no matter how tired I am, I am going to have to find the energy for my clients - just as we all need to. And that is the topic of this episode. Enjoy! Take care Cheers P.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 [00:00:00] Just got back. From the Society's Convention in London. Four days of hugging, laughing, talking photography, talking crap as well, I think, drinking, eating, not sleeping, running workshops, meeting suppliers, having conversations with editors, more drinking. And generally feeling good about this industry of ours. [00:00:20] I've met so many people, I've hugged so many people. And for people like us who work in small businesses, many of us on our own, the convention is by far the best possible start to the year. I'm Paul and this is a slightly bleary eyed Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:00:41] [00:00:55] Well, hello one and all. Um, coming back down after the annual convention is a little bit of a task. [00:01:03] I needed to sleep quite a lot and to eat, well, something sensible if I'm honest, rather than a diet of beer and carbs. On the night of the awards themselves, I look over, it's about two o'clock in the morning, and I see Sarah sat in a corner, eating the world's largest packet of popcorn. And you do know what it's like when you get the munchies, there's nothing quite like sugary, salty goodness of popcorn. [00:01:28] The hardest part of huge conventions for me is always that I struggle to place people, so it's slightly stressful, and it's not really made any easier by the fact that a lot of people only know me because they've heard my voice on the podcast. So lots of conversations start with me saying, hello mate, and then rapidly trying to remember why or how or where I know someone from. [00:01:51] Sarah is in a different league, of course. She seems to have an encyclopedic ability to recall conversations and characters, whereas I'm oblivious trying to figure out the light on someone's face. The number of times I've met someone and all I can think is that the lighting is perfect and it would make a great portrait. [00:02:08] Not very helpful when you're trying to hold a normal conversation . [00:02:11] So this year, I jumped back into the fray and entered the print competition. Haven't done that for a couple of years for one reason or another, mostly because I've been judging. But this year, as chair of judges for a different association, I've been relieved of my duties at the Societies convention, which frees me up to enter. [00:02:29] And of course it's a good idea whenever you do get the chance to enter a print competition because it forces you, I mean literally forces you to practice what you preach. However, as always Uh, the images that I hadn't expected to do well did brilliantly, while some I had high fa hopef bleh bleh, I'm breaking these teeth in for a donkey, while some I had high hopes for didn't do quite so well. [00:02:54] Overall, though, a really good show for me. Out of the 12, I entered 9 achieved merits. Uh, 2 were finalists, so runners up, uh, which is one hell of a rate. The other thing I'm proud of is that they're all from commissioned shoots, bar one, just the one. There is in there an image of our dog Rufus, the studio dog Rufus, which I entered into the pets category because, well, he is a pet and he is really photogenic. [00:03:23] But you can only ever get one shot of him, just the one. You put him in front of a nice light, you take your picture. He's out of there. Doesn't matter how many treats, how much you persuade him, you get just one shot. So I've had to learn to be right on my toes. Anyway, all respect to the judges, as in my opinion at least, there was no doubt that when it got to the final three images in each and every category, and that includes the ones I did and didn't do well in, I don't think you could argue that they didn't warrant the placing that they gave them. [00:03:51] Though for me this year, uh, I was a little bit of the bridesmaid, not quite the bride next year. You know, next year. Because there's always that thing when you pick out your images that this time. This time, that's, that particular picture is going to do well. Think about it. You wouldn't enter if you didn't really believe that you were going to win. [00:04:11] You wouldn't pay the fees, you wouldn't spend the time prepping, you wouldn't spend the time printing, if you really and truly didn't believe that particular image stood a chance. But, as ever, it's a little bit of a lottery, if I'm honest. I think I did alright. Uh, on guessing, but there's a one image in particular that I thought would do much better than it did. [00:04:32] And it really didn't score very well. It didn't quite put me on the wooden spoon. Yep, there is a wooden spoon floating around, uh, which has been going for years. My name is on it from one year, but thankfully not this year. And that's for the entrant who scores the lowest out of all the people, um, who are involved, uh, with that particular competition. [00:04:52] But at least you get to take one prize home. I am quite lucky, as I do know pretty much every judge personally, many of them I've judged alongside for a lot of years, so a few of them were kind enough to tell me what had been discussed and what I might do to improve. Even after all these years, you do have to keep developing it, it would be, well apart from anything else, it would be very boring if you didn't. [00:05:16] And every other photographer at the convention will be doing exactly the same thing, except maybe the overall winners, who I'm guessing are enjoying a little champagne and admiring their own work, at least for the next day or three. Anyway, it turns out one errant shiny button and one pair of shoes that I could have placed more prominently and I might just have made it to be the bride not the bridesmaid. [00:05:40] This year's target, the one coming up, that is 2024, is to get my shit together on the post production side. All my life I've constructed images in camera and not really needed to focus too much on Photoshop, though I do love the power of it and I really love The whole process of putting an image together, but I really do think it's time for me to up my game with Adobe's finest. [00:06:05] Uh, there were also a ton of meetings, some formally arranged with others being far more impromptu and involving a pint. It was so good to see the people who make many of our bespoke products. So we saw Graphistudio, we saw Kaleidoscope, these guys supply the stuff that we supply our clients. It was wonderful to catch up with them, as well as the editors of various magazines that I write for. [00:06:27] Though that does now mean there's a load of work for me to do and the corresponding deadlines to contend with. And if that weren't enough, and there was certainly plenty going on, there is of course an entire program of workshops. And this year, Sarah and I were having a ball running two. A superclass on headshots and a masterclass on simple but effective lighting. [00:06:50] Both of the workshops, thankfully, were chock full. The second, the masterclass, was standing room only. So a huge, huge, huge thank you. Know who you are to everyone who came and laughed our way through many hours of creating images. One of the best things about the convention is it really is all about energy Which brings me, neatly, or maybe not so neatly, depending on your view, to the thing that occurred to me this week. [00:07:17] And it's a very simple thing. It's that you walk energy. into the room. [00:07:24] Simple thing, huh? [00:07:26] It doesn't matter whether you're running a workshop or you're with your client, the energy of the room is almost entirely down to what you bring in with you. And if you don't have it, you can bet your delegates, your audience, or your subjects won't have it either. [00:07:41] I am not saying, I'm not saying you need to be loud. I know I am quite loud or out there, uh, but you need to have an energy about you, a positivity. You need to be on 10. For me, it's reasonably easy. The fact that I have someone in front of me just seems to trigger something in me. It brings out the performer and it's important that it's a performance and not an act. [00:08:04] Authenticity is crucial. The lie of acting will very quickly be found out. A performance, on the other hand, is exactly what it is. You and you at the fullest of your ability being truly present, truly engaged in the moment and the people around you. Sometimes, if I'm honest, I really don't feel up to a shoot or I'm not massively full of energy and I have to take a breath and remember that it's me that drives the shoot. [00:08:32] It's me that provides the pulse. [00:08:35] It's me that defines it. [00:08:37] I have to find whatever it is in me that will define how the shoot or the workshop is going to go. I have to be on a 10. Always. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, there's a thing called the Laughter Club. It was first popularised by an Indian physician called Madan Kataria. [00:08:57] I think I've pronounced his name correctly, apologies if I haven't. And this is where groups get together and deliberately laugh. But the effect on the brain, even though they're doing it deliberately, and not necessarily for any good reason, has exactly, is exactly the same as if you went to a comedy club. [00:09:16] The effect on the brain, it doesn't care that the laughter isn't because you're out being entertained. It doesn't care, it doesn't know that the laughter might not be real. It has the same effect on your brain. The trick to this, and this is to take a quote from Wikipedia, is that the brain does not know we're faking it. [00:09:38] It's as if you were genuinely laughing. It's as if you were genuinely happy. Well the same is true when you put yourself on a 10 The same is true if you talk yourself into being energetic, if you talk yourself to being present, you will feel energetic, you will feel present, just as laughter in a laughter club makes you feel like you're having a funny moment. [00:10:02] The same endorphins, the same processes. So it's not just that you will give out, but that you will end up feeling the same way. Not only will your clients feel it, you will feel it. And this is also the same way I prep to record this podcast. It can't work if I'm not feeling it, so I have to feel it every time. [00:10:22] As an aside today, I've been sitting here waiting for the moment to record it, uh, because there's been, uh, an Amazon delivery waiting and waiting. It's eight stops away, six stops away, and all the way up until it's nearly here, and then I realized I can hear the van. I can hear the driver. So I've just had to leg it down the road, uh, knock on his door and say, look, they're going to the wrong house. They should be at the studio and got my delivery. And of course that puts you in the wrong frame of mind to come back and do the podcast. But I still had to sit, get my head in it and figure out what I wanted to feel, what I wanted to convey. And why bother? I mean, why is it important? [00:11:02] Well, if your clients are having a good time, they will to put it absolutely simply, spend more. Partly because if they've loved it and you've formed positive associations and memories with the shoot and partly because if you're working at a hundred percent, you'll be more creative. But if you bring the two together Well, that can only increase the odds of getting your best sales. [00:11:25] Anyway, back to the here and now. As I'm busily rebuilding our Mastering Portrait Photography website, something that is slow going, but I am honestly really enjoying it. We will release it in the next few weeks. And I've always loved being a coder, though I was never, ever particularly talented at it. But it is quite nice to spend time absorbed in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, API documentation. [00:11:48] Uh, you know, if you know, you know what I'm talking about. [00:11:51] Anywho, thank you for staying here until the end of this podcast. My target this year is to get back to doing them weekly, which is how I started out. This might not be entirely realistic given the diary that I have, but it is still my ambition. [00:12:07] Shorter episodes, But more of them. And, well, we'll see. As always, if you have questions or feedback, please do drop me a line. I can always be reached at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk, that's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. Or leave us a 5 star rating on Apple's podcast app as it helps to drive SEO up massively and every little helps. [00:12:28] If you're interested in any of our upcoming workshops, please head to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk and then just search out the coaching section or more simply just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. If you'd like to hear more episodes they can be found on all popular podcast players or head over to the spiritual home masteringportraitphotography.com where you can find the entire Back Catalog and a whole heap of other resources dedicated to the art, the craft and the business of portrait photography. And whatever else you do in the coming week, remember, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP144 Your Words May Trigger A Thousand Pictures](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep144-your-words-may-trigger-a-thousand-pictures/) I am recording this having just spent the day running one of our workshops with some of the nicest people imaginable. A top day (though I am now shattered!) at the end of a top month (January has been amazing) and who knows? Maybe it's the start of a top year. Don't want to tempt fate though... This episode was triggered by a shoot I did last week, when just a few words seemed to change the course of a shoot. Enjoy! Cheers P.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[00:00:00] Can you believe it? January has nearly gone. We are almost into February, the second month of only 12 in a year, and this has already been one of the best starts we've ever had to any year. I'm Paul, and this is a very optimistic Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, I'll be honest, I did not see that coming. [00:00:39] I think when we got to the end of last year, exhaustion took over, I crashed into Christmas, came out of it the other side, went into the convention, we're having a ball, but I think I don't know why I wasn't expecting this year to be quite as lively as it has been, but it does seem to be that there is a ton of energy out there. [00:00:59] Maybe, maybe I was expecting the general election to be early in the year, and so things tend to get a little bit quieter around elections or around referenda. But the phone is ringing like crazy, emails are coming in. This week we've had a handful of reveals and they've all been brilliant. The clients have loved the images, everything's gone well. [00:01:23] My bit of the puzzle is to create images, create an experience, send them away with memories and make sure they know what to expect when they come back for the sales, for the reveals. And they've gone really smoothly, which means I've done my bit properly, which makes me very happy because as you all know, a little bit chaotic at the best of times, uh, but it looks like my debriefs are working. [00:01:43] I'm getting the point across to the client. We're creating pictures that people love and I am having a ball. I did think I might feel a little flat after the success of the Society's convention. It was such a good week. I know I spoke about it in the last podcast, but I'm still smiling at just how much fun we had, just how many people I met. [00:02:06] The workshops were full. I spend a lot of time chatting photography, having interesting conversations, meeting interesting and funny people, and I think, I suppose, last week, I thought I might feel a little flat about it all, but that could not be further from the truth. If anything, I'm more energetic now than I have been for a long time, ignoring the fact that I'm also pretty exhausted and my eyes. I don't know why, but my eyes have been tired today. You know, you get those days when I put my glasses on and within three minutes, I've got to take them off, even though everything is just slightly blurry because I don't know why, it just makes my, it's just been making my eyes tired today. [00:02:46] Maybe I just need to go and get them sorted, but this has been the most successful January we've ever had. And sometimes everything goes like that. It's just hectic, it's full of stuff, all unexpected, but being busy is a good thing. I think? Isn't it? Uh, I don't know. Anyway, today we've just finished the first of this year's workshops. [00:03:11] This particular workshop was our From Shutter to Print workshop, uh, which steps through everything from picking up your camera all the way through to prepping your images ready for print. It's a huge, if you think about it, that's a huge field to cover. And of course, we try really hard to To tune it, we ask all of the delegates coming, we ask questions on what they're looking for. [00:03:35] So we try to make sure that everything we're delivering is in line with what would be useful for them. And at this point of the day, it's quarter to eight in the evening. I don't know, a couple of hours ago when they left But they all look just slightly shattered, whether that's just because I've thrown so much information at them, whether it's just because it's a Monday, a dark Monday in January, or a combination of the two, I've no idea. [00:03:59] Of course, I'm always slightly nervous of whether I've done a good job of delivering the information that would be useful for them, but it certainly has been a blast. And it was Loretta today. I don't know if I've ever talked about Loretta. Loretta was one of my clients. I photographed her wedding. Oh, it must be 10 years ago now. [00:04:17] Um, and we've been friends ever since. She is a ball of energy and I absolutely love it when she's in the studio because there is not a dull moment. There's never a flat. Easy, calm couple of minutes. It's just 100 miles an hour from when she arrives to when she goes. So today has been one of those days. [00:04:39] So thank you to everybody who came on the workshop. And obviously, thank you to Loretta for modeling. And once again, best lunch. ever. The guys, there's a delicatessen in our local town of Thame called What's Cooking. I don't know if a shout out to a small company in Thame is any good to them on a podcast that has photographers all over the world, but I'm going to give them a big shout because every time they do the food for us, it is a highlight of the day. [00:05:06] I like to think the pictures I've created might be the highlight of the day. But no, no, I'm absolutely convinced that as everybody's driving away, they'll have been thinking that was a great lunch. We had beautiful food full of flavor, not your sandwich, not your average sandwiches that you get in packets or bowls of crisps. [00:05:26] No, no, no. These are. Big plates of really beautiful vegetables and salads and a quiche and chicken and scotch eggs. It was absolutely incredible. So thank you to What's Cooking in Tame for yet again. They're our regular, they cater to our workshops all the time. I, when I set out with this thing. I wanted to deliver something that's genuinely useful, but also something that people will enjoy coming to. [00:05:52] And lunch, for me at least, is a big part of that. I'm always disappointed when I go somewhere and it's a crappy lunch. You know, the edges of the sandwiches are curled. It's like tea in Tearns. Those annoyingly sweet biscuits that you get. None of that. Mid afternoon, so the first part of the day, the first half of the day is all photography. [00:06:13] And the second half of the day is all Uh, techniques and things in Photoshop and Lightroom. And midway through that, Sarah arrives with Millionaire's Shortbread and tea and coffee and just lovely. And it just picks everybody up long enough for them to survive, survive me rabbiting on about Photoshop and Lightroom and retouching and layers and masks and curves and color profiles and LUTs and all of the things that are part of this thing. [00:06:43] The mid afternoon snack is my highlight. I actually look forward to it. So I had this brilliant lunch. We've had beautiful people around, created amazing pictures, had a lot of fun. And mid afternoon, in comes a millionaire's shortbread. Oh my days. Yes, please. Thank you very much. Uh, anyway, what did I actually learn today? [00:07:00] One of the things that came up in the editing section , someone asked me, Um, why I choose the order that I do for making my edits. And I've never really thought about why in anything other than, well I, you know, the background I'll do, I'll do this, then I'll do that, then I'll get all the way up to the front layers, then I'll do the retouching on skin, etc, etc, and any, you know, liquefying things. [00:07:24] And actually when I thought about it, I stopped dead and I thought about it. I edit in the order of certainty that I won't need to go back to it. Now, I've never really thought about it logically like that till today. Maybe I should have. I've done it instinctively. [00:07:42] So there's a thing called a desire line, or desire lines, and these are those paths that when you look at like a park, uh, like a park, particularly in a town, like a big expanse of green, or maybe in our village here we have, um, walk into the station, you go along the path, and the path dips into each of the cul de sacs. [00:08:04] So the designers, the architects, or the town planners expect you to walk round the corner by about 20 feet, cross the road, Inside the cul de sac, and then come back out on the path, and on the corners of each of those cul de sacs, there's green, there's grass. But if you actually look, the grass is worn down because people have gone sod that and walking in a straight line. [00:08:22] Similarly in a park, you'll see where the planners and the architects and the designers wanted you to go, and then you'll see where people actually go, and it's never the same place. Well, there's a name for it, they're called desire lines. And the same is true in how you develop processes in your business. [00:08:39] I've talked about this before, and the trick really is to do the same thing over and over and over and find your own desire line. So much as you sit and plan things, much as you sit and analyse and decide to do this after that and that before this, in the end, you'll do what comes naturally. You'll go and basically The straightest line you can, the path of least resistance. [00:09:00] It's called a desire line, it has a proper name. So when I was thinking about it today, because one of the delegates asked, why do I do it in this order? And, what I actually do, is I start with the background. So I've got my background layer that's come in from the raw file. I'll duplicate that, because then I've always got an original, uh, layer to go back to. [00:09:19] Then I usually clean up, so if it's a studio shot, I'll clean up the background. I'll sort out anything to do with the background, because that isn't going to change. It, there's no real decisions to make there. I'm just going to do it, because Once it's done, it's done. I'll never need to go back to it. Then, I might work on, uh, all of the elements of the image that, although they might be quite intensive Photoshopping, they definitely need to be done. [00:09:45] So, for instance, if someone's wearing a black outfit, as they were today, And there's lots of little hairs and flecks of dust and things. They're gonna need to be cleaned off. There's no ifs, no buts, no wherefores, no decisions to be made. I'm just going to clean it. I'll never need to go back to it because once it's clean, it's clean. [00:10:03] And I can move on to the next stages. Then I've got a couple of decisions to make. Um, probably what I'm gonna do is do my skin work. So if it's a face, I'm a portrait photographer, there's nearly always a face. I'll do some skin work. I might Photoshop around the edges of the hair, any stray hairs. And I might do things like, um, frequency separation and some retouching with some dodging and burning. [00:10:27] Then once I've got clear of that, probably what I might think about doing is maybe putting in a texture on top of a background layer. But things like that I might change my mind about, so they're right at the top of the stack. Um, then when I've got there If I need to do any liquefying or any puppet warping, this is the moment. [00:10:44] It's really late in the stages of photography. Why? Because I'm not certain at this stage, or I'm not 100 percent ever at this stage, quite what would be the right amount of that kind of work. Of all the things we do, I think it's probably the most contentious. Changing someone's body shape because I've posed them badly. [00:11:07] It's still an area where it's a little bit vague as to how much is the right amount to do, particularly as someone who photographs all sorts of walks of life, all sorts of ages. I don't want to be in that realm of, you know, everybody has to look a certain way. But equally, if I've posed someone not as optimally as I should have, maybe I'll just fix that. [00:11:27] But it's going to happen really late in the edit. If later on, I'm really close to finishing an image at this point, so if I decide, well, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have done that, I can go back and I don't have to undo any of the rest of it. And then the final tiny little bit, probably to put a vignette on top, uh, if I, if I want to, and then maybe finish off with a black and white conversion, or something like Nik Color FX. [00:11:52] So basically what I'm doing is I'm working all the way up from the bottom with all of the things that really, really, really, uh, are definitely going to be done no matter what, all the way to the things actually if I change my mind tomorrow, I won't have to start again at the bottom of the layer stack. [00:12:07] And I've never really thought about it like that. Um, so many of the processes in our studio are my own desire lines, but I've never thought about that one. So it's kind of cool that at the end of a workshop I've learned something really good as well. So thank you to everyone who came. Really excited about this year's workshops. [00:12:24] All of them. They're going to be brilliant. Particularly if they go like today. But the one, if I'm honest, that I am most looking forward to is the one we're running on the 18th. So, uh, I've got about six, what's that, six, eight weeks, uh, to think about it. Uh, it's called at the moment, Ordinary to Extraordinary Studio Photography, probably because we were hunting around for a title for it. [00:12:46] Sounds alarmingly like some of Gerry Guionis titles. Uh, but it could also have been called, I don't know, the Storeroom Studio or Lighting Up in the Lounge. No, no, not lighting up. That makes it sounds like you're smoking lighting in the lounge or maybe the basement backdrop. I don't know, but whatever it is titled, it's all about creating magic in small, awkward, tricky spaces, which is something I've had to do a lot of when I'm working in office buildings. [00:13:17] When I'm working in other people's homes, you never quite know what you're going to get. And this whole workshop is dedicated to things like basements. Boardrooms, cellars, lounges, hallways, corridors, even store cupboards. I kid you not, I did a shoot the other week in a store cupboard. A big store cupboard, but a store cupboard. [00:13:40] So at the moment I am coming up with ways to mimic what it's like to work in these little spaces that are awkward, but still create gorgeous images. Now I'm really excited about it because one of the things about smaller spaces is you tend to get, assuming you can get your kit. In there, you tend to get lower contrast because the light pings around a little bit and you can get some really beautiful, gentle, effortless setups. [00:14:06] Uh, so that is going to be an absolute blast. Cannot wait, uh, for that. Uh, how am I doing? What did I say I was doing last week? Oh yes, the MPP website. Still rebuilding it. It's a long process. We are getting there, slowly but surely, we are getting there and it is taking shape. The content is nearly over. But I've still got to reorganise it all. [00:14:29] And in the process of doing it, we're reading everything. I'm reading every article, double checking to see if it's still relevant. One or two of the things we've ported over that came from the book, and then went to the Mastering Portrait Photography website. Well, of course, the book was published in 2014. [00:14:43] It's 10 years old this year. And some of the information in there is now, frankly, outdated. Anything to do with cameras and lighting, things have moved on. Probably also the Photoshopping, although luckily, the small bits of Photoshopping I put in were basically about principles, not about specifics. So, you know, generative AI hadn't even been thought of at that stage, nor had things like the removal tool, nor had actually quite a lot of the tooling in Photoshop or Lightroom. [00:15:12] It just, the latest versions are worlds apart from what was going on in 2014, but equally, an awful lot of what's on there is Totally relevant, totally pertinent, uh, to, uh, what's going on. So, um, we are working on it. We will get there, trust me. When it's done, we will sing it from the rooftops. Uh, but I'll keep you up to date with how that is all going, uh, including my excitement, uh, for it. [00:15:39] Um, this week's Thought of the Week. And it's a simple one. Well, they're always simple ones. I mean, I'm not a complicated guy, not really. This week's Thought of the Week is that you genuinely You genuinely have the power to make people feel amazing with words, just as you do with pictures, if not more so. [00:15:59] Why do I say that? Well, two different clients this week, one in particular, he came, he was just a lovely guy. Uh, he made the claim right at the beginning of the session that he hadn't really ever had a picture that he really liked of himself. And I'm looking at him thinking, I'm not quite sure why. I can't see it visually, but maybe it's the way he reacted to being in front of the camera. [00:16:24] We've got shooting and all was going reasonably well, and then suddenly. Something about the way he looked and the way he moved reminded me of Vernon Kay. He's from a different area of the country, one's from the North, Vernon Kay's from Bolton, I think, and my client's from the South. Different heights, I think Vernon Kay's about 6 foot 8 or something, ridiculous, 6 foot 2, I've no idea. [00:16:46] But he's tall and he was a model, my client, anything but. But, there were definitely similarities in the mannerisms, in the haircut, and if I got the light in a certain position and the angle was right, In the way he, it lit his face. And I've said this, and I'm laughing. And he didn't know who Vernon Kaye was, which is a little bit sobering. [00:17:08] Obviously, people who are younger, uh, maybe Vernon Kaye's not on their radar just yet. But. As I talked it through, visibly, the guy grew in confidence. You could see his body language change, you could see him just come out of himself a little bit, and of course as he's doing that, I'm getting better pictures because his confidence has grown. [00:17:30] It's paying dividends just having someone in front of me who feels better about themselves. Now don't get me wrong, you cannot tell someone they look like Robert Redford if they don't. That's not what I'm saying. But in finding really good positives Things about someone, not only that you like, but things that you can verbalize, whether it's something to do with a glint in their eye, whether it's something to do with their clothing. [00:17:54] In this instance, it was someone he looks a little bit like. And with a shoot, particularly with headshots where it could be corporate, it could be an author, it could be a musician or an artist, I don't necessarily know who's coming in or how confident they are. or what we're going to do. Sometimes I do, but not that often. [00:18:16] And so I will nearly always in my head figure out an actor or a public figure who has a media presence. Obviously not, hopefully someone who's nice, not a Donald Trump or a Liz Truss. Uh, to, to, and what I'll do is it's with that personality is I'll figure out what would their agent have asked of them for photos. [00:18:40] What would be in their portfolio, their lookbook? What would be on the inside sleeve of an author's bio? If they were in a BBC or an ITV or a Netflix drama, what would the cover shot look like? Because the thing about actors, in particular, the thing about actors, is they reflect Every day Life.. So you get actors from all sorts of backgrounds and skill sets. [00:19:06] You get every ethnicity, you get every gender, you get every identity, you get attitudes, you get heights, you get everything. Because actors have to represent the world in which we're all familiar. So you get as many different types of actor. As you do people on the planet. And if you can find an actor that is close enough, close enough to the person you have in front of you, and then work out in your head quickly, what might the film they're in be? [00:19:37] What might a book they've published be? What would a cover look like? What would the poster image on Netflix or Amazon or Maybe in an agent book or maybe on a, on a music album cover. I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along, but if you can picture it, if you can find it, if you can drag it out of your imagination and your history, two things. [00:20:01] Firstly, you can say to the client, Oh man, you remind me of X. And that's a very helpful thing to do because the client will grow in confidence, but secondly , so do you. Because you're now shooting with something in mind that you might not have had when the shoot started. You might have, but you might not have. [00:20:21] For me, I love that moment when I open the door and suddenly I've got to figure out what shots are going to look good. How am I going to do this? What's I'm going to look at their clothing, get them to talk me through their clothing and step through all of the things we're going to do with that. I love that energy and that positivity as we drive the shoot forward. [00:20:39] And I'm not kidding, not only did my client feel better, but so did I because I was now producing better pictures because my client was reacting to the camera in a way that could really only result in beautiful images. [00:20:54] Please do, when you're working, think of ways of making your client feel a million bucks. And language is every bit as important as what you do with your lights and your camera with Photoshop. Now that's a proper time to know, a proper point to end. As always, if you're interested in our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, or head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching section. [00:21:20] Please do give us a like, a wave, a review. Uh, some five stars maybe that'd be really nice, uh, on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast. If you wanna subscribe to the podcast, please do so on your, on your, uh, podcast Player of Choice so that every time I record one, it'll drop as if by magic, straight into the list of things to listen. [00:21:41] Like I said last week, I'm gonna try and keep this as a weekly podcast, this time round. Shorter episodes, but far more. Of them. As always, if you have, uh, any questions at all, you can reach me onPaul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. We've had some really lovely emails this week from people. Thank you to everyone who's emailed in, uh, to say they're enjoying the podcast. [00:22:03] Uh, so you can reach me atPaul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And until next time, however your week is going, however, your January is ending, your February starting, or if you're just listening to the back catalog, whatever it is you're up to, whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP145 Yvonne's Law | Shooting For Dough vs. Shooting For Show](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep145-yvonnes-law-shooting-for-dough-vs-shooting-for-show/) Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast: Land Rover Edition This is one of our "Land Rover Editions" which is to say, slightly noisy. I'm on my way to and from the Hearing Dogs for a shoot, which is always lovely. Various topics, but mostly "Yvonne's Law: Shoot For Dough Before Shooting For Show". In other words, it's all about your client before it's about us and our lust for awards! haha. Sadly, it does mean you can't always create award-winning or qualification-worthy images on every client job, no matter how much you want to! 00:00 Introduction and Land Rover Editions 01:06 The Journey and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast 03:04 The Importance of Being Part of the Photography Industry 04:35 The Challenges of Recording Podcasts and Listener Engagement 06:00 The Timelessness of Radio Programs 07:05 The Arrival at Hearing Dogs and the Importance of Initials 07:45 The Challenges of Building a Website and Judging Image Competitions 16:08 The Arrival at the Wedding and Yvonne's Law 20:14 The Wedding Shoot and the Difference Between Shooting for Show and Dough 27:17 Conclusion and Farewell Enjoy! Cheers P. EP145 Yvonne's Law ### Introduction and Land Rover Editions [00:00:00] As I'm absolutely certain you can hear, I'm back in the Land Rover. I think maybe, maybe I should call these the Land Rover Editions and actually separate them out from our normal podcasts. Mostly because when I was at the photography show at the beginning of the year, quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed them. [00:00:24] Though looking in the mirror right now, I do look like I think a pilot, with my microphone, it's either that or Madonna, and I don't know which is better. I'm gonna go with pilot with the microphone on. However, quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed the podcast, when it's from the Land Rover, the podcast episodes. [00:00:43] Except for Fiona. Fiona told me in no uncertain terms that not so keen, doesn't like them, wish I'd stopped doing them. Sadly however, look at the weather out here, it's just ridiculous. There's a huge flood. Water everywhere. Good job I'm driving this thing, I think. It's going to be an exciting trip. [00:01:03] Note to self drive careful. ### The Journey and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast [00:01:06] Anyway, this is one of the Land Rover editions of the Mastering Portrait, no, hang on, yes, no, that's right. I'm Paul. This is a Land Rover edition of the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:01:33] The challenge with doing these particular versions of the podcast is, of course, the priority is to arrive safely at wherever it is I'm heading. [00:01:44] Today it's the Hearing Dogs: I've got to photograph of some newborn puppies. Well, eight weeks old, so cute, yeah, cute. And also some Christmas stock imagery. The date today is the something of February. What is it? 7th, 8th, 9th something of February. Haven't looked the date up. And we're doing the Christmas, or some of the Christmas stock imagery ready for the end of the year. [00:02:06] Now in some ways it feels absolutely ridiculous that we're doing that, but on the other hand, it's perfectly planned. So I'm actually quite happy about it because normally, every year I've photographed Christmas stock imagery in sort of August, which makes life very tricky when you're trying to hide flowers, make it, the light look slightly bluer. [00:02:25] And ignoring the fact that the dog is panting in the heat. Today, that's not going to be a problem. It's 4 degrees according to the thermometer on the car. It is absolutely tipping it down with rain and has been by the look of it for the past 12 hours because there are floods everywhere. It's going to be a slightly lively journey through the lanes of Buckinghamshire to the Hearing Dogs site. [00:02:49] So anyway, Fiona, I'm sorry I've, I set out at the beginning of the year that I was going to run at least once a week, the podcast would come out once a week, but finding the time for that has been nigh on impossible. On Tuesday. ### The Importance of Being Part of the Photography Industry [00:03:04] We spent the entire morning judging the images for the British Institute of Professional Photographers, the BIPP image competition, which is such a joyous, I mean, you know, some of the greatest pleasures of getting involved in the industry are that I'm involved in the industry. [00:03:21] I know that may be alien to some people. I get asked quite a bit, what do you get out of it? And I'm going to guess that everybody who sticks their head over the parapet and does judging, mentoring, gets involved with various associations. You get a fairly, a fairly repeated question of what on earth is in it, for me, for other, you know, people asking why they would join, for instance. [00:03:44] What do I get for my 15 quid a month or whatever it is, I don't even know how much it is. And the answer I'd always say is I get to be part of something. I get to be part of something bigger than just myself, Sarah, Michelle, and we're actually a pretty big business when it comes to the photography industry in terms of brand, but also in terms of turnover. [00:04:02] We have a You know, a reasonably big business, the three of us run but it's still, in terms of the industry itself, if it wasn't for the associations, we'd be running it on our own, and yeah, alright, I'm with clients all the time, which is amazing, but it's the, things like the society's convention. Being part of the BIPP. [00:04:19] com, being a judge for the FEP, that's just started this week, so I'm judging for the Federation of European Photographers as well, and it looks like I'm about to do some judging across the pond. with our American friends. ### The Challenges of Recording Podcasts and Listener Engagement [00:04:35] So, all in all, a lot's going on and, and , finding time to record the podcast just isn't that easy. [00:04:42] On top of that, the thing I've suddenly had to become increasingly cognizant of is I've started to get emails of people who are discovering the podcast for the first time and are now listening to back episodes, and this particular message, I suppose, was triggered, or this thought was triggered, by an email that came from another Paul, I mean, great name, of course, another Paul, who had started listening to the podcast, and when he emailed in the other day, he was on episode 31. [00:05:09] Now, I didn't look up the date of episode 31, but given we've been doing this for about Eight years now. Seven or eight years. Episode 31 is quite a long way back. Goodness only knows what's changed since then. And it may be another six years at that run rate before he gets to this episode of 145. So, who knows? [00:05:33] So now I've got to be very careful. I don't get too specific on dates because by the time some people listen to these episodes it could be well out of date. Equally, there are people who've probably started episodes What, 144, and are now working their way backwards, but still won't get to 100, this episode, 145, for quite a long time. [00:05:53] So forgive me if some of the stuff I talk about is very particular to the moment. Can't do a lot about that. ### The Timelessness of Radio Programs and the Future of the Podcast [00:06:00] One of my favourite radio programmes to listen to is Letter from America. Have I talked about this before? I've no idea. Letter from America, by a guy called Alastair Cook. He's, he's dead now. [00:06:12] This was on Radio 4, BBC Radio 4, and I think you can still Listen to it. Oh, I listened to it on the BBC Sounds app and many of the back episodes are there. And I really like the fact that it's of its time. I was listening to an episode the other day that was actually about the Middle East, and it's incredible. [00:06:31] I mean, These episodes must be, I think, 40 years old? You're looking at the mid 80s. And the politic of the region and things that were going on sounded like they could have been today, right here, right now. And I find stuff like that really interesting. So I suppose in a sense you can have a recording that is of its moment and yet still be pertinent later on. ### The Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Struggles of PodcastingThe Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Struggles of Podcasting [00:06:57] If I'm still doing this in 40 years, I don't know if I'm going to be driving around the country photographing hearing dogs, but that's what we're doing today. So thank you to Paul for emailing in. It's lovely to get these emails. We get them from people dotted all over the world. [00:07:12] Describing what they're up to. I try to get back to everybody within a certain time frame not always possible, but I do try to, to do it. And those that sort of make me smile, I, I talk about on the podcast itself. Uh, An awful lot going on just at the moment, which is also a reason why I haven't managed To do a sit down at my desk recording really, the only time I've got. [00:07:34] Sorry, I'm so sorry Fiona, I know, alright, I know. But I'll try and make the broadcast as clear as I can. [00:07:41] Even in this clattering vehicle. ### The Development of the Mastering Portrait Photography Website [00:07:45] Still building the masteringportraitphotography. com website, causing me no end of head scratch. The hardest bit is a combination of technology and trying to figure out where Articles should sit. It's not, it turns out, as straightforward as I would like. Mostly because the platform we're using, or trying to use, or switching to, is more basic than the one I have at the moment. [00:08:12] So the one I have at the moment, I can do anything I like. WordPress, with all of its plugins and all of its technology, of course you can do anything you like. But the problem is, with that kind of power comes an immense amount of work. Keeping on top of it, making sure it's patched correctly, making sure that all my licenses are up to date. [00:08:32] And on top of that, a huge amount of expenditure. Because of its sophistication, well, you pay for it. So, what we're trying to do is simplify everything, because I don't really need that power to do the things I need to do. It's overkill, really, although I enjoy having that sort of level of control. [00:08:54] But the kicker, of course, is now we're simplifying things down, is I'm discovering that certain core things that I relied on, for instance, the structure of how one article can be the child of another article, so you can have a parent which is a really simple idea. ### The Challenges of Creating a User-Friendly Website [00:09:12] But very powerful. I can't do that on the new platform, so I'm having to figure out ways of still making the content visible, make it logical make it easy to upload and easy to access. [00:09:24] And have a structure that really makes sense, but haven't necessarily been able to find the way of doing that. ### The Experience of Judging for the BIPP Image Competition [00:09:32] Of course, things like judging the other day they take up time too, but it warranted pleasure. It was just It's the new BIPP monthly competition. So this was month one. So if you're listening to this podcast five years later, you will know whether the BIPP. [00:09:47] com monthly competition has been a success because this was the very first round. A couple of hundred entries, which is really nice. Hopefully that will climb but the, the fun of it is sitting we've recorded the call, so I have it as an audit trial, but sitting on this video conference with two judges looking at images and enjoying the process of assessing images. [00:10:10] Now, the only thing is, it didn't really occur to me, I thought we'll film this, we'll do it properly, so we're using a bit of software called Squadcast which is brilliant, it's one of the, it's, there are various things, a bit, Riverside FM is another one. Where you do it as if it was Zoom, but the video and audio for each participant is recorded locally on their machine, which means it's really high quality. [00:10:29] I can run that then into our podcast software and do an automated transcription, transcribe it, because the new AI tools are Word Perfect. It's brilliant. However, what I hadn't allowed for in the four hour recording is, of course, we judge in silence. Why? Well, it's not because we're really dull. [00:10:53] Well, maybe it is. It's because, actually, we want each judge to determine the score for the image independently. And if there's chatter, if people are sighing, if people are going, Oh, if only they'd done this better, it influences the, the, the judges. They influence each other. And of course, we want there to be an independent scoring because that helps to take out any sort of personal or subjective, I mean the whole thing is subjective, but sort of variability and, and outside influence. So it's great, they judge in silence, they punch in their scores, I announce the score and record it. It doesn't make for a very interesting video. So I'm now not certain that we'll ever release these things because the idea was, and still is, to find ways of providing insight into why an image does well, why an image maybe hasn't done so well, what the judge's thoughts are, but we never really do that during judging. [00:11:50] So, having to have a think about how we might do it. We certainly can't critique a couple of hundred images in the time we have available. And we're going to do this every month. And the thing about the judges is that they are not retired. They are not Part time photographers. These are the best of the best. [00:12:10] They have to be. They have to be current. They have to have their eye in. They have to be working pros for the judging to have validity. If I just used people who are no longer in the industry, they're no longer up to date. They're no longer current. So it's not that I can use judges that have, or we can use judges that have a ton of time at their fingertips. [00:12:33] The most important thing about the judges is they are current and as such they need to be working and if they're working I cannot get a hole in their diary for more than a few hours at a time so we can't critique every image. It's not physically possible but somehow I've got to find a way of getting some of this information out to everyone who entered, entered the monthly competition. [00:13:00] Anyway, it's a lot of fun doing it and those results, the first set of results, will come out. Next week. So if you're a BIPP. com member, look out for those results if you're listening to the podcast. And of course, I would encourage all of you to enter. You get one free image every month. You don't need to pay any money. [00:13:18] But just make sure, just because it's free, doesn't mean that it can be any old image. It's a real competition. We're judging it to the international print competition standard. So it's tough. I make no apology for that. It's really tough, and as such, it's not your everyday work that is going to do really well. [00:13:41] And I'm gonna come back to that as a topic of conversation on the return leg of this journey. However, before I do that, as I'm getting fairly close to the hearing dogs now, the weather's improving. It's still pretty horrible, but at least it's not literally lashing it down as it was when I got into the car. [00:13:58] Quick tip! ### The Importance of Presets in Photography [00:13:59] This is a quick tip for nothing. It's not the subject of the podcast, but I thought about it while I was a moment ago prepping some files for a upload, and I was in Lightroom, and then in one of the Nik ColorFX, uh, plugins. Is, there are so many presets, lots, presets for plugins, presets for Lightroom. [00:14:23] Presets for Photoshop. There's so much stuff around actions that it gets really hard to track the ones that you created for yourself. And I have this very simple rule of thumb. is for any, any preset, any action, any workflow item, any LUT, any, sorry, a LUT, L U T, lookup table, any color LUT anything at all really, I put my initials at the front of it. [00:14:51] I always put P W because it identifies the things that I created for myself. As opposed to the things that I may have bought the things that I may have downloaded, the things that somebody else was helping me with, the things that I've done for myself, they have the initials PW at the front. And it's not an ego thing. [00:15:11] A couple of times people have cocked an eye because everything I've got has got PW, PW, PW, PW. It's got nothing to do with that. It's got everything to do with the fact that I get really easily confused with the different things that are in the business, the different presets, folders, you name it. So I stick PW at the front to make it clear I did that one and then in two years time Because some of the things I've written they are like five six years old There's some scripts I wrote for Photoshop that we're still using and I think I wrote them ten years ago I know they're mine because they have PW at the front as opposed to some of the scripts I found and downloaded Which are by third parties, and of course, you know, I can use them. [00:15:51] But I certainly couldn't distribute them. And I want to know that if I'm modifying them, I'm modifying somebody else's work. Which is only fair. So, stick your initials. At the beginning of any presets and things that you create for yourself. There you go, that's a top tip for nothing. ### The Arrival at the Hearing Dogs Site and the Weather Conditions [00:16:08] I'm just about to pull in to the hearing dogs. [00:16:11] Wow, it's a grey day. Look how blue the light is, it's horrible. Ha, ha, ha. Usually, usually at this side of the hill, we come over a slight hill. Um, so it's only, how long I've been driving? What, 10, 15 minutes? It's not that there's a huge difference in location between us and the hearing dogs. The geography does change slightly. [00:16:33] We come over a slight rise onto the other side of a hill, and then onto a plateau, a little bit of a plateau at the foot of the Chilterns. And the weather here is quite often different, very different. Sometimes, particularly, it's most pronounced when it's snowing. We will have snow and they won't, and vice versa, and it really is only 10 minutes separate. [00:16:51] Today, sadly, the weather is exactly the same, which is to say, shitty. There's no, I'm sorry if you're offended by the word, but it's the right word. It is shitty. Dead flat light, cloudy, wet. It's gone down by 0. 2 of a degree since I've been driving. Over this side of the hill, it's 3. 8 degrees. Usually the temperature rises. [00:17:17] Today, it's slightly colder. And I normally would say that I am looking forward to photographing the Hearing Dogs, particularly the puppies. Today, I'm looking forward to the photography. I am not looking forward to lying in a wet field. God, that car park needs a little bit of TLC you can hear the car rattling around on all of the divots and holes and puddles. [00:17:42] And then my, my car cam pinging as it thinks I've hit something. I do think at the moment we live in a country where the roads are in such bad condition. My dash cam. Constantly thinks I've had an accident and records that little bit of footage automatically because it thinks I've hit something, and I haven't hit anything, I'm just driving along the A40. [00:18:05] Right, I'm here. I shall return with the actual subject of this podcast. Maybe that's what Fiona doesn't like, is the randomness of it. Sarah says I repeat myself a lot when I'm recording from the car, so apologies if I am about to do that. However I will see you at the end of this particular shoot. [00:18:23] Right, I'm back. So at the end of that, I've just spent, what is it now quarter past two, uh, four and a bit hours photographing puppies which is beautiful, photographing dogs which are equally beautiful, running dogs, jumping dogs, wet dogs, god the weather's been horrible, and some Christmas images. Of course it's this time of year when we shoot Christmas stuff, but actually created some really, well I mean I think they're beautiful, my client seems to think they're beautiful at this stage, I've only seen them on the back of the camera, but a lot of fun. [00:18:59] We're using more and more and more LED lighting. Which is great when you're balancing up against Christmas lights and fairy lights and daylight. It's so much easier using LED than strobes for that. For the studio stuff, we are still using strobes because we can freeze movement really well, which is really, really important. [00:19:20] So for the white background stuff, those standard shots we create for the charity, very much still strobe, and I don't see that changing. In the near future, uh, because that ability to have, you know, F 16 and that instantaneous pulse of light that freezes motion is a very particular look and just the moment, I don't see that becoming that being replaced. [00:19:44] However, the LED side of it we had four different LED lights two with modifiers, two focusable spots with modifiers and two LED bars. Which just added beautiful touches of light where I wanted them. Made life really easy. I'll share a few of those hopefully on Insta over the next couple of days. [00:20:04] Actually, I won't show them on Insta because they're our Christmas pictures. So no, no, I won't be showing them on Instagram. They're the Christmas pictures, but maybe I'll get to show them. In December next year, or this year. ### The Concept of Yvonne's Law in Wedding Photography [00:20:14] Over the weekend, and this is, I guess, we're heading towards the point of this particular podcast. [00:20:19] I was photographing a wedding, beautiful wedding, only 13 people, pretty hectic, lots going on, Friday night, Saturday all day, Sunday morning and some of the afternoon. A really beautiful venue, and on the Friday night I got sitting chatting to the mothers of the groom, or the mother, sorry, mother and father of the groom, mother and father of the bride. [00:20:38] And one of them said to me, she said Yvonne told me this. Now at that stage I didn't even know who Yvonne was, so Yvonne, Yvonne, said that she was complaining that all of the shots of her son were the back of his head. And it turns out Yvonne, at a different wedding, was the mother of the groom. And every shot of the groom, it was just the back of his head. [00:21:00] And I said, I don't understand. She said, well, there's lots of shots of them as a couple. You can see the bride's face, very moody, just the back of the groom's head. And do you know what? Instantly, instantly, I knew the kind of shot she was talking about. It's the kind of shot that we see quite a lot when we're judging competitions, or maybe doing Quals. [00:21:21] There's some, it's very moody, but essentially it's a bridal portrait using the groom as context. It's fine, there's definitely a place for it. But if you're shooting a wedding, you might just find yourself getting the reaction that, clearly, Yvonne gave. So, Yvonne is not happy that the photographer has not done what she would regard as the photograph that she would like. [00:21:43] Which, I'm gonna guess, is a photograph of the bride, the groom, three quarter length, front on, snuggled up. Smiling at camera. That's the, that's the, still one of the best selling shots you can create. Certainly if you're pitching to sell to the parents of the couple. Yvonne's Law, I'm going to call it from now on, and I think we're going to talk about this, and I'm going to add it to my list of things that people should think about. [00:22:09] Yvonne's Law is this. When you're photographing a wedding, make sure you cover everything that the people who are attending and the people who might be buying the pictures would wish for. Going for awards is fine. We all do it. We all need to do it. We need to push ourselves and be creative. That is For most of us, why we came into these industries in the first place, we want to do something exciting and different. [00:22:32] We want to do something engaging and moody, and on the whole, those are not the shots that you can sell to the couple. Not always, it's not an entire, there is a Venn diagram with an overlap. You can, of course, sell really dark, moody pictures of the bride to the couple, and that may well happen. But there's a law of averages here and you're being paid by the client to satisfy numerous different angles. [00:22:57] Now, the other thing I don't know about the wedding that was being described is whether the bride and groom had asked specifically for a certain type of image. I have shot a wedding, this is going back a little bit in my career. Where the bride and groom wanted me to, and I kid you not, ignore the mother of the bride. [00:23:16] That was my brief. Do not pay any attention to her. She's gonna ask you to do all of these different shots with different people, but she is not paying. The bride and groom were really very clear about that. The problem is, from a diplomatic point of view, I've got a nightmare because, of course, the mother of the bride is asking me to do things. [00:23:36] And I've been briefed not to, because it'll draw time and they're not shots that the bride and groom, who are my client, are going to buy. So yes, you can end up in that situation. But here's the rub for that particular wedding, is I ended up going back and doing a portrait shoot with the whole family, because the mother of the bride felt she hadn't got the pictures of them as a family that she would wish for. [00:23:56] We ended up dancing through, or jumping through a few hoops, jumping through a few, I can't even say the word, hoop, jumping through a few hoops, hoops to get to the end goal. So Yvonne's Law simply states, remember that you're shooting for a client, you're not just shooting for you. Eventually I'll word it slightly differently as I probably think of 25 iterations of it. [00:24:17] Let's just let these people out here. There you go. You go through there. That's good. Perfectly good. And so it was a really beautiful wedding and throughout the day though I laughed with the two mums about Yvonne's law and made it perfectly clear that I was getting everything they had asked for. ### The Differences Between Shooting for Awards and Clients [00:24:35] Now there's a slight addendum to this thought process which is well how come what you shoot for a client doesn't necessarily do so well in awards or so well in qualifications. [00:24:49] And the truth of that is that we have to, to a degree, separate out context from the picture. So when we're judging we don't have the context which makes it sometimes a little bit tricky. As wedding photographers we know that shooting on a commissioned wedding is that little bit more complicated which is why in the categories for wedding photography most of them state really clearly Must be linked to the wedding day, must be commissioned. [00:25:16] You can't use models, it can't be you just shooting for fun, because once you eliminate that sense of pressure, the time pressure mostly, but the performance pressure and having to work for a client, everything's much easier. Which is why fashion magazines have these beautiful pictures of models in bridal gowns and actually on a real wedding day. [00:25:37] It's a lot trickier, it's not impossible but it's a lot trickier to get those images. So there's this thing, and I, we all know it the best I've ever heard it was shoot for show, shoot for dough. The difference between shooting for your portfolio, shooting for awards, shooting for qualifications, and shooting for the money, shooting for your client. [00:25:58] They are slightly different things, and one photographer, a really nice photographer called Hoss Madavi, photographer, Put it like this. He said, think about designing for a catwalk. Think about what you would design out there for a catwalk and then think about what you actually end up selling through a high street chain like John Lewis or Marks and Spencer or whatever in the UK or maybe Macy's or someone like that in the States. [00:26:27] Think about the difference between those two. Your haute couture arranges that you're going to produce on the catwalk. By the time they end up being sold to the mass public, not quite the same thing. Nor should they be. They're for different purposes. One is to show the world what you're capable of. One is to show, or it's actually sell to the world. [00:26:46] Not quite the same thing because most people are not going to buy a really funky haute couture dress or outfit off the catwalk in the same way that a lot of our clients won't wish. to buy a moody dark shot that's of the back of the groom's head. There you go. Yvonne's Law is now what we're calling it. [00:27:05] I might have to change it. I feel, I don't, I've never met Yvonne. I'm going to credit her with it because that was the story that was told to me. On that happy note, I am just pulling into a garage because I am absolutely starving. ### Conclusion and Farewell [00:27:17] I need to get some food and I need to get some food quick before I start getting grumpy. [00:27:22] So I'm going to park up and I'm going to wish you all well for the week. So for this week's podcast, thank you for listening. Of course you can email me. At paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. You can head over to masteringportraitphotography.com. Please do subscribe to the podcast wherever it is that you consume your podcast. [00:27:43] And if you feel like it, please leave us a review. If you feel sorry, if you feel like leaving us a nice review, please leave us a review. If you feel like leaving us some nastiness, then please email me so I know what we could improve on. But on that happy note, I hope you're having a good week. I hope the weather is better where you are than where we are. [00:27:58] And of course, in the spirit of this morning, a very happy Christmas to you all on this February day. And whatever else, be festive, but be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP146 The Art Of Contentment](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep146-the-art-of-contentment/) Suddenly it washed over me - that odd euphoric sensation of contentment. No idea what triggers it, but it's well worth holding onto! Also in this episode, a quick review of ACDSee 10 (the Mac version). If you'd like to try it yourself, please use this link (there is no kickback or finance attached, but it does let the guys at ACDSee know that the referral has come from me and the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast!) Enjoy! Cheers P. ### [00:00:00] Introduction and Studio Update [00:00:00] So in an effort to keep up my weekly episodes , I am recording this mid afternoon on a Tuesday, which normally would be fairly busy here in the studio, but given I've got two people who are off sick, with both Michelle and Sarah coughing and spluttering and generally not feeling very well. [00:00:16] So with a degree of persuasion, managed to get both of them to go home. I'm assuming they are now wrapped up in duvets drinking brandy or whiskey or possibly just Lemsip. And so I suddenly found myself with some time in the studio during normal working hours. So this is episode 146 being recorded when, well, I could be doing a million other things. [00:00:41] I'm Paul and this is a very distracted Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. [00:01:03] Now if you look at the list of things I should be doing, it's long, it's complicated, there's a lot to do in the studio just now, but I quite like recording the podcast, and so I am somewhat using it as a distraction. Displacement, I think is what it's called, and I'm going to record this episode. ### [00:01:22] Mastering Dogs and Their Owners Portraiture Photography Workshop [00:01:22] It's not that long since the last episode, so it's not like I've done a million different things, but yesterday we ran a Mastering Dogs and Their Owners Portraiture Photography, I can't remember the title, ah, uh, workshop, which essentially is a Photographing dogs with their owners. [00:01:37] Had the most incredible bunch of people as delegates and also as models. One of the great things about running these workshops, of course, is that we can bring in models who are regular clients. Steve and Ambra and their dog Luna, and then Gemma who came in the afternoon with her dogs Luke, and, archie. [00:01:58] It was just brilliant. Spent the whole day laughing, the whole day answering questions and discussing things about photography, not just how to take these pictures, but why we take these pictures. And certainly from the point of view of running a business. The weather held, it was gorgeous and sunny, a little too sunny, with that low raking February sunshine that we don't get enough of, and when we do get it, of course, as a photographer, I moaned that it was too harsh, uh, for some of what we were doing, particularly when we were trying to photograph in an alley where I needed both walls to have the same light, more or less, and of course the sun sort of threw that out the window, but hey, you know, what can you do when you get those days? [00:02:39] It was a fantastic day, and loved every second of it, I've created some images that I really like, and more importantly, I think our delegates went away with ideas and enthusiasm and determination and confidence, possibly more than they did when they arrived, which is the right way around, and if you ever give when we're delivering workshops, the great thing is not It's not about technical stuff really, it's about having the confidence to go and do it, because without that, it doesn't matter how good you are with a camera, or how good you are with Photoshop, you're not going to run any kind of business. [00:03:14] You'll never produce anything. You need the confidence to do it in the first place. So a big shout out to all the guys that came on the workshop yesterday, and a huge thank you to my clients. ### [00:03:22] ACDSee Software Review [00:03:22] Uh, before I get into the nuts and bolts of the podcast I want to give a quick shout out to the guys at ACDSee. [00:03:30] That's letter A, letter C, letter D, and the word 'See' S E E. A brilliant bit of software. It's a bit of software that I first used, I was trying to remember when they asked me to get involved. I was trying to remember when I last used it. I think I used version 1. I think it came free on the front of a magazine. [00:03:49] It was I think, recalling it was shareware back then. Shareware is not really such a common model, but back then, I'm guessing 15 or 16, maybe even longer years ago. Um, and it was an amazing piece of software primarily because it was super fast and It has the ability to preview files and organize files for you in an incredibly quick way. [00:04:13] And anyway, the guys at ACDSee asked me if I'd review it and then talk about it. So, cards on the table here. I have been given a free copy of ACDSee to see what I think. I'm on version 10, it's the MacStudio version. And so I've been bunged a free license, which I've been using for the past couple of months. [00:04:34] So it's not really, this isn't a paid commercial. Genuinely, I'm using the software and I said I would talk about it if I liked it. But I'd hate anyone to think that I wasn't being straight up and honest when I'm talking about it. And clearly I've been given a free license. But of course, here's the but in all of this stuff is I will never talk about anything on this podcast that I haven't had first hand experience of. [00:04:58] Somebody did ask me, there is someone has asked me to review like an energy drink from the US to use it for a while and then talk about what I think. Sadly though you can't get it in the UK so I had to go back to them and say I can't do that until you've got a supply chain or an importer over here. [00:05:15] And then of course I will try it and let you know what I think. So I won't talk about anything that I don't have first hand experience of there are many reasons for doing this podcast but being able to be authentic in the middle of it is the bit that under pins it. So what are my thoughts on this version of ACDSee? [00:05:31] So this is version 10, the Mac version. Um, so okay, straight up, slightly mixed bag, but don't I don't take that as anything other than there's just one little bit that I'm not happy about. So when they approached me, so when ACDSee approached me, I was beyond excited to do it. Firstly, I got to play with a bit of software that I used an awful lot back in the day. [00:05:57] And it was wonderful to be using the same software again. There's a degree of nostalgia, I suppose, about that. And it's always good to see a great piece of software, as it was, not only survive, but expand and become even more useful. The second reason I was excited about it, so I went and did a quick hunt around before I committed to giving it a go, is everything I read talked about the new AI keywording tools, and they looked incredible. It would help me enormously if using a bit of AI inside the software that I have on my computer, as opposed to going online and doing round tripping and all of those things, if I had some AI software that would help me identify with some very simple keywords. I'm not after that. Detailed keywords, but very simple keywords that would let me find, for instance, like a low key studio portrait, or a high key dog image, you know those, I'm talking really quite basic stuff. [00:06:50] Now we manage our catalogue really well, but stuff slips through, and with keywording, you know what it's like, you get one folder, I've got to archive it, I've run out of disk space, I need to move some stuff today, do I keyword it now? No, I'll do it later, and of course by do it later, what I actually mean is, it doesn't get done. [00:07:07] So, that was What I was looking forward to the the speed and the simplicity of this piece of software as it used to be, but also with some of the new AI stuff in particular, the keywording. And so I suppose the question is how did it do? Brilliantly, I think, is the word I'd use. It is still blazingly quick. [00:07:27] It's an unbelievable piece of software from that point of view. It's faster than using the Finder on the Mac or Pathfinder I also use. It's incredibly fast. Now, let me just clarify how I've used it or how I'm using it right now. Lightroom is at the heart of our workflow. All of our live catalogues. All of our live RAW files, all of our live PSDs are in Adobe Lightroom . [00:07:52] And what do I mean by live? Live just means the job is not yet archived. I looked earlier and there's about 75, 000 assets in Lightroom at any one point. That includes all of our live jobs but also our portfolio, our portfolio of heroes. Now, I've configured Lightroom in a very particular way so when I run an export of JPEGs that are going to go to the client, they're going to go into album designs anything that's flagged with five stars, the little bit of code in the background that I've written spits those out into a series of Dropbox folders that are organized in line with the jobs. [00:08:27] So, let's say there's a Le Manoir wedding Tom and Amy get married at Le Manoir on a date. When I spit those files out, there'll be an equivalent Dropbox folder that contains anything that was ranked with five stars. So it allows me to have these heroes in Dropbox. And we've been doing that for about eight years. [00:08:45] So you can imagine just how many images and folders we have in Dropbox running that little bit of the catalogue. But when I archive the folder away, when it's done, the job's finished, Tom and Amy have got their wedding album, then we remove all of the files off our live drives, remove the catalog components from Lightroom, and obviously new stuff has come in. [00:09:07] Those heroes, though, still need to be active, and they stay active in Dropbox, a series of Dropbox folders that I have. And it's always a little bit of a pain trawling up and down them. Well, ACDSee solves that, because once I visited a folder with this software, All of the thumbnails stay in its catalogue. [00:09:24] So it's as if I can browse things that go across folders. There's this thing called the Image Well, which is brilliant. I can find things by flags. I can find things by colour labels. It's absolutely phenomenal. So at the moment, I've got about a quarter of a million. There's about 250, 000 JPEGs in ACDSee. [00:09:47] It's really, really fast. And one of the things I really have liked about it, which is useful for me, is, and this is the bit of the AI that is working, is the facial recognition. Now, no Lightroom has facial recognition, but of course, in the end I don't use Lightroom for longer than the job is live for any folder. [00:10:05] Whereas this is folders that go back historically. And I'm not really that worried about identifying every face. What I am interested in is having the faces all looking at me in a series of thumbnails that I can scroll through and go, Do you know what, I remember that shoot or I remember that image. [00:10:22] That's what I'm looking for. Then I can find the shoot and then I can expand that to all of the other images. And on top of that, slightly weirdly, Hehe. I found myself just smiling this morning as I was trawling through this big page of thumbnails of my clients. It's all my clients faces looking back at me and smiling. [00:10:39] And it was really nice. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane, I think, for many of these. And I know that's not its intended purpose, but if you ever want a pick me up It's simply look in this folder on ACDSee of faces looking back at you, of all these clients, and of course the memories that go with it. [00:10:57] And it is rapid, I mean it's unbelievably quick in the way it does it. And it's really useful to have that. Now on the indexing side, it's a little bit, you have to get your head around it a little bit. It indexes any folder you've visited. Browsed. However, there is also a behind the scenes index that you can get ticking over, which will run whenever you're not using your computer and ACDSee is open. [00:11:20] So gradually over time, it picks up the files and it pops them pops all the thumbnails together and categorizes them for you. So it's really really useful. On top of that, a nice little touch that I've only really discovered this morning is that your license includes the use of a thing called SendPix. [00:11:38] This won't be useful to everybody, but it's quite a nice little bit of software. So it's, if you can imagine I suppose a hybrid version of something like Zenfolio which is a catalogue system for images for your clients and WeTransfer which is a way of sending files to your clients. It's sort of in between the two. [00:11:58] What it allows you to do is select a load of images, send them to someone but instead of sending them directly it creates a short lived online gallery. It's there for a couple of weeks, I think, looking at the dates it gave me. And that allows your client, or whoever you're sending them to, to log in, see the images, and download what they need. [00:12:15] So in a sense, it's like WeTransfer, but with an interactive component. And it's equally, it's a little bit like Zenfolio, but with a gallery that only lasts for a couple of weeks. So you don't have to worry about taking them up and taking them down, and all that kind of thing. It's only there for the time you need it. [00:12:30] And, surprisingly It's actually really useful, which I hadn't seen coming. It wasn't a bit of the software. I certainly didn't pick that up when I said yes to reviewing ACDSee, but it's incredibly useful. Now, sadly, the software doesn't integrate with Dropbox properly. There is no integration with Dropbox, which is a shame. [00:12:47] It would have been really nice. It does have an integration with iCloud, but I don't use that, so I can't comment on that part of it. But it would have been quite nice. It's no big deal. Doesn't really change my usage of it. And all in all, there are just dozens of little functions that make finding and retrieving files that you have on your folders and drives really easy. [00:13:09] It makes it fast, it makes it visually interesting. I haven't used the editing tools because for us, everything we do is edited in Lightroom on the RAW files and the PSDs. I suppose it could be useful if I do pick up a file, I just think, you know what? I wish that was slightly brighter, I wish that was slightly darker, or something like that. [00:13:26] I know there are some quite sophisticated tools in there, but that's not the part of the puzzle I've been interested in. And I think the license for the Mac version is about 99, and it's absolutely worth it. [00:13:38] Sadly, the AI keywording is in the Windows version but not the Mac, but still [00:13:42] I think it's absolutely worth it. Anyway, now whether that fits into your workflow is entirely down to you. [00:13:49] Only you can answer that question. Now bear with me, I'll come back in a minute. ### [00:13:53] Reflections on Happiness and Contentment [00:13:53] I've got a phone call to answer. [00:13:55] So sorry about that, I had to answer the phone. It was the editor, it was Terry, the editor of Professional Photo Magazine, who we regularly write for calling about the next edition, which is very exciting, as always. I've no idea, I've no idea in the final edit where I'll leave that cut in, or whether I'll just gloss over it. [00:14:15] Either way, as I was trundling in this morning, I don't know whether this happens to you, but it happens to me occasionally, where It's just this, it's almost a feeling of euphoria, and it's happened to me a couple of times today, whether it's just chemistry, whether it's just, I don't know, I've no idea. But today, I felt like everything was good in the world. [00:14:37] And, it's a real sort of skill, I suppose, in being completely comfortable with where you are. We had a text this morning. Someone was asking, how are things out in the industry? And I can only answer from our experience. And right now, we're doing well . Everything is busy phone's ringing, even this morning. [00:14:56] We had an enquiry for a wedding just come through. We've got enquiries for headshots and commercial. Portraiture feels maybe a little bit squidgier than it has been on the economy. But all in all, our business is running really well and I'm really happy. [00:15:07] I'm very satisfied with my lot. Now, I don't mean to be self satisfied, that's not what I'm saying, but I think the art of being content with your lot is a tricky one. Now don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly ambitious and driven and impatient. I want everything to happen and I want it all to happen now, but the reality of course is things are slower. [00:15:27] So I get frustrated with it, of course I do. But trying to find the space in my head to be content is a skill that I am still learning, I guess. It's really easy not to be happy. Even this morning, Sarah had the radio on, and the news came on, and I could feel myself just getting wound up. The state of our economy, we have a particularly crappy government at the moment, and I'd like to say that's specific to the UK. [00:15:57] I've got friends all over the world, and I keep, as best I can, I keep abreast of world news, and I think it might just be a global phenomenon. The kinds of people who you'd really want to lead you are not the kinds of people who we have leading us, I don't think. So it's easy to feel down, the weather's pretty rubbish, it's that time of year, you know, it's grey. [00:16:18] Yesterday we had this phenomenal day of beautiful weather, but today, well, it's back to normal, it's chucking it down. But yet, even though it was cold and dark, I still found myself skipping into work this morning. Life is okay. And being happy with yourself is not that straightforward, I don't think. Jake, our son, was asking me if I liked myself and I thought that's an interesting question and I don't really have a satisfactory answer. [00:16:45] Some days I like bits of me, some days I feel dreadfully insecure, but I'm always confident that on balance I'm alright. I feel alright, I'm on the whole nice to people, I try really hard not to be nasty to anybody. There are people I like more than others, of course there are. You know, you marry the one you like the most, right? [00:17:09] And she's incredible. So being happy with your lot. I think is something you can do and it just washed over me this morning, maybe it's the fact that we ran the workshop yesterday and I was around people who I liked [00:17:23] And even writing up the notes on ACDSee, it still feels really strange saying ACDSee, when I grew up in the 70s and the 80s, when ACDC was a band for those about to rock and all of that stuff. So it sounds really weird when I say it, but writing my notes on ACDSee I had to look through thousands of images that had dropped into our Heroes folders, which reminded me of the things we do. [00:17:46] And on top of that, of course, I put the facial recognition on, and that reminded me of all of the incredible people we do it for. And if it wasn't enough that I came in skipping down the road as an image, right? What we do for a living, the things we create, and the people we create these things for, what an honour. [00:18:05] not only ACDSee, but Sarah spent the past couple of days designing the most incredible book. A Tramontino book is the range from Graphistudio. And it's full of the same pictures, these pictures that we took in the past 12 months. It's a collection of some of our Favourite moments, I guess, out of 2023. A mix of clients and some dogs, all sorts of bits and pieces. [00:18:31] One or two award winning images. But mostly, it's just a celebration of the people we work with. And I can't wait for that to come, for Sarah to get it made, uh, and Graphistudio to get it, to get it made. ### [00:18:47] The Joy of Photography [00:18:47] It'll be beautiful, I know that. But more importantly, it will sit on our coffee table, and every time I feel flat, or I feel like, Oh, do you know what? I'm not sure how I feel about all of this. I can go down and have a look at it, just as I do with one or two other bits down there. [00:19:00] And it reminds me, just What a lovely job this is, and I can't wait to have that actually on our coffee table, not just as an advert for the product, and of course it is a great advert for the product, a Graphistudio product I may have mentioned we're ambassadors for Graphistudio, so there's my cards on the table again, but in the end, I am really lucky, and we are really lucky, to have a skill that allows me to create the pictures that we do, for the people that we do, the moments that we get to enjoy, the places that we get to visit, and the joy, that we get. [00:19:36] It's easy to get distracted by life, but sometimes it's worth focusing on what it is I do. And for whatever reason that happened subconsciously this morning, but I probably should make it happen more of a deliberate thing as I go. [00:19:52] Still ambitious, still competitive, still driven, still want it all to happen today. But maybe it just takes a little bit of time. . ### [00:19:59] Conclusion and Workshop Information [00:19:59] And on that happy note, I'm going to wrap up. If you're curious about our workshops, please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching and workshops section. Eventually we're going to move all of those across into Mastering Portrait Photography, but for now they're all still on my normal website. [00:20:19] I'll put a link if you're curious about ACDSee and want to download a copy to have a play. I recommend you do actually, I've really I've grown to love it. I have two screens on my Mac, two huge 27 inch monitors, and ACDSee sits permanently on my right hand monitor whenever I'm doing any design work or doing anything for the websites. [00:20:39] It's there because I have easy and straightforward access to all of our hero images, all of my favourite images. It's incredible as a tool like that. It slots in alongside Lightroom for me. At least it won't replace it, though I'm sure the guys at ACDSee would love it too. That's not, for me, the function that it serves, but does that make it still worthwhile? [00:21:00] I think it does, and I, for one, will renew my license when the time comes up. So I shall put a link down in the show notes for you to head across. It does have my name in it. I don't get a kickback from it. I think it just allows the guys at ACDSee to see that it came through me. And I'll also put it on our Facebook group for all of the people that have been on our workshop community. [00:21:19] But All in all, I highly recommend it. [00:21:23] In the meantime, I hope the weather is a little nicer where you are. I hope it's more like yesterday than today. But whatever else, keep skipping, keep smiling, remember that what we do is an incredible job. I'm Paul, and whatever else, be kind to yourself. [00:21:38] Take care. ### [EP147 Image Competitions: The Only Way To Fail Is To Fail To Enter](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep147-image-competitions-the-only-way-to-fail-is-to-fail-to-enter/) Yay! Other than a crappy cold, a very good week. Won a Gold Bar with the Guild Of Photographers a couple of days ago which got me to thinking about competitions: why we do them, how to do them and the fear of failure (when in fact, the only failure is to not enter at all!) There are one or two other things to bear in mind and I step through them in the podcast. Enjoy! Cheers P.[00:00:00] I'm really sorry, it's just been one of those weeks. I have spent three days, three whole days at home feeling ill and mostly grumpy. Sorry, I don't take to being poorly particularly well. Whatever Michelle and Sarah had last week. Of course, I inherited it this week. It turns out that the word viral is not a joke. [00:00:25] It's just a cold, really, but it's been quite a horrible one. It hit my chest straight away, and I just felt awful, and if I'm honest, after three days off work this evening is the first time I've really felt sort of compos mentis. I've spent three days sitting in the lounge with the fire on. It's been cozy enough, but I've, I hate being unproductive. [00:00:46] I hate not getting through the lists that I've got to do. I hate the idea that I've wasted three days, but in the end, that had to be done. So as I sit here next to the fire watching back to back episodes of Law Order, I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:01:07] [00:01:20] So I hope you're all feeling a little bit better than me, and in terms of the catch up of the week, well, I can't really say that I've done that much out of the seven days or so. Three of them have been spent laid up doing very little. Obviously, I'm still doing some coding, writing emails, and an awful lot of judging has been flowing through my world. Not this time, not just as a judge or as a chair of judges but also as a contestant. It's been an interesting time. [00:01:47] So, I judged for the FEP this week, the first of the final rounds of their annual image competition. I'm one of the judges on the portrait category. [00:01:58] 647 images, I think, were there to judge. And if you think about that as a volume of judging and all of our, all of the judges. Whether it's for the BIP that I chair for, whether it's for the SWPP, the Societies, whether it's for the Guild, whether it's for the FEP, the World Cup, it doesn't really matter what the judging is. [00:02:19] It takes time and we do it for nothing. Well, I say nothing. We don't do it for nothing, but we do it for free. And so, if you think about all of that, 647 images. If I went at it hell for leather and judged one image per minute with no breaks, that's still basically 11 hours of judging, which is an awful lot when you think about it. [00:02:45] And yet, we put ourselves through it. And I do it because I really enjoy it. I really love the process, I love seeing the images, though there is some disappointment when we're judging and the images haven't come up to standard. But, nonetheless, it's cathartic, it's inspiring, it's very therapeutic, it's quite a rhythmical sort of thing to do. [00:03:04] And I really love it. [00:03:06] On top of that, if that wasn't enough, the results to the BIPP monthlies came out the first BIPP monthly round. So this is a new competition for us. We've set it up to run parallel to the print competition, which opens up in sort of June time and it's judged in September. And they run side by side and they are different beasts. [00:03:27] So the print competition, exactly what it says on the tin. Submit your prints in the category. Best print wins each category. That's it. Very simple to do. The monthlies are not that. The monthlies have been designed. [00:03:41] to reward consistency as much as really high quality inspirational work. With a print competition, you only need to shoot one image, and depending on what everybody else shoots, you could end up with the title of the print image of the year, the portrait print of the year, the wedding print of the year, whatever it is. [00:04:00] With the monthlies, it's been designed not to be quite like that. The monthlies It's about consistency more than it is about that one high scoring image. That's not to say that a high scoring image isn't a thing to be treasured and will get its accolades, but what we've done is design a competition at the BIPP, which is Sorry, the BIPP is the B I P P, the British Institute of Professional Photographers. [00:04:27] So we've designed a competition that runs for 10 months of the year. And we take, for every photographer, the top scoring image of theirs in each category. So it doesn't matter how many images you, you enter, that's irrelevant. Each month, we're going to take, for that photographer and each category they've entered, their top scoring image. [00:04:47] And over seven of the ten months, we're going to accumulate those scores. So you have the opportunity, if you wish, to take three months off. So you have ten months, take three months off if you wish, seven months. So your top seven scores for each category will be accumulated. So your top seven scores in portraits per month. [00:05:09] So in January Portrait. You enter five, we take the top one. February. You enter five in Portraits again, we still take the top one. And that's, that's two of your scores sorted. And the reason we're doing it that way is that each photographer in the BIPP gets one free entry every month. [00:05:28] So you have for free the ability to enter and win the monthly's competition for the year without laying out a single cent. All you have to do is find the time at the end of every month to pop in a high quality competition level image, upload it, put your name in, Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt, off you go, you're done. [00:05:47] And you could win it. [00:05:48] So what amazes me, and there's a point to this story, not only is this how it works, but the point is, why don't more people enter? We had lots of entries, but it's not everybody, and I can never quite get my head around why, if it's free, and you have the opportunity to create some great PR, I'm looking at the PR on Facebook this week, and on various websites and Instagram, and people are really celebrating their success in all of the monthlies, not just the BIPs, and it's brilliant, and that's what it's designed for. It's designed to give photographers the opportunity to have something to celebrate and to share with their clients. This is, in the end, about clients. I think too often in the industry we think about it as being about, it's about photographers, and it's not really. [00:06:31] It's about our clients. And the monthlies create every 30 days or so, the opportunity to share success with your clients and you can do it for free. So why, with the thousands of members do we have, do we not have every photographer entering? [00:06:48] Still can't get my head around that and if you think I don't put my money where my mouth is. [00:06:54] This month, I did enter as I have done for the past year, I entered the Guild Monthlies competition. Obviously, I can't enter the BIPP competition, because I'm chairing the judging. So I entered the Guild, and this month, for the first time since I've been entering it, I got a gold bar, which is nearly the top standard. [00:07:12] It's not the top standard. The top standard is Platinum. But nobody's won a Platinum yet, so I'm happy with that. I got a gold and won an image of the month. Now, that's not the point of this story. It's not really to brag. Though I am really pleased with myself because it's an image I took of I think it's the bass player from the band The Sweet. [00:07:31] He was very cool. He was in our studio. It was just a normal session shot I took for him. all for the band. And I decided to try it, enter it as a competition, and see how we go. I think the point is that I entered. I gave it a go. Now, people get really nervous about entering competitions, and I don't really understand why. [00:07:51] Now, you know my views on this. Competitions are not the best way to hone your skills, because you get no feedback, and even if you produce the best image of your life If your competitor has produced the best image of their life, they may just win. and give you nothing really, no, certainly no winning image to celebrate. [00:08:13] Also, you know, with the judging process, you don't know how you're going to do. Every photographer enters an image thinking they stand a chance. But judging is what it is. We've got to rank all of the images and who knows? Maybe it doesn't do as well as you'd expect. And people take that really personally. [00:08:30] I take it really personally. But the difference is I still do it. I just don't tell anybody I'm doing it. I do it quietly. And the images that succeed, well, I celebrate those and we publish them. And Sarah in particular loves it because it gives her an opportunity to talk to our clients and put out some PR. [00:08:47] And she's been doing that all day since the result came out yesterday, which is fantastic. So, I give it a go, I do it. I don't always do that well, if I'm honest, and judges typically, they, there is a correlation between the judges and success in competitions, but it's nowhere near as marked as you'd think it is. [00:09:08] And you can see this while we're judging. So if I'm chairing a panel of judges, you'll see marks from each judge fluctuate quite widely. So a challenge is triggered when one judge's mark is 10 away from the average decision. So whatever the judges came up with, we take the average, and if one or more of those judges is 10 marks different, we have a challenge. [00:09:29] And we have plenty of challenges, which tells you quite a lot about the fact that every judge has things that they are looking for, and if the image that is in front of them doesn't have it, they won't score it as highly. Equally, if it does have those things, they will score it highly. There is volatility in scoring. [00:09:46] You cannot use print or image competitions. as a measure of you as a person, or you as a business, you as a creative, but when you do win, celebrate it. When you don't win, well, you have to figure out what to do with that. The great thing about a monthly competition is that there is the opportunity for at least a little bit of learning. [00:10:10] because you don't have to wait for a year to try again, you can just wait four weeks. Re enter some more images, keep an eye on what comes back, what gets into the bronze, silver or gold. If you haven't quite made it across the line, what makes it into the the commended, which is what we have at the BIP. I don't know what the other societies do for those things, but everybody has a sort of way of doing it. [00:10:31] So the trick is, celebrate your wins, keep your losses to yourself, and then there's a whole load of pressure removed for you. So It is slightly different in in the monthlies. So, back on, I'm gonna bang on this drum. If you haven't entered into one of the monthlies, into any association you're part of, why not? [00:10:52] What's stopping you? Think about it. What is actually stopping you? It's almost certain, almost certainly rather, a fear of not doing well. Well, I enter them every month, I tell you when I've done well, and I keep it very quiet when I haven't. And I'm still amazed at how few people do it. And with the BIPP, every entry is £5, but you get one entry for free. [00:11:15] And with the BIP, every image is £5 a go. But you get one for free. So that's a value of £5. So if you had entered 10 months of the year, that's £50 worth of free entries. [00:11:27] Who's going to turn down 50 quid over the year? And the value of the opportunity to talk to your clients is priceless. Now you can argue you might not win, and that's true. I don't. But when I do do well, I will share it. When I don't do well, quiet. I just keep it nice and quiet. [00:11:45] So the results came out for the Guild yesterday, so they're on the 21st, and the closing date for the Guild is at the end of the month, so it's a leap year, so it's the 29th of Feb. So I've got about somewhere between 8, 9, 10 days every month between the results to the previous month coming out and the new round to choose what I'm going to put in. [00:12:06] I know I'll keep entering and I know I'll keep learning and I will keep being surprised at what does well and what doesn't even though as a judge and as a chair of judges very often I'm in the position of determining that and even having just judged the portrait group for the FEP, the Federation of European Photographers, I can tell you now when the second round comes back to me in a couple of weeks I lay a bet. The images that come back will not be in the same order as I pick them out. That's life. I'm working with judges from all over Europe, I'm working with people of different tastes, different influences, different things they value in an image. So you can never be certain, but what you can be certain of is if you don't enter it, you ain't gonna win anything. [00:12:48] That's a dead cert. So why would I choose absolute certain failure over anything else? Sorry, you never use the word failure. It's not a failure. Nobody fails. Except when you don't enter. Yes, you do. You fail. You've failed to enter, you've failed to compete, in which case, failure is the only word I have for it. [00:13:07] If you enter and your image isn't successful this time around, there's a million factors to that. You can learn from some, you might not learn as much as you'd like, you can take those images because you have them. And you can show your mentor, or show a friend, or show another photographer, or show someone get a critique. [00:13:21] [00:13:21] So there's just a few things I have spotted over the past week to ten days. with competition images. This is accumulated from what I've seen on the judging side with the BIPP, or the BIPP Monthlies, and what I've seen from the competitor side, so as a judge rather than as a chair, on the FEP. [00:13:41] One, don't over sharpen, particularly when it's an online entry. The screens tend to be quite sharp. They tend to make things look a little bit sharper than perhaps they could be, in my opinion, anyway, maybe it's the screens I've got. So don't over sharpen. No one on any competition I have ever been involved in the judging has ever said they've under sharpened this image. [00:14:06] But every round I will hear someone say, that image is over sharpened. Don't overdo it. Alongside that There's a huge temptation, particularly with the users of Lightroom to use clarity and or detail enhancement. These are still, so there's no such thing as sharpening, it's just localized contrast. [00:14:24] Equally, clarity and detail are variations of the same thing. If you're quite keen on the clarity slider You can see it in the image. It starts to look like it's been heavily processed. For some categories, that's great. For some categories, that will get hugely rewarded. For others, it won't. So have a look at what's done well previously and tune your effects and your clarity and detail to suit that. [00:14:51] Don't blow out your highlights or block up your shadows. What do I mean by that? I don't want ever to see pure white, and that's tricky if you've got, let's say, a grey flat sky, and you've lit someone against what light there is. So get it under control, make sure there's detail in the highlights, and there is detail in the blacks. [00:15:09] And don't think you can cheat by raising up the blacks to be grey. Thinking, well that's right, nothing in the image is now black. If there's no detail in it, we're still going to see that the blacks were blocked up, they've now just become very dark grey, and still blocked up. If there's no detail in there, I would suggest you find an alternative image. [00:15:32] Colour grading. A lot of colour grading knocking around, and there are a thousand colour panels out there at the moment. Be careful, that the colour you're using is part of the story you're trying to tell. Don't just make it desaturated because it's desaturated, or make the shadows a bluey green because you've seen it on a Netflix film. [00:15:50] Tell the story with your colour. If you're going to use colour, tell the story through it. Be careful that you don't just process for processing's sake. It must be part of the storytelling. [00:16:00] If this podcast makes you feel uncomfortable because I'm sounding ill, trust me it's worse for me. I'm sounding ill. Where are we? Next one, number five, look for emotion, and then number six, impact. These two are intertwined. When you look at an image as a judge, we have to react to it. [00:16:20] Judging as a process gets criticised a lot as to why don't we prioritise creativity, emotion, impact, these words. Sort of soft, the soft skills, I suppose, of photography. The truth is, we do. That is the top scoring band. Impact. Bam! Get it in front of us. Work out what it is about the image. [00:16:43] Whether it's the way you've cropped and formed the story, where you've laid out the parts of the puzzle, where you've used colour, the way an expression just connects with you as a viewer, whatever it is. Make it about impact, because as judges, we want to feel something. We want to know that you felt it, too. [00:17:02] Number seven, do not enter the same images everywhere. I kid you not, there's an image I've judged I won't say exactly where, but I've judged it this week that I've seen now four times. Four different competitions, I've seen the same image. I wasn't always the judge. I was a fellow contestant in one. [00:17:22] I was Chair of Judges for two, and Judge for the fourth. I've seen it four times. Well, imagine the lack of impact by seeing it that many times. Now I know, as a contestant, you may not think the same judge is gonna see it every time. But, the truth is, there aren't actually that many judges. Not really. [00:17:45] So there's a lot of cross talk. So you get to see the same images quite a bit, if you're entering them into different competitions. As an extension of that, and this is So the first one's not that easy to avoid if you enter lots of competitions. It would be great if you could, prep a different image from the shoot for each competition, but I know it takes time and it's expensive if you're doing print, but I would still recommend it. [00:18:11] This next one, though, is slightly different. If you shoot images in series, what do I mean by that? If you shoot dogs running and jumping, one dog running and jumping, or you shoot a certain style of child portraiture, or a certain style of I'm talking portraiture in particular, a certain style of female portraiture, I don't know. [00:18:31] Don't put more than one of that style into any round of a competition at one time. Don't put them all in January. The idea that we're going to pick out the highest scoring image, the image we think is best out of your series of five, simply not true, because we judge them in a randomised order, but sequentially. [00:18:51] We get an image, we judge it, we move on to the next image, we move on to the next image. So you have no control over what order we see them in. We have no control over what order we see them in. And the idea that we're going to go to the last image of a set of five, and could you know I've seen all of these? [00:19:05] I think image one was the strongest, I should have given that more, more higher score. That's not how this works. We evaluate each image based on its own merits at that point in time. But if we then see four more of the same image, trust me, the impact on the last image isn't going to be as great, even though they are technically different images. [00:19:26] So what you're doing is you're sacrificing four incredible images to get one through. You have to make a decision over which one to put in. And then, guess what? February? Put another one in. March? Another one. There's no way, it's not a, it's not a thing where we can pick images out, because we have to judge them one after the other, so that every single image stands the same chance of getting the same score. That's why we do it. [00:19:51] And number nine, so another point on the judging, is don't forget to finish your images, each and every one of them, fully. So there's an image during the recent judging I did, stunning. I looked at it on the screen, small, beautiful. Hit the 100 percent button, zoomed into the pixels, moved around the image, because when you're doing online judging, this is how it works, and you could see that the photographer, it looked like, I don't know, their nan had called round midway through them doing the retouch. [00:20:23] And they just never went back to that image. They submitted it with holes in the background and gaps where They'd dropped a background in over the top of the subject, and you could see the overlaps so clearly. They were just hard, like they'd hit it with the pencil tool, not the brush tool. And it clearly, all they'd done is not gone back over the image with a fine tooth comb. [00:20:43] It really, it felt like, they're sitting there doing this beautiful retouch. It's a beautiful lady, she's got flowing hair, the background's nailed. She's resting on a bench, or whatever it was. And then bing bong. Mom's here. Mom. It's your mom, Paul. It's your mom. Come down. Alright, I'll be down. I'll be down in a minute. [00:21:00] No, now. All right, I'll come down now. And that was the end of it. It's as if I went back to the image and just never picked it up again. I must have hit send or something. This is not my image, by the way. I really felt for the creator of it, because it was a stunning image. And I even put, it's one of the rare times I've put in the comments field when I'm judging. [00:21:18] If the judge is surprised at why I've classed this as not competition standard, when clearly it's stunning. Clearly the photographer knows their craft. Please get them to look at it like I did and see the holes they've left in the retouch. So finish them properly. [00:21:37] So don't do that. So those are the things I've noticed this time round. [00:21:42] And the great thing about entering a competition is it gives you an opportunity to experiment. Experiment in January. If it doesn't work, change the experiment. Or, no, you never change the experiment. [00:21:51] You experiment. That's not how it works. Experiment in January. Change what you try. in February. It's the same experiment. And then March. And then, who knows, by June, you might have got the swing of it. Who knows? What I will say, though, is that this ability every month to have a go, see how you do, celebrate your successes, learn from those that aren't quite so successful, is hugely, hugely powerful. [00:22:16] I still, still don't think competitions are mentoring. They are different beasts. You know my views on that. But there is still something to be learned from. Entering a competition monthly. [00:22:30] And the best way of entering monthlies, or any competition really, is if you are organized. [00:22:35] Then spend time with your images. Print them, hang them up, look at them over time, keep an eye on them. Because if you do that You'll get to see those little niggles, you'll get to appreciate where things could be fine tuned. [00:22:49] On the other hand, if you're like me, and it's all a little bit last second, then just make sure when you do the prep for your client, you're always producing images at sort of competition level. [00:23:01] There is a difference between competition imagery, what we would choose, how we'd finish them, and there is with what we produce for our clients. But for me, that gap isn't that great. I think if you're a fashion photographer, there's almost no gap. If you're, one of the Fearless Wedding Photographers, there's almost no gap. [00:23:19] I think there is for many sectors in the industry though. So just make sure you're prepping your images essentially to competition standard. If that image that I talked about earlier had gone out to a client, the client would have sent it back to me laughing. I'd have had to sort it out. And it did happen to me once. [00:23:33] It wasn't my retouch, but I did see it. It was my image someone on at the time, an assistant had retouched it, and I knew the minute I saw it go out, it's like, that's coming back to me. And I knew because she'd over whitened the floor, and it looked like the object was floating. I don't do that kind of photography very much, but when I do, it has to be right, and it wasn't right, and it's really frustrating. [00:23:57] Do it to the best that you can. Get it to competition standard, or as close as you can, with only just a little additional finishing where required, because that way, I don't need to worry about having tons of time to get it into a competition. The image I entered and got my gold bar was not the one I thought would do well. [00:24:13] I just didn't think necessarily of the set that I entered, it was the strongest image. Turned out the judges felt differently. But it was certainly finished to that level because the band could have been using it on a poster. [00:24:23] So, the same criteria is still applied. [00:24:26] There's no jeopardy in entering. The worst that can happen is that you don't do as well as you'd hope. And that happens to all of us. The gold bar this month? It's the first one I've attained with the guild, and it's just a regular image. It's now out, of course, on social media. [00:24:43] Sarah's celebrating it everywhere. I'm a little slower to get it onto social media. But it gives me an interesting topic to talk about on here. And so the question I suppose you're asking is, how many other images did I enter? I don't know how the other images did, I've only won one gold bar and got it one image of the month. But I can't argue that you can do this anonymously and then, for me, not be anonymous. So I'm not going to tell you how many other images I entered, but it's definitely more than one. And so why not make this, this year, the year you'll give it a shot. If you're part of the BIPP, you've only missed one month, you still have plenty of months ahead of you, there's nine more to go, deadline always at the end of the month, images, image results come out on the 15th, to give you time to reassess and figure out what you're going to enter for the next month. [00:25:31] And you never know what might happen. And if you can do it for free, and this is particularly to the BIPP, if you can do it for free, Then we really, and I mean this, this isn't a figurative thing, you have nothing to lose. It's free. The clue is in the title. And on that happy note, I'm going to dose up on some Lemsip, some Benelin, some Nurofen, and I'm going to call it a night. [00:25:56] Thank you for listening as I sit here in my cosy little lounge to this podcast. As always, head over to masteringportraitphotography.com for lots of articles and stuff, and also it's the spiritual home of this podcast. On top of that Please do leave us a review, tell another photographer or someone you might think would be interested in it about the podcast, leave us some comments wherever you can, and hit subscribe on whatever podcast player you use. [00:26:21] That way, as soon as I get round to releasing an episode, there it is right in your ears before you even know it. Whatever else, as I sip my Lemsip, keep warm and be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP148 Clarity Is King | Don't Confuse Your Clients With Woolly Wording!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep148-clarity-is-king-dont-confuse-your-clients-with-woolly-wording/) Well, I'm back on the road with a microphone - but this time in my wife's nippy little Peugeot! There are so many aspects of customer service but one of them is how you explain what you're going to deliver and how you're going to do it and, given the stories in this episode, that is something that is very easy to get wrong! Ultimately, clarity is king! Cheers P.[00:00:00] So for those of you with sharp ears, you may have noticed that that does not sound like my regular Land Rover biscuit tin on wheels, and you'd be absolutely right about that. I shall tell you the slightly sorry tale of what's happened to my Land Rover, uh, later in the podcast. In the meantime, I'm heading up to the photography show in Sarah's car, which is, frankly, as nippy as hell. [00:00:26] It's like driving a go kart. It's tiny, it's quick, it's a lot of fun to drive. It's not my Land Rover, but hey, I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:00:40] So hello one and all, it is a very, very wet Sunday here in the UK. It's one of those, it's one of those days when I look around me And everything looks monochrome. You. You wouldn't be certain if this was an entry in a photographic , competition, I'd be accusing the author of putting a, a plugin on it that has sucked the color, sucked the life outta the scene. The sky is well gray, the road gray, the walls. The trees and hedges as I drive past them, sort of a grey green. Even, even the bright yellow markers on the roundabout signs that I've just driven past are not iridescent yellow. They're sort of a dull ochre. [00:01:44] Everything about today, except for my mood, is grey. And actually, it's been a little bit of a mixed month. Now, I know I said at the beginning of the year, and this, I said also at the beginning of the year, You never set yourself. New Year's Resolutions, because they're impossible to live up to, and if you want to do something, just set out about doing it, whatever time of the year it is, just set about doing it. [00:02:05] I set about doing a podcast a week, and then crunched into some of the busiest couple of weeks, I think, I can remember, which I'm now, well, sort of surfacing from. It hasn't, it's not exactly clear As in, the diary isn't clear, there's a lot going on but there are also chunks like today when I'm gonna spend the best part of three hours sitting in a car. [00:02:26] Now I know three hours, to my American and Australian friends, is like driving down to Starbucks for a coffee. For us in the UK, that is not an insignificant amount of time. So I'm going to record a podcast or two and then maybe over the coming weeks I'll get back into the rhythm of it and get these things rolling. [00:02:44] But there is so much going on story of the Land Rover so let's deal with some of the slightly sadder news over the last couple of weeks or last month or so. It started with an accident. Excellent couple of days up with the BIPP, that's the British Institute of Professional Photographers, or Professional Photography up in Preston, and then had a great meeting and spent a lovely evening with the guys for, with Martin and the guys there. [00:03:12] Discussing things like the monthly competition, how we're gonna, promote it. It's been very successful so far but of course, there's plenty more we could be doing. And then on The following day, went across to record a podcast, went across with a friend and a photographer, Sean Conboy, to meet a photographer who I had never met personally, but knew about, a guy called Stuart Clark. [00:03:35] Now, Stuart is 97, nearly 98 years old, and one of the sharpest, most interesting photographers I think I've had the privilege of meeting. We sat in his lounge and recorded, probably about an hour and a half, I have a conversation about photography, his life in it, his history in it, the things he has seen change, and when I say the things he's seen change, I mean fundamentally, you know, he started on glass plate cameras, and is now in the digital age, I mean that's in one lifetime how far it's come. [00:04:11] Almost in one set of stories we've gone from the origins of photography, maybe not quite, there's a little bit before that of course, I mean it started in the 1850s. But you know, almost the origins of photography as we know it through to today, and it's a fascinating interview, and as much as anything else, just listening to his voice on the microphone, I sat at the beginning of this interview and we popped a microphone in front of him and I put some headphones on, and as he spoke, it was the most breathtaking sound, he's quite quietly spoken, But the mic, and the room, and the ambience, and the stories he was telling, I mean, it was electric in my headphones. [00:04:51] I actually gave the headphones over to Sean so he could have a listen, simply because it was so beautiful. I'll cut that down, it's just a long interview, and I need to just figure out how I'm going to share that. But it was a wonderful thing. Wonderful thing. And at the end of it, took a few portraits of the man with He said, oh, I've got all my cameras. [00:05:09] We said, oh, get them out, get them out. And of course, he went looking for them and couldn't find them in the attic. I mean, Sean and myself, slightly terrified that we've sent this 97 year old into his roof space to see if he can find a camera. Anyway, he eventually returned with a Raleigh, a TLR. [00:05:25] Twinlens, Reflex, Rolleiflex. Beautiful camera, and so I've got some pictures of him with that, so a little bit of his history. Anyway, roll o'clock forwards to that evening, I leave Leeds head down the M1, which is the in the UK, for, again, my listeners around the world. It's the motorway that runs straight down the middle. [00:05:44] of the UK connecting the north to the south. It connects all the way up to pretty well, it goes up to Scotland pretty much and then drops straight into London. And I was heading down the M1 when suddenly, 70 miles an hour, I'm in the fast lane, they, there is, there wasn't really a bang, but you felt this kind of thunk, and then the engine's vibrating, I can smell oil, oh man, the smell, it's, if you've owned cars for a while, And you've had them go wrong, you just know, when you can smell oil like that, there is nothing but trouble. [00:06:19] Coming I planted my foot on the brake pedal and manoeuvred my way across a couple of lanes of reasonably fast moving traffic. Sort of slan slapped it into the hard shoulder as quickly as I could, because if you're running an engine, You can smell oil, it's vibrating, the last thing you wanna do is keep going because you are at that point destroying what is left of your engine. [00:06:45] So I lifted the bonnet to have a quick look, just to make sure there wasn't anything obvious. Sure enough, there is oil everywhere. Engine's not good. That's not going. So, luckily, I say luckily, this is, it's my life. I spend my life in a car. And we have recovery, RAC recovery. So I rang the RAC. [00:07:04] They said they'd be there within an hour because I'm on, I'm in live, I'm on the edge of live traffic. This is the, probably the busiest motorway in the UK and I'm sitting on a hard shoulder in the pouring rain by now. And I keep getting the updates and, you know, it's like, it says it's going to be an hour, then it's an hour and a half, then it's two hours. [00:07:21] It's, it's four degrees, which is pretty chilly. It's raining and sleeting. So I've, thinking, well, I don't really, and this is a lesson, I don't have any rain gear in a car. Luckily, I had a couple of blankets in there that we use for, if I want to sit people, if I'm doing a shoot somewhere out and about, I've got it in the back of the car, just in case I need to sit somebody down on the ground. [00:07:41] So I wrapped myself in a pair of picnic blankets, sat under one of our wedding umbrellas. Luckily I got some battery packs so I could keep my iPhone charged up and sat and watch Netflix. And of course I'm watching the arrival time of the RAC and it keeps creeping out and creeping out. And eventually this orange van arrives he takes one look at the car, sticks his head under the bonnet and says yeah, you've blown your engine, that's not going anywhere. [00:08:04] I can't tow you, he tells me, because the limit for towing a car as heavy as the Defender is one mile, and I'm six miles from the next available exit. So, he says the next, they'll send the recovery vehicle, proper recovery vehicle out, and I say, well, am I supposed just to sit here in the rain then? And he says, yep. [00:08:24] And so, for the next couple of hours, yet again, I'm out in the rain, I keep my phone charged up, keep watching Netflix. It turns out Netflix, I like watching Netflix anyway, it's always on in the background while I'm editing. It turns out it's quite a useful distraction, because by the time the recovery vehicle turned up to actually put it onto the flatbed, the guy looked at me and he just said, Simply, get in the cab, get warm. [00:08:47] I could barely move, my legs were shaking, I was beginning to get hypothermic. You stay out of the car for safety reasons, but I'm beginning to think it was more dangerous being not in the car than it was being in the car, which is an absolute nightmare. He had to open the door for me, my hands were so cold I could barely pull the handle. [00:09:04] I climbed into the cab, which turned out to be like a sauna, and sat and defrosted as he hitched up the car. and took me halfway home. Yeah, halfway. Because I was so far away, they couldn't drive me all the way back to home. So of course I'm in touch with Sarah, I've told her what's going on. They parked me at Northampton Services where they're going to send another recovery vehicle out for me. [00:09:27] And again, it says it's going to be an hour and a half. And I wait and I watch as the time increases, two hours, three hours, four hours. It's not clear, they never, they're never clear about how long it's going to take. And they, they deliberately obfuscate, I think, so that you can't say, well you said you'd turn up then. [00:09:44] They give you a range and then they keep telling you the range is creeping out. And, apart from the gas, I'm not the only person that needs recovering. And the driver did give me a. a heads up. He said to me as he left, he said, you might be a while because you're no longer in live traffic, so you're no longer in danger. [00:10:02] You're just sitting in a services. Now I would agree with him about the danger bit, but sitting in Northampton services at what were we now? Sort of midnight, 11 o'clock I think I arrived there. Maybe 10. 30 we arrived. And it's not a place you'd want to sit. There's nobody else around. Then luckily for me, I have a, you know, guilty pleasure in McDonald's and KFC and things. [00:10:23] Can't help myself, the smell of it. And I thought, I'll get myself a McDonald's. And so I got, I did, I got myself a burger. Some coffee and some chips, and sat chewing on those. And within two minutes of me buying it and getting it, I noticed that McDonald's had changed their sign. The big signs outside say that it's open 24 hours. [00:10:43] Big sign. McDonald's. 24 hours. Five minutes after I buy my burger, they put up signs that say, Sorry, only serving coffee. So that's not Open. That's not, that's a complete breach of contract as far as I'm concerned. They said they'd be, I'm thinking it's alright, I'll just get a burger and if I need one in a few hours I'll get another one. [00:11:02] Nope, none of that. I could get a coffee but couldn't get a burger in spite of the sign saying 24 hours. I'm gonna come back to this point because it's quite important for us as photography businesses. Anyway, I'm sitting there. The great and good of those that probably need a little bit of help from mental support and social services came and went, came and went, came and went. One or two drug deals were going on out in the car park. I don't know how, the police don't spot it. You can see it a mile away. So it's a fairly lonely thing. So I recorded a podcast. I recorded what was going to be this podcast. I got my recorder because it was in the car. [00:11:37] Obviously, I'd been recording with Stuart. And so I sat and I recorded a pretty, I think it was a pretty good, quite emotive podcast, I sat clutching my coffee because obviously that's now all that McDonald's was serving. It's fairly lonely except for the rantings of one chap who was telling me all about his relationship with the Queen. [00:11:57] I don't think he was very well, if I'm honest. I also don't think he was sober. So I recorded this, what I think was a rather excellent podcast, very Radio Four very radio documentary, you know, lots of background sounds and lots of life real life going on. And at the end of it, I sat back and thought to myself, that, that is going to be an excellent podcast, and I noticed that I hadn't hit the record button. [00:12:23] I was just so tired by now and a bit stressed. just forgot to do it. And so that was the end of that really, and I never, I didn't have the heart to do it again, even though I did have the time, because I was there for another couple of hours. I think in the end I waited there for four hours front to back. [00:12:39] Recovery vehicle, the phone rings, he says, I'm here, but where are you? And I look across six lanes of moving traffic, and he's on the other side of the motorway. Heading North. So, I'm heading South, so I have to direct him somewhere. Surely the guys have told you where I am, and they had, but not very well. [00:12:58] And he had to drive up to the next junction, turn around and come back and pick me up. And then, on it goes, and, and, we drop the car, I nominate to drop the car at our next stop. The guys that service it, my local, well it's not local, it's about 10 miles away, but the garage that services the Land Rover on a regular basis. [00:13:15] I dropped it in there lay by, switched on the immobiliser, locked it all up and Sarah picked me up and I got home at just about quarter past four in the morning. Now having left Leeds at about Two in the afternoon to get home at four in the morning was, well, a little bit heartbreaking. By now I was fairly fed up, fairly cold, incredibly tired, and I knew I had to wake up really early to let the guys know at the garage they've got a service to land over and also to get on with our day that was already in the diary. [00:13:49] So rang up the garage the next day, he didn't sound at all surprised. I'm glad to hear from me having spotted my Land Rover and he knows If the Land Rover's there, it needs something doing. And, obviously I got the engine, I went over, I got the engineer out to have a look at it, and even he rubbed his chin a bit. [00:14:05] And the only good news was there was still oil in the engine, which gives you hope. If there's oil in the engine, you haven't seized it. That's the good news. Anyway, 24 hours later, I get a ring from the engineer who says Found the problem, you've got a hole in Piston 2. Now, I don't, I'm not a mechanic, but I've been around engines all my life, and I know that if you hear the line, you've got a hole in Piston 2, you're in trouble. [00:14:33] And so it has proved to be, because to get a piston out to replace it, you have to take the entire engine apart. There's no getting away from it. The engine has to basically be dismantled, almost certainly taken out and put back in. Or in a Land Rover, they can actually lift the bodywork and service the engine on the chassis, but it depends what they're doing. [00:14:53] On this, I haven't asked the guys, I haven't been back to get it yet, and this is three weeks ago. So, So he explained to me that if an injector is maladjusted and is running a little bit rich, the additional heat from the fuel burns a hole through the aluminium. And I said, well, should I have done something? [00:15:08] And he said, no, there's no way of knowing. It's just not something that you could detect. And it's something that used to go wrong a lot. He hasn't seen it for a while with the later engines, but this one, he said, we used to see this quite a bit. For the past three weeks, they have been replacing the hole or replacing the pixel. [00:15:22] Piston with the hole in it in my Land Rover. I got a phone call yesterday, Saturday, but unfortunately I was in a shoot, and this is how the phone call went. He said, We've road tested your Land Rover. It's ready to drive. You can come and pick it up, but please bring your piggy bank with you. I kid you not, he used the phrase, bring Piggybank with you. [00:15:43] So I couldn't pick it up yesterday, can't pick it up today, can't pick it up tomorrow because I'm running a workshop, so I'll go over on Tuesday. I still don't know how much it is because the garage hasn't told me, in spite of me asking because it's a labour led cost. So the parts have been 1000 plus VAT, I know that much. [00:16:01] The labour is 75 an hour and I reckon, he reckoned it was 4 5 days work. So I know I'm in it for quite a large amount of outlay. Unplanned, bad time of year. I've got to find, who knows, anywhere between four and seven thousand pounds, who knows. So again, no clarity. Something I'm gonna come back to. [00:16:27] However, rest of the week, not so bad. And Another story. I think about podcasts, right? I could just tell you the facts, but it wouldn't be that much fun to listen to. Well, I don't think it would be fun to listen to. I wouldn't listen to it. 20 years ago, and I only know this because I picked up the light that I still have and looked at the Flash Center's service and and Quality Assurance sticker on it, and the light I bought second hand was serviced by the Flash Centre in 2003. [00:17:00] There's a sticker on it, and I remember going to the Flash Centre in London, scratching my chin, and I can't remember the guy's name, he's still in the industry, he doesn't work with the Flash Centre anymore and I, he said, can I help? And I said, yes, I want my first strobe, please. He said, I said, I'm happy to buy second hand, I don't know whether this is something I'm gonna do, but Would you recommend? [00:17:20] And we looked at the shelves, and, and, if you've ever been to the Flash Centre in London, it was brilliant. It wasn't a posh shop. It was, in some ways, it was like the drum shops I used to go to when I was a working musician, and it's just got racks and racks and racks of stuff. You know, there'd be a posh rack somewhere with all of the new bits and pieces from then, Bowens and Elinchrom, but then there'd be sort of, you know, Shelves and cupboards with interesting little bits of second hand kit and cabling and softboxes and umbrellas And it was brilliant and I was like toy a kid in a sweet shop And he said I think this would do you and he lifted off the shelf a second hand Elinchrom 500 so that's an Elinchrom 500 as this is a A strobe but it's got the old school analog sliders on it. [00:18:09] There were two sliders, one that controlled the strobe power, and one that controlled the power to the modeling light. And if you wanted them to stay the same, you move the sliders together. The slider's been designed to be close together, so you move them up and down, which, to me, having worked on audio mixing desks for concerts in the music industry, was absolutely brilliant. [00:18:32] Perfect. It was absolutely brilliant because I knew, it felt completely natural. Now, of course, one of the things was you never had the same Bower twice. It was already a second hand light when I bought it, and not a new one. So, whenever you set the lights in the studio, you had to reset your aperture to suit. [00:18:51] Because the things, it didn't matter. It didn't matter that you put a mark against the sliding scale. The sliders were so worn that lighting power would go up and down all the time. But it was metal cased. It's got a fan. It was quite loud. It's quite loud. And I bought that light. I. I bought a big tripod and I bought an Octabox, a six foot Octabox. [00:19:14] That was the three things I bought. A tripod, an Elecrom 500, an Elecrom tripod, Elecrom six foot Octa. Took it home and for the next year or two, practiced lighting. It wasn't part of our business for quite a long time because I never really had the space to do it. At that time I didn't have a studio. [00:19:34] I just knew that was the road we were going to go down, or I thought I might go down. But I didn't understand studio lighting, and so I needed time to get my shit together. So, I used to practice, I bought a polystyrene head, so there's a shop in London called the London Graphic Centre, which sell stuff. They sell art pens and graphics and it's two glorious floors of anything you can think of to be creative. It's absolutely fantastic. And in there, for some reason, they sold polystyrene heads. I don't know what they're for. You know, if they were in a hat shop, I'd understand it. If they were in a wig shop, I'd understand it. [00:20:14] In a graphics shop? I've no idea. What do you do? Sit with your pen in your hand looking at a fictitious head going, What do you think of this? Having a conversation with Polybeads, and I don't know. Anyway, I bought one. It was like three pounds or something. Carved out the eyes like something from a CSI episode. [00:20:31] I got a penknife, carved out the eyes, got a couple of big glass marbles, and shoved them in. I mean, it was quite macabre, but if ever, I'm found out to be a psychopathic, sociopathic, you know, mass murderer. Everyone will go back to this head and say, Well, we could see it then. Look what he did to the eyes. [00:20:49] But I popped those in because what I wanted to understand was how I move light around, what happened to the face, And what happened to the reflections in these glass marbles? It was just a very simple way of me being able to, without having models, because I didn't have a reputation back then, I didn't have a client base back then, I didn't have a steady stream of people that would come to the house to be photographed, but I needed to understand it. [00:21:15] So this polystyrene head, with its macabre eyeballs, was my go to. I stuck it, I skewered it, like Queen Elizabeth would have done. And off with the head, I said! I skewered it on a pole of some description and stuck it in the middle of the room. And, that's how I learned to light. It was all with this Elinchrom 500, the, the, this brilliant bit of light, and I still own it. [00:21:40] I still have it, it's still in the attic, unfortunately the tube was blown, you can actually see that there's black in there. The rest of it I'm sure still works so if I actually sent it back for a replacement tube, I could probably get it working again. I don't know that I will maybe I will, maybe I will, because the footnote to this story is that last week, Elinchrom asked me if I would be an ambassador. [00:22:03] for them. Now, this comes off the back of a conversation where I'd looked at the Elinchrom lighting at the London the Society's Convention of Photographers in London, and got chatting to the guys, Simon Burfoot and the, and the guys, uh, at Elinchrom, people I've known for quite a long time. He used to work at the Flash Sensor, he's now looking after Elinchrom, so I got to chatting to him about the lights had a look over the product, had a look at what they're producing, both in terms of the technology, in terms of the roadmap in terms of the light that these things produce, and the light has the same quality that I remember with my Elinchrom 500. [00:22:38] Now the thing is, if you look at the cover of the box, Book, Mastering Portrait Photography. That was shot in a study in somebody's house with my very first light. It was shot with my Elinchrom 500, my 6 foot Octa, which was wedged in because the ceiling was only just 6 foot, so we had to wedge this thing in on its tripod in their room with some black velvet behind. [00:23:01] Pinned to the curtain rail, and it's still, to this day, one of my favourite ever shots. And, when you go to Elinchrom, one of the things I've always loved about them is the colour accuracy of the tube. Now, every time you ignite um, Xenon in a tube, it gives off a very particular light. For all sorts of reasons with the, to do with the design of the circuitry and the light, getting that right is really important. [00:23:26] And Elinchrom have always had this really beautifully consistent quality of light out of the units. Now I moved away from Elinchrom about six, seven years ago, I think to Profoto for the simple reason that And maybe it's a bit longer, but for the simple reason that when I went looking for a battery powered, rather than a mains powered monoblock. [00:23:48] Now a monoblock strobe is simply when everything is in the head, as opposed to a battery pack and the small flying heads. I didn't want that. I wanted something that was self contained. I wanted something with a battery. I wanted something with no cabling. And so when I went to Elinchrom at that time, they didn't do anything. [00:24:04] I think even now I have eight Elinchrom lights up in the attic. And I had to retire them because I went over to ProPhoto who produced the B1. The B1 is an excellent light. It's brilliant. There's, you know, it did everything and has done everything that I would ask of a light over the years. Beautiful kit, beautiful lighting, beautiful modifiers. [00:24:26] They're having said that I've kept all of my Elinchrom soft boxes because the Rotalux system is the best in the world and I still prefer it to my Profoto stuff. But nonetheless, you know, there's no doubting the quality of the Profoto units, and there's no doubting that I've created some images that I really like with it, But I've never felt the same nostalgia as I have with Elinchrom. And so when Elinchrom showed me their kit at the convention, it's you know what, I would absolutely love, love to switch back. It's about time that I thought about it. And so I asked the guys if I could get a price on a full rig of kit, switch over to Elinchrom and it went a little bit quiet if I'm honest. [00:25:12] I'd sent the email, I'd listed out what I wanted and then I got a quick message saying was I around the other morning, could they pop into the studio and come and see us, and Simon and Mark from Elinchrom popped into the studio, had a look around, and during that conversation asked if I would be an ambassador for Elinchrom. So for the first time in quite a long time I got a little bit emotional about kit. I do get attached to kit. Even though the Profoto stuff is brilliant, I've never felt that way about that. But with Elinchrom, it was that first light. It was that first moment that I learned to read and and understand Studio Lighting. [00:25:54] And to be asked to be an ambassador is, it has a couple of angles on it. I mean, the first and most important is that what an honor, you know, this is a lighting company who I have so much of an emotional connection with, and here I am 20 years after buying my very first secondhand light, here I am as an ambassador for them. [00:26:17] So I'm quite emotional about that. But also the kit is so. Phenomenal. There's something about the way it works, the way it operates. It feels like photographers designed it for photographers. So, I'm very happy. They've lent me some kit at the moment. Now, I have a bit of a challenge tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'm running a workshop. [00:26:35] It's a workshop. All around, using studio lighting of various types in small spaces. Because if you go out into location, you very often end up in a boardroom or a kitchen. Well, the other day we ended up in a storeroom for computer equipment. It was quite bizarre where we were working. And you have to very quickly read the room, figure out what you're gonna do, and create something. [00:26:59] Magical from it. So, that's what we're doing tomorrow. And of course, it's premised on using my strobes. Now, understandably and I suppose predictably, Elinchrom are not that keen that I continue to use Profoto kit, my Profoto lighting for my workshops. So at 9. 30 tomorrow morning on the day of workshop, I am expecting a delivery of a whole load of Elinchrom kit that I'm going to actually then use for the training day. [00:27:33] Interesting, huh? It's a good job that not only did I learn to use light, but I'm really quick to get my head round the technology. Now they did leave me the other day with an Elinchrom 5 and an Elinchrom 3. And fortunately I have a trigger. I have a dedicated Elinchrom trigger anyway. Bye! From some Rotolight kit, which also uses, thankfully Elinchrom radio telemetry. [00:28:00] So, I've got the, I've got the Elinchrom trigger. Now, as an aside, here's a little bit of detail, right? This is just a bit of detail. It doesn't, it has no bearing on anything, really. My Profoto dedicated Nikon trigger. The something or else, something or else. Is it AirTTL, TTL, TTL? Unit. If I leave the batteries in it, it goes flat in about 10 days, even if it's switched off. [00:28:25] I pulled the Elinchrom trigger out of its box, having not used it as a trigger in probably three years, forgot that I'd left the batteries in there, which is a dreadful thing to do, never leave batteries in kit when you store it, but I had, so I hit the power button thinking, oh, that's not gonna work. Nope, fired up instantly. [00:28:43] There is a joy when you're When someone designs kit properly, there is a joy in it. This Elinchrom trigger has had those batteries in it for as long as I can remember. I can't remember the last time I used it as a trigger, and it fired up instantly. I know for a fact my Profoto unit would have been dead in 10 days. [00:29:02] And as designers of kit, this is a plea to everybody who designs for our beautiful industry. It's for good. Goodness sake, think this stuff through properly. You know, if you're going to turn something off, it shouldn't be draining enough current to flat a pair of AAA's in 10 days. It just shouldn't. [00:29:21] Because many of us don't pick up our triggers in those kinds of time frames. Many of us would just be out, you know, location photographers that use the strobes intermittently. So think about that. Think about how, um, The kit is going to be used in design. Even the circuitry has to be designed in a way that makes sense. [00:29:40] You know, Elinchrom, this unit, it's been in its box. It's still boxed. It's been in its box for a few years. Powered it up because I'd forgotten to take the batteries out. Nope, quite happy. Right, where do I go? Downloaded the new firmware because it's so old that It doesn't actually know about or didn't know about 3. [00:29:57] They weren't on its list of recognized Elenchrom lighting. Connected it up, and off it went. Just genius. That's I'm sorry though, that is an aside. Anyway, tomorrow morning, tomorrow morning, I've got a handful of delegates we've got a room full of people, a couple of models, and some lights that I have never ever seen. [00:30:13] ever used in anger. It's going to be an exciting day. Other good news this week so that's, I mean that is my good news this week, but other good news this week is that I finally managed to get our broadband account sorted out. We live in funny times my broadband contract had come up a little while ago with BT. [00:30:32] Um, I've got both the house and the studio are on the same contract because primarily we use it. all of the bandwidth for when I'm working, and I like to be able to work from home a lot. And we're paying, I don't know, I think nearly, I think we're paying 300 quid a month for the two. So I'd rung BT a couple of weeks ago and said, right, it's time to renew because I'm out of contract. [00:30:53] I will stay with BT although there are other providers in the village now, their reputation is awful, so I can't build my business on that. And while BT might be a little bit dull. They're also the most reliable. This is British Telecom. It used to be British Telecom. Isn't it interesting how a brand evolves to be known as BT? [00:31:12] But it has to have such a long history. You know, if you say BA, we know we're talking about British Airways. If you say BT, you know you're talking about British Telecom. You know, I've no idea in any more what ICI Stands for, we know what it does though. Interesting to see if the BIPP, the BIP, or the British Institute of Professional Photography can evolve the same way. [00:31:33] Time will tell. Anyway, BT, so I rang them up spent the best part of half a day on the phone because you have to. I'm sorry, we're experiencing a very high volume of calls at the moment. Your call is important, and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Yeah, right. There's only, there's one call handler, but I have no idea, but there's certainly not enough. [00:31:52] So anyway, I got through a long conversation, got both contracts more or less nailed, or the one contract with both lines more or less nailed, and our bill came down by two thirds. My speed went up, I'm on a digital line, my bill came down. You have to think, maybe I was being stitched before, or maybe I built a bad contract before, but anyway, that was half a day well spent. [00:32:15] So, and it's, I mean, it's like, you know, it's 300 quid a month, or was. It's now for the two lines, 100 quid a month and I've got gigabit down, 100 megabit up, and life is pretty good. But the delivery cycle of it, I've no idea. I mean, I get random boxes, I get random texts from DHL, or FedEx, or Royal Mail, as to what's going to arrive when, it's I couldn't make head nor tail of it. [00:32:39] Sarah said, when are they connecting us? Well, I've got this date, Monday the 11th. Okay, Monday the 11th, that's brilliant. Monday the 11th, that's when they're going to connect everything up. Monday the 11th. Right, are we sure about that? Yeah, Monday the 11th, I've got an email here. Monday the 11th. F Thursday, before that, what's that, 11th, 10th, 9th, 8th, so Thursday the 7th, I get I walk into the office 10 o'clock, and Michelle says, phone line's dead, and I'm like, can't be dead. [00:33:05] Why would it be dead? I look at the hub for the broadband, the broadband's working okay, but no telephone, and they say, oh, you are kidding me. They've switched it over four days early. Now, I'd had some text saying the engineer was working on our line, and the engineer had completed his work, but at no time, at no time, did it tell me which of the two lines were being affected and what they'd done. [00:33:30] So I rock up on Thursday to find no telephone. Now, again, fortunately, we'd had the digital phones arrive. They were in their boxes, but I hadn't set anything up yet because I had been told it was all going to happen on Monday the 11th of March. Have I got those dates right? Yeah, I'm sure it's Monday the 11th of March. [00:33:49] Monday whichever day it was, only the Monday of March. And, so I'm very frantic, because at this point, anybody that rings us up isn't going to get through. I didn't know even if we had voicemail because I got, none of it is done as far as I'm concerned. So we rattly, a bit of a rattly morning as I sort of ripped out the old phones, put in these new digital lines, logged in, set it all up, got admin rights, because of course it's basically VoIP is nothing more than Zoom without pictures. [00:34:18] So. And I got all of that set up and all of it is now working, but it got me thinking, and here we go. This is the point of this bit of this podcast. Now, I don't know whether the second half of the podcast is gonna be the second half of this podcast as I drive back from the photography show or whether I'm gonna release that as an entirely self-contained episode. [00:34:39] I guess it depends how much news I find at the photography show. But let's assume. This is a self-contained driving to the NEC Podcast, and it's done. This is the point of this podcast. I've told you three stories, okay? I've told you about the RAC, I've told you about the garage, and I've told you about British Telecom. [00:34:59] All of these have been suppliers that I would say on the whole, I rate pretty highly, the RAC. They've got me out of a pretty horrible situation. I pay money for that. By the way. It's not like they're, they're definitely not a charity. It's not the NHS, but. They rescued me when I needed it. Admittedly, they weren't clear about when and how, and it took quite a long time, but I'd have been in a lot of trouble if I couldn't have got off that motorway, and the car was undriveable. [00:35:26] Our garage. I know they fixed it because they always fixed it. But I do wish they'd be clear. I do wish they'd tell me how much, to the best of their knowledge, it's going to cost me. I don't like obfuscation. I don't like not knowing how long it's going to take. They've had the car for three weeks to do a week's worth of work. [00:35:44] Again, I know they've had to order parts. In a sense, I'm an experienced buyer. And then there's BT, who They told me certain things and then did them in a different order on different dates and put me into a flat spin when they disconnected the phone line to my business. All of these are quite important. [00:36:04] It's about clarity. It's about being clear with your client. It's about When you say you're going to do something, you do it. Now there is a theory about under promising and over delivering. So being, having things connected early, in theory, should be a good thing. But it's only a good thing if your client's ready for it and their new phone's ready. [00:36:25] If they're not, what you've basically done is disable part of their business for part of a day. Clarity is really important. For me, even now, I go back through the BT, various texts and emails, and even I After the event, couldn't tell you exactly what was supposed to happen, and the order. I still have some stuff to do, I still have to send some kit back, but, because I've got these two lines into two different buildings being contracted at the same time, none of the emails make sense, because they send both emails, or rather they send emails for both lines, on the same contract number. [00:37:02] It's never clear exactly what is going on. It's not clear. that some kit is going to work and some kit is not going to work. It's not clear quite what should have happened. And that can't be a good thing. That can't be a good thing when I'm sitting here telling you about three suppliers who I rate actually pretty highly. [00:37:21] I've chosen them through years of experience, I've picked them out of the crowd, and I've decided who I'm going to use. Are they all working now? Well, as far as I know, they are. RAC rescued me, the garage has rung me to say the car is ready, and I have Absolutely electric connectivity in our building or buildings, but the confusion is unnecessary. [00:37:43] The confusion, had that confusion happened in the sales process, I don't know whether I would have bought. It didn't happen in the sales process, it happened in the fulfillment side. So the sales guys, they got it nailed. When I bought my RAC, Membership, I don't know how many years ago. The guy was utterly convincing. [00:38:05] When I bought my BT contract, the guys were utterly convincing and of course when I go to the garage, well, the first time I went to the garage, I went reputationally because somebody else had recommended them. I bought instantly because they were They were utterly convincing. The problem happens in the fulfilment stages. [00:38:27] And as such, I think we need to keep an eye on that. We need to be very clear to our clients, exactly what it is that we're going to do, and when we're going to do it. I was doing a wedding pitch yesterday. And I had to be, and I've, I mean I've well practiced at it, I've done it a long time. I say to them, okay, here's the process. [00:38:45] I actually talk them through the fulfillment process. We talk loads about the wedding, but then I go through to the fulfillment process, and I suspect occasionally I lose a gig because of it, because maybe it sounds just a little bit too boring. Precise. I don't know. But, I said to the client yesterday, who are buying with us, by the way, you come to the studio two to three weeks after your wedding. [00:39:10] That gives you enough time to have a short honeymoon. If it needs to be longer, or you want it shorter, we can do that. Two to three weeks, you're gonna come, you're gonna have lunch. During that meeting, we are gonna show you a slideshow. We're gonna melt your hearts. I do say this. We're gonna say, I'm gonna soften your wallet, [00:39:27] We are gonna make life very difficult for you to say no to any pictures. Then we're gonna bring up those pictures and we're gonna, we are gonna help you choose the pictures that are going to go in your album. It's a lovely process, but it's not an easy process, so we're going to give you some lunch. [00:39:42] It'll take a few hours. At the end of that, you're going to pay for the extra images you put in your album. I'd say that a little bit softer, but that's what I'm saying. You're going to settle up with us as to the images that are going to go into your album, on top of the ones you've already paid for as part of your initial contract. [00:40:00] Then, We're going to give you a USB that has watermarked images of everything we've shown you, and the slideshow of the, uh, that we showed you in that reveal. We license the music, by the way, with the MCPS, so you can have any music you like. So, you let us know what music you like. That's what your slideshow will be set to. [00:40:19] It'll be on a USB. At the end of the meeting, when you've settled up with us, that's what you take away with you. The next morning, we start working on that design. Within a week, maybe two, depending on what's going on in the studio, we will send you a PDF that shows that design. You have a look at it and decide whether you like it or not, or if there's anything you'd like to change. [00:40:40] And the things we're looking for from you are A. Do you like the design? And B. Is there anything in any of the images that needs additional retouching? Fire exit signs, those kinds of things. When you eventually sign off the design, and you can go backwards and forwards as much as you like, by the way, because the most important thing is that you love your album more than anything else in the world. [00:41:02] You're going to have that for the rest of your lives together. You must love it. You make as many changes as you want. Yes, okay, by iteration number seven or eight, we might be rolling our eyes at you. But we will still do it, and we will get it perfect for you. When you're happy, you sign that off. We will do two things. [00:41:20] Firstly, we will order your album and any copy albums you need. I don't say it like this, I'm saying it really clearly because I'm driving a car at 70 mile an hour and I'm trying to make this clear. But nonetheless, this is the process, right? Uh, I say we will order that album and any additional copies you'd like. [00:41:35] Eight weeks after that, as a maximum, you will have your album in your hands. The actual order time, by the way, is shorter than this, but we always say, 8 weeks, because then I'm under promising and over delivering. You will also receive a link online that has a link to the finished images. The edits that we've done for you without the watermarks, because part of what we do is any image a client puts in their album, we will give them a digital copy of that as part of the contract. [00:42:06] We charge quite a lot of money for this, so it's fine that they can have the files, but we only release the finished files. When the album design is signed off. Why do I do it that way? Well, it gives me a couple of things. Firstly, it gives me a lever to pull when people are saying, Can I have a file? And I say, Yeah, as soon as you sign off your album. [00:42:23] The second thing is, The only hi res files that go out are fully retouched and finished. There's no danger that an artist Unretouched image can end up in a big frame on someone's wall. So that's why we do it that way. And I'm really clear about that fulfillment process to the client. Now, I think there's other bits of our business where we're not so clear and I'm figuring out those areas and trying to work out and make sure that everything we do is super, super clear because the experience I've had with three suppliers who genuinely, I rate, genuinely. [00:42:58] I'm happy to pay for their services. I think it's been a little bit muddled and a little bit muddy. And that, well, that can never be a good. Do you know what? I'm going to round this podcast off there and I'm going to make the journey away from the photography show another edition which I might release at a later date because that gives me extra content, right? [00:43:20] For those of you, for those of you who are part of our workshop community, we released a new challenge last night. So we, inside, anyone that's been on our workshops, you get invited into a secret and private Facebook group. The only way you can get in there is by being on one of our workshops because that is creating a super concentrated little audience, a little community rather. [00:43:42] of like minded people who can ask questions in a way that is safe, a way that is positive, and you get feedback from others in there. It's a really nice community. On top of that, people like Simon and Mark from Elinchrom are inside the group, so that if you have any specific questions about flash photography not only will you get answers from people who run the group companies based around this kit. [00:44:06] Of course they're going to bias their answers towards Elinchrom, but hey, I'm an ambassador for them. So what else would you expect me to say? Likewise Jeremy and Miranda and the team from Neal and the team from Graphistudio are in there. So if you have any questions about albums and those kind of things, it's just a really nice place to be. [00:44:21] But we run these image challenges. The current challenge which I released last night is the one chair challenge. Take a subject, take one chair, just one chair, and pop a photograph into the community. And then at the end of the month, I have a run through them, pick out my favourite, do a video critique, and set a new challenge. [00:44:41] And we did this one because the article is featured in Professional Photo Magazine this month from us. We do an article every month, but this particular one is of Lucy in a chair, and it's just a simple shot of a teenager. Just looking super cool in what is my Nan's old throne, old armchair. So that's that community thing. [00:45:02] Workshops, if anyone's interested in any of our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops. You will find them they'll pop up in Google and And then you can see what's going on at the moment. The tomorrow's workshop is all about small spaces and it wasn't, but it now is about how to use Elinchrom lighting in small spaces. [00:45:21] We'll see quite how that adventure goes, so to wrap up, let's overtake this tanker in tons of spray. Thank you for listening to this podcast. It's kept me entertained for at least half of my journey up to Birmingham. If you have any questions, please do email paul@ paulwilkinsonphotography.co.Uk. I've had a couple of really nice emails in the past few weeks. Apologies. I know I've been a little bit slow in getting back to everybody, but it really has been a . a tiny bit, a tiny bit crazy at the studio but also head across to masteringportraitphotography. com which has a heap of stuff all around this beautiful skill of ours or topic of ours the joy, the creativity and the business of portrait photography. [00:46:08] Head over to masteringportraitphotography. com and do please subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. I don't know how you're listening to this right now, but I'll lay you a bet there's a subscribe button there somewhere. Subscribe to the podcast and then it just arrives. You know, you didn't even know you were going to listen to me today, and there you are. [00:46:26] Forty minutes later, whatever it is, I've no idea how long I've been driving and talking forty minutes later, you are sitting thinking, Well, that was worthwhile! Do you know what? I'm really glad I hit that subscribe button. Also, if you get a chance, leave us a review. [00:46:39] If it's a nice review, stick it somewhere public. If it's not such a nice review, email it to me, and then we can make changes to make things better, which is a constant process of evolution. Me and Darwin, well, we'd be great mates. And whatever else, as I head my way north, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP149 Your First Strobe | Use What You Love, Love What You Use](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep149-your-first-strobe-use-what-you-love-love-what-you-use/) In this episode, I get to very briefly chat with Louis Wahl, CEO of WEX Photo Video. Turns out he is a really nice guy (and with luck, I'll get to chat to him in a full-length interview at some point in the future.) It's the great thing about the photography show - I get to meet loads of people! As well as the short chat, the episode is primarily a response to an email I received from 'Steve' asking what first strobe he should choose. Having sat and pieced together an answer, I thought it would be useful to make a podcast out of the answer. I guess you can be the judge of that! Cheers P.[00:00:00] My name is Lewis Wall, and I'm the CEO of Wexphoto Video. Okay. So maybe this needs just a little explanation at the photography show last week, which was a blast. I took my little handheld recorder and just grabbed a few people as I wanted ran the show. And I had a vision of creating one big podcast episode where multiple photographers could answer the same question. [00:00:25] Just questions about the industry, how they felt and why they were, where they're at the show. But when I played them back for a couple of reasons, I didn't think that that was going to work mostly. And you'll hear this in this little snippet. I get quite excited and an hour of that. Well, nobody needs that in their life. [00:00:42] So instead I'm going to sprinkle these little clips. Through some upcoming podcasts just for interest. And so you can hear the views. I have some really interesting people in our industry. [00:00:53] And I started with this guy. Now I bumped into him. And by accident. I was buying a memory card for the recorder. Actually. I needed additional memory card. And so I went and queued at warehouse express, WEX photo and video. Standing there quietly in the queue and the next chapter at the till waved his arm at me, I went over and while I was there, I noticed that it was Louis. It said on his badge CEO. Of WEX photo video. And do you know what I thought I chance, my arm and see if he would be willing to do a short interview. Well, you couldn't have met a nicer guy. And he was very willing to give me a few, a little bit of a viewpoint. And so we grabbed just five minutes and this is that interview. [00:01:33] And I start the conversation with why. Do you come to the photography show? This is where our customers are, uh, and they expect to get the service that we provide to them all the time in the stores, and we provide to them online, as well as our institutional customers, a lot of our professional customers, so, yeah, I mean, this has got to be the place to be. [00:01:52] Where else wouldn't you be at a time like this? This is a brilliant place for us to meet our customers. And, of course, I have to ask you, well, I guess it's an obvious question, but you're a supplier to this incredible industry. Why do you love the photography industry so much? Well, the one thing is that I don't come from a photographic background myself. [00:02:10] I actually come from a kind of a radio television production background. But it's all about the intrinsic desire that our customers have to accomplish something. There's an artistic need, so We've got a mission, which is to help our customers get the perfect shot every time and anytime. People come to us not to buy a black box with a camera in it. [00:02:31] They come to us because they've got a problem, and that's brilliant. So they've got a project, they've got a creative spark, they want to achieve something. And all of the people who work with us, they're all photographers as well. So they've all started with some kind of imaging or background, a creative background. [00:02:46] My last question, this is just a very short set of snippets, but my last question is if you could change just one thing about this beautiful industry of ours, what would it be? That's a tough one. I wouldn't necessarily say it was a perfect industry. I wouldn't say it was problematic. [00:03:02] It's, what would I change? I'd probably make it a bit easier for us to understand how people work. Product is flowing through from the developers, the people who are originally designing it all the way through the end user. 'cause that's often a very translucent, it's almost opaque, so you don't quite understand what's happening there. [00:03:21] Sometimes the big brands will tell you a little bit more about where their thinking is, how they want to develop their technology. But I think what happens is you get a lot of customers who they want to see that they actually wanna see that where, where the technology's going. Because again, they've got these objectives and often it. [00:03:37] You know, it's kind of cased in a little bit of secrecy. I kind of understand that. If you're developing technology, you want to protect it. You want to protect your intellectual property. But that's probably the only thing I would say that's a little bit problematic, yeah? I mean, we went through such a long period of difficulty in terms of production supply. [00:03:56] People were very difficult to find stuff. Um, we're kind of through that now. We can get pretty much what we need. Um, but, uh, you kind of feel this, probably me as not a terribly, um, technologically, uh, kind of genius sort of person. You kind of, well, where does it go next? And I think a lot of people kind of think in that way too. [00:04:15] They want to compete, they want to, they want to grow, they want to develop. So, yeah, I'd say that's probably one area. It's like, what does it look like? You know, what does the future look like? That's probably one question everybody's got. What does the future look like? It's funny, in the last episode I did, one of my laments was, I wish more of the kit was designed with the photographers that are going to use it in mind, as opposed to the guys developing it with their, you know, various bits of interfaces and the way the software, it's all software driven now, everything is software. [00:04:44] Um, and I wish there were more people who are photographers involved in the design phase. But listen, what an absolute pleasure, thank you both for your good service, I've just bought, A very small memory card from you, but over the years, I've spent many thousands with you, but thank you for it. It's my pleasure. [00:04:59] Thank you so much. So, like I said, you can hear me getting very excited, but what a thoroughly decent guy and of course, warehouse express WEX photo video. Is one of those bastions of the industry. It's huge. And it's ultra reliable. I've bought a ton of kit. From them over the years and I'm sure I will continue to do so. [00:05:19] And it was a real pleasure to meet Louis a genuinely nice guy. At least he was in the few minutes I got to chat to him. And hopefully I did leave with a seed that I'll go over and maybe get a chance to record a full length interview with him. Cause I think the insights. From some of our trade suppliers. Would be fascinating for all of us because they've seen the trends and they've got the data on it. [00:05:41] Whereas each of us. Our, in our little silos. So one after the other, I will introduce these little interviews into each of the upcoming podcasts. I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:05:56] So hello. One and all, I hope you well on this, I see quite bright and sunny Sunday evening. It's not particularly warm, but at least for a moment, it isn't. raining yesterday, dance the showers quite a bit. It was a good day yesterday. I've had a good week, lots and lots going on. As you can imagine, we had a training workshop here on Monday, which was an absolute blast. [00:06:33] It was so much fun. We called it a mastering extraordinary to sorry, mastery can't even get my own titles right. Mastering Ordinary To Extraordinary Studio Photography, which is basically about shooting in reasonably confined spaces. [00:06:47] And the guys that came in the workshop with just brilliant. We laughed all day the models big shout out to Kinga and to Libby who were brilliant. The two guys who modeled for us and the whole thing about having a good time, enjoying being creative learning as we go Was just the whole, the whole workshop the whole day. It was fantastic. [00:07:09] So thank you to everyone who came. Also this week. I had two shoots yesterday. You forgive me for telling this story. It was that. It was a good day. Lovely clients, but I did that thing that I do so often, which is to get people's names muddled. And this is yet another one of those extreme examples. Sophie and Matt were the couple and Bertie was their dog. So as we're heading out into the garden to take some pictures in daylight, I'm just double checking their names. [00:07:38] I've got, my phone it's got the appointment on it. I'm just very quickly scanning it to make sure I've got everything I need. It's Sophie and Matt, Sophie and Matt, Sophie and Matt. I've literally, as I put my phone in my pocket. I turned to them and say, right, so Alice and Sam, what are we going to do? And the two of them just look at me. Are you absolutely out of your mind? And the minute they looked at me, I knew I'd got it wrong. [00:08:05] How, how, how can your brain ditch what you've just been reading. I mean, literally, as I said, it. It was seconds after I'd read it. The only name I remembered it was Bertie the dog. It was just, oh, come on. Anyway. Saturday was interesting in as much as, although we've had the alien crumb kit in now for a week or so, saturday was the first day when I've had two full shoots going at my normal pace. [00:08:34] But with all of this new equipment on the upside, let's talk about the upside. The light that they give off is beautiful. And I remember now why I originally chose Elinchrom and why, even when I was using Profoto kit, I would still put Elinchrom modifiers back in to the mix. The light we're getting is just beautiful. [00:08:55] And it, it seems to play really well in our studio. Now, every studio is different. Every photographer's tastes and color profiles, are different. For me, for what I do in the space. I do it, there was a proper magic in the studio and it was, it's hard to describe, but I actually felt quite emotional. That said none of the kids did what I expected to when I expected it. One light turned itself off, eventually found the off timer. [00:09:27] There's a little timer in the settings. So I turned the two backlights off cause I needed to turn the two back lights off, which is fine. But when I powdered them back up again, they wouldn't register on the controller. The controller would trigger them. But it wouldn't read them. [00:09:40] So I had no idea. I. I've got literally thousands of pounds worth of kit in the studio and I'm doing what I used to do, which is to walk up to them and turn the dials on the back. Talk about old school. Maybe just, maybe I need to spend the day with the manual because I'm sure none of this is to do with the kit. [00:10:00] It's all to do with the operator. Again, thank you for putting up with the sound quality on that interview. I've got a load of those coming. It was a lot of fun. To do it and a huge amount of fun, lots of questions, or the same questions to lots of people. And there are some really quite interesting insights in there, but today's podcast. [00:10:19] I was going to talk about something different, but I had this email. That came in during the week and it just simply says the following. [00:10:26] Hi, Paul. I have just listened to the latest podcast. Congratulations on becoming an Elinchrom ambassador. I enjoyed hearing the story of you buying your first strobe and how it has led to you becoming a brand ambassador all these years later. I am probably in a very similar situation to where you were in 2003 i.e. Just thinking of buying my first strobe and I wondered which light you would recommend now. I've been looking at the Godox AD200 as I'm on a limited budget, but we'd love to hear your thoughts. [00:10:57] So there you go. Nice email from Steve and in the process of sitting and tapping a pencil on my teeth as I do. I have actually emailed him back and so this is in some senses a transcript of that email, but I thought it'd be an interesting podcast too. Chew on why you choose the kit. You do. So obviously when I'm going back to someone who asks a question like that, and we get these kinds of questions all the time, what camera, what lighting, what software. In the end. You have to make these decisions and they're all arbitrary, but you live with them for quite a long time. [00:11:33] So how would I go about today, choosing my first strobe? So I have to caveat all of this conversation, as you now know. With the fact that as a brand ambassador for it puts me in an interesting position. Of course, I want to recommend nothing but 'Chroms. Why would I do anything else? But of course, That doesn't suit everybody. [00:11:57] The budgets don't suit everybody. And even in my bag, my camera bag right now. I have a Nikon SB800. I have two Godox V1's. And coincidentally, two Godox AD200's. Because they're small, they do their job. The SB800 is then there because occasionally I want to have on-camera flash. Nikon, well, it plays better with Nikon the than it does with Godox. [00:12:21] So I've got that in there. Um, permanently with it's AA batteries, for those moments when I want to do an on-camera flash very often a direct flash, old school photo journalist style. Whether I'm doing a wedding or without doing something a little bit more commercial either way, but it's a very versatile rig. [00:12:38] And I, at the moment, I don't have an answer to how I'm going to change that. To step a little bit more into line with the Elinchroms. Now don't get me wrong at all. It was a proper emotional moment when I fired up the 'Chroms. Uh, for the first time in an, in anger, I suppose, as the expression, for two paying clients, as opposed to doing junior workshop. We're in a workshop, you have time to think. [00:13:01] So I have time to reset. I have time, to adapt when I'm working with a client, of course, it's quick fire. I had a two year old and a four year old in in the afternoon. And I had a dog in the morning, the knee, none of these are patient. You don't have time. So actually working them was app was brilliant, even if I'll be honest, I haven't quite got my arms around it. [00:13:24] So to answer the question, the AD200 is a really good light. So instead of saying, here's what, here's the right answer. Here's the kit you want? I posed some questions and here's the question list I went back to Steve with for him to answer. [00:13:41] Firstly, and most importantly, what is your budget? And then add 25%, possibly 50%. cause no matter what you think you needed, you're going to need more, whether it's spare batteries, whether it's modifiers to put on the front, whether it's a bracket, that'll put it onto a normal light stand, whatever it may be. You're going to need to add that on the AD200's very good, they're a little bit fiddly. But they are exceptionally. Good for what they do. [00:14:04] And even if, and even, sorry, not with, when I'm out there using my Elinchroms, I am sure that the AD200's will never be far away for little bits of fill light or effects lighting, when I need it. [00:14:16] Do the triggers. This is an important one about studio lighting in particular off-camera flashlight ING. Do the triggers for that system feel right to you? All too often, the bit that is missing from any money fractures lineup is the trigger. They're, they're made, they do their job, but they're not user-friendly. [00:14:34] And I have to say, even after however many years I was using the Profoto. synchro Air TTL. It was never my favorite trigger. I get frustrated with Godox as well is nine times out of 10 when I'm using a strobe, I'm using it in the dark. So what's the one thing I want to be lit up. [00:14:51] It's the buttons on the triggers. I. I know what I'm doing is really, I don't get how for a device that by definition, I'm going to use when the light levels are low. It really is difficult to use in low light levels. I just, yeah, just one of those things and it comes back a little bit. To what Lewis was saying about having the designers of these systems a little bit more transparent. [00:15:14] I'd love to have more designers, more designer input. Sorry, more photographers input into the design processes of some of this kit. Because actually we use it. We know where its weaknesses are. We know what is frustrating when we're down there in the dirt. Trying to get things sorted. [00:15:30] Next question. [00:15:31] What adapters will you need to get a modifier onto the light or will you always use a bare head flash? I asked this because if you're using an AD200 nothing fits it until he put a modifier, a bracket on it that will take. Whether it's Elinchrom, whether it's Profoto, whether it's Godox themselves. Any S- type for instance, an S- type modifier on to the front, but you are going to have to buy some additional brackets. To make that possible. [00:15:59] Are you going to expand the system? [00:16:01] So Steve's email asked. W I'm buying or stated I'm buying my first strobe. What would you recommend? And part of the puzzle is what are you going to do in the future? Is this just one strobe, in which case an AD200 is perfectly fine. Is it going to be part of a set and will it all be the same style? They're big for speed lights, but they're little for strobes AD200's of, I don't know if you've seen them. They sort of look. Sort of rectangular, like, I dunno. Couple of bars of chocolate. taped together. They're not very big. They're very rectangular and they're very good. [00:16:37] But will you always stay with this manufacturer? Are you going to buy into their system? Will you have a Godox controller? And then you'll add Godox studio lights Godox led lights Godox, more Speedlights what are you going to do? Because if you're going to stick with a system. Start with the system that ultimately you want to use. [00:16:57] What modifiers ultimately do you want to use? [00:17:00] Will it be umbrellas or boxes? Are they readily available and affordable. Of course, anything that clips onto an S type adapter, that's the old Bowens adapter, is really relatively speaking available and it's going to be not too expensive, because the manufacturers like good docs and picks was it picks a pro and a few of the others. [00:17:20] They're all adult. Adapting and adopting the S type. And it means you get access to really good quality budget kit. To bolt onto the front. Or, you know, like me, are you fascinated with really beautiful light? And it's not that those modifies don't create beautiful light, but for me, just using a kit, I want to feel good about it. So I've stayed. I've had, I've stayed pretty much with Elinchrom, um, throughout, even though. I was using pro photo strobes. [00:17:47] I was still using my old Elinchrom modifiers because they just lovely. Um, Is it. An additional question who inspires you? Maybe that's an obtuse question. But it's not a bad shout to have a look around. Photographers whose work you really like. And then it doesn't take long to go through their social feeds and figure out what they use. [00:18:10] Because if there's a look you're trying to create, there's a lighting quality it's going to try and create. I mean, in the end, you'll form your own lighting, your own designs, your own style. And that's absolutely right. But more often than not, when you're starting out you're using ideas from other people, you're looking at social feeds, you're looking at websites, you're looking in magazines as much as magazines. It's still a thing. [00:18:35] And you, you, the curiosity is peaked when you see a picture, you really like, and you're thinking, okay, how did they do that? It's never a bad idea to have a look at the kit they've used. And for us here in the studio, for instance, I will constantly look at images and try and figure out what lighting they've used. [00:18:52] But of course then actually our studio isn't that big, so I have to figure out a way round that. The good news is if you can figure out a way around it, you can use pretty much any kit. The bad news is there are some things I can't do. There's some lighting patterns. I simply don't have the space typically overhead to be able to do. But either way go and have a look at the people you really, really admire and are inspired by and have a look at their kit and see if that's something that might feed in to the conversation. [00:19:21] This is one of those techie dweeby things, but what is the battery life? And are you going to exceed it? And by battery life, I don't mean it, the total lifespan of the battery, I mean, is it going to go flat at the moment you really want to take a photograph and as such. How much are the spare batteries. [00:19:38] Some of these manufacturers that, you know, in additional batteries, 500, 600, 700 quid. And it's fine if you've got the money. But. You know, maybe that's just too much. Or would you, for instance, if you're only going to work in a studio, will mains power do you? Now here at the studio, I've taken a view to move away from mains, but for no, not because I want to take the strobes out on location necessarily, but because we have children running around, we have dogs running around and having mains cables is not ideal. [00:20:10] My Profoto B1's We're brilliant for that could keep them out of the way the kids, the tripods are all weighted down. There's no cables. The only downside is if I use the modeling lights, batteries are going to go flat pretty quickly. So have a look at the batteries and what strategy you're going to have for keeping things charged up during a day of shooting. [00:20:29] And then the final one I think was do you need modeling lights? If you're like me a photographer that uses modeling lights as your guide, how are you going to do that with something like the AD200 and although the manufacturer Godox do claim that it has a modeling light on it, it's really small. [00:20:45] It's not going to do you an all flood a good it's. Okay. If you're in a really dark space. And you just need to see what you're doing. It does. Okay. But it's not great. In my opinion from that, but if you don't need it, then that's absolutely, brilliant. So it's instead of answering really for Steve. [00:21:03] I don't know what he was expecting: buy that one. that'll be fine. What could go wrong? [00:21:07] I've opposed yet more questions. But I think this is how you choose your kit. And this goes across all types of kit. These are the types of questions. You need to ask yourself. And for me, I think the really important ones, the fundamental one. Is what is your budget? [00:21:23] Because in the end, particularly if like me, you, when you're living from it, You have to show a return on that investment for every bit of kit you buy over its lifespan. What is your budget? [00:21:36] The next thing you have to ask yourself is going to, is it going to do the job? I need it to do. Because as always, there's a thousand ways of doing everything. And every manufacturer will tell you their way is the right way. [00:21:50] And every manufacturer is absolutely right. But what do you do? You got to pick one in the end. [00:21:56] And that's the final question. [00:22:00] Do you want to pick it up and do you want to use it? And that's the most important question of all when it comes to being creative. Because if you don't utterly love using the kit, it land. In a box and that is a proper waste of money. You have to buy the kit that you love and that makes you want to create images. That, that there's no getting around that because if you don't buy something that makes you smile and makes you want to pick up your camera and create a picture, then you'll never use it. [00:22:31] And that really is, a waste of money. [00:22:35] So on that happy note, this is a shorter episode. I'm hoping to go back to my weekly recordings, but we'll see how we go. So far so good. I hope the little interview snippet with Louis at the beginning, was interesting is only short, but I thought he had a really nice way about him and a really intriguing Viewpoint on the industry and it's always interesting to talk to these guys. [00:22:55] As a thank you for him being recorded. I'm giving warehouse express a free plug. There's no arrangement here at all. I buy stuff from them. Much as I buy it from other suppliers too, but I really, I really rate warehouse expresses customer service. I have had. I'm sure if you troll around, you'll find people with different stories. But the story I have is they've always been exceptional. They've always delivered on time. They've always been good value. They are one of those companies where their customer service is rock solid and their stock levels also a pretty high. So if you want it, you can get it and you're going to get it when they say it will arrive. [00:23:33] So you can't say much better than that. So on that happy note, thank you for listening. Thank you for getting into the end of this particular episode and as always, please do subscribe to the podcast, wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Please also leave us a review. Oh, I'm one of the main platforms. [00:23:50] We love it when we see ratings and reviews on iTunes, because of course it is the biggest platform for podcasts of them all but wherever it is that you listen to your podcasts, please do leave us a review. Of course, if you ever have any questions, just like Steve did, please drop me a line. [00:24:06] It's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. That's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. Um, I did mention the workshops we're running. We're ramping those up just at the moment, having a blast. It's so much fun. We've had the nicest models and more importantly, the nicest attendees on our workshops, they're very friendly. [00:24:28] They're very funny. We have a really, just a good time laughing and taking or laughing and creating beautiful images. If you fancy one of our workshops, please head over to Paul Wilkinson photography and look for the coaching section or just Google paul Wilkinson photography workshops and you will land on them. Without a shadow of a doubt and head over to masteringportraitphotography.com, the spiritual home of this podcast. Which has a ton of resources for portrait photographers, whether it's about the creativity. The artistry, the enjoyment or the business of this wonderful art. [00:25:02] And until next time when I should be presenting yet another snippet from the photography show. , thank you for listening and be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP150 Sign Your Work | Your Signature Is Your Certificate Of Quality](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep150-sign-your-work-your-signature-is-your-certificate-of-quality/) Ever wondered why you should sign your work? Well, in this, our 150th episode, we have chat about it. But before that, a quick catchup with Charlie Kaufman of Click Group at The Photography Show - head to https://www.clickliveexpo.co.uk/ to see details of one of the most exciting events in years! There is also news of the PMI Smoke Genie / Smoke Ninja competition - a fantastic opportunity to get creative and win some hefty prizes. The details for this brilliant competition can be found here: https://pmigear.com/pages/smokeninja-portrait-contest Good luck! If you're interested in any of our workshops or masterclasses, you can find them at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ Enjoy (and sign your work!) Cheers P.[00:00:00] OK there are one or two fruity words in this episode. If you're offended by swearing then I do apologise! [00:00:05] So I'm here at the photography show up in the NEC in Birmingham, have just bumped in to one of the big characters in the industry. So tell me a little bit about who you are. So, Charlie Kaufman, Honorary Fellow of the Societies, uh, been in the business for 35 years, professional, and I've run the Click Group for 30 years. [00:00:27] Started in 1994. And you've got several other letters after your name. I thought it was KFA, but you said it was No, it wasn't KFA. FKA, as my mum always says, fucking know all, uh, excuse my language, but no, a fellow of the societies, I was the youngest, uh, BIPP licensorship and MPA, uh, licentiate when I was just 17 years old, so two years into the industry, I'm also the CEO of Click Backdrops and Click Live, a new expo launching at Stoney Park, Coventry, this June. Tell me why you've come to the photography show. So it's all about brand awareness. Clip Backdrops, uh, exhibits at all of the major trade shows in the, in the world. [00:01:04] We do about 100, 000 miles with my partner in crime, Gary Hill. He's got more letters after his name than the alphabet, and Gary and I love doing the trade shows because it gets our British made, award winning product in the hands of creative photographers, so they can see the difference of why they're investing in a quality product. [00:01:23] Why do you love this photography industry of ours so much? I love it because it's changing. I love being in an industry where we make money from giving people creative memories for people, creating art. I love the fact that being the owner of a company, I'm in control and I can pivot in a heartbeat in which direction I want to take my company. [00:01:44] And that's one of the problems that a lot of British photographers don't do is pivot enough and change quickly enough. But being a small company, we're very quick at changing. We can actually have an idea to marketplace sometimes within a week. [00:01:57] And if there's one thing you could change about the photography industry that we know so well, what would it be? [00:02:03] Well, I'm going to hone in on the British photography industry, and what we need to change is we need to get British photographers getting more educated. Uh, as Big Dog Damien once said, the better, the easiest way to make more money as a photographer is to be a better photographer. I completely agree with that. Visiting ten U. S. expos a year, these expos sometimes start at 7am and these photographers are in classes and learning till midnight every single day. And that's one of the reasons that my team and I have launched Click Live, a brand new, uh, educational expo launching Stony Park, Coventry this June, where we've brought in the biggest educators from around the world. I mean, we've got Lindsay Adler, we've got Chris Knight, but we've also got other educators that have never even taught before in Europe, like Kimberly Smith, one of the world's best digital artists. So we want to give British photographers and European photographers, the opportunity to learn, hone in their craft and get better. Because the better you are, the more money you should make out of photography. It's as simple as that. [00:03:04] Brilliant. And I have to say, it's an honour and a privilege to be a very small part of that operation. I'm very... [00:03:09] ...an important part of that. Not a small part, an important Don't sell yourself short, Paul. You're an important part as we launch Clickmasters, a digital and print competition. And the nice thing about our print competition? Our educators at the show are not allowed to enter. So they're there to mentor and help and, and train, but they can't enter this year's competition. [00:03:33] Excellent. Well, I'll tell you what, I'm beyond excited about it. [00:03:36] Thanks for talking to me, Charlie. See you I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:03:43] Can you believe it? 150. Episodes honestly. I never really thought about it when I set this thing going about six years ago and here we are. 150 episodes later. I thought, I think I thought it would just be somewhere where I could get things off my chest -a sort of passive therapist, I suppose, and let's face it, we all need one of those mine, well, mine, just happens to be a microphone. [00:04:29] Since then I've muttered about, oh, so many things, have interviewed all sorts of people and received well, many and varied emails. I've also been told I do have a face for radio, and that even happened again, today. [00:04:46] But I'll take those little wins when people tell me they find the podcast either interesting or at the very least, something that passes time on a journey. Anyway, that interview was with the wonderful Charlie Koufman, who not only is the owner of Click Backdrops, which are brilliant and British. I will put the link in the show notes, but it's also the inspiration behind the upcoming Click Live convention, Which you will all be hearing about. In the coming months and I cannot wait to see you there. [00:05:16] So here we are, it's April. And how are you? Did you have a good weekend? I hope you did. Sarah and I went down to Plymouth in Devon, Southern England. As well more almost as far south as you can get. In the UK with Harriet, our daughter and had a wonderful weekend with my in-laws. [00:05:36] We drank a little beer. We ate a little chocolate, actually, we ate a lot of chocolates. We bought some Devon fudge and we painted some pottery. Yep. You heard that right. We went pottery painting. It was Sarah's idea. She wanted to do something that was a little different, maybe a little creative pass a couple of hours. [00:05:55] The weather wasn't predictable. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. It was just well crazy. And so we headed inside to do a little pottery painting. And apart from a very slight mismatch in how things were explained to us,- it turns out, I guess I've got a face that looks like a primary school child, as the explanations were to put it mildly a little basic, but I guess in the end, the heart and soul were very much where they should be. [00:06:26] And we had a blast. [00:06:29] Well, at least we did, as long as we dab-dab-dabbed, and we didn't wipe-wipe-wipe because if we were caught wipe-wipe-wiping There would be ter-ouble. We would be shown the error of our ways and instructed to get back to that dab-dab-dabbing. Anyway, it turns out I'm pretty good at dab-dab-dabbidy-dab-dabbing. [00:06:48] And I spent nearly two hours, literally dubbing black glaze onto a pot, on which I could then paint a wintery woods, kinda scene. [00:06:58] Harriet and Sarah. Well, they're a little more subtle with their craft with gentle blues and teals, little tiny flowers and spots of detail. Subtle understated, gloriously sophisticated. While mine was anything but that, but Hey, I need a new pen pot. As I have knocked my tin mug off the desk, yet again, today. And I really do need something that is seriously heavy, preferably black and well, it'd be nice if it was something that was a little unique. I'll get no points for subtlety, but I'll get plenty for the drama. [00:07:32] And since it's been a long, long bank holiday weekend, there isn't too much to report on the diary of a working pro front, at least not in terms of shoots because we took the weekend away, took the time off. And so we haven't been shooting that much. [00:07:48] We have had a couple of portrait sessions Hearing Dogs, just Hearing Dogs, brilliant, fun as always. And a one-to-one workshop here at our studio. And I love. Workshops. And I love this one in particular. A guy called Dave came down. And we spent the day creating, I think, well, I think. I think some magic, two of my clients now for models, we always use our clients. We don't usually use professional models because at the end of the day training photographers with models sets the sets an expectation that it's always going to be that easy. [00:08:24] And of course it's never that easy. So Charlene and Katie came in as our models for the day. And while they may not be professional models , they are both just splendidly, photogenic, and more importantly, incredible people to spend time, laughing with working with and playing with light around. [00:08:42] And I love, I do genuinely love these one to ones. Because they are entirely bespoke, they're entirely creative. We have the time to sit and answer any questions. We can explore ideas and let, well, let the client just guide us, which is exactly what we did. And the images that we finished up with well, everything I ever set out to do. Had such a blast. Dave was brilliant and I hope he went away with the same amount of energy that I've come away with. Just that idea that tomorrow, well tomorrow, we're going to create some magic. And as low, we haven't shot that much in the studio this week, well, next week is a whole different story. And there is going to be well busy, but while we haven't shot much this week, there is still a ton going on. [00:09:32] Today in particular had my kitlist through from Elinchrom, which is really exciting. I'm still sort of working out what we really need, but it looks like we have it almost nailed down. The big decision is around the Elinchrom Threes. Now I've sorted out the Fives, we're going to get four of those and they will be almost permanently in studio I think. But the Threes are really quite exciting though. There, there are about 250 Watt seconds, so about half that just a little over half that of the fives. But I think they'll be massively useful when I'm out on location. They are big enough to do some serious work and small enough that I can pop them in a bag and have them with me. [00:10:15] So. [00:10:15] I'll let you know, as soon as that kicks in, I'm sure there will be videos, a little bits and pieces going on and I can't wait to do it. [00:10:21] Another email that came in this morning. And it's one. I reacted to really quickly. Practical Magic and Innovations emailed in. Now you'll probably know them is P M I. And they're the guys who make the incredible Smoke Ninja and Smoke Genie smoke machines. The fog machines they've been in touch. And wanted us to help them get the word out about a competition they're running and I'll put the links to the competition in the show notes again. But basically it's an international competition, a photographic competition, but it must feature the use of either the Smoke Ninja. Oh, the Smoke Genie. [00:10:59] Now I'm already a fan, of course of the Smoke Ninja is the one that I bought as part of the Kickstarter agreement, so I'm already a big fan and I've spoken about this on the podcast before. I love the thing, I think it's genius. It should be called the Smoke Genius, but it's great. And I know one or two of you have already bought one of these based on my recommendation. It's great fun to play with. [00:11:21] It's not that expensive. The fog that it gives out is hugely controllable and incredibly photogenic. So given there's a few of you with these things, of course, I have agreed, to put the word out about the competition. Once again, show notes will be the place to go, but I'm going to even, I'm going to enter it this time. [00:11:38] You have to create some images and also show some behind the scenes. I'm guessing it's a great opportunity, for them to get both the finished pictures and pictures of their Smoke Genie or Smoked Ninja in use price is pretty big. There's about $10,000 of them and some big names involved. So why not head to them? [00:11:57] I'll put the link up why not head to them and have a look? [00:12:00] Not only that, but I got an email this morning. From data color, who've shipped some kit for me to review. That'll come up in some future episodes, our to use the Datacolor photo Checkr, which is brilliant. [00:12:12] It's part of our workflow anyway, but they're going to send me the updated version as well as the cube, which looks like to me, I haven't used this thing yet. I'll let you know once I actually use it properly, but it looks to me like it allows for backlight to be measured to white balance of backlight to be measured as well. Which looks like good, fun. Because we use a lot of mixed lighting. But not only that they are going to send me the video checker as well. Which allows us to color calibrate as part of our video workflow. [00:12:39] Now I'm not big in video yet, but we are having to learn how to do it, and one of the things that constantly frustrates me is I can't seem to get the colors, as I want them a lot of homework to do. I need to understand video color spaces air slog, and the like, but I'll have the video color checker from Datacolor in the toolkit, and that hopefully will be a small part of the puzzle. I've not only understanding but controlling it. The color. These, I think these products will appear properly in a future podcast once I've had a chance to play with them and understand, I understand quite what I'm talking about. Cause I'm not a video guy. I need to go and ask some video guys about the best way of using it. A quick update on ACDSee, just again, a reminder. I am not paid by any of these people ACDSee sent me a license to have a play with and I've kept my word. [00:13:32] I've used it. I still use it. I love it. I absolutely love it. I guess I'm not paid, but they have given me a license for. I think the license for the Apple. For the Mac, that is about 60, 70, quid. The speed of ACDSee is absolutely blistering and I love working with it. Haven't quite worked out how to get the very best out of it. [00:13:50] As it turns out 300,000 images with the facial recognition turned on, maybe pushing the upper limits of our network and my machine. But I still love having it there alongside everything else I do in Lightroom. It's so quick. It's so handy. I love the way it just works or interacts in with the file system, which means I can always have, I've always got access to files, to drag and drop, throw them up onto Facebook, throw them up onto Instagram, put them into designs. [00:14:18] It's just really useful. It's the kind of software you feel almost. Should be built into the operating system, but isn't, it's just so natural to use. Absolutely love it again. As I get my head around that I'll give you more, more updates. [00:14:31] Right. So where are we? Let's have a think about my thought for today. Now this one. Is about signing your work or singeing your work. As it was the first three times I wrote it down, signing, not singeing. [00:14:47] Don't singe your work. That is no good to anybody signing your work. I heard someone say a while ago this couple of years ago. That signing your work is pretentious. [00:15:00] And all I can say is what utter, utter, bullshit. [00:15:06] Sorry. I'm sorry. I know, I know. I shouldn't be emphatic in such a way. Everyone's got their own way of doing things and each to their own. But just occasionally something pops up that is purely, and simply, bullshit. This is one of them. [00:15:24] Sign your work. [00:15:26] If I could write a song called cite your work. It sounded a bit like Sunscreen. Maybe I should figure that out. Sign your work. [00:15:34] My dad taught me many years ago. That you should sign everything. Now my Dad was a wise guy is so many ways an idiot. It's so many others, but a wonderful human being. And this was one where I think he was absolutely right. He said, sign it. And when I said, why well he said, firstly, well, why not? But he also said you do it because you never quite know who might see it, in the future. Isn't that the truth. [00:16:03] So I was working at British Steel, in my early twenties as a work placement, my dad was working there. As well, he ran all of the competing and I got a work placement in their design office. And as part of that, they asked me to create some huge 3d visuals of the galvanizing plants that shot and steelworks British steel. [00:16:24] And there's this, they have these coatings lines where they take a coil of steel and they'd run it through the line and coat it with either a plastic coat or some paint coat, but the line I was really interested in coated it. With zinc. It was the hot dip galvanizing line. And this line was around about three quarters of a mile long. [00:16:43] It was huge. [00:16:45] And they wanted me to create some 3d drawings of it. Now this is going back before we would simply have done all of it in 3d CAD and rendered it. They wanted 3d drawings. But they were then going to go off to an airbrusher to go into British Steel's brochures. So my job was to create the line work, the art, the sort of the technical drawing work. [00:17:08] But the best way of doing that was is it happened to create a 3d model of it. But back then, we're talking about really early versions of AutoCAD and the output of AutoCAD. Wasn't very controllable and it certainly didn't create appealing visuals. What it did do though, is give me these huge, A0 printouts that I could then place a piece of tracing paper over the top and much the same way as a comic artist inks in over the pencil. From the original illustrator I then inked it. And that created these really beautiful. [00:17:40] I thought they were beautiful anyway - these really beautiful. Inked drawings of these vast lines that could be annotated and airbrushed by a graphic design team. And I signed them. And I signed him just in case somebody else saw them. Somebody did, and I got more work from it. I've got a lot of plaudits for my work as well, all because they saw my signature and asked who Paul was. [00:18:07] Now it doesn't work for everybody, I guess. But here at the studio we sign every frame and every album that goes out, it's got our brand on it. That signature. Is our brand just like Apple or Jaguar or Pepsi, Tiffany, Nikon or even the guys I worked with a little bit more regularly, like Elinchrom, or even PMI who've emailed today. It's their logo and that represents their brand. [00:18:38] Now, if you're putting work out there without your logo or your signature on it, not only are you missing an important opportunity, an important opportunity that might just lead to more work might just lead to a brand recognition, like we've built . But I also think you're quietly saying you're not really proud of what you do. The signature we put on our work says I am proud of it. Really proud of it. Every time. Every time we create something here. We ask ourselves the question. Are we happy to put the Paul Wilkinson photography signature -my signature. On it. And if the answer to that is not clear. [00:19:21] Cut. Yes, of course. Then that piece of work never goes near a client. Ever. The brand custodian side of our business is all about that signature and being proud. To put it on our work, being proud to say, yep, I've seen that. But at work. I think that warrants a signature and I'm very happy for other people to see it too. [00:19:42] Now is that pretentious? Well, I suppose you could argue it is, but I don't think it is. I think what it's saying is I'm really proud of what we've done. I'm really proud of the effort we've put into it. And I don't think that's pretentious. Pretentions come from almost the opposite from trying to be something you're not, that's not what your signature is, your signature or your logo represent you and they represent your values and they represent your brand. They're everything you stand by and you stand for. Now, if you think your logo screams pretentions, then, well, maybe you need to adjust quite what you believe in and what your brand stands for, but from where I'm sat. I think you should sign every single bit of your work. [00:20:32] Anyway, I'll get down off my soap box. Sorry about that just sometimes, you know, just sometimes there are things I think we have to just get off our chest. And when it comes to your signature sign, your work, people sign your work. [00:20:45] Don't listen to what anybody else says. Get that signature on there. You never know who might be watching. Anyway. 150 episodes. One or two of you have listened to all of them. One or two of you have listened to all of them in the past 60 days. I did have an email from someone this week. And it said they've been working their way through them at a rate of a little over two episodes a day. And they are 50 something days in and heading towards catching up. [00:21:15] I think that's absolutely, hilarious. Flattering and lovely, but well, slightly hilarious. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to the end of this particular episode. I hope as always there's something of use or if nothing else. It's got you to work in your car and you can now switch the radio off and go face the day knowing there are other people out there feeling and thinking the same things as you. Uh, if you'd like to hear more of these episodes, please do subscribe wherever it is that you get your podcasts. [00:21:49] Please hit that subscribe button. And then every time I hit publish, you get to hear it, which I think is a marvelous thing. Please do also. If you would like to leave us a review. And a five-star rating somewhere, wherever it is. You consume your podcasts, please. Do we love it when you do? And of course it helps get the word out there. [00:22:07] It helps get the podcast out there. It helps make some of this stuff possible. Also if you have any questions, please do email paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk, that's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk If you're interested in our workshops or indeed one of our, one to one masterclasses, then please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching section of the website. [00:22:33] Alternatively, just stick paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops into your Google-y Browsery thing and you will find us. [00:22:41] And if you fancy more content, that's all about the joy, the brands, the business, the creativity, of portrait photography, then why not head over to masteringportraitphotography.com, which is not only a vast resource of portrait photography stuff, but is also the spiritual home of this 'ere podcast. [00:23:01] But whatever else. whatever else. Until next time. Be kind to yourself. and stick yer signature on things. Take care. [00:23:14] ### [EP151 What Does It Take?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep151-what-does-it-take/) So what does it take to be successful (at least as a portrait photographer?) In this episode I muse on the key building blocks that every successful photographer I've encountered seems to exhibit, at least to varying degrees! This episode also features a quick catchup with Andy Blake from Kaleidoscope Framing (https://www.kaleidoscope-framing.co.uk/) who have been our supplier for nearly twenty years. Why? Because their products and their customer service are second to none! The PMI Smoke Ninja Photographic Competition is now in full swing - deadline is 5th May so what's stopping you? Head over to https://pmigear.com/pages/smokeninja-portrait-contest to read all about it. The Smoke Ninja is genius! Actually, it should be called the Smoke Genius... I also mention Datacolor's excellent products in the podcast, in particular the Spyder Cube, the Spyder Checkr Photoand the Spyder Checkr Video - they can be found at https://www.datacolor.com/spyder/products/ We have used these products for years and years and I would never go on location without them! If you're interested in any of our workshops or masterclasses, you can find them at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/ Enjoy! ### [00:00:00] Meet Andy: The Heart of Kaleidoscope Framing [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Andy I'm the general manager at Kaleidoscope. [00:00:02] Tell me a little bit about Kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscope. Okay, so we're coming up to our 26th year in business. We are a bespoke picture framer, mainly for the photographic industry, so we basically can make anything you want. So, as long as we can actually build it, we'll do it, it's as simple as that. ### [00:00:18] Why Kaleidoscope Attends the Photography Show [00:00:18] Tell me why you come to the photography show. So we come to Photography Show, uh, mainly to obviously try and drum up more business, new customers, but also see our existing customers and show off our products, ideas, what we can achieve, what we can do, and try and inspire photographers into what they can tell and display their work like. ### [00:00:36] Andy's Passion for Photography and Its Impact [00:00:36] Why do you love the photography industry so much? I've always had a passion for photography. I know we've spoke before on your podcast, uh, from a young, young age. Um, don't do as much of it myself anymore. Uh, unfortunately, uh, more involved in this side. But I love photography in terms of what that moment can capture. [00:00:54] What you can hold that freeze frame, that image for time. Um, and look back at it. And just, you know, it's memories, isn't it? You're capturing memories, you're capturing happy moments, sad moments, uh, important moments, lots of different memories from people's lives at different times, so. [00:01:09] Uh, if you could change one small thing, or one big thing for that matter about this glorious industry, what would it be? [00:01:17] That's a tough one. I don't know. I don't know what I'd change. Um, obviously for us, for us as a company, I'd change in terms of trying to encourage people to sell more products. That was what, that's what we would change, uh, in terms of helping us as a business. [00:01:31] But it's, in terms of the industry? Sorry, on that note, I'll stop you and we'll just drill into that a little bit. ### [00:01:38] The Value of Physical Art in a Digital Age [00:01:38] Do you think that photographers understand the importance and the role that finished artworks, whether it's in albums, which you don't do, or whether it's in a frame, as opposed to the fleeting pixel base like phones, iPads, TV screens, do you think they understand the difference and the importance of it? [00:01:57] Not everyone, no. I think there's an element where in a day Very digital driven world. Social media and images being on screens, and I think a lot of people don't realize how different an image can look when you put it up on the wall, when you print it big, when you put a mount around it, put a frame around it, put it onto a canvas, laminate it. [00:02:15] There's so many different options or ways to display that image. I think when you see an image framed up, we. Customers where we print their images and display them here, uh, as you've seen yours, and I'm amazed actually how often people, the first thing they say is, I didn't think it would look that good. [00:02:30] I never thought it could look that good. And, and it goes to show that actually displaying it large, printing it and putting it onto some paper can make such a difference to seeing it on screen, seeing it on the back of the camera, whatever it may be. So, and by extension, I've got a few clients that say they put their, these frames like in a. [00:02:44] Position of prominence, not necessarily visibility, but somewhere they'll see it every day, like the top of the stairs, or somewhere they, you know, walk through a hallway or something, and they enjoy that moment, they relive those memories every single time they look at a frame, and that's something I think digital products don't do, they're much more fleeting. [00:03:02] No, I'd completely agree with that. We moved into our new house in December, and I'm still trying to get frames on the wall, and it's the one thing I'm missing. In our old house, we had lots of frames. Of lots of small frames with lots of captured memories and, and I used to love it walking past the stairs and you'd see 25 frames on the wall, lots of different things. [00:03:17] And now it, we don't at the moment. So that's, I'm driving for that because it does, it, it, it brings back that, that memory, that spark, that emotion from that moment. [00:03:25] Thank you very much, Andy. I'll talk to you soon. Thank you. [00:03:28] Honestly, it's one of the greatest things about being a part of this industry is the people I've met along the way. And Andy. He's definitely one of them. ### [00:03:35] The Busy Life of a Portrait Photographer [00:03:35] I'm Paul, and this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:03:40] So I've been in London this afternoon, we've had such a chaotic few weeks. It's nine o'clock at night. Actually it's half past nine at night. And I'm sitting on my own in the studio with just the whirring of the heating. And a couple of disc drives, chattering weight in the background. And if I'm honest, I've just found myself asleep at my desk because finally I've managed to get myself back into the habit of doing some exercise. [00:04:19] And so when we got back from London tonight, I hopped onto the Peleton and did an hour, but all it's actually happened is I'm just exhausted because it really has been a few weeks and it must have been because I haven't recorded any podcasts and that's in spite of me, not just promising. I suppose all of my listeners, but promising myself. I would do more and I do them shorter, but actually the reality is finding the space, not just the time I suppose, but the headspace to sit and do a podcast. Well, it's just alluded me a little bit. [00:04:55] So it's me. I'm on my own. A little bit of peace and quiet and I think at the moment, Things are a little bit like playing Mario carts. I love Mario karts. Cause once you get to know the course, you get to know where you're headed, what's coming up, what you've got to do. But in spite of that, well, usually my family, uh, throwing stuff at me, banana skins Inc. [00:05:18] Shrink me. You name it? ### [00:05:20] The Art and Business of Photography: A Personal Journey [00:05:20] Um, but then there's also those boosts where you get that little bit of extra energy and off you go, and I think running a photography studio. Is a little bit light that. It's kind of crazy. It's full on. You're running at a hundred miles an hour. Things are thrown at you that in spite of the fact you think, you know where you're going and what's coming up next. Well, life doesn't work that way. [00:05:41] So what's happened over the past. What's it been? Three and a half weeks, I think since I released a podcast. Uh, in that time we've done nine client reveals, which has been a really nice, hugely successful, which is lovely. Uh, we've done 15 portrait sessions, which means there's a whole load of reveals coming up. Um, we've judged the monthly for the BIPP, which is something I absolutely adore doing. Um, I'm chair of the judges. Uh, chair of awards and qualifications for the BIPP. [00:06:10] So I'm not strictly speaking. Judging. So I get to be a part of the process and I really enjoy that. Uh, cause it takes a little bit the pressure off Sarah and I coordinate it. And bring it all together and make sure everything's running smoothly and keep an eye on the scores. But in the end, the pressure's not on me to analyze all of these images. [00:06:28] Having said that though. Uh, over the past couple of days, I've been judging for the Photographic Society of America. Uh, which is a blast as he seeing some work from around the world. Uh, the BIPP though it is an international organization is predominantly a UK photographers, but the photographic society of America is exactly the opposite of that. [00:06:47] In fact, I'm not sure how many UK guys. are in it. And so to see work from all over the world. And he's just a real pleasure. Um, Don two shoots for the Hearing Dogs, including photographing, uh, Chris Packham. TV presenter and natural history sort of buff. I suppose it was a wonderful thing, actually. [00:07:09] I didn't know quite how I'd find him, cause it's never, you're never certain when you meet people, who've been on TV. Uh, quite what they're going to be like. And he's quite outspoken about various things, but he could not have been a nicer guy. And at the end of all of the shooting, we sat in a park and had a quick, it was a Coke. I say it was, it was a pub, but we had a diet Coke at a hot chocolate. [00:07:31] And do you know what. There was a window. There was a window in exactly the way I describe how to set up light in the studio is it was, it could not have been more like a one meter square softbox and so I persuaded him to sit and we had a chat about photography and production and all sorts of things. Uh, and I took a couple of portraits of him using window light in a pub. [00:07:55] Exactly as I describe how I learned today. So that was lovely. [00:07:59] Uh, we've done five wedding pitches so far I've lost one, but one, all of the others, which I think is pretty good going. What's that 80% I'll live with 80%. The one that I lost was one that. You know, when you get a pitch. And your instinct is always to want to win. [00:08:16] That's just inbuilt. But it was a job I couldn't figure out. Whether it was going to be tricky. And I'm not going to say more about it than that because I don't, I, you know, I don't want those prospective clients, if they happen to listen, to the podcast. You know, obviously they've decided to use somebody else or to go somewhere cheaper. [00:08:36] Actually, I was too expensive. The price we put in was too much. Um, and they were lovely people. Absolutely brilliant. And I would have loved working with them. But the job was such that it would have meant cancelling, some other bits to do it. A couple of, um, Extended stays and a few of the bits and pieces. [00:08:53] And I think in the end, I though I lost it. And of course you never, ever, ever. I want to lose work, my suspicion is the time that it would have taken. We'll drop a couple of portraits shoots in there. We'll stand, you know, we'll, we'll learn about the same kind of revenue for probably a lot less work in the end. [00:09:11] So hello, 80%. So I've lost one, one for. Uh, I'm going to live with that. That's pretty good. ### [00:09:17] Embracing Change and Challenges in Photography [00:09:17] Ah, I've almost, almost completely finished, ripping out. I say a ripping out. It makes it sound like a gutted, the place. Uh, reorganizing the studio. Uh, for the Elinchrom kit that we now have, because of course, I've got to take out all of the existing adapters. Change out all of the, um, any of the sort of third party kits. [00:09:38] So we've sold all of the Profoto equipment back to, uh, the Pro Center in London. Got a good price rate. So that's makes me very happy. Sarah drove that into London and deliver that safely to those guys. So thank you to them. Ashley for having a brilliant service. They took it in on a Friday morning, checked it all over. Uh, and paid us on Friday afternoon. Um, which was really useful. [00:09:57] I sold it as a job lot in the end. Because it was easier rather than trying to split it up. A few people had shown interest in bits and pieces. But, you know, it's just, sometimes it's just easy. I took a slightly lower price. And offset that against the fact it was an awful lot less. Uh, an awful lot less worry and effort on our part. [00:10:18] So Sarah drove that in, but of course I've got a ton of adapters. Softboxes kit that is sort of, I dunno, got ox or aperture, different manufacturers that were all based around Profoto in of course now I've got to change all of that over, put new adapters on. So that, um, I can use the as the light source. [00:10:38] And on top of that, all of the charges are very different. All USB C, and they're great. I wasn't certain how I was going to react to having. USB C charges everywhere. Uh, but I bought a couple of very long cables. for them and, they're 60watt. I mean, they're pretty meaty these things. I'm going to have to remember not to leave them plugged in. [00:10:56] Cause I don't know quite, I got to get a measurement on them because I don't know if they're left, plugged in whether they're still generating or absorbing that kind of power because they're digital transformers. So they must be absorbing some power. But they're great. And you can run the lights off them continuously, or you can unplug them. [00:11:13] And of course their batteries. Uh, but more on the, on the telecom side in a bit. Uh, another thing that happened is that a friend of ours, who's a wine collector. Everyone should have a wine collector as a friend. I delivered on, uh, where was it? Beginning of the week. Must have been Saturday. He delivered six more. Of the wine crates, the wooden wine boxes that he gets his really valuable, very beautiful wine delivered in, and they are amazing for storage, but also great as props. So, um, that was really, really nice. To see him and also to get these crates. [00:11:47] So it's helped me organize. Uh, stuff in the studio. Uh, also, I, I saw some video there's some behind the scenes footage of one of our workshops. And there's a pan around and it's brilliant. It's vibrant and it's fun. But I looked at just the ount of stuff we've got in the studio. And made the decision there and then that we needed to get some of it out of there. [00:12:08] So I've been redistributing things that don't get used quite so often as other things that then are scattered around the studio, probably never to be found again, I'll be scratching my head one day thinking now where's that particular softbox well, that particular modifier where's the beauty dish con the things that I don't use very much. Where are they? Uh, and I've got to go on a hunt in the attic. Uh, to find them. Uh, what else? [00:12:31] We've written three or I've written three magazine articles, one for NPhoto magazine. One for Digital Photographer, magazine, Digital Photography. Uh, magazine and one for Professional Photo magazine says three in one week. I had to turn. That was quite lively. A lot of writing, a lot of scratching my head about the different things. Eh, love writing. [00:12:52] I'm loving, writing more and more and more. I've surprised myself. I think I've certainly, I would surprise, surprise my English teacher. If only he knew the effect that ultimately many, many years. Uh, down the line, he had had a lot of fun that, so please do look those guys up that's NPhoto, which is the unofficial Nick on magazine. Uh, that's also assay, technically I've written four. I'm just thinking I've also written a piece on print and its place in this ever. Digital and file based industry and why actually a lot of us still use it. Uh, that article. Is part of a whole debate in the BIPP magazine, in The Photographer. Uh, magazine, but look up Professional Photo it's online look, up NPHoto, and also an article isn't out yet, which is about the bit I've looked after is about switching digital backgrounds. Uh, in Digital Photography magazine. [00:13:46] We've had two one-on-one coaching sessions or master classes, which is always a blast because you get to spend the entire day just figuring out stuff with one person, a couple of models on each different things, whether it's off-camera flash or whether it's dedicated to daylight or both. [00:14:03] Of course, when it's only one person. You can do whatever you want. [00:14:06] Uh, we ran one of our workshops in Oxford, which is the, uh, walking around the streets, looking for interesting places to photograph workshop. I said a name for it. Uh, streets. It's not really, I don't like calling it street photography because street photography is a thing. [00:14:21] And it's not that it's finding places, finding light, figuring out how to create imagery and how to invent shots when all you've got is the space you're in the face in front of you and the camera in your hands. And I love working like that. In fact, today I sit to sound away in, so on the way in for the shoot I'm doing that, I was doing some headshots for a Harley Street, um, clinician. [00:14:43] She's a psychologist in London. And I was doing some headshots in Harley street. And so Sarah and I packed up. Uh, the two, two of the Elinchrom lights into the rucksacks, couple of, uh, small, soft boxes. Camera gear. A couple of stands in case he wanted a white background and plowed our way into London. [00:15:02] And I was laughing with Sarah as we hold this stuff. Through the station and into a cab. Is I lay you a bet. We don't use any of it. I'm just going to use one camera and a big grin. And that is it. And sure enough that's exactly what happened. So in spite of me taking all of this kit in all we did was just have an absolute blast with one person laughing our way through it. Taking pictures I'm using daylight is in the light for the windows in her Harley street, uh, consulting room. Out in the street itself. Uh, on the steps and things like that. [00:15:36] And it was just brilliant. And that's exactly what the, the workshop in Oxford was about. It's about where, when you find yourself and who you find yourself there with, what do you do? ### [00:15:45] The Importance of Storytelling and Community in Photography [00:15:45] Uh, another thing I've done this past couple of weeks is had a presentation to the Village. Uh, Society. [00:15:51] Yes, Hunnam has a Village Society. You couldn't make this stuff up. It's like Midsummer murders is brilliant. A room full of, uh, retirees, mostly one or two of my clients as well. That's quite a few of my clients were in there. Uh, all sorts of people came. A busy room in our local library. And on top of that, my mum came now, my mum is a legend. Uh, she's an absolute power of nature is my mother. Uh, but it's the first time I've done one of these presentations or with my mum in the room. [00:16:21] I'm not going to tell you the whole story, but there is one bit of it where I show a photograph of my mom and dad actually. And it's a photograph that Dorling Kindersley wanted to use and they wanted to use it on a book called Sex And The Older Couple. Uh, of course I never, ever, ever. Let them. That, that image was never going anywhere near, uh, the cover of a book. [00:16:43] Uh, but it's the first time I think my mum has ever seen me do that routine. And it's, it's really, uh, it's just me laughing about photography and imagery in telling stories. And it's just one of those stories. And of course, it's my mum and dad who I think the world of, and they're the people that gave me. Well, they gave me everything. And so much of the confidence, I guess. And the drive to do something. Whatever it is in life to do it and do it well. Comes to my mum and dad's having a moment. [00:17:09] The audience was a real privilege. Uh, because she now lives here in the village with us, but it is a little bit weird. I'm doing a presentation that I've done over and over and over it though, at least that particular story over and over and over. Uh, my mom's in the audience. She didn't look too surprised. Uh, I don't know. [00:17:26] I don't know how she felt about that. Particularly. It's a shot of course of my dad who died 10 years ago. Um, this year. Uh, we've also, uh, we're working with a couple of people. We filmed a new video. [00:17:37] So we're working hard on creating new content for mastering portrait photography, not just the podcast. But the training materials and the videos. And so we've spiked that we've gotten, we're getting some more people involved. We filmed one new video. We had to took two filming days to do it. Absolutely exhausted. I was so tired at the end of it. [00:17:57] Maybe that's why I've just found myself asleep at the desk. Um, and we started to work on our social media and all sorts of other bits and pieces. Just trying to get on to get things out there. Uh, it's hard when your primary objective, you know, if you've ever seen Little Shop Of Horrors and there's the, there's the, what's the, I dunno what it's called, but it's the, it's the monster plant. And he says, feed me, Seymour, feed me now. And they were running a photography business is exactly like that. [00:18:29] We have one client. And that's the bank account because you have to keep running. It doesn't matter how many other things you have in the pipeline. Or things you want to do or ideas you'd like to explore or portfolio images you'd like to retouch in the end is a huge, great plant. Just going feed me Seymour, feed me now. I was laughing with Sarah today. Everything we do in, you know, all we have to have is one phone call that says, can I get five days of paid work from you? [00:18:56] And you drop everything and go do it because you have to. And that's the reality of this kind of business. You don't turn down work or at least, I mean, maybe that maybe some of you who are listening are in a privileged position. Where you can and you do. I'm not in that position. When work comes in, we take it. [00:19:13] We do a good job of it. And we get it back out to the client and then we sit and go, right? Where was I? Here I am recording that podcast. Uh, what's the Dune Part II actually with our daughter. I don't know if anyone's seen it is brilliant. I've no idea what was going on. It was excellent. He was. An absolute mystery to me. [00:19:33] Um, over the past week, couple of weeks I'd spent watching. Uh, Dune part one. Uh, trying to understand, because of course I never watch a film properly. I sit with a film on my second or third monitor on my iPad while I'm retouching or writing for a magazine or something. It's in the background. It burbles in a background. [00:19:52] So usually I can't watch anything with too much of a plot. Uh, but Dune part one, well, I kind of passed by, it was really pretty. I think I understood some of it. There appear to be some telekinesis kind of stuff and some mind reading, he kind of stuff. Lots of sand. Uh, and then I went to the cinema to watch Dune part two. [00:20:12] Now, what I will say is it's worth the watch. Brilliant. Big screen. Theater 7.1, Lucas, whatever THX, whatever it is, sound. Huge bucket of popcorn. A large thing of diet Pepsi and on top of everything else. Uh, class a beer. And then I realize after about two hours, That I've got another three quarters of an hour to go because it's a long film and I've got the bladder. Of a 55 year old bloke because that's how old I am. This, all of this came to a bit of a head. Now I stayed put in my seat, but honestly, by the time we got to the end of the movie, I was sweating. I was sweating beyond sweating as the first pixel of the first credit. Appeared at the bottom of the screen. I made a run for it. [00:20:59] Well, I'll tell you what I was still peeing. When pretty much the cinema was closing. People came and went. I think people got married, had children celebrated anniversaries in the time. I was like that scene. I've Austin Powers. I've never been so pleased to get inside the gents. So I'm sorry if that's a bit lewd, but you know what I mean? Uh, when you're in that sort of, oh my God, I've got to go now. Uh, but it was brilliant. The film, at least the first three quarters of it. I paid a lot of attention to, I think I was getting a little bit distracted by the end. There's a lesson, a beautiful people. If, if you're going to watch a really long film, Don't drink too much. Anyway, it was great. Uh, now what I need to do is watch Dune part one again. In the context of having seen what happens now, I'm that guy anyway, a very often, if a film is or a series or. Uh, you know, a box set or something is stressful. Drama. You know, tension, those kinds of things. I will hop onto, uh, something like, uh, I MDB or Wiki and do a plot spoiler because I don't need to stress. [00:22:01] I do the same with books. If I'm watching, if I'm reading a book that I think is a bit stressy. Then I'll go to the back couple of pages and read them, just went out what happens and then I can enjoy the plot knowing what's coming. Don't ask. I just don't like the stress. I don't need it in my life. [00:22:14] I have enough stress in my life. I'm a photographer. Life is stressful enough. Without me adding extra stress by watching something that, uh, I don't know what the ending is going to be. [00:22:26] All right. ### [00:22:26] Exploring New Horizons: Reviews and Competitions [00:22:26] Uh, in the middle of all of this, this is a message from our sponsors. Well, not really sponsors. I'm not paid, by anybody, but I have had a few things sent my way to review and have some fun with, uh, and the first of those is the Smoke Ninja. [00:22:41] So this has come from PMI company called PMI. I will put the links to all of this in the show notes, but PMI very kindly sent me a piece of kit I'd already bought from them on the CA. On the Kickstarter. Campaign it's the Smoke Ninja, which is a tiny EDBD. You can't believe how much stuff comes out of it. Fogger. [00:23:00] It's absolutely incredible. So this thing we've had this for a while, talked about it before, but I've, uh, I now have two of them. Excellent. Great fun. But it's all to do with a competition they're running and I'll give you the URL now. So it's, if you go to PMI smokeninja dash portrait dash contest. [00:23:22] So. HTTPS colon slash slash usual stuff. P M I gear all one word.com/pages/smoke. Ninja will one word. Hyphen portrait hyphen contest. Now they have a contest and I'm just bringing it up now on my screens. And there's $10,000. They say total prize pool. There's a prize for the best solar portrait. There's a prize for the best wedding portrait. [00:23:47] There's a prize for the best family portrait. There's a most creative award and there's the most viral award. Everything has to be done. Uh, or rather everything, everything you do for the competition has to use either the Smoke Ninja or its bigger brother. The Smoke Genie. Uh, you have to do some behind the scenes footage of it. [00:24:06] Send up your final picture and the behind the scenes footage to prove you were actually using their equipment to do it. I think as well as it giving some social media content, you have to put, you have to upload it to there. Their portal, as well as putting it on your own social media feeds. So it's a great competition and the prize is absolutely stunning. ### [00:24:26] Unveiling the Prize: The Smoke Ninja and More [00:24:26] Uh, each prize has $500, $500 us dollars. Um, The cash, uh, but also has, uh, some stuff from, I don't know how to pronounce this is Yoon. Um, some stuff from Small rig and you also get the smoke genie pro kit. If you're a prize winner. ### [00:24:45] Exploring the Wonders of Smoke Ninja [00:24:45] And the smoke genie. Uh, is like, oh, I miss the Smoke Ninja, but on steroids. Now we've been having a blast with the Smoke Ninja recently. [00:24:54] It's a really good bit of kit. The only thing we've had to learn how to do here is to disable all of the smoke sensors. So that's actually been a little bit of a head scratch. Is figuring out how to turn off the smoke detectors in the studio before we use it. Because the last thing I need is the fire brigade turning up to find me sort of with a family or a teenager, flinging smoke around and laughing my head off. [00:25:15] Uh, I'm not sure that we'll go down that well. Uh, but that's the, the competition and I in return for them sending me, uh, the Smoke Ninja. I've also got to enter the competition as well, but if you fancy it, so it's PMI gear.com/pages/smoke, ninja portrait contest. And I'll put that. Uh, in the show notes that, so it's worth a worth a look. [00:25:37] And I can honestly hand on heart say that the PMI. Uh, Smoke Ninja is well, it's just, I would call it the smoke Genius, not the smoke Genie or the Smoke Ninja [00:25:47] . I think the thing is absolutely fab. And even the other day, when we were filming the video we've created is actually I ran the fogger as a hazer. [00:25:56] So just so I had a little bit of haze in the air so that when we put the lighting across the studio for all of the pieces to camera, it just adds atmosphere. Uh, it picks out little bits of light and it just softens those backgrounds. It's. It's it's only when you start watching how a film. Directors and directors of photography and lighting engineers use this stuff. [00:26:16] You kind of think, oh, okay. That's something that's entirely applicable. In our world to photographic stills, photographic world too. So. Head over to them. Have a look at that competition. If you're interested. Uh, you might just, you might just find some inspiration for some angles on photography. Maybe you haven't thought about. ### [00:26:32] Diving Into the World of Color Calibration with Datacolor [00:26:32] Uh, the next one is Datacolor also is it's been a couple of weeks of stuff arriving. [00:26:38] I think I mentioned this in the previous podcast, but Datacolor sent us the Spyder Checkr, the spider, sorry, the Spyder Checkr Photo, the Spyder Checkr Video and also. Uh, thing of genius, the Spyder Cube. Now this is one of those gadgets. So. The color check is I've used a Datacolor. Spyder Checkr Photo or the older version of that. For probably, I don't know, six years, seven years, maybe even longer at the beginning of every one of the shoots off site, because obviously once you've set it up for your studio, I don't need to recalibrate this. [00:27:10] I've changed the lens or a camera on my lighting, which of course I'm doing right now. I don't need to recalibrate, but every time I go out into location, We take a safe shot with the Spyder Checkr Photo as it is now called. And I'd be doing that for a very long time, so that I've always got a reference point for my white balance and for my color. So the color spectrum under the lighting that we're using. well the Spyder cube is sort of the next level genius. [00:27:36] It gives you not just your white point and black point. There's a hole in it. What. Uh, brilliant idea. There's a hole in it with no lights you get. So that should be exactly the same darkness is the nostrils. It's just dark. Uh, but it's also got white and gray and a mirroball on the top or a little Chrome. Uh, marble, it looks like a little Chrome sphere. And that, of course, if you were lighting, it gives you your white point because it shows you your specular highlight. [00:28:00] The thing is great. It's absolutely brilliant. And of course, as we've just done right now, we are, re-engineering all of our lighting. So I now have from Elinchrom, four Fives and two Threes, and I am loving it, but not just because the light that these, these bad boys are giving is stunning. But on top of that, we've used the Datacolor Spyder Checkr Photo to calibrate all of the new gear in our studio. [00:28:27] So have profiles in Light Room for the new Allyn crumbs. And although it gives you a very flat finish, which is not my look. It gives you a very, very accurate starting point. So I just thought I'd put that in there. So thanks to Datacolor for sending me that kit. Um, if you have the opportunity head over to that Datacolor with no 'u', by the way, it's a American English, or I suppose these days international English. Uh, as opposed to the British or English, English, C O L O U R. [00:28:54] It's not that it's da as you, but I'm sure you know, it C O L O R a Datacolor. It's worth going to have a look. The thing's not that expensive. It's less than a hundred pounds. It's only about 40 quid for the spider cube. Uh, and then the spider checker photo inspire the checker video. We're all in that sort of 90 quit. Mark, I think anyway, it's very kind to them to send it over and, uh, I will put out some, uh, befores and afters on some of our feeds as to just how good it is. [00:29:20] And of course, having had. All of the new Elinchrom lighting and the Elinchrom theme is going to run for weeks. So we'll leave that. I won't talk any more about that on this particular episode, but rest assured the four Fives and two Threes. I am having a blast. It's so nice. To have stunning light back in the studio. [00:29:40] Absolutely loving it [00:29:42] ### [00:29:42] The Building Blocks of a Successful Photography Business [00:29:42] anyway, onto today's little, sort of the actual bit, the rest of it. I'll tell you what the diary of a working pro is getting bigger. Uh, um, I need to fix that. I need to do something about that, but at the moment, it's just because the episodes are so far apart, a lot has happened since the last one. So this, the theme of this particular episode, and I was puzzling over this. Uh, or rather what triggered it was a series of conversations and the reviews from our Oxford. Workshop and I kinda been chewing on what is it that makes a successful. Photography business. [00:30:23] What is it? What really is it I'm still working on? I don't have an answer. I doubt there is an answer. But what I have observed is there are building blocks. You need. And sort of you stack them up. I think. And on the top of it is you as a S as a successful photographer or a successful. Photography business, but you build it on certain pillars. And the four I've kind of identified, and this is based on S on feedback and it's based on observations. That I've made as well. You need, I think the following four things. At the very least you need the following four things. ### [00:31:04] The Essential Attitudes for Success [00:31:04] Anyway, you need energy. Optimism enthusiasm. And confidence. Now you'll notice in there. I haven't said camera craft or. And I for an image or I dunno, technical knowledge, or I, I've not said any of those things, you do need those things. By the way, it's not that you don't. But underneath that. To learn to be able to absorb ideas, to be able to push through. The fear and doubt that is inevitably part of this world. [00:31:35] You need energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. And these are things. That I'm very blessed. To have I'm lucky in that my parents gave me those things and on the whole I've normally got, I'm going to say I've normally got three of the four. It's any one moment. There are days when I have no energy, but I'll be optimistic that I'm going to get it, get it there the other day. [00:31:56] There'll be other days whenever turn of energy, but it's being in channeled entirely in pessimism. Um, there are days when I'm not enthusiastic, but it doesn't stop me thinking tomorrow will be better. And there are days when I'm, I have no confidence at all. But I'm still energetic and optimistic and enthusiastic about I, what about what I do now? [00:32:16] I could probably do a podcast on each of those things. And maybe in the future, I will maybe I'll interview. Some photographers and talk about these various aspects, but why, why have I brought those out when I could have said. You need to understand cropping. You need to understand your color wheel. [00:32:34] You need to understand how to process digital images. You need to understand how to use your camera when all of these things are undoubtedly. True. But if you don't have the energy and if you don't have the opt or more importantly than enthusiasm, I think you'll never get around to learning those skills. [00:32:52] They just will never arrive. [00:32:54] Before you even start. You have to have energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. They are the building blocks. They're the attitudes. Maybe that's what I should have called to maybe attitudes there, what you need. I think. And I've never met. Uh, top flight photographer, successful photographer. Now by top flight, I don't necessarily mean award-winning images. [00:33:16] I mean, people who've been successful in the industry. Some photographers are successful because their business just. Fly. Some people are successful because they are amazing on stage. Some people are successful because they images. Or well, simply glorious. There are lots of reasons why a photographer may or may not. Be successful. [00:33:37] So when I say a top flight photographer, I mean, someone who's known for some aspects, some skill, some quality. In industry and every single one of them that I've ever met. Shows energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. [00:33:53] So let's have a think about what each of these. Uh, attitudes sort of are. So energy and having energy doesn't mean you're bolshy or pushy, or like a bull in a China shop. It doesn't mean that it just means. That, when it comes down to it, when you pick up the camera, there's something about what you're doing. That drives you, that keeps you going because there are going to be days when you really aren't feeling it. And it's your energy. That you need to draw on. [00:34:22] Now for me, I'm kind of lucky. In the, when the client walks into the room, they give me the energy that I need. Somehow, no matter how flat I am, how tired I am, how fed up. I am sometimes. When the client appears, they give me energy. That energy drives everything. Sometimes I'll be honest. [00:34:43] My own insecurity gives me. Energy when I'm having one of those days and I'm not feeling it. I don't often get to the point where I'm like, you know what, I'm done it, it does happen. People have to talk me out of it. [00:34:56] But sometimes my own insecurity is all of the energy I need. But always when a client walks in, that triggers something in me and off I go. [00:35:06] Optimism. Optimism is I suppose an odd one. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone else write down optimism. Um, certainly in the reviews, no one's ever said optimism is not a word. [00:35:16] I think the associate. With any of these conversations normally, but here's why. Here's why I use the word and I don't mean in optimism. I don't mean unrealistic. So I don't mean that you late. I don't know. You think you're going to always make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? To use the expression. I just mean. It's that thing of, well, let's give it a go. [00:35:42] What's the worst that can happen. You know, I'm a photographer, not a brain surgeon. So the worst damage I can do is to take a crappy picture. That's essentially it. Now, if you're doing a wedding, okay. That's a little bit more pressure, but if I go, if I get it wrong, I'm going to make someone look fatter or older. Or thinner or. I don't know, less attractive than they think they should be. Those basically are the limits of the damage I can do with a camera. [00:36:10] Let's say drop it on someone. I suppose I could drop the camera from a great height and it would cause damage. Um, so having optimism is almost baked in why wouldn't I have optimism? Let's take a picture and see what it looks like. But I have met a lot of photographers who don't exhibit that they're nervous of trying things that. They think might fail and I think it will make. They think it will diminish. They're standing in front of their client, whereas I'm, I think the other way round. Is that I think the client loves it when we try things. [00:36:42] And I'm very open about stuff I will say to the client, look, I don't know if this is going to work, but you know, let's give it a go. And if it does work, I'm going to show you, I'm going to. Claim credit for it, and I'm going to enter it into awards. If it doesn't work, you're never ever going to see the image. [00:36:58] And that's basically it. Um, optimism is about the idea that you can. And that today, what do you know what I will. Uh, enthusiasm, enthusiasm runs through me most of the time. And it's a, it's a derivative of energy. Rarely, I suppose I could have fused. Those two words, but I think you can be enthusiastic without being energetic and vice versa. He can be energetic in your pessimism if you want to be. [00:37:24] So enthusiasm has a real place for me and enthusiasm. I found when I'm in, in the company of a photographer who is enthusiastic about what they do, who is full of positivity about what they do. It's it's captivating and you kind of get drawn along on that ride. Now I don't mean naivety. I don't mean. That. You're enthusiastic to the degree that we can know what could happen. [00:37:51] I'm not saying that. Similarly with optimism, you know? I'm just saying that if you're enthusiastic about what you're, what you do it carries now, does that mean all of your pictures have to be happy, bubbly pictures, new, not at all. But it's much easier to take enigmatic, gentle, moody pictures. When you're being enthusiastic about it than when you're not trust me on that. Uh, so enthusiasm is what it is. [00:38:16] And I think I've every successful photographer I've ever met is enthusiastic about what they do now. Occasionally you time it and you talk to them and they're like, they're not being very enthusiastic or optimistic for that matter. But on the whole, you feel that they would be the rest of the time. ### [00:38:32] Confidence, Feedback, and the Art of Adaptation [00:38:32] And then there's confidence. And now confidence does not mean. Arrogance. [00:38:37] And it certainly doesn't mean. That I don't have, or the photographers I've met don't have insecurities or imposter syndrome or all of those words they do. They really do. But something in them. Says that it's going to be all right again. Allied to optimism, having the confidence to say, I know what I'm doing. To ground yourself with the camera in front of your client and say, it's fine. [00:39:04] I know what I'm doing. And I know I can do this. Or having the confidence to take. Feedback critical or otherwise to take. feedback from your peer group or from your client. It takes confidence and it takes. To an extent, a thick skin. I think I might've missed an attribute. I think sensitivity might be an attribute that I should add to this. [00:39:26] Let me think about that. I'll come back to you on that. one, but having the confidence. To say, yeah, I can learn that. Or having the confidence to take. Feedback in a way. That you turn it into a forward facing energy. Oh on the Peleton tonight. Honestly, I have done an hours exercise. That's like nearly a thousand calories burned, which is why. He likes snoring. [00:39:48] I've lit. Honestly, I'm not kidding. I woke up at my desk. Uh, with the microphone over my head. Uh, waiting to record. Um, and that's because I've done an hour and it's been a long week. I submitted an article last night, or this morning at three o'clock in the morning. I submitted one of the articles much as I love writing. [00:40:04] Uh, sometimes the inspiration doesn't come until the wee small hours. As my Scott's friends. Uh, I would say, um, anyway, during the exercise class. That was on tonight. [00:40:16] One of the instructors said, there's this thing called? Yes. And now I've never heard of this as a thing before. Yes. And not. Yes, but, or no, but, or no. Yes. And. And that's having a confidence to take feedback in a positive way and move forwards with it. There's a scale in and of itself giving everyone knows that giving feedback in a positive way. Is a skill, but I don't know how many people think that. Taking feedback is a skill. [00:40:49] It's a practiced. Skill to know how to take feedback and. Extract or distill what's useful. Actually is a lot of confidence. And I come back to the same thing. Don't get me wrong. Of course there are days when I'm absolutely terrified. There are days. When I can't feel it, there are days when my confidence is not for whatever reason, you know, it, I'm not at all saying you disassociate. From your normal character. [00:41:20] And my normal character is I'm very, very confident in what I do. And I'm confident in my ability to learn stuff. I'm a quick learn. I can certainly do that. And I'm very good at the yes. And. But it doesn't change the insecurity. When you show an image and somebody doesn't like it, there's still that burning sensation. That you get when somebody points out something [00:41:44] , if you go to any art gallery, any and have a look at people, enjoying the pictures. Isn't it curious how some people will head towards one artist and others will head towards another artist. But they don't always like the same artists. And that's similar to photographers and feedback. So having the confidence to give feedback and take feedback is a thing. [00:42:06] Having the confidence to stand in front of a client and say, Genoa, I can take this picture. Don't worry. You're fine. Giving confidence to your client through those actions. Well, that's the thing I think. So these are your building blocks. [00:42:20] You've got energy. Optimism, enthusiasm and confidence. And I also think. You have sensitivity in there. You're going to have to leave that one with me. I thought of that while I was talking. Why does that happen? Why is it just as I think I've got my podcast nailed. I've got my things I want to talk about. During the actual recording. [00:42:38] I think of one item thought about. I think sensitivity might well be in there. If it is, I'll bring that up in another. Another podcast because having empathy and sympathy, when you're a portrait photographer, I don't know if that matters when you're out there doing landscaping, but this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:42:56] And so I guess that's, pertinent. [00:43:00] So you need those things [00:43:02] . Of course, you also need practice. You need perseverance and hard work. You need creativity and your craft. They don't go away. But in my experience, Those things are built. . On your energy, your optimism, your enthusiasm, and your confidence without those. You'll do no work. You won't have what it takes to pick up your camera and develop and push forwards and change and evolve. And that's another thing, , having those four things. [00:43:31] I'm going to go back to the four. I think. Having those four things gives you what you need to be adaptable and pliable. It gives you what you need to develop and change. And trust me in this world. Particularly now AI has arrived on the scene. You're going to have to adapt and evolve to be competitive in this market. [00:43:51] Not just as a business. But visually too, because what's out there in terms of the visual arts is changing at a pace. We have never experienced. It's changing at a pace. When I did my PhD in AI 25 years ago, nearly 30 years ago. That could not have envisaged where we were going to end up. We talked about this stuff back then as a fantasy and here it is. You know, type a few key words into half a dozen of the different image generators. And just see what comes back, ### [00:44:22] Wrapping Up: A Look Ahead and Gratitude [00:44:22] but on that happy note, On that happiness. [00:44:24] I hope that's. I. I'm quite curious about this episode. I hope that's useful. I might write this one up as a, an actual article kind of thing. Uh, thank you for listening. To the end. Um, please do go across to PMI Gear. To Datacolor and to Elinchrom, all excellence suppliers of the stuff we use here at our studio. Uh, we stuff I use with enthusiasm, energy, optimism, and confidence. Now, it just sounds really corny. [00:44:50] I'm so sorry. Uh, but please do go ahead and look up the competition. Uh, it's a really cool one. I will be entering mostly because it gives me a chance. We've got someone coming in on Sunday. Uh, to, uh, create some, uh, very fogged work. Can't wait for that, but thank you for listening to the end of this podcast. [00:45:09] If you've enjoyed it, please do subscribe wherever it is. That, uh, you consume your podcasts. Thank you to the people that left us reviews last week. That's been quite a few. It's been really rather lovely. Um, if you do feel like leaving us a review, please, do we read them all wherever we can find them? [00:45:24] The most obvious place of course is iTunes. I represents about 60% of the world listening to podcasts at the moment. I believe anyway. Uh, so please leave us a review and a rating up there. If it's a review where you think I should change things, uh, then please do email me. Don't write that in a review. [00:45:42] Nobody wants to read that. No matter how confident I am, it stops me being optimistic. Uh, so please do email me. It's Paul at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot co.uk. That's Paul. Uh, Paul Wilkinson photography.co.uk. Uh, also head across to the spiritual home of this podcast and mastering portrait photography podcast. [00:46:02] And of course that home is mastering portrait photography.com, where there's a whole heap of articles and ideas, all dedicated to the business, the craft, the art, the creativity, and well. Frankly, the enjoyment of portrait photography. We're about to hit that with some reorg. I talk about that in the coming weeks. [00:46:22] Um, and some new content, uh, we changed in the way that's all working while I'm in the process of putting together thoughts on how we're going to change that. Uh, hence the fact we're now filming videos, uh, on a more regular basis. It's all quite exciting. There's a ton of stuff going on. Hopefully I won't be asleep at my desk with too much of it because frankly that's a big waste of time. But until next time stay awake and whatever else. Be kind to yourself. [00:46:48] Take care. ### [EP152 Interview With Stuart Clark](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep152-interview-with-stuart-clark/) Sometimes it's just a pleasure to sit back and listen. This is one of those moments - for me, certainly, but hopefully for you too. I had the pleasure of sitting and chatting with two icons of the industry - Sean Conboy and the inimatable nonagenarian, Stuart Clark who is not only still shooting at the age of 97 but is a considerable racontour (you can hear me and Sean laughing in the background throughout!) Stuart started his career in 1941, so his stories are not only entertaining but are fascinating as they cover every photography development from glass plate through to the state of the art digital wizardry we're facing today. This interview is worth listening to every one of its 90 or so minutes! Enjoy! Cheers P.Transcript [00:00:00] Paul: So there are so, so many things I love about being in this industry, the things we get to do, and in particular, this podcast, and one of the many things is having these moments that you're about to hear, where I get to sit and chat with someone I've known for a very long time, Sean Conboy, fantastic photographer, and just a wonderful human being. [00:00:20] And someone he introduced me to, a guy called Stuart Clark. [00:00:23] Now Stuart is 98 years old in July this year. Self proclaimed as one of the oldest working photographers in the country, and I'm not sure that anyone's going to argue with that. He started training as a photographer in 1940. That makes this, he's been working as a photographer for 84 years. [00:00:46] And the whole of this interview is taking place in what was, his photography studio in a little town just outside Leeds. It's his front living room, but it's huge. It's got a high ceiling and you can imagine how the lighting would have been hot, continuous lights and families just having the best time with someone who I learned very quickly, is a storyteller and a raconteur, uh, just a wonderful, a wonderful human being. There are lots of things to listen out for in the following interview, and let me draw your attention to just a few. Uh, listen out for the flash powder story. It's very funny. Uh, the story of, uh, People retouching, lots of retouching stories from the 1940s and billiard ball complexions. [00:01:31] . Doing multiple jobs in a day. He used to do three or four jobs in a day, and have the timing so accurate that could include photographing a wedding. He learned his craft. He's great. [00:01:42] He's spent time creating images for press, looking for alternative, alternative images and looking for PR images that no matter how much a sub editor crops them, the brand or at least the story is still very much intact. He talks about the utter love of the job and appreciating what a privileged position photographers like ourselves are in every day of the week. [00:02:07] He talks a little about the role of agencies and how they now manage messages from companies in a way that probably they never did. He talks about relationships and he talks about being positive and persistence. He also talks about the role of the Institute. [00:02:24] Finally, he talks a little bit about photographers always being the fag end of everything, but in the end, what he talks about really, It's the love of his job and the love of his clients. [00:02:35] Why am I telling you all of this upfront? Well, this is a long interview, but the sound of Stuart's voice and the history that it represents, as well as the fact that he's more current than an awful lot of photographers who I know right now who are much younger, uh, but just, there's something in his, his entire manner that is captivating and enthralling, informative and useful. And so, although it's a long interview, I thought I'd just explain a little bit about why I found it so appealing and why I've left the edit almost entirely intact. I've removed a few lumps and bumps where we all managed to hit a microphone as we're gesticulating. [00:03:16] So picture the scene, there's myself, Sean and Stuart sitting, in armchairs and on couches. [00:03:27] And if you're wondering why it took me quite so long, this interview is actually, it goes back to February of this year, and why it took me quite so long to get it out, it was partly because there was a lot of of lumps to remove and partly because it was this trip, this interview, this podcast that I was returning home from when the Land Rover blew up. [00:03:46] And frankly, I think there's a little bit of trauma there with a six and a half thousand pound bill to re, to replace and repair piston number two. I think my heart just, I needed a minute just to not recall it every single time I try to edit this particular podcast down. It's a wonderful interview. Please enjoy. [00:04:06] I know it's quite long, um, but what an absolute legend. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:04:32] So, firstly, Stuart, thank you for welcoming us into your home. We've driven quite a long way, uh, to come and see you. Sean, uh, recommended we speak to you, because the number of stories you have make even his collection of stories look Insignificant. [00:04:48] And as we all know, Sean, The Footnote Conboy has more stories than any man I've ever met up until probably this, this moment in time. So to kick the conversation off, how did you become a photographer? [00:05:05] Stuart: It was an unfortunate or fortunate chain of events because, um, I was at the Leeds College of Art in 1940, 41, and I had the desire and intention of being a commercial artist, which is now referred as graphic designer and at that time, being wartime, there was little advertising being done, and so, uh, perhaps I was not sufficiently talented, but I finished up working for a firm who were essentially photoengravers, but they had a commercial photography studio as well, and they were short of somebody to join them, and I went in there and became virtually an apprentice photographer. This was very interesting because at that time, again, there was very little commercial photography advertising being done, and so all our efforts, or most of our efforts, were centred on war work, which involved going round the factories and, uh, Photographing for record purposes, the input of the particular company. And in those days, I can tell you that that was not a very comfortable proposition because we were on total blackout, and therefore, all the fumes in the factory, whatever they were, had very little chance of escaping, so you've got the fumes and the heat, and then of course we were only Illuminating scenes with flash powder, which was an added hazard, and, and so Photography outside in the factories was not very pleasant, but inside the factory, or in the studio, we were also doing war work, and that was to photograph silhouettes, scale models of all aircraft of both the enemy and, uh, and, uh, Home, uh, Aircraft for identification purposes, so that the air gunners were not shooting our own planes down in action. And another very interesting thing which I have always remembered was that the four, or the eight cannons In the Spitfire, that was four in each wing, were harmonized to converge at a point away from the Spitfire so that the Fire, the maximum fire point was when those two lots of cannons converged. [00:08:34] The only reference that the pilots had was a silhouette which we had photographed, so that he could visualize that silhouette in the, aiming sight of his [00:08:50] guns. [00:08:51] Paul: a very early heads up display. [00:08:53] Stuart: Indeed. [00:08:54] Paul: Yeah. [00:08:55] Stuart: And, so, that was quite an important element, I think, of our war work for the Air Ministry. [00:09:03] The main factory was engraving the, conical, rangefinder cones for 25 pound howitzers. [00:09:14] Paul: Right. [00:09:15] Stuart: And at the time of leaving school, everybody had to be doing war work. [00:09:21] And so I went to the company on the pretext of doing war work of that nature, rather than going round snapping. [00:09:31] Paul: Right. [00:09:32] Sean: Stuart, could you also, um, I mean you've told me many great tales about your time actually in the, uh, armed services film unit, i think that might be quite interesting, [00:09:42] Stuart: Well, I was called up and because of my interest in mechanical things and gadgetry and so forth, I finished up in the Royal Army Service Corps. But a friend of my mother's husband suggested that I applied for a trade test in photography. And one day I was called up to the orderly room and they said, We've got the movement order here for you. Um, to go to Pinewood Studios, of all places. I don't know what this is about, but anyway, here's your movement order. So, I went down to Pinewood, and we had a trade test, and I think I finished up, uh, top of the, the, uh, examination. But then I was returned to unit at Catterick, and I was up there for another few months, and then I was posted. And eventually, after about six weeks of the posting, I got another movement order to go back to Pinewood Studios, where I started my course in cinephotography, [00:11:06] and still photography. Now, this was the last course. before Pinewood closed down and the unit closed down. I'm talking about Pinewood closing down, Pinewood was the headquarters of the Army Film and Photographic Unit from when it was formed in October 41. [00:11:35] The course included preparation for action photography, essentially. when the course started, the war was still on in Central Europe. but before the course finished, it, uh, the war finished. [00:11:58] And The Japanese War was still going on until September of the same year, which was 45. But we were still being trained, and when the course finished, we had very little to do but just wait to see what happened. And so from September to, um, December of that year, we were just hanging about in the studios. [00:12:30] We were then posted to the Far East, in fact to Malaya, where the No. 9 unit was formed. Having been moved by Batten's headquarters, Mountbatten's headquarters, from Ceylon to Singapore, thought that it would be probably much more congenial there than in Ceylon, India. [00:12:57] So number nine was there and it's interesting to note that right at this moment an exhibition is being produced for the photographer's gallery on Bert Hardy's life and Bert Hardy at the time that I there was, in fact, the stills captain in charge of all the still photography in Malay Command. Or the, not Malay Command, the Far East Command, because we had outstations in Java and Hong Kong, and even, uh, one guy, uh, was in, um, in Hiroshima. So that was the formation of the, the, uh, Far East, Southeast Asia Command photographic, uh, outfit. until it closed down, uh, in September, August September of 46, and we are then dispersed Some went to the Imperial War Museum, the Imperial, uh, war, graves Commission, et cetera, and six of us went back to Vienna, where we joined number 9, Public Relations, because unit had been disbanded completely. So, there in, uh, in Austria, we were doing what they call Local Boy Stories, and we made a couple of films on the Irish regiments and also the East Yorkshire, not the East Yorkshire, the Yorkshire regiments who were guarding and on guard duties at the palace, Shurnbran Palace, which everybody has heard of, and um, and so that carried on until, uh, the Until I was demobbed in 1947, December. came home and went back to the company I originally started with because they were compelled to take people for 12 months. And at the end of that time, I decided to leave I had a bit of a a difference of opinion with the studio manager, who was RAF, and I was Army, and I was a sergeant as well, and I don't think he was quite that when he was in the RAF photographic section, but there was a resentment anyway. [00:16:02] of my presence. [00:16:03] So, I went to the firm called C. R. H. Pickards, who were one of the finest industrial, uh, and leading industrial photographic units, companies, in the north of England. [00:16:24] It was there, then, that I began to learn industrial photography. And we photographed all sorts of various things, from factory engineering, factories, products and so forth, lathes, milling machines, railway engines, all manner of things. And that's where I cut my teeth on industrial photography. [00:16:56] Sean: And, and Stuart, what sort of, um, equipment would you be using in those days? not [00:17:01] Stuart: so ha! [00:17:02] Sean: but how [00:17:03] would you be lighting these spaces in those days [00:17:05] Stuart: um The equipment that we were using was always, almost always, whole plate, six a half, eight by, eight and a half, six a half, uh, folding field cameras. when I started, we [00:17:29] were on glass plates. But then the advent of film came in. And this was obviously much lighter stuff to carry around. And every, exposure had to count. Now in today's terms, where you press the button and pick the best out of however many, all we used to do was a duplicate at the most. So we used to There was a variation in the exposure or the aperture setting, and that was the only difference the two exposures. [00:18:19] So what we used to do was develop one side of the, uh, the double dark slides, see what they were like, if they wanted a little bit more or a bit less development, that was applied to second side. And, don't know whether you've ever heard of the expression of, um, developing by, uh, vision. But we used to have a very dim green light, and the sensitive film. [00:18:59] was not, uh, sensitive to the green light. [00:19:03] Paul: All right. [00:19:04] Stuart: But you had to be in the darkroom for ten minutes for your eyes to become adjusted, and you could then see absolutely every detail of the, the development process. And when the highlights started to you, to, To show a dark mark through the back of the antihalation backing, then the development was just about right, if but if you wanted a little bit more contrast, then you just pushed it on. If it had been a dull day, a dull, miserable day, then you pushed the development on a little bit further. [00:19:49] Sean: And [00:19:49] Stuart: you've asked [00:19:50] Sean: be, how would you be lighting some of these scenes? I'm very intrigued at that [00:19:53] Stuart: I [00:19:53] Sean: that [00:19:53] Stuart: about to say that. [00:19:54] Um, for big areas, we used to use flash powder. And a little bit of flash powder goes a long way, believe me. But it was pretty dangerous stuff. And um, I remember we photographed a wedding on one occasion at the Majestic Hotel Harrogate. And there were 450 people. at the reception and they wanted a photograph to show as many of the people as possible. So we put the whole plate camera on a table stood up there with tray into which I poured flash powder. [00:20:38] Now then, this was actuated. with a percussion cap, like we used to have in little [00:20:46] hand pistols for toys. and when you pulled the release catch, that ignited the cap, [00:20:56] that ignited the flash powder. [00:21:00] So, the exposure was only going to be once. One exposure. [00:21:07] And so, the photographer I was with, he said, right everybody. Look this way, and I want to be making sure that everybody keeps still. [00:21:21] I'm going to count five for you, but don't move until I've finished counting. [00:21:29] So the idea was to take the sheath out of the slide. With having put a cap over the lens, shutter, just an open lens with a cap or a lid on the front. [00:21:46] And the technique was to take the cap off hold it in front of the lens, so that that allowed the vibration or any vibration in the camera to settle down and then take the exposure. the idea was count 1, 2, 3, 4, then take the cup off. And on four I ignited the flash gun and then the cup went on and the guy that I was worth put the sheath back and said, right, let's get out of here quick. The reason for that was that you got the brightness, got the, the buildup of the available lights. then it's just topped off, illuminated with the flash, not a very big one, I hasten to add. But the significance of flash powder was that there was a flame which simply went upwards. [00:23:00] And that was it, that was all there was to be seen. But, it produced smoke, which used to go into, onto the ceiling, and it would roll across the ceiling, carrying with it the grains of the flash powder, which had obviously changed colour from [00:23:24] silver [00:23:25] To yellow, that was okay. But when the waiters came to move the, uh, soup plates, what they found was a white circle on a yellow [00:23:47] cloth. [00:23:51] And you can also visualize the fact that a lot of people had a lot of. Little flash powder grains in their hair [00:24:01] as well. well. By the time that [00:24:04] By the time that this happened, we were halfway back to Leeds. [00:24:08] Sean: Very good. [00:24:09] Stuart: But this this was the scourge of flash powder because you could only take one shot. Because the place used to, the whole of the place, the factory, if you using a large amount of powder, made a lot of smoke, and it just collected on the ceiling and it obscured it, the vision. So, we used to use photo floods, these were overrun pearl lamps, we used to have six on a button. And if the subject was still, we could go around on a long lead and paint scene with light. And that was, and that became established, So flash balder started to go, [00:25:08] Paul: Right. [00:25:10] Stuart: but you see, at this time, flash bulbs hadn't really got going. [00:25:17] The GEC flash bulbs, which were foil filled, were about the only thing that was available. Um, in this, in this country. And they were sympathetic. [00:25:31] And the GEC Warehouse in Leeds on one occasion, uh, a consignment of, um, bulbs came, [00:25:43] Uh, [00:25:44] in a, in a case, and, uh, one of the attendants decided that he would test them to see whether they were all alright. [00:25:54] So [00:25:54] he fired one. [00:25:57] and 50 flashbulbs, because [00:26:01] they had to be in contact with each other. If they were separate, it didn't work, but when you put them side by side, they were sympathetic. [00:26:11] Paul: What [00:26:11] happens? [00:26:13] Stuart: Well, the whole lot [00:26:14] went [00:26:14] off. A whole box full of, um, flashbulbs, and they weren't cheap at that time. [00:26:22] So [00:26:23] really, [00:26:23] that was, that was the basic equipment which we used to [00:26:29] use. [00:26:31] And [00:26:32] it was all, [00:26:33] it [00:26:34] was all, uh, 8x6. [00:26:37] Sometimes it was 10x8. [00:26:41] The, uh, the railway engines, which we used to photograph for the Hunsley's Engine Company [00:26:47] and hudderswell Clark's in Leeds, we always used to use 10x8 for those. Now it was interesting there because we used to have a particular date for going to photograph them. And [00:27:04] they were all finished up in black, white and grey paint. Because that served the cost of retouching the finished print. [00:27:15] There was very little photography done at that time. Apart from views and so forth. But anything that meant a machine, a lathe the, or whatever, it always had to go to the process retoucher who airbrushed the reflections or put one or two, put a shadow in or whatever it is. It was a highly skilled, uh, process. Uh, process, retoucher with white lines and so forth. But the interesting thing about these two railway engine companies was. that they only painted them on one side, the side that was being photographed. [00:27:59] Paul: And [00:28:01] Stuart: we used to go back to the studio, develop them straight away, yes, the negatives are alright, as soon as that happened, then they would strip all the black, white, and grey paint off and finish up in the customer's required, required colours. [00:28:23] Paul: Wow. [00:28:25] So, so the bit that strikes me is retouching has been part of this art [00:28:30] Sean: a long time. Well, [00:28:33] Paul: I mean, think about [00:28:33] it, right? Because we, there's a lot of debate about retouching and post production. That rages. Even now, but when you think about a manufacturer only painting one side of a train, they're painting it colours that repro well, and then it's being handed on to a retoucher, retouching's been going on for a very long time. [00:28:51] Stuart: Well of course, everything at that time was, was, um, retouched, and most portraits finish up with complexions like billiard balls. There were no shadows, etc. [00:29:03] Paul: haha, It's like nothing's changed! [00:29:07] Stuart: Indeed. Indeed, and, and when people speak now in condemnation of, oh well you can see the retouching and so forth, well the only thing that you have to do now is to make sure that it doesn't show. But, it was, really when Photoshop and the like came in on the scene, this was manna from heaven. [00:29:32] Paul: Yeah. [00:29:33] Stuart: Because it cut out the need to do the work on the actual print. To retouch transparencies was a rather different process altogether. [00:29:48] And it was [00:29:49] Sean: difficult process to be [00:29:50] Stuart: Oh yes, and very highly skilled. And the firm that I worked for, Giltrous Brothers, who were the photo engravers, they used to retouch twenty, twenty [00:30:02] four, twenty glass plates. Whereby, when you talk about printing today, and I think the, uh, top of the range, uh, Epson, Uh, printer works in, uh, we're printing 11 colors, but the, limited edition photolitho, uh, illustrations were, uh, certainly on, on 13 colors [00:30:36] And from 13 separate plates. All of which were retouched. [00:30:42] Paul: So [00:30:42] the plates were retouched separately? [00:30:45] Stuart: correct? [00:30:45] Oh yes. [00:30:46] Paul: Wow. [00:30:48] Stuart: So [00:30:48] Paul: each of these plates is a black and [00:30:49] white plate that's going to take one color ink? [00:30:52] Sean: Correct. I understood the [00:30:52] Paul: the process right? [00:30:53] Sean: Yeah. [00:30:54] Stuart: process, right? Retouches were earning more than photographers at any time. [00:31:01] Sean: It's most interesting to hear this, Stuart, because you come into my era when I was learning photography and the discipline of the transparency, the 4x5 and 8 inch transparency, and of course there, retouching was an anathema because if we retouched the transparency, we started to lose some quality. [00:31:17] Stuart: Yes. we to, it was a period of photography, I think, more than ever, when we had to get everything right in the camera because the client demanded the transparency. Whereas the processes you were using enabled this retouching method, which is very, very interesting. [00:31:29] There are certain elements, as you well know, with your, even with your skills, whereby there are elements which cannot be lit out or exposed out or [00:31:43] whatever. And there has to be some artwork, or whatever you call it, retouching done. And at the end of the day, most of the photography which, which I was taking and involved with, was going to be reproduced. And so if it was retouched at source, before it got to the retouchers on the reproduction, uh, side. [00:32:11] of the plate making, then that was, it was as we wanted it rather than what they thought it should be. [00:32:20] Paul: As ever photographers being control freaks. [00:32:24] Stuart: Well, after something like two to three years at Picards, by which time I got a fair amount of idea of what's going on. [00:32:37] Um, I decided that, um, I ought to seek pastures new and became a staff photographer for the 600 Group Of Companies just on the west side of Leeds. And there I photographed secondhand machinery, which they used to recondition and I photographed the, lathes and milling machines, drilling machines and that sort of thing, and they were then printed on and they, all these were taken on the half plate camera, which is half the size of a whole plate camera, obviously, um, and, um. they were made on 6x4 glossy prints, and these were distributed by the appropriate department to potential buyers. And I was there for three and a half years. But I'd got to the stage where I'd photographed everything that didn't move, and I was becoming rather dissatisfied with life. So I [00:33:49] Paul: Do you mind if I ask how old are you at this point? [00:33:53] Stuart: this point? Well, let me see, I would be about, twenty, twenty four, twenty, what, twenty five. Right. Twenty five, six. [00:34:03] Paul: Right. [00:34:04] Stuart: I was dissatisfied because I didn't think I was getting anywhere. [00:34:09] Sean: So you were, you were ambitious, really, to take your photography on to another level and, and have more control, would you say, over what you were doing [00:34:16] Stuart: you could say that, yes. just say to work for yourself, Stuart? [00:34:20] Sean: The Thing is that the, the company that I worked for. was part of the A. H. Leach corporate, uh, company at Brighouse, which was, uh, a very big organization with studios in Cambridge, Manchester, Glasgow. Um, and the prospects of moving to any one of those places was stalemate because they were well staffed was no flexibility for moving, and so I thought, well the only way to see whether I am a capable photographer was to make it on my own, see if I could make it on my own. And in fact started the business in some premises now occupied by the local library. down at the bottom end of the village. [00:35:19] Stuart: But this was going on for some time, two or three years, and then the question of getting married. [00:35:27] came into the reckoning, and this house in which we're sitting now became available, and very suitable because the front room lounge in which we now sit became my portrait studio. [00:35:46] And across the top of the window, which is facing opposite you, was a bank of Kodak, um, lighting with five, four 500 watt lamps in each for general illumination. [00:36:04] And So then I had a spotlight which is, was behind you for lighting the hair and then a fill in light on this side. And by this time, we'd moved on to two and a quarter square, real film cameras, 12 on 120. [00:36:22] I hadn't really at that stage got into, back into the industrial scene because I was doing social photography, weddings and portraits, to build up a reserve of capital to move on to buying more advanced equipment. [00:36:44] And the changes at that time were considerable. 5x4 were on the, on the fringe. At the time that I'm speaking of, German 9x12 plate cameras were still being used for press photography. And there they were, on the touchline at Heddingley, these, the local press photographers, with box of 9x12 single shot plates freezing to death, and um, and that's it, one off shots. [00:37:26] But I missed the point earlier on, I think, of saying that uh, every shot had to count. And, over the years, that has influenced me considerably, because I've always made sure that everything was right before I took the exposure. [00:37:48] And whatever the, whatever the occasion was, whether it was an industrial scene or a social scene, you look at the subject before you, to begin with, and then start looking round and see what's happening in the background. Because, if you do that, it saves retouching, and that's an absolute classical instance of today, where people, when Photoshop came, what about so and so? [00:38:22] Oh, don't bother about that, I'll take it out. I can take it out in Photoshop, and I've heard speakers come to the Institute and talk about, Oh, I do this and do that, and I've said, well, how long does it take you to do that? Oh, well, a couple of hours or so, like that. It could have all been addressed in the taking, and that would have been eliminated. [00:38:51] And when you talk about 2 or 3 hours retouching, well how much do you charge for, oh well I'll throw it all in. [00:39:00] And the number of people who I've heard say that, oh well I'll just include it. I think they've got a bit wise to it now because Uh, any extramural activities are chargeable by the hour, and, uh, and it's certainly in need of that, but what I would say to any in, up and coming photographer, they need to sure of what it is that they're taking to avoid having to retouch it afterwards, albeit that in today's terms, [00:39:40] With the relaxation of dress and disciplines and so forth, Um, I don't think it quite matters. And so, I think as far as today is concerned, I would find it difficult to go back to being a photographer in today's terms. Because, I can sit in a restaurant or in a room, somebody's room or whatever, and I'm looking at the, the vertical lines of the structure to, to see whether that line lines up with that, and it's surprising how often I can see lines that are out, even buildings. [00:40:27] I could see buildings that, that were not, um, vertical. completely vertical and line up with the I sit there looking at the streets and doors and windows and it's very, it's very difficult to get out of that discipline into the much more free and relaxed attitude towards photography today. [00:40:56] I don't know whether I, whether you would agree with that or not. [00:41:00] Sean: Stuart, I would agree with what you're saying and it's like the photographer's eye, your whole life has been trained by your eye viewing scenes and viewing situations and it's quite impossible to turn that off really. [00:41:10] That's part of you and how you see things, so no, I couldn't agree with you more. So Stuart, tell me, you obviously, the room we're in now was your studio, and you're in here, you're now married, you're doing more social photography, as you said, and obviously starting to make money. Where did the business go from there? [00:41:29] What was your sort of next stage really? Because I believe you had another studio then in the village, is that correct? [00:41:35] Stuart: The children grew up and we were running out of room space, [00:41:40] So an opportunity came in the main street down the road to take over a building, um, which I was able to use the ground floor and turn it into a studio, a reception studio and darkroom. And, uh, during that time, I was doing, um, mainly social photography, but also, I had got associated with the local newspaper which circulated in this area, and I virtually, without being on the strength, I virtually became the staff photographer for the whole of the circulation area. [00:42:32] So on a Saturday in the summer, it was not unknown for me to do perhaps 11 cover 11 eventualities such as garden parties, a flower show, etc. and also fit in a complete wedding. So, [00:43:00] Paul: So, [00:43:00] Stuart: so [00:43:01] my time, my, my mind used to work like a, like [00:43:07] a clock, uh, a precision clock, because it was, it was timed to the nth degree. Um, what time is the, uh, what time is the wedding? How long will the service be? Where's the reception? And I had a mental, uh, mental, uh, memo of the distance from here to there, and the length of time it takes to get from, from there to there. [00:43:36] And, as far as the, as the newspaper is concerned, I tried to take a different picture. at each occasion, so that we don't want the same picture of women serving tea, uh, for the WI, the church of this and that and the other. Um, I tried to make a different picture. So that training and experience fitted me in good stead for when the industrial scene tailed off. [00:44:15] Sean: I've just, uh, I've just, um, picked a photograph up here. [00:44:18] Stuart's got quite a number of his photographs in the room with us here. It's a very nice PR, press type shot here of Harry Ramsden's Fish and Chips shop, and it's got a very 1980s mobile phone and the world famous in this part of the world, Nora Batty which some of you may know from a famous last of the summer wine tv show and i think this is to do with the flotation of Harry Ramsden because it became quite a successful company didn't it so talk a little bit about this photograph Stuart it's very captivating and i think very very well executed [00:44:50] Stuart: Well, the story as you've already identified, I'm surprised that you have, because that was when they went public. And, uh, the, story was the Harry Ramsden fish restaurant, which, it was the center of all activities, just on the outskirts of Leeds, and they, as you said, they got Nora Batty there, who was a very leading personality at the time, and, of course, telephones, you can see the size of that, that mobile telephone, which is about the size of a half of a brick. Um, this was the, um, the story. And the essential thing was to locate the seed of the picture with the name of the, the company. across the top of the, the print or the format. [00:45:46] Sean: And if I could just butt in there Stuart just to say sorry to do this but I think it's important to get this across that I've just picked this image up and the story has come straight across to me. We've got the mobile phone. You've got the Financial Times, which is holding the fish and chips. You've got the sort of banker type chap behind her. [00:46:02] It just shows the skill that's gone into that picture, that an image is telling that story to me all these years later. Because I presume this photograph is 30 or 40 years old, Stuart. Am I correct there? [00:46:12] Stuart: It's quite a long time. And the essential thing about that picture, uh, Sean, is that however much a sub editor chops it down. There was always be something of the story there, because the nearest or the furthest down that they could chop it would be across the top of the bloke's head, but it would still say Harry on the left hand side. [00:46:42] And, and, that was the, the art of, at that time, of getting the story across for public relations. Include the company's name or the brand in the background somewhere so that it had to be seen and it couldn't be taken out. [00:47:03] Paul: I ask you a question? Have you always loved being a [00:47:06] Stuart: being a photographer? Oh, absolutely. [00:47:09] I wouldn't do anything else. Um, had a very enjoyable life in every aspect of it. And I'll tell you one thing about it, and Sean will agree with me on this. Photography, photographers are in a very privileged position, and they don't realize how much so. Because so often, they are in, at the ground floor of activity. A conference, a confidential conference projecting the aims of the company. [00:47:46] I was in a company when I was in the conference actually, when the whole of the regional bank managers were in a conference at Harrogate, and they were told then, that we were going to dispose of the buildings, our assets, and I photographed several banks which were up for sale and they were simply being sold off. The managers didn't know. What's the photograph for? Oh, it's just for the estate. I knew what they were, why they were selling it. It was going on the market. [00:48:25] You know all these little convenience grocery shops and so on, on filling stations, I was in the conference there for all the ESSO managers in the region, when the the project was put to them that we're going to put these little kiosks, or whatever it is, and, and, and there I was. Um, and we were privy to information that was light years ahead of the actual official announcement. [00:48:59] Paul: Yeah. [00:48:59] Stuart: Metahall, for instance, um, I was in the conference when they were talking about what their footprint was needed to be to make that viable. And there are several instances such as that. And you do get it to a more personal level, where we've got, uh, injuries, personal injuries to photograph. [00:49:26] Oh well, what about Snow? [00:49:29] Well, [00:49:29] And you just can't get involved with passing that or repeating that information. [00:49:35] Paul: Yeah. [00:49:36] Stuart: It's confidential. And as I said, photographers are so often right in the heart of things. And I'm sure, Sean, that in today's terms, you'll be more exposed to it than I was with them. [00:49:51] Sean: Well, very much so Stuart. [00:49:52] Very much so. Yeah. I mean, it's, I can't tell you how many NDAs I've signed in my career, so, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. [00:50:00] So Stuart, so you've now got the studio, the, the biggest studio now on in the, in the, in the village here. And you're obviously doing your social, your weddings, you're obviously doing a lot of PR. [00:50:11] Did you start to do, did the industrial photography come back a little bit more as well? [00:50:15] Stuart: Yes But I was, I was extremely fortunate and the odd thing about it was that the connection came through the, uh, the work of the local paper because three miles from here was the control room for the Central Electricity Generating Board and they were having an open night and the local paper was invited to to cover the, the event. So I went along and took a few photographs of whatever was going on and had a bit of a look around the place and subsequently then I was approached by their, their public relations department for the northeast region. Would I take a photograph of something else? [00:51:13] From that stemmed the work, which really became the mainstay of my activities with the Central Electricity Generating Board. [00:51:26] Again, I wasn't on the staff, but I was vir, virtually became the staff photographer for the Northeast Region. And the amazing thing is that here I was, photographing power stations, the grand openings of power stations, starting with Thorpe Marsh, which was the, down in Doncaster, which had two 400 megawatt sets, which were the f The Forerunner, they Thorpe Marsh was really the testbed for the, um, the 400 megawatt stations which followed. [00:52:13] And there again, this was being in on the ground floor whenever there was a fault down there or whatever. or a problem, um, I was called in to, to, to take the photographs. [00:52:27] Sean: So [00:52:28] Stuart, would you say that, um, he's very interesting listening to this about how your business built. Would you say that networking was a great part of building your business? [00:52:37] Stuart: Networking, well they call it networking now, and it's, it's contacts really. And I think, I'm sure that you'll agree that being in the right place at the right time, and that really applies to anything, the theatrical world, et cetera, and, not necessarily knowing the people, the right people, but getting on with them, and being able to mix with people, and behave in a way that people expect you to. So [00:53:10] Sean: Would you have any sort of advice or tips for a young photographer or somebodnew breaking into photography and how to. build a business? Have you anything to add there at all? [00:53:22] Stuart: I think that in today's terms, it is extremely difficult for photographers. And I'll tell you why, because I think that the opportunities which I just mentioned are remote, probably remote in the extreme. Social photography is something else, and the, the website, and all the various media opportunities, with which I am unfamiliar and have no knowledge of because I've not had the need to do it. But I am aware because I look at what people are doing. And that's another instance of success. Of keeping an eye on what other people are doing. If you admire anybody's particular work, then that sets the example and the criteria to work to. But as far as going back to contact is concerned, I have the distinct impression now that not only photography, but everything now stems from public Relations and I don't know whether you've noticed it or not, but if there's, if there are any problems, on the one hand, of people's behavior or their activities, or whatever it may be, adversely or favorably, and the promotion of brands and industries and business, it all seems to stem now very much from the agencies. [00:55:12] If you read question of the so and so company are going to introduce this product or [00:55:22] service or whatever it is, or they've taken over a business. the [00:55:27] statements attributed to the managing director or chief executive or accountant or whatever it is, right across the board, a great many of the people that are being quoted, I would suggest, are not capable of speaking and thinking the way that the statement appears in print. And it raises sometimes, a lot of suspicion as to just what is behind this thing. This business with the post office. It's full of it. And so the point that I'm making is that advertising agencies, that's another one, the advertising agencies are in direct contact with the, um, with the brand or the company. [00:56:24] And so the opportunities of the photographers, in my judgment, are minimized because of the hold. that the advertising agencies have on the job. [00:56:43] And [00:56:43] they, [00:56:45] they will say who they want and who should be employed. They may think them best or otherwise. And it also then comes down to, rights, and I bet you are right in the thick of this, that, uh, you are the, the favorite bloke on the, on the block, and whilst ever that person is engaged in that company, your situation is secure. But suddenly, if he goes to pastures new, and they've already got their established photographers, as far as you're concerned, you've lost that company. [00:57:28] Sean: Very [00:57:28] Stuart: company. [00:57:29] Sean: very true. Yeah, yeah. [00:57:30] Stuart: Is it true? [00:57:31] Paul: But there's always opportunities with these things, I mean, in the end, there are more photographs being created today than ever historically, I think you're right about the structures of advertising agencies, though this isn't my world, when someone moves on, there's an opportunity, and there's always the opportunity to stay as well, there is risk, of course there's risk, but equally, you could be the guy he takes with you. [00:57:54] So how do you make that happen? [00:57:56] Sean: Well, I think it's very apt because I've had two or three key clients in my career that have moved numerous times, you know, seriously big companies and they've taken me with them, yeah. And not only that, in some cases, they've taken me to their new company. And it's gone well. They've then moved on to another company and taken me with them, but the company they've left still retains me. [00:58:19] So there's a benefit that way. But I think it's really, I greatly believe in the, in the networking, keeping in touch with people, making an effort at all times. And I think, I know we've got today's digital world and there's lots of advantages to that, but also personal contact I think is still really, really important. [00:58:38] Relationships and personal contact. [00:58:40] Stuart: What you are saying is, is correct. And I remember an uncle of mine who was a milkman and, had a, a big dairy, and he once said to my mum, oh, well, it's so and so, he's come again, a rep has come. It's been three times, so really it deserves an order. [00:59:03] There's a [00:59:04] lot [00:59:05] Paul: in [00:59:05] Stuart: a lot in [00:59:06] truth in that, backs and it backs up what you were just saying, of keeping in contact, and, of course as far as advertising is concerned, or mail shots. the first one they take no notice of and throw away. The second one, oh well, there's another one from this so and so. The third one, it is usually reckoned that the person will be activated by that And so, as you said, keeping in contact is very important. [00:59:42] But I'm bound to say that breaking in a lot of it is by accident, but certainly the persistence of contact is very important. [00:59:56] And when you consider, you see, over the years we have thought of Only the Institute, or I have, and I've done, I've put a lot of time and work into it, as other people have, without which we might have been a lot more better off or a lot wealthier than we in fact are. [01:00:20] Sean: Stuart, did, did, when we say the institute, it's the British Institute Professional Photography we're talking about here. And I, I'm a member too, and that's how I met Stuart through the institute. Through your long career as a photographer, how important did you find the, The Institute and the ability to mix and talk and, and, and work, you know, get information from other photographers, I suppose. [01:00:41] How important did you find that [01:00:44] Stuart: Photographers, um, are, as you know, very, very much individualists. they work a lot on their own, and when you consider that there are probably 7 or 10, 000 practicing photographers in this country, and so few of them belong to anything. [01:01:10] It makes you wonder how all those people survive. but, it really comes back to, to, uh, what we were saying earlier, of contact, those people must be in contact with other people. [01:01:29] Their reputation goes before them, obviously, and when you consider the situation with the Royals, for instance, who, from time to time, have official photographs taken, um, by names that I've never heard of, where you would perhaps expect that they are members of the, this organization, the Royal Photographic Society, as a case in point. Um, these people are not members of them and so how they I'm not talking about the Litchfields, I'm talking about the other people who officially, officially photograph, uh, in recent times, the, um, William and Kate's family, the, their birthday or whatever anniversary it was. So, those people, um, are plowing their own furrow. [01:02:33] But going back to the the meaning of the institute, whereby people are individual, the opportunity over the past years was for all these individuals to rub shoulders with each other and the networking that went on then. For instance, you go to a meeting and you're chatting away, and a couple of blokes have a common, common interest, uh, uh, or they're equal practitioners, but suddenly, one of them comes up with a problem that he can't answer, and so he's able to phone this guy in Nottingham, or wherever, because he is not in competition down the street. He can't ask the guy down the street how to tackle the question, but the man in Nottingham will willingly bare his soul for you, and keeping in contact with, um, with other people to solve problems where they have them is incredibly useful, in my judgment. [01:03:49] And also, it may be with a particular technique or idea. Oh, well, I'll show you how to do it. And photographers, generally speaking, are very open with each other. In my recollection, especially if they're not in competition [01:04:07] with each other, just, [01:04:09] one or two streets away. [01:04:14] I don't know if that answers your question. [01:04:15] Sean: Yeah, think it does Stuart, yeah, it's very, very interesting, I think it does. [01:04:19] does, [01:04:19] Stuart: And, and, also, when people, when photographers are starting up, um, And they lack confidence, and you and I have a mutual acquaintance who fits that, uh, scene well. They lack confidence because there is no, there hasn't been, and I think The Institute are trying to introduce business and business methods, which think is greatly commendable. [01:04:57] And all the things that we're talking about now, if be given over by the, um, by the organization of the Institute. The stock, I think, would be, rise and be considered to be very valuable. [01:05:18] I come back to saying though, against that, there all these 10, 000 people who are getting on very well without. people who do, um, they be given guidance, [01:05:37] Norman, Norman Cooper, who I mentioned earlier on, he had, uh, he, there was a conference at Oxford University, of which I was part of, but Norman was talking how to cost out your services, [01:06:01] And one of the simplest things was the hourly, you've got the hourly rate or the day rate, whatever that may be, and you can produce those two figures, but what does it mean? [01:06:17] And he said to arrive at your fee, daily or weekly fee, find out how much you want to earn at the end of the day, and work back from there. [01:06:37] And when you've worked back from your earnings, your overheads, your costs, your expenses, tax, etc, etc. And then you come back to how much do I need to charge for a day or an hour against those costs? [01:07:00] And bear in mind you are working on a 40 hour week, perhaps, and now everybody else is going on to a four day week. How people are going to justify the cost that is required to meet all the costs that I've mentioned, there's hardly probably no way about it. I remember the managing director of Hoover, on the radio one occasion, and he said, the Hoover vacuum cleaner, we worked out how much it should cost to make them and sell them and sell them and so And he said, the figure that we arrived at was that nobody would buy them at the price they buy them, so therefore they had to be down, and this is the same with photography. At the end of the day, how much are people prepared to pay for your service and or product? [01:08:10] So, it isn't just that easy, oh, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll charge so much. [01:08:20] There is somebody who is another, a mutual acquaintance. income went up, according to what you told me either four or five times what he had been earning or charging before his situation or circumstances changed. People, never mind how much is the right price to charge, but people can undervalue their product. And it's the same with whether you're working for yourself or em, or employed.. [01:09:05] Well, how much are you worth? I think probably that, in general, photographers are, in my book, are always at the fag end of everything. [01:09:19] If you go through the, the, the rolling titles on films, I've known photographers, I've seen photographers listed under best boys. Best Boy, Second Best Boy, Improving Best [01:09:41] Boy, [01:09:41] Camera. It's on every night on the television. [01:09:48] Paul: Um, I could listen to your voice - the privilege I have doing this recording is I'm sitting here on and just listening to your voice is a real thrill but I'm acutely aware that I'm in the presence of two great photographers who are immensely successful, immensely popular. And my observation would be that both of you are very warm characters. [01:10:16] But I'm going to ask this question of both of you. [01:10:19] I believe we all have some superpower, whatever that might be. for each of you, given your success. What is your superpower? What is it about you, individually, that you think has made you the success that you've been? [01:10:38] Stuart: far as I'm concerned, I, I like people. and I can get along with most people. And I don't think there are many people who I've ever said a really wrong word against. It's probably because I'm a Leo. [01:11:01] it [01:11:01] Paul: So only 1 in 12 of us have that talent, is that right? [01:11:04] I [01:11:05] Stuart: That's probably the rub really. Um, and I, I think that Leos like to be at the centre of things. Um, and, and there it is. And, and this is the reason why I've been involved with the Institute for so long. [01:11:24] Um, I'm a member of the Leeds Audiovisual Group. I was a regional organiser for the Royal Photographic Society Audiovisual Group for 25 years. And, er, organising, I don't know whether either of you are aware of this. of Konica Awards. Konica Awards stem from the fact that on this organisation, this, this region along with Lancashire I, or Western Region I've got to, to say. Um. who were our nearest rivals. Um, [01:12:09] I said It's been like [01:12:10] Sean: Roses, yeah? [01:12:12] Stuart: As to who was best [01:12:13] But what happened was that we used have the regional conference, and those were held at Harrogate. Um, don't think they were quite annually. But [01:12:31] do you remember John Mills? [01:12:35] I remember, John Mill coming to the region when he was president and said the institute must stop meeting in pubs. [01:12:50] And from then on we used to have our annual meetings, or monthly meetings. ten a year hotels in the city and then it came to regional conference and we used to go to the Swan Hotel in Harrogate and there we set the stall out. It was over the weekend, uh, overnight accommodation. trade show, lecture, talk. We demonstrated, this is how far back it goes, we demonstrated colour printing on stage of the ballroom in the Swan Hotel. And how it happened was, this is going back to the very early days, of 20x16, uh, colour prints. And, what happened was that we had a studio set up on one half of the stage and Ken Heaney, who was a member at the time, photographed his wife. [01:14:13] But before that, we had Steiner's, um, hairdressing team from the Queen's Hotel to arrange her hair and so forth, went up onto the stage, took the photograph, closed the curtains, then on the other side of the stage ostensibly had a photographic darkroom, where, where, film was processed and the print was made, and, and then at the end, the curtains went back on the other side and there this 20x16 finished colour print in the gold swept frame. [01:15:03] There were 140 people, blokes, in that room, and they stood. and gave them, gave this whole thing a standing ovation. When, when Roy, Roy, Roy Dorbar, Dorbar came over and did his wedding photography, we had lapel mics, loudspeakers outside, and everything came over. [01:15:33] We were ahead of the field, but going on to Konica Awards then. We thought that this was so good, and we organised the Three Regions Conference, which was, uh, North West, East, North East, and Yorkshire. And that was, um, at the Cedar Court Hotel. on the edge of the motorway at Wakefield. And we called it Konica Awards. [01:16:08] Because Tony Kirby, the chairman and I at the time, went Konica and said what we were going to do and we could, we needed some funding, and they said, how much do you want? And so that was the first Konica Awards in wakefield when three regions filled the place. [01:16:38] The second time we did the Konica Awards and we called it the four regions and we had entries and members coming from Scotland , we had it in, um in uh, Glasgow. [01:16:58] So, this is the way that this region uh, has uh, thrived, and it's been a big part of my working life alongside earning a living. [01:17:15] Paul: so, uh, I'd suggest there's a second superpower, which is storytelling. [01:17:21] I don't think that's related to your birth sign, I just think you're a storyteller. So, Sean, over to you. Are you a Leo? [01:17:29] Sean: No, I'm not. I'm [01:17:32] Paul: to do with your birth sign. [01:17:33] Sean: Aquarian. Um, it's a very interesting question actually that, and uh, obviously first things come into your mind, oh I know how this technique or that technique, but no, it's not, I, In my sphere of photography, which is architectural, interior, corporate photography, I think it's about, a little bit like Stuart, it's about getting on with people. [01:17:53] Because one of the things I've discovered, it's getting, you know, and as you know, I travel, work a lot internationally, so you work with different nationalities. different cultures, different people, but it's all about getting on with people, getting them on board with you, and then they assist you to get the picture that you require. [01:18:10] Because if you can get that cooperation, you can get maybe to a viewpoint nobody else can get to, or you can get that space laid out exactly how you want at the right time of day when the light's coming in the right way. So it's getting people on board. And one of the [01:18:25] I've so enjoyed listening to Stuart this morning, but one of the things I love about photography is the way people react to us as photographers. [01:18:32] I mean, you guys, more than me being social photographers, what people will do for us never fails to amaze me because we're a photographer. So I think it is a superpower. It's getting people to do what you want them to do to enable you to get the image. Because at the end of the day, It is a competitive world, I think Stuart picked up on this, and you've just got to elevate that quality in whatever way it may be, and sometimes it's the organisation of your photography that does that, so, I think that's probably the superpower I would go for. [01:19:02] Stuart: Really, you've you've got to be interested in, in people, if you're in, on the social side. But also, equally, when you are meeting captains of industry, it isn't just bricks and mortar. [01:19:24] It's, it's his relationship to the, those bricks mortar and what's involved [01:19:33] And even, and, works managers, uh, contract managers, they all [01:19:42] are, it's, it's part of their life and if you can have an empathy with that, it bridges the, And they have confidence in what you're going to do. You know what you're about, and can you portray that to the person that's, as you said, photographers, there they are. And people don't know what they're going to get. [01:20:16] But if you can bridge that gap, and, and I'm sure that, as far as you're concerned, there are people that you know who've become friends. [01:20:31] Sean: Absolutely, yeah. [01:20:33] Stuart: I, I, um, did a lot of, um, road construction, um, M1, M6, etc. Um. And I became very friendly with one of their, uh, managers. Um, so much so that, um, his family and my family, we went boating. We hired a cruisers on the Great Ouse for a week or a fortnight. So, those relationships do build up. [01:21:13] I used to, going back to the days when we had purchase tax. Purchase tax, and I got even friendly with the guy who used to be the inspector. I went to his house on one occasion for, for dinner. [01:21:33] So, there it is. [01:21:36] Paul: Yeah. no, I'll be honest when you, it doesn't, it didn't surprise me in the slightest that you said people skill in answer to my question, but I did feel quite emotional about it because it's, for me, it's fundamental. [01:21:50] I mean, I know it's social photographers, it's core. I don't think you could get too far away from that, but I think any photographer who has clients, it's core or it should be. [01:22:00] And. As an aside to that, we were talking a little bit of the past couple of days about the role that associations play. So, the three of us, the associations have all been integral to everything we've done. [01:22:16] But there's a difference in why people join and why people stay. And the reason people stay, the reason I've stayed is because of people like Sean and getting the opportunity to meet people like you, Stuart, it's the networking and even, even though this is an audio recording, right? There's no visuals. I've learned so much about photography as a craft and photography as a business. And I'm listening, [01:22:40] I'm learning through my ears, which you'd think is completely alien, but actually the conversations we had last night. Over a beer. Every time I'm in the presence of the people I've met through the associations, I've learned something and I don't think you can put a value on it. [01:22:56] For me, it's my life. [01:22:58] For [01:22:58] me It's well, It is, it is, It's because actually it can it, it can be quite solitary. . You can spend a long time sitting on your own, in a room looking at a computer screen, but that's completely offset by the days like I've just spent the two days [01:23:14] in the [01:23:14] Sean: you, and Stuart quite rightly said earlier on, at any one time we can pick up the phone to one another, which we do, and, and, and answer a question or just have a conversation. [01:23:24] And, and it's an important thing, and that's something I feel the associations can help us all with, really. [01:23:30] Paul: I do as well. [01:23:31] Um, listen, much as I could sit and I would sit and listen for another couple of hours of storytelling. Uh, I'm not going to because at some point I've got to clip this down into a podcast [01:23:43] [01:23:43] Paul: And and if you think post production on prints and images is tough going, you know, when you're sitting there scrubbing backwards and forwards through an audio file. [01:23:51] Uh, so I'm gonna bring this to a close, and I just wanted to say thank you. So, Stuart, what you, what you can't see, dear listener, is that Stuart is waving his finger at me because he's clearly got one last footnote. You've been out footnoted, footnote. In this [01:24:05] Sean: In this case [01:24:06] I am happy to be out footnoted by my dear friend Stuart. [01:24:11] Stuart: The one thing that's surprising [01:24:13] Paul: Are you sure [01:24:13] it's one thing, Stuart? Are you sure? It's just the one? [01:24:16] Stuart: Um, This is the final, my very last word, my last, of my life. [01:24:22] Paul: I don't think so [01:24:23] Stuart: My last territorial claim. Um, it does surprise me that, um, you haven't mentioned the fact that, uh, probably, and I haven't any means of knowing this to contradict it, I'm probably though, one of the the oldest, the only, and the oldest working photographer who is of an Institute membership and still has an interest in the Institute and all that it's doing and all that everybody else is doing. [01:25:13] You probably are aware that my birthday in July, the Leo,will be my 98th. [01:25:28] Paul: Well, I had been told, but I felt it was rude to bring up your age. Also, what's lovely about the fact it's not your age. It's the fact that your stories go back so far, but sitting here meeting you, it's no different to meeting every other photographer. The age isn't a conversation. [01:25:45] Sean: I concur. [01:25:46] Paul: and what there was something I, and this is a portrait photographer's thing, and I'm hoping that Stuart will appreciate this. When I met you for the first time, cause I've only just met you, this is. Uh, first meeting, you met me in the corridor and the first thing that struck me. It was a glint in your eye [01:26:07] and that's an age thing, that's just, that's a people skill. Because the minute you opened the door, the minute we walked in, just your body language, the way you carry yourself, your smile, actually is in completely welcoming, completely engrossing and Sean, you have it too. And I think there's a commonality in many successful photographers that they've learned. it may not even be a learnt skill, it may be that they already did this and learnt how to attach photography to a human skill. I've no idea, maybe people do learn it, but all I can tell you is age was never part of this conversation. [01:26:43] Except that the stories go way back, which is really, really interesting. So, uh, I am, I am aware of your age, but I just didn't bring it up, sorry about that. [01:26:55] Uh, on that happy note, I am going to round it off, unless, oh Stuart, it's, I can see. go on. [01:27:02] Stuart: No, I've nothing more to, to add. [01:27:05] Paul: that's such a lie, you're now holding back. [01:27:09] Stuart: Well, you've, you've already said that, uh, you've got a big job in, um, in cutting it down to manageable level. So, I could go on, I could talk for England as you can realise that. [01:27:22] Paul: I got that. [01:27:22] Um, I'm not sure I'm going to cut it down. I mean, you know, I don't know even whether, I don't know whether this piece will stay in the bit where I'm talking about what I'm going to do with it. Um, it may or may not. Um, because actually, I think this is one where I'll leave it absolutely raw. Because just Listening to the stories and your rhythm and pace, the way you've delivered them. For me, as someone who's really intrigued by the sound of someone's voice, uh, I will probably keep it very much intact, but I will have to go through it and check that, you know, a couple of times I've hit the mic, coughed, you've hit the mic, Stuart's hit the mic. I'll have to take those bits out. anyway [01:28:01] Stuart: I think you've got to recognise everybody has got to recognise that they have to be interested in what they are doing and the people that they are engaging with. It isn't just a case, the problem is that it's breaking the barrier between the mechanics and bridging the distance between the individual. [01:28:32] And, and if you're talking about personalities. But if you're talking about a product, or a service, you've got to be interested in what the end product is and it's use. [01:28:48] The food photography is fabulous. It doesn't just happen. at the other end of the scale, you then have got the criminality elements. [01:29:00] And you can get the people who do research photography. It's still photography at the end of the day, whatever the end product is. But unless you are particularly interested, then I don't think you should start. [01:29:18] Paul: And I think that is a perfect end. to this podcast. He says, staring intently at Stuart so that he doesn't raise his finger and introduce [01:29:27] another story. You sit still, alright? Shush! [01:29:32] Thank you for getting to the end of this podcast. What a privilege it's been for me, and I hope you can feel the warmth in the room because it is genuinely a pleasure to sit with Sean Conboy and Stuart Clarke in Stuart Clarke's little house. Which was, this room was once, and I can imagine it was a brilliant photographic studio with a huge high ceiling and just a really lovely atmosphere to it. [01:29:53] Um, if you've enjoyed this podcast, please do subscribe, wherever it is that you get your podcasts. Uh, in honour of Stuart and Sean, please do leave us a review and some five star ratings, it would be really nice if you did. [01:30:04] And of course, head over to masteringportraitphotography. com where there's a whole heap of stuff about the business and the pleasure of portrait photography as well, of course, as being the spiritual home of this podcast. [01:30:16] And until next time, whatever else you do, be kind to yourself. Take care. Yay! [01:30:23] Sean: well done everybody. ### [EP153 It Takes Work And Life Would Be Boring Without Sarah](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep153-it-takes-work-and-life-would-be-boring-without-sarah/) There are many factors to success and I have listed many in these podcasts, but the brutal reality is that it takes hard work. Lots of it. There isn't a silver bullet, no matter what every influencer, marketer, salesman, advertorial or Facebook campaign might try to convince you - and AI ain't gonna fix it either. All I wish is that I could stop seeing the ads that tell me otherwise! Before all that, though, I head up the episode with a quick chat with Colin Jones, CEO of The Societies Of Photographers. This is one more in my series of interviews-from-the-photography-show (I need a snappier title) and it's interesting that once more, training and education are at the forefront of his thoughts. Also, I mention a brilliant app called EVOTO.AI in this episode. At some point I'll do a deep-dive into it but rest-assured, this is well worth exploring if, like me, you create portraits for a living. The guys have kindly given me a link you can use that gives you thirty free credits when you register: https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson One great thing about this app is that you only burn a credit up when export a finished image - you can test it out on as many as you like. This means those thirty credits could be enough for you to play around with as many images as you want until you're happy and then go ahead and run an entire portrait session through! Let me know what you think! Cheers P. ### Introduction to Colin Jones [00:00:00] I'm Colin Jones. I'm the CEO for the Society of Photographers. Excellent. It's lovely to see you as always, Colin. ### The Photography Show Experience [00:00:06] Tell me why you come to the photography show. Oh, the photography show is a great show. It's great to meet up with all the trade, seeing all the latest products and services in the industry and getting to network with other photographers. [00:00:17] It's a great show to come to. ### Passion for Photography [00:00:18] So, tell me why you love this industry so much. [00:00:21] Oh, I love the industry. I've always been part of the photography industry. It's been part of my family since my granddad and my dad, and it's an industry full of amazing people, creative people, uh, and, you know, so much passion for, for, for photography and for the craft of it. [00:00:35] And I love seeing people excel in the industry as well. [00:00:37] So that's all of the positives. ### Industry Improvements [00:00:38] But if, like everything, there was always things we could do better as an industry. If there's one thing, just one thing that you could change in this glorious passion of ours, what would it be? [00:00:48] I think I'd like to see photographers get more training, invest more time in training and more, more money in training. Uh, you know, I see, when we see people take that step and really invest in training to push not only their photography but their business, we see so much success. Uh, so I'd love to see training be more, , forefront of the industry. ### Importance of Training [00:01:04] When you're talking about training, what aspects do you think, photographers in the industry, certainly the industry we spend most of our time with, which is the UK industry, what do you think is the weak spot? Which direction do you think the development would be most applicable. [00:01:19] I think, uh, quite a lot of photographers, if they're in business, uh, that's where we see a lot of photographers really struggle getting clients through the door, marketing their services, uh, so that's, that's always been a big passion of mine, is getting photographers more training in the business side, but, you know, I, I genuinely think training of any kind, whether it's lighting and posing, or even just networking with your peers, uh, and getting training that way, just by talking to other photographers, uh, is a, is a real bonus. [00:01:43] Excellent. ### Interview Conclusion [00:01:43] Perfect answers, as always, from one of the nicest guys in the industry. Thank you, Colin. [00:01:47] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, so that is one more of those little interviews I did at the photography show earlier this year. That was Colin Jones, the CEO of the Societies Of, Photographers. It's always interesting talking to people like Colin. I mean, not just because he's a really lovely guy. But he hears from hundreds, possibly thousands of photographers, uh, on a scale that most of us can only imagine. [00:02:11] And yet the themes still seem to be consistent. [00:02:15] It's all about education. ### Podcast Introduction [00:02:17] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: And learning I'm Paul and this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast. [00:02:22] [00:02:36] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, it's been three weeks since the last episode and yesterday, yesterday. ### Wedding Anniversary Anecdote [00:02:45] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: It was mine and Sarah's 21st wedding anniversary. She sent me a card and it simply said, imagine how boring life would be without me. Literally in quotes. Imagine how boring life would be without me. Well, this morning, She bit my toe, I was fast asleep. She bit my toe now I sleep with my feet. Out of the bottom of the duvet. [00:03:09] I've always done it. And I've no idea why, but I do. This morning. She bit my toe. And this isn't really a unique event. I think she probably does it a few times. A year I am asleep, then rudely I'm awakened. With pain. There is nothing in between those two moments except a searing sensation that someone has sunk their teeth. Into my big toe. I don't really know which bit hurts the most, the initial bite or the moments I react and pull away leaving tooth marks. This morning. She bit my toe. [00:03:46] It's true. Sarah is right. Imagine how life would be without her. Imagine how boring. It would be, frankly, I can't imagine it. I can't picture. How things would be without every morning. They're being the risk that she's going to sink her teeth into my toe. But Sarah is the person who makes me laugh the most. [00:04:07] She is the person who allows the extrovert in me out. She's the person who props me up when I'm down. And she's the person who keeps a lid on me. When I'm up. That sounds really weird, but you get the gist of it. Um, you know, I can be quite full on, I think, and it, Sarah, that just keeps things nice and steady. [00:04:28] And so thank you Sarah, for 21 years of marriage, 33 years of hilarity between the two of us. So, yes, life would be really boring without her. [00:04:41] Anyway, in the past three weeks, what has happened in our diary. ### Recent Portrait Sessions [00:04:46] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well there have been 22 different portrait sessions, which is lovely, including one, uh, just this morning, beautiful family. Uh, so a mom with her two children and her two grandchildren. Um, just lovely out in the sunshine, a quick drive over to their house. Shot in the garden. [00:05:05] What was funny about it was every single shot. She wanted her front door in the images. Which, uh, I've had sort of, you know, big Manor houses and different things about to be part of a shoot, but I've never had one where the front door has to be prominent, but it was a joyous shoot, beautiful people. [00:05:23] They made me very welcome. [00:05:24] Cannot wait to show them their pictures. And one of the two little girls -she's three years old -was wearing a Liverpool FC football strip. Now on two levels that just filled my heart, with joy. On the one level. It's Liverpool, which happens to be the team that I also have always supported all my life I've supported. [00:05:46] And when I say supported, what I mean is occasionally I've looked at their headlines and seen the score. Or occasionally, you know, a key match comes up and I might watch the first 20 minutes of it, before it gets way too stressful for me, and I leave the room. I'm not really a supporter in the supporter sense of the word. But if I'm ever, if ever I'm asked, and this is since I've been about five years old, it's been Liverpool. And she was wearing a kit this morning and the kit was almost identical to a kit I was bought for Christmas when I think I was about eight. There's something about the styling of the current, the current kit, the red with the white collar. The cut of it, the styling of it, that's almost exactly the same as it was all of those years ago when it was Kevin Keegan and the boys playing. And so that made me happy. [00:06:36] The main reason, it made me really happy. Is isn't it amazing. Oh, is it amazing or isn't it about time? [00:06:43] Maybe it's about time. Maybe we're just getting there. That a girl turned up at the door. She's three years old and she's a football fanatic. And I know now the way it will be for her is so very different, than for instance, if my sister, when she was that age wanted to play football. Now my, my sister, cause I was a drummer, my sister wanted to play drums, but the girl's school, she went to said that wasn't lady like. How heartbreaking is that? I know we're going back quite a long time, but how heartbreaking. Is that, that you can't do something. Because it's not lady like. You can't do something because because of your gender, it doesn't fit in. It's just ridiculous. [00:07:25] And so it is so heartwarming this morning. To see this little girl in bright red, bright red Liverpool football strip, kicking a ball around the garden and loving every single second of it. And unlike my sister, where I think life in that particular time. In the late eighties, early nineties. You know, Society's, it was sort of prevented things like that. I know this little kid that won't be the case. For her, at least. I trust it won't be the case for her. ### Hearing Dogs Shoots [00:07:57] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So wonderful shoot this morning, 22 portraits shoots over the past three weeks, we'd done five Hearing Dogs shoots. Uh, two of those have been out on a location and they've been so joyous, so profoundly joyous. Um, the one yesterday was of one of our recipients whose Hearing Dog has essentially. Been a lifesaver. [00:08:18] I mean, I, I hear this quite a lot, but I really do think, uh, the lady I photographed with her dog yesterday, she's in her mid twenties. Um, Is just, was just an inspiration, really the relationship with the dog, the way they were, the joy that dog has brought, um, And it was just a magical shoot. And one of the things about these all, I mean, all portrait shoots, I think, but in particular with shoots like the Hearing Dogs is as much as I'm providing a service, as much as I'm providing images that they can use for fundraising and publicity and PR and marketing and all of these things. Is, they provide me with a sense of, what's the right word, they energize me. They give me energy and positivity. I come away from these shoots so much more full of life than I do when I arrive at them. I just think. It's just incredible. The joy that a photography can bring, not just to the people I'm photographing, but also, uh, to me. [00:09:22] Uh, we've had five cleanse that was a bit abrupt, sorry about that. I don't know. I maybe I just couldn't think of a good point to wind up on, but being a portrait photographer is a thing of joy. [00:09:33] It is a thing of life is a thing of positivity and energy. Um, and I suppose that's what I'm trying to get to. It really is something, but it's not a one way street. I get as much energy and joy out of these shoots as my client's do. ### Client Reveals and Workshops [00:09:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, we've also had five client reveals. Uh, just wonderful. I love it when the clients come to see that images, we never quite certain what we're going to sell. But, uh, it's just a lovely thing to see the reaction to people when they see their pictures sometimes surprise. In fact, nearly, always surprise at how beautiful the pictures can be, I don't know why they're surprised they've come to us. They've come to us because they've seen what I can do for others. Um, and yet still the surprise very often it's clients who've been to us before, and they're still surprised. Maybe I should work harder at explaining what we, what we do, but that element of surprise. It's a lovely thing when it's done in the, in the reveal room and tomorrow we've got a little wedding, it was just a two person wedding uh, who are coming to see their pictures. And again, massively looking forward to that. Uh, we've run one one-on-one masterclass. [00:10:37] I love the one-on-one masterclasses. Because of course, every topic, every topic can be on the table. We don't need to worry about. Uh, suiting or fulfilling the requirements of four or five people. It's just one person and we can play, we can talk, uh, we can jump between different topics. We can try different things out depending on their needs. [00:10:57] Anything from business all the way through to how to prep your files for Photoshop. It doesn't really make any difference to us. And so for that, it's just a wonderful thing to do. [00:11:07] We've also done a, an off-camera flash workshop. Now the off-camera flash workshops are by far the hardest. Even this morning, a little shoot. Um, when I met bumped into the little girl, Uh, in her Liverpool outfit, Liverpool kit. I decided one of the shots we would do would be, uh, like a FIFA or UEFA. Uh, footballer's pose because all footballers are contracted to do these things so that when, uh, the, the, the TV companies roll out or, or show the team list or whatever, or feature a player, there's footage of every player walking into shot and standing a very particular way, they lit a very particular way. Um, and you can do that quite happily out in the garden with some off-camera flash. [00:11:50] So even this morning I was using. Off camera flash, and you have to sort of pause a little bit and think, okay. And you, you have to build the shot setting by setting. Then it's not as straightforward as it is just using TTL. You could just use TTL on your flash guns. Uh, but you get sort of slightly erratic results if you do that. You have to understand how, uh, the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO, they all interact to give you the output you're looking for. And this morning absolutely nailed it. But when you're trying to teach it, trying to get those principles across in a way that is clear, a way that is concise and a way that is repeatable so that you will delegates can leave. And use that, those techniques themselves. Isn't trivial. [00:12:41] It's the, of all the things we teach here at the studio, I think. It's the hardest. And I know it's the hardest because when I'm suddenly faced with having to get the settings right for myself on a shoot, invariably I'll change the wrong thing at the wrong moment. And it's like, oh, bugger. bugger Having to go back. And figure it out. Uh, so it was, it was lovely to do a brilliant day, lots of laughter and one that Sarah was away for. [00:13:07] So thank you to Katie and James who stepped in. And Katie stepped into the role of, of Sarah, because she had to go and look after my in-laws new puppy for eight days, honestly, she's come back exhausted that, that Sarah, that is not the puppy. Uh, she's come back. Absolutely exhausted. The puppy goes to sleep at midnight. The puppy wakes up at six and there's very little in between. It's on and off. Uh, and it's on from 6:00 AM to midnight and it's off from midnight til six. She was absolutely shattered. So, uh, she was away the week when we running the workshop, unfortunately. And it couldn't be helped, not a lot of sidestepping, but Katie, thank you very much for stepping in. And being sort of a surrogate, Sarah and helping me make sure that everything ran. Uh, smoothly. ### BIPP Qualifications Judging [00:13:53] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, also this last week we have done a full day of qualifications judging for the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography. Um, It's a wonderful thing. Qualifications are such an amazing thing to be a part of. And I mean, that from both sides of the line. [00:14:12] I kind of draw inspiration from the candidates, the people putting their images in for assessment and I draw inspiration from the judges, but in very different ways. [00:14:24] The candidates, of course. It takes quite a lot of bravery, I think, to submit your images. I mean, we've all been through it, but it still is quite a thing to do. To submit your images in for assessment as qualification, because you don't know, you don't truly know, even the mentors don't truly know, whether a panel is going to be successful or not. [00:14:45] , we did eight panels in a day. I'm chairing it. [00:14:48] So I'm not really a judge in that sense anymore. I chair it and make sure it's run smoothly And the process is meticulous in the way we do it, so that it's fair and equitable for every single candidate. [00:15:03] Firstly, the candidate sets up their panel and the judges, get to assess the images. At the end of that first assessment , we take a vote. Then have a discussion and then we take a second vote. And the reason we do it like that is so that the judges get to make up their minds independently with no influence. They're just assessing the images on their own. And on an individual basis. Then we vote. And then as a discussion and in that discussion, It's about the judging team, the panel of judges arriving at a decision that is, a combination of their own independent view and the views of the other four judges. And it's important that it's done like that because every judge has a different experience, different influences and skills for how they assess the images. [00:15:53] And so when the judges talk, each judge gets the opportunity to address the panel, and talk about why they think their decision is the right one. But they're also listening to the other four judges and taking into account, maybe things they haven't noticed or maybe things that they just don't prioritize quite the same way. [00:16:17] And listening to these six judges or five at a time, but the six judges in discourse, listening, giving their views, knowing when to be brave and when to stand their ground, but also know when to flex, and acknowledge that may be another photographer, another judge has more experience in an area or a spotted, something that they haven't, that that was exhilarating in the extreme, because the panel of judges each time there was a discussion , they came to decision and the whole panel doesn't have to be unanimous, but the whole panel of judges respects and understands the outcome of the process. [00:16:56] Now, of course the delegate might not. That is other candidate rather than might not. That is true. And it wasn't a hundred percent pass, uh, in terms of each of the panels. And it's always heartbreaking. I wish the candidates could see behind the curtain while we come to the decision. That's not part of the process that we've opened up just yet. Um, that may come in the future as we get our arms around a way of doing that, that is. Uh, fair. But genuinely when a panel was unsuccessful, you could almost hear everybody in the room, you can almost hear their hearts. Breaking. [00:17:37] When we say, we're sorry. We mean it. Because we would love every single panel to be a successful panel. We would love that. But in the end. It's a, it's a balancing act between making sure that we reward the endeavor, we reward the work. But the standards have to be high. They have to be. Consistent. They have to be something that when people look at the letters you put on the wall. They mean something and sadly they can only mean something. [00:18:12] If we hold our ground, on, uh, the standards, the process, and the reasons why certain panels will succeed where other panels may not make it this particular time, but what an absolute what an absolute privilege to be in the room with those judges, looking at those panels, the panels were stunning. Even the ones that were unsuccessful this time round, the panels were stunning. [00:18:34] So a huge, thank you. To the six judges who came and provided their skills, their eyes, their experience to, assess each of the candidates work [00:18:47] And what a beautiful thing to be a part of. [00:18:50] Um, what else? What have I written in my notes? ### Personal Reflections and Future Plans [00:18:52] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So, yeah, I've drank a little too much this week and exercised a little too little. That's something I'm now feeling very guilty about. And this afternoon, it's Saturday afternoon. And I sat and thought. Shall I go home and get on the exercise, bike or shall I record a podcast. [00:19:06] And I thought, oh, I better record this podcast, but trust me when this is recorded. I'm going to go home and do a little bit more exercise than I have this week. This week I've barely slept. I've been working in London. I've been working in Essex. I've been working here locally. This stuff has got to go out. [00:19:23] I've written an article for professional photo magazine, big shout out to those guys, by the way, the online magazine looks fantastic that's Professional. Uh, Photo Magazine. Uh, but what, uh, what a week it has been, [00:19:36] uh, final note, . Final note this week. Um, it's been a real run of it just at the moment in that. ### Product Reviews and Recommendations [00:19:43] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Lots of photographic suppliers have been approaching us to feature their product on either the podcast or masteringportraitphotography.com, or just getting it into our hands so that we can talk about it. And I have a really strict policy here, um, that I'll only talk about things and promote things that I use that are part of our business, part of our workflow, because if they are worth talking about, then trust me. I've already had a look I'm already using it. [00:20:11] So this one has, this came in yesterday. Um, and I'll put the link in the show notes. We use a bit of software, or we've been exploring a bit of software called EVOTO - E V O T O, which is it's an AI retouching package. [00:20:27] Now I know I can feel a few of you are hackles going up and bloomin' AI. retouching automated and all of those things. Why do I like it? Well, I like it because you have total control. So in the same way that we use actions in Photoshop, we put up, um, check layers. And do dodging and burning. This takes some of that drudgery out. [00:20:50] I say, drudgery that, sorry, that sounds dreadful. I don't mean it to sound like that because actually I love retouching. ### Balancing Business and Creativity [00:20:56] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: I love it when I've got an hour. And a beautiful picture that I can just work up, but my business model, doesn't allow me to do that for 22 portrait shoots in three weeks. It just doesn't. [00:21:08] Now I could outsource it, I suppose. But I've never been really that happy with the results when I've done that. I find, I find things, come back, just looking a little bit plastic. Um, of course I could pay really high-end retouches, but I work in social photography, not commercial retouching. Obviously, if it's going to be the cover of Vogue, I can spend thousands on a single image being retouched, but that's not my world. [00:21:31] My world is a very solid, very dynamic, very successful social photography. Uh, outfit and. Although I like the images to have a really high fashion look for an awful lot of my work, trying to find techniques to do that quickly is not straightforward. ### Discovering EVOTO: A Game-Changer for Retouching [00:21:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Um, so when EVOTO suddenly emerged a few months ago, it's still sort of in beta, at least a lot of the functions are. Um, it's E V O T O you can go download it. [00:21:59] Um, this particular piece of software allows you a huge amount of control and there are two. Uh, bits of Photoshopping that I really don't enjoy. I don't mind. I love I say. I don't mind. I love skin retouching. I love working at the colors. I love all of that side of it. I really don't like fixing crosshairs, and I don't like fixing creased clothes. [00:22:21] So there's a two things there, there are others, but those are two things I really just find irritating for whatever reason. ### EVOTO Features and Benefits [00:22:28] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, EVOTO on its own, it would be worth the effort of just fixing those, um, it does crosshairs brilliantly and it will take the majority of creases out of pretty much any type of clothing. [00:22:41] And even if that was all it did, that would be worth the money, but it does so much more. It helps me in so many ways. It's helping us automate and create a higher finish. But it's still looking natural, still looking like they, the images haven't been retouched, I'll do a deep dive into it at some point. Uh, but the guys have been in touch, and I do have a promo code. Uh, if you fancy it again. Uh, put that in the notes, but it's https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson capital P capital w all one word, Paul Wilkinson. And if you go there and sign up. Uh, you will get 30 free credits, which allow you to have a play. [00:23:28] So you'll get 30 free credits. The other thing about the software, which I really like is that you pay to finish the image so you can load it up with as many images as you like and run your, your settings on it and run. Basically all of that, the whole of the software. But you only get charged when you export the finished images out. [00:23:50] Now it's not perfect yet. Uh, only works on certain types of files. It won't work on PSD files. It works on TIFs or RAW files. Uh, or JPEGs, but trust me, it's an absolute godsend. Uh, particularly if you don't overuse it, if you just keep on the right side of the line. The images look natural, they look polished. They look finished. That you've got no crosshairs and even the clothes can get a little bit of an iron. So I'll put that link in the show notes. And if you follow the link, you will get, uh, 30 free credits. By the way, I get no kickback on this. I'm getting nothing out of it. It's just, I talked to the guys. Because I use the software. And I said I would happily, uh, promote it because I think it's, it's absolutely. Uh, brilliant. [00:24:37] And then anybody, the whole point of this podcast is to make life a little bit easier for anybody, uh, doing portrait. Uh, photography. ### Navigating the Photography Business Landscape [00:24:44] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So anyway, on to what is, I suppose, as much as it ever is the topic of a podcast, these are just, you know, It's the diary of a working pro in stuff that occurs to me as we, as I get all my life. Um, but here's the primary topic of this particular. Uh, podcast and in a sense. It's a little bit of a moan. I just, I don't like to moan. [00:25:07] It's not my style, but this is just a little bit of a protest protest. Sounds better than moan. Maybe. A little bit of a protest. ### Evaluating Business Advice and Authenticity [00:25:15] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Which is the sheer number of adverts I get in all of my social feeds with people telling me they have the answer. They can make my photography business successful. They can find me thousands of clients. [00:25:29] They have a six-figure photographic business. They can tell me how they did it. No one, no one has the answer. It's all lots of small parts. And when I'm looking for help, I look basically for three. Three things more or less. And these. These are three things that it would have to have if I'm going to use someone for some help. [00:25:48] Firstly, do I admire their pictures? Do I admire their pictures? Do I want or understand why they create what they do? Is it something. That's in tune. With me and what I want. [00:26:01] A couple of people have come into our studio and said, well, you could do it like this, you could turn the whole space into two working studios, have two photographers in each run, eight shoots. Uh, in each, uh, part of your space per day, that's 16 shoots. Per day, you need to get a sales team onto the calls, do cold calling to lead generation, and you could run a multi-million pound business. Well, I could. But I don't want to. Because those photos are not the photos that I want to take. Um, and besides I want to take them, I love creating pictures. That's part of why we do this. The idea of not creating pictures anymore is not part of my business plan. What I've got to always figure out is how to make this business as profitable as I can, given the caveat, I left a very well-paid job in the city to do it. I left a career and a life of money and shares and shareholder value, and watching stock markets and being a partner in a firm. [00:26:56] I left all of that behind me because it wasn't, what I wanted. What I wanted to do was create beautiful images and make life just a little bit better for people myself included. Um, so that the idea of doing that, so. I will only ever look for someone who's creating pictures. I truly admire. [00:27:12] Secondly, , does that business, the business they're describing, does it look like my business vision? [00:27:18] So whatever it is, they're trying to sell me. Is that part of my vision. [00:27:23] And thirdly, do I like the person who purports to give me that information. [00:27:29] If those three things are true, there may be, I'll dig into it a little bit further, but if any, one of those isn't true. I'm not going there. And I get so many ads with people, waving their camera around, telling me some number or rather. You know, I don't know. [00:27:43] I've created a six figure business in three weeks. Um, I did it all from the comfort of my own home. I mean, there's even ads. Now I get the, tell me they don't need a photographer. You can set up. A headshot business without ever using a photographer. And if I get one more of those ads from someone who clearly doesn't understand. What. Personal branding really is it's the clue is in the title, personal. It's not AI generated. [00:28:09] I know you can change hairdos and suits. And I use AI everywhere. Trust me. But there's a big difference in the, if you think about the one word you have to have in personal branding, authenticity is at the heart of it. An AI can't give you that. I mean, you can't synthesize authenticity. There's no such thing. Synthetic authenticity is an oxymoron, it is not a thing it's either authentic or ain't. So, uh, I'm sort of very. They're very cynical about those things and they, and these people are always waving a camera around at me, sometimes with the lens cup still on. I assume that it's because the Metta or social media algorithms reward, people waving a camera around. [00:28:53] So it gets it higher up in my feed and it definitely works as long as it's aimed at me. So I've got hundreds of these things. And they're always, there was a very particular type of person. They're always very bouncy and extrovert and energetic. And I like that. I'm bouncy and energetic and extrovert. Um, but I'd like to know, that their business has been running for 10 years or 15 years. [00:29:17] I'd like to know. That they consistently do these pictures with real clients, the kind of clients that we find, the kind of clients that are in tune with our business. Um, Now of course, when I dig into them and actually have a hunt around. 99% of them are paper thin. There's nothing underneath there's no, it's not substantiated by any real world. Business acumen or business experience. Some of them will have been successful, but you can feel that they are now going into training because the success of the business has probably beginning to wane. [00:29:51] I'm looking for a long-term sustained business. If what I want to run is a longterm sustained business. I'm looking for somebody who can do what I want to do. Um, Now it is true. It is true that you can be a great coach without being a sporting star on your own or vocal coach to rockstars. They're not quite the same thing, being good at something and being able to coach in it. Not quite the same thing as being a star in it. [00:30:18] I understand that. But I really do want to know that the war stories I'm going to learn from are real, that someone's been out there, someone's done it. That they've walked the walk and ideally are still walking the walk I'd much rather learn from a business than from a trainer. If you get what I mean. I want to go to a consultant . Who's still running up business. They're still learning. They're still evolving. I mean, goodness knows. In the UK, we're about to go into a general election. The dates of that have just been released, and if there's one thing I know about elections and anything sort of like, um, referenda, anything like that. Is the phones, just go that little bit quieter. So no matter what happens up until July the fourth, which is the election date, I know that the market will be ever so slightly suppressed because people don't wake up during election campaigning and think first as they wake up, I need to get some photos. That's just not what happens. [00:31:16] People wake up and thinks, you know, What's Rishi Sunak said today, or where are we headed with the election or any one of a million other things, but photography just gets down the list a little bit, further. So I know we're about to go into a quiet period and what I want is someone who's been through that knows that's what's coming knows that the little intricacies of running a business over a long period of time are far more than you can do something like this in 42 days, or in just three weeks, you can have this success or with just one camera and one lens and working from home, you can telemarket to a thousand people. [00:31:49] I don't care about any of that. What I want to know is do they run a business that looks a little bit like mine? And I know that they've been there, seen it, done it and are still doing it. Um, now. ### The Importance of Hard Work and Superpowers [00:32:00] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: A couple of episodes ago, I talked about four things, four things, I think are consistent to successful. Photographers that's energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. [00:32:12] I stand by that. They're very much there, but they're not all of it. And I did say that in a podcast, they're just the foundation stones. That, not the whole building there. The bit. They're the bedrock or the foundation, everything can be built on, but they are not. The whole building, maybe I'll get over the coming months to talk about each of the different areas that I think you probably need to get to map it out. [00:32:35] Maybe that'd be a good idea. if I draw it all out. Uh, maybe actually create a little bit, maybe I should stand in front of a camera and wave my camera around with my lens cap on and say, I've got the answer for you. I don't, I don't have the answer. I've just spotted some things that are consistent with people who are successful, energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. But you'll also need some other stuff. [00:32:58] And one of them is just hard work over a period of time. Call it, practice. Call it graft, call it wherever you want. It's doing it over a long period of time so that you have your chops down. You graft at it. You'll get some breaks. You'll miss some breaks. You'll have a bit of good luck, you know, have a little bit of bad luck. That's life. There isn't a silver bullet for this, and you really do need to plow through it. So these little ads that come up and say, I've got the answer for you in the next three weeks, you can do this. Um, then just, I'm just doubtful. [00:33:32] I certainly don't buy into them. And every time I have sort of investigated, they've come up short now we all have superpowers. We do. But we don't all have the same superpowers and there's no one superpower you need, you need a suite of them. But you can't have everything. It's just not possible to be good at everything. Um, my superpowers, I suppose, are I am a grafter I work hard. I can read light. I love, I love technology. I know it's slightly ironic that I'm muttering about some of the AI stuff given I've got a PhD in AI. I adore technology. And I get on with people. Well, mostly I get on with people. But I am not for instance, an avant-garde creative photographer. I'm not edgy. I'm not a visionary. I'm certainly not a master, of marketing or a sales. [00:34:22] I'm non of those things, but I work hard. At it, I love doing it. And so I do a lot of it. And I particularly love being amongst people. And I love being amongst people when I've got a camera. And if I'm, I suppose I, if I think about it, I can create a portrait. In almost any light. If I can see it. Well, probably I can use it. Those are my superpowers, but everyone will have different superpowers. Some of you will be amazing at business. Some of us will be amazing at marketing and sales. Some of us will be amazing photo shoppers. And fine artists things that I'm not. Um, but that's my superpower. Those are my superpowers. Uh, I'm a grafter can read light love tech and I get on well with people. [00:35:07] But even then in and of itself. that's not enough. It's a damn good start, but it's not enough. I've got to learn and I have learned as much as I can about everything else. I'm still learning. I'm still on that journey. We're still running. Uh, business that I've learned how to do it alongside Sarah. Sarah. and myself, we've worked out how to do it. [00:35:27] We've had a corporate background. So we were exposed to the fundamental principles of running businesses, which is really useful. But I've learnt how to run our little business, how to sell. We've learned how to sell stuff. We've learned how to market, we've learnt how to do those things. Using what I would consider to be natural tools. Um, so using the S the superpowers that we have, the ability to get on well with people, the ability to create a picture, actually, after that, you don't need to do too much on the sales side, a couple of little bits and pieces. [00:35:55] There are techniques. But for us, we've just lent into our natural talents. Um, of really liking our clients and really enjoying being there with them and really enjoying, creating images of them. Uh, and so that's how we've learned how to run a business and we're still learning. [00:36:12] But I do wish I could stop receiving ads from people, waving a camera at me telling me that they all 25 years old of them. Are the answer. Well, they may be the answer, but they're not the answer. that I would look for. They can't change my business only I can change my business and I'm very, very picky. About who I take advice from. ### Final Thoughts and Farewell [00:36:37] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Anyway, thank you for listening. [00:36:39] If you have enjoyed this, please do let us know. Please do leave us a rating on iTunes or wherever it is, you get your podcasts and also please do subscribe. So the minute we publish the next one. Bang. There is. In your in-tray or in your list, on your library, on your latest or on your alerts or wherever it is. That it pings up when you listen to your podcasts, please also head over to mastering portrait photography.com, which is. the spiritual home of this podcast. But also of course includes a ton of stuff all about the love. The passion, the creativity in the business of mastering. Portrait photography. If you're curious about any of the workshops and one-on-one masterclasses that we run, um, where there's a whole suite of them. I go back to the thing I said earlier, though. If you think we're the kind of thing you'd like to do. [00:37:23] If we creating pictures that you'd like to learn how to do, and if you think actually you'd like to learn it from us. And then please do head over to, uh, paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And there you will find the, um, Coaching section, but just Google paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops and you will find us. [00:37:41] So on that happy note, I'm going to go, I think. And have a beer in the sunshine with my wife. And lament the fact that I've got one very sore, big toe. Whatever else you do. Be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP154 A Bit More Different (And Other Thoughts On Judging)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep154-a-bit-more-different-and-other-thoughts-on-judging/) Ah, so it's the 4th July as I record this so Happy Independence Day to all my US friends and colleagues! In this episode, I do my regular round-up of things I've heard during judging - I was chairing the Click Expo Print Competition (the standard was incredible!) and I made a few notes from this and a few other things I've been involved in. I mention a couple of products and here are the links: EVOTO AI - https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson (if you use this link, you'll get 30 free credits!) ACDSee https://www.acdsee.com/en/index/ DXO - https://www.dxo.com/ Enjoy! Cheers P. ### [00:00:00] Introduction and Warm (Water) Review [00:00:00] So, let me read this out to you. I'm loving this podcast. It's like sitting in a bath of warm water in that the subject matter is gently flowing over you in a warm, friendly, soothing way. When I get to the end of the series, I'm going to start again. I think Sarah sends it to me, so I'm assuming it's on iTunes. So thank you to Skinny Latte via Apple Podcasts. Yes, it is. It's Apple Podcast. Who left that review. It made me laugh. I've never, ever. I don't think been compared to a bath of warm water, but Hey. It certainly, it certainly made me smile. And I will take a review worded like that. Poetry in its finest, in its finest watery form. ### [00:00:43] Podcasting Challenges and Episode 154 [00:00:43] I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. [00:00:49] Well, I blew that ambition out of the water. Didn't I, the let's do one podcast every week for the rest of the year. Uh, I've barely managed three or four, I think. It has been just one of those. years, this is episode 154. And really it's just been busy. [00:01:23] As I record this, it's the 4th of July. So, happy 4th of July, to all of our American. Listen is in so many ways. The 4th of July might be something of an independence day for us too certainly with a little luck, a day of change. ### [00:01:37] Busy Year and Listener Feedback [00:01:37] Um, it's just been really busy in a year like this everything's working really well, but we're having to work that little bit harder to get there. Everything's a little bit more expensive. Clients have a little less to spend and somebody wrote in the other day. And said that they were waiting for episode 154. And partly because having the podcast, this podcast out there, from someone who is living and breathing the same industry that you are. It's feeling the same things that you are going through the same processes, the same client experiences that you are is comforting. [00:02:11] And just knowing that they're not alone. So here is episode 154. In that sense, I think we really are. Um, a market, we're a collective of individuals. We're all going through the same thing, but on our own. It's useful to know. Uh, that there's other people out there going through the same thing. So I don't sleep very much. Uh, we're working flat-out I love every second of it. [00:02:35] Don't get me wrong. Having having a camera in my hands is just the most natural thing in the world. So, and taking pictures for a living. Well, I couldn't ask for a better way to put food on the table, but that's not to say it isn't really hard work. And in fitting in all of the other things that seem to have crept up into my world. Um, it just takes a little bit of time. [00:02:58] So apologies that the podcast has been a little bit more sporadic then I would have liked. Uh, before I get any further, I would just like to say thank you to everybody that filled in the questionnaire that Sarah has sent out. Um, It's really, really, really interesting. The data in it is incredibly insightful. [00:03:18] And what we're trying to understand is what do we do with Mastering Portrait Photography? How do I push it and prod it and coax it forward? Um, we're due to give a really big kick this year? That's what we're trying to do, but at this stage we weren't entirely certain where to focus. So we now have an awful lot of really insightful, useful data. And the biggest thing that's come up is that it's well-worth. I know that sounds really bizarre. You know, I know people read our articles. [00:03:48] I know people like the diagrams, our stuff is out there in Professional Photo Magazine. And this month also, In Digital Photography Magazine, you want to pick up a copy of that. On the news stand of a Professional Photo. Uh, it has gone all Digital, but Digital Photographer. Is there a paradox there that professional photo magazine is now all digital, but Digital Photography magazine, you can pick that up on it. I can't. I think there must be a paradox in there somewhere or an irony. Maybe it's an irony. I never entirely certain. The difference between an irony and a paradox. Anyway, anyway. Um, thank you to everybody who filled that in. Uh, I was due to record his podcast. This podcast was meant to be. It was meant to be a podcast from the land Rover. Uh, but it's been a very hot day. [00:04:33] I was working. A two hour drive away. So two hour drive, half hour shoot, two hour drive back, and I was going to record one, maybe two podcasts. Um, weirdly the Landrover was more rattling than usual because, and I don't know why there is a toaster in the foot well. You know, when you get into a car and you, you, you drive away and you can either clanking rattling. There's a little Chrome toaster in my foot. [00:04:56] Well, I need to pick that up with my son. Uh, anyway. ### [00:04:59] Family Pride and Personal Updates [00:04:59] On the topic of kids. Both my kids. I know. It's got nothing to do with photography, right. But I'm a dad and you can't help, but be proud of your children and this couple of weeks. I am beyond proud. Uh, today. Jake got his degree. Uh, Sport Technology from Loughborough University. [00:05:18] So you got a two, one. Uh, degree in BEng. In it's literally engineering with balls, there's no other way to describe it. That's what it is. They study balls and things with which to hit balls. Cricket bats, baseball, bats, golf clubs, football boots. And then they also, uh, research things like, uh, helmets. [00:05:37] So when the ball hits you, it stops you being an unconscious cricket player or backstop or whatever. Uh, so truly, truly a magnificent result for him really, really proud of him. [00:05:49] And just as proud of our daughter who has for the past few weeks just started her new job, working in London for one of the biggest creative agencies, creative marketing agencies. In the UK. Um, as a creative account manager. Uh, she's just going to tear the world apart. She's super organized, super creative, super lovely to work with. [00:06:10] She's a grafter and I could not be prouder of both of them. So forgive me for saying that and giving a shout out to my children, but Hey, my podcast. You don't have to listen to it. Uh, so where are we? Right, it has been a very busy. Uh, I think it's about six weeks since I've done an episode. ### [00:06:28] Workshops and Masterclasses [00:06:28] Um, so I cannot I've lost count. I usually I'll give you a quick count up of everything we've done. Numerous hearing dogs shoots a load of workshops and one-on-one master classes them. I just. Do you know what? I never thought. I honestly never thought I'd enjoy running workshops and masterclasses as much as I do. There's something. And I don't know why, but there's something really thrilling about being in a room with a few people who genuinely want to, uh, take ideas and create ideas and push boundaries and try things and discuss things. Um, and that's turning into actually a really, really, for me, a really rewarding part of our business. [00:07:10] And I never, I don't know if I ever really expected that. It's, I'm certainly not one of those people. That I want, you know what, I really love doing training because it's giving something back. It's none of that. It's not that at all. There's just an incredible buzz. Of a group of people working towards creating an image and explaining. And understanding and learning how things work and why more importantly, why we do things, why it's always, everyone tells you what. You know, when you look at things online, everything's about the what and the how, but why, why do we do things? [00:07:42] Why do we approach. Light the way we do why'd we approach the camera settings the way we do. Why, why, why, why, why? I just find the Y. So much more interesting than the what and the, how. And I think probably more valuable because if I understand why then I'll do it. If I understand the what I won't necessarily do it, it might be a useful tool or it might be a useful technique. But if I don't really get why I'm doing something, I will bin that off as just not useful. [00:08:12] But if I understand why there's a rationale to why. And so all of our workshops and masterclasses now are premised on why. Anyway, that's a slight aside we'd last week we had a couple of students work placement students that are. Uh, 15 year old and a 17 year old. Two brilliant. Uh, young students who had approached us to come and spend. A few days with us in the studio. ### [00:08:36] Military Photoshoot and Student Experiences [00:08:36] Uh, they came with us to the hearing dogs for shoot. And then we did, um, a shoot here, uh, with, um, a guy in military uniform. Um, it's one of those, the shots. Uh, this was the perfect sheet for me. Um, a guy said, I want to do something. Really sort of vintage modern cameras, modern lighting, all the rest of it. But he sent me a couple of pictures that must've been taken. [00:08:57] I'm going to guess in the 1940s at, I don't know the exact date, but I'm guessing around there from the style, my grandfather. Both my grandfathers had pictures like these in their military uniform. There's something about the way it's lit. Something about the way it's styled something about the way it's posed and finished. [00:09:13] And of course it's on film, black, white film. And he said, I want to, we create these, but you know, he's a, he's a soldier. He's at the very top of what you can be if you're a noncommissioned officer. Um, and he wanted to celebrate that moment. And so we photographed these incredible images and there was a moment in the shoot, where literally the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I realized what I was looking at with the same pictures that I would have seen of my grandfather's the same styling, the same vibe, same feel. [00:09:47] And it's a sort of, it's an almost indescribable styling that makes all of that hang together. Anyway, it was absolutely wonderful. And I would love to share them. But I can't because he works for one of the top secret, um, units in the military. So I've got these beautiful pictures. It's of a guy that I can never tell you about and never show the pictures. I can tell you I did the shoot because it's of course nobody knows. Uh, but it's a real shame, but I really, really, really enjoyed it. [00:10:14] So now looking around for anyone with a military uniform of the similar style, That we could do something that we could do something with I can share. So if there's any of you out there who have, uh, retired from the military, but still have your number two uniform. I'd love to. Uh, love to take some pictures just for the sheer joy of doing exactly the same thing, but then I can share them. Uh, I think the students really enjoyed it too. [00:10:38] And then the day after that, a brilliant magician . I've worked with Sam strange. Probably for 12 years, I think now. Um, incredible magician. Part of the Champions Of Magic him. Uh, Young and Strange, he works as part of a duo with Richard Young. Uh, but this was a shoot just for him. Sam Strange, wonderful guy just playing. I'm so lucky in the studio that the human beings that come in here. Uh, I think some of the nicest people in the world, I mean, I have only met a tiny proportion of the people in the world. [00:11:08] I'm sure there are other nice people. But my client base is genuinely. Uh, just a never ending stream of people who I love to spend time with a, Sam Strange. Is right up there. So he spent ages taking pictures of him. And as, as a kind of, we wanted to get some shots where he was genuine, genuinely performing. [00:11:25] So the two work placement students became instantaneously his audience, uh, some card tricks. He did these card tricks. One of the students looked quite confused. I'm not entirely certain that she understood what had just happened while she was holding the card with her name on it and a knife hole in it. Anyway. [00:11:43] It was very funny and absolutely. Uh, wonderful. We've done a load of portrait shoots. The weather has been kind for a couple of weeks. Which is a pleasure. Uh, so we've been out in the sunshine, um, And just. It's just, it's. What I came into photography to do was to laugh in the sunshine, taking beautiful pictures. Uh, so that's really, really, really lovely. Um, we've been judging the monthly's the BIPP. The BIPP the British Institute of Professional Photography. [00:12:11] Monthly's over the past couple of months. I think we've done two. Monthly since I last spoke with you, sorry. That's my bad, just busy. That's all it is. We're just busy. Um, I love doing, I love chairing the judging. [00:12:23] And then on top of that, Um, I was asked to chair the print judging for the click expo. ### [00:12:28] Judging Competitions and Photography Tips [00:12:28] That was up in the Midlands a couple of weeks ago, some big names there, Lindsay Adler, and a few others. Uh, with some of the photographers presenting, it was. Um, it wasn't the biggest expo in the world, but we had a really good entry into the foot print competition. And the standard is out of this. World. [00:12:45] And when you see a panel of judges, we had judges on rotation. So five judges at any one time and me chairing it. And when you see the excitement, you see the judge's eyes just light up. When they are appreciating the very best of the craft of photography, I think, you know, there's, I don't know how to explain some of this stuff. [00:13:05] Why that, you know, that feeling when you take a picture right. And you hit the button and you just know, you just know you can feel it. That's the same sensation that I think we still get when we're assessing images at the highest standard, there's something really exhilarating about it in explicable. Uh, but exhilarating. [00:13:26] I see on the flip side of that, I was laughing with our two work placement students of the other side of the line, which is when you see somebody else take a beautiful photo and they're in the same session as you. Sometimes when I'm training people, this happens to me. And, you know, with talking through staff were doing ideas and then somebody hit the button and they'll create a picture. That I wish. I'd taken and then I have to suppress. I have to suppress that kind of. I'm really jealous about that. [00:13:54] Why didn't I take that picture? I cause you call and of course you have to celebrate. The absolute, the excitement. I still get the same excitement from the picture. I just wish I'd taken it. Um, Which is quite a weird sensation. I'm getting used to that sensation because if I'm doing my job well in a workshop, I won't do. My job well in a masterclass, if I'm genuinely. Um, passing on ideas and information, then. Really people in those workshops should be creating beautiful images that I'm jealous of. It is still quite hard though. [00:14:26] Anyway, we were judging it. Click. Um, and I'm going to come back, uh, to, to that in a moment as the topic of this particular podcast. Uh, but a few bits and pieces. Uh, one of the things that occurred to me this morning, and I'm going to drop this into this podcast because it's a useful thing to remember. Um, is always remember to pack your bag so that at a single glance, you know, what's. In it. And will more importantly, what isn't. I was driving along and I do this thing. [00:14:56] If you. I don't know if you're the same as me. I'll get halfway down the road and I'll be like, did I pack my passport? And I literally, I don't know how many times I've done it. I've pulled into a lay-by and gone and checked. I still do the same with my camera kit. But this morning I was driving away and I did that thing. Have I, I packed everything I need. [00:15:14] And then actually I remembered I'd looked over the top of my bag. Um, while it was open and I know everything was there because I pack it in a way that if something is missing, I can see the gap. And it's like, oh, okay. So, um, you could do it with checklists. Of course you can be much more methodical than that, but just as a simple trick, pack your bag in a way where you can visibly see if something is missing. Right. [00:15:39] So where are we in our warm bath water? I still think that's a great review. Thank you, skinny latte. That's just like the skinny lattes. They use it named by the way. That's not just me being random. Uh, that is like the best review. I'm going to put that on a, if I ever have a poster. You know, Paul Wilkinson appearing somewhere. , it's like sitting in a bath of warm water. I don't know what to do with it, but it's, uh, please feel free everybody. To write us poetic reviews like this, and I promise you they will get read out because it's absolute genius. [00:16:10] Um, I just love that I'm going to have that printed as a poster. I'm loving this podcast is like sitting in a bath of warm water. Anyway. Um, I thought I do these regularly, um, quick updates on things that I heard or saw during um, the judging. Um, So, let me just go over some incidentally as an aside one of the reasons we use, sorry, there's lots of asides with me. You get used to that or you don't. That was funny. The night I met someone for the first time and she laughed at me and said, you're always after the punchline aren't you. And I was like, yeah, that was really. Is very astute, but it did somewhat stop me in my tracks. Um, I don't mean to be like that. I just am a. [00:16:54] One of the reasons we use a panel of judges are more than one judge. Is so that we get a more reliable score, but I was judging in the monthly's this month round. I. So I wouldn't say who the judge was, but they were very worried that their score was out of kilter with the other judge. And they had no reason to be. [00:17:14] I, I can export the judges scores and I can see exactly what's going on. Um, I'm a big data, nut, I love data. I love the data behind scoring. So I've had a look at the data and their scoring is exactly where I would hope it would be, but you don't always agree. And that's really important. If every judge for every image gave the same score, we'd only ever need one judge. That's not how it works. That is so not how it works. [00:17:43] It's not supposed to work like that. A panel of judges are all supposed to bring different experiences. Different backgrounds, different hotspots that they look for different passions, different prejudices, different biases by using a panel of judges. You will always get a different score or you should always get a different score from every judge or you haven't picked your panel of judges very well. [00:18:09] And we pick up panels of judges incredibly carefully so that they are different. They bring different ideas to the table. We pick the panel of judges so that they're going to get on, they're going to work as a team. So if there's a challenge, if there's a discussion or they're not going to get into an argument, they're going to develop. Uh, thought process, and come to a considered view. [00:18:28] That's why we use a panel of judges. It's important that the judges are reliable and they are experienced and they're top of their game. Of course. But they will give different scores. Anyway in the, from a Click. At this time and a little bit from the monthly's I thought I very quickly go through one or two things I heard. [00:18:45] It's just useful stuff. You know, there's nothing major in that. [00:18:48] Um, so paper choice. Paper choice comes up in every single printer competition I am involved in. Just does. Um, the big one, this time was be careful, where. Um, If you've got a textured paper and you print something like a baby on it with smooth skin, it can look like the baby's skin is wrinkled, particularly when the baby or the face of the baby is quite small in the frame, newborns. [00:19:12] This was typically a criticism. What's your paper choice. If you're going to. Print things that would have a smooth texture in the real world, smooth skin, that kind of thing. Use a smooth. Paper. Uh, that said if you're using fine art matte, papers, go and figure out how to get your blacks to map correctly because typically fine art matte papers. [00:19:33] Don't give you much. Uh, changed between the grades of black. It suddenly goes, it goes. Sort of dark. So you get blocked up areas that aren't quite black and then suddenly when it gets to a slightly lighter. Like a lighter tone. You'll start to see texture again. There are ways of printing for that. Go look them up. Uh, Sanjay Jogia, I'm going to give Sanjay quick shout is a brilliant printer. Brilliant technician. Uh, he does, uh, workshops and seminars on printing. You can do a lot worse and go talk to Sanjay. And he's a super lovely guy, too. [00:20:06] Uh, stray hairs. We had one assay. This was in a digital file, um, in the competition. Uh, this month there's a stray hair in the print in a file. And that's clearly on the sensor. With print and competition judging. The judges are gonna zoom these things in. They're going to look at them under a light on a light box. If it's a print, they're going to zoom it to a hundred percent on a big Eizo monitor if it's a digital competition. If there's a stray hair or a dust spot, they are going to see it. So go find your files, go, go over them and over them and over them. [00:20:35] If you want to do one in competitions, get the little details, right. Uh, because that score that dropped, I mean, so many points. It was a great image. Great idea, creatively. Brilliant. But if you're letting things like dust spots and stray hairs go through, that's not going to be regarded as competition standard. [00:20:53] Mounts. We saw some incredible mounts. [00:20:55] We saw circular mounts and oval mounts and, uh, one photographer. I don't know if it's the same author, but I've seen this technique a couple of times where they cut out the edges of the mounts of the landscape picture goes all the way across and breaks out the sides of the frame. ### [00:21:09] Mounting and Presentation Tips [00:21:09] Um, they're brilliant. Um, you remember that with a print competition? [00:21:12] Typically the mount is part of the puzzle. So make sure your mounts are complimentary. Make sure they are adding to the image. They're not distracting from the image. Um, make sure that your everything is super accurate, super, just square. It needs to be lined up. We had one. Uh, image where the horizon wasn't horizontal. Uh, it was a seascape. And it wasn't horizontal and it may have slipped in the mound or maybe that the author just didn't notice. [00:21:40] I don't know which of those two things is true, but of course it's not going to do that. Well, So mounting is really, really important and we do zoom in to make sure the quality. Um, is there. [00:21:50] Uh, a few dead come up with banding issues, JPEG issues. In this day and age where computers are pretty powerful and you know, the sensors and cameras are at least 14 bit these days. Um, if not 16, Um, then please do just get your techniques down. [00:22:06] So if you got a big blue sky, make sure it's a big blue sky without banding in it. Um, it's just one of those things. ### [00:22:12] The Debate on Titling Images [00:22:12] Uh, titling. I don't. This comes up every single time. I don't like titling. I don't think it should be necessarily part of an image competition. Um, but I'm out there as I'm in the minority. I think. Um, but I just don't like it. I think we should judge what we see in front of us. But, uh, if the competition asks for a title, enter one, create one, invent one, stick your image in an AI generator and get a title. I don't care how you do it, but put a title in on average. Now I've only heard this anecdotally and I've no idea what the research was, but anecdotally, a couple of judges told me that titles typically give you one additional mark on average, if it's a sensible title. It certainly can add poetry to it. It can add a meaning to it. So if you put a picture. I have no idea. Uh, of, uh, a sad looking child. I don't know, making this up a sad looking child with no title. Well, it's a sad looking child. Put up a sad looking child and give it the title, Daddy's Gone Again. Suddenly, you've got a very different tone to how the view is and the judges. Our assessing an image. [00:23:23] Now this is why I don't agree with it because I don't think that's how it should work. I think we should judge the image. But given it's an opportunity to get a mark or two. And given you're entering a competition, which is a game. Then play the game. And put titles in. ### [00:23:37] Attention to Detail in Photography [00:23:37] Uh, where are we? Um, a couple of images came up this time round, which I wrote down all details and reading this and we notebook. I carry a note book almost all of the time. [00:23:46] It's a throwback to my PhD days. I think always had a notebook. Uh, title, sorry. All details. Some so EEG cushions, this was a, an image that came in where the hole that the room had been styled to perfection. But when you looked at the sofa, It looks like. Somebody had just sat on it. So the cushions were fine. Like the back cushions, the throws and all of those, but the actual seated part of the sofa. Had been left as if somebody just sat on it, perhaps sat on it to plump up the cushions. I don't know, but it just, it drew our eye to X. Everything else in the image was so pristine. What's your details, particularly with architectural and commercial. [00:24:25] Uh, confusion. ### [00:24:26] Understanding Image Composition [00:24:26] This came up. Where we weren't certain or the judges, weren't certain what to make of an image. I've talked about this a few times. It's not the judges, job to decode your story. [00:24:40] It's your job as the author to tell your story in a way that the judges can get it. It's got to be approachable. Um, you can be as clever as you, like, you can be as subtle as you like, but in the end, if you're not telling the story in a way that the judges can understand decode it, that's not the judge's fault. Um, so just, you know, make sure, maybe test it on other people and see what they think at image before submitting it. [00:25:04] Uh, we saw a few of these. Uh, what have I written down? Uh, They've written down. Uh, the only image here. Okay. I wrote down if only if only is one of those things. Have you ever done that with your images where you look at an image in Lightroom and you're just like, oh, if only. If only the background was clean. If only I hadn't blown a highlight, if only the eyes were sharp. You know what I mean? [00:25:29] You have these if only moments where the image you'd done everything. Right. But then you've missed a bit. Well, don't enter those into a competition for a star. Um, There was one image that came up and. It felt to me like. It felt like a grab shot. It was a beautiful shot, but a grab shot. Now the construction of the image was one we see all the time dog in a basket, nothing particularly clever about that. Um, or, you know, rare in that, I suppose. [00:25:56] But the particular angle, the way it was framed, felt like they grabbed the shot. Now, if you said to a fine oil artist or pencil artist, or a cartoonist or a commercial air brusher, create me a picture of a dog in a basket. They would have a real angle on it. There'd be something about the way they place the objects relative to each other and relative to the frame. There'll be a way of doing it. That would have a certain aesthetic, a style, a cleanliness for me, my particular thing is I love when the lens is absolutely horizontal. Low down in the frame, preferably on the floor. If it's a subject that is on the floor so that everything for me, I feel like it climbs into that world. [00:26:42] That's just my particular aesthetic. It doesn't have to be anybody else's. I mean, please. Everybody. I'm a Muppet. I don't know what I might have out, but I liked the idea that I've done something that has a, it has a statement to it. It has a shape to it. I love the work of E.H. Shephard who drew A.A. Milne's books, um, Winnie the Pooh and house at Pooh. The corner and when we were young and all of these beautiful Christopher Robin stuff. The drawings always feel like you're in the small characters world. You're not an adult looking down at it. [00:27:13] And I think that's the point I'm trying to make is have a view. Think about it. Think as if you're drawing it, don't think of it as a photograph thing. Okay. Take a step back. If you've got time. Sometimes you don't right. If you're a news photographer, you haven't got time, but step back from your image in your head. Say, okay, these are all of the bits of the puzzle. This is, I've got one of those, two of them, three of them. I've got these colors and this shape, this light. If I was drawing this, if I slowed down and somebody said, draw those on a piece of paper. So that made sense. How would I do it? Uh, you know, there's an, there's another picture. [00:27:49] It was a picture. Um, it was a newborn picture. And there were objects in the foreground. So it was, it made it feel like the baby was amongst objects and then objects behind the baby. But what's happened is they've. Thought that because we mutter a lot, and I'll come on to this one later. don't crop things at the edges of a frame. They pulled the objects. [00:28:11] That baby is surrounded by, away from the edge of the frame, but that meant, it felt like there was only a few objects. In this instance, using the objects and cutting them at the edge of the frame as if there was millions of them receding into the distance that would have made sense. And visually it would have had an expansive feel to it, rather than I only have four of those objects, so I've placed them where I have. And it's that sense of thinking about your layer? And if you look at the very best of these types of images, The guys really do know their way round it. [00:28:41] Uh, comping compositing. Combining images. It must be invisible. We actually, as photographers, don't have a problem on the whole, unless the category says you can't use composite images. We don't have a problem with it. Judges don't worry about it. [00:28:55] We just don't want to see it. So the compositing, the bringing different images and elements together has to be invisible. Uh, there are skills to this. Practice them. Because if you, the minute a judge spots that it's a composite, it's failed in its job. I mean, obviously there are obvious composites, you know, if you're doing a. King Kong thing of a gorilla climbing, a skyscraper. Fair enough. We're going to know straight away. That's not real. But it still has to look real, has to be believable. Uh, okay. What else have we got? [00:29:26] Um, baby skin. This has come up a few times. Be careful of. Using blue and dark green style filters, filter effects in your monochrome conversions. Uh, blue filter typically turns the lips dark, which is fine. If you have, um, You've got a model and smooth skin like ultra smooth skin and makeup that's flawless because you've got red lipstick and you punch them on a Chrome with a bluish or green filter. It drops the lips to a very dark color and that could look incredible. But with babies would it also does. If there's any red in the cheeks, it makes those go blotchy too. So you have dark lips and bruised looking cheeks, and that's not really, how probably you want to have. A baby photograph, by the way, if you can hear stuff going on in the background, I've got all the windows open because it's a really warm day. Um, and I'm sitting just recording. Uh, where are we? [00:30:23] On the converse side of that. So we've got blue filters, making skin look kind of grungy and textured and blotchy. Equally, we are still seeing way too much over smoothing. Um, on the skin work. Um, it just. It doesn't look, if it doesn't look quite right, you know, and it's really subtle. I don't know how to describe it, but we know as judges, when we look at I I'm a big one for, when someone applies makeup to a face really well, really beautifully. It smooths out the lumps and bumps, but what it doesn't do is remove the texture. [00:30:59] There's still pores, there's still skin pores there're still fine hairs. There are still little tiny ripples created by blemishes underneath the makeup. So, if you want to make it look real, when you're doing digital makeup or digital smoothing. You have to remember to leave details in that show reality, even when you're doing really fine art kind of work. [00:31:21] So just what's that. Um, incidentally, a shout again to EVOTO.AI. Um, I've just had a new release of that this week. Um, incredible bit of software. Uh, in that you can control how much you do. So it's not, it's not all the bells and whistles that make these things good. What make these things good is when you can turn it down, so it's imperceptible. Uh, EVOTO.AI is actually very, very good. Please do go and have a play with that. I will drop a link down in. Uh, further down in the show notes. ### [00:31:54] The Importance of Image Sharpening [00:31:54] Over sharpening. Uh, this came up as a bit of a debate actually, me and Sanjay don't entirely agree on this. I don't think. My view is that you don't need to sharpen images anymore. Um, I've never heard, not once have I heard. Uh, judge say this image needed more sharpening. Not once I've heard images get critiqued, cause they're soft by the which, I mean they're blurred. And the minute you try to rescue a blurred image using, um, Topaz or, you know, any one of the sharpening tools. Unless you're really on top of it and really, really, really careful, it looks like it's sharpened. However, I've heard many times. That an image looks over sharpened over, over you see halos, you see this kind of slightly, really weird edge effect. Um, I took the decision a couple of years ago to stop sharpening my images, because it removes one or two problems when you. Because for us, we don't, uh, we produce the same file to be printed at different sizes. [00:32:49] I don't worry too much. Um, about, uh, scaling at 300 DPI for A4, 300 DPI for seven by five, three to DPI. I just give the guys one file. Um, and our sensors now is so sharp that they reproduce and they give a, for me, they give a slightly smoother finish. Um, And I've only ever been pulled upon over sharpening when I did it. [00:33:11] No one's ever pulled me up on under sharpening. So I would say don't sharpen Sanjay. Doesn't say that he says you should do sharpening, but know exactly at which point in the workflow to do it. And that's fine. Um, Sanjay is a master at this stuff. So he does sharpen. Uh, I'm using Sanjay as an example because he's one of my judges, uh, this time round. Uh, so is there an interesting thing. My, if you're not absolutely a hundred percent certain of what sharpening to do, don't do any, you'll be fine. [00:33:40] Uh, where are we? ### [00:33:42] Final Thoughts and Recommendations [00:33:42] Um, oh yeah, one of the things. It has come up this come up in conversation a little bit is why we as judges get so picky about which images get over the line to be a merit or a bronze. So typically with all of the associations all slightly different. But around about the 80 mark for most associations is the break point for bronze or merit. Now. The thing about a bronze or a merit is that is something that's likely to end up being used on a website or being used in social media for the association. Um, maybe with the societies, it's going to end up on their display boards at the convention. [00:34:23] And that's why we're picky. That break point between professional standard is a lot, the associations call it and a merit or bronze. That break point defines what will be displayed to the public and to the rest of the photography industry. And as such the message we're sending is that this image is what you should be trying to attain. So when I go round, if I'm, uh, if I've entered a competition, I go round and look at all of the things that have. Uh, they're being displayed in the convention or they're in the magazine or in a book. [00:34:55] I look at those images from bronze to gold. As the things I should be aiming for. And that's why as judges, we're very careful what goes over that line. And if we find a defect that we think, do you know what the photographer should have spotted that. You're going to dump marks really quickly because the judges don't want to have that out there as something that becomes an exemplar for what a successful image should be. [00:35:16] That's why. That's why that break point is so tough. Uh, so just what you, it was quite funny, this in the competition this time round. Uh, and the monthly's is, uh, one of the images looked like the horizon. Wasn't quite level, it's a digital file. So it clearly wasn't anything to do the mounting. And by the way, it was a degree or two out, which is. I don't know. I don't know why people do that. Why would you do that? Given you just put into Lightroom or Photoshop and align with the ruler to it anyway, my two judges, I'm watching both of them on, uh, our Squadcast screen. So we record these sessions. Um, One of the judges went to his EITZO monitor took the file, put it into Photoshop and checked the horizontal alignment. [00:35:57] My other judge went to a cupboard. I watched them do it, went to a cupboard behind them, opened the cupboard door, got a ruler. And started measuring her screen, which is quite weird when you're watching it on the webcam that's on her screen. She's measuring the screen. It was quite old school, but it did make me laugh. [00:36:13] Anyway, things like horizons, check them. [00:36:16] Uh, Great. Well, so if we got, oh yeah, when you're, there's a lot of actions around and even I've written a few where you're going to soften or blur the edges. Um, So there was a particular file. Where I think a baby skin had been softened. You could see that it had been, and it was fine. [00:36:36] It looked very good actually it looked like they got a good technique on it. But what they hadn't done is lift all of the skin onto a new layer, just cut it out and drag it onto a new layer and softened it there, what they done is soften it on the original layer with all of the. Um, blankets and clothing around it. And what that did is, it dragged color from the blankets into the soften skin. So you could see a slight coloration around the edges where the softening had been done. And you expect that if you're using a blur. It blurs across the boundary. So what you have to do is cut out the skin onto a new layer. So it's transparent all the way around except for the skin, soften it there, and then you can drop it back in and you'll get no color contamination. Um, but we spotted it and of course it's a real shame. [00:37:19] Uh, With babies and with faces, the light, the light source should always be above the nose. [00:37:25] I heard this said a few times by different, uh, I think I was working with Elli Cassidy who is just like one of the best judges to work with, she's lovely. Super lovely, super nice person. Um, great newborn photographer and she raised the same point as did lots of others. The light source should be above the nose, nine times out of 10. It's very rare. Do you want the light coming up from underneath? [00:37:44] Um, I love this quote. This is one of my judges. He just, he liked a particular image because it was a bit more different. If ever I have another podcast in this industry, I'm going to call it The Bit More Different Podcast because I know it's a great title. [00:37:57] It's not English, but it's a great title. [00:37:59] Um, final bit on this bit. Is cropping at the edges. We can't, I kind of talked about it a minute ago with the baby and the objects. Just look around the edges of the frame. There's an amazing news image, this time round. Loved it. I'm not going to say what it was cause I'm not gonna draw attention for the author. But there was a scene in the middle of his action in the middle. [00:38:23] And on the right-hand side of the frame, there was nothing contaminating. Everything was kind of contained, but on the left. They were knuckles and elbows poking in onto the edge of the file when just moving the crop edge in by. I dunno, a couple of hundred pixels on a six megapixel file would have removed all of that, and focused, directly on the story in the middle. And it's such a silly thing. [00:38:47] We see it all the time. Is we get sidetracked by what's going on in the middle of our picture, the bit we want people to look at it and we forget to look. All the way around the edges of the frame. I look around the edges of your frame carefully. And if there's anything there that's distracting and pulling your eye away. Just change your crop or clone them out, whichever is easy for you. [00:39:08] Um, So that's it. Those are the notes. I mean, there's loads, of course there's loads of things. I carry copious notes, but I thought those are the most interesting. Um, to talk about, uh, particularly as we're, heading towards, uh, at this time of year, when people start to hive images away ready for the competitions, uh, for the BIPP print competition. Um, and eventually, you know, the doors will open for the society's convention as well. [00:39:30] So I thought there'd be useful. Um, The other thing, a couple of updates. Where are we with things that I've been asked? Uh, to look at. Uh, where are we? DXE DXE. CXO asked me to play with. DXA labs. Uh, the DXA labs for, I think it is an, a DX oh, film pack seven. Now the XO labs. It's not really the photo lab is not really for me because it, Lightroom is at the heart of my workflow. Um, we used the XO pure raw anyway, which is brilliant, pure, or for, by the way. Brilliant. [00:40:03] Absolutely love it. Uh, so don't, for me, that's not necessarily something I'm going to put into my workflow. I'm sure it's very good. I've used it a little bit, but however, the DSO film pack, film pack seven. It's an absolute blast. Loving it just for the moment. [00:40:17] I use effects quite a lot, but I like it if I can for it not to look effected. If you see what I mean that of course, the minute you really easily apply a film preset, of course he looks effected, I'm not an idiot. Um, but I love those kinds of tones. They feel very analog to me. Uh, it's really, uh, really, really, really good. [00:40:34] So, uh, highly recommends if you get a chance to have a play with that. I'm sure they do a trial. I haven't looked. Uh, DXO Filmpack 7. And the other thing I thought I'd give a quick shout about today. Um, his ACDSee, which I've continued to use again, they approached me and asked me to have a look at it and say what I thought it's really, really good. [00:40:55] Um, it's not good at high volumes of face recognition. I discovered that as it. just crashed my computer basically. Um, but that not withstanding. It's blindingly quick is great to have it there . Lightroom for us is our management tool for all of our raw files. Um, but the RAW files get archived away, and we then have all of the JPEGs that I've generated for print. Hi res. Uh, low compression JPEGs. [00:41:21] So having ACDSee that looks over all of my Dropbox folders and keeps that as an active catalog. Is great because I can get to any image. I like, in a heartbeat. Absolutely brilliant. So I absolutely, I would highly recommend that. Um, again, I will put a link to, um, I'll put a link to ACDSee in the show notes. And then finally just a more pop-up it's our beer festival on Saturday. [00:41:45] Now. I know none of you are local, but nonetheless, um, I will be at the beer festival if anyone fancies a beer and a chat we're in, but it had them in Buckingham share. Uh, I'd love to catch up if there is anybody around, because it's, I'm hoping that there's going to be good. Um, it's like the best place to listen to music. [00:42:02] Have a nice beer. And have a great conversation. And on that happy note, I'm going to go home now and we're going to open. I hope a bottle of champagne to celebrate Jake's success and Harriet's success in her new job. Uh, the sun is shining. And then we're going to try and stay up and see the results. Of this particular, general election. [00:42:21] Again, to all our American friends have a wonderful . Uh, July 4th. [00:42:25] And I'm going to go away and be more like sitting in a bath of warm water. I remember whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP156 Creating Light At The End Of The Tunnel](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep156-creating-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel/) Well, this hasn't been the easiest of years with inflation, geographical tensions and all-out confrontations, terrible weather and political transitions. And last night the trusty Land Rover Defender broke down one more time. Possibly one LAST time. But through all of that, we have to look for the possibles - the light at the end of the tunnel. But maybe it's us that has to create, rather than simply walk toward, the light. Enjoy! Cheers, P[00:00:00] Paul: It's Sunday afternoon. It's late. It's getting dark. It's getting dark so early now. Um, Sarah finds it really depressing, but I love this time of year. I love the colors. I love the cool of the air. Though that said this has been well, a weekend of ups and downs. Uh, yesterday we photographed a beautiful wedding. Uh, Hannah and Tom, one of our clients, just the most stunning. Stunning day. [00:00:25] Sarah came with me because it was a bit of a handful. It was a lot of photography to get through far more far, far more. In fact, Then I would have liked to have agreed to. But in the end, it was one of those very complicated weddings where there was family from all over the world. And they wanted lots of different combinations of groups to be photographed in a very small space of time. [00:00:46] But they were the. The most incredible couple, the weather was beautiful. The venue were fantastic. The people there were amazing. And it was just, well, it was just a thrill to have Sarah at working alongside me, which made everything. Okay. Uh, the day before we'd spent with Jake, where. So we've gone up to Nottingham, stayed there for the night, had a wonderful night out and discovered amongst many other things, the magic of a wine bar that has vending machines, kid you not. So you put your card in. Uh, you can get a glass from any bottle of wine you like. And it was all just really, really lovely bit expensive, but really lovely. I also discovered the magic. Now I've not experienced these before I am 55 years old. And have never needed to use them. [00:01:29] Blister plasters. Yep. Blister plasters. So I bought a pair of Converse, uh, decided for a change to have a different style. And it turns out to be a style that cuts the hell out of the back of my feet. Uh, but didn't discover that until two hours into walking around Nottingham. So Sarah, obviously, a bit more used to these things than me having worn heels, um, showed me the glory that is a blister plastic. I'm still wearing them. They're great. [00:01:54] Anyway, an amazing day, a beautiful wedding, the following day. And then driving home. Last night, congratulating ourselves on having done a really good day's work, beautiful photographs, uh, into, uh, on the memory cards. Land Rover all packed up, um, and then proceeded to have a whole series of really irritating road closures, motorway closures queues, culminating in one [00:02:21] that turned out to be well, possibly the end of the Land Rover we're queuing and have been queuing for about half an hour. But by queuing. I mean, we're essentially stationary, just stop starting. And then I went to put it into first gear. Nothing. Absolutely no way of getting it into first gear. I've got my foot on the clutch, lift the clutch, nothing. Put my foot down, the pedal is staying stuck to the floor. [00:02:47] So I've got a couple of tons of land Rover in a single lane queue that no one can get round me. And it's not moving. [00:02:55] Now. I remember an old trick. My dad taught me. And I don't know why. Why this was a tricky taught me because we don't have, or didn't have at that time. Anywhere near where I lived level crossings with no gates, but he said, if you ever get stuck on a level crossing and you can't for some reason, get your car to start, or it's just stalled, put it into first gear. Turn over the starter motor and it will give you just enough power to get yourself out of that situation. [00:03:24] So I just very quickly thought, well, I'm blocking an already irate queue, cause we've all been stuck there for, for hours. Um, I can maybe get it over to the side of the road where I can call recovery. So I turned the engine off, wedged the gear stick into first where the engine, uh, stationary turned it over on the starter motor, which of course with the clutch being permanently engaged now. Uh, rolled the wheels and got me just enough movement to get out of the way of the barely moving traffic and onto the hard shoulder, up to the embankment, where Sarah and I proceeded to look like for the next five hours. [00:04:04] I kid you not it's cold. It's dark. Thankfully, this time. I'm like the last time I broke down like this. It isn't snowing. Uh, but we lay with as many layers on as we could and a high vis vest over the top with our feet. Um, strapped into boots, but also now in polythene bags to try and keep the cold at bay, because it was absolutely freezing. [00:04:23] We're laying on the embankment, up to the rear and above the Land Rover. And anyone who must have seen us and they all must have seen us. Cause we're wearing, high-vis looked like a pair of corpses. Just lying there in the Moonlight. It must've been a strain site, but given the RAC who came to recover us, took five hours and they took five hours, because all of the recovery vehicles were involved in re in, sorting out the crash that caused the motorway to close, which is the reason I was in a queue. So it's one of those very complicated things. But in the end. It culminated in Sarah and I lying side by side, like two corpses in a crime drama. Uh, it must've been a dump site, you know, the kind of thing the police say, wow, this isn't where they died, this must be the dumpsite. Um, and they've left them laying here on the embankment in homage to the Land Rover. I've no idea. I was very glad Sarah was there. Um, so in fits and starts, we slept eventually we got picked up at about, uh, I think it was about four o'clock in the morning, maybe half past four in the morning, um, and then, uh, took the recovery vehicle. The Landrover is right now sitting outside the garage that did the work on the engine earlier in the year. They're going to know the minute they turn up that something is wrong. My suspicion and I hope I'm wrong. Is that the slave cylinder on the clutch has failed because if it has, it means the whole transmission and gearbox has got to come out. And that's a proper, yet another expensive job. [00:05:52] And. I think maybe, maybe this will be the one that says the end of the Land Rover. I'm Paul. And this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast. [00:06:03] Well, hello again. We are back recording the podcast. And once again, it's a tale of woe and drama. Sarah said to me, as I left, she said, you need to record a podcast because you haven't done it for ages. She said, it's all right. It's all right. To feel a little less upbeat than you do normally. And that's just as well this year. I think this year is a year that I'll be happy to get to the end of, we started this year with such energy and enthusiasm. [00:06:50] We thought that. You know, we're getting to the end of the backwash from COVID, everything would pick up, but of course, inflation hit the roof. We've had in terms of weather, just awful weather, which always deflates the mood. We've had a general election In this country, as well as in the states that you're about to have yours and we've already had ours. Which I thought would , would Herald in good news and optimism. Um, you know, I think it was time we had to change. There's no question about that. And no matter which side of the politic line, uh, you prefer, there's no question at all that we needed to change, but that changed that the good news side of that hasn't lasted particularly long. Um, Inflation is still high. [00:07:28] The weather is still crappy. Seriously, we've had nothing but rain. I was so blessed with the wedding on Saturday. Um, the sun shone, and it was glorious. It was dry. It was warm enough. Um, it was just beautiful light. But that has not been the story of this year. The amount of water around us, just at the moment. [00:07:48] And nobody's thinking when they wake up and read the news about the terrible weather, the terrible economy. They're politicians causing just all, just doing stupid things. You know, inflation, um, the stuff going on in the middle east or stuff going on in, on the Russian borders. You know, very few people are gonna wake up and think, oh, with all of that news do you know what I need what I need is a photographer. It's uh, there's work around, but it's just not the year we thought it would be, this is not been. A vintage year for photographers. [00:08:18] And he really don't have to ask very far to find that out. Now we've done. All right. If I'm honest we're probably bucking the trend, but we have had to work, ah, back-breaking hours to do it far harder then we've had to work any of the year. It won't be a record breaking year, that's for that's for sure. But it will be good enough somewhere in the middle of our regular numbers, but we have worked tirelessly to do it. Backbreakingly tirelessly. [00:08:47] I cannot remember feeling this tired though, having said that. I've just spent the night laying on an embankment in the freezing cold, trying to get some sleep. Maybe that's why I'm feeling. I quite so tired, but even talking to the videographer. Uh, on at the wedding on Saturday, he was talking about the bits of the industry in his region because we were working out of region and he was saying the same thing. [00:09:10] There's just. It's just been a tough year. There. Aren't the number of weddings. For instance, if you're a wedding photographer. Um, and there isn't the money sloshing around at the has been, um, Sort of in the industry with our clients because our clients are under the same pressure as we are. I was trying to work out our operating costs. Um, on things like, you know, albums and frames. [00:09:32] And I think on average, somewhere in the region of 15 to 25% increase, over two years. And if you put that into the context of running a business, And, and also assume that your clients are having exactly the same problems with their day-to-day expenditure. It means that we're running a business that's less profitable than it would be if we don't change our prices, but at a time when people have less money to spend. If we did increase all of our prices and of course we're all juggling that particular set of requirements. [00:10:04] Uh, and on top of that, of course, one of the reasons we're also feeling tired. Is we're still running workshops. Uh, I'm still at the moment, the, uh, Chair of awards and qualifications for the British Institute of Professional Photography. [00:10:17] But. Um, I mean, big news on that one is I am stepping down from that role at the end of this year. Now I've loved every single second of the past three or so years I've been in this seat. [00:10:29] Uh, I've done everything that I wanted to do. We've organized it. We've got the standards where I wanted them to be, so that they're rock solid. You can trust if somebody got the letters after their name from. The BIPP then they've earned them. Um, and that means that we have real cute OSS in the industry. It means it's something that people really want to attain. [00:10:49] And that's, I guess what I wanted to be able to do. But I also loved being a mentor. And while I was chair of one of the qualifications bodies, it's very hard. To be a mentor because it can be really easily accused that I might be, um, swaying results or influencing the outcome of judging. [00:11:08] So I took the decision when I accepted . The chair of judge's role that I would not to do any mentoring towards qualifications or anything involved with people wanting to enter the competitions and things, because it just, it didn't look great, [00:11:21] But it's something I've always. Really enjoyed doing so it's something I can return to. I'll get a chance now to actually enjoy looking at other people's work, um, guiding, nurturing, you know, also spending some time developing our own work because you need at the same time, I need the time to dedicate to our own businesses for a little bit. [00:11:41] So I'm stepping back. At least, you know, in a frontline role. Uh, from, um, the chairing side of the BIPP. Hopefully I'll still get to judge, but I certainly won't be chairing it. Uh, we're still running the workshops, of course, on that note, uh, I think we have just two left this year. . [00:11:58] So the thing without podcast is our podcasts have a very long lifespan. [00:12:03] People are listening to podcasts from sort of six or seven years ago. Uh, but as of right now, which is the 28th of September, I think. Hang on a minute. Which I can't believe I had to go look that up on my screen, the 29th of September. Uh, 2024, we have two remaining workshops in our diary. I think there's one space left on each off the top of my head. [00:12:26] Uh, on the 4th of November, we have Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting, which is, I might actually have become my favorite workshop to run because we just play: we play with lights. [00:12:40] We play with ideas with form. Uh, we play with shape and color. We play with the smoke machines that people want to, we play with continuous light if people want to. Um, of course, as an Elinchrom Ambassador, that nearly all of it is geared around strobes. You name it? If it's in the studio, we can do it. And I absolutely adore this workshop. [00:12:59] I think there's a space left on that last, the 4th of November. It's an all day course. Uh, all day workshop, sorry. Uh, and then the second one we have, which is a brand new workshop. We've never tried this before and we'll see how this goes. Having spent the night lying on an embankment last night, I'm not so certain. I want to be outside at night for a while. However, it's at the end of November 25th. Of November. We have a mastering day and night workshop. Now this workshop. Is one, uh, I think it might've been Sarah's idea. Uh, If it's successful. It was my idea. If it doesn't work, definitely Sarah's idea. [00:13:36] No, I think it was Sarah's idea and I think it's a great idea. Uh, Mastering Day and Night. So we start unlike most of our workshops where we start at sort of 9, 9 30 in the morning. That this one. We're going to start straight after lunch. We're going to spend the afternoon working with daylight and then as dusk falls. We're going to work with a nighttime scene. [00:13:55] So it's not really a, it's not studio lighting, but we might use some lighting. Depending on what the delegates want. So we're going to mix it up a little bit. We're going to spend a half the workshop working with available daylight and half the workshop working with a combination. Um, of available light, which of course won't be daylight, but it might be street lighting. Um, or light coming from people's porches and those kinds of things working around the village. [00:14:21] We'll also have some lights with us. Just as I did at the wedding yesterday, I see. In this slide. Here's an aside. Uh, yesterday working with the videographer I had in the land Rover. Uh, I had to Elinchrom threes, which I thought we would work with. Cause I love them. Absolutely amazing lights. And I thought we'd do some stroke work. Um, but I also had a pair of aperture. Uh, continuous focusing, uh, spots, focusing spotlights led spotlights. [00:14:47] They really quite chunky. Um, and they throw off who wrote the most beautiful light as well. Um, and so I said to the videographer, um, we might do some nighttime photography and he looked a little bit glum and he said, yeah, you mean with strobes? Don't you? And I said, well, do you want to do anything with it? [00:15:02] So, yeah, I'd really, I'd really like to be able to capture some of that. So I'll tell you what, why don't we run the two spotlights were run continuous lighting for this one. Because working with a videographer, it makes it a little bit easier for you. Um, and while I'd still prefer to be using my Elinchrom Threes, there's no reason why we can't do something at least similar. Um, with continuous light, so threw a spotlight and had a play at night. [00:15:23] And the reaction from Richard, the videographer. It was just brilliant. He took one for, oh, it's not a photo who's doing. Slow-mo. High-speed video. And he just went. Wow. [00:15:36] And then everything I set up, he wanted. Like sort of five seconds of slow motion video of it. Um, moving around cause you get lens flan, all of those things. So we were creating very similar vibes that you can do with stills and a strobe, uh, with continuous light and uh, in his case with video. So it was quite exciting to do that. Um, anyway, back to Mastering Day Night, we will be using a mix of different lighting, maybe a bit of off-camera flash, depending on what people ask for. [00:16:00] Um, Now. On the topic of workshops next year, we're looking at. Um, some new ideas and that if there's anything you'd like to, uh, like us to host, so you think would be fun, then please do drop us a line. You can always get ahold of me on paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot code at UK. That's paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk . [00:16:22] If there's something you can think of that, do you know what it'd be great. If you could run a day on whatever it is. As long as it's photographic people, not animals. And not buildings, not landscapes. I'm not good at all of those things, but it's photographing people. Uh, understanding light then of course, why not drop us a line? [00:16:41] Um, one of the ones we're already looking at, and this I'd be curious if anyone's interested. Um, we haven't got dates for these yet, but we are looking to do. A two day workshop. That's a back-to-back workshop. Um, Now I don't yet. So we haven't quite worked out yet. What will go into those two days, but we know, we know it's just going to be. Uh, blast. And of course, with it being over two days in the interim evening, we get to sit. Have a meal, maybe have a few drinks. And chat about photography and not quite sure. Um, what the format will be. [00:17:16] My guess at this stage is, uh, the very least. A day and a half of photography and then half a day may be. On workflow or maybe on Photoshop or maybe on Lightroom. Uh, maybe the use of AI tools, which of course are now a considerable part of all of our workflow. I don't know. I honestly don't know. We're still working it out um, for those of you who are part of our workshop community people who've been on our workshops. We've sent you a quick survey. Um, which we'd love to hear your thoughts on for those of you who listened to podcast, but never been on one of our workshops. Again, if you have an idea, and you think that might be fun to come along to, uh, please do drop me a line.paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk . Uh, of course alongside all of this. And another reason why you might hear the fatigue in my voice. I think today I can be excused. All right. I think today. I'm allowed to sound a little bit weary because having laid for five hours on an embankment next to a slow moving motorway. Um, until like four or five in the morning. I think I'm all right to feel to, to justifiably sound a little bit fatigued, but we're also running a couple of different businesses and one of the things we're still working on and I'm still reworking is the mastering portrait photography website, still a few bits to sort out. [00:18:36] So those of you. Who do go on and off the website, apologies for things moving around as we're doing this. , I had an email the other day that said, do you know your shops down? Um, and for every user that I tested on the shop was just fine. Uh, but for just one or two uses, not so much. Um, I had to go digging around in some code. Uh, to find a one-line and do you know what it turned out to be? [00:18:57] It was a line I'd put in to debug the rest of it. The rest of it was fine, but the line of debug code was glitching. It's just. Oh, I hate it when that happens. It's an old school. Uh, cockup . When you put in test code and it's the test code that causes the problem. Uh, so never mind apologies for that. [00:19:16] Uh, so. But we will keep you posted. There's lots of new articles and there's going to be regular videos and all sorts of. Uh, features on their rolling forwards. Uh, sad news this past couple of weeks, is that the incredible NPhoto magazine, which I just loved writing for has stopped publishing. What a shame I'm gutted about it. [00:19:37] I've loved every time they've asked me to write for them. And so it's just been, um, I dunno, it's just been part of my monthly activities is to sit down. Tapping the, uh, figurative pen on my teeth and wondering what to write. And of course it being about Nikon and my love of Nikon. It's been a real pleasure to do, however, as with all of these things, when doors close, other doors open and it looks like there's a chance, at least that I'll be writing for an even bigger online title. Um, They approached me. Um, some of the same editors were involved in the new, well, not a new sites and established site, but they've moved over from their role at NPhoto, into new roles. Um, and they reached out to see if I'd be interested. In putting together some ideas to write for that. [00:20:25] So. Um, like I said, you know, some doors close and while I'm really sad and photo has gone. Um, then, uh, maybe just maybe another door is, uh, opening. I've just got to figure out what angle to take on it, because it's a really open, brief, as long as it's interesting. Um, then he said, I can pretty much talk about anything. [00:20:44] I like. So, whether it's business or techniques may be creative ideas, I don't know. Um, the state of the industry, AI post-processing. I honestly don't know, but one thing they have said. Is I could do with writing some things that are slightly contentious, at least in the sense that they can create a little quote that, uh, will get people out of bed and engaged . There's some ways, many of the things, um, I'm not that good acts. [00:21:11] I don't know. That I'm particularly contentious. I did get in a, it was a wonderful review. We had at one of our workshops through the day. Um, and the review said. It's just great. And he said he really appreciated the fact that I was ever so slightly irreverent sometimes. Uh, which I think is about as far as I would get, I don't know. That I'm known for being particularly contentious, but it might be something I have to get my head round. [00:21:37] They also said I'm going to need. Good headlines now, for those of you who are regulars with the podcast, you'll know that one of my weak spots is I'm not very good at writing. Headlines. That's just not my scale. Just definitely not good at it. I try I've even tried just one of the few things that I've tried, getting chat, GPT input on. [00:21:56] So dear Chat, GPT. Uh, please give me some, uh, I dunno, punchy headlines for this article. And when it comes back with just they're even worse than the ones that I write. So I've come back to writing my own. Um, that's definitely not my skill and the editors I've been working with whenever they've taken my articles, they've written far, far better headlines than I ever have. [00:22:19] So hopefully they'll look after that, but it was there. In the brief. Um, so, you know, I'm gonna have to learn some new skills, enough to be a bit contentious. I want to write some better headlines. I'm just gonna have to get my head down and, learned some new stuff, but here's the point. No matter just how rough this year has been. [00:22:37] And I think in some ways, at least psychologically, this has been a tougher year than some of the ones we've been through recently COVID well, that was out of our control. Um, coming out of COVID. Well, everybody knew it was going to be tricky. But now, with so little reason for it to be quite so tough. [00:22:59] At least there's no. I mean, I know there are reasons for it. I'm not saying there aren't. But it just feels like there should have been a better year. But at the end of the day, there's only so long people can be depressed, whether it's me, whether it's my team, whether it's our clients or whether it's the bigger world, the greater world. In general, there always has to be. Light at the end of the tunnel, but here's the but, weirdly. I suspect that light at the end of the tunnel is the light that we put there ourselves. It's almost like a mirror being held up. So that it reflects back the light that you have to generate, and that's not an easy trick, particularly when you know, I'm facing yet another land Rover breakdown and possibly the Last land Rover Defender breakdown. [00:23:50] I'm not entirely certain that at the end of this year, we'll still have a Defender. I don't know how I can have a car, that I'm worried is going to break down every time I head out on to a gig. Um, But it is the trick that I'm going to have to master, to be, to have light at the end of the tunnel. It will be me that has to create it. [00:24:09] And it has to be reflected back at me. I have a suspicion. That's just the only way to do it. If you can't create the light, there's nothing out there to run to. And I intend to run towards the light. So in spite of the rain, the time pressures, rather buggered, Land Rover Defender. Ultimately it's down to me. To shine, a light that I am running towards, and I'm going to choose that light. [00:24:36] I'm going to make that light. I am gonna look for the new opportunities. I'm gonna. put, together new workshops. I'm going to focus on all of the new opportunities that are thrown up over the past couple of weeks. Um, I am loving running the workshops and they are going to get bigger and stronger and more exciting. [00:24:52] I'm loving making the website changes. To Mastering Portrait Photography, the videos that Sarah, myself and Katie are creating. Um, the time I've had to spend with the kids. And of course the incredible clients that we've been able to work with and the images that we've created so far this year, and the many more. There are to come. [00:25:12] That's the light at the end of the tunnel and that's what we're creating. [00:25:17] The team around me are well, frankly, fantastic. And one thing from last night is unexpectedly lying under the stars. I was lying under the stars with my wife, Sarah, who is to me. my savior. It was just not lovely. I'm not going to say it was lovely because it was so cold. Um, and so slightly depressing. Um, however, if I was going to be there with anybody, it would be there with Sarah. And so for me, that's a little high spot in what was otherwise quite a dark. Uh, at cold night, [00:25:46] On that note, I need an early night now as I haven't had any sleep. And I have to be up early yet again. To go and explain why yet again, I'm not really happy that my clutch has failed. Less than eight months after having the entire engine and transmission, replaced. But whatever else you're doing. In this cold weather. Shine a light and be kind to yourself. [00:26:10] Take care. ### [EP157 After The Judging Is Done](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep157-after-the-judging-is-done/) So after three days of judging images for the British Institute Of Professional Photographers, it's time for me to step down from my role as Chair Of Awards And Qualifications. I have been in the role for three years and it is time for someone else to pick up the reins and run with it (if that isn't a mixed metaphor.) I have loved doing this and if it weren't for a million things I have to go on and do, I think I would do it forever! So as I drive home from my last round of qualifications - possibly the best one I've ever been involved in - here are a few musings of things I have spotted. This is a 'Tales From The Land Rover' edition so please forgive the audio quality and any mild road rage! Enjoy! Cheers P. ### The Exhausting Journey Home So I'm driving home from Birmingham, just in a service station, having bought the most expensive cup of coffee in the world, um, but I need one. It's been a long few days, um, and I am beyond exhausted. ### Reflecting on Judging and Achievements I've just been judging for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. I was there as chair of judges and quals for the last time, maybe not for the last time ever, but certainly for the last time, uh, in this current guise., it's been three years, I've done it for three years, and I need some time to be able to do some other things, it's nothing more than that, that's all I need, it's just to be able to do some other stuff, because we're building up Mastering Portrait Photography, which, by the way, we actually got another royalty statement through this week, um, for the book, ten years later, and the book is still .selling, I cannot believe it, uh, selling all over the world, and it's such an honor to have something out there that is still ticking over, you know, a few hundred copies, I'd say it might be more than that, but it's hundreds of copies, every year, around the world, it's still in print, after ten years, and while much of the book I would update now, it's still reasonably, uh, current, the pictures certainly stand up for themselves, as do the Uh, all of the notes. I think the one thing I would change is the opening chapter, which is all about current cameras. And of course that's changed in 10 years. They're not at all like that. And that's kind of what we're doing. We're building this incredible website called Mastering Portrait Photography. That is what I always loved, which is images and explanations and diagrams and ideas. And I have a bookshelf from floor to ceiling full of those kinds of books. So, it's time to stop judging for a moment, and I've just spent the past few days doing it. I'm on the M40 heading south. I'm Paul, and this, this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, wow, what a few days it has been, and what an honour and a privilege it's been to have the role of Chair of Qualifications and Awards for the world's oldest. Photographic society or association, um, just beyond belief that I was asked to step into that role and it saddens me to leave, particularly after these couple of days because it's been just the most exciting thing. It's been absolutely wonderful, but I have to do it. We have to find a way of getting a little bit more time to do the other things that I need to get to. So. ### Stepping Down from Chair of Judges I've stepped down, I stepped down a few months ago and said I'd run it to the end of the year, so I've just finished the last set of qualifications that I'll be chairing, for now anyway, and the last annual printmasters competition. I've got one more round of monthly images to, uh, chair the judging for, and then I am done for a little bit. So I'm not done judging, I'll still be judging both for the, sorry, for the BAPP, I'm sure. And for the Societies where I'm going to be in January, we're presenting again in January at the Societies Convention in London. Um, I'm doing a couple of workshops, a couple of masterclasses, but I'm also going to be judging. I'm also leading the judging for the Click, uh, Click Light event, uh, sort of towards the end of next year. I already know that's in the diary. So it isn't that I'm stepping away from judging, it's just I'm stepping away from the role that I currently have at the moment. Um, because it's just too time consuming, it's all I can do. Um, so what have the last few days, uh, been? ### The Joy and Challenges of Judging Well, we've judged hundreds of images, and I, it is, it's hundreds and hundreds of images. We've judged eleven panels, there are six judges. I chair a team, there's myself and six incredible photographers across all genres, um, of our art form. commercialphotography, portraitphotography, weddingphotography, landscape, wildlife, you name it. Uh, this broad skillset in the judges, um, was in the room. Six just wonderful people, um, and it's that I think I'm gonna miss if I stop judging, of course. It's being in a room with these massive talents who make me laugh and inspire me every time we do it. So we have judged 11 panels. of which five, uh, came out as a fellowship standard. That's the highest grade we can offer is fellowship. Fellowship at the British Institute of Professional Photography. I got my fellowship, uh, 2011, I think. I should know the dates to my own life, but I don't. Um, and I remember then wondering what, where that would take me. What did it mean? And where it's taken me is to where I am right now. We've written a book. I've chaired all sorts of associations, I've chaired, I've been the Chair of Quals and Awards for the, um, for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. Um, I've travelled the world, I've worked on cruise ships, I, just, so much stuff has happened, and it's all thanks, or at least it was triggered, by me doing my quals. Uh, so five fellowships, uh, three licentiates, um, three of the panels we saw of the eleven sadly were unsuccessful, um, but of the others, eight were successful, and a couple of those were uplifts, which means they came in at one grade, and they didn't just get the grade they came in for, um, they were deemed to be so good, they were uplifted to the next level, the next qualification, and they both came out at fellowships. And I've had the chance to see and talk to the most wonderful photographers and their images. One panel in particular really just blew me away. And it's rare that I look at a panel and I wish I'd taken those images. There are panels where I love the images, but they're not really my field or it's just, you know, a different thing to what I do. But this was a panel of portraits of artists and creatives and artisans, famous artisans, some of them unknown artists, others, and the way the work was presented, the way the author was so down to earth and humble about what he did, the way he'd captured characters in a moment in time, the way he'd styled each image in each studio, everything about these images just made me wish. I had captured them and that's how it's left me. But what a way to leave, right? What a way to finish my tenure, um, after three years in the role. What a way to decide it's time, um, and although I'd taken the decision a few months ago that it was time for me to step away, I couldn't have foreseen that the last round of judging that I would chair like this would be simply the best couple of days of my time in the seat. Absolutely. uh, amazing. So as I said, we've just judged the printmasters 2020. I don't know if I did say it or not. Obviously when I'm driving in the car, I'm on the motorway, uh, concentrating on the driving is my priority. Speaking into a microphone is very, very low down the list. Um, so of course I'm making it all up as I go along and trying to remember what I've said. I have no idea. Did I tell you that, um, we've just been judging the printmasters as well as some qualifications? I've no idea. So that's what we've been doing two days, one day printmasters, another day. Quals, the print masters, hundreds of prints, hundreds and hundreds of prints. ### Insights on Photography Competitions So what have I learned over the two days? Uh, well, let's sort of think of, uh, some things. Firstly, and this sounds obvious, but I'm in the same way that McDonald's print caution is coffee might be hot on the side of their coffee. It's such an obvious thing, yet people don't. So I'm telling some of the obvious things and yet people don't read the rules. Start there. Whatever else you do, read them. Don't ignore them, because we will find out. We have had one image confirmed as being generated by AI. I doubt it's the last. We're gonna see more. The judges spotted there was something not quite right about it, so we dug in. Sure enough, AI. That's not to say there isn't AI we've missed. AI now is so good that if it's presented to us, Unless we forensically check every file, I don't know what else we're supposed to do. Um, we spotted it, we got it checked, that's disqualified. There are others maybe in there, um, that have more than a smattering, um, of artificial intelligence involvement. But, you know, uh, the tools will get better and better and better at spotting it. Um, and maybe it'll get to the point where in all competitions we have to ask to see The original RAW file, but even that, you know, you can fake a RAW file. So, what do you do? Uh, either way, absolutely brilliant. Um, also if it says it has to be a commissioned image, that does mean you can't use images from workshops. Um, commissioned means you had a client who paid you to take the picture, that's what a commissioned image is. And of course, when images of models start popping up, this In a room with six of the most experienced photographers in the UK, there's always going to be one of them that's like, I know that model, I've seen those pictures, I know where that was taken, I know who took that. Um, and so yeah, sure enough, we had to ring around a little bit and find out, um, whether some images were, um, within the rules, um, and the confirmation, uh, came through one way or the other. And of course, just read the rules. Uh, I say this every time I do one of these mop ups. Paper and mounts. Paper and mounts. Paper and mounts. If you have any white paper showing of the printing paper, it's a good idea that the matte is either significantly different in colour to that paper, or is exactly the same as that paper. Um, one of my favourite, um, ways to mount an image, and there were quite a few we've seen over the past few days, The idea behind this was to have a white paper border around the print that sits then inside the mount. So there's a gap between the edge of the actual ink on the paper and then the cut of the mount. It creates a really beautiful sense of space as it sits into the opening. But the paper needs to be the same colour as the mount. Otherwise it looks really weird. I suppose you could have a black mount and white paper. Yeah, that would be fine. But a slightly off white mount and a pure blue white paper probably are not going to sit that comfortably, uh, together. So think about that. Think about how the whole image appears. So what else? ### The Importance of Mentorship Well, good mentors matter. I might write a title. I might, might, maybe I should write a podcast on that and that alone. Good. Mentors matter. They really do. We can see the work coming through from great mentors. Um, because the panel is considered, the way it's laid out is considered, the image selection is considered, um, having somebody else's eyes on to help you step outside of yourself. The problem is when you're looking at your own images is you are by definition attached to them. You can't get around it. That's the way it should be. You are attached to your own images, which means you're not looking at them objectively, or at least most of us can't look at them objectively. I'm sure there are photographers out there who profess that they can. I can't. I need another pair of eyes on. I have a mentor, and having a mentor is utterly, utterly crucial. Um, someone who can not just cast their eye over what you're doing, but help and shape and guide, give you ideas, bounce stuff off of you. Someone, ideally, who you respect, that you think what they've created and maybe what they can drag out of you will just make you a better photographer. That's your mentor's role. They don't have to necessarily be a better photographer, they have to be someone you respect. Um, so have a good mentor and talk to them. Being meant, I've said this, there's a podcast on this somewhere in my history. That being mentored, being a mentee is a skill in and of itself. It's not just a case of a mentor telling you how to get better. It's you driving that, you asking for the right help. You listening to what a mentor tells, tells you, you deciding what from what they're advising, what to do with it. You won't do everything a mentor suggests because your mentor is them and you are you. You know, unless your mentor is your twin or something, they're always going to tell you things that, well, I can see how that might work for you, but it probably isn't what I want to do for me. That's fine. That's completely fine. As long as it's a rational decision that you're going to do something slightly different. It's not just, nah, can't be bothered because can't be bothered, got no one nowhere. So have a good mentor, listen to them, use them, drive it, uh, and, you know, It just, you can see it in the panels that came through where the mentor, the relationship with the mentor, uh, was incredibly, incredibly good. ### Staying Current in Photography The next thing I'm thinking of is be current. And what do I mean by be current? Well, the trick, I think, is to love the world in which you work. Look at the art, look at the Tele, films, listen to the radio, be influenced by the world in which you work. Don't just, you know, it's the temptation always, I think, when you do things like fellowships, is to say, well, that's defined me, that's who I am. And we see it sometimes in the work, and frankly, we see it sometimes in the judging, where, um, just because it's always been, So that's the way it always will be. And that's, that's, that's not a great way to be. I don't think, you know, mix with new photographers, new generations of photographers. If you're like I am just that little bit more experienced in the industry, you know, my influences now have to broaden into the younger market because that's not my natural fit. So I've got to get out there and explore what's being created. On channels that maybe just maybe I wouldn't normally gravitate towards. You know, I can't say I am a TikTok king, um, but I do go on there. I do keep an eye on what's going on. I try to learn from it. Um, Insta, I have a big account on Insta, um, which right now is still reasonably current, but it won't be in the same way that Facebook probably isn't anymore. So, be current, be aware of what's on magazine covers or the latest and greatest websites. Have a. I don't know, have a link on your browser that gives you the top ten designed websites in the world at any one time. You can do these searches. In which case, have a look at what they're using as the imagery. As a photographer, that's our job. You can have a style, of course you can. But, you should all, always be absorbing and assimilating. And, some of what we've seen over the past few days, It felt a little bit like it was looking backwards rather than looking forwards and we should represent the future as photographers, not just what's gone on before. Again, I'm not saying throw away the classical techniques, of course I'm not, because they're there for a reason. Cliches are cliches for a reason and rules are essentially just cliches. So don't ignore it, but interpret it in new and exciting ways. Style images. Finish images, use post production, try different things that it would never have occurred to you to do. Just be exciting and be current. ### Capturing Genuine Connections Uh, for you wedding photographers or frankly anybody who photographs people who are in love, uh, or people I suppose because there's an extension to this, um, one of the things that came up a little bit was a disc or various discussions around whether A couple had been photographed and it looked like they were genuinely and authentically in love. The connection between the couple, um, there needs to be movement in that. It's like choreographing a dance when you have a couple sort of, um, in each other's arms or really close to each other. Don't think like a photographer, what do you want the end, what do you want the shape of them to be? Think like a choreographer and think, what would I like the movement to be? And then as a, as a photographer, think, okay, now I've got the movement and the shape and the emotion and the rhythm of this, what moment do I want to hit the button? Now of course you can pose it statically, that's not a problem, but it should feel alive. It should feel like they're moving, that they are in harmony with each other. There needs to be a connection between them. And then ultimately, there needs to be a connection with you, the photographer. Or more importantly. The viewer who sees the image in the end and to do that they must connect with your camera now You're holding the camera So they have to connect with you and then you have to guide them towards the lens if it's eye contact that you want But there has to be they have to like you and you have to genuinely like them It shows in the images when there's a relationship between the subject and the photographer You can feel it. It's, it's sort of there in the picture. It's there in their eyes and their muscles. It's there in the timing of the shot that you take. It's there in the way their shoulders rise or fall or the way he's not just holding her or she's holding him or she's holding her. ### Building Connections Through Photography It's the way that they bring each other closer together with laughter or emotion of some sort. So have a connection with your with your subject and get them to have a connection with each other. Um, one of the biggest things I've thought of, I've lost track of where I am, of course, because I'm in the car and it's, the road's busy. ### The Importance of Entering Competitions Um, but one of the things that occurs to me, it's the most important thing you can do with, um, competitions and qualifications is do them. Actually get off your hands and do them. I know some very good photographers who think that they won't win something or they won't qualify. And they certainly won't if they don't enter, that's certainly true, but if they do enter, who knows? I know some of the categories that came through for the print competition this year were eminently winnable. There are great images in those categories, but I know photographers producing equally good images Who had they simply entered, stood as good a chances as anybody else? Why not? I obviously can't enter because I'm, uh, judging. But with another association I enter all the time quietly behind the scenes. I don't really make a fuss about it because if I'm not entering, if I'm not pushing my style and my techniques, how can I consider that I'm qualified to either mentor or judge others? So I do it too, and yes, it's heartbreaking when your images don't. Well, of course it is. It can be expensive and soul destroying. You know, it's a real problem. But, equally, it can be hugely rewarding. So you, you can't win if you don't enter. You can't qualify if you don't try. ### Learning from the Process And the process, particularly with qualifications, the process is so much more important than Than the qualification itself, though that is absolutely not , not how it feels. It's only afterwards when you can say these things. You never, anyone if, if anyone's ever going for qualification. Um, and I say to them, um, you know, uh, how do you feel? And they're like, ah, it doesn't really matter. It's just a process. It's a journey that I'm like, no way. No, no, no, no way. I know you are not telling the truth. Why? You wouldn't put yourself through that kind of expense and that kind of pain and discomfort if it was just about the learning. But the learning is the bit of the puzzle. When you look back with hindsight, whether your panel is successful or not is the most valuable thing you'll do. Because that's where the lessons are. That's where the learning is. That's where the development is. The letters give you confidence. The letters help you shape who you want to be. And they certainly, if you know what you're doing, help you market yourself. But they're not a definition of who you are. The process of getting there, though, is, because it gives you, or it shapes, or it demonstrates, I don't know what the right word is, that you have the dedication to your craft, that you're willing to get down and push and push and push to be the very best that you can be. You're never going to be a finished article, or at least I don't think you can be. ### Using Insecurity as a Driving Force I think every day, I mean for me for instance, I wake up every day it's a mix of enthusiasm and energy and ambition and insecurity. I just think, oh I'm not very good but today I'm going to be better. That might not sound like the most reassuring thing in the world but it is what it is. You know, I've learned to use my insecurities as my driving force. I don't like feeling that way. God, I hate feeling that way. Why would I like feeling that way? You know, I look at some of the photographers out there that are Sometimes massively, they overrate themselves, but they're just hugely confident. And I'm not that guy. That's not my personality. Mine is to feel, I suppose, um, insecure about my work. But I use that insecurity and that sense of, I wish I was better as my driving force. And everyone has their own driving force. You'll have to find yours. I've found mine. I know what it is. I wish it was something slightly different. I wish it was something slightly more sort of positive, I guess. I saw a counselor would ask me why, why have I empowered other people to make me feel insecure or something. I have no idea. I've never been to a counselor, but I'm guessing that it's my, my, the energy that I use, the fire that I have might not be the most positive, um, and reaffirming way of doing things. But for me, it, it is who I am. And it pushes me to do things. It pushes me to try things. It gives me the energy to overcome hurdles and, and create videos or create the website or write a book with someone. Um, terrifying though it is, I just want to be better at it and so I'll keep trying it. Uh, so put yourself forward. ### The Magic of Light in Photography Another thing I'm just thinking of is the headlamps. Headlamps and taillights are all around me. Is learn how to craft lights, or just as importantly, learn how to see light. Learn how it lands on someone's face, or their figure, or a scene, or a dog, or a cat, I don't know. Saw some of the most exquisite, exquisite cat photography today. Saw some And the author of the panel has learned how to use light to bring out texture and form and character and personality in cats. That's her skill set. It's wonderful. And she's learned how to do it. And, you know, that's where photography stems from. It's all about light. If you're a daylight photographer, learn how to see it. Learn how to observe. Learn how to almost Smell it out. , you know, you see it. You, you, do you ever get excited be, I mean, even now I'm watching a car ahead of me and I can see the pool of light on the road ahead from its headlamps and it's dark in between the Land Rover and him or her, and then there's a pool of light in front of that car. Well, that pool of light might be quite an interesting thing to light somebody in. I spent my life doing that. I can't help it. It's like light is addictive. It's like a drug. Finding good light, or interesting light, or light that might give an effect, when, you know, the cars coming the other way, their headlamps are giving the car I'm following, kiss lighting, because of course it's bouncing off the sides of the metal, and I can see these kind of pockets of light along the side of the car, you know, that's just, oh, that'd be really interesting to photograph someone in that kind of lighting, you know, let's say a, you know, a car's headlamps are probably a bit low to the ground, But if you had a truck or something with overhead lights and you could get them to point down so they're above someone's head but you've got other trucks in the distance where they've got their normal almost ground level headlamps on and they they're going to create the backlighting yeah that could be really super interesting and it's that enthusiasm for exploring light that I think photographers need if they're going to create the truly stunning interesting images. I mean I would say that, I love light. You know, as an Elinchrom ambassador, you'd expect me to say I love light, but I do. I just find it, I don't know why, why, I have no idea why that might be a thing, but I love it. I absolutely love it. And so, yeah, you know, after all of that, I'm sure there's a million things, I'm sure there's a million things that I've missed. And had I spent the time thinking about it and driving home and writing up my notes and recording the podcast properly in the studio, it would sound a little bit better. I'd be jolted around a little less, um, but it probably wouldn't get done because we're so busy just at the moment. So apologies for me doing a Land Rover edition at 70 mile an hour because I can hear it's noisy, but otherwise I was not going to record one at all. Um, the time pressures are now such that I really do have to dedicate more of it to mastering portrait photography, to our website, to building the, um, room mock ups to drop pictures into for beautiful framing, to creating interesting ideas on images and writing up notes on old images. Have I said the videos? I must have said the videos. Oh, maybe I haven't said the videos. ### Exciting New Projects and Team Members We're creating these beautiful videos. We've got so many news joined us in the team. Katie's joined our team, who's amazing. She's great. She's a real breath of fresh air. She's young. And so she sees the world totally different to me. Um, so, you know, between us, I think, hopefully, it's a two way street. I'll help her understand mostly software. I'm pretty good at picking up software. Um, and so Blackmagic's DaVinci is now another one of the tools that I'm reasonably comfortable with and can get my head around. Um, so I'm helping her get up to speed with that, but in return, she's showing us a young view of creating videos, which there's no way I would have done. Sarah and I wouldn't have done it that way. But I'm really loving having that around. But it takes time. All of this takes time. And, um, running the workshops, you know, we now run regular workshops and they're going to increase. ### Workshops and Community Engagement Um, because we just love doing them but also it's part of our business model going forward. Um, and to have time I've got to stop doing so many other things that I've been involved in for a while anyway. So, uh, Yep, standing down and it's all for mastering portrait photography. On that note about workshops, we do have a space actually, we've got a mastering studio lighting workshop which is on Monday the 4th of November, so it's a few weeks away, but there's still a space on there. I love this day, I think this day is one of my favorite workshops, um, that we do, where we just play with lights, play with ideas, try things out, smoke machines maybe. GoBos, BigLights, SmallLights, um, HighKey, LowKey, you name it, we just play. Because that's by far the best way of learning stuff. Um, you can do whatever way you want. Some people are bookworms, some people like a video or two. For me, I like messing around, um, and coming up with ideas. So that's on Monday the 4th of November, if you fancy it. Why is it right, when you're overtaking someone, why do they accelerate? Bye. Anyway, um, I don't like motorway driving very much. Everyone's very aggy, people are very aggressive, they just, it's a weird, ever since COVID it seems to be a very weird world. Uh, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I just love playing in the studio, and that's the workshop. So it's Mastering Portrait, sorry, Mastering Studio Lighting, uh, on the 4th of November, if anyone fancies it, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, or head over to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.Uk, or similarly, you can go to masteringportraitphotography.com, and the workshops are in there, in the Academy. The same workshops, but they're in the Academy, uh, over there. Eventually we're going to fuse all of the workshops into Mastering Portrait Photography. There's one single entity, so at the moment they're sort of co existing on the two sites, um, but it's the same workshop. Uh, we will be putting more and more of them up on there. ### Subscription Benefits and Pricing If you subscribe, actually, to Mastering Portrait Photography, um, it's not a lot of money. It's 6. 99 at the moment, as at the time of recording, it's 6. 99 a month, which is actually the same price as the cup of coffee I've got sitting here in my Land Rover. So it's one very large pumpkin spice latte per month. Um, To join the website, but if you do that, you get an advance notice of the, um, workshops, um, and you get to, uh, jump on them earlier than anybody else. You get to be part of our community, the Facebook community, uh, which we're building, um, making that more and more vibrant and interesting. And, um, you can post pictures in there and people would jump in and give you tips. If you ask for it, if you don't really want it, then, you know, you can just post your pictures for the sheer joy of it. Uh, so that's all part of it. You get to download any of the tools for free, you get to download any of the room mock ups for free, you get to watch all of the videos and see all of the diagrams and there are hundreds of them. I did a count up the other day and it's still like 400 diagrams I think, it's a lot. Um, but the whole site is there 6. 99 a month. If you want to spend it, if you want to spend a little less on a bit of a discount and do it over a year then you can enter the annual one. Um, and so if you pay annually it's 69. 99 for the year. Uh, which of course is about, what's that, 10 percent cheaper. You know, have I got that right? It's 10, it's 12 months for the price of 10. There you go. I don't know what that is. It's a mathematical term. I'm going to have to look that up if I'm going to publicize this. Um, uh, but that gives you a slightly better rate. Slightly cheaper, but also gives you discount codes to the workshops. So not only do you hear about them early, but you get a little bit of a discount on them too. There are a couple of other options on there as well. If you fancy. And no, you're going to book onto our workshops or come to us for mentoring. There's two other options to, uh, for the membership if you want them, um, and you can have a look on our website for that. Just Google or search for Mastering Portrait Photography Pricing, or just head to our website and hit the pricing, uh, link. So that's where we are. ### Final Thoughts and Farewell I'm just heading south on the M40. Um, I've run out of things that I've remembered to say. That's not that I have run out of things to say. I just have run out what I have remembered to say. to say. So as I thread my, oh that blooming van's just overtaken me again, um, so as I head my way south on thankfully a relatively clear motorway, uh, I'm going to say thank you for listening if you have listened to the end of this podcast. I know it's a bit noisy when I'm driving in a Land Rover and recording it, um, if you're hearing it I managed to at least convince myself that the wasn't too bad, it didn't sound too rattly. Well, if you're not hearing it, it means I've pulled this podcast. I'm not releasing it because it's just not good enough, uh, audio, but thank you for listening to this point. Please do subscribe, wherever it is that you receive your podcasts or you consume your podcasts. By doing so, you'll get to hear the episodes as they come out. So if there are any offers and things, or any last spaces, you get to hear about them first. Uh, you can hear us on Spotify, iTunes, and all over the place, basically. And whatever else you do in the coming weeks, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP158 Heading Home From The Awards](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep158-heading-home-from-the-awards/) In this episode, I am a just a touch emotional about receiving an Honorary Fellowship from the BIPP, explain a little bit about what makes a good portrait in answer to a client's question and talk through what we have been working on at masteringportraitphotography.com - there has been a lot going on!! This is a 'Tales From The Land Rover' edition so please forgive the audio quality and any mild road rage! Enjoy! Enjoy! Cheers P. ### Introduction and Event Recap [00:00:00] Paul In The Defender: So for those of you who love the Land Rover episodes, you'll be thrilled to hear that I'm just leaving the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography Awards, uh, event 2024 25. Uh, why do we call it 2024 and 2025 is because if you get an award at the end of a year, it's a real pain from a marketing point of view if you can only say you have an award for 2024. So we call it 2024 slash 25, uh, just to extend the marketing value. So you're, you hold the titles for a year, , so why wouldn't we? Anyway, that's where I've been. I've just spent an absolute fortune on some fuel, uh, because I hadn't got a lot of choice but to fill up at a service station. [00:00:47] And I am just pulling in to traffic. He says, concentrating on driving. ### Driving and Multitasking [00:00:52] Paul In The Defender: I had a lovely, uh, lovely email from someone this week. , sorry I'm driving so I can't, uh, look up your name. I'm so, I think it was John McCarthy. I'm gonna go with John McCarthy. , who said, amongst many other things, uh, he doesn't know how I drive and record a podcast at the same time. [00:01:09] Well, the answer to that is I drive. And chat. Uh, there's not a lot of structure to it, , and a few people have said this week they like the podcast like that, uh, because, uh, they find it interesting to hear me ad libbing. I don't know whether that's, I don't know whether there's merit in that, but yeah, I am ad libbing because driving is the priority. [00:01:30] They also said, uh, John said, I'm sure it's John McCarthy. I hope it is, if not, uh, I'm crediting somebody who's a fictional character. , he also said that uh, he can hear in everything we're talking about just how busy we are here at the studio. And it must be hard to find the time to fit in to do the podcast, and it is, which is why, uh, I am recording while driving. [00:01:52] , but he did also go on to say, he loves it when we do them. Uh, they are really valuable. They don't just disappear out there into the ether. There are lots of you out there in the photographic community listening to, uh, hopefully enjoying, uh, at least to a, a greater or lesser degree, the podcast. [00:02:10] So here we are. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, hello one and all. Uh, I am in relatively. Reasonably slow, fast ish, medium paced traffic, which is not good for me getting home quickly. I've got about an hour and a half of driving, but it is good from a road noise point of view 'cause at this speed, the road noise in my Land Rover isn't quite as, uh, intrusive as it would be. I see. It's not so much the road noise as the wind noise in this thing. I'm just looking at the other side of the motorway and thinking, I'm glad I'm not going that way 'cause it's must have been an accident. [00:03:01] It's absolutely log jammed. ### Reflections on a Photography Career [00:03:04] Paul In The Defender: Uh, so what have I been up to? Well, it was the awards. It was the British Institute of Professional Photography International Awards yesterday in, uh, Bromsgrove, which is in Birmingham, in the Midlands, in the heart, in the heart of the country. Uh, an absolutely wonderful event. [00:03:20] Lots of our friends and lots of colleagues, lots of photographers, uh, having a drink, having a laugh, and celebrating some of the very best images. That you can, uh, possibly imagine is absolutely brilliant. Uh, I have to say it's my last formal event as chair, uh, of qualifications and awards of the BIPP and I. [00:03:41] I guess I have to just say a quick thank you, uh, to Martin Bains and the guys at the British Institute for asking me to take on the role. It has been the honor of a lifetime. You know, when you start out in photography, I, I was just a kid with a camera. Actually, to be fair, I still probably am, uh, just a kid with a camera. [00:04:02] I've just grown quite a lot older and now earn my living from it. But the enthusiasm and the awe and wonder of what you can do with this gadget hasn't diminished at all in the time since I first picked one up at age, sort of, seven or eight or whatever age I was when my grandfather's, uh, Kodak Brownie. [00:04:21] So to be. Chair of Quals And Awards for the oldest photographic association in the world has truly been the honor of a lifetime and when Martin asked me if I'd take that on three years ago, I think I might have been a bit reticent because I wasn't quite sure whether I could deliver what he needed, but hopefully we've gone on to answer the question. [00:04:42] That was an emphatic yes and he, he and the board let me create a program and methods and standards That I think we can be really proud of. , and at the end of the, uh, sorry, at the beginning of the awards yesterday, so it's the end of my tenure. It's my last one as chair. So it is a, it is a sort of a bittersweet moment for me 'cause I've loved it. [00:05:01] Uh, I'm only stepping down because I desperately need to find time to do a load of other things. And now is the time after three years, all the work we've done, uh, you know, on the, on the judging side for me, but particularly on Sarah. Putting in processes and making sure you can get judges when you need them. [00:05:18] , so I'm gonna say thank you to Martin, thank you to the B-I-P-P-A huge thank you to Sarah. And thank you to all the judges who've judged with me, , who've been part of the team. , hopefully over the coming years I'll be able to stand back on the other side of the line and judge alongside the judges that for the past few years I've been sitting in front of while chairing. ### Honorary Fellowship Award [00:05:38] Paul In The Defender: , the other thing that happened last night, , so forgive me, this is a very personal. It's one of those things where I don't know quite how to do it, but I'm so chuffed I'm going to tell you anyway. I was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the BIPP. So, if you're not in the industry, I guess it's hard to articulate just how rare these things are and what an honor they are. [00:06:04] There's only 26 or 27 Honorary Fellows in the industry. And as of now, I am also one. I already had my Fellowship. I got that in 2011. , Uh, but I now have an Honorary Fellowship, which is, it's been given to me. It's engraved on the thing is for services to the BIPP, which I rather like it. Uh, so it's just a real privilege to be given that, , I never, you know, just being chair of quals was to be honest, gratitude enough but it is still a lovely thing to be presented with. And that will carry with me for the rest of my life, you know. You keep that title, , and I'm so proud. I was so surprised and pleased last night and so proud now. [00:06:50] But I must also just put out there that, although it is me because I'm the photographer, it's my letters. , actually, this particular one has to be 50 percent Sarah. It's Sarah that coordinated the judges. It's Sarah that managed things and runs me. It's Sarah that manages my time. It's Sarah, and even last night, several of the judges were telling me they were sad to see me step down, but actually, , it's Sarah they're really gonna miss. [00:07:16] So, uh, this goes to Sarah more than anybody else. Uh, so that's a huge, huge thank you. Right, traffic's all braking. Good job I've left lots of gaps, that's nice. Right, so, what was today's topic? ### Key Ingredient for Great Portraits [00:07:31] Paul In The Defender: Today's topic is, , based on a question that a client asked me the other day. So I was photographing a beautiful family, mother, father, nine month old baby, [00:07:42] The weather? Horribly unkind. It was cold and raining. Your perfect blend of the two types of weather that you don't really want to photograph a baby in. However, we did some studio work and the little girl possibly got a little warm and a little bit grouchy, and so we stepped outside just to see if we could get anything and it turned out, actually, just going out into the cool air, uh, sort of, she, completely cheered up so i think she might just have been a little bit warm or she just didn't like being in the environment of the studio i don't know which but out in the cool air so her mom's holding a huge umbrella over her she sat on one of my our doormats from the studio and scattered the front edge edge with leaves so it looks like the little girl is sitting in this beautiful sort of array of leaves but she's actually sitting on a dry mat in the middle of our lawn and beautiful light and of course when you have water around and Those sort of gloomy bluish tones from a cloudy sky actually the colors pop, you get these oranges and greens that are really interesting. [00:08:45] So we got these incredible pictures and, and afterwards we're sitting chatting and it was the, it was my client, it was the dad said, so what is it? He said, what is it that makes, what's the, the one thing you have to have to make a great portrait? Ah, well, you know, you don't ask someone like me to talk about stuff like that, or at least you don't if you want a short answer. [00:09:05] Uh, so of course the obvious answer, , I'm a lighting specialist. , I love portraiture, but I've always been fascinated by light, its qualities, its colour, the, the shadows that it creates, and I think light obviously is a key ingredient, and I think if you were being Purely pragmatic, you'd have to say the one thing you need to create a great photograph is light. [00:09:31] There has to be light because without it, it's dark, and if it's dark, you've not got a picture. So, that's a really pragmatic answer, but it's a bit dull and a bit obvious. And as I'm a portrait photographer, and during that day, I was taking his baby's portrait, and I've taken their portraits before now. It got me on to think, what is it? [00:09:48] What is that primal? Thing that absolutely makes a portrait. And I think it's a relationship. That is my answer. , it's the relationship you form. Oh man, we're in a rolling roadblock. , that's what's going on. , so there's a slow moving, uh, police car or two. [00:10:06] At the front of, , this particular traffic jam, so we're now travelling at 10 miles an hour. Uh, if we, if we carry on travelling at 10 miles an hour, I'm assuming we won't, but if we do, uh, I'll still be travelling home tomorrow. It's going to take us a while. I'm going to assume up, up ahead, somewhere, they're having to clear an accident, and so all of the traffic, we're sitting straight behind, , a police vehicle. [00:10:28] Anywho, uh, let's talk about the relationship. If you're creating portraits, the one ingredient that you cannot get away without to create a great portrait is a connection with your client. [00:10:43] When you connect with your client, when you create that magic between you, , then something happens and yes, you need beautiful light, of course you do, but in that moment, that split second when they look down the lens and you, uh, fire the shutter, if you have some kind of connection with your client, people who see that picture later will feel it. [00:11:08] It's a really subtle thing, but it's all about what happens when somebody else sees the picture. Because remember when you're holding a camera and you grab that shot. The ultimate consumer of the image isn't you. Yes, all right, you've got the camera, there's that moment, you can show the client if that's your particular workflow, , all of these things, but what you're doing is , you're going to show that image or the image is going to be shown by your client to somebody else. [00:11:34] Normally, that's how it works. [00:11:36] And if you've got that magical connection between you and the person in front of the camera, that connection seems to flow out to someone who views the image later. That's where the magic happens, and you really have to do it fast too. , when people come into our studio, we have an entire workflow that is based around getting our client to relax, getting them to feel comfortable. [00:12:03] And we are starting to create a very temporary but very powerful relationship. It's not, it's not a love affair, but it is that sort of some kind of rapport. Where. You can have a conversation, you can laugh, you can maybe learn a little bit about someone, which is always lovely. And when you do that, when you pick up the camera, you, that sort of momentum of that relationship carries through. [00:12:28] So if you tell 'em to look down the lens, it has a, a magic to it if you're tell, even if you're telling them to look slightly to the side or down, that still has a body language to it that feels comfortable. So for me and the kind of portraiture that I love, it's that. relationship that you build, that connection in the moment you hit the button, and that is the most important thing about a portrait, and it's beautiful. [00:12:53] And I said this to my client, and I really hope he sort of thought, oh, okay, that's a, that's a, you know, useful answer. I don't know whether, , I think he might just be making chit chat, same, because it was, he's the client, and so that's the rapport, right? So instead of me asking the questions of it, he was asking questions, , of me. [00:13:11] Anyway, there you go. Key ingredient other than light is a relationship, the connection with your sitter. ### Masteringportraitphotography.com Launch [00:13:19] Paul In The Defender: I know this is a short one as I'm pottling along, but I also wanted to take the opportunity in this podcast to formally, as much as, you know, anything is formal with me, to formally launch masteringportraitphotography. [00:13:33] com. Now of course the website has been there for an eternity. It's been there pretty much ever since we launched the book. Actually on the book there might be some news coming, but I'll keep you posted if and when contracts get signed. , But the website's been there, it's had sort of content, but we've really only used it primarily for the podcast as its spiritual home. [00:13:58] Yes, there's lots of articles, there've been tons of articles, , but we've never really used it as our first and foremost focus. [00:14:14] Mastering Portrait Photography is now very much in our viewfinder, if you like, if you like the metaphor, and we are pushing a huge amount of energy and content into it. So every month there will be a long form video. By long form I mean half an hour. Video, uh, talking about something, uh, I think the ones that are up there at the moment, like I said, I'm in the Land Rover, and while I did make some notes, uh, prior to clipping on the microphone, I didn't make all of them, so I think there is how to structure a shoot is on there, uh, I think there is how to work in harsh sunlight in there, , I know the one that's on the editing screens at the moment is five ideas for off camera flash, oh, we're all speeding up again now. [00:14:57] We're So it's about to get a little bit more background noise. They must have rescued whatever vehicle it was. , and so, uh, you get one long form video a month. There will also be an article a month, or every couple of weeks, with a lighting diagram. On top of that, there are the frame, room, whatever you want to call them, mock ups, where they are photorealistic Photoshop files that you can drop your own image into, and it just looks like that's how the image was put on a wall. Why do we do those? Well, originally it was to help sell, , wall art to our clients. Because obviously as a business, I need ways of getting them to visualize the, uh, the wall art that I'd like them to have. And the closer I can get it to photorealistic, the better it is. [00:15:50] Because they'll, they can't touch it. Because. That we haven't made it yet. And the old adage in sales, if they can touch it, they'll buy it. , we can't quite get there, but we can certainly visualize it. So that's really good. , and that's why we built them. I built them for my own team and everything about the website, Mastering Portrait Photography.com is of and for us, I built it or we built it to support us as a business. [00:16:17] The articles, some of it came out of the book, but then much of the rest of it. It's been to help train people, it's been to help train my own team when we've got assistants in, , the room mock ups or the art mock ups are entirely built for us. They were built for us to be able to improve our sales, and that works. [00:16:38] Make no bones about it, they work. You can see them, there's hundreds of them, we're building more all the time, , Oh, this bit's bumpy. The thing about recording in a Land Rover is if the road, the M40, as it is, has a rubbish road surface, which it does at this particular bit, , then it gets a little bit shaky. [00:16:56] You can hear everything rattling around. And so we built them to be photorealistic. We built them for us. There's tons of them, but there's actually a by product which I didn't necessarily anticipate. So while I'm building these things, I drop images into them all the time. I go back to my sort of stock of portfolio images, some of my favorite images, my favorite clients over the years. [00:17:17] And I drop them in, , to create, , thumbnails that when you browse the site you can have a look at. , but actually what I've learned, or I'm learning as I go, is how different styles of image work in different types of frame. So certain images work great big on a wall. You know, I think as photographers We're drawn towards the idea of the Mona Lisa type portrait photograph, or at least I am. [00:17:43] I love a headshot. I love a clean, big, bold, you know, almost as if it was an LP album cover. Uh, I think, you know, Bruce Springsteen or Peter Gabriel, that's I'm sure my age, I suppose, , on an album cover, something like that, I think would be just brilliant. But would my client really put that huge on their wall? [00:18:04] Well, they might if it's Bruce Springsteen or Peter Gabriel. They're unlikely to if it's them. Now, they might if they have an only child and they might if it's a picture of a dog. There's some amazing photographers out there doing pet photography and I can, and certainly when we do it too, you know, I can visualize how one of our dog photographs, for instance, might appear in a big frame on a wall. [00:18:28] I was with a client and an old friend of mine the other day and they had a A picture on the wall. It's one of Randall Ford's pictures. , and I know the family and their dogs and, and, uh, the dad. And I just think I could do exactly that with, uh, his dogs and his family. , something big and bold. A couple of frames lined up across the wall, but on the whole, if you are gonna sell big frames, single big frames, you probably want groups in there. [00:18:56] Now, if you've got clients with huge walls and. You know, a couple of kids, you might be able to put individual headshots into individual frames on the wall, and I do have clients like that, and they look stunning, my oh my, do I love it. Uh, but they're not the norm, they're not the norm. The norm is a normal sized house, with moderate sized walls, and if you put a big frame up on the wall, it's either got to be something like a fine art piece, where, let's say, The couple are silhouetted against the wall, small, but there's a big sky or something, , or a picture of a dog, or a picture of, you know, the two kids, or the whole family. [00:19:35] It's highly likely that they're going to want something full of joy and laughter, because that is something that would be appealing at that size on a wall. Similarly, if you're laying up three frames, you can tell a story across them. You can use a different star a different type of image. You can use individual shots in a different way. [00:19:52] For more information visit www. paulwilkinsonphotography. com , if you put three acrylics on a wall, you can triptych across it, so you have one picture that's spread across the three acrylics, and that could look super creative, uh, really, really interesting way to do it, , and all of this, my understanding of this side of it is increasing all the time, because I'm laying out using these mock ups, so on top of them being brilliant as a sales tool for you and for your clients, they're also a really creative thing to play with, just trying different ideas, And seeing how they look. [00:20:25] So that's the room mockups on the website. There's also, of course, the podcast, this very thing that you're listening to, that's the spiritual home for it. Even if you're listening to this on iTunes or on Spotify or on YouTube. The spiritual home for it is masteringportraitphotography.com. ### Upcoming Workshops and Events [00:20:43] Paul In The Defender: And then the final section, or the main section is the academy. [00:20:47] And this is now where all of our workshops, , are going to be. So, uh, while I'm on that topic, I'll just reel off the workshops that we have already got, uh, to book in the diary. Now these have got, uh, people have already started booking on them, , we only put them up a week or two ago. Uh, so on January the 20th, January the 20th, we've got an Off Camera Flash Workshop. [00:21:14] Uh, funnily enough, one of the toughest topics to teach, uh, but also one of the most rewarding techniques to learn. , so we did, uh, we are in the process of releasing a video on it that will go on, a long form video that will go onto the website, uh, and that is a deep dive into some ideas of what you can do with off camera flash. [00:21:33] I think people are a bit afraid of it because it's, , a little bit technical, but once you get your head around it and what you can do with it, you can do anything from create really natural, almost available light portraits but with stunning light wherever you are all the way through to theatrical halloween images with smoke machines and all of the paraphernalia and they're all in this video and the workshop on january the 20th is going to cover that ground it's Off Camera Flash we may or may not include some continuous lighting but at the moment the plan is for it to be Off Camera Flash but if the delegates ask to also cover continuous light then we could do Some of that because of course every workshop we run we tune it to the delegates We tell you broadly what the topic is going to be and then through the feedback we get in the Early forms that you submit and we can tune it if you want to [00:22:27] It's the joy of having a studio. I guess we can do anything we want to as long as everybody's happy with that on March the 31st, we have a Mastering Headshots Workshop, so As it says, it's all about headshot. It's all about, uh, the, uh, for me, I think one of the purest, most beautiful forms of portraiture. I love doing headshot. They're my favorite, uh, thing to do. [00:22:51] I think it, I dunno why I, maybe it's 'cause I've always been fascinated with faces and a headshot is simply an excuse to photograph a face. So that's headshots on, uh, April the 14th. So the headshots is March the 31st, April the 14th. We have got dogs and owners. We're photographing dogs with their owners for a day. [00:23:11] , Of course, during that we will take some pictures of the dogs on their own. We will also take some pictures of the owners on their own. But primarily it's targeted at how to photograph dogs in conjunction with their, uh, their owners. Why do we do that? Well, most of our clients would wish to have a shot with the dog. [00:23:32] That's the best shot you can get. , not all, we have plenty of clients that just want the dog photographed, but we also have plenty of clients, one in particular of the day, brilliant, oh man, one of my favorite sessions, Vivienne, who has given me permission to talk about and show the shoots. Vivienne came with her dog Dodie, tiny little West Highland Terrier, who contrary to my Nan's West Highland Terrier that used to bite my toes, this dog was the best behaved dog in the world. [00:23:59] PAULWILKINSONPHOTOGRAPHY. COM , followed her everywhere she went, but also would just wander off and get inquisitive and then immediately return. A beautiful dog, beautiful shots, and she booked us specifically for one thing. She said, I can find people who shoot their dog on their own, I can find plenty of portrait photographers, only one photographer came up who quite openly and on the website said, yeah, we can photograph a dog with their owner, and I do it all the time with the hearing dogs, why wouldn't I? [00:24:25] , I think it's a really lovely thing, and the shots of her. They're off the top of the scale. So that is April the 14th, Dogs and Owners. Uh, and then, this is a completely new thing. On May the 12th and 13th, we we have a two day bootcamp Now what's a bootcamp? Well, basically, it's as much stuff as we can fit in over two days. And we get the chance in the evening to have some food, maybe have a drink, have a chat, be together as a group. , We don't have accommodation at the studio, uh, but we certainly have plenty around us. So that will be, uh, two days, , either at our studio or somewhere local. [00:25:06] , depending on what we decide exactly where it'll be. But it will certainly be within a mile or two of, of where we are based two days. That's two days back to back a maximum of 10 people. So it's a few more than our normal. Uh, workshops, but it'll be pretty intense. We're gonna cover all sorts of ground, , using available light, using studio light, using off camera flash, maybe a bit of post production thrown into the mix, again, depending on what the delegates, the delegates would like to cover. [00:25:34] It's gonna be an absolute blast, cannot wait for that one. It's the first time we've run it, , and it's such a smart idea, it's Sarah's idea to do it. , as always, the smart ideas come from Sarah, uh, and, uh, looking forward to that one. That's May 12th and 13th. And then the final one that's available at the moment, right now, is June the 9th. [00:25:52] We are doing our regular jaunt, uh, we're gonna dance to the weather, see what we get, uh, on location in Oxford. Now this workshop, I think, might be, might be my favourite, because it's just me with a camera, with some people to photograph, on a location. That's it. We don't carry a load of kit, don't carry particularly reflectors and lights, we just go and find locations, find light pools and patches, find stories to tell. [00:26:24] We just go and photograph our models in Oxford on location. So that's on June 9th. And all of these workshops are now home, housed, ha ha, can't even say it, are now located, let's try that, are now located on masteringportraitphotography. com. We've moved everything over because that was always what we were building with the workshops. [00:26:50] , originally it was under Paul Wilkinson Photography, uh, but we always knew, , and had, and had a reasonably openly talked about this, Always knew that we'd be moving it across to Mastering Portrait Photography. 'cause that's the place that's all about learning, all about teaching, all about enjoying and exploring portrait photography. [00:27:10] So if you go to mastering portrait photography.com, there's a, a section called the Academy. So there's all these sections. There's The Visual Vault, that's all of the articles. There's The Podcast, there's, uh, The Resources, which is, , the mockups and , tools, Photoshop downloads and things. And then there is the, uh, Academy. [00:27:31] And this is where you'll find the workshops. Exactly the same booking process as before. Everything's as it was, it's just now hosed, ha ha ha, it's just now located on masteringportraitphotography. com. Now, for the articles and the videos and the mock ups, at the moment the mock ups are 9. 99 each, uh, which is already a bargain, there's a few free ones, just so you can get an idea, uh, so they're about a tenner each, , there's a few backgrounds, I'm working on building more backgrounds as I need them, but mostly it's the mock ups. [00:28:02] So they're a tenner, which is a bargain, you can create them, you can put them in magazines, you can use them on your website. It just shows your prospective or your existing clients how their images might look. A tenner. Bargain. However, there's a bigger bargain. I suddenly sound like a salesman. So sorry, it's because I'm driving. [00:28:21] And I want to give you not one, but two bargains. It sounds like that. Anyway, if you become a subscriber of Mastering Portrait Photography, you get access to the videos. , and you get access to the downloads. And you get access, well, to everything we put on there, except the workshops. We charge separately for those. [00:28:39] But you get access to all of the resources for 6. 99 a month, which is an even bigger bargain. So even if you only want to download a few of the room mock ups, it's still better to keep a subscription going at 6. 99 a month. It's less than an expensive cup of coffee. And, uh, we will keep the mock ups coming, we will keep the articles coming, we will keep the videos coming, so you'll always have value for money for your 6.99. If you're feeling a bit more, you know, a bit, you have a bit more conviction, then it's 69 quid, or 69. 99 a year, so that's 12 months for the price of 10. Uh, 10 percent saving, or whatever that is, 2 out of 12. Is it a 10? Yeah, it's a 10 percent saving. Is it? No, it's not. It's, I don't know what it is. It's two twelfths. [00:29:25] There you go. It's one sixth. No! Which is a great saving. My maths isn't good enough, uh, while I'm driving. I can't concentrate. I'm concentrating on the road, as I should be, by the way. Uh, so it's 6. 99 a month, , or 69. 99 per year. So head over to masteringportraitphotography. com, , and we promise, we promise we'll make it worth your while. [00:29:48] Oh, sorry, all of our members also. Uh, you get access to our Facebook community. Which is hidden and private. You can't get onto it any other way. , only people who are part of our community can be in there. And that way people can ask for critiques. People can ask for advice and tips is where we put discount codes for things. [00:30:07] , like software where we have, uh, access to discounts from suppliers, those kinds of things. They all go onto the Facebook community. I know a few of you aren't on Facebook, and if I'm honest, it's not my favorite thing. Because I'm just a dopamine idiot when it comes to social media. Once I'm on it, I can't get off it. [00:30:26] , however, it's the best way to do this to be, so you don't have to log into multiple places to find information. It's on our Facebook community, uh, and most of us have a Facebook account. So you see the, , the alerts come up when things, uh, are uploaded. So that is masteringportraitphotography. com. If you want to find the workshops, Head across there and go to the academy. [00:30:47] You can Google Mastering Portrait Photography Academy or mastering portrait photography workshops. , they're a little bit lower down the rankings at the moment because obviously I've spent my entire life saying just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography workshops and everyone heads over there. So, uh, you might just have to scroll down, uh, one or two line items and we'll be there. [00:31:05] Uh, that will change more and more of you. Uh, search for it and click on the link. So search for mastering portrait photography workshops or Mastering Portrait Photography Academy and you will. Find us. ### Conclusion and Final Thoughts [00:31:15] Paul In The Defender: And that's it for me. The traffic is free flowing. There's cars going everywhere. The light is dimming. [00:31:20] They're salting the roads. They must be expecting some cold weather. It's a beautiful, beautiful afternoon. It's been a wonderful evening of celebrating photography. I am thrilled, thrilled to bits that I've rounded off my three years with setting up the most incredible monthly photo competition and also, of course, the surprise and honor. [00:31:46] So on that happy note, I hope you're all well, I hope things are treating you nicely, and until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care. P. S. Sorry if this sounds a bit shouty, but when you're driving a Land Rover, it's really loud, and I forget that although I'm mic'd up, or I forget rather that because I'm mic'd up, it might sound weirdly, like I'm simply yelling! [00:32:27] That's because I'm traveling at Sixty mile an hour in a Land Rover Defender, so apologies if I'm shouting. Be kind to yourself. Take care. Bye. ### [EP159 Change The Subject, Change The Shot, Change Your Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep159-change-the-subject-change-the-shot-change-your-lighting/) Imagine that every person had exactly the same fashion taste. Imagine if each of us had the same clothing or the same hairstyle. Imagine that everyone was the same height and build. Imagine that everyone had identical makeup. Just imagine. Of course, it's a nonsense - different styling suits different people. Short, tall, thin, round, dark-skinned, fair-skinned, red-heads, blondes, straight haired, curly haired: everyone looks for something different to bring out their best. So why do so many photographers light their subjects using the exact same lighting pattern without adjusting for the variety of life? Why? I can't answer that but I do have a view! Cheers P.Well, it's the end of an incredibly busy week and an incredibly busy day. And today the temperature hasn't. Risen above freezing. It's so cold that our shower at home has frozen. The Landrover won't start. And the two clients, the two families I've had in today who desperately wanted to go out. And take pictures in the wintery Wonderland were sadly disappointed when even they couldn't last more than about 10 minutes at a go. So we've been based in the studio, which is where I am right now. I'm Paul. And this is the mastering portrait photography podcast. So hello. how are you all doing? I must apologize. I spent quite a lot of the year with this ambition. I'm going to record. A podcast every week or every other week. And in fact, I haven't looked, but I think. Apple. Uh, quotes, the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast is being monthly. It shouldn't be monthly. It should really be weekly, but it's been such a busy year. It's been a kind of a year that I'm glad if I'm honest. That we're at the end of it, where it's a new, fresh, shiny new year. 2024 has been reasonably successful on many fronts has been incredibly successful, but it has also been brutal a grueling year, I think, by any measure with not an awful lot of good news around. Um, You know, Uh, various things happening. But we survived it. We hit our numbers, but we've had to work so, so hard to do it. And I think I careened into Christmas. Like one of those videos of cars on icy Hills, much as I fought it. There was nothing I could do. To stop it. So. We're here. It's 20, 25 it's January. And once more, I'm sitting. At the microphone, today's been a busy day. We've had a couple of family shoots and yes, they wanted desperately to go out. Into the frost, but when we stepped out there, they didn't last any more than 10 minutes. Uh, piece and that's not that much of a surprise. So we already had the studio nice and warm. And we've been working in there. But one of the things that's happening at the end of this month is Sarah and myself are heading off working with crystal cruises for seven weeks. That's a long stint of working, but it does also mean that we've had to clear a hole in the diary and all of the work that it would normally done normally be done in those seven weeks. Has had to be done either prior or after we get back. Which has meant that we have been running at a hundred. Miles an hour with back-to-back shoots even yesterday. Um, one of my favorite gigs of the year, as , I know, you know, because I've talked about it. Incessantly is the Royal institution. Uh, Christmas lectures. Now at the end of last year, I photograph the three lectures. And for those of you who are in the UK, you can watch those on the BBC I play. They will with Chris fan, Dr. Chris van Uh, talking about big food, talking about ultra processed foods. How it works and how it affects, uh, in particular. Our kids. A really, really interesting and exciting set of lectures. And we usually shoot the PR. For these, the BBC lectures sometime around July or August. Um, but this year, this year we've had to do it slightly differently. So we were in London yesterday. I can't tell you who the lecturer is or what the topic is. But I can tell you that we were in London yesterday with the Royal institution photographing this year's publicity photos they'd been brought forward incredibly early. Uh, for not just because of our diary, but because of the presenter's diary to. And so instead of doing it in July, we've done it in the first couple of weeks of January, but that's been on top of everything else. We're doing so it's been a hell of a week. And then today, if I'm honest, I'm quite tired. It's not also been the best. Start to the end that we've had a few bits fail. I've just had a monitor fail. If anyone has a great alternative to my Ben Q my trustee, Ben Q 27 inch. Something or other. Um, it just stopped working. Uh, it flickers on and off, and it doesn't seem to be anything. I can do to stop it. I have tried. Every test I can think of, but no, it looks like. It looks like the monitor has died. So I've had to replace it with a monitor that our son left lying around. Uh, which is to be fair to Dell. It's not an awful monitor. Um, I calibrated it and it's reaching about 90% of Adobe RGB, which isn't half bad. Uh, but I'd quite like to get back to my hundred percent. Uh, Adobe RGB coverage, because when you're doing color correction, you really do want to know that your images are a color-correct. I could do with it. My second monitor. I love my iMac. Uh, but I don't trust the iMac display to give me accurate colors. So I've got a second monitor. That's always calibrated with it alongside. Um, to show me exactly how the colors will be in that one has suddenly died. But anyway, how are things with all of you? How was your year? How have you been. Uh, I hope it was a good year. I hope you had a really good break. Over Christmas. And I hope you've started the new year full of ideas, full of inspiration. Um, and full of energy. Um, next week is the society's convention in London. Which historically has been such an incredible start to the year. I always love it. It's back in its slot in January. Uh, and that is for me, at least the perfect place for it because you get to do a few days judging. You get to do a lot of socializing and I get to present masterclasses. And all of these other things. And so the whole thing is just the best. Energizer for the year. And spending time with so many incredible photographers and friends of ours across the industry, whether it's on the photography side. Or whether it's on the trade side. so many amazing, amazing people cannot wait. So if you're around in about next week, please do come and say hello. I'll be there all days. I'll be there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Uh, I'm on stage on Friday and Saturday, I'm doing a couple of stints, um, at the convention this time round. Uh, I'm onstage on Friday and Saturday. Uh, I'm doing a masterclass. Uh, called, uh, creating the coolest composites on Friday from four 30, till six. And that's all about bringing multiple images together, whether it's, um, family groups, whether it's corporate, where you photographing individual headshots at different times, or they're doing something cooler. Where, uh, your taking multiple images or acceptive images and place them onto new backgrounds. All of these are composites and there are techniques and ideas. For shooting that make all of that seamless, whether you're using. Um, playing backgrounds, whether you're using hand-drawn backgrounds or whether you're using, um, AI of course. And so this will be. Uh, that's on Friday at four 30, till six. I think that's the last slot people, the drinks. So, uh, I might be doing it at a pace to make sure everyone can get out of the room, get into their posh togs and go down to the awards. So many and then on the 18th, Uh, on the Saturday. We're doing high key, low key, which is a variant of some videos we've done before, but it's all about pushing to the extremes. Um, using very simple lighting to create incredible high key, bright white, uh, images, and equally going to the other end of the spectrum. Um, and shooting those dark moody sumptuous, um, low key images. That's on the Saturday from four 30 to six. I'm also going to be presenting on the Ellen. From stage. Um, throughout the convention. I can't remember exactly what times. Uh, I'm there, but if you look it up on the schedules, Uh, Alan Crum schedules, you'll be able to find me and we're just doing mastering portrait photography. So we're just going to create incredible images with what I consider to be the best lighting in the business. So that's next week. That's the convention in London. So please do come and say hello, whether it's to one of the two master classes. And if you have a convention pass, they're both free. Um, or if you want to come in. Uh, have a play or what you're saying, having a play, I suppose, on the Ellyn Crump state, then please do come and say hello. So I'll have to be honest. Um, this podcast is one of my unscripted. Sit down at a microphone and see what happens, sort of podcasts. I do apologize. It's just been a very long week, a very busy week. Um, and. Sometimes it just Wells that way. And I just ended up sitting here thinking, oh, w w what should we talk about? Well, let me talk about a workshop. We ran this week because some points came up during it that I think. Are quite, uh, interesting now the master class or workshop this week. Was, um, booked as a one to one. And one of the things we are in a lovely position to do at our studio is we can run our scheduled workshops and they're an absolute blast. And people love having a fixed date. They can book in, turn up one of a crowd. Um, and those are hugely popular, but equally we have people come to us to do one-on-one. So you get to pick your topic, we've sourced the models. Um, you can spend the entire day dedicated to whatever it is. That you feel you need. And so this week, um, a few guys came down. Uh, from a camera club in the Midlands. And instead of it being one of our pre scheduled. Workshops. It was a masterclass, a one-on-one, but they booked. Extra places. So the three of them. Could come now, this works really, really well. If all three of you or all three of the delegates or 10 DS. Ah, of broadly the same standard and have the same interest and have the same goals. Because if you all do then. Even though it's a, um, a group think style workshop. It can be done in the style of a one on one, because we are showing it, going to teach the topic and everyone. Gets to S two. Explore it and play with it. And everyone, no one feels left out and no one feels like someone else is taking too much time because they're all doing the same thing or wishing to learn the same thing. Um, and this particular one-on-one was all about. Getting the most out of lighting. Now, when we hear that, when we read the brief, we get the emails, people contact us. Whenever entirely certain. What it is that they really mean, and also what it is that they don't know because of course, people don't know. I mean, this is the Rumsfeld paradox is that people don't know what they don't know. And so as a trainer, as a, as someone running a workshop, Um, part of the role is to try and figure out what would be useful. And so when they leave, it feels like you've answered that question. And I think from the feedback we got, we did do this, but it's always a bit of a puzzle. Um, and it, it was really interesting and. I think this was one of my favorite one-on-one workshops that we run this week in the morning, we had Abby who came so that we could just do simple portraits, simple light setups. Um, And talk through how you develop the lighting and then in the afternoon, Uh, Jess and other one of our regular models came. And Jess is a gymnast and a dancer. Um, and so, uh, they wanted to learn, the guys wanted to learn how to light. And, uh, uh, capture dance and movement. So those are the two sort of ends of the spectrum and they're actually quite different things. To do. And I'll post some of the images up with some lighting diagrams. Uh, onto the masteringportraitphotography.com. Uh, website at some point. Um, but it's been, it was an absolute through, but what surprised me? I think juring the masterclass and it didn't just surprise me. It saddened me. Was that the guys had been regularly going to a studio where everything is pre-set. So the lights are at the powers. They are they're in the positions. They are, you can do what you like in the middle, but you not to change. The lighting and I don't think I've ever taken three pictures of the same person without changing the lighting each time. So to hear this from the guys broke my heart a little bit. I think. Now I can take. Take you back to 2008 when, um, I first joined the MPA, the master photographers association, which is now sadly. Uh, disbanded, but back then in 2008, when you joined, um, you had to, or you didn't have to, but you went to an induction day. You, I had no idea what to expect. I had not long turned full-time as a pro. And so I rocked up to a conference in the middle of, in the Midlands, in, in England. And sat and went and listened through a whole series of seminars on different things, different aspects of, I dunno, portrait, photography, wedding, photography, studio, photography, lifestyle, all sorts of things. It was actually a very, very, very productive day. It was the day that I first met the person that was going to become, uh, my incredible mentor, Kevin Wilson. And it was also the day that I nearly threw the towel in and left the MPA. And it was because one of the presenters stood up. And he started talking about lighting and he talked about lighting studio lighting. In a way that was so dry was so technical. So mathematical. That I couldn't believe that something is creative as taking a photograph, particularly when you have control over the lights had been boiled down. To a whole series of numbers. One stop on this half a stop later on that two stops later on those two. And you've got your picture. And that was literally the process. Now I do understand. And in fact, not just understand, but love the fact that studio lighting can be technical. I absolutely adore the fact that this technical I'm a geek. I love all of that stuff. Um, it's one of the reasons I've gone back to Allen Chrome is because I love what they're doing with the technology. I adore it. But it's not, that's not creative. That's not how you. Produce beautiful art. That's not how you engage a client. That's not how you capture the mood of a moment. You don't do that with numbers. You can't do that with numbers now, I suppose. You could argue that if your lighting is secured and you're not worrying about that, then you can concentrate on your subjects. Okay. I'll take that as an argument. I do understand that might be. Where people are. But let me put it a different way. What if we said, I don't know. Jeans and a t-shirt or a suit and a tie. Our perfect uniform for everybody you photograph, let's do it that way around. Let's just assume that clothing. Is exactly the same for everybody. Now, the minute I say it, you can hear how stupid that sounds. So why would light. Be the same for every subject clothes, the same clothes don't suit everybody. Nor does the same lighting. If you have around figure around face, then you use the lighting, maybe. Two. Change that into something that the client would prefer. Now, obviously you have to tread a very gentle game and not so clients. One thing, different clients want different things. So maybe you have to shoot narrow. Maybe you have to shoot broad, maybe have to shoot with the softest light you've ever shot. Maybe you have to shoot with the hardest light. You've ever shot. But not changing the light for every single subject. And in my case for every single image. Doesn't make any sense? Why would you not change it? So when a guy said that, It really? It did surprise me. I'm honest. I wasn't expecting that. Um, and it saddened me because it was such an opportunity. Last, I think, um, that they're going into a studio and not able to change everything. So we spent an entire day, an entire day. Moving the lights we set in the lights. Changing staff. Uh, we use some color lights. We did RC in the end. One of the things one of the guys wanted to learn. With how to combine movement. So dragging the shutter. How to combine movement along with the studio strobes. So you get that. Sort of, um, it's a really beautiful effect. It's not one that I go to very often. Where you have a blurred image and at the end you have pop of the flash and it freezes just the end of the movement. Um, so Jess very patiently. She danced. She swerved. She spun. She did all of these things so that we could practice or they could practice with, uh, dragging the shutter. And it was. A really liberating day, just going through the principles of lighting, because with all of this stuff, if you understand. Why things work? Why you do certain things? Why, why you have a wide open? Sorry, why you have a long shutter speed too, to capture movement, but why the pulse of the light then freezes that movement at the last second. If you have rear curtains sink, if you understand all the bits of the puzzle. Um, you can piece it together for almost anything. Um, and so we spent the morning creating beautiful portraits of Abby and we spent the afternoon creating well havoc, basically lots of movement. Lots of color, um, with Jess. And I think there's the rub is that. When you're working in the studio. Every time you press that shutter button. Every single time you press that shutter button. It really should be not just a unique experience between you and the setter. Not just a unique moment in time. But you should have lit it. Like it's a unique moment. It's not just same old, same old. Don't just stick the lights on the wall. Or in a high glider on their tripods. I love them at their regular settings. Take a look at your client is their skin shiny. In which case will you put the lights in the same place system on who's got very matte skin, um, are their clothes, clothes absorbing light? Because white. Tee shirts and white blouses. I create kicker light under the chin. Whereas black clouds don't. Would you like them? The same? Is that the effect you're looking for? Um, Do you have a client with blonde hair or dark hair, because that will give you slightly different lighting patterns in the hair. Um, do they have a wide face or a narrow face or more importantly? How do they want their features to look. Because if you've got someone wearing contoured makeup and deep foundation, the chances are that person would quite like their skin to look smooth and their cheekbones and her jawline. To have shape. Whereas, if someone's just wearing, let's say the minimal amount of foundation. Um, they may just want their face to look exactly the way. Um, it does naturally, without any shadows on it, you need to talk, you need to listen and you need to observe. And when you do that. Then, if you have the knowledge of why you like things in certain ways to do certain things, You can then piece that together, but you certainly never leave the lights. The way they are for every single image. And if I've one pet peeve and I'll finish this slight runs, it's not meant to be. And I don't know how I got here. Um, I was just thought I'd sit down and record a podcast. Cause it's been way too long. And to Paul from Chester. Um, I do apologize it. Nice comment on Instagram. We have something along the lines of, when will I find a moment to sit and record? Another podcast cause he enjoys them. So here GoPro, here you go. Paul. Here's that moment, but I haven't scripted it and I haven't really thought about it and I've ended up tub thumping a little bit. Um, But I guess the point I'm making is spend the time understanding why you do what you do. Um, why you play slights, why you post people and then use that knowledge you use that. Process. Two. Create the very best for each and every one. Of your subjects. Um, that's anyway, that's my thought for the day. So on that happy note, I'm going to go and have cottage pie. Uh, Sarah has been to, uh, Waitrose in town and has bought the stuff to make cottage pie. And I love it's my favorite meal. I think I know that's a bit prosaic and I don't know why it's my favorite, but it is. I love cottage by. Um, there's something really beautiful about it and given just how cold it is at the moment, it'll be wonderfully warming. So for those of you around next week, we'd love to see you. Uh, for those of you cursed by our workshops. I think we have one workshop. We have one place on one workshop left. Uh, before we head off to work, uh, abroad for seven weeks. And that's, uh, on mastering off-camera lighting. Uh, it's a workshop on, he says looking it up. It's a workshop on January, January the 20th. So just to just over a week away. Well, I think we've got one place left and we're going to explore assay many of the topics. That we did on the workshop this week, where we balance, um, Uh, available light with, uh, off-camera flash off camera, tungsten notes, eyesight tungsten showing my age off-camera led people. Uh, I don't think we ever either. Remember the last time I used the tungsten light or a halogen light for anything. It's all absolutely led these days. So it's going to be a brilliant day. Um, exploring light lighting patterns. Um, Different ideas and showing how you can do everything from creating the most natural light all the way through to the most complex. Uh, on that note as well on off-camera flash. Uh, look out over the next day or two for a video on exactly this off-camera flash, which, uh, Sarah, myself and Katie put together. Um, a few weeks ago, I've just finished the edits. I finished the edits for that last night. Um, and that will go up onto mastering portrait photography. For those of you who are members. Uh, it's a 30 minute video all about this very topic. So if you fancy having a look at that, please do. Become a subscriber. Where you can not only find tons of videos, tons of articles and lighting diagrams, but also get access to our Facebook page, our Facebook community, where you can ask questions and get answers from a really positive, energetic crowd. And I should say hi to all of the guys who are already in there. There's just a joy. I'm on that group. Has never a negative word said everyone's really positive and enthusiastic and it will stay that way because we make sure. It stays that week 📍 stays that way. Sorry. So on that happy note, I'm going to go and fill it with some carbohydrate, a glass of wine, and have a nice cozy evening in front of the tele. Um, and until next time, whatever else you do be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP160 From Fear To Elation, The 9 Emotions Of Judging And Presenting At The Societies Convention In London](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep160-from-fear-to-elation-the-9-emotions-of-judging-and-presenting-at-the-societies-convention-in-london/) Well, it's the day after The Socieities Of Photographers Convention in London. What a blast! Judging, laughing, making friends, presenting workshops, representing Elinchrom Lighting and Evoto Ai, learning, exploring, creating and very little sleeping! The Convention is quite something to be a part of! In this episode, I try and explain what it feels like to be a small part of it whether judging the print competition, presenting or mixing with the trade - the various stages I pretty much always go through from fear to elation and everything in between. Enjoy! Cheers P. PLEASE subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk ### Introduction and Post-Convention Exhaustion So late last night, we returned from the societies of photographers convention in London, and you can hear him. My voice. I'm exhausted. The convention is such an incredible thing. 3 4, 5 days. Of mixing with the trade running workshops, attending workshops. And one of the most important print competitions in the industry, and that is anywhere. In the world, it's been a blast. You can hear just how tired I am. But in this episode I thought I'd battled through the fatigue and talk to what it's like to be a judge, a presenter, and a delegate. At this incredible convention firsthand. I'm Paul, and this is a slightly weary. Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, hello, one and all. I hope you're all. Well, it's been a busy store to January. If I'm honest. Uh, we were hectic all the way up to the convention. And even today, the day after it's all over, I've just been photographing a family. ### Roles and Responsibilities at the Convention Uh, this year at the convention, um, I was a print judge, a presenter, and an ambassador for Elinchrom Lighting. Uh, the company that I just adore using their products. And so to everybody who I've met, everybody, I've talked to everybody who I've laughed with, shared a drink with shared an idea with. Maybe argued over print score with thank you. Thank you for making the Convention such a pleasure. However, as I was sitting on the train coming home, it struck me. That there are definitely stages stages to how you feel. When, at least in the role I have. Uh, your attending. The convention. ### The Nine Stages of Convention Experience Um, sort of like the five stages of grief, I suppose these are the nine stages that I go through each and every time I attend the convention. It's the thought processes, it's the things that make me tick. Uh, it's how I feel. It's how I feel before is how I feel through it, doing it in this, how I feel afterwards. So let me step through them. Um, as usually when I come to the end of a judging process, I'll talk to all of the things I heard during the judging and give tips on producing. Uh, competition level prints, but I've done that so many times, this year, I just thought I go through the emotions, the various stages. Did I feel every time. Um, I attend the convention. ### Stage 1: Excitement So let's start with the obvious stage one. Excitement. This kicks in the minute that, uh, the convention confirm. That you're going to be attending. They confirm that you're going to be running some talks. They confirm that you're going to be a judge. Um, there's a real kick, a real thrill when that comes in. And then you start to think about what you'll do you start to, you've already had to put some ideas in, so those are going to be the titles of the talks, but you start to really plan out what that might look like, and that's six months out. We will start to put in, um, our applications for the 2026 convention in the next few months. So you have big ideas. You clear the diary. Of course, you make sure that those dates are available. And at that stage, there is nothing more than excitement. Obviously a little bit of pressure to get some social media out and tell the world you're going, but it's all about the excitement. And then you roll up closer and closer and closer to the day. And you're sitting on the train, heading into London, stage two. ### Stage 2: Nerves Nerves. I don't know if everybody goes through this. But I do. I start to worry that I've got all of the kit. I need that. I've got enough of a plan of what the workshops and presentations are going to be. I start to worry about that moment you walk into a room full of people that for some reason, in my mind, I assume I'm not going to know. Of course it's never like that, but that's how it feels. Um, also there's a really important to this year. It was a three o'clock deadline, you have to be in the judges room by three o'clock. Don't turn up. You're not judging and that's an Intuit. You have to be at the judges. Briefing. Meeting. And Terry Jones from the societies, she will talk through all of us as judges as to what she's expecting, how are we going to be. Uh, scheduled, what the runtimes are, what sort of language it's, uh, just an update and refresh on a language we're going to use how it's going to work. And if we're not in that room, You're not judging. And of course, the bit where I get the most nervous is as I walk in now I'm an extrovert. I love being in a crowd of people, but I've always had this fear of walking into a crowded room and not knowing anyone and having to sit in a corner. Uh, sort of minding my own business, finding people to talk to not being certain of myself. Now, luckily for me these days, I've been in the industry for so long that I know probably two thirds of the people in the room. Um, so it's not as bad as it used to be, but I used to be terrified and I'm still nervous. I'm still trepidatious. I'm still uncertain of myself. Um, but I walked in this year and of course it was just brilliant. And that brings me on to, I think, Uh, stage number three. ### Stage 3: Sense of Belonging A sense of belonging, a sense of being part of the family. There were so many hellos and handshakes and hugs and laughter and faces. I recognize some, I don't. I was introduced to new people. There's just this wonderful sense of coming back home. I love the convention for that. Of all the things that it brings, I think to all photographers. There's a sense of being part of something bigger. I think there are about 50, maybe 60 judges in the room, plus the print and handlers and all of the teams around us. And it is the most incredible feeling of belonging and for the next sort of 12 hours or so, um, after the briefing, there'll be socializing some food, um, maybe have a drink with a few people. It's a real sense of family. But then we come on to stage four. ### Stage 4: Pressure of Judging We're walking in to begin the process of judging the next morning. So this is the premier print competition in the world. So stage four is pressure. And even though I've been doing this a long time, I've been a judge. I can't remember how many years it is now. Probably 15 years. Um, there's still this sense. Of responsibility. Because each and every print, we will see hundreds of prints. But every single print is unique to the author. Every author has put everything they have into it. And trust me, you do not enter a print unless you think it stands a chance of winning? You might not say that to people you might say, oh, I don't know. I just thought he might try my arm, but you haven't entered a print. You haven't paid for it to be printed mounted and then the entry fees. For you not to think it stands a chance of winning. And as a judge, you really do feel that sort of pressure. You feel the responsibility as you sit there, the print comes up and you have to go through all of the elements, the 10 elements that were giving us, given us judges. Um, Um, on which to base our assessment and ultimately a score. And there are five judges on every panel. And these are some of the best. Photographers in the world. So if you put in a score and it comes on the screen, And you're wildly different to the other judges. Of course you feel that moment? Have I got that wrong? And there's a process for this as the challenge process. Um, and each of us know how to do it. Each of us have our own particular way of doing it. Uh, I had to run a few challenges this year. Um, and you're looking at the scores and there was one in particular where it was quite a long way out of line with the other judges, my school was higher and I'd seen things in that image that at least based on my assessment of it, my experience warranted a higher score. And every judge by the way has had exactly this happened to them. This is not just me. But I'm sitting there looking at the scores and I'm thinking. How hard have I got to work to try and get the other judges to see what I see, to feel what I feel, to evaluate the image in a similar way to me, or at least come closer to where I am. And these are photographers that some of them I've never met before. Some of whom I have met before everyone has their own style and their own way, but you then have to talk to the image and talk to the other judges. And see if you can convince them. That possibly there are things in the image that this time round, they may have missed that you, um, have seen. It goes the other way as well, by the way. So if somebody else puts in a score and minds lower. The same process will happen. But now it's me trying to listen, trying to understand where maybe I've missed some key factors in an image and that's particularly important when images come up, that aren't in your wheelhouse things that you don't specialize in when it comes to portraiture and weddings, or maybe photographing dogs. I of course know what I'm looking at. I understand that process really well. That doesn't mean I will always have seen everything, but it does mean that probably I'm in the right ballpark, but sometimes you get an image that challenges you tries, you tests you, it forces you to think in a different way. And while I might understand the print process, I'll understand the creation process, I'll understand the presentation, there may be things about that moment or about that imagery or about that style of photography that I might have missed. And so I'm eagerly listening to the other judges to see if it's something where I've just mostly get my score a little bit out and I need to be. Um, come a little bit closer to the overall score that's been, uh, the first round score that's been calculated or maybe just maybe I'll hold my ground and say no. I hear you. I understand what you're saying completely, I just feel for these reasons I've got my score about, right. So can you imagine the pressure when you raise a challenge or you're involved in a challenge with really well-known photographers from all corners of the world, um, the pressure is immense. It really is at that moment, the most important job in the world. And on top of that, we've got a live audience. So it's not even just that you're having to do. Um, or having to think on your feet and figure out your scoring, but you also then have to articulate that in a way that is clear. It's polite. It's respectful to the print, new author and the rest of your judges, but it's also educational, interesting entertaining, maybe because to hold an audience in the room, as judges we have, not just the responsibility. Of creating the right scores or appropriate scores for the images and bear in mind. Bear in mind, if you have a different judge on a different day, the chances are you going to get a slightly different score? So don't think that these are absolute objective. We feel all the time, the pressure of that. But during that process, we are also for the people in the room, entertainment. With air to be interesting, as well as educational we're there to help them understand, but also for them not to be asleep. In the room, the rooms are pretty dark because of course we've got the prince lit at the front. Um, We have a microphone, but our backs are to the audience. And somehow we have to be not only knowledgeable and skilled and respectful, but also to a degree entertaining. There's a lot of pressure on it. And it's not just the pressure of judging the prints because of course. Um, for me and most of the judges. I was also running two workshops or two masterclasses, and doing presentations on the Ellen Crum lighting stage. So during the rest of the convention, even once the judging is done. I'm still feeling a huge amount of pressure to be the very best I can be to represent Elinchrom and the brand, to the best of my ability. And again, that's part education, but mostly entertainment. If you're stood on the stage, creating pictures, it's not really about the technicals, that techniques, that care moonlighting modifies. It's really about being interesting and entertaining and giving people things. To go home and try themselves. And the workshops are almost exactly the same, just on a much longer format. So you really do feel the pressure to make sure everything's working, and when the audience are in there, that you give the very, very best of yourself. Even yesterday, I had what we euphamistically called the graveyard shift, which is the last set of presentations, not just of the day, but of the whole convention. The trade show by now is closed. There's nowhere else for delegates to go, except home. And nearly everybody you speak to is like, right. It shows done. I'm going to go catch my train. So you rock up to a room and I had, for the final session, I had the biggest workshop room. There is, um, I don't know how many people it can hold. But I was expecting two or three people to stay behind, maybe. Uh, we've got the last, uh, workshop I ran. This year was on high-key and low-key, uh, studio lighting, um, and going through the process of how you think about these things, how you evaluate. Um, the person in front of you, how you react to them, how you decide what you're going to shoot and how you then go through the stages of shooting it. I'd put together. A pretty good idea. And I assumed I'd be presenting it to two or three people who are going to brave the last trains home and stick around, even though there's a gap after the trade show, closing and the workshop starting. Well, the room was packed. It was an absolute thrill to be there. And the last few. Minutes or hour the hour and a half of the day, with a full room and incredible model. Uh, Eloise Hare was our model and playing with these beautiful Elinchrom lights and just showing different ideas and not just with a full room, but it's a room full of people who really interactive, really engaged. And so thankfully all that pressure I'd felt throughout the five days. Uh, dissipated in the last workshop. ### Stage 5: Elation And of course at the end of that, you get to stage five, which is elation. And that for me, at least a sort of celebration, um, uh, almost a euphoria. Um, I've been meeting people and I'm an extrovert, so being around people really recharges me. I've been talking sharp. I've been talking photography. I've been talking lighting. I've been catching up with people's businesses. And we've been creating images and I've just been feeling like I'm at home. These are my people. Every minute of every day, it's just a sense of recharging. It's a sense of, um, joy and conversation. It has been absolutely brilliant. And that's that sense of elation and you close everything down. You finished your last presentation, you put everything into its bags and then you get to stage six, which for me. ### Stage 6: Regret and Insecurity Is sort of, I've called it regret. It's a sort of insecurity, a paranoia. That's always been with me. I've never got rid of it, which is where I panic about all the things I've said that possibly I shouldn't have. The people I wished I'd had a chance to say hello to, but I only waived. Waved over a room. Um, You know, there are always people at the convention. I just would, I went there thinking I'm definitely going to see them. And the closest I got was to wave at them across a bar maybe. And I regret not having had enough time to see everybody, but that isn't enough time to see everything or everybody. I regret that maybe. I didn't give the best to me. I've given everything I can every single moment, but there's still that slight insecurity that maybe I didn't quite get to everyone. And maybe of course my scores of the images were off. Now, of course, when you're judging. You have a panel of five people, um, and that's there deliberately. That's there. To stop it, any outliers, really railroading and the show. And that's really, really good. It means that even if I'm one image, I scored it. S off slightly too high, a slightly too low. Maybe there are four other judges to make sure that that doesn't really matter, but you still worry about it. You worry about whether when, um, the chair of judges is looking at you. Uh, whether the person who created the images, looking at you, or whether the people that run the competition are looking at you, they're thinking. Oh, Wilkinson's a bit off this year. Isn't it? You worry. And that's always part of this. Sort of coming down from the, all of the energy and the adrenaline. Um, and then the fatigue and the grief regret, start to really kick in. And that leads us on to state seven. ### Stage 7: Fatigue The fatigue, the utter tiredness. And you can hear that. in my voice. I can hear that in my voice and it kind of speaks for itself. Um, I got home, I think at about 10 o'clock last night, I was in bed by 11 I was asleep by five past. And Sarah myself. Woke up at about 11 o'clock this morning. I don't remember being quite so tired. I was so tired. I am still so tired. And of course today I've had a family in the studio and I've had to go back to giving a hundred percent and all that meant is now I'm even more tired. The fatigue is part of it. And yet that's not the whole story because there's also now beginning to, to kick in a sense of stage eight, which is opportunity. ### Stage 8: Opportunity I've made new friends, some incredible friends. Um, Chris and mark in particular. Uh, really made me laugh. If they're listening, they'll know exactly who they are. Two monumental photographers from Australia, monumental creators, monumental. Um, intellects and I've loved sitting on the panel with them and listening and learning from them. It's refreshed existing friendships. It's refreshed all old friendships. Um, we've had new ideas, new thoughts. Um, new challenges, new things to think about new ideas for creativity. And of course, being a judge, I get a double pronged chance at that. I get to not only mix with the most knowledgeable and in pressive photographers in the world, but also to see images, competition images up close and personal from some of the greatest. Um, talent's there to the people that have entered in. Not necessarily people I never get to meet by get to see their images. And that in itself gives you new ideas and new things to test you. Today, in my family shoot, one of the four people, it turned out through chatting with them that they heavily into steam punk. I did not know this what a brilliant idea. And she's quite keen to come and do some photography she's into cosplay, um, and steam punk. And she would like me to create some pictures for her too. But that really is it a development of some of the images I've seen over the past four days. And that leads me on to what I think is the final stage. ### Stage 9: Energy and Optimism And that's a sense of energy. Now for me. I'm an extrovert. So being in this huge crowd energizes me on its own, but being in the judging, seeing these images, seeing these photographers, talking to the other, the other judges, um, just being in that space. Is energizing for me. And there's enough energy out of the convention. Every January to last me a good six months it'll fade. Of course it'll fade. This is a tough industry, right? We all know that. 2024, I think was brutal. Um, I don't know if anybody feels the same way as me, but that's how it felt. We hit our numbers just about, um, our revenue figures, but of course, Our costs have gone up. And so we really had to battle. To, um, get the numbers in and get our clients in. Um, 2024 is a year that I think on the whole I'm. I'm not glad it's gone. You should never, ever be glad that at the passing of time, but let's just say that 2025. Is a whole new year brand new, fresh. Um, full of opportunity, full of optimism. And the energy that I get out of the convention, having met all these incredible people will drive me for a good six months. And that's really important. Uh, Sarah and I are about to spend. Seven weeks working for cruise company. Uh, around south America. So at the end of this month, um, we leave half the team running here. And myself and Sarah will go and, uh, travel abroad. Um, and so I need the energy. I need the optimism. I'm going to need the drive because even though that is the opportunity of a lifetime to spend seven weeks traveling, including five days, uh, attending and working at the, um, Working on the cruise ship while it's docked at the Rio de Janeiro. Carnival is, um, just the opportunity of our lifetime. Um, but I'm going to need every bit of energy I can find because we've had to clear the diary for those seven weeks or at least reduce the amount of work in it and had to do an awful lot of work in the run up to it. And I'll have to do an awful lot of work. Um, when we come back from it and particularly on the customer side, but also a Mastering Portrait Photography, still creating the videos and the articles. But that stage nine, is that sense? Of energy. And then before I know it, it'll be back to the sense of excitement when we're trying to, um, get our talks and our workshops booked in for next year, 2026. ### Conclusion and Gratitude So to everybody who I've met, everybody who I've talked with, everybody who I've laughed with, it has been the most incredible five days. The first two, I was on my own. And then Sarah thankfully joined me, um, for the, the, the end of it. As no fun. Sarah being though, when we're judging, we are literally down in the basement, um, judging for from nine o'clock. I did the one day we'd judged from nine o'clock, till seven o'clock in the evening, nine in the morning to seven in the evening. Um, it was the thrill of a lifetime, not just to be judging the rounds. Um, but this year I was one of the judges I'm looking after the final, final selection, um, which is such an honor. But it was no fun for Sarah, if she was. L on our own. Um, and so she joined me for the last, uh, few days. Um, thank you to everybody that made it such a joy, made it such a thrill. Thank you to the Societies. And of course, in particular, To Terry Jones and her team on the competition side. But everybody on the trade show, everyone at Elinchrom. Everybody who I met every delegate, every single delegate, those of you that came and were quiet. And didn't say word those of you who came constantly ask questions. Um, all of it. Just made me laugh too. The two models I worked with. Um, to Marissa and Eloise. Thank you for just being beautiful, not just photogenic, but beautiful as souls. Um, thank you to every single one of you. And on that happy note, it's a Sunday night. Apparently I've got some cottage pie waiting for me back at home. So I'm going to round this. round this. podcast off, and wish you all well for the coming year. And I hope. I hope. you're as energized as I am for the coming 12 months. Take it easy and whatever else be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [Ep161 AI Wrote Me an Email... and Other Adventures in Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep161-ai-wrote-me-an-email-and-other-adventures-in-photography/) It's a late Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, and the smell of freshly cut grass (and the inevitable hay fever) is drifting through the studio as I sit down to record this episode. After a whirlwind few months - including seven incredible weeks photographing on Crystal Cruises - it feels good to be back behind the mic, even if I'm a little sniffly. In this episode, I'm reflecting on the magic of authentic portrait photography, the rapid rise of AI in our world (and our inboxes!), and why the human touch still matters more than ever. Plus, there's news about upcoming workshops, a few tech tips for cleaner files and faster edits, and a good-natured rant about AI-generated podcast pitches. As always, it's a mix of stories, laughter, tech, and a reminder to stay creative - and stay human. Cheers P. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me Introduction and Podcast Setup So it's Sunday afternoon, the sun is shining, and here I am late on Sunday recording this podcast and I'm recording it with the smell of freshly cut grass, uh, wafting in through the windows, which is gonna trigger my hay fever one way or another. Um and also the reason I'm recording it quite so late at this stage of the day. It's 'cause my neighbors have been cutting their grass and they do have the loudest petrol mower in the world. I'm Paul, and assuming I can get through this without sneezing, this is the Mastering Portrait Photography 📍 podcast. Now, there is a lot going on at the moment. It is really good to be back. And of course, those of you who have been over the years, regular listeners will know this has been quite a long gap. Recent Adventures on Crystal Cruises And the reason for that, as I may or may not have alluded to before we went away was Sarah and I spent seven weeks working for Crystal Cruises, working on onboard ship as a portrait, uh, photographer. It is one of the best gigs in the world. I get to travel all over and this time around we were traveling around South America from Valparaiso in Chile all the way around the southern tip through re, which is just stunning. In Argentina over to the Falkland Islands, and then up through Brazil, across the Cape Verde and then finishing up in of all places, uh, grand Canaria. It has been an incredible experience from start to finish, photographing the most amazing people I photographed. Interesting, funny, erudite professionals, creatives, musicians, authors. Oh, you name it, we did it. It was. An absolute, uh, blast. But of course that seven week gap has meant we've come back and life is incredibly busy here now two, and there's an awful lot going on at the moment. Upcoming Workshops and Studio Updates Tomorrow I'm doing one of my favorite things, which is to run a one-on-one workshop, which is part of an annual mentoring, uh, program. We run this program, um, for photographers, for portrait photographers. I should be clear, I dunno very much about landscaping at all. Uh, but certainly for portrait photographers. And over the ki the course of a year, we set some targets, uh, and then work steadily towards 'em, and I absolutely love it. Honestly. I always come across, I always come outta these, uh, sessions buzzing with energy and ideas. Probably as many as our delegates do as well. So I'm really, really looking forward to that. The studio is all clean and tidy, Sarah and myself. Painted it. We donned our overalls, um, and spent an entire day cleaning it all out and painting the white wall white. Again. It hasn't been done for a little bit. It. And for some reason this time round I've managed to pick the right white. I know that sounds kind of ob obtuse, um, but there are lots of different tones of white and this particular one is almost exactly, uh, the same as the ISO standard for a reference white, which is really nice. So all of the images now have this really lovely clean look. I dunno what I picked last time, it clearly wasn't quite the right white or I didn't note at the time, but this white is perfect. So I have the reference numbers, if anyone's curious. I can tell you what it is and it seems to work really, uh, really well. And if that wasn't enough of all the things that are going on, we've also released a whole stack of new dates and a couple of brand new titles for our workshops, which I will share with you at the. End of this podcast, if you fancy, uh, joining one of those. Uh, and alongside everything else we've been photographing with the hearing dogs. We've been photographing with all sorts of commercial clients. Um, the diary is absolutely solid and somehow today I've had to squeeze in and find the time to sit and clear my head and figure out the planning for our upcoming bootcamp, which has been on the diary for a little bit. Now, it isn't a new workshop though. This is the first time we've run it, so I'm having to figure out exactly. What that's gonna look like. Two days of intensive portrait chat, technique and practice. Um, all about portrait photography. But we have over two days the time to spend really exploring different ideas. And of course we have the evening in between the two days when if people wanna put some of what we've gone through into practice or start to shape what we'll do the next day, we have the opportunity to do it. It's absolutely packed. We've got people coming from all over, all over Europe for that one. Uh, which I'm really excited about. I think there might be one place available. Gome, I should have gone and looked, uh, to see if that've gone, but I think there's a place available if anyone fancies it. It's on the 12th and 13th. 12th, can't even say it. 12th and 13th of May, and it's going to be a blast. So if you fancy that, I think there's, uh, a date available. Again, I'll give you, uh, details of where to find those things at the end. Anyway. Here's a question for you. AI in Photography: Tools and Trends Has anyone else noticed a steady stream of emails lately that sound human, but simply because you get so many, you just know they can't be. There's something about not just the email, but the number of them that I get that all have a very similar wording. I mean, maybe it's just me. Maybe it's because of this very podcast. Um, and I get a lot of emails, a lot of agencies and things offering me the opportunity. Here's the opportunity to have a guest that I'd never heard of, um, on the podcast. And there's something about the way that these emails feel that a suspiciously well. Polished. So the question is this the future now? I mean, AI is brilliant for certain things. Evoto, for instance, is mind blowing. I love this application. Um, it's a retouching suite. It's from Singapore, a team in Singapore, and it's as close as I've seen yet to having. Real craft finished retouched portraits. It is getting that good. It's not quite there. There's still a lot to be said for the hand finishing the final touches, the little bits and pieces, tune in the colors and the little things that I. Probably AI will never get because it's all down to you and you alone. So AI will do the bulk of it, but when it comes to your personal little taste, your little tweaks, maybe it won't get there, but it certainly gets you 90% of the way there. I'm playing right now with the beta version five, and it is impressive to put it mildly. It is really, really, really good. Um, similar vein, you know, uh, in terms of. Uh, prepping files. I love PureRAW5 from DXO optics. Um, it's just this plugin in Lightroom. I don't use an awful lot of its power, I suspect, but it's great when I have a slightly dirty file, something where maybe the noise has come up a little bit or I'm having trouble, maybe it's just, I dunno. There's something where it isn't quite right. It's very, very good for giving you beautifully clean files with no pin cushioning, no aberrations. Really nice, really nice if you like, a lovely clean file. So that's worth checking it out. I don't know, actually if, uh, PureRAW5 is yet in its public release. Um. Uh, I'm a, I'm on the beta list, so I get to see it a little bit early, but as soon as it comes out, I suggest you get a hold of a, of a trial copy and have a play. And then of course, on top of that, if there wasn't enough AI floating around with, um, competitors. Adobe themselves, the king of the crop, the, the, the big, the biggest, uh, I guess the biggest name. In photography, retouching and post-production. Um, Adobe have their own AI magic from generative fill to those ridiculously good subject and sky selection tools, which are probably the best thing about all of the ai as far as I'm concerned. The ability to hit select subject and there is, and of course, the remove tool for getting rid of people that you don't want in the background. All of these things are saving hours on editing, and it's a joy, particularly if you keep a control of it. And you get it to do what you want it to do, but, and this is a big, but it's there to assist, but it doesn't create without me steering it. These emails though. Now you can tell they are AI generated. Let me read you one. Let me just fix my email. Here it goes. Hey, Paul. It's always a good start. Hey, Paul, listening to your latest episodes really struck a chord, especially as you reflected on judging for the British Institute of Professional Photographers. Your thoughtful musings on stepping down from your role as chair were both insightful and inspiring. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. A visionary storyteller and celebrated director of photography would resonate with your audience's. Love for artistic narratives with an impressive track record working with global brands like Coca-Cola and Microsoft. He brings a wealth of experience in visual storytelling worthy of your podcast, and blah, blah, blah, blah, is not only a celebrated photographer, but also an accomplished musician and digital media artist. His vibrant Tales from behind the lens, combined with his academic honors from Harvard and the Global Cinema Cinematography Institute would add depth and intrigue to your conversations. What makes blah, blah, blah, blah, an ideal guest. This content connects with a thriving community of 15,000 entrepreneurs, photographers and marketers, eager to explore the captivating world of photograph of photography and digital media. Let's create something memorable together. Best, blah, blah, blah, blah's team. Now, in and of itself, I think I'd spot that as an um, ai, um, as an AI email. But I've had quite a few of those from different people, different photographers, different teams, different everything. But somehow your classic tale of the Land Rover, your classic tale of photographing on a beach, your classic tale of. They all have a tone about them that clearly AI can now understand, or at least I say understand. Of course, we're delving into the definitions of intelligence here, but clearly understands what it's saying. It clearly understands it's, it's either listen to the podcast or it's read the transcript or both. It's come up with some set of lines that make it sound like it's a human writing it, but it's not a human writing it. That's ai. So I've now got AI emails being sent to me to ask me to feature. I'm hoping a real human, though. I'm not going to feature him because he's using AI on my podcast. So should I set up an AI bot? To respond to the AI bot, and then maybe the AI bot at the other end could schedule the guest. Or maybe an AI guest. And an AI guest. Maybe they could record, script record and publish a podcast that yet more AI will listen to. The Future of AI and Human Interaction So the question is, at what point do we stop being involved? Maybe the AI should just talk to itself. Are we gonna end up in a world where AI is talking to ai? And I suspect the reality is that yes, that is exactly what's going to happen because I today, I could download a chat bot that will respond to all of my emails. So would the email then be responded to by another chat bot responding to the ai? Maybe the only thing that's gonna listen to the podcast will be ai, and maybe the podcast will all be about having a human context inside ai. But the only things listening to it. Are the AI bots curious? Huh? I wonder where we're gonna end up now. I'm a huge, huge fan of ai. I just, I love what it can do. I love what the future holds. I have a PhD in it, so you kind of expect that from me. But my thought was always that it would make life easier. Not that it would remove life from the equation, but I'm not quite as certain as I was. Evoto, Imagen, Adobe and a plethora of incredible tools out there are gonna help us as photographers. They're gonna enable us to do things that actually were not accessible unless you had a cast of thousands, you had models, you had assistants, you had venues. It's gonna allow image creation to a degree. That probably wasn't possible, but having just done three incredibly beautiful portrait shoots with lovely families over this weekend where the emphasis is on the authentic, not the synthetic, on creating reality and documenting it, not creating a fantasy and getting something else to write about it. I think there's still space for humanity in all of this, but I do think we have to be careful. I do think we have to retain and hold onto the reality and let AI do what AI can do, where it helps us, where it makes things faster, where it makes things more efficient. But let's keep an eye out for these crazy emails and the different things that are just so clearly not real. Anyway, that's enough of my rant. Sorry. A quick footnote. I mention all sorts of companies while I'm recording these podcasts, but I always make it clear if a company is sponsoring me. None of the companies I've mentioned today are. Uh, I'm not sponsored by DXO. I'm not sponsored, uh, by Imagen I'm not sponsored by Adobe. They're just the tools that I use. In fact, I pay for the use of all of those tools. Um, but they happen to be incredibly useful. And if any of that has inspired you to pick up your camera and, uh, I always hope. You know, maybe it has, let's go and do something that isn't based around artificial intelligence. Workshop Announcements and Closing Remarks Here are the dates I promised you for our up and coming workshop. So there's, uh, five or six of these. Uh, number one, mastering ordinary to ordinary workshop. This is that one where we take a very standard small space and just create some beautiful images in it, to be honest. Uh, whether it's, uh, using strobes, using continuous light that's on the 27th of June. Uh, this year. Uh, so actually if you're listening to this in a year's time, these are all in 2025. Uh, then there's mastering environment, uh, sorry, mastering Environmental Portraits Workshop, which is on the 18th of July, which is everything you need to tell stories through and using the location. Um, still planning that one out. I had a brilliant one-on-one recently where we went out into location to a sculptor and to someone on their allotment and just created. Pictures. It was magical. It was beautiful, it was a great experience. But we're just trying to work out how five people, which is the theoretical maximum of the workshop, uh, would be able to do the same. So, uh, I'll have a plan for that. So that's on the 18th of July. It's gonna be amazing. Then we've got mastering family photography, workshop one we've worked before. That's a maximum of four delegates in this one because obviously we have families and kids around, so we reduce the numbers. Uh, usually it's five. This one's four. Uh, that's on the 1st of August, 2025. Uh, a load of chaos, basically kids chaos. What a hoot. Uh, exactly what family photography should be. Uh, then there's mastering dog photography. This is the from shutter to print version, uh, which is on the 12th of September, where we photograph dogs in the morning and then go through the techniques for prepping those files for great prints in the afternoon. That's one of our most loved it. Always books it really quick. Uh, and then finally of this tranche is the mastering high-key and low key Studio lighting workshop, where this is an extension of one. We've run at the societies very successfully. Um, the society, we've done over a couple of hours. This is for a whole day. Where we push to the extremes. We go as bright and as high key as we can, and then we swing it the other way and go as dark and as moody as we can. Um, just lighting, talking about lighting composition, talking about the mood, all that kind of thing. That's on the 26th of September, which will take us. To the end of the summer. Uh, and then we'll have another set, uh, available. So just a quick footnote. Uh, all of the podcasts up until this one have said, go across to paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk to find details. Those details are on there, but all of the workshops now have moved to masteringportraitphotography.com, along with our mentoring and our workshops and any of the education side. That's all over on masteringportraitphotography.com, under the Academy section. Uh, so that's, uh, masteringportraitphotography.com. Um, it's all over there. We always said we'd move the education and all of the trainings, mastering portrait photography. Um, and one of the many things I've been doing over the past couple of months is precisely that is shifting all of the workshops and all the bookings across to MPP. And so there we have it. We have a little bit of sunshine, an awful lot of portraits, some AI musings, and a few workshop announcements thrown in for good measure. It's funny, really, we live this, we live in this incredible time where technology can do and does do so much for us, but I still think the real magic happens when we stay human in the middle of it all. Now, whether that's crafting an image, having a conversation, or just sneezing, you can hear I've got a blocked up nose or just sneezing away through a freshly cut lawn. It's the human bit that matters most. So if you're interested in joining us for an upcoming bootcamp, as I said, or any of the other workshops, there's still time and we would love to see you there. And that is it for me or from me for today. I. It's time to go and have a glass of wine in the sunshine and pretend that the smell of, of fresh cut glass is actually romantic rather than just mildly annoying. So thanks as always for being part of this little community. Wherever you are, whatever you're up to, take care, stay creative, and as ever, be kind to yourself. Goodnight. ### [EP162 Beyond Soft Shadows - What Really Makes Light Flattering?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep162-beyond-soft-shadows-what-really-makes-light-flattering/) In this episode, I dig into a question that's always lurking in the back of a portrait photographer's mind - what really makes light flattering? It's a term we all use, but what does it actually mean? Is it just about soft shadows and low contrast, or is it more about the connection between the subject and the photographer? I talk through this while reflecting on a busy week - from a stunning wedding at Head Saw House to a corporate shoot for Barclays, and a spontaneous portrait session that reminded me why I love this job. I also share some thoughts on the updated Mastering Portrait Photography book, which hits shelves in September, complete with fresh images and a whole new chapter on AI post-production. If you've ever wondered what makes a light truly flattering - and why it's about more than just the gear - this episode is for you. And as always, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, be kind to yourself. Cheers P. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me Well, as I sit here in the studio, the sun is shining in through the windows and it's been a beautiful, beautiful week. I started it with a trip down to Devon with the in-laws. One great thing about being married to Sarah, whose family are from Plymouth, there are many great things about being married to Sarah. But one of the ones, in terms of geography, at least, is her family still lived down in Plymouth, in Devon, by the sea. So it was absolutely glorious to spend a couple of days down there walking the dog, drinking a beer, enjoying the sunshine, and the sun is still shining here right now. And on that happy note, I'm Paul. I'm very much looking forward to a barbecue, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. So what did we do over the past week or so since I recorded the last episode? Well, Sarah and I went off and photographed the most beautiful wedding at a location called Hedser House, which is sort of in between us and London, give or take a bit. Um, and you'll have seen many, many Hollywood films, uh, that were shot there. None of which I can remember. There's a couple of James Bond films, a couple of Dustin h Dustin Hoffman films. I don't know, I should have paid more attention, but it is the kind of venue that you can imagine. Downton Abbey, uh, being filmed in. As it turned out, it was Abby and Rob's wedding. Um, beautiful. I've worked with the family for many years, photographed her brother's wedding, uh, a couple of years ago, and so we've been looking forward to this day enormously. And when Sarah and I work together, it is a great privilege. It's not just that Sarah, uh, Sarah's family are from the sea, but she's a fantastic photographer. Um, not that we've ever really used that talent, but if you think about it, it makes sense given that she must see. Well, I dunno how many hundreds of thousands of images every single year go past her screen. 'cause she does all the selections, but also she knows exactly, exactly what's required to design a great album. Because at the end of the day, I. It's Sarah designs them. So it was a real beautiful thing to be able to do. Sarah has created some wonderful imagery. We've also had a couple of portrait shoots, three or four this week, which I've really enjoyed today actually. We've had one came in for a reveal and one came in for a shoot. Two lovely families, and at the end of the day, that is still what this business is about. There is so much going on out there in the news about ai, about technology, about the economy. But in the end, the bit of the industry that I sit in, this bit here is all about families. It's about memories, it's about real people doing real things. So it's been absolutely brilliant to be. Uh, photographing families, uh, and also selling, uh, a beautiful frame. This morning. It was absolutely lovely, big layup of multiple images, uh, to go on the wall. Uh, also this week, um, I took a trip into London to photograph the Barclays bank. A GM set up quite specifically the setup. The brief actually said, do not include people where it's possible. So that's fine. I was there to photograph, um, for the, um. The production company that do all of the work behind the scenes. They create all the staging, they create all of the film work. My job was quite literally, quite literally, to be there and make sure that was really well documented, which I did. But of course, because it was such an early start, I had my, um, original call in time at the venue in the security on this. As you can imagine, this is Barclay's, the A GM. Um, I've never seen security like it, and I've actually photographed this event probably 10 years or so now. I never seen security quite like this one. And with a seven o'clock start, I had to, uh, stay over in a hotel the night before, which was great. I mean, it's no problem. There's plenty of hotels in London, but it did mean I got to go out for the evening with Harriet, our daughter. So the two of us met up the night before, um, had pizza, margaritas, a beer, a glass of wine or two and more or less. Gassed just gossiped, um, all the way through until it was time for both of us to part our ways, me to go to the hotel and for her to head home. And there was really something really special about getting to spend time with your kids as a dad. It is the greatest pleasure. As you watch your kids grow up, you watch their confidence increase, you just, well, I do anyway. Absolutely love spending time, uh, with both of 'em. So that was really, really nice. Then of course, the next day, um, I went and photographed all of the bits and pieces for the A GM. And then at the end of that took the opportunity to go and meet a prospective client that we are planning a shoot for a big client. Um, and they want to create over two days, sort of 50 unique portraits of different people with different backgrounds, but all looking like their shot in their place of work. But they're coming from all over the uk so we're gonna do it in one location, a mix of the street, a mix of different offices, almost like, um, filming really, it's a bit like putting together, um, a film or a documentary where you use different backgrounds to tell different stories. So I met up with a client, um, a marketer and a graphic designer, and it was. It was actually quite a laugh because I didn't think I was only really there to help them shape the job, help them figure out how we're going to do it. But of course, I had all my cameras with me from the job I was doing in the morning, and so I dragged one out, dragged a lens out, um, and we sort of barreled around the building, taking portraits of them, um, having a look at how the different backgrounds might work, discussing lots of little details, you know, the things that people miss when you're working on location. You can't, for instance, assume that you're going to be able to use strobes because much of this building is an open plan, and us firing strobes while we're doing portraiture probably isn't gonna work because it's distracting for everybody. Now, if we're in a closed room, that's fine, but if we're out in an open plan or in the atrium, or in the restaurant, or in the library. I'm gonna guess that's gonna be majorly distracting. So things like allowing for the fact that we are probably gonna be using continuous lighting, probably gonna be using LEDs, which is fine. There's no problem with that. But that has other knock-on effects because it's slightly different equipment and it will work when the light levels are reasonably low. But you can't overcome things like direct sunlight or you can balance to a degree, but it gets very bright very quickly. And we are not a film studio. I'm not gonna go and set huge great shadow boxes and things over the windows. I'm not gonna have a tunnel lighting. I'm gonna have a very simple portrait photographers lighting set up. But it was a huge amount of fun, and the pictures have actually come out pretty well. I'm quite pleased with them. Even though we were working off brief, we were just sketching. But of course, as a portrait photographer, that's your job. And when you do this at weddings, people expect that of you. But when you're working on the commercial side, I think it surprised everyone that it was well, that easy. I don't mean I'm not playing this industry down, but taking a portrait is mostly about understanding how light works and then understanding how to read. And manipulate characters, how to be a people person with great light. Actually, that could be the topic of a podcast. All and of its all, all in and of itself is, you know, portrait photography is understanding light. I. And how to manipulate people. And once you're there, there's not an awful lot left, uh, to do. So that was, that was a real blast. Um, I'm looking forward to doing the actual gig. We sort of got our heads around the scope of it now and that couple of hours we spent really did illustrate the best way to plan the shoot book people in, and generally approach him. Uh, also this week we spent a day, uh, Sarah, Katie, myself and, uh, Abby, one of our regular models. Um, the video we're recording for the mastering portrait photography website. This time round is going to be all about those lighting patterns that have names, the eight or so. Um, lighting patterns, uh, single light lighting patterns. Lighting patterns with one light, maybe that sounds better, where, um, they're sort of lighting patterns for me. I, I didn't really understand or didn't know, rather, the lighting, the names of lighting patterns until I started to teach. And still, in fact, we wrote the original mastering portrait photography book because although I knew them. I didn't even know they had names. I'm not in that regard, a formal photographer, but it's really useful to know them because you can jump straight to that starting point. It's a little bit like learning your scales on the piano or maybe learning your rudiments as a drummer. To me, certainly. I mean, I've done both of those things and to me they were the est, most boring, mundane things that you had to do, but you had to do them as a piano player. You had to get your fingers to have muscle memory so that if you needed to move around certain notes, you could get there. You needed to know in certain keys what notes went together. Similarly, as a drummer, you had to get your wrists loose and your fingers loose. And be able to move around the drum kit fluently, fluidly, and fluently, and the only way of doing that is repe repetitive practice. It's repetition, doing it over and over and over again. Much as I didn't enjoy it, it paid dividends when I found myself on stage or in a recording studio. Then all of those hours spent at a practice pad or. As a piano player learning my scales suddenly came to fruition. And just for clarity here, I was an awful piano player. I hated the scales and I had very little talent. I, I could play a bit, I could play enough to, you know, Russell Une, if I really thought about it, um, was not a great piano player. However, as a photographer, the value in learning these named lighting patterns isn't about the names and the lighting patterns themselves. It's learning why they're called what they are and how to do them and be able to recall them if you need to, and certainly when, for instance, as a mentor and as a trainer. It's so much easier if we can talk about lighting patterns by name. You know, I can, we can talk about this shot would've been better lit short or lit narrow. I think this face shape might have looked better lit. Broad maybe. Um, you know, Rembrandt lighting is very theatrical actually. Rembrandt light is one of those really obscure lighting patterns that everybody knows about. Every photographer, loves and can name and can create the triangle on the cheek. But that's usually done with a hard light source. But if you really want to use it, you've gotta use a soft light source. But knowing where the light goes so that you can create that beautiful, gentle roll off across the top of a cheekbone is a practice thing. So anyway, we spent the day. Recording all of these different lighting patterns, and they're gonna look really beautiful. I mean, Abby's a beautiful model. Um, we shot it really clean, so every picture you'll be able to see precisely what we're talking about. So we shot each one with a hard light so you can see exactly where the light lands, where it falls, and then we shot them with a soft light. So you can see how might, how you might use exactly the same positioning of the light to create great portraits. So I'm looking forward to finishing that video up, which we'll do, uh, I'm gonna guess Wednesday next week. Um, and that will go out onto MPP. That'll be this month's, uh, video. Uh, a lot of fun. Um, today, uh, like I said, a reveal. All the cookies have gone. The kids needed chocolate. Um, so I'm sitting in the studio thinking like, quite fancy a cookie and nope, they're all gone. Um, but the sun has been beautiful and so what a lovely, a lovely thing to do. Uh, some big news. Now, this has actually been rumbling on since, uh, January, I think. Um, but it's now, um, out of embargo is that we've, Sarah Platon and myself have been asked to revise the mastering portrait photography book. Um, the reason the website is called Mastering Portrait Photography is 'cause we produce the book. The publisher have asked us to rework it. And so I've actually just spent a few months, um, reworking every single portrait. Except for the one of me, you can't really see that it's me. I dunno when it was shot. I look like, um, I've been dragged through a hedge backwards, and I've left it well alone because it makes me laugh. So there's still a shot of me holding a camera in there that hasn't been revised. But every other portrait in there has been, they're my clients. Every single one of the people in that book is a client of ours, or it's from a job where we're doing a workshop or a masterclass or something. I can tell you a story about every single picture, and it's been such a pleasure. It's 10 years old this year. The book, it came out around about, I think it came out in May. Well, I could look the dates up in, um. 2015 and it's gonna come out is, I think the launch date is the 9th of September this year, 10 years. 10 years ago we first created it, but we've reworked all of it bit by bit by bit, picture by picture, by picture, um, so that it's still the same book. Um, it's definitely a second revision. We haven't changed all of the wording. We've revised some of it. And the post-production chapter, I've reworked to be mostly about. As it happens, ai, so the mix of Lightroom, Photoshop, and then uh, tools like Voto. I should, again, for clarity. Uh, I'm not sponsored by any of these companies. These are tools and apps that I pay for. I wish I didn't. If, if a Voto are listening, feel free to b me a sponsorship. But no, I pay for it. Um, I pay for it because it's useful, makes my life easier. Um, it polishes images at a rate that I could not have kept up with. Photoshop, not. In this market. Now, if you are a high-end fashion house doing fashion photography, maybe you could beauty shots on the covers of magazines. Yeah, maybe you could. But to, we can produce, you know, to a level of about 18, maybe even 90% of that level of detail. And you can do it in a heartbeat. So things like a Voto, the last chapter in the book, the post-production, uh, chapter, has been completely rewritten to include. How we now use things like ai because if this book, let's say this book has another 10 years on a shelf before it needs revising or taking off ai, I think would've completely changed. Not just this industry, but every industry and the most valuable things will no longer be how good you are with a computer or how good you are as a coder, or even how good you are as a writer. All of that will become. Commoditized. You can simply tell a machine how to do it. The value will be, I think, in your intellectual capacity to imagine things. Now, I know you can go into Mid Journey and type a bunch of keywords in, or you know, Firefly or Dali or whatever, but in a very real sense. That's not art or creativity, it's just the computer spitting stuff back at you. And the same is true when you're doing creative writing, but if you truly have interesting and original ideas and configure out how to articulate those, AI is gonna be sitting alongside you every step of the way. And what's left? What's left when. Those kinds of tools become just the heartbeat of your work. Whatever's left is the personal contact. It's the people to people, the human to human, the character to character, the very physicality of being in the same room as someone, hence the. Why I get so excited about doing portrait shoots. I've done that all my life, and I still feel that way, that when I'm face to face with a client, yeah. All right. I mean, I know I'm an idiot and I am loud and I laugh a lot and you know, every time I have a a, an adrenaline rush, when I'm working with a client or I meet new people afterwards, I will forever beat myself up for being. I guess embarrassing, but that's the joy of being human. Um, the tooling, the behind the scenes stuff, the management, even social media. You don't have to go onto social media for very long before you start to see AI generated videos, AI generated images. Um, and the truth of it is, I'm not sure I can tell the difference anymore, but the, the days of six fingers to three hands funny necks, they're gone. These, the AI tools that are appearing now are super realistic. Um, and if you can do that with words, imagine what you can do with a photograph as your reference point. So anyway, the book will be out. Sorry, I've digressed slightly. The book will be out on the 9th of September. It's called Mastering Portrait Photography. Um. Um, it's already available for pre-order on Amazon, which means I can now, um, share details of it. We've been under embargo up until this point, but, um, the rework has been done. Now looking forward to, um. Seeing the actual printed, but I've got some proofs sitting here beside me that arrived this morning. Uh, that, uh, I just wanted to confirm some of the colors were are spot on because one of the great things I think about Amini to produce this book is their color work. That printed work is just beautiful. The prints look like competition prints in the book. It's a proper, it's, I mean, for us it's a training book. It's a kind of a walkthrough. Things you should think about as a portrait photographer, but actually. As the photographer. It's a coffee table book of some of my favorite work, so that'll be out 9th of September. You can google mastering portrait photography. The book is available on Amazon, and of course we'll announce details of, uh, signed copies. Uh, we're gonna have some kind of launch bash, I'm sure of it. Uh, I cannot, absolutely cannot wait. Uh, and then onto, I think what I intended to talk about today, which is linked to the lighting patterns I talked about. But it is simply this question, what makes flattering light? And I see titles of videos, how to use flattering light, how to use this light, how to use that light, and nobody really explains. What do you mean by flattering? You know, Rembrandt pioneered. Well, did he pioneer? That's, no, he didn't. He put his name to an observed lighting pattern that created a triangle of light on his cheek. Um, is that flattering? Well, it created a very effective, very gloomy portrait, the way he painted it Anyway. Is it flattering? I dunno. I mean, certainly it looks great. What about soft light? The thing about soft light is we all always talk about soft, flattering light. I mean, if you ever hear the word flattering light, you're probably, it's probably prefixed by the word soft. And what do we mean by soft? Well, usually soft. We talk about soft edged shadows. That's normally what we're talking about. But of course, contrast ratios are supremely important, too soft. Edged shadows and low contrast tend to give forgiving light. They tend to reduce wrinkles or they reduce the amount of modeling that might be across a part of someone's figure or face, um, that makes it harder to discern. Lumps, bumps, textures, hard light, hard edged shadows tend to reveal. I tend to reveal light. That's a shape more than soft light. But what if you want to, for instance, reduce the perception of somebody's width? Is soft, light, soft edge shadows, low contrast, light better, or is it better to have. Very contrasty. Light, dark, dark shadows where everything disappears into the gloom and hard edge shadows where when it's wrapping around a curve around a body, for instance, the lip part is gonna be slightly narrower than if you lit it with a soft edged light. Well, no one can answer that. No one can tell you which is the most flattering, only the subject and the creator can tell you the people actually there in the room. The interaction between the subject. And the creator, you the photographer. So when we talk about flattering light, what really do we mean? And I think what we mean and what we have to agree to mean is flattering light is the light that creates a picture that you love and a picture that your client loves. If that's hard light, if it's contrasty light, if it's soft edge shadow light, if it's low contrast light, it doesn't really matter. Your ability to read your subject, your ability to read, shape and form and textures, and how to either exaggerate that or reduce that. Well, that to me is what creating flattering light is all about. Anyway, uh, that was not, which I, I dunno why I thought that would be a topic to talk about, uh, today. And the last thing, um, I'm just, before I sign off, I've, I'm just, so I'm gazing round our studio as the sun is going down. I have to do a big tidy up tomorrow. That's my job tomorrow, is to absolutely sort this studio out so it's nice and tidy for our very first, uh, inaugural two day bootcamp, which is Monday and Tuesday next week. Now, you may be listening to this podcast after that's been done, um, but I will give you an update. Next week as to how it has gone. So it's two days, a maximum of 10 people. Um, a mix of being here at the studio out on location round our amazing village. Um, we've also rented, um, a hall in a local church, which will give us a ton of room to really play and explore lighting. Our studio here is incredible. I love it. It creates the pictures that I love and pictures that clearly our clients love. But putting 10 people plus me plus models into it is just. I'm gonna be a little bit tight if I want to move the lighting around. So we're gonna have, uh, spend some time over at local church hall, which is always funny, um, because it's very real for most people who don't own a studio. Being able to show how to rig and use studio lighting in any space you are in and all the considerations that go with it. For instance, we've been around there and, um, the, um, lots of the pin boards around the room have bright colors because they use it as a crash. Well, bright colors get bounced back. So you're gonna get yellows and pinks coming back off your light. So learning how to work with that and how to reduce the colors of light. You don't want an increase of color, of light you do want. Those are gonna be part of the topics. We've got two days in the evening between the two nights, uh, pizza, lots of chatter about portraits. Um, and then on the Tuesday, a wrap up. Uh, more photography and in the afternoon looking at, uh, technology, looking at, uh, Photoshop, Voto, imagine all of these tools that you can do things with. So I'm really, really, really excited about it. And that's, tomorrow's job is to go through the studio. You can see it, if you can see the edges of my desk, I'm kind of glancing around. It's, there's so much stuff here. Uh, I collect stuff. I can't help it. Sarah keeps trying to get me to either sell it or throw it. Um, and at some point, of course. I will, but in the meantime, in the meantime, if you fancy coming on one of our workshops, please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com and go to the academy section. All of our workshops are listed there. A bit too late, obviously for the bootcamp. Uh, that is Monday, Tuesday this week and it's sold out. Uh, but coming up, uh, our various workshops throughout the summer ranging from our on location in Oxford Workshop, which might be, and we haven't done the two day, uh, two day bootcamp yet. This might turn out to be my favorite, but working in Oxford for the day, just taking pictures on the street using whatever light we can find. And our client, oh, sorry, our models this time. Uh, one of our wedding clients, the beautiful people who I photographed at the Manir, the most unassuming and gorgeous couple. So I think that's my favorite. That's, uh, on our website. I don't, I think there's a space left. And then of course, there's a whole load of other workshops and opportunities for if you would like to come for some mentoring, like to come for training. Um. One-to-one, whatever it is. If we can help, we will. So if you fancy any of that, head over to mastering portrait photography.com and uh, go to the academy section. And on that happy note, I'm gonna go brave some hay fever. 'cause it's the evening the sun is set. I feel there might be a barbecue in the offing. My nose is ever so slightly bonged up with hay fever. In spite, in spite of the drugs. So I'm gonna head away. Uh, hope all is well with all of you and whatever else on this beautiful, sunny Saturday evening, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP163 The Secret Sauce: Calm Under Pressure, Trust In The Kit, and a Dash of Irish Whiskey](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep163-the-secret-sauce-calm-under-pressure-trust-in-the-kit-and-a-dash-of-irish-whiskey/) This week, I'm recording late in the lounge with a glass of Irish whiskey, reflecting on the usual mix of chaos and joy in a photographer's life. Some good news first: the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast has landed in the Top 100 Photography Podcasts, Top 10 Portrait Photography Podcasts, and Top 35 UK Photography Podcasts-all thanks to FeedSpot. A massive thank you to everyone who listens, emails, or stops me at events to say hi. The charts can be found here: https://podcast.feedspot.com/photography_podcasts/ https://podcast.feedspot.com/portrait_photography_podcasts/ https://podcast.feedspot.com/uk_photography_podcasts/ I share stories from a beautiful small wedding at Le Manoir, talk about how AI is both transforming and disrupting our industry (and how I'm using it to write useful code for the studio), and confess to completely changing my Instagram strategy so it actually makes me smile-feel free to check it out @paulwilkinsonphotography. The highlight? Racing through three days of corporate headshots in London, where the CEO arrives and my flash promptly refuses to fire-just classic timing. A reminder: knowing your kit inside-out and keeping calm is what clients are really paying for. If you fancy joining me in Oxford for a day of portraits, stories, and good company, there's still a spot on our next Location Portraits Workshop. As ever: trust yourself, enjoy the process, and be kind to yourself. Cheers!Transcript Introduction and Setting the Scene Well, it's been a while since I've recorded a podcast quite like this, but I'm sitting in our lounge. It's late. I've got a glass of Irish whiskey for a change, which is just beautiful. All of my whiskeys have been bought by someone and I love that. I love sitting and thinking of someone, a family member or a friend. 'cause I enjoy, well, the smell and the taste. There's some, I dunno why I like whiskey so much. Um, I just do, there's something, I think it's 'cause my mom and dad liked it. And possibly because of that, I find there's something really magical about the smell and the taste and the color and just, I don't know, something that sat in a barrel for a decade or more just appeals to me, and it has been another busy week. It's Wednesday as I record this, and yet it feels like it's been the end of a week. Um, it's just, it always feels like I'm playing catch up, but I think that's just the nature of the job. When I worked at Accenture all of those years ago, I quite liked the project mentality. Although we were busy, we ramped up and up and up and up until eventually we got to the delivery date. And then of course, once it was delivered, you've got a week or two off all of that pressure built and built and built. It was to an end point. And I don't think, as a photographer, I felt like that since I left that world now it's just a constant churn of to-do lists, retouching shoots, being energized, even things like recording this podcast. You have to be really in the mood to do it, and I'm not always. There have been plenty of times when I've sat down to record something and even a large glass of 15-year-old single molt doesn't do it. However, I am here, it is late. So forgive me if I sort of tumble over some of my words, but I really wanted to get, um, an episode out. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography 📍 podcast. Podcast Achievements and Listener Appreciation So before I get into the main body of, uh, the podcast this week or this episode, I wanted to give a little bit of good news. We have been voted by we, I mean the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast has been judged or voted, or I don't know. I don't exactly know how it's assessed, but we have been given three really cool things by the guys at Feed Spot who list and assess, uh, podcasts from all around the world. I. So we are in, uh, for photographers, we're in the top 100 podcasts for photographers globally. We're in the top 10 portrait photography podcasts globally, and we're in the top 35 UK photography podcasts on the web. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much to everybody who listens and everybody who's made this thing possible. We are ranking right up there with some really big commercial podcasts and at the end of the day, it's just me, a microphone and I suppose 20 years of experience of being a photographer. But nonetheless, it's an absolute thrill that we are getting recognized. Um, so thank you to all of you who listen. Every one of you sends in emails. Everyone who, uh, stops us at the conventions and the shows to say that they like listening to it. Uh, so what have we been up to other than celebrating, uh, a major success. By the way, you can head over to Feed Spot. I'll put the links in the show notes if you're gonna go see the lists of everybody else Tell I listen to, there are some great podcasts on there. And of course my target is to be higher up the list, not just one of the top 100 we wanna be. The one, but yeah, I dunno whether we'll ever get to that given it really is just me and a microphone. Uh, but I'll do my best, uh, last week. Recent Photography Projects and AI Innovations Over the past week or so I shot the most beautiful tiny wedding at Le Manoir. I love these little weddings. 35 people, the nicest bride and crew who were so excited. Uh, they had family from all over the world, from India, from Austria, Switzerland, the uk. Why Europe? Brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant. The weather. Stunning. We had loads of time. We relaxed, we had, oh, it was just the best day possible. Uh, what else? What else? Uh oh, yeah. Um, one of the things, um, sorry, that's, that's another subject jump. Um, I've got notes. Obviously. I sit here with a screen of notes and these are the things I wanted to cover. One of the things I wanted to cover is some other focus of what I'm doing at the moment and what we are doing in the studio. And one of the things that's right front of mind at the moment has been ai, and I'm guessing from everything I'm reading and everything I'm studying is that AI is gonna stay at the front. And it might just be the last thing standing if I've understood it all correctly. So I've, I mean, those of you who know me know my PhD is in neural networks, which is the backbone. Um, of AI 30 years ago, so of course I'm well outta date, but that hasn't stopped me being really quite curious and I guess I've got a natural, uh, sort of a natural aptitude for it in spite of the fact that it's advanced so far on the whole, I'm getting my head round. Most of it. Some of it's really daunting, some of it is frankly terrifying, but some of it is exhilarating. So I'll give you an example of some ways we're using AI here at the moment. Um, one of the things I'm doing is I'm using it to help me code some really useful add-ons, scripts and plugins for things like Lightroom, Photoshop. And some general stuff behind the scenes, um, which we will be able to release as commercialized product. Um, I'm not a terrible coder. I'm not a great coder, but I have enough knowledge to be able to know how to specify what I want, understand the problems I'm trying to describe. And now that I have all of these AI tools beside me is it's just opened up a huge wealth of opportunity to make our life in the studio simpler and faster. And more productive. And while that, you know, all of that's really good, of course the downside of AI is it is gonna tear through the job market in every single industry. And of course our industry is particularly susceptible to it. If you think about any photograph you can imagine, um, where the subject is irrelevant, it as in, it doesn't have to be a named face. It could just be. A nameless detective, um, a doctor, a medic, a firefighter, a parachutist, a pilot, a family, a child, a dog. As long as it doesn't have to be that dog, that person, that pilot, that firefighter. AI does it today. And this is just an early version chat. GPTs photo generator is off the top of the scale. Good. Um, I've actually written. Some stuff where it's taking, so, you know, automated some scripts that are taking my pictures, generating the prompts to generate those pictures, and then generating more pictures. And I'm doing it as an experiment just to test where we are and honestly. Yes. Not perfect, but we are right at the beginning of where we're headed. So, you know, if I was gonna be slightly gloomy, I suppose if, if you are a stock photographer, well, you know, that's gotta have limited legs unless you do wildlife or landscape where it's really important. That the location is key. I'm looking at um, I've got an Amazon fire stick in our TV here in the lounge. Um, obviously it's gone onto a screensaver 'cause I'm recording this and it's showing pictures of real places in the world that's never gonna go anywhere. You are always gonna need that. But if it's just generic photographs, generic imagery than AI is already eating into those markets. But I'm still throwing myself into it. Social Media Strategy and Personal Reflections One thing I have done, um, on our Instagram account is I took a long hard look at social media. And again, for those of you who know me, you'll know I'm not the biggest fan. I know we have to use it. It's a necessary evil, but I am one of those doom scrollers. I spend my life scrolling down thinking everyone else is having a better time. Everyone else is a better photographer. Everyone else has got a better business. You name it, I think it, I'm just wired that way. I'm also wired. I can't resist it 'cause it's there. And so the longer I spend on on social media, the less inspired and the less energized I am. I really do have to stay away from it. But one of the things I've done in our studio is my screens, in particular on my laptop and on my workstation. Whenever the screensaver kicks in, it's pointing at a portfolio of our images, our clients, our friends, the people, the photographs, the moments, the memories from our life. And so whenever I pause, I go make a cup of tea or something, and I come back. All of these screens are showing. My favorite pictures from 20 years, sorry, I stumbled over the word 20, getting emotional, uh, of 20 years of working as a professional photographer, and I decided what might be nice is to use Instagram like that. So I've changed the way I'm working on Instagram. Stopped trying to show just current work and trying to do the whole kind of, you know, social sort of networking side of it. And I've decided I just want it to make me smile. That's it. That's all I'm gonna do. So I've hauled together, I've written some code. It's got a little bit of an AI in there to help me. I. And it just goes back and picks out images from different parts of our portfolio and tells me what to post. I then just post it. Simple as that, because if I sit for hours looking at my portfolios, I spent ages. Becoming really paranoid that my work's no good. Oh no, I can't post that. I posted something similar to that. Oh, no. Will people like it? And I've stopped that. It's just a hard list. Here's what you're gonna do today. Here's what you're gonna do tomorrow. And I'm just posting these pictures exactly the same pictures that my screensaver connects to. So it has, it's giving me now the same joy seeing these pictures come up. Some are recent, some are from quite a long way away, a long way ago, rather. Some are landscapes. There's some stuff in there from some landscapes where we've been traveling, not many. And of course, all my landscape friends, all my, you know, friends in the industry can happily laugh at me. I'm not a landscape photographer. But I am loving every single second of it, and it's really given me some of the joy I think I used to have with social media. It's become a portfolio of people, of memories, of moments, of my history. You know, some of the pictures come up and I cringe. It's like, really? Did I really do that? But some of the old pictures come up and I can really see. The foundations of where I came from. Yeah, right. I shoot things differently now. Of course, we all do. I've learned techniques, new techniques, new post-production, new finishing grading. The resolutions on the cameras are different. The lenses are different. Even for me, you know, one weakness I was talking to with the videographer the other day is that. On the older cameras, I didn't dare shoot below about F four because if I focused on the eyes focus, recompose in the recomposing, I had to move. And in moving the eyes would go out of focus. But now of course with eye tracking, I could shoot at F1 0.8 and every time the eyes are pinned, sharp, and. It's weird that technology can fundamentally change my aesthetic because I always wanted to shoot at 2.8 or 1.8. I just never had the technique for it. One of the things I'm very good at is working quickly. I work fast and I catch those moments, but unfortunately the trade off is I don't slow down and really concentrate on things like the focusing and that's problematic. But now the technology's helping me. And here similarly, you know, I'm using a little bit of AI to identify pictures, written some bits of code to do it, and it pulls the pictures from the catalog to make sure that there's a nice variety, that it's across all of our clients, all of our work. It's not just one style, which is what tends to happen if, um. I do it on my own. So it's just lovely. And there's, you know, I've written here, it's a bit like a treasure hunt with a robot sidekick. The robot being the ai, I hope the robot's not me. I don't think it's me. Maybe it his, maybe that's the way around the AI is having the treasure hunt and I'm the robot. But if it's me, I'd only pick things like pictures that I thought might do well in awards or pictures that other photographers would like. Whereas I've stopped that by doing this. The code tells me what I'm gonna. Post. I post it and then I can just smile and enjoy the memory. And I've long since stopped worrying about whether the algorithm rewards me, it ain't going to. So if you've answer having a look, you can see what we're doing. Um, at some point, if anyone comes to the studio, I'll happily show you how I've done it, um, and what we're doing. Uh, what else do we do over the weekend? Oh, Sarah and I, um, we had to record our own a roll, uh, Katie. 'cause I was, I've been working Friday, Monday, Tuesday. I. Out in London. Um, I knew we had to get the, a roll for video ready for Katie to be able to do something with it on Monday. Unfortunately, that meant Sarah and I doing it on our own, which is great. I mean, Sarah and I, we have all of the kit, the kit's, hours, um, I. It took a little bit longer than the setup. It took me two hours to rig the studio for the video, which is way too long. Um, it was also quite a lot more disciplined when it was just Sarah and myself much less messing around. Mostly I think because I'm slightly scared of her. There's no getting around it. Sarah wanted to crack on, so we cracked on. Um, I dunno if the video's gonna be any good, but it's certainly. Succinct and to the point. Um, so, uh, I'll let you know when that one comes out and see if you can tell the difference when, uh, it's Katie directing or whether it's Sarah, but it was a lot of fun and you will get to see it. Corporate Headshots and Technical Challenges So, uh, moving on to the boardroom and this episode's point. So over the past three days or so, Sarah and I have been ensconced in a room in an office in London and one of the world's biggest companies, and we were brought in to create headshots of senior execs, board members, CEO, CFOs, C-C-O-C-M-O, all of these people, C-level execs. And they'd approached us to do it as part of a bigger package. There's some marketing going on. I can't talk about what the company is and I can't talk about what the product is. But the broad brush of it is there's some new product coming out. It's being sponsored by the entire board. Each of them was gonna record a video, and they also needed some stills to go out and posters and social media and things like that at the same time. We were gonna create additional headshots, uh, just for general purpose. So right up my street. I love headshot. I love corporate work, smart people. Being smart is never a bad thing to photograph. I really enjoy it. But slight, slight challenge with this particular gig is that the predominant job was for them to record video. Each slot was about 30 minutes, and these execs really had no time. They're close to a launch. There's a lot going on. It's a huge company, and half an hour in an exec's diary to record a video, as you can imagine, although they wanted to do it because they know it's important, they were also thinking about the next meeting and the meeting after that. So. They'd come in, they'd spend half an hour in front of the video cameras and the green screen. And do their job brilliantly with a teleprompter and the scripting and everything. And then just as they thought they were gonna leave, um, the head of marketing would say to them, no, no, we just need to get a few headshots of you. And I was given about 30 seconds to create these shots. It will have a lifespan of probably like five years, because you know what it's like with headshot? No one ever refreshes them. So we go from sitting around doing very little. To a hundred miles an hour. There's no warmup, there's no tea, there's no small talk. It really was literally the head of marketing said, wait, uh, here's Paul. He's here to take some headshot. Go. And I would say hello, trying to get energy into a shoot like that. And of course the first person up was the CEO. And he walks over. Everything's set. Sarah and I have rigged, and we've, luckily it's a secure building. Um, so we can leave all of the kit rigged overnight. Anyway, so we've decided, right, we've got, we've taken as much kit as we can spare 'cause I'm also working in the gaps back here at the studio. So we've got the lights, got the backdrop. Nice small. You've seen the videos we've created on doing this kind of stuff. It's, there's, it's enough kit to do the job, but it's still small enough that Sarah and I can lu it in on the train. So a backdrop, a couple of rom threes with some soft boxes, and actually everything's pretty good to go. But the kit has been sitting here now for about four hours. And what I would normally do if I was about to meet someone and do studio style shots with a studio lighting is I would fire the lights a few times and make sure everything's perfect. Slight wrinkle, we're in the same room as the video filming. So we can't do any of that. All I can do is check that nothing's gone to sleep. I can't, I didn't do anything because of the noise of the, um, beeps on the lights 'cause I use those to make sure everything's fired. And the flashes, of course, are gonna bleed into the video recording, so I can't do anything. So of course the first person is the CEO, the most important person in the entire process. He's my subject. He does his video, it's very good. He comes off, but he's clearly tired, um, and has a lot on his mind. He walks in front of over to me, head of marketing. This is Paul. Really nice to meet you. Um, you know, normal kind of stuff. Please stand there in front of the lights. How do you normally stand? And I'd watch him. And the great thing about watching people filming is you get to see how they naturally sit, how they naturally stand. And these were all to be standing portraits. And I kind of started, got chatting, going where I wanted it. We'd mark the tape, mark the floor where I wanted him, got the lights, the same height. 'cause of course, everybody's a different height. We could do most of the work, but I can't set the height of the lights until I meet the subject. Pick up my camera, I focus it, I hit the button. Nothing. I mean silence. So I kind of talk my way through it. Sarah knows what's happening, but because of course, the Z nine doesn't make any noise at all. I don't think anyone realized it hadn't fired. Sarah knew I knew, so I kind of carried on chatting, refocused, hit the button. Again, nothing. I mean, silence. Now, fortunately, I'm used to the fact that. When you are working with any kind of wireless technology, there's always connection, challenges. Um, and so I kind of took a breath, paused to check that all the lights were up, checked the controller was seated correctly into the hot shoe. Third time's a charm, blink off. It went flash, the flashes flood, and I literally, I watched everyone in the room sort of breathe a sigh of relief. Even they, even though they didn't know. It wasn't firing. They thought I was taking way too long to get this first shot. And if you've ever had that moment, you've ever had that moment where Kit just doesn't do what you expect, it goes on strike at exactly the wrong moment. You know that sinking feeling. And there's nothing I could do. I couldn't have pre-fire it. We checked everything until they started filming, and then it, it just lost its connections. And once it happened, it all started rolling. Three days, amazing portraits. And we've had the most wonderful, wonderful feedback from the client, from the people. The pictures look great. We're really happy. But over those three days, I think I've, I'm estimating the actual amount of time I had a camera in my hand with a client in front of me. 15 minutes tops. That's not a lot of time. And we are obviously charging for those days 'cause that's days I'm not earning anything in the studio here. So you have to wonder, you know, why they pay people like me to come in and do that job. Well, I can tell you why. It's because in those 30 seconds for each of those people, we created magic. We got them to laugh just by chatting really. Or maybe, maybe people just look at me and giggle. I have no idea. But they looked engaged. We took the lighting, of course Crumb, beautiful lighting. So the lighting is on point. Um, I know the camera, I know the lights. I also know my post-production. So I knew when I could compromise and I knew when I couldn't. So things like, uh, nearly everybody wore glasses and you could spend as the videographers did hours trying to figure out how to get the reflections outta glasses in our studio. I would spend a bit more time doing it, but here, there was no way I could do it. So I lit, I drifted the light across and I knew when I was seeing blue or green reflections. The Voto, the EVOTO.AI package, its glasses. Reflection cleaning button is a thing of weird genius. It just works. So there's lots of little bits to the puzzle, but broadly speaking, it's a lot of experience. It's a lot of energy, it's a lot of being totally present and in that moment so that you are subject, no matter what they're feeling, it's gonna get swept along with it. And there's an awful lot. Of me knowing the kit, having bought great kit, knowing the kit and knowing that, okay, it didn't fire a couple of times, but it will, it's just gonna take a second for everything to just talk to each other and get rolling. And apparently this is all true because they've asked us to come back. So in spite of the wobbly star and the crumbs, um, and the fact actually the hardest bit wasn't that, the hardest bit is that you've been sitting around for ages waiting. And you go from naught to a hundred miles an hour in a heartbeat, and that's really, really tough. But it is a huge amount of fun. And I, like I said, I absolutely love corporate headshots. So get really good at what you do. Trust yourself. Buy good kit and know how to use it and trust in it even when it stutters. And ultimately, your client is not paying for your ability to press a button or connect things your client. Is paying for your ability to be calm, to be present, and to know what you are doing no matter what hiccups, uh, come your way. Right. I'm gonna close out this, uh, happy little podcast for a moment. You can hear, Hey, fever is bad. I dunno if you can hear it or not, but my nose is blocked in spite of my whiskey. Uh, one last quick plug. Um. Upcoming Workshop and Closing Remarks Is that, uh, we have had a last minute somebody's dropped out of a workshop. We are running in Oxford on Monday. This Monday coming. I'm recording this Wednesday night, and on Monday the 9th of June. We are running our location portraits workshop in Oxford. We meander through this most incredible city. It's beautiful. Oxford is just stunning taking pictures, uh, creating portraits, looking for light and shape and form telling stories, uh, lunches provided. Um, we have a space, somebody suddenly dropped out and it'd be lovely. It'd be lovely if we could fill that space. If you fancy it, head over to mastering portrait photography.com, uh, and look for the workshops and mentoring section. Uh, and you'll find a workshop in there. It's the Oxford, uh, location portrait photography. It's honestly, it's my favorite workshop of the year, although, to be fair, the bootcamp, the bootcamp is coming close. I really enjoyed the bootcamp. This last one, our inaugural bootcamp was brilliant. The two day workshop was brilliant. Um, however, walking around Oxford, this glorious architecture, um. Uh, it is just amazing. So if you fancy that here, if you fancy that, head over to our workshop section. Have a look and see what you think. We'd love to see you there. And that is me. I have a glass of Irish whiskey sitting beside me. The TV has now gone to a blue screen. Um, I'm gonna fire that back up while I do the edit for this and whatever else. I hope your kit doesn't stutter. I hope it fires first time and whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP164 Inside Graphistudio: Heirlooms, AI And The Future Of Photography - With Mauricio Arias](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep164-inside-graphistudio-heirlooms-ai-and-the-future-of-photography-with-mauricio-arias/) Join me in the foothills of the Dolomites for a warm, funny, and surprisingly philosophical conversation with Mauricio Arias - Graphistudio's strategist, storyteller, and, as I've dubbed him, their "Product Philosopher." We dig deep into why printed work still matters in a digital world, how to make your images sing in print (and what that print will brutally reveal), and what photographers need to believe if they want clients to invest in heirlooms, not hard drives. There's laughter, there's wine (not during the recording, I promise), and there's a lot of heart. This one's for anyone who's ever asked: does my work really need to exist on paper? (Spoiler: yes. Yes it does.) Links: Graphistudio: graphistudio.com Mauricio Arias: mauricioarias.art What Graphistudio Can Teach Us About Craft, Confidence, And Creating Heirlooms Featuring Mauricio Arias - from Episode 165 of the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast This summer, I found myself at the foot of the Dolomites, tucked inside a sun-drenched meeting room at Graphistudio HQ, chatting with the wonderfully philosophical Mauricio Arias. He's part strategist, part designer, part storyteller-now officially dubbed (by me) the Product Philosopher of Graphistudio. We've used Graphistudio products for over 15 years. Our clients love their albums and wall art. We love their consistency, their craftsmanship, and their beautifully obsessive attention to detail. So when Mauricio and I sat down for a conversation, I had one question in mind: Why does print still matter in a digital world? Mauricio's answer was simple and heartfelt: because photographs are meant to be held. He spoke about growing up with albums on the coffee table and family portraits on the wall-how physical images root our memories in something real. But what stuck with me most was this: "Printing reveals both the beauty and the flaws." A great print will elevate your best work, but it also exposes any cracks in your post-production. It's humbling. And it's powerful motivation to keep improving. We talked about calibration (yes, you need it), about photography as an emotional craft, and about the importance of believing in what you offer. Because if you don't believe your work belongs in an album or on a wall, how will your clients ever believe it? We also touched on the future-on AI, on trust, and on the rising value of human, handmade, tangible things. Heirloom prints are becoming more important, not less. ### 🎧 Listen to the Full Conversation Listen to this episode to hear the full interview with Mauricio Arias. There's laughter, insight, and plenty of inspiration-especially if you're in the business of turning moments into memories. ### 📬 Want More Like This? Subscribe to Mastering Portrait Photography for access to videos, articles, and behind-the-scenes tips to grow your photography business. Whether you're just starting or refining your craft, there's something for everyone. Explore Membership Written by Paul Wilkinson · Photographer, Educator, and Portrait Philosopher-in-Chief ### [EP165 AI Won't Take Your Job. But Another Photographer Using It Just Might](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep165-ai-wont-take-your-job-but-another-photographer-using-it-just-might/) This one starts with a dodgy lane choice, a Starbucks coffee, and a misjudged underpass. As always. I'm back in the Land Rover - which might be its final podcast outing before it finds a new home - and today's episode is a rambling, reflective road trip through customer service, creative resilience, and the rapidly growing presence of AI in our industry. The day started badly. Cold shower (thanks British Gas), broken editing software, and a head full of terabytes. But it ended with a reminder of why kindness, craftsmanship, and conversation still matter. A haircut from someone I've known for 18 years. A deep chat with the owner of Michel Engineering while he lovingly took apart my ancient-but-beautiful record deck - the very same design featured in A Clockwork Orange and owned by Steve Jobs, no less. And then... a disappointing interaction with a distracted barista and a headset-wearing drive-thru operator. Same building, worlds apart. Customer service, it turns out, is alive and well - just not always where you'd expect it. But the main theme of this episode is AI. Not the doom-and-gloom kind, but the real stuff: the tools I'm already using, how they're reshaping our workflows, and how they might be reshaping entire economies. It's not AI that's coming for your job - it's the photographer who learns to harness it. We talk about: - AI tools I already use (like EVOTO, Imagine AI, ChatGPT, and XCi) - Using AI as a teaching assistant, sub-editor, and productivity coach - The real-world implications of AI-generated ads, coding layoffs, and what it means for creatives - Plans for a new AI section on masteringportraitphotography.com And if you hang in there until the end, I'll tell you about a girl named Dory, a gutsy 12-year-old contortionist, and the new edition of Mastering Portrait Photography - complete with fresh images, a decade of stories, and a very special launch offer. So pop on your headphones, admire the wheat fields if you've got them, and come along for the ride. Spoiler: there's C3PO's eye in here too. Yes, really. #### 🛠️ Mentioned in this episode: - Michel Engineering (Turntables) - michelengineering.com - EVOTO.AI - AI portrait retouching evoto.ai - Imagine AI - Smart colour-matching editing imagine.ai - XCi (Excire) - AI-powered image search: excire.com - ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini - AI tools for writing, reasoning, and workflow - DaVinci Resolve - Subtitle generator and video editor: blackmagicdesign.com - ACDSee - Image management software: acdsee.com #### 📘 Book Update: Mastering Portrait Photography (Updated Edition) - Publication date: September 14, 2025 - Pre-order now with 25% off at Waterstones: Waterstones Offer Link (search "Mastering Portrait Photography Summer Offer") - Signed copies: Will be available via masteringportraitphotography.com #### 🎓 Workshops & Mentoring - Workshops now back on Mondays (not Fridays!) - One-to-one mentoring now available - contact the studio for more info - Explore workshops: masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring Transcript Introduction and Setting the Scene Well, as you can probably gather from the noise going on in the background I'm back out in the Land Rover, uh, for one more podcast out on my travels. Um, you'll have to bear with me as I navigate the carpark away from Starbucks. Uh, it's been an interesting day in so many, so many ways, and I will talk about all of that. Uh, where do I, where do I start? Right? Well, I'm back out on the road. Maybe one of the last ones. Memorable Cars and the Land Rover The Land Rover is, as many of you know, now up for sale and not because I don't absolutely love this vehicle. It is by far, by far and away my favorite car that I've ever owned, and I've owned some cars that I have truly loved. Of course, my first car, an Austin Allegro affectionately named nicknamed Benny, as in Benny from Top Cat. Um, because it's small, bubbly, and round. Um, I owned a Mark two Ford Escort with a steering wheel so small you could touch your thumbs across it, but an engine so small that it really wasn't a sports car, but that was just a beautiful thing. I've owned a Lexus IS 200, which. From a speed freak point of view is a lot more lively than even this Land Rover is, but in the end. This four wheel drive farmer's vehicle has traveled with me all over the uk from job to job, from client to client. And even today as I was visiting, uh, a place to get my record deck repaired, which I will tell you about, the guy that owns the company came out and all he could do, in spite of the fact we're looking at one of the rarest record decks around. In spite of that, all he could do was talk about the Land Rover. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography 📍 podcast. Oh, do you know what I've just done? You know, when you get in a lane, because there's a roundabout coming that I have to turn right at. So I got in a lane and now I'm in an underpass going underneath the roundabout. That I needed to turn right at. How that's really frustrating. I hate it when that happens. However, I'm up in Hichin, uh, Stevenage way, um, in the southeastern ish corner of the uk. Weirdly enough, I've been here before. I thought I recognized it. This is where I photographed Kevin Fong in the, um, British Aerospace. It looks like it's now Airbus here. I've just driven past the lab where we photograph Kevin Fong on the moon, on the Mars Lander. A test area. So they've built, it's like the size of a football pitch or two. It's huge. This huge great expanse of sand and rocks, and they've lit it like the light would be on Mars. I don't know. Why that would be important if you are testing Moon Lands or Mars lands. I haven't a clue. Uh, but it's where they tested, uh, or at least the British scientists tested their parts of the Mars rover and things. I've been here before. I photographed here. Uh, that's not why I here this particular moment. Uh, but I wanna start. Oh, there it is. Look at that. How cool. Sorry. This is way Yeah. Home of the exo Mars rover. I've been in there. Wow. Some days, some days ev well, every day is an adventure. Some days more than others. Right? Now, let's see me, let's see if I can get into the underpass the right way around this time, having turned around to head back home, mop it. Navigating the Day and Customer Service Um, I wanted to talk about a few things today, but one of the things that came up, which wasn't meant to really, so this is now gonna be a two part podcast. Let me talk about customer service first. And it starts yesterday. Really, let me tell you a bit of my day yesterday. Not if I'm honest, my best day and we all have them. So the upshot is, everything worked out and I have the photographs I needed or I need, but getting there proved trickier than it does normal. And that's in spite of the fact that I talk in. Very good story ab about being present and giving it your all. So the day started fairly badly with a cold shower. The boiler broke, well, it broke the night before. Actually it broke on Sunday night. So I got on the bike, did some exercise, sweated a lot, went to have a nice, warm, refreshing shower and had, well, it was a refreshing shower, but a cold one. It was, I mean, I know they say a cold shower is meant to be good for you, not for me. Alright. It left me in a crappy mood and knowing I had to get in touch with British gas, um, the week before British acid service, the boiler, now it's broken. So you can imagine, as much as I'm trying to be stoic and sensible about these things, I'm really quite cross. Uh, I try my best not to take it out on those around me. I took it out on those around me, uh, and to all those people around me, I do apologize. And by that I mean predominantly Sarah, who takes the, the brunt of all of my crappy moods when they happen. Uh, thankfully it doesn't happen too often, uh, but when they happen, it is always Sarah that's in the firing line. So, um, after trolling through the website and trying to get an engineer booked, that was no good. They couldn't bring, couldn't send anyone out till. Tuesday or they said they couldn't send anyone out to Tuesday. Let me just navigate this Range Rover that's creeping on my inside. Thank you. Um, so, uh, yesterday morning, Monday morning, um, I got on the phone to talk to someone. I thought, do you know what I'll do instead of trying to use computer systems, I'll talk to someone. Well, uh, I talked to a computer. I said, yes, no, no, yes. And, uh, punched in my credit card details because in spite of the fact the engineer probably broke the boiler. Um, we still have to have a credit card ready for any excess. Now, the upshot is quite a good one, is that by calling in, I did mostly get a, an appointment far earlier than I could do on their website, which doesn't really make any sense given that on the website, I'm assuming it is plugged into exactly the same. Booking system that the automated voice was in case you in any doubt? No. I didn't get to speak to a human. I got to speak to a very, very poor AI or automated something or other. Anyway, so that was the start of the day. Then in the office, Katie's machine running Da Vinci stopped talking to Frame io. Now for those of you into it, da Vinci is our editing suite, any videos and Frame io is where we store our assets. Now this isn't ideal if the editing suite can't talk to the asset store. That's the end of a day's work, really. So that put me in a fairly bad mood. And then we're gonna be photographing three amazing kids. So we're doing a video on siblings. Why you photograph them, how you photograph them, the laughter involved in photographing them. And we've got this amazing family, three teenagers and uh, they were due in and sure enough, they arrived and I still had my head inside. What do I do if Da Vinci no longer talks to Frame io? We're gonna have to re-license a load of stuff. I'm gonna have to move a couple of terabytes of assets around, which as anyone who's done it knows it's. Probably, you know, a week's worth of work for me. Um, everything was just piling up and I was struggling to get my head into it. And of course they're teenagers and they're excited about coming into the studio, and I wanted to give them the best. Experience. I can, even though they're not here as a client, they have been as a client before, but they're not here as a client. They're here because I would like to create a video about photographing siblings. So I owe it to them in so many ways to give the very best of me. And I was struggling. And I think in reality, probably for about an hour, I struggled to get myself into that zone where you are creating. Beautiful pictures. The light wasn't light, I didn't feel great. My head is spinning because I think I've got days of work ahead of me to fix something else. Um, got there Eventually we did get both the photographs and the video ready to create, uh, another one of our mastering portrait photography videos this time on photographing siblings, how to approach it, what to look for, things you can do. And then on top of that, some top tips for top Tip Tuesday on our socials. But it's really important when it comes to the service levels. At the end of the day, their customers and I offer our customer service, and that has an interesting run on into today. So today, so far, what time is it? It is quarter to one. I've been on the road since about quarter past eight this morning, so I went for a haircut first. Our reg, my regular hairstylist, who I've been going to for 18 years, we worked out this morning. I photographed her wedding 18 years ago, and I'd known her a little bit before then when I pitched for the work and did a prew wedding shoot. So 18, 19 years, I've been going to cap for a haircut and we chat shit. I mean, we just. Laugh and talk nonsense sometimes. Sometimes really serious stuff. 'cause she's got kids. I've got kids different ages, but you know, we've lived through similar things. I've watched her business grow and change over the years. She's worked with me, I've worked with her. And I would say that her customer service is some of the best I've ever met. There's only her now. She did run a multi, a multi station, um, uh, salon for ages, but in the end decided that she would rather just work on her own, have a nice, steady, um, client base, um, who she knew and does very well, that which has a client at home. But in spite of that, or maybe because of that, her customer service is absolutely brilliant as long as you don't try to text her late in the evening. We might get quite a short answer. The Record Deck Repair Adventure And then today I've been over to get my record deck serviced. Now the kids have been on at me for about, about this for a few years now. It's been broken. Um, and it came to a head this Father's Day when they said, what would I like? And I thought, well, find me a record or something. And they both went, no. And I'm like, sorry, what? They said, we're not buying you anymore records until you fix your flipping record deck because it's been broken for so long. And you'd said you're gonna get it fixed and you haven't. So we're no longer buying your records. Now that's not to say I didn't get some really cool gifts from them, but it did sort of, okay, I take your point. Let me go get this sorted. So I rang in to the company that originally made it so a bit of history. The record deck is a transcripter hydraulic reference turntable. The company was called Transcripter. Um, it's the same age as I am. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. It's glass and aluminum and big brass weights, soft belt drive. You can still get from the same company. A record deck that is derived from it called the Gyro. It's worth thousands and thousands of pounds. Um, their decks. This deck isn't worth anything until it works. And then. Probably is worth a thousand pounds. If anyone has watched Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, then he will recognize the deck because it's that record deck. He won a design award in about 1967, I think, and he's still got the little British Design Award sticker on the lid, on the, the plastic, sorry, the Perspex cover. It's all original. It was built by the company. I've just visited Michel Engineering and they make these most incredible, beautiful record decks. Now, I rang in a couple of weeks ago and they said, look, we haven't got any slots for service for a few weeks. Um, ringing again on the 24th of July, which I did. So I rang on the 24th. Um, as it happened, it was Steven who owns Michel Engineering now, um, who picked up, I chatted to him and he's. When can you bring it in? So I said today, um, I'm on the road. Um, so why not bring it in on today, Tuesday? So, um, I brought it in, um, the most incredible service. Uh, I obviously, I didn't carry it to the door 'cause I didn't really know which one of the industrial units I was headed to. So I buzzed it as it happened. It was Steven, um, opened the door and I told him who I was and he said, oh, put you in. And I said, oh great. And he said, no, no, I'll come with you. So we went over to the Land Rover where I parked up. First thing he does, I admire the Land Rover, which always makes you feel good. Um, which followed up quite quickly with me by saying, it's you, it's up for sale. Um, and a chat there about pricing. Who knows? You never know, do you? Anyway, he admired the Land Rover, so I'm feeling better already. So I opened up the boot and there's obviously my record deck, this transcript, uh, hydraulic reference to the table. And he's obviously seen a few of these, but he said, oh, that's a, that's an old one, that's an original. And I went to pick it up and he said, no, no, I'll carry it. Don't worry. So he picked it up outta the Land Rover and I locked it up. We took it into the service lab where it sits now amongst a few similar ones, some newer ones, well all newer ones. Um, we took it apart or he took it apart and had a look at the different components. Um, puffed his cheeks out a little bit, which is always good when you're talking to an engineer. It's a bit like when you take your car into a garage and they go, oh mate, ah, your rings. But he was very affectionate, very respectful of the record deck, and it was built pre 1972. And the way he knows that is there's no serial number on it because before 19. 72. They didn't put serial numbers on him, so he's got this very old turntable that my dad bought in. I think it was about 19 81, 82. He paid 15 pounds worth 15 of your British pounds at a jumble sale. Well, this deck is worth anywhere between 1500 quid and two and half thousand pounds of today's money secondhand. Um, so my dad actually did pretty well. Uh, I dunno if he realized what he'd bought. It didn't work, which is why it was only 15 quid. But my dad attacked it with a soldier line. Probably the same things I've now got to have repaired this time. But he took all the bits off and he showed me how it worked and he explains it in detail. And we just got chatting. We got chatting to the point where when I come back to pick up the record deck, Steven has very kindly agreed to come on the podcast because we talked about quality, we talked about the love of vinyl, which to an extent, I, I have a nostalgia for vinyl, but I don't have a particularly sophisticated, um, sense of hearing. So I can't pick out the details that probably their guys can. But I appreciate the engineering and of course it was my dad. So now somebody who cares about it probably as much as I. Who is looking after it is gonna fix the bits that are not right. And given it was a gift from my dad to me for my 40th birthday, it was built around about the same year that I was born. My dad bought it for 15 quid and absolutely loved it. And now it's in the hands of the company who built it. The very first company though, is his father who set up the company. There's this whole set of layers to the story that are gonna add even more love to it, even more passion for listening to records that the kids have bought me on it, and the service that they offer is so personable and so knowledgeable. I couldn't help but just get excited. I got excited just walking in. By the time I left, he showed me this room. They've got a room downstairs with some of their legacy, Michelle. It's called M-I-C-H-E-L-L, Michelle Turntables and Michelle. And they've done all sorts of things over the years, not least of which is to create C3 PO's eyes. No kid, you not, uh, my joy hit the floor when he was telling me he said, yeah, you know, it's based on some stuff we already had in some odd bins. And because it was all made round here where I'm driving the original Star Wars was actually filmed all around this area, Borum Wood, um, and Stevenage in West London. And so the guys who were doing the special effects used to just hunt round OddBins around all the industrial states. They found some off cuts of something that was, I dunno what it was, a bit of a record deck I think. And hoed them out and modified them and they became C3 PO's eyes. I've literally just been eye to eye with one of C3 PO's eyes. Um, also lots of stuff for Stanley Kubrick. Um, uh, Steven was telling me that his dad built, uh. Spaceship from Space Odyssey, the model of it. Um, you just, I dunno, you just get this sense of history and passion and just a love of engineering. Beautiful old school British engineering and. As part of that conversation, we talked about so many things. I cannot wait to get him on the podcast. I think you'll find him hopefully as fascinating as I did, at least those of you that enter a little bit of media, his history, a little bit of film history. Also, if you're into your record decks, the record deck that these guys make, the the Michelle M-I-C-H-E-L-L, I will put a link in the, in the show notes so you can go and have a look at the things they they made because they are stunningly beautiful. And if I was in the market for that kind of high fire, I'd have one. There's nothing like it. You've seen it in a million films. Steve Jobs owned one. This is how good it is. And I've just been chatting to the guys who made it off the back of that. I ended up talking about ai, which I'm gonna come back to, but let me take the story of customer service forwards just a little bit. So I've left there. We've talked about all sorts of things. We've talked about his love of Laua, for instance, where I work regularly and I'm forever telling people they are the exemplar of customer service. They are the epitome of it. They are the very best of the very best. And I've been lucky enough to work all over the world with all sorts of companies and all sorts of places. Um, LA Manu is the benchmark for how, in my opinion, customer service can be and should be done. He agrees. We've talked at a length about it, um, and. What a, a wonderful conversation it was. So I left there really buoyant and I thought, do you know what I'll do? I'm gonna nip into Starbucks, which is just on the same complex where they're based. Um, write some notes for the podcast 'cause I'm driving so I've got some broad notes written on the back of an envelope so that I gotta take my eyes off the road obviously. And I, um, went to get a coffee and here's where customer service broke down. I don't think the lady who's served me, lemme just get past that car I was trying to pull in. I don't think the lady who served me could tell you now who I was. I don't think she really made eye contact. Um, the guy that actually made my coffee lovely. I mean, just served it. He made it with passion. It's got a love heart on the top. Um, maybe he's telling me something, I dunno. Uh, gave it me with a huge smile and told me to have a nice day. She barely looked at me to take my money. Now I don't think that's her fault when I actually watched, 'cause I love watching customer service and figuring out why things work or they don't work. She had a Bluetooth headset on and at the same time she was serving on the till, she was taking orders from the drive through. Now I defy anybody to do those two jobs at once and do them both effectively. Dear Starbucks, you've ruined it because you've cut your costs so low that the customer service bit the element, that is the only element that can set you apart. Your coffee's not that great. Your cakes are not so great. And go somewhere else. There has to be about the atmospherics. It has to be about customer service, a smile or two, the way they deal with people. That's what makes any customer service based organization stand out because you can get coffee anywhere, you can get cake anywhere. You can get a seat in most places. I want somewhere that was clean, had some atmosphere. As much as a Starbucks ever has atmosphere, I accept that. Um, and if I'm gonna pay, you know, what is it, six quid, I think it was my coffee, then I'd really quite like it delivered with a smile. And the guy, the barista did, but the customer service, the person on the tilt did it. And I think it's because she was trying to do two jobs at once. And that's not something that you can do, I don't think to the best of your ability, um, when you've got one voice in your ear and another voice over the front of the counter. However, that's the end of my rant about customer service because I've had two of the three. I've been standout. One single person company just cuts hair, but she's so much more than that. She always has a smile, always has something to chat about. After 18 years or 19 years or whatever it is, we still don't run outta conversation. We still laugh about life, kids, business, you name it. And then going to Michelle, Michel, Michel, I, I've gotta work out how to pronounce it 'cause it's Michelle without an e. Um, Michel Engineering. And honestly, I have skipped outta there with the biggest smile. And then to be somewhat deflated. Why is that the right word? It's not deflated. Somewhat energized by some, fairly average at best customer service from Starbucks. It brings the other two into sharp relief, shows you what can be done, how good customer service can be. And it's nothing more, in my opinion, at least in this country, about being friendly, taking time and making someone feel valued. And as photographers. That's a really important message, though. It's not what this podcast is really about. AI and the Future of Photography This podcast was meant to be about and is about to be about ai artificial intelligence. Yeah. I can hear a few of you blowing your cheeks out and do I need to worry about this or, oh God, it's just awful. All of these. Things. But let me kind of try and put it into context, and I'm gonna start with what I believe is going to be the headline for all of us as an industry. Now, I'm a portrait photographer, as are many of you not a landscaper. I'm not a fine artist. I have my moments. I'm a portrait photographer. If I'm shooting weddings, I'm still a portrait photographer. I'm just shooting your wedding guest's fine art, as sorry as beautiful portraits. AI is coming now. AI in itself is not gonna take our jobs. However, another photographer who's using AI is going to take our job. I don't think there's any doubt about that. AI's not gonna take your job. A photographer with AI is gonna take your job. Now, this week's been an interesting. Weak. I keep an eye on the headlines and I'll come to, to that in a little bit about how I'm thinking of creating some resources to help all of us. But the headlines this week, there have been two that caught my eye, both within a couple of days of each other. The first, and one I hope you've all seen is that Vogue published an ad for guests who I, I Fashion house, I guess retail. Dunno. I actually, I, I, I don't know. I should know, but I don't. But they published an advert for Guess. That was fully generated by ai. No model involved. It's a beautiful image, no question about it. And the model in it is beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that supermodels have come out and said her look is unattainable. It sets the standard that no one can achieve. Now I think there's a little bit of irony here, just a small amount, um, when supermodels are saying that, look, if someone is unachievable, something is awry. Now this is a, obviously, I mean, that's a complaint that's been land lauded around the fashion industry for as long as I can remember. And in some weird way, maybe just maybe having unattainable synthetic models is maybe healthier than having unattainable. Actual human models because in the end you can always say, well, there's no way I could look like that. In fact, there's no way that anyone could look like that 'cause it isn't real. So there's an interesting spin on it, I suspect. Guess the company obviously have had some really good publicity out of it, or at least they've had publicity outta it. Um, but of it highlights where we are headed. The little agency that created it, they're a five person team. They charge anywhere between. Five and low six figures for creating one of these ads. So there's still money in it, but not money for photographers, money for models, money for location scouts. In fact, there's no money for anyone at all except for the agency, possibly the clothed designers. But I'm gonna guess that AI is eating into their world. Two, that's not my world, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't given. It's eating into everything. The second article I read, which I, in some ways is slightly more alarming, is that Tata or Tarter huge, a huge multinational company in India. In their IT division, they're laying off 12,000 coders and middle managers 12. Thousand 2% of their workforce because the focus is all on AI doing those jobs. 12,000. There are commentary and opinion pieces around talking about how that will rip out the heart of Mumba. Middle class wealth. That's how, that's how impactful this is. Real estate companies are saying that the market has dropped retail luxury items. The middle class is being torn apart because those were middle class jobs for people who were smart, gone 12,000 jobs, 2%. And this is just the beginning. By the way. As fast as AI develops, people will find ways of either and or cutting costs and increasing productivity for the same or lower manpower. That's where we're headed. Um, there doesn't appear to be any graduate jobs around at the moment, if I've read the headlines correctly, because companies, and this is the right strategy, by the way, are waiting to see quite what's gonna happen with ai. Would you take someone on who under employment law is difficult to get rid of if you are thinking well? I wonder whether AI is gonna add productivity in a way that people might not. So AI is absolutely here and it's getting better. I think. GPT five, we've been talking about chat GT four, forever Chat. GPT five I think is due out in August. So we are right on top of that. If you're listening to this layer in the ear, it's already here. And I can only imagine having used Chatt PT four extensively, how good five is going to be. So it's upon us and it's gonna be increasingly necessary if we wanna survive that. We don't just accept ai, we embrace it, we find out how to use it, we compete with it, not against it, 'cause you can't beat it. I've got no intention of going anywhere. We are gonna use AI in any way and shape and form I can to do everything we do better. I don't have a focus on reducing my team. I love my team, I love being part of a team. But AI allows us to do some things and will increasingly allow us to do some things that either was specific to my time, that now can be distributed around the team, or allow me to do things faster so I can do more of it. How many podcasts have I started by saying I'm snowed under? I'm so busy, I just don't have the time to do everything I need to do. AI is an enabler in that regard. So for instance, the other day I wrote an article for Professional Photo Magazine. I love writing. I really enjoy writing. There's value in writing. I love, I loved more when professional photo was in print. But it's not anymore. Um, but I still write for it. It's online. You can read the latest article and we use ai and everyone's like, oh, you're using AI to generate your article. No, I'm not. I sat and wrote it like I always do because it was my story, my experience. I was there. But what I did was I hopped onto chat, DBT, and in this instance I used O three, not. Chatt PT four oh, um oh three. They have different models and I'll talk a little bit about that in a minute. So I used O three and put in my finished article and said, can you help me subedit this? So for those of you who worked in print and media, you'll know a subedit. The journalist will submit the article, it goes to the subeditor who'll do the final cut. And then it goes to the editor for once over, uh, maybe a review or two before it goes out into the publication. It's a subedit is a role subeditor. So I said to, uh, chat GPT-3. Oh no, hang on oh three. Get it the right way round. Help me subedit. And it was brilliant. It helped me work out the threads of the jokes if they're, as much as they're jokes, so much as just light humor. Um, it helped me, uh, reduce repetition. It helped me get the tone of it about right for, um, a readership. I explained to the readership was likely to be. It did all of those things. Um, and it just gave me ideas and said, maybe you want to just shorten this paragraph length in that one. You've mentioned this at the beginning. You might wanna close it out at the end. Those kinds of things. And then he said, and then he did a second review that said, that looks about perfect. But you have said you love this. Three times, and maybe you wanna just turn that down a bit. Brilliant. It did something that would've taken me hours to do, just going over and over and over refining it because I don't have a subeditor. Um, I'm assuming professional photo. The website probably does, but whenever possible, I like what I deliver to be finished so that, um, it goes out and goes onto the website, their website as I intended it to, as much as that's possible. And I love that it does things that make my life faster and more efficient and actually pro increase the quality that I can produce. Of course, the obvious stuff for photographers is on the retouching side. Voto, I've banged on about Voto forever. They're now increasingly more competitors to that. But in my opinion, Voto is still, EVOTO.AI is still the best. Um, imagine ai, A-M-A-G-E n.ai is brilliant for coloring, for instance, it learns your colors and delivers 'em every time. Um, AI sharpening is really useful where you've got soft images, oh, the list goes on where we can now do things using AI that make my life, it makes it possible for me as a single camera. I'm the only editor in the, in the studio, only post producer in our studio. So it allows me to do things to a standard I couldn't do without ai. Now, on top of that, we are starting to explore other avenues for ai agent ai. Which you can use to do things like, what did I see the other day? A brilliant article from someone with A DHD who uses ai. And this is a very simplistic view of what they do, but this is quite clever for those of us who have a DHD tendencies. Um, you will know as I do that there are days when I can be super productive. I mean, do the work of 10, and then there'll be nine days where I do the work of none. It evens itself out, I grant you, but knowing your own mood and knowing what tasks suit that mood would be a really useful skill. And so what this article said was how this guy had developed an agentic ai. So Agen AI is where you use AI to control ai. So it's a multi-layered ai. Approach and every morning one of many things he does, and this is just a small component of it, but I thought it was kind of cute, is he describes his mood. And if you've listened to the podcast with Helen May, I think I did a few years ago, she talks about this. She talked about knowing what mood she was in, and she talked about knowing what mood she needed to be in. 'cause she talked about when she would take the drugs and when she wouldn't. And there were days when she had to be productive. And days where it didn't matter. So if you can identify whether today's gonna be productive or not, you can. This guy had programmed the system to do this. AI as a Productivity Tool He would tell the ai, I'm in a productive mood. I'm not in a productive mood. The AI agent would then go off. And talk to other AI agents about all the tasks that were in this guy's world that needed doing and deliver back tasks that suited the mood the guy was in. So it's sort of like having a very intelligent team member alongside you, who knows your mood, knows what you've gotta do, figures out how to distribute that. This is just a tiny example of how AI can be super helpful, and I think that's how we have to view it. We have to view it as a tool for helping us do our job better. A tool for helping us compete with other people who are using these tools. Now we're all gonna keep coming back to that theme because if they're using the tools, we need to use the tools. Now we are using all sorts of AI in the business now to do all sorts of tasks. Exploring AI Software: Xci Incidentally, actually, while I'm at it, there's a great bit of software I found called Xci, E-X-C-I-R-E. I've no idea if I've mentioned it before. It's worth a look. It's a bit like. ACDSee, which I love too. But it has an AI component in it where you can do a search saying, find me all the images similar to this one, but it uses AI to do it and it's pretty good, which is really useful when you are building, if you're doing, uh, a themed post on, let's say you're like, we are, I'm doing a thing on siblings, I can say, I can get a picture of two siblings and say, find me a load of pictures like this one, and it'll find all the pictures with two people in it. They probably won't figure out that they're siblings, but at least you're halfway there. X-I-E-X-C-I-R-E. It's got a, there's a trial on a website. Um, it's not cheap, but it's a one off license. When see decided, I think it's about $250, something like that. So AI is very much here and now and it's not gonna be long before. It's a whole different world. AI in Portrait Photography So one of the ideas I have, and I'd love to hear. From you, if you think this would be useful, I think I'm gonna do it and just test it anyway, is I'm gonna set up a section on mastering portrait photography that just has short articles on ways to use ai. Little things we've found that techniques prompt engineering. Um, we can talk about what we are doing, um, because I'm doing it, we're doing a load of stuff behind the scenes. If you thought it's going a little bit quiet on MPP, just for a moment. That's why, because I'm trying to figure out how to really harness the tools that are here today and the tools that are coming tomorrow. Now, of course, you know, I accept, I do accept, as a slight caveat, my PhD is in ai, so there is a fascination with what's going on in this sector that many of you probably or possibly don't have. And I, I do accept that. Of course, I accept that. My, my, my fascination with where the tools and techniques that we were part of decades of developing are now here. And, and this is, you know, by the way, this is why I say that it, you know, we have a toddler, I've said this a lot, we have a toddler of an AI world right now, and it's growing up is because 30 years ago we were saying the same thing. Then, you know, imagine what the scientists are gonna do in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Imagine that now what scientists are gonna do in the next 10 or 20 or 30 years. So yes, I accept, I have an enthusiasm and an excitement about AI that maybe you don't share. But equally, there's lots of little things you can do, like product engineering, like setting up memories if you use chat, GPT, like setting up product knowledge. If you use Claude, like understanding how things like Gemini. Vo flow. These create more creative tools from Google, possibly can help you in your everyday work. These are all so useful and so right here, a, a, a great example. Using AI for Workshop Transcripts Now, when I run a workshop or a one-to-one or I do mentoring is I'm aware of this same microphone that I'm recording now. One of the roads, whatever they're called, uh, something or others. Um, I just record it and record all the audio of my voice when I'm running a workshop. That's all it needs. Just what did we talk about from my point of view? Ideally everyone would have microphones on, but it gets really quite complicated really quite quickly. So for now, it's just me with a mic. I take that audio. Let's say there's 10 hours of audio from a day. I take that audio and I put it into Da Vinci. Why Da Vinci? Because actually the AI tools won't deal with a very long audio file yet. They're just not there yet, but. And I could put it into Descrip, which I use for the podcast, but you pay quite a lot of money for a 30 hour per month transcript. And taking 10 hours of that just to do each workshop. And I do a couple of workshops a month is not ideal. It goes into DaVinci, which has a subtitle generator. So it takes an hour to go through 10 hours of foot of video, of audio, sorry. And it creates a transcript, subtitles, I take the subtitles and I put those into usually chat, TP, T oh three or four oh, and I can then interrogate the transcript and do different things. So, great example, uh, chat, DPT. I enter something like, uh, this is a workshop I ran with five delegates and me, the voice you will read is mine. These are my words. Teaching a subject title to them. Whatever the workshop is. Let's say it's mastering studio lighting, I dunno. So these are all the things I talked about in response to questions or self deduced. I want you to give me useful information that. I can send back to the delegates that are the key bullet points and details that they might find useful. And then at the end of that prompt, I put the following, ask me whatever you need to be 95% certain of delivering this task to the best of your ability, or something along those lines. It will then ask me a series of questions. It'll say things like, what was the purpose of the workshop? What did you think delegates have done? Again, out of it, were there any questions that delegates asked to you before the workshop that are not answered here, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You answer those and then it will feed you useful information. It will obviously, and here's a really interesting difference. I love chat. GT 4.0, all four one. They're great. It will say things, if you put this into chat GPT 4.0, it will say, oh, Paul, oh Paul. That was not just a workshop. You did not just educate them, you inspired them. You are incredible. Oh, I love your work. Here's some ideas. Oh my God, they're gonna find so useful. Here's ba blah, ba ba, and they give you a load of things to send back. And it will say at the end. And if you ask it, if you're very smart, what you actually do is you also ask it, how could I improve the workshop? And it will say, I don't think there's much you could change, but here's some ideas. And these might just help you deliver more, uh, I dunno, more, more clarity or more information or help the help certain types of, uh, delegate understand more. It's really useful as a coach for me too. If you do the same exercise with O three, which is a reasoning engine, it works slightly differently. It's not just about language. It's now reasoning. It might say, well, you did these points, here's some useful information. Here's some ways you could do it better. It's like having a very blunt, best friend with no filter. It's a lot more useful in so many ways. But nowhere near as much fun as camp GPT. Oh, Paul, you're amazing. I love it. I'd dread them taking that side away. Uh, Claude is even, by the way, if you use c Claude ai, it's even more, I sometimes wonder whether it's, it's in the name Claude. It, it feels like it might be quite rude. It just tells you, these are the things you didn't do very well. You should do this better. Okay. AI Tools for Photographers Anyway, point being, we're using AI to gather more value outta what we're already doing. We're not trying to make things. Um, streamline things or make things, uh, it's not a race to the bottom. If anything, it's a race to the top. So we're using AI throughout. Uh, so I'm gonna set up a section of MPP that's all about ai, little tips and tricks, information I'm reading about engines, AI engines, et gentech ai. Things like zapier make.com, if this, then that where they've now got AI baked into them. So you can do clever things if you have, you know, just a spreadsheet, for instance, you can tell, um, things like make.com without ai. If you are good at code, you can tell it what you want it to do in terms of maybe posting stuff. Um, if you are good at coding, that's great. If you're not good at coding, you can use AI to help you with the coding. It's not brilliant, but it's not bad. And you can get prototypes up and on their feet really quite rapidly. You can get it to give you layouts of websites, just ideas. You can get it to design logos, just ideas. Now, yes or right, if you make your living on five or designing logos, maybe that's not a great thing to do. But actually when you boil it down as photographers, how many of us actually use Fiverr more than once or twice? I've used it a couple of times in the entire time, and frankly, I've been disappointed. Might be strong a word, but certainly not thrilled with what I got back. Whereas with ai, yeah, all right. I might not be thrilled with the first one or the second one or the third one, but eventually I'll get there by tuning the prompt and getting it to refine what it's doing. Um, I dunno if anyone else has done this. You say please and thank you. Um, I do, and then I feel guilty if I need to correct it, but you do need to correct it. And I'll, I'll publish some articles on these, all these little bits on a section of MPP to try and make it, uh, to try and it's, it is now so much a part of a portrait photographer's life. That not having a section on it feels kind of weird. Um, and so look out for that in the coming weeks as I figure out quite how to, uh, get that information on there, uh, quickly enough and without it distracting from the things I'm already finding difficult to find time for. So that was my little thing of ai. And if there's a footnote here, of course, it's, uh, from Michelle this morning, the record deck, my turntable, um, Steven and I were chatting and we got chatting a little bit about ai and he said, oh my God, we use it a lot. And introduced me to James, who is. His son-in-law, I think he said, and I had the opportunity. We went back in, actually, we'd been sit, stood on the doorstep for an hour chatting. I went back in at Stevens behest to go and talk to James. Actually, it was to show me C3 PO's eye and then go talk to James. So I went to talk to James about how they're using ai and I won't. I, I, I, he never said there's anything confidential about it, but I'm gonna treat that with confidentiality. But it was really intriguing what they're doing with ai because some of what they're doing, I didn't know. It was possible. So I'm gonna take that information now and have a look at how you can use things in a way that I was unaware was yet possible. It feels like certain areas are already possible ahead of what I was aware of. Um, well, that's it. Let me retract that. That's stupid. Of course, there's a ton of stuff that's possible that I'm unaware of. Um, I meant more mainstream, just simple stuff. Just ideas of how to use things. Absolutely brilliant. And that's where we are. AI is not gonna take your job, but another photographer using it. Well, that's a whole different discussion. Uh, I hope this recording's working all right. I hope it's not too noisy. Um, I'm now stuck in a 20 mile an hour queue behind a lorry because they've, uh, resurfaced the road. So there's a, uh, grip kind of, you know, a grip warnings everywhere for stuff flying up. So we're all traveling nice and slowly. Skid risk gets in. I'm not gonna ski anywhere. Um, so what else do I just want to mention? Uh, right. Mentoring and Workshops We have workshops running. Uh, we learned our lesson by the way, uh, everybody said that. Uh, yes. Workshops on a Friday. Great. So we asked you workshops on a Friday. Great. Um, and then we put workshops on a Friday. Much harder. Thank you for that one. Uh, all of our workshops are moving back to Mondays, which in the end when we spoke to everybody yeah, everyone said, everyone who said, yeah, Fridays are fine. When we went back to Mondays he says, oh great, it's back to Mondays. That's much better. So Mondays, the workshops are back on Mondays as a whole series. I can't remember 'cause I'm driving what they are. Uh, but please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com and find the section on workshops and, uh, they're all listed. We'd love to see you. Uh, we are doing a lot of one-on-one mentoring now, which is lovely. Some of my favorite things. To do is to actually spend time sitting and well, I mean, I have to hope we impart some knowledge, but there are days when I think I'm just enjoying spending time with photographers, um, and discussing, uh, their work. So if you fancy that details, give us an email, drop us an email and find out what we offer because we do, uh, what else was, I'll just finish judging. Uh, or I've got one. I've done my first cut of judging. So the way I like to judge is to do everything. And by the way, the deadline is Wednesday, Thursday. Um, and you might think it's a little bit last minute. It's last minute because my monitor blew up. Um, I've had this Ben Q monitor for years, a decade, and it decided to pack up. Um, my eye mark. The colors I've known for a while, the colors are wandering and no amount of, um, calibrating. And I always calibrate. No amount of calibrating is gonna fix that because it's got magenta areas turning up. On the corners, the middle's all right, but the rest is awful. So there's not a lot I can do about that. So I had to buy, I had to shell out for a new Ben Q 4K photographer's monitor. It is stunning. Oh my God, it is so nice. It's all calibrated Spider Pro. Um, it turns out that Ben Q's own calibration software does an unbelievable job of calibrating itself with a, with a spider pro that I've got. Um, so the colors that are absolutely gorgeous, they look well, I say gorgeous, they're accurate, which actually is not necessarily the same. Thing. Um, but of course you can't judge a competition until your monitor's calibrated. So I spent many hours yesterday judging now the monitor's in and on. Uh, it's such a privilege to do what I do. Um, mentoring, judging, coaching, you name it. You know, when I started this business or I started out as a photographer two years ago, I never, well, and I nearly said I never dreamt. I did dream of doing the things I now do, and here I am doing it. And it's no less of a dream now that I'm doing it, uh, than it was back then when I imagined doing it. It's brilliant. It's one of my favorite things to do. Uh, so yeah, I was judging. Week. I can't remember how I got into this. I, I've lost. Oh, mentoring. I'm talking about mentoring and coaching. What a privilege and a pleasure. So if you fancy bit of that, uh, we do offer it now. Uh, one of the reasons I stood down after three years of being the chair of judging in awards for the BIPP was to give me a little bit of bandwidth and the political space to do more coaching and mentoring because you obviously, it's difficult to mentor if you are the chair of the association that now assesses the people you are mentoring. That's a little bit of a conflict of interest. So I never did any mentoring, uh, while I was chair with, see I do now. Uh, what else? Mastering Portrait Photography Book Oh yeah, his news. Most of you may have heard this 'cause we've had various social posts out about it. The book, mastering portrait Photography, the book, which is where it all kind of started 10 years ago. 10 years it's been out, it has sold 50,000 copies. It has been translated from English into American English. Do you know what? There's a complaint on Amazon. One of the very first reviews, it gave it four stars. They knocked a star off because we used American spellings. I mean, you do have to ask yourself, I'm sorry. It was never published in British English. It went straight to American English because do you know it's a bigger market? I'm sure the publisher knew exactly what they were doing. Um, and so they only published it in American English, so apologies to the British English fanatics. It's in American English this time as well. So it's been translated from American English into, uh, Italian twice. There's a normal copy and what's called a kiosk copy. They were both done by National Geographic. It's been translated into German. It's been translated into Chinese, and it's been translated into Korean. Now. Those last two we knew nothing about. It's only when we were doing the audit a couple of weeks ago that Sarah drilled into it. And found them. We actually have a picture of the Chinese copy 'cause we have some Chinese clients who very kindly sent us some pictures, um, from, uh, Hong Kong. Uh, if I, if anybody's listening to this from Korea, I don't know if there is, but if any of my clients have Korean contacts or Korean family, or are Korean, is there any chance you could send us a picture of a book cover of our book cover Mastering Portrait Photography by Paul Wilkinson and Sarah Platon in Korean. Um, that would be super valuable. Uh, at some point I try and get a copy of it, but even our publisher doesn't have copies. It must have been done locally under license, but it's out there. 50,000 copies translated into four languages and a decade later we were asked to produce an updated edition. Um, you will know this 'cause I've talked about doing the process. It is done. I have one copy sitting in the studio, one copy of mastering portrait photography, the updated edition, and I have changed every single picture except one. There's one picture in there that's exactly the same as it was 10 years ago. Uh, we may yet run a little competition to see if you can spot it. It will be on sale or it's already on sale. Pre-ordering. It will be on sale I think on the 14th of September. The original date was the 9th of September, but it's been pushed back a little bit by the publisher to allow distribution. We should get copies in the studio. We'll order a couple of hundred to be able to do signed copies and get them out to anybody. Um, we're holding a launch event, um, for anybody who's in the book. Anybody involved in the book sometime in, uh, October. We will let, we'll give you details about that once we've got them finalized. Um, right. Hang on a minute. I'm gonna take a back road 'cause this road's been really noisy, so I'm gonna go cut through the back roads, which are quieter. Uh, and, um, it's, it's out and about for pre-orders. Yeah, I do apologize again if this, if this podcast is a little bit noisy, I do apologize. But like I said, it's a podcast on the Land Rover, uh, right. Roundabouts. Hang on, let me just concentrate on traffic. It was good. Okay. Um, however, I want to just, I will try and get this podcast, Eric, today, which is Tuesday, the 29th of July, 2025. Um, why? Well, because Waterstones in the UK have an offer on the book. They have an offer 25% off pre-orders. It's being promoted by Waterstones. Um, I'll put the link in the show notes, but if you Google mastering portrait photography, summer offer Waterstones, you'll find it, um, if you pre-order it, uh, before the 31st of July. The offer only started yesterday. Um. Then you get 25% off the, on the offer. I promised the publisher we would promote it. So that's, um, out in September and I am beyond excited about it. Um, I talk about this quite a lot and, and I think we'll update mastering portrait photography with the stories behind some of these images. But every one of the images is in some form a client, a friend, someone we met, someone who stood in to do a photo shoot, you know, people like Barbara and say Hi, working on Crystal Cruz's, just the most amazing people who stepped in to allow me to demonstrate certain techniques. Our normal clients, our son Jake, and our daughter Harriet, who are both in there with their permission. But broadly speaking, it's our clients. It's the people who we photographed along the way. There's so many in there. I can tell you a story about every single image, every single moment, every single client, and on the back cover. So the front cover is Dory, who we met. She was serving US food in a really lovely Thai restaurant in the Crazy Bear. And I asked her, I met her and with, I mean I was with Sarah and um, we were chatting and I said to Sarah, I think she'd photograph really well. And Sarah bless her because you don't have to do this when there's just a couple of you having a nice romantic meal and you start talking about whether someone would photograph well, there's every opportunity, uh, for that to go wrong. But Sarah is the most incredible human being, and she too realized that Dory would photograph well. And so I asked her, I said, with Sarah said, go and ask us. I asked her and I said, would you be photographed? Would you be willing to come and be photographed? I think you'd photographed beautifully. And she said, no. She looked at me, shook her head, said No. Walked away. Now, luckily we weren't on the final course, so she had to come back and I wrote on a paper napkin. I wrote, uh, my web address, my email and said, look, go and have a look. Um, I dunno why I thought, I have no idea. I just assumed, I dunno, I'd call it arrogance. I thought, well, if you see my pictures, you'll want to be photographed by me, people in a rare moment of super confidence. Um, so anyway, I gave her that and she walked. And last night I thought, we'll never hear from her. At four o'clock that morning, the next following morning, there was an email came in that said, yes, please, I've looked at your website. I would love to have my photograph taken. And that has started a friendship that goes on today. Uh, Dory is still this most incredible person to photograph. She is lovely. She is funny. Um, she is, well photogenic, doesn't really begin to describe it. She has the most beautiful daughter, the most incredible husband. Um, she now has done some modeling off the back of it, and it's her picture from that from.  First session that we filmed actually for mastering portrait photography. We filmed it specifically to go with the website to support some of the ideas in the first edition of the book way back. And it's her face on the cover. One of our first, one of the first times I approached someone to model, and on the back cover is Jess. Now, I first met Jess a few years ago, age 12, and she came to the tame food for. Where we had a, you know, popup stand selling vouchers and our wares, and she approached us and said, how much would it be to do some portraits, some photographs of me doing contortion, contortion, contortion being a contortionist, and she's 12 years old. And what am I gonna say to a 12-year-old who is gutsy and asking about being photographed? She was there with her mom. You know, this is no. Our conversation that I would have with a 12-year-old obviously. So I had the conversation with her and our mom and I said, well, look, one of the things we do a lot of is we create videos and we run workshops and mentoring. And I'm always looking for people that we can point in front of the camera who are interesting, have ideas, um, we can create really beautiful pictures off the back of, um, so why don't I trade you some time? So if you come. To the studio and I'll do some pictures for you as a client as long as you come back as a model and let us just take whatever pictures my delegates need and we're always looking out for models like this. Um, and she said, yes, she agreed. I said that way, I don't need to charge you, but I get something in return that is really valuable to me too. So she came for the first contortionist. Photo shoot. She's a gymnast and a contortionist and a dancer. And um, over the years we've continued to work with her. She has now got a modeling contract. We now help her with that too. I was writing my instincts that she would photograph well. Um, more importantly, she came to a workshop, I think. I'm sitting in the Lounge Rover. If I sit in my microphones in the studio, I'll tell you exactly the title of the workshop. I think it was Advanced Studio Lighting, or it might have been a avail, it might have been mixed. I, I think it was Advanced Studio Lighting. And towards the end of the workshop, a couple of the photographers, we'd done a lot of freezing movement. Hang on, let me just let this guy out. We've done a lot of freezing movement. 'cause of course, you know, one of rom's brilliant features. Um, is that you can read on the back of the lights. The pulse width, so that how the duration of the photo of the light pulse on the strobes. And so if you're freezing motion, as long as your pulse width is, is you know, ideally three thousandths of a second, but a couple of thousandths of a second or faster, you'll on the whole freeze motion. So we'd done that all day and a couple of the guys said, can we do something capturing movement? Now, if you. Saw the work I did at the Society's convention this year. You'll see this kind of technique in action, and what we did is we lit her with two light sources. We lit her with LED, quite a lot of LED actually, and slowed the shutter down so that we could capture that movement in light. And then we fired a fast pulse at her face and her hands to freeze that bit. And then we practiced some, uh. Um, sort of dance moves really of her flinging a dress around a ball gown and caught a couple of images that do both. They both strobe, they both freeze her hand, capture her movement, and when you get that stuff right, there's something really magical about it and we got it right. At least I say you get it right, if that's, did I get it perfectly? No, of course there are things I'd change. There's always some. Thing you'd change? No, no image is perfect. But I think we did pretty well and I would happily do it all over again. Well, that picture's on the back cover, and we didn't know this. We knew about the front cover because we'd sent over probably 50 or 60 full face portraits for the designers of the book to pick, and they pick Dory, which fills my heart with joy and on the back cover unknown to us 'cause we never saw it in advance. They've put Jess, who you know, was a 12-year-old gymnast and contortionist who had the guts to ask how much would it be to come and have a photo shoot. And so I'm thrilled for both of those people, both clients that, you know, for the next 10 years we'll be talking about the book with them on the front and them on the back. Uh, it's out there, it's on Amazon, or you can wait. Until we get our copies and we'll send out signed and mounted copies. Um, sorry, signed and signed copies not signed and mounted. You get into a rhythm with these things don't you? Signed and mounted prints obviously, but signed copies of the book. Um, we'll put that onto, uh, our website in the coming weeks once we know when we are getting our stock of them. Uh, apparently the print run is now done. It's now all about warehousing and distribution, logging, all of those kinds of things. So that's coming out in September. Waterstone's, just a reminder, they have a 25% offer right now that if you pre-order it, uh, on their website, you get 25, uh, percent off. And I'm selling it for full price, which is 20 quid. Alright. Just so you know, uh, I'm gonna sign it. Um, send it out. But it will, um, it will be the full price. Uh. Uh, no discounts. You can get it from, if you want it cheap, go to Amazon If you want it signed, come to me. Oh man. I've brought us round a back route. Oh, that pub's open again. Wow, that's good. That pub closed. It's reopened. Um, and on that happy note, as Irun my way back through bucking shirt, Buckingham, she's back lanes. I was laughing with someone the other day, just how beautiful this bit of the world is. You forget because it's familiar. You forget it's your doorstep. You. I've traveled across the world to go to places that don't look that dissimilar to where I live and sat in admiration of these locations when it, you know, sometimes it's not a bad idea to sit and admire my own back door. It's absolutely beautiful out here. Um, though the roads are in need of a little bit of repair. Conclusion and Final Thoughts So on that happy note, please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com, uh, which has, as ever, tons of articles and is the spiritual home of this podcast. If you've enjoyed the podcast, uh, please do subscribe wherever it is that you get your podcast. It's on iTunes, it's on Spotify, it's on YouTube, uh, wherever it is. Please do subscribe if you have any questions. Uh, who knows? Maybe you do. Uh, please do email Paul at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk co uk. Uh, people do email in now. I think. Uh, I'm trying to remember the name. I saw the email come in. I think it's John. I think John, thank you for your email, John, uh, who wanted to know about the type of paint we use in the studio. 'cause I've spent ages trying to get it right. Got it. Right. This. Time, uh, got it right on two counts. I can't remember what it is. By the way, if you wait, if you're hanging on waiting to find out what it is, um, I can't remember what it is. Uh, Sarah emailed, uh, this morning the answer. I've got a top of it sitting in the studio. Uh, a white paint for the wall that is broadly speaking, the same white as a white calibration chart. It's also super tough and super white clean, which is great for any of the posing boxes we have because we've forever putting coffee on them and leaving coffee stay. Well now it cleans off. It doesn't stain the paint. It's absolutely brilliant. Uh, the point of the story is somebody emailed in and asked me if you have any questions, please do so. Uh, so until next time, whatever you're up to, wherever you are, and I hope. The view as you drive along is just as stunning as this is. I've turned the corner. It's just wheat field after 📍 wheat field and hedges and hills. It's like a postcard. Oh my goodness. It's lovely. I hope like me, you're enjoying where you live and until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP166 Interview With Mark & Simon From Elinchrom UK](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep166-interview-with-mark-simon-from-elinchrom-uk/) I sit down with Mark Cheatham and Simon Burfoot from Elinchrom UK to talk about the two words that matter most when you work with light: accuracy and consistency. We dig into flash vs. continuous, shaping light (not just adding it), why reliable gear shortens your workflow, and Elinchrom's new LED 100 C-including evenly filling big softboxes and that handy internal battery. We also wander into AI: threats, tools, and why authenticity still carries the highest value. Links: - Elinchrom UK store/info: https://elinchrom.co.uk/ - LED 100 C product page: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-led-100-c - Rotalux Deep Octa / strips: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-rotalux-deep-octabox-100cm-softbox/ - My workshop dates: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/ Transcript: Paul: as quite a lot of, you know, I've had a love affair with Elinchrom Lighting for the past 20 something years. In fact, I'm sitting with one of the original secondhand lights I bought from the Flash Center 21 years ago in London. And on top of that, you couldn't ask for a nicer set of guys in the UK to deal with. So I'm sitting here about to talk to Simon and Mark from Elinchrom uk. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. Paul: So before we get any further, tell me a little bit about who you are, each of you and the team from Elinchrom UK Mark: After you, Simon. Simon: Thank you very much, mark. Mark: That's fine. Simon: I'm, Simon Burfoot. I have, been in the industry now for longer than I care to think. 35 years almost to the, to the day. Always been in the industry even before I left school because my father was a photographer and a lighting tutor, working for various manufacturers I was always into photography, and when he started the whole lighting journey. I got on it with him, and was learning from a very young age. Did my first wedding at 16 years old. Had a Saturday job which turned into a full-time job in a retail camera shop. By the time I was 18, I was managing my own camera shop, in a little town in the Cotswolds called Cirencester. My dad always told me that to be a photographic rep in the industry, you needed to see it from all angles, to get the experience. So I ended up, working in retail, moving over to a framing company. Finishing off in a prolab, hand printing, wedding photographers pictures, processing E6 and C41, hand correcting big prints for framing for, for customers, which was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. And then ended up working for a company called Leeds Photo Visual, I was a Southwest sales guy for them. Then I moved to KJP before it became, what we know now as Wex, and got all of the customers back that I'd stolen for them for Leeds. And then really sort of started my career progressing through, and then started to work with Elinchrom, on the lighting side. Used Elinchrom way before I started working with them. I like you a bit of a love affair. I'd used lots of different lights and, just loved the quality of the light that the Elinchrom system produced. And that's down to a number of factors that I could bore you with, but it's the quality of the gear, the consistency in terms of color, and exposure. Shooting film was very important to have that consistency because we didn't have Photoshop to help us out afterwards. It was a learning journey, but I, I hit my goal after being a wedding photographer and a portrait photographer in my spare time, working towards getting out on the road, meeting people and being involved in the industry, which I love. And I think it's something that I'm scared of leaving 'cause I dunno anything else. It's a wonderful industry. It has its quirks, its, downfalls at points, but actually it's a really good group of people and everyone kind of, gets on and we all love working with each other. So we're friends rather than colleagues. Paul: I hesitate to ask, given the length of that answer, to cut Simon: You did ask. Mark: I know. Paul: a short story Mark: was wondering if I was gonna get a go. Paul: I was waiting to get to end into the podcast and I was about to sign off. Mark: So, hi Mark Cheatham, sales director for Elinchrom uk this is where it gets a little bit scary because me and Simon have probably known each other for 10 years, yet our journeys in the industry are remarkably similar. I went to college, did photography, left college, went to work at commercial photographers and hand printers. I was a hand printer, mainly black and white, anything from six by four to eight foot by four foot panels, which are horrible when you're deving in a dish. But we did it. Paul: To the generation now, deving in a dish doesn't mean anything. Simon: No, it doesn't. Mark: And, and when you're doing a eight foot by four foot print and you've got it, you're wearing most of the chemistry. You went home stinking every night. I was working in retail. As a Saturday lad and then got promoted from the Saturday lad to the manager and went to run a camera shop in a little town in the Lake District called Kendall. I stayed there for nine years. I left there, went on the road working for a brand called Olympus, where I did 10 years, I moved to Pentax, which became Rico Pentax. I did 10 years there. I've been in the industry all my life. Like Simon, I love the industry. I did go out the industry for 18 months where I went into the wonderful world of high end commercial vr, selling to blue light military, that sort of thing. And then came back. One of the, original members of Elinchrom uk. I don't do as much photography as Simon I take photos every day, probably too many looking at my Apple storage. I do shoot and I like shooting now and again, but I'm not a constant shooter like you guys i'm not a professional shooter, but when you spent 30 odd years in the industry, and part of that, I basically run the, the medium format business for Pentax. So 645D, 645Z. Yeah, it was a great time. I love the industry and, everything about it. So, yeah, that's it Paul: Obviously both of you at some point put your heads together and decided Elinchrom UK was the future. What triggered that and why do you think gimme your sales pitch for Elinchrom for a moment and then we can discuss the various merits. Simon: The sales pitch for Elinchrom is fairly straightforward. It's a nice, affordable system that does exactly what most photographers would like. We sell a lot of our modifiers, so soft boxes and things like that to other users, of Prophoto, Broncolor. Anybody else? Because actually the quality of the light that comes out the front of our diffusion material and our specular surfaces on the soft boxes is, is a lot, lot more superior than, than most. A lot more superior. A lot more Mark: A lot more superior. Paul: more superior. Simon: I'm trying to Paul: Superior. Simon: It's superior. And I think Paul, you'll agree, Paul: it's a lot more, Simon: You've used different manufacturers over the years and, I think the quality of light speaks for itself. As a photographer I want consistency. Beautiful light and the effects that the Elinchrom system gives me, I've tried other soft boxes. If you want a big contrasty, not so kind light, then use a cheaper soft box. If I've got a big tattoo guy full of piercings you're gonna put some contrasty light to create some ambience. Maybe the system for that isn't good enough, but for your standard portrait photographer in a studio, I don't think you can beat the light. Mark: I think the two key words for Elinchrom products are accuracy and consistency. And that's what, as a portrait photographer, you should be striving for, you don't want your equipment to lengthen your workflow or make your job harder in post-production. If you're using Elinchrom lights with Elinchrom soft boxes or Elinchrom modifiers, you know that you're gonna get accuracy and consistency. Which generally makes your job easier. Paul: I think there's a bit that neither of you, I don't think you've quite covered, and it's the bit of the puzzle that makes you want to use whatever is the tool of your trade. I mean, I worked with musicians, I grew up around orchestras. Watching people who utterly adore the instrument that's in their hand. It makes 'em wanna play it. If you own the instrument that you love to play, whether it's a drum kit a trumpet a violin or a piano, you will play it and get the very best out of your talent with it. It's just a joy to pick it up and use it for all the little tiny things I think it's the bit you've missed in your descriptions of it is the utter passion that people that use it have for it. Mark: I think one of the things I learned from my time in retail, which was obviously going back, a long way, even before digital cameras One of the things I learned from retail, I was in retail long before digital cameras, retail was a busier time. People would come and genuinely ask for advice. So yes, someone would come in and what's the best camera for this? Or what's the best camera for that? Honestly there is still no answer to that. All the kit was good then all the kit is good now. You might get four or five different SLRs out. And the one they'd pick at the end was the one that they felt most comfortable with and had the best connection with. When you are using something every day, every other day, however it might be, it becomes part of you. I'm a F1 fan, if you love the world of F1, you know that an F1 car, the driver doesn't sit in an F1 car, they become part of the F1 car. When you are using the same equipment day in, day out, you don't have to think about what button to press, what dial to to turn. You do it. And that, I think that's the difference between using something you genuinely love and get on with and using something because that's what you've got. And maybe that's a difference you genuinely love and get on with Elinchrom lights. So yes, they're given amazing output and I know there's, little things that you'd love to see improved on them, but that's not the light output. Paul: But the thing is, I mean, I've never, I've never heard the F1 analogy, but it's not a bad one. When you talk about these drivers and their cars and you are right, they're sort of symbiotic, so let's talk a little bit about why we use flash. So from the photographers listening who are just setting out, and that's an awful lot of our audience. I think broadly speaking, there are two roads or three roads, if you include available light if you're a portrait photographer. So there's available light. There's continuous light, and then there's strobes flash or whatever you wanna call it. Of course, there's, hybrid modeling and all sorts of things, but those are broadly the three ways that you're gonna light your scene or your subject. Why flash? What is it about that instantaneous pulse of light from a xenon tube that so appealing to photographers? Simon: I think there's a few reasons. The available light is lovely if you can control it, and by that I mean knowing how to use your camera, and control the ambient light. My experience of using available light, if you do it wrong, it can be quite flat and uninteresting. If you've got a bright, hot, sunny day, it can be harder to control than if it's a nice overcast day. But then the overcast day will provide you with some nice soft, flat lighting. Continuous light is obviously got its uses and there's a lot of people out there using it because what they see is what they get. The way I look at continuous light is you are adding to the ambient light, adding more daylight to the daylight you've already got, which isn't a problem, but you need to control that light onto the subject to make the subject look more interesting. So a no shadow, a chin shadow to show that that subject is three dimensional. There are very big limitations with LED because generally it's very unshapable. By that I mean the light is a very linear light. Light travels in straight lines anyway, but with a flash, we can shape the light, and that's why there's different shapes and sizes of modifiers, but it's very difficult to shape correctly -an LED array, the flash for me, gives me creativity. So with my flash, I get a sharper image to start with. I can put the shadows and the light exactly where I want and use the edge of a massive soft box, rather than the center if I'm using a flash gun or a constant light. It allows me to choose how much or how little contrast I put through that light, to create different dynamics in the image. It allows me to be more creative. I can kill the ambient light with flash rather than adding to it. I can change how much ambient I bring into my flash exposure. I've got a lot more control, and I'm not talking about TTL, I'm talking about full manual control of using the modifier, the flash, and me telling the camera what I want it to do, rather than the camera telling me what it thinks is right. Which generally 99% of the time is wrong. It's given me a beautiful, average exposure, but if I wanted to kill the sun behind the subject, well it's not gonna do that. It's gonna give me an average of everything. Whereas Flash will just give me that extra opportunity to be a lot more creative and have a lot more control over my picture. I've got quite a big saying in my workshops. I think a decent flash image is an image where it looks like flash wasn't used. As a flash photographer, Paul, I expect you probably agree with me, anyone can take a flash image. The control of light is important because anybody can light an image, but to light the subject within the image and control the environmental constraints, is the key to it and the most technical part of it. Mark: You've got to take your camera off P for professional to do that. You've got to turn it off p for professional and get it in manual mode. And that gives you the control Paul: Well, you say that, We have to at some point. Address the fact that AI is not just coming, it's sitting here in our studios all the time, and we are only a heartbeat away from P for professional, meaning AI analyzed and creating magic. I don't doubt for a minute. I mean, right now you're right, but not Mark: Well, at some point it will be integrated into the camera Paul: Of course it will. Mark: If you use an iPhone or any other phone, you know, we are using AI as phone photographers, your snapshots. You take your kids, your dogs, whatever they are highly modified images. Paul: Yeah. But in a lot of the modern cameras, there's AI behind the scenes, for instance, on the focusing Mark: Yeah. Paul: While we've, we are on that, we were on that thread. Let's put us back on that thread for a second. What's coming down the line with, all lighting and camera craft with ai. What are you guys seeing that maybe we're not Simon: in terms of flash technology or light technology? Paul: Alright. I mean, so I mean there's, I guess there's two angles, isn't there? What are the lights gonna do that use ai? What are the controllers gonna do, that uses ai, but more importantly, how will it hold its own in a world where I can hit a button and say, I want rebrand lighting on that face. I can do that today. Mark: Yeah. Simon: I'm not sure the lighting industry is anywhere near producing anything that is gonna give what a piece of software can give, because there's a lot more factors involved. There's what size light it is, what position that light is in, how high that light is, how low that light is. And I think the software we've all heard and played with Evoto we were talking about earlier, I was very skeptical and dubious about it to start with as everybody would be. I'm a Photoshop Lightroom user, have been for, many years. And I did some editing, in EEvoto with my five free credits to start with, three edits in, I bought some credits because I thought, actually this is very, very good. I'll never use it for lighting i'd like to think I can get that right myself. However, if somebody gives you a, a very flat image of a family outside and say, well, could you make this better for me? Well, guess what? I can do whatever you like to it. Is it gonna attack the photographer that's trying to earn a living? I think there's always a need for people to take real photographs and family photographs. I think as photographers, we need to embrace it as an aid to speed up our workflow. I don't think it will fully take over the art of photography because it's a different thing. It's not your work. It's a computer generated AI piece of work in my head. Therefore, who's responsible for that image? Who owns the copyright to that image? We deal with photographers all the time who literally point a camera, take a picture and spend three hours editing it and tell everyone that, look at this. The software's really good and it's made you look good. I think AI is capable of doing that to an extent. In five years time, we'll look back at Evoto today and what it's producing and we'll think cracky. That was awful. It's like when you watch a high definition movie from the late 1990s, you look at it and it was amazing at the time, but you look at it now and you think, crikey, look at the quality of it. I dunno if we're that far ahead where we won't get to that point. The quality is there. I mean, how much better can you go than 4K, eight K minus, all that kind of stuff. I'm unsure, but I don't think the AI side of it. Is applicable to flash at this moment in time? I don't know. Mark: I think you're right. To look at the whole, photography in general. If you are a social photographer, family photographer, whatever it might be, you are genuinely capturing that moment in time that can't be replaced. If you are a product photographer, that's a different matter. I think there's more of a threat. I think I might be right in saying. I was looking, I think I saw it on, LinkedIn. There is a fashion brand in the UK at the moment that their entire catalog of clothing has been shot without models. When you look at it on the website, there's models in it. They shoot the clothing on mannequins and then everything else is AI generated they've been developing their own AI platform now for a number of years. Does the person care Who's buying a dress for 30 quid? Probably not, but if you are photographing somebody's wedding, graduation, some, you know, a genuine moment in someone's life, I think it'd be really wrong to use any sort of AI other than a little bit of post-production, which we know is now quite standard for many people in the industry. Paul: Yeah, the curiosity for me is I suspect as an industry, Guess just released a full AI model advert in, Vogue. Declared as AI generated an ai agency created it. Everything about it is ai. There's no real photography involved except in the learning side of it. And that's a logical extension of the fact we've been Photoshopping to such a degree that the end product no longer related to the input. And we've been doing that 25 years. I started on Photoshop version one, whatever that was, 30 years More than 33. So we've kind of worked our way into a corner where the only way out of it is to continue. There's no backtracking now. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think the damage to the industry though, or the worry for the industry, I think you're both right. I think if you can feel it, touch it, be there, there will always be that importance. In fact, the provenance of authenticity. Is the high value ticket item now, Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: because you, everything else is synthetic, you can trust nothing. We are literally probably months away from 90% of social media being generated by ai. AI is both the consumer and the generator of almost everything online Mark: Absolutely. Paul: Goodness knows where we go. You certainly can't trust anything you read. You can't trust anything you see, so authenticity, face-to-face will become, I think a high value item. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think one problem for us as an industry in terms of what the damage might be is that all those people that photograph nameless products or create books, you know, use photography and then compositing for, let's say a novel that's gone, stock libraries that's gone because they're faceless. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: there doesn't have to be authentic. A designer can type in half a dozen keywords. Into an AI engine and get what he needs. If he doesn't get what he needs, he does it again. All of those photographers who currently own Kit are gonna look around with what do we do now? And so for those of us who specialize in weddings and portraits and family events, our market stands every chance of being diluted, which has the knock on effect of all of us having to keep an eye on AI to stay ahead of all competitors, which has the next knock on effect, that we're all gonna lean into ai, which begs the question, what happens after Because that's what happened in the Photoshop world. You know, I'm kind of, I mean, genuinely cur, and this will be a running theme on the podcast forever, is kind of prodding it and taking barometer readings as to where are we going? Mark: Yeah. I mean, who's more at threat at the moment from this technology? Is it the photographer or is it the retouch? You know, we do forget that there are retouchers That is their, they're not photographers. Paul: I don't forget. They email me 3, 4, 5 times a day. Mark: a Simon: day, Mark: You know, a highly skilled retouch isn't cheap. They've honed their craft for many years using whatever software product they prefer to use. I think they're the ones at risk now more so than the photographer. And I think we sort of lose sight of that. Looking at it from a photographer's point of view, there is a whole industry behind photography that actually is being affected more so than you guys at the moment. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: Yeah, I think there's truth in that, but. It's not really important. Of course, it's really important to all of those people, but this is the digital revolution that we went through as film photographers, and probably what the Daguerreotype generators went through when Fox Tolbert invented the first transfer. Negative. You know, they are, there are always these epochs in our industry and it wipes out entire skillset. You know, I mean, when we went to digital before then, like you, I could dev in a tank. Yeah. You know, and really liked it. I like I see, I suspect I just like the solitude, Mark: the dark, Paul: red light in the dark Mark: yeah. Paul: Nobody will come in. Not now. Go away. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. But of course those skills have gone, has as, have access to the equipment. I think we're there again, this feels like to me a huge transition in the industry and for those who want to keep up, AI is the keeping up whether you like it or not. Mark: Yeah. And if you don't like it, we've seen it, we're in the middle of a massive resurgence in film photography, which is great for the industry, great for the retail industry, great for the film manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, everything. You know, simon, myself, you, you, we, we, our earliest photography, whether we were shooting with flash, natural light, we were film shooters and that planes back. And what digital did, from a camera point of view, is make it easier and more accessible for less skilled people. But it's true. You know, if you shot with a digital camera now that's got a dynamic range of 15 stops, you actually don't even need to have your exposure, that accurate Go and shoot with a slide film that's got dynamic range of less than one stop and see how good you are. It has made it easier. The technology, it will always make it. Easier, but it opens up new doors, it opens up new avenues to skilled people as well as unskilled people. If you want, I'm using the word unskilled again, I'm not being, a blanket phrase, but it's true. You can pick up a digital camera now and get results that same person shooting with a slide film 20 years ago would not get add software to that post-production, everything else. It's an industry that we've seen so many changes in over the 30 odd years that we've been in it, Simon: been Mark: continue Simon: at times. It exciting Mark: The dawn of digital photography to the masses. was amazing. I was working for Olympus at the time when digital really took off and for Olympus it was amazing. They made some amazing products. We did quite well out of it and people started enjoying photography that maybe hadn't enjoyed photography before. You know, people might laugh at, you know, you, you, you're at a wedding, you're shooting a really nice wedding pool and there's always a couple of guests there which have got equipment as good as yours. Better, better than yours. Yeah. Got Simon: jobs and they can afford it. Mark: They've got proper jobs. Their pitches aren't going to be as good as yours. They're the ones laughing at everyone shooting on their phone because they've spent six grand on their new. Camera. But if shooting on a phone gets people into photography and then next year they buy a camera and two years later they upgrade their camera and it gets them into the hobby of photography? That's great for everyone. Hobbyists are as essential, as professional photographers to the industry. In fact, to keep the manufacturers going, probably more so Simon: the hobbyists are a massive part. Even if they go out and spend six or seven or 8,000 pounds on a camera because they think it's gonna make them a better photographer. Who knows in two years time with the AI side, maybe it will. That old saying, Hey Mr, that's a nice camera. I bet it takes great pictures, may become true. We have people on the lighting courses, the workshops we run, the people I train and they're asking me, okay, what sessions are we gonna use? And I'm saying, okay, well we're gonna be a hundred ISO at 125th, F 5.6. Okay, well if I point my camera at the subject, it's telling me, yeah, but you need to put it onto manual. And you see the color drain out their faces. You've got a 6,000 pound camera and you've never taken it off 'P'. Mark: True story. Simon: And we see this all the time. It's like the whole TTL strobe manual flash system. The camera's telling you what it wants to show you, but that maybe is not what you want. There are people out there that will spend a fortune on equipment but actually you could take just as good a picture with a much smaller, cheaper device with an nice bit of glass on the front if you know what you're doing. And that goes back to what Mark was saying about shooting film and slide film and digital today. Paul: I, mean, you know, I don't want this to be an echo chamber, and so what I am really interested in though, is the way that AI will change what flash photography does. I'm curious as to where we are headed in that, specific vertical. How is AI going to help and influence our ability to create great lip photography using flash? Mark: I think, Paul: I love the fact the two guys side and looked at each other. Mark: I, Simon: it's a difficult question to answer. Mark: physical light, Simon: is a difficult question to answer because if you're Mark: talking about the physical delivery of light. Simon: Not gonna change. Mark: Now, The only thing I can even compare it to, if you think about how the light is delivered, is what's the nearest thing? What's gotta change? Modern headlamps on cars, going back to cars again, you know, a modern car are using these LED arrays and they will switch on and switch off different LEDs depending on the conditions in front of them. Anti dazzle, all this sort of stuff. You know, the modern expensive headlamp is an amazing technical piece of kit. It's not just one ball, but it's hundreds in some cases of little arrays. Will that come into flash? I don't know. Will you just be able to put a soft box in front of someone and it will shape the light in the future using a massive array. Right? I dunno it, Simon: there's been many companies tested these arrays, in terms of LED Flash, And I think to be honest, that's probably the nearest it's gonna get to an AI point of view is this LED Flash. Now there's an argument to say, what is flash if I walk into a living room and flick the light on, on off really quickly, is that a flash? Mark: No, that's a folock in Paul: me Mark: turn, big lights off. Paul: Yeah. Mark: So Simon: it, you, you might be able to get these arrays to flush on and off. But LED technology, in terms of how it works, it's quite slow. It's a diode, it takes a while for it to get to its correct brightness and it takes a while for it to turn off. To try and get an LED. To work as a flash. It, it's not an explosion in a gas field tube. It's a a, a lighter emitting diode that is, is coming on and turning off again. Will AI help that? Due to the nature of its design, I don't think it can. Mark: Me and s aren't invented an AI flash anytime soon by the looks of, we're Simon: it's very secret. Mark: We're just putting everyone off Paul, Simon: It's alright. Mark: just so they don't think Simon: Yeah, Mark: Oh, it's gonna be too much hard work and we'll sort it. Paul: It's definitely coming. I don't doubt for a minute that this is all coming because there's no one not looking at anything Simon: that makes perfect sense. Paul: Right now there's an explosion of invention because everybody's trying to find an angle on everything. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: The guys I feel the most for are the guys who spent millions, , on these big LED film backdrop walls. Simon: Yep. Mark: So you can Paul: a car onto a flight sim, rack, and then film the whole lot in front of an LED wall. Well, it was great. And there was a market for people filming those backdrops, and now of course that's all AI generated in the LED, but that's only today's technology. Tomorrow's is, you don't need the LED wall. That's here today. VEO3 and Flow already, I mean, I had to play with one the other day for one of our lighting diagrams and it animated the whole thing. Absolute genius. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: I still generated the original diagram. Mark: Yeah, Paul: Yeah, that's useful. There's some skill in there still for now, but, you gotta face the music that anything that isn't, I can touch it and prod it. AI's gonna do it. Mark: Absolutely. If you've ever seen the series Mandalorian go and watch the making of the Mandalorian and they are using those big LED walls, that is their backdrop. Yeah. And it's amazing how fast they shift from, you know, they can, they don't need to build a set. Yeah. They shift from scene to scene. Paul: Well, aI is now building the scenes. But tomorrow they won't need the LED wall. 'cause AI will put it in behind the actors. Mark: Yeah. Say after Paul: that you won't need the actors because they're being forced to sign away the rights so that AI can be used. And even those that are standing their ground and saying no, well, the actors saying Yes. Are the ones being hired. You know, in the end, AI is gonna touch all of it. And so I mean, it's things like, imagine walking into a studio. Let's ignore the LED thing for a minute, by the way, that's a temporary argument, Simon: I know you're talking about. Paul: about today's, Simon: You're about the. Mark: days Paul: LEDs, Simon: we're in, We're in very, very interesting times and. I'm excited for the future. I'm excited for the new generation of photographers that are coming in to see how they work with what happens. We've gone from fully analog to me selling IMACON drum scanners that were digitizing negatives and all the five four sheet almost a shoot of properties for an estate agent were all digitized on an hassle blood scanner. And then the digital camera comes out and you start using it. It was a Kodak camera, I think the first SLRI used, Paul: Yeah. Simon: and you get the results back and you think, oh my God, it looks like it's come out of a practica MTL five B. Mark: But Simon: then suddenly the technology just changes and changes and changes and suddenly it's running away with itself and where we are today. I mean, I, I didn't like digital to start with. It was too. It was too digital. It was too sharp. It didn't have the feel of film, but do you know what? We get used to it and the files that my digital mirrorless camera provide now and my Fuji GFX medium format are absolutely stunning. But the first thing I do is turn the sharpness down because they are generally over sharp. For a lovely, beautifully lit portrait or whatever that anybody takes, it just needs knocking back a bit. We were speaking about this earlier, I did some comparison edits from what I'd done manually in Photoshop to the Evoto. Do you know what the pre-selected edits are? Great. If you not the slider back from 10 to about six, you're there or thereabouts? More is not always good. Mark: I think when it comes to imagery in our daily lives, the one thing that drives what we expect to see is TV and most people's TVs, everything's turned up to a hundred. The color, the contrast, that was a bit of a shock originally from the film to digital, crossover. Everything went from being relatively natural to way over the top Just getting back to AI and how it's gonna affect people like you and people that we work with day to day. I don't think we should be worried about that. We should be worried about the images we see on the news, not what we're seeing, hanging on people's walls and how they're gonna be affected by ai. That generally does affect everyone's daily life. Paul: Yeah, Mark: Yeah. But what Paul: people now ask me, for instance, I've photographed a couple head shots yesterday, and the one person had not ironed her blouse. And her first question was, can we sort that out in post? So this is the knock on effect people are becoming aware of what's possible. What's that? Nothing. Know, and the, the smooth clothing button in Evoto will get me quite a long way down that road and saves somebody picking up an eye and randomly, it's not me, it's now actually more work for me 'cause I shouldn't have to do it. But, you know, this is my point about the knock on effect. Our worlds are different. So I didn't really intend this to be just a great sort of circular conversation about AI cars and, future technology. It was more, I dunno, we ended up down there anyway. Simon: We went down a rabbit hole. Mark: A Paul: rabbit hole. Yeah Mark: was quite an interesting one. Simon: And I'm sorry if you've wasted your entire journey to work and we Paul: Yeah. Simon: Alright. It wasn't intended to be like that. Paul: I think it's a debate that we need to be having and there needs to be more discussion about it. Certainly for anybody that has a voice in the industry and people are listening to it because right now it might be a toddler of a technology, but it's growing faster than people realize. There is now a point in the written word online where AI is generating more than real people are generating, and AI is learning that. So AI is reading its own output. That's now beginning to happen in imagery and film and music. Simon: Well, even in Google results, you type in anything to a Google search bar. When it comes back to the results, the first section at the top is the AI generated version. And you know what, it's generally Paul: Yep. Simon: good and Paul: turn off all the rest of it now. So it's only ai. Simon: Not quite brave enough for that yet. No, not me. Mark: In terms Paul: of SEO for instance, you now need to tune it for large language models. You need to be giving. Google the LLM information you want it to learn so that you become part of that section on a website. And it, you know, this is where we are and it's happening at such a speed, every day I am learning something new about something else that's arriving. And I think TV and film is probably slightly ahead of the photography industry Mark: Yeah. Paul: The pressures on the costs are so big, Simon: Yes. Paul: Whereas the cost differential, I'm predicting our costs will actually go up, not down. Whereas in TV and film, the cost will come down dramatically. Mark: Absolutely. Simon: They are a horrifically high level anyway. That's Paul: I'm not disputing that, but I watched a demo of some new stuff online recently and they had a talking head and they literally typed in relight that with a kiss light here, hairlight there, Rembrandt variation on the front. And they did it off a flat picture and they can move the lights around as if you are moving lights. Yes. And that's there today. So that's coming our way too. And I still think the people who understand how to see light will have an advantage because you'll know when you've typed these words in that you've got it about right. It doesn't change the fact that it's going to be increasingly synthetic. The moment in the middle of it is real. We may well be asked to relight things, re clothe things that's already happening. Simon: Yeah. Paul: We get, can you just fill in my hairline? That's a fairly common one. Just removing a mole. Or removing two inches round a waist. This, we've been doing that forever. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: And so now it'll be done with keyword generation rather than, photoshop necessarily. Simon: I think you'll always have the people that embrace this, we can't ignore it as you rightly say. It's not going away. It's gonna get bigger, it's gonna feature more in our lives. I think there's gonna be three sets of people. It's gonna be the people like us generally on a daily basis. We're photographers or we're artists. We enjoy what we do. I enjoy correctly lighting somebody with the correct modifier properties to match light quality to get the best look and feel and the ambience of that image. And I enjoy the process of putting that together and then seeing the end result afterwards. I suppose that makes me an artist in, in, in loose terms. I think, you know, as, as, as a photographer, we are artists. You've then got another generation that are finding shortcuts. They're doing some of the job with their camera. They're making their image from an AI point of view. Does that make up an artist? I suppose it still does because they're creating their own art, but they have no interest 'cause they have no enjoyment in making that picture as good as it can be before you even hit the shutter. And then I think you've got other people, and us to an extent where you do what you need to do, you enjoy the process, you look at the images, and then you just finely tune it with a bit of AI or Photoshop retouching so I think there are different sets of people that will use AI to their advantage or completely ignore it. Mark: Yeah. I think you're right. And I think it comes down, I'm going to use another analogy here, you, you know, let's say you enjoy cooking. If you enjoy cooking, you're creating something. What's the alternative? You get a microwave meal. Well, Paul Simon: and Sarah do. Mark: No. Paul: Sarah does. Simon: We can't afford waitress. Mark: You might spend months creating your perfect risotto. You've got it right. You love it. Everyone else loves it. You share it around all your friends. Brilliant. Or you go to Waitrose, you buy one, put it three minutes in the microwave and it's done. That's yer AI I Imagery, isn't it? It's a microwave meal. Paul: There's a lot of microwave meals out there. And not that many people cook their own stuff and certainly not as many as used to. And there's a lesson. Simon: Is, Mark: but also, Simon: things have become easier Mark: there Simon: you go. Mark: I think what we also forget in the photographic industry and take the industry as a whole, and this is something I've experienced in the, in the working for manufacturers in that photography itself is, is a, is a huge hobby. There's lots of hobbyist photographers, but there's actually more people that do photography as part of another hobby, birdwatching, aviation, all that sort of thing. Anything, you know, the photography isn't the hobby, it's the birds that are the hobby, but they take photographs of, it's the planes that are the hobby, but they take photographs. They're the ones that actually keep the industry going and then they expand into other industries. They come on one of our workshops. You know, that's something that we're still and Simon still Absolutely. And yourself, educating photographers to do it right, to practice using the gear the right way, but the theory of it and getting it right. If anything that brings more people into wanting to learn to cook better, Paul: you Mark: have more chefs rather than people using microwave meals. Education's just so important. And when it comes to lighting, I wasn't competent in using flash. I'm still not, but having sat through Simon's course and other people's courses now for hundreds of times, I can light a scene sometimes, people are still gonna be hungry for education. I think some wills, some won't. If you wanna go and get that microwave risotto go and microwave u risotto. But there's always gonna be people that wanna learn how to do it properly, wanna learn from scratch, wanna learn the art of it. Creators and in a creative industry, we've got to embrace those people and bring more people into it and ensure there's more people on that journey of learning and upskilling and trying to do it properly. Um, and yes, if they use whatever technology at whatever stage in their journey, if they're getting enjoyment from it, what's it matter? Paul: Excellent. Mark: What a fine Paul: concluding statement. If they got enjoyment outta it. Yeah. Whatever. Excellent. Thank you, Mark, for your summing up. Simon: In conclusion, Paul: did that just come out your nose? What on earth. Mark: What Paul: what you can't see, dear Listener is the fact that Mark just spat his water everywhere, laughing at Si. It's been an interesting podcast. Anyway, I'm gonna drag this back onto topic for fear of it dissolving into three blokes having a pint. Mark: I think we should go for one. Simon: I think, Paul: I think we should know as well. Having said that with this conversation, maybe not. I was gonna ask you a little bit about, 'cause we've talked about strobes and the beauty of strobes, but of course Elinchrom still is more than that, and you've just launched a new LED light, so I know you like Strobe Simon. Now talk about the continuous light that also Elinchrom is producing. Simon: We have launched the Elinchrom LED 100 C. Those familiar with our Elinchrom One and Three OCF camera Flash system. It's basically a smaller unit, but still uses the OCF adapter. Elinchrom have put a lot of time into this. They've been looking at LED technology for many years, and I've been to the factory in Switzerland and seen different LED arrays being tested. The problem we had with LEDs is every single LED was different and put out a different color temperature. We're now manufacturing LEDs in batches, where they can all be matched. They all come from the same serial number batch. And the different colors of LED as well, 15 years ago, blue LEDs weren't even possible. You couldn't make a blue LED every other color, but not blue for some unknown reason. They've got the colors right now, they've got full RGB spectrum, which is perfectly accurate a 95 or 97 CRI index light. It's a true hundred watts, of light as well. From tosin through to past daylight and fully controllable like the CRO flash system in very accurate nth degrees. The LED array in the front of the, the LEDA hundred is one of the first shapeable, fully shapeable, LED arrays that I've come across and I've looked at lots. By shapeable, I mean you put it into a soft box, of any size and it's not gonna give you a hotspot in the middle, or it's not gonna light the first 12 inches of the middle of the soft box and leave the rest dark. I remember when we got the first LD and Mark got it before me And he said, I've put it onto a 70 centimeter soft box. And he said, I've taken a picture to the front. Look at this. And it was perfectly even from edge to edge. When I got it, I stuck it onto a 1 3 5 centimeter soft box and did the same and was absolutely blown away by how even it was from edge to edge. When I got my light meter out, if you remember what one of those is, uh, it, uh, it gave me a third of a stop different from the center to the outside edge. Now for an LED, that's brilliant. I mean, that's decent for a flash, but for an LED it's generally unheard of. So you can make the LED as big as you like. It's got all the special effects that some of the cheaper Chinese ones have got because people use that kind of thing. Apparently I have no idea what for. But it sits on its own in a market where there are very cheap and cheerful LEDs, that kind of do a job. And very expensive high-end LEDs that do a completely different job for the photographer that's gone hybrid and does a bit of shooting, but does a bit of video work. So, going into a solicitor's or an accountant's office where they want head shots, but also want a bit of talking head video for the MD or the CEO explaining about his company on the website. It's perfect. You can up the ISO and use the modeling lamp in generally the threes, the fives, the ones that we've got, the LEDs are brilliant. But actually the LED 100 will give you all your modifier that you've taken with you, you can use those. It's very small and light, with its own built-in battery and it will give you a very nice low iso. Talking head interview with a lovely big light source. And I've proved the point of how well it works and how nice it is at the price point it sits in. But it is our first journey into it. There will be others come in and there'll be an app control for it. And I think from an LED point of view, you're gonna say, I would say this, but actually it's one of the nicer ones I've used. And when you get yours, you can tell people exactly the same. Paul: Trust me, I will. Simon: Yes. Mark: I think Paul: very excited about it. Mark: I think the beauty of it as well is it's got an inbuilt battery. It'll give you up to 45 minutes on a full charge. You can plug it in and run it off the mains directly through the USB socket as well. But it means it's a truly portable light source. 45 minutes at a hundred watt and it's rated at a hundred watt actual light output. It's seems far in excess of that. When you actually, Simon: we had a photographer the other day who used it and he's used to using sort of 3, 2 50, 300 watt LEDs and he said put them side by side at full power. They were virtually comparable. Paul: That is certainly true, or in my case by lots. Simon: I seem to be surrounded Paul: by Elinchrom kit, Which is all good. So for anybody who's interested in buying one of these things, where'd you get them? How much are they? Simon: The LED itself, the singlehead unit is 499 inc VAT. If you want one with a charger, which sounds ridiculous, but there's always people who say, well, I don't want the charger. You can have one with a charger for 50 quid extra. So 549. The twin kit is just less than a thousand quid with chargers. And it comes in a very nice portable carry bag to, to carry them around in. Um, and, uh, yeah, available from all good photographic retailers, and, Ellen crom.co uk. Paul: Very good. So just to remind you beautiful people listening to this podcast, we only ever feature people and products, at least like this one where I've said, put a sales pitch in because I use it. It's only ever been about what we use here at the studio. I hate the idea of just being a renta-voice. You it. Mark: bought it. Paul: Yeah. That's true. You guys sold it to me. Mark: Yeah, Simon: if I gave you anything you'd tell everyone it was great. So if you buy it, no, I've bought Paul: Yeah. And then became an ambassador for you. As with everything here, I put my money where my mouth is, we will use it. We do use it. I'm really interested in the little LED light because I could have done with that the other night. It would've been perfect for a very particular need. So yes, I can highly recommend Elinchrom Fives and Threes if you're on a different system. The Rotalux, system of modifier is the best on the planet. Quick to set up, quick to take down. More importantly, the light that comes off them is just beautiful, whether it's a Godox, whether it's on a ProPhoto, which it was for me, or whether if you've really got your common sense about you on the front of an Elinchrom. And on that happy note and back to where we started, which is about lighting, I'm gonna say thanks to the guys. They came to the studio to fix a problem but it's always lovely to have them as guests here. Thank you, mark. Thank you Simon. Most importantly, you Elinchrom for creating Kit is just an absolute joy to use. If you've enjoyed the podcast, please head over to all your other episodes. Please subscribe and whatever is your podcast, play of choice, whether it's iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or a other. After you head, if you head across to masteringportraitphotography.com the spiritual home of this, particular, podcast, I will put in the show notes all the little bits of detail and where to get these things. I'll get some links off the guys as to where to look for the kit. Thank you both. I dunno when I'll be seeing you again. I suspect it will be the Convention in January if I know the way these things go. Simon: We're not gonna get invited back, are we? Mark: Probably not. Enough. Paul: And I'm gonna get a mop and clean up that water. You've just sprayed all over the floor. What is going on? Simon: wish we'd video. That was a funny sun Mark: I just didn't expect it and never usually that sort of funny and quick, Simon: It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Paul: On that happy note, whatever else is going on in your lives, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP167 The New Book Is Out!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/mastering-portrait-photography-book/) Ten years, 50,000+ copies, four languages, and about a million stories later... the second edition of Mastering Portrait Photography is here. Sarah flips the mic and grills me about why we did a new edition, what changed (spoiler: basically everything but one image), how mirrorless and AI have shifted the craft, and why a tiny chapter on staying creative might be the most important two pages I've ever written. There's a Westie called Dodi, a cover star called Dory, and a street scene in La Boca that still makes me grin. Enjoy! Links: Signed Copy of Mastering Portrait Photography, New Edition - https://masteringportraitphotography.com/resource/signed-copy-mastering-portrait-photography-new-edition/ ### Celebrating a Decade of Mastering Portrait Photography Welcome back to the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast! Today is a special episode, as I, Sarah, Paul's business partner and wife, have the rare pleasure of turning the microphone around to ask him some questions. It has been ten years since the first edition of Mastering Portrait Photography hit the shelves, selling over 50,000 copies, undergoing multiple reprints, and being translated into four languages. Clearly, it has made quite an impact. However, as we all know, photography is an ever-evolving field, and so is Paul. Today, we are diving into the brand new second edition of the book. #### The Origin Story Let's start with the first version. How did it come about? The first edition was co-authored with another Sarah, the talented photographer and writer Sarah Plater. She approached us, having previously written a successful book on the foundations of photography. The publisher wanted to create Mastering Portrait Photography, and Sarah needed someone who could demonstrate the techniques that would live up to that title. We were fortunate to be that photographer. The process was a trial and error journey, with Sarah interviewing me repeatedly about the techniques used in portraiture. We covered everything from a cursory overview to in-depth dives, all focusing on how to get the best out of your camera, your techniques, and the people in front of you. Little did I know that ten years later, we would be sitting here discussing Mastering Portrait Photography as a brand in its own right. #### Expectations and Surprises Did you expect it to do as well as it did? As a typical photographer, I didn't expect much. I thought it would be reasonably well received, but I was unsure how much impact it would have. There's always a sense of insecurity in our field; we tend to focus on what we haven't achieved rather than what we have. When the book launched, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. It has since been translated into Italian, Korean, German, and Chinese, and even American English, which was a bit of a surprise since we provided everything in UK English. One amusing review pointed out that readers were frustrated by the American spellings, but that was beyond our control. #### The Journey to the Second Edition Did you think a second edition would happen? Not really. We did a minor update previously, which I assumed was the end of it. However, at the end of last year, we were contacted about refreshing the book properly due to its success over the past decade. It was a joy to receive that email. #### Changes in the Second Edition What changes have you made in the second edition? So much has changed in a decade, especially regarding equipment. We included a chapter on kit at the beginning, as the publisher insisted it would help sell to a specific market. Technology has evolved significantly; ten years ago, mirrorless cameras were just emerging, but now they are the professional choice due to their fewer moving parts and improved sensors. More importantly, I have changed as a photographer. My techniques, post-production processes, and even my approach to shooting have evolved. With mirrorless cameras, I can now shoot in a way that allows for more creativity and efficiency. For example, I can capture running dogs or children with much greater ease than before. #### A Personal Touch How many pictures have changed between the two versions? All but one. The only image that remains the same is a generic kit picture. Every portrait has been updated. The process of selecting these images was a thoughtful one. Although I had the freedom to change every picture, I had to fit them into the same layout as the first edition. This time, I aimed to choose images that truly reflect my growth as a photographer. Each picture now tells a story, and I could share a memorable experience behind every single one. #### The Role of AI in Photography With the introduction of AI, how has post-production changed? Post-production is a vast topic, and we included a chapter on it to emphasize that an image isn't finished in-camera; it's finished in post-production. In the past ten years, everything has changed, including the emergence of AI. It's now an integral part of our workflow, and while some may resist it, it's essential to embrace the tools available to us. We discuss specific AI applications, like EVOTO.AI, to make readers aware of how AI can enhance their work. It's a choice whether to use it, but it's important to recognize its growing role in the industry. #### Staying Creative You've added a new chapter about staying creative. Can you tell us more about that? Absolutely! It's a chapter I'm particularly proud of. As creatives, we can sometimes find ourselves in a rut, doing the same things repeatedly. This chapter offers techniques and ideas for staying motivated and inspired. It's crucial to keep experimenting and trying new things to maintain that creative spark. #### A Journey of Discovery Who do you think the book is for? I believe there's something for almost any portrait photographer in this book. Whether you're a pro or a beginner, the techniques and beautiful images will resonate. Even if you're an experienced photographer, you might find inspiration in the pictures or ideas presented. #### Looking Ahead The book is officially launching soon. What's next for you? We are excited about the launch and have invited everyone featured in the book to celebrate with us. We'll be refreshing the studio with the new images and hosting an open day for anyone who wants to come by. Following that, I'll be judging the British Institute of Professional Photographers print competition, so it's going to be a busy time! #### Final Thoughts Thank you for joining me today, Paul. We have a limited number of signed copies available at the studio, but the book will also be available at all good bookstores. We'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you've read the first edition. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please head over to masteringportraitphotography.com, where you can find articles and behind-the-scenes stories about the images in this book. And remember, be kind to yourself. Take care! ### [EP168 Inside The Print Room: What It's Like To Be A Judge](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep168-inside-the-print-room-what-its-like-to-be-judge/) Husky voice, Friday night whiskey, and a mountain of cheese from the book launch. In this episode I lift the lid on what really happens inside a print judging room. The rotation of five from a pool of seven. Silent scoring so no one nudges anyone else. How a challenge works, what the chair actually does, and why we start with impact, dive through craft, then finish on impact again to see what survives. Layout over composition, light as the whole game, and a final re-rank that flattens time drift so the right image actually wins. If you enjoy a peek behind the curtain, you will like this one. You can grab a signed copy of the new Mastering Portrait Photography at masteringportraitphotography.com and yes, I will scribble in it. If you already have the book, a quick Amazon review helps more than you know. Fancy sharpening your craft in person? Check the workshops page for new dates and come play with light at the studio. ##### Links: The book: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/resource/signed-copy-mastering-portrait-photography-new-edition/ Workshops: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/Transcript [00:00:00] Hey, one and all. How are you doing? Now? I'll be honest, I still have the remnants of a cold, and if you can hear that in my voice, I do apologize, I suppose you could call it slightly bluesy, but you can definitely hear that I'm ever so slightly husky. It's Friday night, it's eight 30, and I was, I've been waiting a week to record this podcast, hoping my voice would clear it hasn't, and so I've taken the opportunity having a glass of whiskey and just cracking on. So if you like the sound of a slightly bluesy voice, that's great. If you don't, I'm really sorry, but whichever, which way I'm Paul. And this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. So it's been a busy month or two. You can always tell when it's busy [00:01:00] 'cause the podcasts. Get, don't really get delivered in quite the pace I would like. However, it really has been a busy couple of weeks the past few. Let me, I'm gonna draw your attention to it. The past couple of weeks, we've, there's a ton of stuff going on around us for a moment. I was up in Preston. I've been up in Preston twice over the past couple of weeks. The first one was working as a qualifications judge for the BIPP, the British Institute Professional photographers. Um. Which I love judging. I love judging. It's exhausting, but I love it. And that was qualifications, panels. Then last week was the launch. Of the updated edition of Mastering Portrait Photography, the book, which is where it all started, where Sarah Plata and I published this book that seems to have been incredibly popular. 50,000 copies translated from English into four other languages. Chinese, Korean, German. And Italian, do not ask me, do not ask me the logic on why the book is in those [00:02:00] particular languages. To be fair, we only found out about the Chinese and Korean when we were trying to get some marketing material together to talk about the new book Nobody had told us. I'm not even sure the publisher knew, to be honest. Uh, but we have found copies. We have a Chinese copy here in the studio. I'm still trying to get a Korean version. So if you are listening to this. Podcast in Korea. Please tell me how to get hold of a version in Korean because we'd love to complete the set. There's, in fact, there's two Italian versions. We knew about that. There's a German version we knew about that hardback version. It's great. It's really beautiful. Very I, like I, I don't live in Germany and I don't like to stereotyping entire nation, but the quality of the book is incredible. It's absolutely rock solid, properly engineered. Love it. We have a Chinese version here but the Korean version still alludes us. However, this week the new version, mastering portrait photography is out. And as you know, I, Sarah interviewed me for the podcast last week to talk about it. Well, it's out. We've had our launch party, uh, we invited everybody who [00:03:00] has featured in the book who, everybody, every picture in the book that we asked the person in it to come to the studio for a soiree. And it was brilliant. I've never seen so much cheese in all my life, and by I don't mean my speech, I mean actual cheese. We had a pile of it, still eating it. So it's been a week and I'm still eating the cheese. I dunno quite how, well, quite by how much we vacated, but probably by several kilos. Which I'm enjoying thoroughly. I've put on so much weight this week, it's unreal, but I'm enjoying the cheese. And then on Sunday we had an open day where we had set the studio out with some pictures from the book and some notes of the different people. Who featured and what I might do, actually, I'd, I wonder if I can do a visual podcast. I might do a visual podcast where I talk about those images, at some point on the website, on masteringportraitportraitphotography.com. I will do the story and the BTS and the production of every single image that's in the book, but it's gonna take me some [00:04:00] time. There's nearly 200 images in there. Um, and every one of them, bar one is a new image or is, is. It is, it is a new image in the book, and it has been taken in the 10 years or the decades subsequent to the first book, all bar one. Feel free to email me. Email me the image you think it might be. You'll probably guess it, but it's it's definitely in there. Um, and so it's been really busy. And then at the beginning of this week, I spent two days up in Preston again, judging again, but this time it was for the British Institute of Professional Photographers print Masters competition. Ah, what, what a joy. Six other judges and me, a chair of judges. Print handlers, the organizers. Ah, I mean, I've seen so many incredible images over those 48 hours, and in this podcast I want to talk a bit about how we do it, why we do it, what it feels like to do it, [00:05:00] because I'm not sure everybody understands that it's it, it's not stressful, but we do as judges, feel the pressure. We know that we are representing, on the one hand, the association as the arbiters of the quality of the curators of these competitions, but also we feel the pressure of the authors because we are there too. We also enter competitions and we really, really hope the judges pay attention, really investigate and interrogate the images that we've entered. And when, when you enter competitions, that heightens the pressure to do a good job for the authors who you are judging. So in this podcast, I'm gonna talk through some of the aspects of that. Forgive me if it sounds like I'm answering questions. It's because I wrote myself some questions. I wrote some [00:06:00] questions down to, how I structures the podcast usually, uh, the podcast rambles along, but this one I actually set out with a structure to it, so forgive me if it sounds like I'm answering questions. It's 'cause I'm answering my own questions. What does it feel like? How do you do it? Et cetera, et cetera. Anyway, I hope it's useful. Enjoy. And it gives you an insight into what it's like to be a competition judge. Okay. As you walk into the judging room. For me at least, it's mostly a sense of excitement. There's a degree of apprehension. There's a degree of tension, but mostly there's an adrenaline rush. Knowing that we're about to sit and view, assess, score these incredible images from photographers all over the world, and let's remember that every photographer when they enter a print competition, which is what I'm talking about primarily here. Every photographer [00:07:00] believes that print that category that year, could win. Nobody enters an image thinking that it doesn't stand a chance. Now you might do that modest thing of, I don't know, you know? Oh no, I don't. I I just chance my arm. No one enters a print they don't think has a chance of doing well. That just doesn't happen. It's too expensive. It takes too much time. And as judges. We are acutely aware of that. So when you walk into the room, lots of things are going in your on, in your heads. Primarily, you know, you are there to do a job. You are there to perform a task. You are going to put your analytical head on and assess a few hundred images over the next 48 hours. But as you walk in, there's a whole series of things. You, you are gonna assess the room. You see that your fellow judges, you're gonna see the print handlers. You're going to see the chair, you're gonna see the people [00:08:00] from whichever association it is who are organizing it, who or who have organized it. You'll see stacks of prints ready to be assessed. There's a whole series of things that happen. A lot of hugging. It's really lovely. This year the panel of judges, uh, had some people in it I haven't seen for quite a few years, and it was beyond lovely to see them. So there's all of that, but you, there's this underlying tension you are about to do. One of the things you love doing more than anything else in as part of your job. So there's the excitement of it and the joy of it, but there's always this gentle underlying tone of gravitas of just how serious it is. What we are doing. So there will be plenty of laughter, plenty of joy, but you never really take your eye off the task in hand. And that's how it feels as you go to take your seats on the judging [00:09:00] panel. So the most important thing, I think, anyway, and I was chair of qualifications and awards for the BIPP for a number of years, is that the whole room, everybody there is acting as a team. If you are not gonna pull as a team, it doesn't work. So there has to be safety, there has to be structure. There has to be a process and all of these things come together to provide a framework in which you assess and create the necessary scores and results for the association, for the photographers, for the contestants. So you take your seats, and typically in a room, there are gonna be five judges at any one time assessing an image. It's typically five. I've seen it done other ways, but a panel of judges is typically five. The reason we have five is at no point do all of the judges agree. [00:10:00] We'll go through this later in more detail, but the idea is that you have enough judges that you can have contention, you can have. Disagreements, but as a panel of judges, you'll come up with a score. So you'll have five judges sitting assessing an image at any one time. To the side of the room, there'll be two more judges typically. Usually we have a pool of seven, five judges working, two judges sitting out every 10 prints or 10 minutes or whatever the chair decides. They'll we'll rotate along one, so we'll all move along one seat and one of the spare judges will come in and sit on the end and one of the existing judges will step off. And we do that all day, just rotating along so that everybody judges, broadly speaking, the same number of images. Now, of course there is a degree of specialism in the room. If a panel has been well selected, there'll be specialists in each of the categories, but you can't have, let's say there's 15 categories. You [00:11:00] can't have five specialist judges per category. That's simply impractical. Um, you know, having, what's that, 75 judges in a room, just so that you can get through the 15 categories is. A logistics task, a cost. Even just having a room that big, full of judges doesn't work. So every judge is expected to be reasonably multi-talented, even if you don't shoot, for instance, landscapes. You have to have a working knowledge of what's required of a great landscape. Because our job as a panel isn't that each of us will spot all of the same characteristics in an image, all of the same defects, all of the same qualities. Each judge has been picked to bring their own. Sort of viewpoint, if you like, to the image. Some judges are super technical, some judges, it's all about the atmosphere. Some judges, it's all about the printing and there's every bit of image production is [00:12:00] covered by each of the individual specialisms of the judges. And so while there is a degree of specialism, there will be a landscape. Specialist in the room or someone who works in landscape, there will be plenty of portrait photographers, wedding photographers, commercial photographers. The idea is from those seven, we can cover all of those bases. So we have seven judges all at fellowship level, all highly skilled, all experienced. And then there's the chair. Now the chair's role is not to affect the actual score. The chair's role is to make sure the judges have considered everything that they should be considering. That's the Chair's job, is to make sure the judges stay fresh, keep an eye on the scores, keep an eye on the throughput. Make sure that every image and every author are given a. The time and consideration that they are due. What do I mean by that? Well, I just mean the photographers spent a lot of time and effort and [00:13:00] finance putting this print in front of us, and so it's really important that we as judges give it due consideration. The chair, that's their role is to make sure that's what really happens. So the process is pretty simple, really. We will take our seats as a panel of judges and when we are settled. The chair will ask for the print, one of the print handlers. There's normally a couple of print handlers in the room, one to put the image on, one to take the image off. The print handler will take the first image or the next image off the pile and place it in front of us on the light box. They will then check the print to make sure there's no visible or obvious dust marks, um, or anything, and give with an air blower or with the back of a a handling glove, or very gently take any dust spots away. They will then step back. Now, the way the judges are set, there are five seats in a gentle arc, usually around the light [00:14:00] box. The outer two judges, judges one and five will step into the light box and examine or interrogate the print carefully. They will take as much time as they need to ascertain what they believe the score for that image should be. They will then take their seats. The next two judges in, so let's say Judge two and four, they will step in to interrogate the print and do exactly the same thing. When they're ready, they'll step back and sit down. And then the middle judge, the final judge in seat three, they will step up and interrogate the print. And the reason we do it that way is that everybody gets to see the print thoroughly. Everybody gets to spend enough time. Examining the print. And at that point, when we all sit down, we all enter our scores onto whatever the system is we're using either using iPads or keypads. There's all sorts of ways of doing it, but what's really important is we do all of this in total silence and we don't really do it because we need to be able to [00:15:00] concentrate. Though that has happened, sort of distracting noises can play havoc. Um, we really do it so that we are not influencing any other judge. So there's no, oh, this is rubbish, or, oh, this is amazing. Or any of this stuff, because the idea is that each judge will come to their own independent score. We enter them, and then there's a process as to what happens next. So that's the process. If at some point a single judge when the image appears, says, I can't judge this for whatever reason, usually it's because they've seen the image before. I mean, there's one this week where I hadn't directly influenced the image. But the author had shown me how they'd done it, so they'd stepped me through the Photoshopping, the construction, the shooting, everything about the image. I knew the image really well, and so when the image appeared on the light box, I knew while I could judge it, it wasn't fair to the author or to the other [00:16:00] competitors that I should. So I raised my hand, checked in with the chair, chair, asked me what I wanted. I said, I need to step off this. I'm too familiar with the work for me to give this a cold read, an objective read. So I if, if possible, if there's another judge, could they just step in and score this one image for me? And that means it's fair for all of the contestants. So that's that bit of process when we come to our score. Let's assume the score's fine. Let's assume, I dunno, it gets an 82, which is usually a merit or a bronze, whatever the system is. The chair will log that, she'll say that image scored 82, which is the average of all five of us. She'll then check in with the scores and the panel of judges. He or she rather, uh, they, so they will look at us and go, are you all happy with that result? That's really important. Are you all happy? Would that result? Because that's the opportunity as judges for one of us, if we're not comfortable that the image is scored where we think it probably should. And [00:17:00] remember with five of you, if the score isn't what you think, you could be the one who's not got your eye in or you haven't spotted something, it might well be you, but it's your job as a judge to make sure if there's any doubt in your mind about the scoring of an image that. You ask for it to be assessed again, for there to be discussion for the team to do its job because it might be that the other members of the panel haven't seen something that you have or you haven't seen something that they have, that both of those can be true. So it's really important that you have a process and you have a strict process. And this is how it works. So the chair will say you are happy. One of the judges may say. No, I'm not happy or may say I would like to challenge that or may simply say, I think this warrants a discussion. I'm gonna start it off. And then there's a process for doing that. [00:18:00] So the judge who raises the challenge will start the dialogue and they'll start in whichever direction it is that they think the scoring is not quite right. They will start the dialogue that way. So let's say the score, the judge who's raising a challenge says the score feels a little low. What happens then is raise a challenge and that judge will discuss the image or talk to the image in a way that is positive and trying to raise the score. And they're gonna do that by drawing attention to the qualities that they feel the image has, that maybe they're worried the other judges haven't seen when they're done, the next judge depends, depending on the chair and how you do it. The next judge will take their turn and he goes all the way around with every judge having their say. And then it comes back to the originating judge who has the right of a rebuttal, which simply means to answer back. So depending on how the [00:19:00] dialogue has gone it may be that you say thank you to all of the judges. I'm glad you saw my point. It would be great if we could give this the score that I think this deserves. Similarly, you occasionally, and I did do one of these where I raised a challenge, um, where I felt an image hadn't scored, or the judges hadn't seen something that maybe I had seen in the image, and then very quickly realized that four judges had seen a defect that I hadn't. And so my challenge, it was not, it's never a waste of a challenge. It's never ever a waste because it's really important that every image is given the consideration it deserves. But at the end of the challenge that I raised, the scoring stayed exactly the same. I stayed, I said thank you to all of the judges for showing me some stuff that I hadn't noticed. And then we moved on. More often than not, the scores move as the judges say, oh, do you know what, you're right, there is something in this. Or, no, you're right. We've overinflated this because we saw things, but we missed these technical defects. It's those kinds of conversations. So that's a, a chair, that's a, a judge's [00:20:00] challenge. Yeah, this process also kicks in if there's a very wide score difference between the judge's scores, same process, but this time there's no rebuttal. Every judge simply gives their view starting with the highest judge and then working anywhere on the panel. Um, and then there's a rare one, which does happen which is a chair's challenge, and the chair has the right in, at least in the competitions that I judge, the chair has the right to say to the panel of judges. Could you just give this another consideration? I think there might be things you've missed or that feels like you're getting a little bit steady in your scoring. 'cause they, the chair of course, has got a log of all the scores and can see whether, you know, you're settling into like a 78, 79 or one judge is constantly outta kilter. The chair can see everything and so your job as the chair is to just, okay guys, listen, I think this image that you've just assessed. Possibly there's some things one way or the [00:21:00] other that you might need to take into consideration. It doesn't feel like you have. I'd like you to discuss this image and then just do a rescore. So those are the, those are the mechanisms. So in the room you've got five judges plus two judges who are there ready to step in when required either on the rotation or when someone recuses themself and steps out. Usually two print handlers and then usually there's at least one person or maybe more from the association, just doing things like making sure things are outta their boxes, that the scores are recorded on the back of the prints, they go back into boxes, there's no damage because these prints are worth quite a lot of money. And so, there's usually quite a few people in the room, but it's all done in silence and it's all done to this beautiful process of making sure it's organized, it's clear it's transparent, and we're working as one team to assess each image and give it the score that it deserves. so when the print arrives on the box. It has impact. Now, whether you like it or not, [00:22:00] whether you understand it or not, whether you can define it or not, the print has an impact. You're gonna see it, you're gonna react to it. How do you react to it? Is it visceral? Does your heart rate climb? Do you. Do you explore it? Do you want to explore it? Does it tell a clear story? And now is when you are judging a competition, typically the association or the organization who are running the competition will have a clear set of criteria. I mean, broadly speaking, things like lighting, posing layout or composition storytelling. Graphic design, print quality, if it's a print competition. These are the kinds of things that, um, we look for. And they're listed out in the competition guides that the entrant, the author will have known those when they submitted their print. And the judges know them when we're assessing them, so they're kind of coherent. Whatever it is that the, the entrance were told, that's what we're judging [00:23:00] to the most important. Is the emotional connection or the impact? It's typically called visual impact or just impact. What's really important about that is that it's very obvious, I think, to break images down into these constructed elements like complimentary colors or tonal range or centers of interest, but they don't really do anything except create. Your emotional reaction to the picture. Now, we do use language around these to assess the image, but what we're actually looking for is emotional impact. Pictures tell stories. Stories invoke emotions. It's the emotions we're really looking for. But the trick when you are judging is you start with the initial impact. Then you go in and you in real tiny detail, look at the image. Explore it, interrogate it, [00:24:00] enjoy it, maybe don't enjoy it. And you look at it in all of the different categories or different areas, criteria that you are, that the judges that the organization have set out. And then really, although it never gets listed twice, it should do, impact should also be listed as the last thing you look at as well. Because here's the process. You look at the image. There's an impact. You then in detail investigate, interrogate, enjoy the image. And then at the very end you ask yourself, what impact does it still have? And that's really important because the difference between those two gives you an idea of how much or how well the image is scoring in all of the other areas. If an image has massive impact when you, let's put 'em on the light box, and then you explore it and you [00:25:00] enjoy it, and you look at it under the light, and then at the end of it you're still feeling the same thing you did when it came on the light box, that's a pretty good indicator that all the criteria were met. If on the other hand, as you've explored the image, you've realized. There are errors in the production, or you can see Photoshopping problems or blown highlights or blocked blacks, or things are blurred where they should be sharp or you name it. It's these kinds of things. You know, the printing has got banding in the sky, which is a defect. You see dust spots from a camera sensor. These gradually whittle away your impact score because you go back to the end and you ask, what impact does the image now have? And I've heard judges use terms like at the end of the process, I thought that was gonna be amazing when it first arrived on the light box. I just loved the look of it from a distance, but when I stepped in, there were just too many things that [00:26:00] weren't quite right. And at the end of it, I just felt some would, sometimes I've heard the word disappointed you. So that's certainly how I feel. When an image has this beautiful impact and the hair stand up on the back of your neck and you just think, I cannot wait to step in and explore this image in detail. 'cause I tell you one thing, most authors don't own a light box. When you see a print on a beautiful light box, the, there's something about the quality. The way the print ESS is you actually get to see what a print should look like. So when you step in, you are really excited to see it. And if at the end of that process you're slightly disappointed because you found defects in the printing or problems with the focusing or Photoshop or whatever it is. You really are genuinely disappointed. So that's how you approach it. You approach it from this standpoint of a very emotional, a very emotional connection with the image to start with, and then you break [00:27:00] it down into its elements, whatever those elements are for the competition. And then at the end, you ask yourself really, does it still have the impact? I thought it would because if it does, well, in that case, it's done really, really well. one of the things that's really interesting about judging images is we, we draw out, we write out all of these criteria and. Every image has them really. I mean, well, I say that of course every image doesn't have them. If you are, if you're thinking about landscape or a picture of a shampoo bottle, it doesn't have posing, for instance, if that's one of your criteria. But typically there's a standard set of criteria and every image has them layout, color uh, photographic technique, et cetera. So if we look at let's say composition, let's talk about composition. Personally, I like to use the term layout rather than composition because it [00:28:00] feels a little bit more like a verb. You lay the image out, you have all of the bits, you lay them out. I like that because when we are teaching photography when we say to someone, right, what are all of the bits that you have in front of you? How are you gonna lay them out? It feels a lot more, to me, at least more logical than saying, how are you gonna compose the image? Because it allows. I think it allows the photographer to think in terms of each individual component rather than just the whole frame. So we are looking for how the image is constructed. Remember that every photographer really should think about an image. As telling a story, what's the story that you want somebody else? Somebody that you've never met. In this case a judge, but it could be a client or it could just be somebody where your work is being exhibited on a wall. What do you want them to look at? What do you want them to see? Where do you want that eye to go? And there are lots of tricks to [00:29:00] this, and one of them is layout or composition. So we've got through the initial impact, boom. And the excitement. And then you start to think, is the image balanced? I like to think of an image having a center of gravity. Some photographers will use center of interest, which is a slightly different thing, but I think an image has a center of gravity. The component parts of the image create balance. So you can have things right down in the edges of the frame, but you need something to balance it like a seesaw. You can't just. Throw in, throw parts of the puzzle around the frame. So you are looking for where do they land? And of course, as photographers, we talk about thirds, golden ratios, golden spirals, all of these terms. But what we are really looking for is does the image have a natural flow? Does it feel like everything's where it should be? Does your eye go to the bit that the author probably wanted you to look at? Have they been effective in their [00:30:00] storytelling? And by storytelling, I don't necessarily mean storytelling as in photojournalism or narrative rich photography. What I mean is what did they want you to see, and then did you go and see it? Separation? Is the background blurred? And let's say the, the subject is sharp. That's a typical device for making sure you look at the subject. Is the color of the background muted in a way that draws your attention? Again to whatever it is in the foreground. So layouts one of those tools. So we work our way around it and try and figure out does the positioning of all of the elements of the image does their positioning add or distract from the story? We think that author was trying to tell. Let's remember that it's not the judge's job to understand the story. It's the author's job to tell the story in a way that the judges can get it. Too often, you know, when I, when I've judged [00:31:00] a competition, someone will come and find me afterwards and say, did you understand what that was about? I was trying to say this, and it's like, well, I didn't see that, but that's not my fault. You know, it's, it's down to you to lead me pictorially to. Whatever it is you're trying to show. Same with all judges, all viewers, clients. It doesn't really matter. It's the author's job, not the judges. So at the end of that, you then move on to whatever's the next criteria. So you know, you assess these things bit by bit, and by the way, every judge will do it in a slightly different order. There'll be written down in an order. But each judge would approach it in a different manner. For me, typically it's about emotional connection more than anything else, it's about the emotion. I love that genuine, authentic connection of a person in the image. To me, the viewer. I will always go there if, if it's a portrait or a wedding or fashion image, if there's a person in it or a dog, I suppose, [00:32:00] then I will look for that authenticity, that, that visceral, it feels like they're looking at me or I'm having a dialogue with them. That's my particular hot button, but every judge has their room and that's how you approach it. So when it comes to a photograph in the end, you don't really have anything other than light when you think about it, right? That's, you pick up a camera, it's got a sensor, it's got film, it's got a lens on the front, and a shutter stopping light coming, or it goes through the lens, but the, the shutter stops it hitting a sensor. And at some point you commit light to be recorded. And it's the light that describes the image. There's nothing else. It's not something you can touch or hear, it's just light. And of course light is everything. I think, I think the term pho photography or photograph is a mix of a couple of words, and it's a relatively recent idea. I think [00:33:00] it was Victorian and it's, isn't it light and art photographic or photograph, um. So that's what it is. It's capturing light and creating a reaction from it. So the quality of light is possibly the most important thing. There is too much of it, and you're gonna have blown highlights, nasty white patches on your prints, too little of it. You're gonna have no detail in the shadows and a lot of noise or grain, whether it's film or whether it's off your sensor. And then there's the shape of the light. The color of the light, and it doesn't really matter whether it's portrait, wedding, landscape, product, avant garde, it's light that defines things. It's light that can break an image. So with portraiture, for instance, we tend to talk about. Sculpting or dimensionality of light. We tend to talk about the shape of the subject. We talk about flattering light. We talk about hard and soft light, and all of these things [00:34:00] mean something. This isn't the podcast to talk about those in detail, but that's what we're looking for. We are looking for has the light created a sense of shape, a sense of wonder, a sense of narrative. Does the lighting draw your eye towards the subject? And when you get to the subject, is it clear that the lighting is effective and by effective, usually as a portrait photographer anyway. I mean flattering. But you might be doing something with light that's counterintuitive, that's making the subject not flattered. That's maybe it's for a thriller style thing, or maybe it's dark and moody. Harsh, as long as in tune with the story as we are seeing it, then the lighting is assessed in that vein. So we've seen some incredible beauty shots over the past couple of days where the lighting sculpted the face. It had damaged ality, but it was soft. There were no hard shadows, there were no [00:35:00] blown highlights. The skin, it was clear that the texture of the skin, the light, it caught the texture. So we knew exactly what that would be. It had. Captured the shape. So the way the gens or shadows ripple around a body or a face tell you its shape. They haven't destroyed the shape. It's it's catch shape, but it hasn't unnecessarily sculpted scars or birthmarks or spots, you know? And that's how lighting works. So you look for this quality, you look for control, you look for the author, knowing what they're doing. With landscapes, typically it's, it is very rare, in my opinion, for a landscape. To get a good score if it isn't shot at one end of the day or the other. Why? Well, typically, at those points of the day, the light from the sun is almost horizontal. It rakes across the frame, and you get a certain quality to the way the shadows are thrown. The way the [00:36:00] light, sculpts hills, buildings, clouds, leaves, trees, the way it skips off water, whether it's at the beginning of the day or the end of the day. It's quite unusual though we do see them for an amazing photograph of escape to be taken at midday. But you can see how it could be if you have the sun directly overhead, because that has a quality all of its own. And you know, if when an author has gone to the effort of being in the right place to shoot vertical shadows with a direct overhead son, well maybe that's so deliberate that the, the judges will completely appreciate that and understand the story. So it's looking for these things and working out. Has the lighting been effective in telling the story? We think the author was trying to tell? Lighting is at the heart of it. So when we've been through every criteria, whatever they are, lighting, composition, color, narrative, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, [00:37:00] we've assessed every image, hundreds of them. We've had challenges, we've had conversations. We have a big pile of prints that have made it over the line. To whatever is your particular association scoring, whether it's merit or bronze or whatever. The puzzle isn't quite complete at that stage because there is of course, a slight problem and that problem is time. So if you imagine judging a section of images might take a couple of hours to do 70 prints, 60, 70 prints might take longer than that. In fact, it might take the best part of an afternoon. During that time. There's every chance the scores will wander. And the most obvious time is if a category spans something like a lunch break. We try to make sure categories don't do that. We try to complete categories before going for a break. We always try to be continuous, but [00:38:00] you've still got fatigue. You've got the judges rotating. So all of these things are going on. It sometimes it depends what images come up in what order could conceivably affect the scoring. For instance there's an image that came up this year where I think probably I was the judge that felt the strongest about it. There was something about this particular image that needed talking about, and so when it came up and it was scores that I raised a challenge and my heart rate, the minute the print hit the stand, my heart rate climbed through the roof. It was. Something about it that just connected with me. And then when I explored the image on the lights, on the light box, to me, there was very little that was technically holding it back. There were a couple of bits, but nothing that I felt warranted a lower score. And so I raised a [00:39:00] challenge. I said my point, I went through it in detail. I asked the other judges to consider it. From my viewpoint, they gave their views as to why they hadn't. But each of them understood where I was coming from and unlike the challenge I talked about earlier where no one changed their mind on this one, they did on this one. They also saw things that I saw when we went through it. But at the end of the process, the image was got a higher score, which is great, but. I didn't feel that I could judge the next image fairly because whatever came in, my heart rate was still battering along after seeing this one particular image. And that happens sometimes. It's not common, but I felt I needed to step off the panel before the next image came up. Which I did in work, working with the chair and the team. I stepped off for a couple of prints before stepping back on [00:40:00] just to let my eye settle and let myself get back into the right zone. But during the day, the zone changes. The way you change your perception of the images, as the images come through is so imperceptible, imperceivable, imperceptible. One of those two words is so tiny that you don't notice if there's a slight drift. And so there's every opportunity for an image to score a couple of points lower or a couple of points higher than it possibly could have done. If it had been seen at another point in the day. Maybe it had been, maybe if the image was seen after a series of not so strong images, maybe it would get a higher score. Or of course, the other way round. Maybe after seeing a series of really, really powerful, impactful images that came up, maybe it scored be slightly diminished. Both of those can be true. And so it's really important that we redress that any possible imbalance and every competition I've ever done has a final round. And the [00:41:00] way this is done is that we take the highest scoring images, top five, top 10, depending on the competition, and we line them up. And all of the judges now, not just the judges who are the five on the panel, all seven judges. Get an opportunity to bring each image back onto a light box if they wish, if they haven't seen them already. Because remember, some of those images may not have been assessed by the, well. It cannot have been assessed by all seven of the judges, so there's always gonna be at least two judges who haven't seen that image or seeing it for the first time as a judge. So we bring them back, we look at them, and then we rank them using one of numerous voting mechanisms where we all vote on what we think are the best images and gradually whittle it down until we're left with a ranked order for that category. We have a winner, a second, a third, a fourth, sometimes all the way down to 10 in order, depending on the competition. And that's the fairest way of doing it, because it means, okay, during the judging, [00:42:00] that image got, I dunno, 87. But when we now baseline it against a couple of images that got 90 something, when we now look at it, we realize that that image probably should have got a 90 as well. We're not gonna rescore it, the score stands, but what we are gonna do is put it up into there and vote on it as to whether it actually, even though it got slightly lower, score, is the winning image for the category. And every competition does something similar just to redress any fluctuations to, to flatten out time. It takes time outta the equation because now for that category, all seven judges are judging the winner at the same time, and that's really important. We do that for all the categories, and then at the end of that process, we bring back all of the category winners and we vote on which one of those. Wins the competition. Now, not every competition has an overall winner, but for the one we've just done for the print masters, for the BIPP print masters, there is an overall winner. And so we set them all out [00:43:00] and we vote collectively as a winner on the winner. And then, oh, we rank them 1, 2, 3, 4, or whatever. Um, really we're only picking a winner, but we also have to have some safety nets because what happens if for instance. Somebody unearths a problem with an image. And this has happened, sadly, this has happened a couple of times in my career where a photographer has entered an image that's not compliant with the rules but hasn't declared it. And it's always heartbreaking when it does happen, but we have to have a backup. So we always rank one, two, and three. So that's some backups, and that's the process. That's how we finish everything off. We have finished, we've got all the categories judged, the category winners judged, and then the overall one, two, and three sorted as well. at the end of the process? I can't speak for every judge. I can speak for me, I feel, I think three things. Exhaustion. It's really hard to spend 48 hours or longer [00:44:00] assessing images one by one, by one by one, and making sure that you are present and paying attention to every detail of every image. And you're not doing an author or an image a disservice. You pay each image or you give each image, you pay each image the due attention it deserves. I feel exhilaration. There's something energizing about assessing images like this. I know it's hard to explain, but there's something in the process of being alongside some of the best photographers that you've ever met, some photographers that you admire more than any others, not just as photographers, but as human beings. The nicest people, the smartest people, the most experienced people, the most eloquent people. There's something in that. So there's this [00:45:00] exhilaration. You are exhausted, but there's an exhilaration to it. And then finally, and I don't know if every photographer feels this or every judge feels this, I do. Which is massively insecure, I think. Can't think of the right words for it. There must be one. But I come away, much like when you've been out on the beers and you worry about all the things you've said, it's the same process. There was that image I didn't give enough credit for. There was this image I was too generous on. There were the things I said in a challenge when it gets a little bit argumentative or challenging. 'cause the clues in the title, you know, maybe I pushed too hard, maybe I didn't push hard enough. There are images you've seen that you wished you'd taken and you feel like. I'm not good enough. There's an insecurity to it too, and those are the three things I think as you leave the room, it's truly [00:46:00] energizing. Paradoxically, it's truly exhausting, but it's also a little bit of a head mush in that you do tend to come, or I do tend to come away a little bit insecure about. All the things that have gone on over the two days prior, and I've done this a long time. I've been judging for, I dunno, 15, 16, 17 years. And I've got used to those feelings. I've got used to coming away worrying. I'm used to the sense of being an underachiever, I suppose, and it's a wonderful , set of emotions that I bring home. And every time I judge. I feel better for it. I feel more creative. I feel more driven. I feel more determined. I feel like my eyes have been opened to genres [00:47:00] of photography, for types of imagery, for styles of posing or studio work that I've never necessarily considered, and I absolutely adore it every single second. So at the end of that, I really hope I've described or created a picture of what it's like to be a judge for this one. I haven't tried to explain the things we saw that as photographers as authors, you should think about when you are entering. I'm gonna do that in a separate podcast. I've done so many of those, but this one was specifically like, what does it feel like to be a judge? Why do we do it? I mean, we do it for a million reasons. Mostly we do it because people helped us and it's our turn to help them. But every photographer has a different reason for doing it. It's the most joyful process. It's the most inspiring process and I hope you've got a little bit of that from the podcast. So [00:48:00] on that happy note, I'm gonna wrap up and I'm gonna go and finish my glass of whiskey which I'm quite excited about if I'm honest. 'cause I did, it's been sitting here beside me for an hour and I haven't drunk any of it. I do hope you're all doing well. I know winter is sort of clattering towards us and the evenings are getting darker, at least for my listeners in the north and the hemisphere. Don't forget. If you want more information on portrait photography or our workshops we've announced all of the upcoming dates or the next set of upcoming dates. Please head across to mastering portrait photography.com and go to the workshop section. I love our workshops and we've met so many. Just lovely people who've come to our studio. And we've loved being alongside them, talking with them, hopefully giving a bit of inspiration, certainly taking a little bit of inspiration, if I'm honest, because everyone turns up with ideas and conversations. Uh, we would love to see you there. The workshops are all are all there on the website and the workshop section. You can also, if you wish, buy a signed copy of the book from mastering portrait photography.com. Again, just go to the [00:49:00] shop and you'll see it there on the top. Amazon has them for sale too. It is great. Amazon typically sells them for less than we do, but we have a fixed price. We have to buy them from the wholesaler at a particular price, whereas Amazon can buy many, many more than we can, so they get a better deal if I'm honest. However, if you want my paw print in there, then you can order it from us and it's supports a photographer and it's really lovely to hear from you. When you do, uh, one thing, I'd love to ask anyone who has bought the updated edition of the book, if you are an Amazon customer. Please could you go on to amazon.com and leave us a review? It's really powerful when you do that, as long as it's a good review. If it's a rubbish review, just email me and tell me what I could have done differently, and I'll email you back and tell you, tell you why I didn't. But if it's a half decent review, a nice review. Please head over to Amazon. Look for mastering portrait photography, the new version of the book, and leave us a review. It's really important particularly in the first couple of [00:50:00] weeks that it's been on sale. Uh, it would be really, really helpful if you did that. And on that happy note, I wish you all well. I've grabbed my glass of whiskey and I'm gonna wrap up and whatever else you do. Until next time, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP169 Stop Killing Your Prints: A Judge's Guide To Common Competition Mistakes](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep169-stop-killing-your-prints-a-judges-guide-to-common-competition-mistakes/) If you've ever stared at a "competition worthy" image and thought, "Is this actually any good, or am I just emotionally attached and mildly delusional?" then this episode is for you. In this one, I'm lifting the lid on what really happens inside a judge's head when your prints hit the panel: the mindset you need, the mistakes we see over and over again, and the tiny details that can quietly kill an otherwise beautiful image. We'll talk blown highlights, grubby greys, over sharpening, dodgy mounts, vignettes turned up to eleven, and why blindly following the latest photo trend might actually sink your chances. We'll also get into mentors, titles, paper choice, time pressure (my personal kryptonite), and why the only real failure in competitions is not to enter at all. If you're thinking about qualifications, print comps or you just want to finish your images to a higher standard, grab a drink, have a listen, and then go and do something brave with your work. ### Links from this episode Workshops & mentoring: Come and spend a day (or more) with us at the studio, learning lighting, posing, dogs, families, workflow and everything in between. 👉 View upcoming workshops One year mentoring programme: If you want ongoing support with competition entries, qualifications panels and growing your portrait business, this is where we dig in properly. 👉 Find out about one to one mentoring Mastering Portrait Photography - the book (new edition): The fully updated edition of the book, packed with new images, new sections and new stories. 👉 Buy the book on Amazon Signed copies from the studio: If you would like a signed copy straight from our studio (possibly with a bit of dog hair in the packaging courtesy of Rufus), order here. 👉 Order a signed copy Leave a review for the podcast: Reviews genuinely help more photographers find the show and it means the world to us when you leave one. 👉 Review the podcast on Apple Podcasts The Societies' image competition: If this episode has nudged you towards entering, this is a great place to start. 👉 Enter The Societies' image competition #### Transcript [00:00:00] it's Thursday, late afternoon, early evening. It's gone dark. It's November. I've got what's left of a mug of coffee next to me. And I just thought I'd sit and record this podcast. It's been, it has to be said a really good day. We've had a lovely client in seeing their wedding pictures, which is always lovely when it goes the way it did. Lots of tears. Their's, not mine. Um, they love them. They've picked well for their album, cannot wait to produce that for them. It's been a really good week. Lots of nice clients, but over the next few days, Sarah and I are really hoping we get to step away from it just for a bit. We were hoping to get abroad, but it looks like with scheduling issues, that isn't gonna quite happen. But we live in an area stuck between London and Oxford, so at the very least we have a huge proportion of interesting things to go and have a look at. And that's my hope is we get away from this beautiful business that I love, but it really is all encompassing. So just for a day or [00:01:00] two time to take a bit of a break, I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. So, hello one and all. I hope you're all well in this particular podcast, um, because I'm hoping to get out the door and go for a drink tonight with some friends. Um, a little less waffle and a , slightly more to the point podcast. Probably some of you will prefer that some of you might miss the randomness. Um, however, if you listen to the last podcast, it was a little bit about what it's like to be a judge when you are assessing qualifications, panels, and print judging in general. Today what I wanted to do was go through some of the things that [00:02:00] occur to me that may be applicants either don't know or quietly ignore, which might be the truth. But basically the things that as judges we see, and I thought I just stepped through it from that point of view. Slightly less about the judges, slightly more about what to look for if you are entering a competition. Now, I've done this style of podcast. I think this might be my fourth, fifth, maybe sixth version of it over the years, can you believe it's been nearly 10 years I've been recording this. Um, either way, what I wanted to do was just update it, go through some of the things that are fresh in my mind from judging qualifications a few weeks ago, and then judging the Print Master's competition, um, just, uh, a couple of weeks ago. Both of those, you learn different things. You see different things, but I thought I'd just relay, if I can, the stuff that maybe you should consider if you are thinking about entering, in particular, print competitions, [00:03:00] but this extends out to really any image competition you can, you can think of. So with that, if that's not your shtick, then this isn't the episode for you. But if you fancy just having a listen and seeing if this echoes with you, that would be great. So. Listen up. Now. Firstly, I have to admit that from my point of view, entering competitions, I recognize as being both terrifying and slightly addictive. There really is something wonderful about finishing your images to a level that maybe you don't normally do. Maybe that, that tiny amount of perfection, those stray hairs, those eyebrows, lips, I mean, of course my portrait photographer, so I'm talking primarily people here, but that level of detail that maybe your regular, everyday Good Professional Practice, we call it, maybe your everyday work doesn't warrant because, in the end, every hour you spend on an image is cost. We [00:04:00] don't normally regard it as cost, 'cause we enjoy our job and it's time. You know what? It's like time. Who cares about time? Well, you should because it's your business. And so there's something really addictive about spending that time with a purpose on an image that you think you believe maybe, maybe just maybe will do well in a competition. Now that said, of course, every time you enter to, you don't know what the judges are gonna say. And let's get that right out in the open at the beginning, at the top of this podcast, a different day, a different judge, a different result. And that is just the way of it. So you cannot ever really totally predict what you're gonna do, how your images are gonna perform. You can't. You can have a guess, and you can predict within a boundary or two. But in the end, it is totally down to what the judges see on the day and you have to get used to that no matter how much effort you've [00:05:00] poured into an image. And I've had images where I was certain, certain it was going to do well and did nothing. And I've had other images where I was like, well, it's all right, but if I'm lucky in the right judges are on the panel, it might do okay and they've gone on to win. You really dunno. So just be aware of that because those disappointments shouldn't deter you. Yeah, they should just really drive you to do more of it. But that's very hard and I will admit that I too suffer from that sense of disappointment. The inferiority complex that comes with it. A degree of resentment, I suppose. What do the judges know when, when you win something? The judges amazing. I love them. They were brilliant. You could see how sharp their eyes were when the judges don't award you something or your images don't do well, of course, the judges were idiots. They didn't know what they were talking about. And as a judge, I'm completely aware of it. So in this podcast, we're gonna go through what you should look out for, the mindset, the, uh, technical side of it, [00:06:00] some of the presentation stuff, and some of the silly things really, that as a judge, we sit collectively and just groan. Um, there's sometimes you hear in the room that if only, if only. The, uh, image had this, if only the author had done that, those kinds of conversations. So let's work my way through the list. I put together a little bit of a list of things, um, and let's hope that some of this chimes with you. So first section is all about, uh, mindset. And at the end of the day, nearly everything about photography is what goes on in your head. So let's talk a little bit about your preparation and your mindset. First things first, you cannot, you cannot. Be objective about your own work. Alright? It's just not possible. And to be fair, no one can be truly objective about something that's creative. You can be subjective and you can be experienced, but you cannot ever be objective when it's your own work. The memory of the shoot, the memory of the [00:07:00] client, the memory of the moment will totally cloud your judgment. You cannot do it. You are, you are emotionally invested in your work. So be aware of that because you need to get a mentor now by a mentor. Ideally, it's someone who's been around a little bit, who's done a few things, knows their way around, competitions, the structures, the rules at the very least, um, hopefully, um, produces images that are of the standard you are hoping to produce, and preferably in a style that you wish to attain in a style that you wish to deliver. Because if you are in tune with that person, in tune with their work, you'll listen to them more. It doesn't necessarily mean they have more or less skill than another mentor, but if you like their work and respect what they do, you're more likely to pay attention to what they see and what they say to you. Now, if you can't get a mentor, at the very least, just pass it around some friends and see what people think and see [00:08:00] what they see. Be aware that your mom, or at least, my mom will always tell me my work is beautiful. Um, my mates are a little bit more brutal than that, but my mom will always tell me, but if you can find another photographer to give you a hand, it's the best thing you can do. Next thing, the only true failure about competitions in the sense of failure is to not enter. Entering isn't a failure. Entering and winning is obviously the success we will wish for entering and not winning is simply just another level of success. It's not quite what you wanted, and it's certainly not recognizing your success the way you'd like, but not entering is the only true failure. And of course with most competitions, they're anonymous. So who cares whether you enter and don't and your images aren't successful? Who cares whether your qualifications panel, um, doesn't get across the line? The only person who will tell the world is you. So if you are nervous, if you are concerned, if you're insecure, then [00:09:00] simply keep it under your hat until you need to. So enter the competitions. Go watch judging sessions. Not all judging sessions are public. The Societies they are, and of course, that's coming up in January as I record this. It's November 13th when I'm recording this. Um, but go and watch maybe The Society's judging. Um, go listen to the judges, particularly in the new Vogue category because every image will get a critique from a judge. Um, maybe think about the click conference, which has been on the past couple of years, because again, each image has a short critique from at least one judge. So you get to learn. A lot of judging is anonymous and quiet, and it's just score panels, and that's not as useful as it could be, I guess, uh, but do go and listen because it's a free masterclass in, uh, critiquing and in standards. Now you must, you must, and I'll come back to this later, read the rules. Um, so many images get [00:10:00] in the end either disqualified or have so many marks knocked off them that they might as well have been disqualified simply because the applicant did not pay attention to the rules. Whether it's about using ai, whether it's about composites, the wrong composites, whether it's about wrong print and presentation sizes, whether it's the wrong category and category definitions are sacred. As judges, we cannot move the images from one category to another. Even if we could see what the category should be, it's down to the applicant to move or to put the image rather into the correct category because if we move them, who knows, we might not just be helping you, um, win something. We might be helping somebody else lose something and we may still be getting it wrong. And also there's a bigger challenge, I think in the, the order of categories in which we judge means what if we wanted to move an image into a category that we've already finished and signed off? What do we [00:11:00] do? How do we do that? There's no way of doing that, not fairly. So judges cannot move images between categories. It's absolutely fundamental. So the category definitions are sacred. Read them, pay attention to them. Understand the nuance when it says domesticated animals. What does that mean when it says studio portrait? What does that mean? Don't just assume you know it because every association will have slightly different rules. Every association will interpret them slightly differently. Go and read them. Pay attention, make notes on them. If you are at all, um, confused or don't understand them, go and ask someone. Email the people running the competition. They will nearly always get straight back to you. Uh, give yourself time. Please give yourself time. There's always shipping delays, print issues, customs, nightmares these days are also part of the puzzle. Um, even recently we had stuff coming in, uh, from one of our supplies in Italy [00:12:00] and it just got stuck in customs in Italy coming outta the country rather than coming in. I don't know why it got stuck, but it got stuck. Um, and it wasn't for print competition, but it highlighted just how easy it is for you to miss a deadline, and this is one that's really close to me is that, um, I'm the last minute kind of guy last minute.com, and so I'm forever up against a deadline and I'm forever aware that I'm taking a huge risk. Um, unfortunately it's just the way my mind works and so I am truly qualified in making sure you do not make that mistake. Give yourself plenty of time. Uh, another one here, I dunno why I've put this in this particular section, but if I don't mention it now, I dunno whether I will, um, which is that, be careful of following trends blindly, being fashionable, creating images that are right now, the current trend is great. Of course, it's great. [00:13:00] But if you're gonna win a competition, you better be exceptional at it because everybody else is highly likely to be entering the same style of image. Image. And if you do that, if you are picking images that are similar to other people's, then the impact scores that the judges are looking for, the impact. And listen to my previous podcast about that, the impact is diminished because if we've seen 10 of the same style of image. Guess what? The winner will be the one that gave us the greatest impact. So it's highly likely to be one of the first couple, and it will certainly be the one that's probably the highest standard, because that's where the impact score is. So be very careful of doing that. I mean, I'm not saying strive always to be completely different because you think that's what you have to do to be good. You don't have to be different to be good. Being good is in and in and of itself different enough. But in competitions that stand out, that impact of seeing something you've [00:14:00] never seen before well, that does truly count. And on that, let's go on to section two, which is technical execution. Okay. So in the end, the execution is everything. Now for this, I recorded this thinking. This is mostly about print competitions and in a print, absolutely everything shows, and that's why we do it. We use print as a medium for assessing the creativity and the control of the photographer, and it exposes things that screens simply don't, or at least most screens don't. If you have the most expensive, truly calibrated monitor in a studio, that is the right light, um, levels. Um, and your, your monitor's been on for two hours, but you haven't been at the screen, um, for hours. And you can sit down with fresh eyes and look [00:15:00] at the screen. Yes, of course it will expose details, but there is something about print that seems to just surface both high points and low points in a photographer's process, which is why we do it. It's a really good way of assessing an image. So here are a few things. That we have seen on the technical side of it over sharpening, I cannot overstate about over sharpening. Over sharpening is a bit of a killer. Judges hate it and we always see it. In all the years I've done this, all the years I've done this, I've never heard a judge say This image is under sharpened. Now, I've heard judges say this image is blurred. I've heard this. Judges say This image has been blown up from a file that's too small. But I've never heard a judge say This image has been under sharpened. But I would state with a degree of confidence that in every [00:16:00] single session I've been a judge, one of the judges or myself have said, this image is over sharpened. And of course you see it in halos, you see these little lines around edges, and they're very easy to spot. If you are worried, if you, you are on the edge and you're thinking, have I sharpened it enough? Turn the sharpening down. Or indeed, with modern sensors, just turn it off. You don't need it. Print. Well control your exposure. Well control your colors. Well control your tones, well control your printing well, and you don't really need to sharpen very much, if at all. Uh, always do it last in the process. Once you've got your file to the size you want it to, the print size, you want it. Apply your sharpening right at the end of that chain. If you do it at the beginning. Um, I know there are pre- raw sharpeners and things out there. If you do your sharpening at the beginning, of course every edit you make runs the risk of exaggerating the effects of the sharpening. So always sharpen at the end if you need to at all. You must get your [00:17:00] exposure right. And by that I simply mean don't blow your highlights, don't block your blacks. Um, blown highlights, on the whole, are a nightmare. If there are blown highlights in a print, it is highly likely that the judges are gonna firstly spot it, and then secondly penalize for it. And I speak from experience here. There was an image that came up in the last round of judging where to me as a judge, everything about the image was essentially everything I would've liked to have created. The shape, the form, the moment, the emotion, the printing, the mounting, everything about it was on point. But some sunlight had coming through the ceiling in the, through the skylight, I think had clipped the edges of some shiny stone work had blown the highlights. And that became the sticking point with most of the judges. Um, I was willing to give some leeway on it, on this particular image, um, because the emotion of it was so powerful, but quite rightly, the other [00:18:00] judges challenged that. Um, and in the end I had to, of course, see their point of view because blown highlights, are blown highlights. Similarly with blocked shadows, and this is a little bit more subtle blown highlights are blown highlights, unless they're just a specular point on a shiny surface. Um, they are what they are. But blocked shadows are a little bit more nuanced because you have to ask yourself, would you see detail in that area of the print? And if the answer to that is yes, we would or would expect to then block shadows are a bit of a headache and you can't have them. If on the other hand you wanna put an image on a black background, then that's a slightly different conversation. You can have black areas, big blocked black areas, if that's your style, if it's a stylistic choice. Um, similarly, you can have big blocks of white as long as it's not paper white, um, on the page, you always want some ink on the page. Um, so [00:19:00] block black's a little bit more nuanced. So do your test prints, get your paper you're gonna use, print a series of blacks from 0% up to 10%. Find out where the break point is, where you can clearly see the difference between those points, and that's your minimum black. That's the darkest your image can be. Whether it's 5%, 6%, 7%, whatever. It's, that's the darkest you want for the blacks that you are producing. Uh, make sure eyes are sharp. Um, again, I speak as a portrait photographer really here. Uh, if the eyes are not sharp, it's unlikely. That the image is going to do well unless demonstrably in the image you can see that that was the intent of the photographer. Blurred eyes, very rare that they do well. Make sure the catch lights are in there. You do need some kind of sparkle in the eyes. You don't want that sort of dark lifeless look, but just make sure they're in the right place and that makes sense 'cause it's easy to Photoshop. Um, highlights in catch lights into eyes these days. But be careful. You put them in the right place. Uh, watch [00:20:00] for dust spots, stray hairs, cloning marks, those kinds of things. We had a couple of images recently where there were visible dust spots in the sky, and at that point, you know, you, you are very limited in how well an image can do if there are dust spots, because it's sort of digital photography 1 0 1: clean your sensor, do not have dust spots, do not have stray hairs in there. Um, make sure that any, any cloning is invisible. 'cause the judges one or two judges. I know, I, I spot them reasonably well. I'm okay at it. But there are one or two judges I know that at the other end of a room will shout. I can see they're cloning and when you investigate it, yeah, you can. Um, some people are just, they have a gift for that in the same way that some people can hear whether music is slightly just ever so slightly off rhythm or off key. Um, many judges I think, can spot things like, um. Cloning marks. I'm very good at spotting any kind of dust, marks and banding in skies. You know that color banding you get, [00:21:00] uh, but some of you, you just need to make sure it's technically on point. Make sure you are using a fully color calibrated workflow. You need to calibrate your monitor. You need to calibrate your printer. You need to be producing images that the color is spot perfect, not just for you, but when the judges see it. So you're gonna need some way of viewing on the screen, checking your printer, and then viewing the prints afterwards. Not many of us can afford D 50 light boxes, but you can get pretty close with some really high quality LED lighting. Bright lighting, I think Datacolor do one. Ilford do one to do spot checking on prints. They're about a hundred pounds I think at the moment, high CRI that make the colors pop and you'll see all of the tone. Just pop your print underneath. And he'd be amazed, amazed how much detail just leaps off the page. And of course, as judges, that's how we are assessing the images. So you [00:22:00] need to do the same to be sure that what you see on your screen is exactly what you are hoping to show the judges, uh, paper choice match your paper to your image. Um, there are lots of safe choices, of course, you know, these semi mats, um, good colors, good dynamic range. Good D Max. Um. Barita is a lovely paper, but just be aware it's very contrasty and it can run the risk of your block, your blacks blocking up a little bit, so just do your tests. Um, some of the papers they look great front on, but if you look from an angle they expose where there's not much ink on the paper, um, I think it's called chroming or bronzing. And if you know this, if you hold a jet, an inkjet print up, and you move it around under the light, you see the the reflectivity change. Be aware of it. Um, and baritas one of those papers are quite susceptible. So be careful because when we're judging, as I said in the previous podcast, in a row of five judges, the outer judges walking in [00:23:00] will see your print initially from an angle. And if that angle shows where the ink isn't being laid down on the paper, that's gonna mean the first things they spot. So print some test strips. Make sure you understand your paper. Section three. Print quality and presentation. I've written down here the final polish. I must have been having a moment when I wrote this out, the final polish, um, and I wrote down, this is your shop window. Hmm. Okay. Well, in a sense it is, um, it's certainly how you're gonna sell the image to the judges and your print must look spot, perfect. And here's the thing. Increasingly people are using labs for their prints and having their prints delivered straight to the competition. I can understand why people do that. You only pay for one set of postage for a start. However, always, always see your print before submitting it. I know it's more expensive, I know it's harder, but in the end, the judges assume [00:24:00] that you have seen those prints. They assume you delivered what you want us to see. So as such. We assume you did it. Any defects? There's no excuse. It's yours. So you must, you must see your prints before submitting them. Too many people I know when you're working overseas, that's a little bit more difficult. You send your files to, say a UK lab, a UK competition, or you send your files to a US lab. It's a US competition in your UK based, but there's no excuse for a poor print. Poor print. There's no excuse for a poor quality print coming in front of the judges. We will assume you've seen it. It's your problem. Uh, mounting and presentation, your mount is really important. Um, if you get the wrong mount size, basic reading the rules 1 0 1. [00:25:00] If the mount size is wrong, it will be disqualified. It should be disqualified. And we are having this debate recently. About how harsh some of this is. And as judges, we want everybody to do well. We shouldn't be here to wreck someone's life or you know, deter them from entering. We should be here to help promote and encourage, and it feels really weird when we have to do something like disqualify a print. But here's the point. Everybody else in that competition has gone to the effort of mounting them correctly. And we had one or two in the last, um, competition. I judged the print masters where the presentation was bang on point 20 by 16, and the most exquisite mount cutting and presentation of the print. So imagine we let a print through, even if it's scored really well, and it was of an incorrect size, and it did well at the expense [00:26:00] of another print that had complied with the rules. So a better way of looking at this is we're not penalizing the photographers that didn't comply with the rules. We are rewarding the photographers who did comply. That's how we do it. We're not punishing those who didn't. We're rewarding those who did, and that feels a lot more positive. And then we can kind of, it feels a bit more human, but that's what we have to do. If somebody's gone to all this effort. Of creating the most exquisite printing and mounting the right size, the right mount cuts complimentary paper to Matt Color. Everything about it's perfect. And then we have one that's the wrong size. What are we supposed to do? Well, of course, what we do is reward the author that complied, and in the end, we have to just accept the fact that if you haven't complied, it's not our fault. If you haven't complied to the rules, that's not the judge's fault. So read the rules, understand what it is they're looking for. Make sure there's no ambiguity. You've got it [00:27:00] absolutely in inches. If it's in inches, in centimeters or millimeters. If it's in millimeters, you know what's required of you comply with the rules. We cannot score an image that doesn't comply. , Here's another thing that occurred to me, and this occurred to me a couple of times watching prints being handled. Do not. If you do a flush mount, a flush print, and it's very effective. Sometimes I saw some beautiful ones this year where essentially you print on the paper, there's no separate mount. Now that's, you have to be careful if you're gonna do this. So if you do a full print, so you are just printing onto a big piece of paper and then mounting that print onto a 20 by 16 board. So the whole thing basically is one big print. Be careful for a couple of reasons. The first is, remember that when you pack them. Highly likely to scratch because the print surface itself is right there, right under the print above it, and scratching becomes a little bit of a problem. Yes, you can put sealants and lacquers and things on them, [00:28:00] but it's always a bit of a risk. The second thing is if you do print edge to edge, allow space around the edge. Don't do a full edge to edge 20 by 16 print. If you do that, when the. Print handlers and the print handlers are so careful, but the print handlers, the edge of the glove, runs every risk of being on top of the ink when they're handling the edges of the print. And my recommendation is don't do that unless you have a very specific reason to do it. You've got some design that just works that way. Be careful. Allow enough space around the edge of your image that the print handlers can handle it with any, without any risk at all of them touching the ink. Uh, a few things we saw this time around. Um, we saw quite a lot of prints that were rippled, and all that means is they'd been taped to the back of the mount. There was no backboard. They'd been taped to the mount, and that [00:29:00] taping had a different expansion rate than the paper and the board. So essentially you've got three different expansion rates. You've got the mat, you've got the tape, and you've got your print. And when you do that, there's every opportunity for the print to ripple. If it gets humid, if it gets drier, warmer, cooler, it doesn't really matter. As they change shape, you get rippling and rippling will cost you points. So the best way, if you can, if you have time and you can afford it, of course, these things are not really that cheap, is put your print mount, your print. Onto an adhesive backboard so that it's flat mounted. It's, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do, but once you get the hang of it, it's really effective. If not, you can always photo mount or spray mount your print down onto a backboard, and all you're doing is making sure that it stays absolutely flat all the way through the process. Now the boards always move a little bit. There's not a lot you can do about that. I'm looking at some of mine [00:30:00] who are sitting up on the shelf right now, and some of them have bowed a little bit over the years. But the prints, every single one of those prints is still absolutely flat on its backboards. And that's 'cause I photo mounted them down. Um, I've, I usually do that, um, rather than, um, using adhesive boards, um, simply because, uh, it's easier for me and you, you can have a little bit of movement on the print before the adhesive finally cures. Um, but do something if you can't, if you have a really, a print that you just wanna let hang, then obviously, um, t mounting is the way to go. Um, but you still will need a back on that board. So you'll need a backboard, then your print and the T hinges, and then your front mount. Um, do not put tape all the way around a print and stick it to the back of a mount and then stick it to a board. Or worse, no backboard at all because that print is gonna ripple. There's no doubt about that. Your print must lie flat curled edges. They're distracting and they will get penalized. Uh, I've also written here, I [00:31:00] dunno why I've written this in print quality and presentation. I must've been having a moment. Uh, subtle edits win. I dunno why it's in this particular section. It's absolutely right. By the way, um, heavy retouching and strong vignettes, particularly strong vignettes, I think are one of the things we see the most of. Um, don't overdo your vignettes. Um, you don't need to on the whole. Uh, you can guide an eye in, and at the end of the day, we use vignettes and use differential focusing or, you know, shallow depths of field to draw the viewer, to draw the judge to the subject. That's what we're doing. That's why we do this stuff is where do I want the viewer's eye to go? You've put it in a mount, it's got a window on that mount. So already you've guided the viewer away from the edges of, um, the presentation into the image. Now they're in the image. Now you have to guide them to the bit of the image you want 'em to see. And that's what vignettes do and they're very effective. But a vignette should be more or less invisible. The viewer should not know your bit. You are guiding them [00:32:00] to the bit you want them to see. And too often the vignettes are too heavy and too unsubtle. Two things. One, if you want to check your vignettes, look at them in a small grid, such as Lightroom's, thumbnail, view the library view, and you'll see your vignettes. They just stand out when your images are small. So that's one way of just checking them. The other is too many people. Ignore the fact that in reality, if you had areas of shadow and shade and areas of light in those areas of shadow and shade, you would still have specular highlights. They would still be white. So, um, when you do your vignettes, make sure you still allow subtle highlights to come through. They're not affected or else, and vignette will just look muddy and dark and we'll know. You've put it on there. If though, on the other hand, little pockets of light, little bits of reflectivity come through the vignette, it might be that that was a natural vignette and those are the ones, the ones we don't know have been done will always do the best.[00:33:00] Okay. Section four, composition and storytelling. Uh, composition should be a guide, not something that obfuscates or confuses. So just place your subjects. I, I'm, I don't tend to use the word composition. It's obviously. Um, something that's in almost all of the rules of the competitions that I judge. Um, I would, I still prefer to call it layout because you lay out the bits that you have on the, in the photo it sounds, and somehow everyone calls it composition. And I dunno why I like the word layout so much more. But I just do take the things that are in the picture, lay them out where you want them. Just sounds logical to me, but hey, you know, each of the road. Um, but just place your objects carefully. Give the subject room. So avoid getting your subject too close to the edge of the frame. Don't crop through a joint. You can crop crop through the middle of a limb, not through a joint. Try not to skim the edges of things at the edges of the frame. And quite a few images this year actually thinking about it were they looked [00:34:00] like there wasn't enough breath around the image when it went into the matt. But my suspicion was there was in the original raw file, and so people print the file as they want it, and then forget that you've got at least three or four millimeters all the way around a mounted print that's gonna crop in. So prepare your files to allow for that. Don't get just the edges of an arm or the, just the tiny bit of the top of the hair or something. Um, you know, my view is if you're gonna crop, crop, otherwise give it space. Um, try and avoid distractions, particularly behind your subject or at the edges of the frame. Anything that draws your eye away from the subject. Um, one thing as judges we do not do is we never turn an image upside down. We're not allowed to. We are only allowed to see the image as the author wished to, to see it, which is correct, by the way. But as an author, you can turn the image any which way you want, and there are [00:35:00] tons of tricks you can do. Turn the image upside down. Use saturation maps, use luminosity maps. There's all sorts of tricks you can do to check where the richest saturation is, to check your high points, your bright points, all of those things, because you don't want to lose that impact that in, in, as the judges are going through the detail, you want the judges to be, oh, that's great, the impact as it came in. And then as I explore, as I interrogate this image, it just gets better and better and better. That's what you want. Uh, horizontals and verticals. Make sure they are horizontal or vertical. Too many times have I seen an ocean scape where the horizon of the ocean isn't Absolutely. Flat isn't absolutely horizontal. The clues in the title horizon horizontal. Um, now I know if you've got a lake coast or a lake shore or sometimes even just a coastline, that might be, if it's coming towards the viewer, [00:36:00] might be at an angle, but you have to stand back and get it so that it looks correct, and if ever there's a horizon in the distance, almost always, unless you're doing something creative, it should be horizontal. Similarly. If you're doing architectural stuff, unless there's a reason why you have converging verticals and it's apparent your verticals need to be well vertical. Uh, a thing on storytelling here, I've said this quite a lot. Um, I'm not sure how popular it is when I say it, but I'm gonna say it anyway 'cause I believe it. It is not the judge's job to decode and understand your story. It is your job. To guide the judges to that story. If we don't get it, that's not our problem. It's your problem. Now, I know occasionally a really beautiful image comes in, but the judges don't really appreciate all of [00:37:00] the messaging in it, and only afterwards when the author talks to one of us, it's like, ah, that's what it was about. I wish I'd known. That's not our problem. That's definitely you. You use every trick you have from the title to the printing, the composition, the color, the subject, everything about it. That's your job. You have all of these levers you can pull for the judges to react, but it's your, it's your job. And remember, whatever else in a photograph, emotion will always beat cleverness. It doesn't matter how clever you think you are being. Emotion will win out every single time. Picture a face with one tear rolling down it and you are already halfway there just because of the emotion levels. So be careful of that. Make sure that you are telling the story that you want told and make sure by testing it with a mentor and other people that people are gonna get it. Uh, strategy playing the long game, section five. Um, do not. Cannibalize your set of [00:38:00] images. If you have shot five or six or seven or eight amazing images from a shoot, pick one, pick two. If you're at a push, preferably in different categories, do not send all seven. 'cause essentially you're sending us the same thing over and over. And by the time we get to the last one, no matter what order and randomized set we get by the time we get to the last one, the impact is diminished. And the impact is the first and the last of all the criteria we look at. Do not get duped into thinking because every image is beautiful. You should enter them all. Don't do that. You can enter 'em into other competitions, but be aware even then that many of the judges judge across multiple organizations. So just be aware of that. Pick one, pick the best. Two, put 'em into different categories if you have to. Um, but other than that, do not send the whole set. Um, I've written this here where it's, I've written variety shows depth and control, but repetition looks lazy. The talk with variety is we tend to think of variety from the same shoots. [00:39:00] My argument is variety across what you do, even stylistically there's gonna be some similarities, but pick different shoots, um, different subjects, um, and that will show far better than, um, repeating similar images from the same shot. Same se uh, same session, uh, too buly, uh, your titles, your image titles. Now titles are a little bit of, they're one of those odd little things. I'm not sure what I feel about titles. I've always really, if I'm honest, fought against them and I fought against them for the simple reason that if we are judging images, I'm not judging you as a poet, I'm judging you as a photographer, um, as a visual artist. However, I'm acutely aware that when a title is read out, it can help a judging panel connect with the image. I am aware that it can heighten the emotion in a similar way. The varnishing an image in the old days. Brings everything together and just ties it to some [00:40:00] message. Um, titles do that. So if you, if it's an, if it's a competition that allows titles, even though I would love them not to be there, if it allows you to enter a title so on, because there's, it's unlikely that it will distract from the score, but it is likely that it will enhance the enjoyment. Consequently, the impact. That the image will have on the judges. Alright, uh, so titles, yes. Uh, where am I? Um, yes, uh, don't rush. Sorry. I was reading off a screen and lost position of where I was. Uh, don't rush. Um, I've already said this kind of, I have plenty of time. Print check, test, review. Alright. Um, ideally do your print. Leave them a couple of days, have a look at them down the line. Of course none of us have time for that, but the very least, print them one day, look at them. The next, let the ink settle for a start. 24 hours for most colors to settle. Um, after that, um, [00:41:00] you want your emotions to settle. So do you look at the images cold or at least as cold as you can. So print check and then, um, rest and review. Use feedback. Your mentor if you have to, people around you, friends, family, get feedback. Even if you don't like it, get feedback because you'll learn from it. Okay. Some common pitfalls. Section six, um, already mentioned a few of these. Uh, these happen a lot, so don't do them. Simple as that. Don't enter your image into the one category. Um, you know, if it says newborns can only have another person in the shot as a supporting act, that doesn't mean, um, a family photograph that's not a newborn. That might be a newborn. They might have a newborn, but that's a family photograph. It's a family group. Um, newborns are newborns. It's a very specific category. It's four newborns under the age of seven or eight or nine weeks, whatever is the, the category rules. Um, you can have hands, you can have shoulders. You probably [00:42:00] can't have people in most of the associations read the rules specific to the association or the competition. You're entering, um, similarly, whether your print and mount sizing, make sure that you have the right print and or mount size, too many images get. Um, and, but the thing is, the real sadness here is that if you've gone to the effort of printing your image, mounting your image, and sending it in, it's the wrong size. We're gonna disqualify it. But you've already paid the money. You've not only entered, you've not only paid the entrance fees, but you've produced a print and a map. Um, so the loss is just even harder. So just read the rules. Um, I've mentioned ripples and coal prints I've mentioned, mentioned poorly calibrated workflow. I've mentioned trendy clone style. In fact, to be honest, I dunno why I've done this section. We've mentioned all of these. I must have been having a fit of peak, but it's always good to recap. So recapping don't, don't enter, um, trendy fashion style imagery. And by fashion, I mean following a trend, I don't necessarily mean fashion category.[00:43:00] Um, that's similar to what's out there in the big, bad world, because actually you might find there's 20 other photographers doing the same. Don't have a sharpen, don't have a lot blacks don't have grubby grays. Yep. Grubby grays. We haven't mentioned grubby grays. Grubby grays drive me insane. What do I mean by grubby grays? I mean, in monochrome in particular. In monochrome. Make sure that it's a really well produced monochrome. And by monochrome we simply mean all the colors are in the same palette. Um, black and white is a very specific subset of monochrome. Monochrome could be all colors of, of brown, for instance. Um, but you must have detail, you must have contrast. You must have all of the tones that you wish to portray in the print. So just watch for that. Uh, plasticy skin was another one that came up this year. Um, actually it comes up every, every year, particularly with the advent of AI retouching. The sliders are too easy to whack to a hundred. And you know, your clients may love it, but print judges [00:44:00] probably won't. We want things to look great. Perfect. Of course. But real, it should look like you produced it, not a machine produced it. Uh, right. Okay. Last bit. Why bother entering? Well, primarily I think there are two aspects to entering competitions. And by extension qualifications that are worth your while, at least from a professional photographer's point of view. Firstly, it's good business. Any kind of decent award. And by when you say award winning, please be award winning. I really don't like someone getting, you know, I dunno. Um, I don't want to, I don't want to moan about some of the things that go on in the industry, but. When you say you are award-winning, you better have won an award. And by that I mean won at the very least, [00:45:00] um, got a silver, sorry, a bronze or silver or gold at the overall level. Um, not a commended in a small competition. That's not award winning. That's, I got commended now. I'm sure, I'm sure I may hear from people about this one. And those things are valuable, by the way, and you can tot them up and you can put them at the certificates on the wall. But if you're award-winning, award-winning. Anyway, I'll get down off my soapbox on this one. Sorry. Um, every time you win an award, it's wonderful publicity. Even if you come runner up, you can say, came runner up in a national competition. Um, that's fair enough. That's what you did and it's still great publicity. As long as you explain why and what and all the rest of it, um, and how it's your clients, your subjects that got you there. Those kinds of messages are brilliant. So there's one angle on it. The other angle, of course, is from a personal development point of view, [00:46:00] just the process of preparing your files for competition changes you, it's a very specific set of skills, not necessarily ones you'll use every day with every client, but. Having that in your back pocket, understanding the color work, understanding the retouching, the subtleties in layout or composition, storytelling, how to create vignettes properly printing, you know, I know not everybody prints these days. I think that's the way of it, because most image consumption is digital, but printing really does highlight things that you will not see on a screen under normal circumstances. So. Those are the two reasons. Great publicity and it develops your skills and with that you grow. You grow in confidence, you grow, your discipline improves, you grow your experience watching, judging. If you enter competitions quite often [00:47:00] you'll go and watch the judging and then hear feedback. That feedback is invaluable. One of the reasons I judge is because I've learned so much doing it. I was laughing with the judges the other day, you know, um, even when it's me putting up a challenge because I think there's something in an image that the other judges maybe haven't seen, and I get beaten down. You know, when you raise a challenge, it's one of the scariest things you do as a judge on the panel is to stick your hand up and say, I love you guys and I respect everything that you do and see, but I think there's something here that you may have missed, whether you're talking an image up or talking an image down. And it's really scary sometimes. You are absolutely right and the other judges go, do you know what? Saw that or didn't see that? I'll come with you. Sometimes they will line up and say, here's why we don't agree with you. We're gonna stay where we are. And that's heartbreaking too. But the process, the discourse, the investigation, the argument, they're really powerful. It's why I judge, because I learned so much. [00:48:00] Um, of course, entering a competition is quite a brave thing to do. Of course keep it, keep it anonymous. You don't have to admit to ever entering anything. You only admit to winning something. And remember, the only real failure in image competitions is not to enter them. So those are all of the points I wrote down. I'm sure there are many more, and there are plenty of other podcasts I've done on this topic. This is just my latest update on the same thing. But sure, surely there is something in there for all of us. Even me as I'm going through it, I'm thinking, I must remember that next time I enter a print, how many times have I got caught out by my own mistakes, when I should know better? I'm a judge. I've been doing this a very long time now, and yet I still make those stupid mistakes. The biggest mistake I make, by the way, is to not allow enough time, and from that time box, everything else falls apart because I'm working at the last minute, I'm working at midnight or one or two or three in the morning. I'm having to do everything on the back foot, which is [00:49:00] unfortunately the way I am, but from that single mistake, everything else flows. Sometimes I don't enter the competition because it was too late for me to think about it. Sometimes I do enter the competition, but it was too, too late to create the prints that I truly wanted to. Sometimes I'm so late that I forget some great images that were in the, in my portfolio that I just didn't have time to go and find and I forgot about them. My biggest weakness. Is time. I dunno what yours is. Whatever it is though, get your images sorted, get yourself another pair of eyes, whether it's a mentor, workshops, friend, whatever, and get on and do it. Right. So on that happy note, I'm gonna go um, and join some friends for a drink in our local pub and then I'm gonna have a few days out with Sarah. It's gonna be lovely. Um, I'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. Of course. We love to hear the feedback. Please do head over. To Apple's podcast. Um, and leave us a review on there.[00:50:00] Uh, no matter whether you are Google or Apple or you don't do any of those, the best place for reviews is on Apple, is it encourages so many more people to come and listen. If you fancy workshops, head over to mastering port portrait photography and go to the workshop section. Uh, we have a whole load of dates. Um, some of them have sold out now, uh, but they're still in there. And I spent, I had a lovely week this week. It's been such a nice week. Um, spent a very happy hour going through someone's, um, images came across for a coffee, actually just as part of a mentoring session. Um, and we just sat and explored images and chatted ideas. It's an absolutely wonderful thing to do. So if you fancy a workshop, uh, they're on the list. If you fancy, um, something a little bit longer term, some mentoring. Then of course, that's on there too. The deadlines for judging, uh, for the, uh, society's competition are looming. Um. So, uh, if you fancy that, then please do head across to the society's image competition website. Um, I too, uh, must get my images in. Um, [00:51:00] I'm dreading leaving it to too late, but I can't help but think that might be what's coming because December for me is manic. So a load of that, um, please do, if you haven't already bought it by, this is a shameless plug. I don't care. Please buy the latest Mastering portrait photography. Book, uh, the updated version, it's available on Amazon. Um, uh, Amazon by the way, can sell it to me cheaper than I can buy it from our own whole, from, from our own wholesaler, which I still think is slightly ironic. However, it is what it is. It's the way the world or the big suppliers. Uh, but if you want one signed, you can order that from mastering portrait photography.com. Otherwise, head over to Amazon and if you do have a copy of the book. Please leave us a review. That's a lot of asking you to leave reviews, but all you have to do is log in, find the bit, write something nice, hit a few stars, well hopefully five or four. Um, and then you're done. And then I'm forever, I'm forever in your debt and you feel better about yourself. Uh, so, uh, please do, uh, do those things head over to, uh, Amazon Lib's review on [00:52:00] the Amazon website. That would be great. And with that, I'm gonna sign off. I'm gonna finish what's left of a cold mug of coffee and I'm gonna go have a drink with some friends and spend a few days. Out and about with Sarah doing something interesting. Not sure yet what whatever else you do, wherever you are, whatever you're doing with your, your prints, your competitions, your qualifications, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP170 One Way? Nah. A Million Ways.](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep170-one-way-nah-a-million-ways/) I'm back after a bit of a stop-start spell with the podcast, and I'm talking honestly about headspace, mojo, and how hard it can be to create when you're just not feeling it. The main point I wanted to cover is this: there's more than one way to do things in photography, and the "that's wrong" comments (especially online) completely miss the point. I'm sharing why I try to frame everything as my way, not the way, and how clients, time, kit, and real-world constraints always shape what works. I also give you a quick update on upcoming workshops, where to find the new short-form video content, and what I'll be covering next after a couple of judging days. Key links Mastering Portrait Photography Our Reels & Shorts Mastering Portrait Photography on YouTube Workshops mentioned Mastering Dogs With Their Owners workshop (9 Feb 2026) Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting (16 Mar 2026) Mastering Portrait Photography Bootcamp (11-12 May 2026) #### Transcript [00:00:00] So hello one and all. This is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast, which hasn't, hasn't been the most frequent in the past few months, one reason or another. Um, I just haven't managed to find either the time or if I'm more honest, I guess the headspace, the difficulty with doing anything creative is that if you don't feel it, if you're not right into it, and you know this as photographers, it's really hard to do it. And every time I've sat down, it's just been incredibly difficult to find, I suppose the words, I'm not sure that last year was the greatest year on earth. We got there, we grafted, but we got there, um, massively busy year, but I don't know if the positivity that we've had over the past years was quite, quite the same. And so in that context, it's been quite hard, I think. To, uh, be a photographer, to be a portrait [00:01:00] photographer, and also to record this podcast. So when I talk to people and they say they're not feeling it, I totally understand. Somebody in a workshop the other day, we always, at the beginning of every workshop we run here, we ask the people on it what they'd like to get out of it. And I think on every single one last year, and certainly the one we ran a couple of weeks ago, there is someone who will simply say. I've lost my mojo. What an interesting line given I think I've been feeling the same way about the podcast. Not that I haven't wanted to do it. I love doing it. I love sitting here and chatting. It's sort of like having my own personal counselor, you, but I just haven't really found the energy and the headspace, um, to do it. And for a million reasons, some of it to do with just the mood, the news. Politics, the weather. Um, and then just to compound everything over Christmas, I completely lost my voice [00:02:00] and I do mean, completely caused a lot of hilarity amongst my family and my team. But I had to do a couple of workshops at the convention. And they were quite squeaky. I literally sounded like squeaky from the toy story. Anyway, you'd be pleased to hear it's all back. It's all firing on all cylinders. 2026 is a new year. I'd like to say it's the start of a new year, but given it's February, I'm not even certain. I can say Happy New Year to all of you, but here we are. I'm Paul, and this is the return of the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. So, hello one and all. I hope you're well. I hope the weather, I dunno what the weather's like all around the world. Of course I don't. But right here, right now in this bit of the world, it is miserable. We had to drive a Land Rover over to get, um, to. I think it's called an eyebrow repaired an odd, an odd phrase, but it's the bit of the wing that pro [00:03:00] protrudes over the wheel on the front, front driver's side. Because the other day as I was about to head out and do a job for the hearing dogs and with my client, my client's climbing into the car next to me and somebody decided the gap between my front driver's side wing and the wall next to him was sufficient to get a very big Mercedes-Benz through it. It turns out it wasn't. And the only damage, sadly for me was that it put a, put a hole in the, uh, wheel arch. It's called an eyebrow, this thing. So anyway, today we must have, find someone to get it repaired. The guy's paid, it's fine. It'll all get fixed. Um, so, uh, drove over, but the weather. The weather was horrific, and it's cold and it's gray and there's just water everywhere. It's a miserable state of affairs and trying to, trying to be a portrait photographer in this. I'm glad we have a warm studio that I will say. Uh, so here we are. [00:04:00] Here we are. It is, what time is it? It's, uh, 10 past eight on a Tuesday evening. I'm still in the studio and this time. I am recording video for it Now. I don't know whether you'll see the video. This is the first time I've tried to do, what do they call it, A visualized podcast? I'm not sure. It's a video podcast. That would be, um, over egging it a little bit. It's me staring at one very small camera that I dug outta a drawer. To see if I can get this to work. If it works, then we'll throw something a little bit more sophisticated at it. But in our team at the moment, in the mastering portrait photography team, we have Katie, I've introduced you to Katie before. That's not news. But one of the things we have been doing is recording more and more and more and more content, mostly short reels, short videos of one sort or another. And it's, I mean, it's a huge amount of fun. I'm having a blast. I come in on a Monday and Katie will tell me the topics we're going to cover, uh, and we get on with it and we film small [00:05:00] videos of one form or another. Um, and it's, I'll be honest, I'm loving it because it gets, it gives us a chance to talk about this business die love. Um, however, some of the things that have popped up through that are that really the podcast also now needs to be on video. Here I am and if you take a look around me, if you are looking at this on the video and take a look around me, you can see that it's the first foray. 'cause even if, as I look around the screen here that I'm, I've got feeding information back to me, it does look like my desk has been burgled. It is pretty bad at the moment. There is stuff everywhere. Uh, which isn't great, but I will get that fixed and get it sorted. So it looks a little bit prettier. I'm not sure this is the right camera, uh, for this particular job, but, uh, if it works, like I said, we might just upgrade. Um, but off the back of these videos, this is the topic I wanted to talk about today. This is only gonna be a short podcast, uh, partly 'cause I am starving. I've been here all [00:06:00] day. I've had one banana, one sandwich, one pair. Um, and I really, really, really want to go and do a little bit of exercise, um, and maybe have some food. So this is gonna be a shorter podcast than perhaps you're used to. However, this is what I wanted to cover. I wanted to sort of cover a point that has arisen through doing these little reels and videos with Katie that there is definitely more than one way of doing things. Now I'm doing this unscripted. I've got my pen to make some notes in case I kind of lose track. Um, so forgive me if I ramble, but. There's more than one way of doing things in. When we do a workshop or I do a presentation, I will always, or nearly always put up a slide that simply has two words, opinion overload, and I put it up there to remind me, to remind the people watching me that just because I say this is a way of doing [00:07:00] it doesn't mean it's the. Way of doing it. It's just the way that I found works for me on the whole, sometimes it'll be two or three different ways I've discovered will work and I'll point out which one seems to give me the most consistent results, or is the least expensive in time and materials, or is just simply the, you know, the one I enjoy the most. Because if you, if you are attending workshops, if you are going through the process of learning, and we all do this every time the person in front of you says, this is how to do it, there's a tendency for us to believe them. There's a tendency for us to, in our head say, right, that's what we're gonna do. Their photography is what I like. That's how we're gonna do it. And that can't possibly. Be the case. There are too many different styles, too many different photographers for that to be the case, and so I try to remind people, this is just my opinion at this [00:08:00] moment in time. This is how I do it, or this is how I have done it tomorrow. It may well be different next year. It's highly likely to be different changes in technology. In equipment, in approaches in clients, your client drives an awful lot of this too. Remember, you know, if your client's demanding that you travel light, then you travel light. And so some of the techniques for lighting, for instance, won't be, uh, quite the same as if you have all the time in the world and a studio. There's always a way of doing something that works for you, and there are plenty of other ways that maybe don't work so well. And the point is, we've learned this through the reels and videos that we've been posting, but all too often I'll put something up and somebody will tell me quite, quite vigorously, that's not right. Whether it's clamshell, just use a reflector. You don't need two lights, whether it's white balance adjustments, differential white balance. I'll just do it all in night room in post, whether it's, and my favorite comment was, [00:09:00] you are three times my age. Maybe that's right for you, which I thought was entertaining, if nothing else, and these are all valid by the way, I'm not worried about it. It just struck me that people seem to think that there is just one way of doing something. And of course there isn't, there's not one technique, there's not one aesthetic. If, if we all liked the same thing, if we all liked the same output, if we all liked the same processes, life would be, frankly, frigging dull because there'd be nothing interesting every, and I use the musician, I know I use the musician musician's analogy a lot, but if you think about the number of different ways that you've heard a composer or different composers say they write music, some will sit at a piano, some will write the lyrics, some will hum it, some will record it. Some people just have their phone to their bed and record a quick snippet of vocal or whatever it might [00:10:00] be. Everyone has a different way of doing it, and yet no one seemingly anyway, no one in that world criticizes another songwriter and tells them that that's how they should do it. They should do it differently, but somehow in photography, that's okay. Or maybe it's not that it's in photography. Maybe it's just that the medium of imagery, the medium video, lends itself to social media, in which case it lends itself to people writing comments. And so I just thought I'd explain whenever I go through something. I mean, I'd love you to have a look at some of the reels and things we're posting. I'll, I'll give you the details of where they can be found at the end, um, and see what you think. But I try really hard. To make it an open conversation. It's about, here's a way of doing it. Here's an explanation of what's going on. Here's why I like it. I mean, I think that's fair. It doesn't mean I don't have things that I like, but I do try really hard not to say this is a defacto [00:11:00] thing. Technique, method route. You shouldn't, you don't have to have this equipment, you don't have to have, um, this way of doing things, you know, light meters. Another one, people are very enthusiastic about light meters, tripods, gotta have a tripod, gotta have a light meter. Um, two things that actually, I, I own plenty of them. Um, just doesn't work particularly, or it does work for me. Of course it works and that's wrong. Saying it doesn't work for me, that's not true. It's just that not using a tripod and not using a light light meter works better for me in most circumstances. There are days when actually a tripod is really useful. Long exposures stop frames when I just want that pin sharp thing you can get when your camera is bolted to a good sturdy tripod or a light meter. When I'm running lots of different light sources and I just need to run around the room, checking that everything's balanced. Yeah, line meter is brilliant for that.[00:12:00] But most of the time I just like the freedom. I like the pace, I like the fluidity of working without either of those things. Am I wrong? Well, to some people, clearly, but it doesn't feel wrong to me. It feels totally right to me. Do I think that people that use a tripod or like me are wrong? No, not at all. Um, I can give you my reasons why. I find it easier without, I find the speed of it without, I find the availability and the fact that I can just drag a camera out and get on with it. I find that appealing, and so my point is that as fast as I'm trying really hard to provide information, provide insight into one photographer's way of doing things. I think it's important to note that there's always more ways, um, of achieving an end result. Um, and I will try in the videos, actually, I'm gonna try in the coming months to do things in different ways. Things that I maybe I wouldn't normally do to illustrate my own point. Maybe [00:13:00] I will use a tripod to nail the sharpness. Maybe I will use a light meter. Um, to show how that works. Maybe I will just do, I'll listen to the comments coming back and I will try some of these routes. Maybe I'll do differential white balance in Lightroom and Photoshop rather than using actual lights. And all of these things are doable and it'll be a huge amount of fun, actually. 'cause I love, I love the idea that there's a million ways of, um, creating things because the more ways you learn, the more holes you can get out of. And we've all been there, right? We've all been in a shoot. Where chaos ensues or there's no time, or the weather doesn't play ball or the client or the location, or it doesn't matter, whatever it is, that just is causing you a headache. And so the more techniques you have at your fingertips, the better. And that's if there is one way of doing things. If there is a case where there's one way of doing it, there's the one thing I would say you should definitely do is learn lots of different ways [00:14:00] to do things. So I will try. Um, on that note, I said this is gonna be a short podcast. It just occurred to me today that I would have a quick, um, chat about that and also test whether doing this straight to video is gonna work, in which case we can move to some, uh, maybe some longer topics and some interviews. Uh, so some updates on where we are with everything else. It has been a busy start to the year. Lots of different things going on. Uh, workshops. Sarah's asked me to mention the workshops that we have, uh, in the diary at the moment. So I've got one next Monday actually, where we have a space left. It's dogs and their owners, I should say, photographing dogs and their owners. Uh, which is all about it's dog photography, but because I'm a portrait photographer, it's as important to me that we photograph the dogs with the people that bring them, their owners, their loved ones, all those kinds of things. Um, and so it's a day's workshop, uh, February the ninth, um, here at our studio, uh, on March the [00:15:00] 16th. And this might. Be my favorite single workshop to run. It's Advanced Studio Lighting and I love it because people just rock up with ideas and we play, we play all day. Uh, the one we did a couple weeks ago was off-camera flash, and that was a huge amount of fun too because people just ask us to try things. And I love that. I love the idea that, um, we have a maximum of five delegates on these workshops, and that's deliberate. It gives us a chance to chat. It, it gives us a chance to talk our way through things. Uh, so the off-camera flash, uh, day was just brilliant. And the advanced Studio lighting, which is on March the 16th, um, is fun. Uh, for the same kinds of reasons, five people and me and a model or two just playing, just trying stuff and seeing what happens based on experience. And for me as a, um, as the person running the workshop. I love it when people come with ideas too, because. Quite often it pushes what we do here [00:16:00] at the studio a little bit further. We try new things and it's great. And I mean, the other thing of course is I'm an crom ambassador, so I get to play with all of this kit, um, that I so love using. So that's March the 16th. Now, may the 11th and May the 12th. This is a two day bootcamp. Uh, there's a space, I think there's one space left. Um, we didn't know last year when we ran the first one quite what this would be like. Um, we had to change tack a little bit, so we had a hall booked. Um, rather than do it here at our studio, uh, we had a hall booked at, um, a local hall. Um, and for one reason or another on the day before the bootcamp workshop, it just wasn't gonna happen for a million reasons at their end, not ours. And, and it just. We decided in the end to sidestep it and run everything here. We reworked the studio, we changed the way we were gonna do things literally overnight. We're not, I'm not joking now, that's overnight. [00:17:00] Um, and it worked really well because everything's to hand. So anything that someone asks, we can try again. Very limited number of people. Um, so it's not too busy. And that's a two day bootcamp. Um, and the other thing we did is at the end of the first day, we said if anyone fan sticking around in the evening and having a pizza and, and a beer, then you're very welcome to. It wasn't really part of the planned workshop as such. It was just rather than everyone scattering to their bread and breakfasts and hotels and things. Why don't, if you want to, why didn't stick around? Everybody stuck around. Um, and so actually we dragged lights out into the garden. We did different things. We tried different things. We had really nice food and a beer and laughed away, uh, into the we hours. It was brilliant and picked up the next day. So March, uh, sorry, may the 11th, may the 12th, two day boot camp. If you fancy it. Um, so those are the things. What have I got left for this week? Oh, right. I said, I'd say where the reels and things are. So we are publishing reels at the moment. Lots of short snippets alongside our long form stuff on, uh, you can head to [00:18:00] YouTube. Instagram is mastering portrait photography. That's um. Our ID for that. Um, and TikTok as well. Um, TikTok is a whole new thing, uh, for us. I feel about four times the age of the people on there. Uh, but Katie, who's in charge of all the seeing, who's, uh, much younger than us, um, assures us it's a good idea. So we're also putting content up onto there and get some really interesting conversations. Um, we're also putting all of those reels up on our mastering portrait photography.com website in a reel section. Um, still uploading those, still tuning them. So if you want to go to a single place. Uh, if you are not a social media freak, um, you can go up there and all of the little short reels will be on there with various links out to long form, uh, content that you have to be a member for, for the long form. But the reels, the short form, uh, will be on there. Uh, what else, latest? Oh, this week is judging. Um, I do, I think I'm due to give a quick update [00:19:00] on the judging I did at The Convention in London. As ever, when I do a judging. Um, a whole process of judging or a couple of days of judging. I normally come back with some things I've learned, but this time, because I'm going into The Guild judging, I'm chairing the guild judging, I thought I'd combine the two and go through my notes from. Both sessions. Uh, to be honest, I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. It's the same things you know. Don't blow your highlights. Don't block your blacks. Clean your sensor. Learn how to print. And for goodness sake, mount your finished work beautifully because it counts. If it's a print competition, make sure your work arrives immaculate. Um. So there you go. Those are some of the things I learned. Um, but I'll cover it properly when I've been through judging for the Guild, um, later this week, and I think that is everything. If not, um, Sarah will kill me or kick me or both. Um, if you have any questions at all, you can always reach me. And if you fancy, just browsing a ton of stuff, [00:20:00] lighting, diagrams, um, guides, videos, uh, the, um, frame previews that we can, you can download to visualize, uh, your, how your images will look on a wall. Then it's all on mastering portrait photography.com, which is also, as it happens, the spiritual home of this particular podcast and whatever else you're doing on this, really quite miserable Tuesday night before I go home and climb onto the Peloton bike to do some exercise. Please, whatever you do, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [EP171 Pay It Forward (Or At Least Reply)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/embracing-positivity-photography/) Embracing Positivity on a Challenging Day: Insights from the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast It's Friday the 13th, a day often associated with superstition, but instead of dwelling on the negatives, let's focus on the positives that have brought joy over the past week. In this episode, I share my experiences, from the challenges of a busy schedule to the joy of working with families in the studio. Join me as I reflect on the importance of community and giving back to the photography industry. Getting stuff off my chest: - The significance of staying positive amidst challenges - Insights from recent judging experiences at photography competitions - The importance of community support and paying it forward in the photography industry - Tips for preparing your prints for competitions and avoiding common mistakes - Updates on upcoming workshops and events in portrait photography Join me as I delve into these topics and more, encouraging you to embrace the joy of photography and the connections we build along the way. Read on or listen to the episode for a dose of inspiration! Key links Mastering Portrait Photography Our Reels & Shorts Mastering Portrait Photography on YouTube Workshops mentioned Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting (16 Mar 2026) Mastering Portrait Photography Bootcamp (11-12 May 2026) #### Transcript [00:00:00] Friday the 13th Reflections It's Friday the 13th of February, and while I might be tempted to think twice about recording a podcast today, I choose to focus on the positives. It has been one of those weeks where many little things have driven me to distraction. Sarah's car needed a new wheel bearing, and I had a video recorder malfunction. You know how it is-those little annoyances can really pile up. However, I want to concentrate on everything that has made me smile this week and the joy we've experienced over the past couple of weeks. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. Please bear with me; I have a cough that lingers from a cold. The team in the office thinks it started back in November. I rarely get colds, but this season has been different. Even after receiving the flu jab, I've caught colds just far enough apart that I think I'm getting better, yet close enough that the cough remains. But in a few weeks, Sarah and I will be off on our travels again, working around the world with Crystal Cruises, so I know this will sort itself out. Recent Updates As usual, I want to share a little update on where we are. I often wonder why I do this, but perhaps it's cathartic. You'll notice there's no video this time. I tried recording a video for the last episode, but Katie only watched a couple of minutes before suggesting that unless I tidied my desk and did it properly, it probably wouldn't look right. The podcast is something I enjoy doing whenever I find a moment. It provides a chance to share information and reflect on the business we run, the photography we create, and the clients we celebrate. Each time I do this, I feel better about my work. I've had to admit defeat, at least for now, on the video podcast front. Most of the feedback I receive is from people who listen while editing or commuting, so I've decided to return to audio. It was a one-time trial, and I didn't try very hard. I recorded one video, and it didn't turn out well, so I've chosen to stick with what I love most: simply chatting. Busy Diary The past couple of weeks have been busy, but not necessarily with fee-paying work. For those just starting out, I remember looking forward to all the opportunities I now have, such as judging, mentoring, and creating content. I love it all, but ultimately, the core of our business is with our clients. Tomorrow, I have a full day scheduled with families in the studio, and I'm really excited about that. It has rained incessantly, but the weather forecast for tomorrow predicts a clear and cold Valentine's Day. I hope we can take some photographs outside, which would be wonderful. We've had many headshot shoots recently, which are less affected by the weather since we can find shelter when photographing one person. Most clients looking for personal branding prefer studio-based sessions, so that's manageable. However, with families, we want to get outside, even if it's cold. Judging Experience In the past week, Sarah and I chaired the UK PPA print competition at the Guild's photo hub, which was an incredible experience. Thank you to everyone who participated; it was truly amazing. While we don't get paid for judging, it is a wonderful opportunity. Sarah organized everything and ensured it ran smoothly, while I served as the voice of the judging panel. The judging process was fantastic. I want to express my gratitude to the judges who participated. It was an honor to sit among such talented photographers. The audience was the most engaged I've ever experienced, asking questions and quizzing us. This interaction made the judging process more enjoyable and valuable for everyone involved. Typically, judging is done in silence to maintain focus, but this can sometimes feel isolating. We need to concentrate, but we also want to engage with the audience. If we can make the process interesting and entertaining, more photographers will stay until the end, which benefits everyone. A good judging team is essential. If judges feel comfortable with one another, they can cooperate, challenge each other, and support one another. This camaraderie leads to better outcomes and more considered scores. Each judge brings their unique perspective, whether it's technical details, emotional connections, or composition. This diversity enriches the judging process. Print Quality Insights During the judging, I noticed some common issues with print quality. For instance, we saw several prints with color banding. While we couldn't determine if the banding originated in the file, it was evident in the prints. If you're overlaying textures, ensure they only cover the intended areas. Some images had overlays that unintentionally covered the subjects, which detracted from the overall effect. When entering print competitions, pay attention to the mount size and ensure your prints meet the minimum requirements. The combination of your mount and print is what we judge, so it's crucial to have a cohesive look. If you're using an inset mount, make sure the paper and mount colors match to avoid any jarring contrasts. We also discussed the terminology we use, such as referring to creators as "authors" rather than just photographers. This term encompasses a broader range of creators, including illustrators and fine artists, and acknowledges their contributions. Paying It Forward An email I received recently from a student sparked a reflection on the importance of paying it forward in our industry. He reached out with several questions about our business, and while I took a while to respond, his reply highlighted a concerning trend. He mentioned that many photographers either didn't respond or were rude in their replies. This saddened me. We often speak about the camaraderie and relationships in our industry, but it seems that the spirit of helping one another may be waning. Many of us have benefited from the kindness of others, and it's essential that we continue this tradition. I believe it's our responsibility to give back, whether through mentoring, judging, or sharing knowledge. The joy of watching someone else flourish because you've offered a helping hand can be incredibly rewarding. Upcoming Workshops As we wrap up, I want to mention a couple of upcoming workshops. Our Bootcamp on the 11th and 12th of May has one space left. It was a fantastic experience last year, and we're excited to run it again. We also have one space left for our Advanced Studio Lighting workshop on the 16th of March, which is one of my favorite workshops to run. If you're interested in either of these, please visit masteringportraitphotography.com for more details. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe on your preferred platform and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Your support helps others find the podcast and grow our community. As we head into Valentine's weekend, remember to be kind to yourself and to those you love. Take care. ### [EP76 Interview With Tom Catchesides From Light Blue Software](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep76-interview-with-tom-catchesides-from-light-blue-software/) EP76 Interview With Tom Catchesides From Light Blue Software In this episode, I get to chat with the guy behind the software behind the business - Light Blue Software. We've used this software for over a decade and it is the one application that each of us here is guaranteed to log into every single day. Tom asked if I would help spread the word about an offer that Light Blue extending to all of their customers (new and old) to help through these difficult times and so I thought it would be a good opportunity to invite Tom onto the podcast and ask him about the software, why it's important to track your data and what the future holds. An interesting interview with a really genuinely lovely guy - who, like me is a techy! For details of the generous support Tom and the team at Light Blue are offering, head to lightbluesoftware.com. As is our way, I also asked Tom to nominate a book for our ever-burgeoning library of the curious and the inspirational and his nomination is Landscape Within by David Ward You can get second-hand copies (and I think there are one or two very expensive new copies around - it's no longer in print) on both Amazon and Abe Books. I've just ordered a copy for the studio for just £11.99 so it's an absolute steal! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP77 All About Joy And A Bag Of Cooking Apples](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep77-all-about-joy-and-a-bag-of-cooking-apples/) EP77 All About Joy And A Bag Of Cooking Apples With everything going on at the moment it's all too easy to lose sight of the joy that this job brings to so many. This podcast is about that. That and a bag of cooking apples. Running a photography business (or any business for that matter) is never easy and if you let it, it can suck the joy out of you. But, of course, the very essence of creating portraits is about creating joy.- the most powerful emotion of them all. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP78 Coping With Covid As We Re-Boot The Business](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep78-the-only-wedding-that-held-on/) EP78 Coping With Covid As We Re-Boot The Business This episode was recorded from the cab of my Land Rover Defender as I head to (and come back from) the wedding that held on in the diary despite of the risk of cancellation due to Covid-19 restrictions. You have to admire their bravery and it was, in the end, a perfect day for them and for the team working with them! After everything that has happened, it wasn't obvious just how easy the day would be but, as it turned out, the day was stunning - and it looks like we'll be able to create beautiful imagery and still stay safe. The same is true of everything we're doing at the studio to make both lifestyle and studio portraits not only safe and compliant with the 'new normal' but just as creative and exciting as they've always been. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP79 Interview With Andy Blake, General Manager of Kaleidoscope Framing](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep79-interview-with-andy-blake-general-manager-of-kaleidoscope-framing/) EP79 Interview With Andy Blake, General Manager of Kaleidoscope Framing Life as a photographer can feel like you're working on your own - all those hours with the camera, lights, with Photoshop and the complexities of your own business. But, of course, the truth is a little more nuanced than that: we may be here in our studio on our own, but we have a wealth of talent around us - our suppliers. Every day, I sell their products, their talents, their ideas to our clients, whether it's a frame, an album or a portfolio, I am wholly reliant on numerous other people to carry my brand. In this interview, I get the chance to talk with Andy Blake, the General Manager at Kaleidoscope Framing - a company whose wonderful products we have relied on for well over a decade now. It's a lovely interview (you may get the impression we get on well - and you'd be right!) and we talk about various aspects of the photographic industry and how things are changing - something particularly pertinent in these complicated times. The fact that we get on well isn't a coincidence - building a relationship with your suppliers is as important as building them with your clients as it's your suppliers who, ultimately, provide the platform on which your products will shine. It's not about the products, of course, it's about your photography, but displaying your craft in the very best light is what this business is all about. And your suppliers make that possible. As always with our interviews, I asked Andy to recommend a book to add to our every-expanding library. He recommended "One Day For Life", a book of photos all taken on a single day in 1987 in aid of Cancer Research. I couldn't find any new copies but this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0593014642/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_OV6mFbGKHVT2G takes you to second-hand copies on Amazon (I bought mine for £2.95!) Enjoy the interview! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP80 You Don't Get Something For Nothing](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep80-you-dont-get-something-for-nothing/) EP80 You Don't Get Something For Nothing Along with thousands of other students, Jake, our son, has just had his 'A' level results. An interesting time to put it mildly. However, it did get me thinking about how incredibly hard he worked for his mock exams (it's lucky he worked as hard as he did as it has meant he HAS been given a place on the university course that he desperately wanted!) and the parallels with our industry. It is always easy to look around and think other people have it easy but the truth is that no-one gets to be successful without a huge amount of dedication and effort. I'm not tub-thumping in this podcast, just musing on the fact that no matter what level you're at - or in what field - to make those next steps, you have to be prepared to put in a huge amount of work. But it is always well worth the effort. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP81 Death By Diary](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep81-death-by-diary/) EP81 Death By Diary Today I am musing (and, additionally, interrupting myself - not once but twice!) on being beholden to my diary. It is, of course, completely to be expected when you run a successful portrait photography business but that doesn't make it easy. Instead, you have to find strategies for keeping motivated, keeping the excitement and keeping up the creativity. PS. there is a slight irony in today's recording that, having had a massively scheduled day, I felt the need to add a couple of updates to the recording to talk about just how much I have enjoyed today - both personally and creatively! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP82 Understanding Stops (More Importantly - Why It's Useful!)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep82-understanding-stops-more-importantly-why-its-useful/) EP82 Understanding Stops (More Importantly - Why It's Useful!) Today's podcast was recorded as I travelled to photograph a wedding. Given this is August 2020 (the year of Covid-19) that is not a particularly common occurrence, with most of our weddings being postponed to 2021 / 2022 so I am probably sounding a little giddy! As usual, there is an update on what's been happening and then the main topic is all about understanding 'stops' - or, more precisely, why it's USEFUL to understand stops, even in this day and age of automatic everything. I promise I do, eventually, get to the point after going through the whys and wherefores of stops, their definitions and some examples. So a slightly technical episode this one but hopefully useful nonetheless! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP83 Do You Have To Be An Extrovert To Be A Portrait Photographer?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep83-do-you-have-to-be-an-extrovert-to-be-a-portrait-photographer/) EP83 Do You Have To Be An Extrovert To Be A Portrait Photographer? You'll be happy to hear that this episode is recorded in the peace and quiet of our studio - actually, I had intended to record it in the studio garden as the cool and the smells of late summer and early autumn are so seductive. Sadly, about a million drills, chainsaws, strimmers, lawnmowers and jackhammers ruined that for me. It wasn't nearly as peaceful as I'd hoped! Goodness knows what our neighbours are building! Still, we're lucky to have a nice calm studio in which to record so, with a microphone, recorder and a cup of coffee, I decamped to our consultation room which is currently not being used as we impose some Covid-19 policies for safety. Anyway, this podcast was triggered by a lovely email that included a question about whether someone who is gentle and quiet could be a successful wedding or portrait photographer: do you have to be energetic and confident or does gentle and reserved have its place too? Here are my thoughts on the matter. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP84 - Critiques, Competitions & Qualifications: How DO You Get Useful Feedback?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep84-critiques-competitions-qualifications-how-do-you-get-useful-feedback/) EP84 - Critiques, Competitions & Qualifications: How DO You Get Useful Feedback? Another Land Rover based podcast I'm afraid (at one point it sounds like I am being shaken to pieces!) but this time I have a little help with the noise reduction and sound quality. Hopefully, it'll take the edge off it! In this (bumpy) episode, I wanted to mull on the value of critiques, competitions, and qualifications and how judges, such as me, evaluate images across all genres irrespective of specialism and come to the conclusion they all have their place. As for judging? There is no shortcut - you need to have a wide variety of experience! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP85 Fifteen Candidates, Seven Judges, Two Days Of Qualifications, One Podcast](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep85-fifteen-candidates-seven-judges-two-days-of-qualifications-one-podcast/) EP85 Fifteen Candidates, Seven Judges, Two Days Of Qualifications, One Podcast In this episode, I get a chance to talk to the team of qualification judges that I am privileged to be a part of for the British Institue of Professional Photography. I thought it would be interesting (and so it proved to be) to ask each of them before and after the judging, what they would love to see, what (after the fact) was a highlight and what they would say to anyone thinking of getting themselves qualified. The two days of judging are really intensive - you can hear the fatigue in the judges' voices later in the podcast - but what they have to see is inciteful and priceless. The judges in this episode are: - David Stanbury - https://www.stanburyphotography.co.uk/ - Catherine Beltramini - http://www.catherine-beltraminiphotography.com/ - Sean Conboy - http://seanconboy.com/ - Saraya Corteville - https://sarayacortaville.co.uk/ - James Musselwhite - https://www.portraitofawrestler.com/ - and me - https://paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk The chair of judges is Scott Johnson -https://www.theedgephotography.co.uk/ And if that weren't enough, I also get the chance to chat with Martin Baynes, the CEO of the British Institute of Professional Photography about qualifications and what the future holds. - The British Institue Of Professional Photography - https://www.bipp.com/ So, all in all, quite a long podcast (just over an hour), but well worth it. So pour a cuppa, sit back and enjoy an insight into the judges and judging for professional photography qualifications. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP86 Interview With Kate Nicolle, Relationship Counsellor](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep86-interview-with-kate-nicolle-relationship-counsellor/) EP86 Interview With Kate Nicolle, Relationship Counsellor I don't know quite what inspired me for this podcast, but I thought it would be interesting (and so it proved to be) to invite someone onto the podcast that really does understand relationships and the language that people use. Every day in a portrait photography business, we're facing families and couples, watching their behaviour, listening to their conversations and creating beautiful images of them and their loved ones. I wondered if there were techniques we could use to improve their experience - in particular, ways of diffusing the natural tensions that are present when a family arrives for a portrait session. Kate Nicolle is a long-standing friend and client of the business and, as it happens, is also a qualified relationship counsellor. The way she views a couple is going to be distinctly different from the way we see things through the viewfinder, but there is plenty to be learned in this conversation. We mention the portrait session that Kate and her friends, Karen and Rachel, had a few years ago (and the picture that now hangs in her downstairs loo!) If you're curious, a short blog about this can be found here on my portrait website. If you'd like to see more of what Kate is involved in, her website can be found at www.katenicolle-happierrelationships.co.uk and she is, truly, one of the nicest, smartest people you could meet! NOTE! If you would like a virtual relationship counselling session, Kate has very kindly offered a 20% discount to anyone who mentions this podcast! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP87 The More You Learn The Less You Know](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep87-the-more-you-learn-the-less-you-know/) EP87 The More You Learn The Less You Know Well this is one of those catchup episodes (I have discovered that our studio microwave has a grill!), but it also deals with one of those odd bits of human nature: that as you develop your talents and knowledge, the insecurity never seems to leave you. Funny ol' world isn't it?! Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP88 How Thinking Like A Musician Can Help Your Images](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep88-how-thinking-like-a-musician-can-help-your-images/) EP88 How Thinking Like A Musician Can Help Your Images In this episode we look at ways of seeing your images as your clients will. When I used to work in recording studios, we would dump a copy of the music track onto cassette (yes I am that old) and walk it out into the car park and sit in a band member's car, listening to the audio. It was the best way to make sure it sounded good somewhere other than in a sophisticated mixing room! Making sure your images look great to your end client is much the same - but you don't need an old Ford Capri, a Sony Cassette deck and five sweaty musicians! In this podcast I also mention (well, someone has to blow my trumpet!) the award we won a couple of weeks ago at the Master Photographers Association International Photography Awards - I won the title of 'Portrait Photography Of The Year' with this image of Carol. You can read the story on the BBC News website. Enjoy! ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP89 Steering A Covid Course - Taking Control Of All That I Can](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep89-steering-a-covid-course-taking-control-of-all-that-i-can/) EP89 Steering A Covid Course - Taking Control Of All That I Can Well, it's only gone and happened again: we're back in lockdown from this Thursday. Finding out on a Saturday night that you have five working days left in what is normally the busiest month of the year, is not ideal, to put it mildly. Still, we have to find ways of coping, ways of staying positive. This is a quick podcast I recorded to talk about the things we're doing here to stay in the right frame of mind to see our way through what is undoubtedly going to be a tough end of this year and, probably, beginning of next. There are no silver bullets in here - just the things we're planning right now. In the end, I have to think of this time as an opportunity: an opportunity to finish the jobs I never have time for; an opportunity to find new avenues for revenue and an opportunity to reach out to our clients when they, too, will be feeling low. Taking control of what I CAN be in control of and figuring ways around everything I CAN'T be in control of is the only thing I can do. I hope you're all OK and I hope this podcast is, in some way, useful. Take care, Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP90 Why Do We Take Pictures Anyway?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep90-why-do-we-take-pictures-anyway/) EP90 Why Do We Take Pictures Anyway? This question was asked by our model on a recent masterclass: "Why do you take pictures?" she enquired of me and our attendee. I suspect a pro, and an amateur may give slightly different answers but it's a simple and yet profound question: indeed, what on earth fuels our desire to create images? In this episode, recorded on a cold, crisp Christmas Eve, I ponder on that and look forward to a couple of days of laughing with my family and,well, maybe consuming a little sherry along the way! Happy holidays one and all! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP91 Happy New Year? Let's Hope So!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep91-happy-new-year-lets-hope-so/) EP91 Happy New Year? Let's Hope So! I think I recorded the previous episode on a cold, crisp day. Well, the cold has remained, but instead of 'crisp' it is now grey, gloomy and damp (though quite how it is still damp when the temperature is hovering around freezing I have no idea!) We're closing 2020 and opening a whole new chapter, bright and clean, as yet unsullied by Covid, Brexit, politicians or social media. I doubt it'll stay that way but let's enjoy the moment, just like stepping out into fresh white snow: it is clean and white, with only your footsteps to be seen, though you know it'll soon be brown and yellow, slushy and melting away. But right now? Clean, white, untouched and exciting. You never know, maybe it will stay that way! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP92 We Are Human ‘Beings', Not Human ‘Doings' - An Interview With Trevor Long PhD](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep92-we-are-human-beings-not-human-doings-an-interview-with-trevor-long-phd/) EP92 We Are Human 'Beings', Not Human 'Doings' - An Interview With Trevor Long PhD In a podcast last year, I lamented that I had lost a little mojo - the penalty for having a massively busy season prior to that. This triggered a couple of threads of conversation, one of which is this interview with Trevor Long PhD. To quote from his bio: "Trevor brings an extensive experience in education and consultancy to this work, from many different countries and cultures, with a primary interest in individual development as a means of building long-term growth and well-being. Working with several business schools, including Cambridge, Duke, Henley and Warwick, he has designed and delivered programmes on strategy, leadership, change, personal development and cultural awareness. He focuses on the educational content of the charity. "With a strong interest in the benefits of personal motivation, Trevor's research is rooted in the personal experience of engagement and its application in leadership and business growth. He has a PhD, an MBA and other qualifications involving coaching and psychology." In this fascinating interview, Trevor talks about ways in which we can be more creative, stay motivated and generally be happier in everything that we do. And right now? Well, I'll take every bit of information on joy and contentment that I can find! Trevor, and his wife Nikki, run a charity in The Gambia, called Be Reel, that helps the community form viable, sustainable micro-businesses to feed themselves and their families. Details of the charity can be found here. As always, I asked Trevor to nominate a book for our every-growing Photography Library here at the studio. In typical enthusiastic fashion, he nominated two! The first is called "Mindfulness And The Natural World", by Claire Thompson: The second, by Micah Mortali, is called Rewilding. Enjoy the interview and please share with anyone you think might find it useful. Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP93 It Doesn't Matter HOW You Do It!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep93-it-doesnt-matter-how-you-do-it/) EP93 It Doesn't Matter HOW You Do It! So why do people think it's OK to criticise HOW you do something? In this episode, I am more or less muttering about something that is prevalent in our industry: snobbishness about how you create your images rather than the celebration of what you've created. I may have uttered an expletive during the recording of this podcast. Sorry - don't judge me. I've left it in because I think a little passion is a good thing. Besides, bleeping it out wouldn't have hidden the fact I said it. Enjoy! Cheers Paul ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP94 Stop Being Your Own Personal Troll!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep94-stop-being-your-own-personal-troll/) EP94 Stop Being Your Own Personal Troll! Ever wondered if you're your own worst enemy? Your very own, personal, TROLL? Well, stop it at once! It really isn't helping! I mention a couple of things in this podcast - here are the links for the curious: - The camera I am talking about is the Nikon Z7ii - you can read about it on Nikon's site. - The focus checker I use for callibrating the lenses is the Datacolor SpyderLensCal Of course, remember that my book Mastering Portrait Photography is still very much available on Amazon (it's still in the top 20 photography books after all these years!) Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP95 "Evolve Or Evaporate" - Interview With Wedding Photographer Sanjay Jogia](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep95-evolve-or-evaporate-interview-with-wedding-photographer-sanjay-jogia/) EP95 "Evolve Or Evaporate" - Interview With Wedding Photographer Sanjay Jogia In this interview, I get a chance to talk with the incredible photographer, Sanjay Jogia. To quote from Canon's website (he is a Canon Ambassador): Sanjay Jogia is one of the world's most decorated wedding photographers, with a clutch of awards from both the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP) and Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI). The Briton is known for capturing a mix of posed and unposed images, all bursting with emotion and charm. He also shares his expertise, travelling the world to deliver lectures and workshops. Serving the luxury wedding market, Sanjay's company, Eye Jogia Photography, specialises in wedding photography of the most demanding kind: destination weddings all over the world, and Indian weddings, which pose distinct challenges compared to other types of ceremony. "Indian weddings are more intense and much longer: a typical day can be 12 to 16 hours," says Sanjay. "There are many separate rituals on the day of the main ceremony, and all the days tend to be an onslaught of colour, energy, emotion, socialising and fun." Well, that may be the official line but I know him as someone who I thoroughly enjoy judging with - his sharp attention to detail, the emotion and his humanity (he is always respectful of each and every image we assess) make him a pleasure to work alongside. In this interview we talk about a wide range of topics though I had originally intended to talk about what we have learned through judging - it is still in there somewhere but there is much more besides! I talk about one particular image in the podcast - this is that image: I just love the subtlety of it! More of Sanjay's beautiful work can be found at https://www.eyejogia.com/ As always, I asked him for a book submission for our library and he recommended "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. This is a book I've read a couple of times and is well worth the investment! Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP96 Don't Let Habit Hold You Back!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep96-dont-let-habit-hold-you-back/) EP96 Don't Let Habit Hold You Back! Photographers - or, more precisely, photography trainers - talk about muscle memory - creating habit and comfort in what you do. But have you ever thought it might hold you back? In this caffeine-fueled, bleary-eyed podcast recorded early on a Friday morning, I ponder on how to break out of your self-imposed limitation - one that we constantly refer to as a necessary thing: your muscle memory. BE WARNED: there is a modicum of rudeness and one or two swear words at the beginning. Should you happen to be listening to this in the background while doing a little homeschooling with the kids, I suggest you pause it (the podcast, not the homeschooling) until you have a glass of wine and no youngsters around! Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP97 The Graphistudio Live Lounge - Interview With Jeremy Price](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep97-the-graphistudio-live-lounge-interview-with-jeremy-price/) EP97 The Graphistudio Live Lounge - Interview With Jeremy Price Things are definitely looking up! Today, I had my vaccine, and I cannot help but think things are (gradually) appearing more positive. At the end of the day, vaccines are the only way out of the pandemic, so it feels good to not only have done my bit but also to see what an amazing job the NHS and all those volunteers are doing getting it out there - and it's all being done with huge smiles and a ton of love. Graphistudio is running a Live Lounge on the 6th / 7th March, so I thought it would be a great time to get Graphistudio UK's Managing Director into an interview to talk about the state of the industry, the future of social photography and to get excited about what's going to be broadcast during the event. As always, I asked for a book to add to the library - and this one is an absolute stunner (it's smart, inciteful and tells exactly what it's like to be the wife of an MP.) It's called "The Diary Of An MPs Wife" by Sasha Swire and it's a great read, though a bit depressing if you think politics should all be above board and completely democratic! Incidentally, this podcast was recorded with a video version as well - if you'd like to watch Jeremy and me chatting (and who wouldn't?!) then head over to Youtube to see the video version. Would love to know what you think and whether it's worth producing all of our podcasts like this. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP98 Keep It Simple](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/ep98-keep-it-simple/) EP98 Keep It Simple I admit this is a shorter episode than some - I am multitasking and getting prepped and rehearsed for the Graphistudio Live Lounge over the weekend - details can be found at https://www.graphistudio.com/en/accademia/ I'm on stage (as much as there is a stage of course) at 15:40 UK time (16:40 European time, 10:40 US Eastern) talking about shooting for album sales. Would love to see you all there! We could all go out for a drink at the bar afterwards... ....oh.... ...wait... nope, sadly not. This podcast is about something I've always believed: keeping it simple! Complexity rarely helps you, your photography or your business. Keeping things nice and simple helps the shoot to flow and for your clients to enjoy their experience as much as possible. At least that's true for portrait photography - it may not be so true if you're someone who shoots detailed products where a focus-stacking, light-stacking and hours of retouching are the norm! For me? Well I'm at my happiest when it's just me, my client, my camera and a little light. Just perfect. Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [EP99 Who Buys All The Ugly Cars?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/podcasts/who-buys-all-the-ugly-cars/) EP99 Who Buys All The Ugly Cars? One from the Land Rover this week - I recorded it while heading over to photograph puppies at the Hearing Dogs UK Charity. Tough gig huh? A bit of a rambly update, I admit, but the excitement of being out in the sunshine had taken hold. I was later to find that the sunshine belied just how cold it was! That'll teach me not to forget my coat! Anyway, that was later. In this podcast, there is a short update on life, broken websites, flat batteries and scrubbing the studio spotless like a surgical theatre ready to be open for commercial clients. The actual subject of this mobile recording, is "Who Buys All The Ugly Cars" (or, with a more business-style paraphrase, "There is a market for everything.") Please do subscribe to the podcast and leave a review - it's a nice thing to do and we really appreciate it! Enjoy! Cheers P. ##### Available To Subscribe On: ### [The Portrait Photography Glossary](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/glossary/) Demystifying Portrait Photography: Key Terms Explained Understanding the intricacies of portrait photography can feel like learning a new language, filled with technical jargon and nuanced terms that can leave beginners feeling lost. This glossary will demystify common photography terminology and clarify technical terms crucial to capturing stunning images. From concepts like aperture and ambient light to advanced techniques like back-button focus and butterfly lighting, this guide breaks down the jargon in a way that's accessible and engaging. There's no getting away from it, portrait photography is choc-full of in-jokes, technical terms and a language that only photographers understand. Here is an ever-growing collection of those terms you might just find useful - they won't improve your portraits as such, but at least it will be a little less confusing! A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z ### Portrait Photography Glossary: A ##### AEL (Automatic Exposure Lock) A camera button that locks the current exposure settings until the shutter-release button is pressed so you can recompose a scene before taking the shot. This is particularly useful when your subject isn't in the centre of the frame and you're using centre-weighted or spot metering. Without AEL, recomposing would cause the camera to recalculate exposure for whatever's now in the metering zone. The button is typically found near the thumb rest on the back of the camera, often combined with AFL (Autofocus Lock). Once you get into the habit of using it, you'll wonder how you ever managed without - it's one of those features that separates the "I'll fix it in post" crowd from photographers who nail it in-camera. ##### Adobe RGB A colour space that encompasses a wider range of colours than sRGB, particularly in the cyan and green regions. If you're shooting portraits that will be professionally printed, Adobe RGB gives you more colour information to work with during editing. However, and this is crucial, the web and most screens display in sRGB, so images destined for online use should be converted before export. The practical upshot? Shoot in Adobe RGB if you're doing high-end print work, but don't be surprised if your images look a bit flat or desaturated until you convert them. It's not broken, it's just waiting for the right output. ##### AF Point (Autofocus Point) The specific area within the frame where the camera attempts to achieve focus. Modern cameras can have anywhere from a handful to several hundred of these points scattered across the sensor. For portrait work, you'll typically want to select a single point and place it directly over your subject's eye - the one closest to camera if they're at an angle. Relying on the camera to choose the AF point for you is a recipe for sharp ears and soft eyes. Take control of your focus points and your keeper rate will thank you. ##### Ambient Light The existing light in a scene before you add any artificial lighting of your own - sunlight streaming through a window, overhead fluorescents in an office, tungsten lamps in a living room. In portrait photography, understanding ambient light is half the battle; you need to decide whether to embrace it, overpower it, or blend it with your own lights. The relationship between your flash power and ambient exposure is controlled by your shutter speed (up to your sync speed, anyway). A common technique is to underexpose the ambient by a stop or two, then bring in flash as your main light source, giving you control while maintaining some environmental context. ##### Angle of View The extent of a scene that a lens can take in, measured in degrees (also referred to as "field of view"). A wide-angle lens might have an angle of view of 90° or more, capturing a broad sweep of the scene, while a telephoto lens might narrow this down to just 10° or less, isolating a small portion of what's in front of you. A zoom lens has a variable angle of view that changes as you adjust the focal length, while a prime lens' viewing angle is fixed. For portraits, an angle of view that's too wide will distort facial features unflatteringly, which is why the classic 85mm portrait lens on full frame has a relatively narrow angle of view of around 28°. Understanding angle of view helps explain why standing further back and zooming in produces more flattering portraits than getting close with a wide lens - even if the subject is the same size in the frame. ##### Aperture The hole in the lens through which light passes to reach the camera's sensor, formed by a series of overlapping blades that can open wide or close down to a tiny circle. The size of the aperture is measured in f/stops, and can be manually changed when the camera is in Aperture Priority or Manual mode. A wide aperture (small f/number like f/1.4 or f/2.8) lets in lots of light and creates a shallow depth of field with beautifully blurred backgrounds - perfect for isolating your subject. A narrow aperture (large f/number like f/11 or f/16) lets in less light but keeps more of the scene in focus. The number of aperture blades and their shape affects the quality of the out-of-focus areas (bokeh), with more blades generally producing smoother, rounder highlights. Aperture is one of the three pillars of the exposure triangle, and for portrait photographers, it's often the starting point for dialling in your settings. ##### Aperture Priority A semi-automatic shooting mode (usually marked as 'A' or 'Av' on your mode dial) where you select the aperture and the camera automatically chooses an appropriate shutter speed for correct exposure. This is the go-to mode for many portrait photographers because depth of field is usually the primary creative consideration - you want control over how blurred that background is. The camera will adjust shutter speed to compensate as lighting conditions change, though you'll want to keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't drop so low that you introduce camera shake. Combine Aperture Priority with Auto ISO (with sensible limits set) and you've got a responsive setup that handles changing conditions while keeping your depth of field exactly where you want it. ##### Artifacting Unwanted visual defects in an image caused by heavy compression, aggressive editing, or pushing files beyond their limits. JPEG compression artifacts often appear as blocky patterns or colour banding in areas of smooth gradient, particularly noticeable in skies or studio backdrops. You'll also see artifacts when you over-sharpen, over-process, or try to recover detail from severely under or overexposed areas. The solution is to shoot RAW when possible, use gentle adjustments, and accept that sometimes the data simply isn't there to be rescued. If you're seeing artifacts in your final images, you've pushed too hard somewhere in the chain. ##### Aspect Ratio The proportional relationship between an image's width and height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. Common aspect ratios include 3:2 (standard for full-frame and APS-C cameras), 4:3 (Micro Four Thirds and many compact cameras), 1:1 (square), and 16:9 (widescreen video). Your choice of aspect ratio affects composition significantly - a square crop demands different placement of elements than a wide rectangle. Many photographers shoot with a particular crop in mind, while others prefer to capture more and crop later. For portraits, the classic 4:5 ratio (or 8:10) has long been popular for its pleasing proportions when framing head-and-shoulders shots. ##### Auto ISO A camera setting that allows the ISO to adjust automatically within parameters you define, while you control aperture and/or shutter speed. When set up properly with a minimum shutter speed threshold and maximum ISO limit, Auto ISO acts as a safety net that prevents blurry shots in changing light. For portrait work, you might set a minimum shutter speed of 1/200s (to freeze subject movement) and cap the ISO at 6400 (or whatever your camera handles cleanly). This means if light drops, the camera raises ISO to maintain your chosen aperture and safe shutter speed. It's a modern convenience that purists once scoffed at but most working photographers have quietly embraced. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: B ##### Back Button Focus A technique where autofocus is decoupled from the shutter button and reassigned to a button on the back of the camera, typically the AF-ON or AEL button. This means pressing the shutter halfway no longer activates focus - you focus with your thumb, then shoot with your finger, independently. The advantage is significant: once you've focused on your subject's eye, you can take multiple shots without the camera hunting for focus again, and switching between single shot and continuous focus becomes unnecessary. It takes a week or two to retrain your muscle memory, but once you've made the switch, you'll never go back. Nearly every professional portrait photographer uses back button focus, and there's good reason for that. ##### Background Light A light specifically aimed at the background rather than the subject, used to separate your subject from what's behind them, add colour or texture, or eliminate shadows cast by other lights. In a typical portrait setup, this might be a strobe with a gel placed low and aimed at a backdrop, or a light positioned to create a gradient from light to dark across the background. Without a background light, your subject can visually merge with a dark backdrop, losing that all-important separation. The power of your background light relative to your key light determines how prominent its effect will be - subtle separation or dramatic colour, it's your call. ##### Backlighting A lighting scenario in which the primary light source is positioned behind the subject, facing the camera. When done intentionally, backlighting can create stunning rim-lit portraits with a halo of light around hair and shoulders, or dreamy, ethereal images when shooting into the sun during golden hour. The challenge is exposure: meter for the subject's face, and the background blows out; meter for the background, and your subject becomes a silhouette. The solution usually involves adding fill light to the front of your subject, whether from a reflector, flash, or natural bounce. Backlighting separates moody, atmospheric portraits from flat, forgettable ones - it's worth mastering. ##### Barn Doors A light modifier consisting of four hinged metal flaps that attach to the front of a studio light, giving precise control where the light falls and, more importantly, where it doesn't. By adjusting each flap independently, you can create hard edges to your light, prevent spill onto backgrounds or into the lens, and shape the beam to fit your composition. Barn doors produce harder-edged shadows than softboxes or umbrellas since the light source remains relatively small. They're particularly useful for dramatic, theatrical lighting or for keeping light off specific areas of your scene. Think of them as the portrait photographer's equivalent of blackout curtains - they give you control over exactly what gets illuminated. ##### Beauty Dish A shallow, bowl-shaped light modifier with a deflector plate in the centre that blocks direct light from the flash tube and bounces it back into the dish before reflecting forward toward your subject. The result is a distinctive quality of light: punchy and contrasty with rapid falloff, yet somehow still flattering - harder than a softbox but softer than bare flash. Beauty dishes typically range from 40cm to 70cm in diameter, with larger sizes producing softer light. They've become the go-to modifier for fashion and beauty work because they add dimensionality to features without the harshness of direct flash. Position one slightly above and in front of your subject's face, and you'll see why they got their name. Add a grid to the front and you'll gain even more control over where that light spills. ##### Bokeh The aesthetic quality of the out-of-focus areas in an image, particularly the way points of light render as soft, circular or polygonal shapes. The word comes from the Japanese "boke" (暈け), meaning blur or haze. Good bokeh is generally considered smooth and creamy, allowing your subject to pop against a pleasingly indistinct background, while "bad" bokeh can be busy, distracting, or have harsh edges. The characteristics of bokeh are determined by the optical design of the lens, the shape and number of aperture blades, and the aperture setting used. Portrait photographers often obsess over bokeh quality when choosing lenses - it's one of the reasons some vintage lenses command premium prices despite their optical "flaws." Shoot wide open against a background with specular highlights (fairy lights work brilliantly) to see what your lens can do. ##### Bounce Flash A technique where on-camera or off-camera flash is directed at a ceiling, wall, or reflector rather than straight at the subject, creating a larger, softer light source. When you bounce flash off a white ceiling, that ceiling effectively becomes a huge softbox, wrapping light around your subject and eliminating the harsh, flat look of direct flash. The colour of the surface you bounce from will affect the colour of your light - bounce off a yellow wall and your subject will look jaundiced. Bouncing costs you light (typically 1-2 stops lost to absorption and distance), so you'll need to increase flash power accordingly. It's a technique that turns a cheap speedlight into a surprisingly capable portrait tool. ##### Bracketing A method of taking multiple images of the same scene, but changing the exposure slightly each time - typically one correctly exposed, one underexposed, and one overexposed. This provides more post-production options, such as a choice of different exposure settings, and the ability to blend two or more shots to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. Bracketing can be done manually by using exposure compensation, by changing the aperture, shutter speed, or ISO, or by using the camera's Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) function. While less common in controlled studio portrait work where you dial in your exposure precisely, bracketing is invaluable for location portraits where the dynamic range of a scene exceeds what your camera can capture in a single frame. A bride in a white dress against a window is a classic scenario where bracketed exposures can save your bacon. ##### Broad Lighting A portrait lighting pattern where the side of the face turned toward the camera (the "broad" side) receives the main light, while the side turned away falls into shadow. This has the visual effect of making the face appear wider, which can be flattering for subjects with very narrow faces but unflattering for those who are already round-faced. The key light is positioned on the same side as the direction the subject is looking - if they're turned slightly left, the light comes from the left. Broad lighting is less dramatic than short lighting and tends to feel more open and approachable. Knowing when to use broad versus short lighting is fundamental to shaping faces with light. ##### Buffer Depth The number of images a camera can capture in continuous shooting mode before it needs to pause and write data to the memory card. When shooting rapid sequences - perhaps during a dynamic portrait session where expressions change quickly - you'll eventually hit the buffer limit, at which point the camera slows down or stops entirely until it catches up. Buffer depth varies significantly between camera models and is affected by file size (RAW + JPEG fills the buffer faster than JPEG alone) and memory card write speed. For portrait photographers, buffer depth is less critical than for sports shooters, but it's still worth understanding why your camera occasionally seems to hesitate during a burst of frames. ##### Bulb Mode An exposure mode that keeps the shutter open for as long as you hold down the shutter button (or lock it open with a remote release), allowing exposures longer than the camera's typical 30-second maximum. The name comes from the old pneumatic "bulb" releases used on vintage cameras. While portrait photographers rarely venture into exposures measured in minutes, bulb mode enables creative techniques like light painting, where you "draw" with a torch around your subject during a long exposure. It's also useful for capturing portraits with fireworks, star trails, or other long-exposure elements in the background. Always use a tripod and remote release to avoid introducing shake during these extended exposures. ##### Butterfly Lighting A classic portrait lighting pattern created by positioning the key light directly in front of and above the subject's face, casting a small, butterfly-shaped shadow beneath the nose. Also known as "Paramount lighting" (after its popularity in Golden Age Hollywood), this setup is particularly flattering for subjects with well-defined cheekbones, as the high, frontal light creates shadows that emphasise bone structure. The key light is typically placed quite high - above the photographer's head or even higher - and the subject looks straight into camera. Add a reflector or fill light below the face to soften the under-chin shadows, and you've got a timeless, glamorous look. It's our default starting point for beauty and headshot work. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: C ##### Camera Shake Blurring of an image caused by the photographer's movements while the exposure is being recorded, resulting in a characteristic "double image" or overall softness quite different from motion blur of a moving subject. Typically caused by using a slow shutter speed when handholding the camera, and exaggerated by telephoto focal lengths (a little movement translates to a lot of blur at 200mm). The old rule of thumb says your shutter speed should be at least 1/focal length - so 1/100s for a 100mm lens - though modern high-resolution sensors are less forgiving than this suggests. Camera shake can be countered by using a faster shutter speed; image stabilisation (if the camera or lens has this built in); mounting the camera on a tripod; or bracing yourself against something solid. When you see inexplicably soft images from a session, camera shake is often the culprit. ##### Candid A photograph captured without the subject being aware they're being photographed, or at least not consciously posing - the opposite of a formal, directed portrait. Candid shots often feel more natural and emotionally authentic because the subject isn't performing for the camera. Capturing genuine candids during a portrait session requires patience, anticipation, and often a longer lens so you can shoot without being in the subject's immediate awareness. The trick is creating an environment where the subject forgets about the camera: give them something to do, engage them in conversation, and keep shooting during the "in-between" moments. Some of the best portraits from any session are the ones taken when everyone thought you'd stopped shooting. ##### Catchlights White shapes in the subject's eyes caused by the reflection of the lights, without which eyes look dull and lifeless - the windows to the soul need a window to reflect. For best effect, position your lights and angle your subject so these appear in the 10 or 2 o'clock position within the iris, mimicking natural light from above. The shape and size of your catchlights reveal your lighting setup: a large, soft rectangle betrays a softbox, while a circular catchlight with a dark centre says beauty dish. Multiple catchlights from multiple sources can look unnatural, so some photographers remove extras in post-production. When reviewing your shots, zoom in on the eyes first - if the catchlights are right, chances are the rest of the lighting is too. ##### Center-Weighted Metering A metering mode in which the camera makes exposure setting decisions with a heavy bias toward the reading at the centre of the frame, gradually decreasing the influence of the edges. This is the oldest form of TTL metering and behaves predictably: whatever's in the middle matters most. For portrait photographers, this can be useful when you consistently place your subject in the centre of the frame (you can always crop later), as the camera will expose for their face rather than a bright window behind them. However, it requires you to either keep your subject centred or use exposure lock (AEL) when recomposing. Less sophisticated than modern evaluative metering, but more predictable - and sometimes predictable is exactly what you want. ##### Chimping The act of checking the LCD screen after every shot, named for the "ooh ooh ooh" sounds photographers supposedly make when reviewing their images. While there's nothing wrong with occasionally checking your exposure and composition, excessive chimping breaks your connection with the subject and can cause you to miss genuine moments. The antidote is to trust your settings, use your histogram for exposure verification rather than the image preview, and stay present with your subject. Check the first few frames to confirm you're on the right track, then put your eye to the viewfinder and keep it there. Your keeper rate will improve when you're actually looking at your subject rather than the back of your camera. ##### Chromatic Aberration A lens defect that causes different wavelengths of light to focus at slightly different points, resulting in coloured fringing around high-contrast edges - typically purple or green halos around backlit subjects or near the edges of the frame. Chromatic aberration comes in two varieties: lateral (colour fringing at the edges of the frame, easily corrected in software) and longitudinal (colour fringing in front of and behind the focal plane, harder to fix). Faster lenses shot wide open tend to show more chromatic aberration, and cheaper lenses more than expensive ones. Modern lens profiles in Lightroom and Camera Raw can remove much of this automatically. When you see purple fringing around your subject's hair against a bright window, now you know what to call it. ##### Clamshell Lighting A flattering two-light portrait setup where the key light is positioned above the subject's face and a fill light or reflector is placed below, creating even illumination that wraps around facial features and minimises skin imperfections. The name comes from the arrangement of the two light sources, which resembles an open clamshell. This setup is a favourite for beauty and headshot photography because it's universally flattering: the overhead key provides shape and direction while the lower fill softens shadows under the chin, nose, and eyes. Start with your key light at about 45 degrees above the subject, add a reflector at waist level angled up, and you're in business. It's simple, it's reliable, and it makes almost everyone look good. ##### Clipped Highlights Areas of an image where the brightness exceeds the maximum value the sensor or file format can record, resulting in pure white with no recoverable detail. Once highlights are clipped, no amount of post-processing can bring back information that was never captured. Your camera's histogram and highlight warning ("blinkies") help you identify clipping before it's too late. In portrait work, the most critical areas to protect are skin highlights, especially on foreheads and noses - these should retain texture even at their brightest. A white wedding dress against bright sky is the classic clipping nightmare scenario, which is why understanding exposure and dynamic range is so important for portrait photographers. ##### CMYK A colour model used in print production, standing for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (black) - the four ink colours used in standard commercial printing. Unlike RGB (which is additive, starting with black and adding light), CMYK is subtractive, starting with white paper and adding ink that absorbs light. When preparing portraits for professional printing, you may need to convert from RGB to CMYK, though this is increasingly handled by print labs automatically. Be aware that CMYK has a smaller colour gamut than RGB, meaning some vibrant colours you see on screen simply cannot be reproduced in print. Always soft-proof CMYK conversions before sending files to press. ##### Colour Cast An unwanted overall tint to an image, usually caused by the colour of the ambient light not matching your white balance setting, or light bouncing off coloured surfaces onto your subject. A portrait shot under tungsten light with daylight white balance will have an orange cast; the same shot under shade will look blue. Mixed lighting environments - daylight from a window plus tungsten room lights - create particularly tricky colour casts that vary across the image. While global white balance adjustments can neutralise an overall cast, localised casts from reflected light (green from grass, yellow from nearby walls) require selective correction. Shooting RAW gives you more latitude to correct colour casts than JPEG. ##### Colour Grading The creative process of adjusting colours in post-production to achieve a particular look or mood, going beyond simple correction into intentional stylisation. Colour grading might involve pushing shadows toward teal while keeping highlights warm, adding a subtle orange and teal cinema look, or creating a muted, desaturated film aesthetic. Modern tools like Lightroom's colour grading panel (replacing split toning) give you independent control over shadows, midtones, and highlights. Unlike colour correction (which aims for neutral, accurate colour), colour grading is subjective and artistic. Developing a consistent grading style can become part of your visual signature as a photographer. ##### Colour Space A defined range of colours that can be represented in an image file or displayed by a device. Common colour spaces include sRGB (the web standard, relatively limited), Adobe RGB (wider, better for print), and ProPhoto RGB (very wide, used in high-end workflows). Think of a colour space as a box containing all possible colours - some boxes are bigger than others. Working in a colour space larger than your output needs risks disappointment when vibrant colours get crushed during conversion. For most portrait photographers, shooting in Adobe RGB and converting to sRGB for web delivery is a sensible workflow. The key is understanding that the colours you see on your calibrated monitor may not match what others see on their uncalibrated screens. ##### Colour Temperature A measurement of the colour of light, expressed in Kelvin (K), ranging from warm (low numbers, orange/red) to cool (high numbers, blue). Daylight varies from about 5000K to 6500K depending on conditions, while tungsten bulbs are around 3200K and open shade can push 7000K or higher. Your camera's white balance setting attempts to compensate for colour temperature, telling the camera what "white" should look like under the current lighting. Understanding colour temperature helps you make intentional creative choices - warming up a sunset portrait or cooling down a moody shot - rather than just accepting the camera's automatic decisions. A slight warm shift is almost universally flattering for skin tones. ##### Composition The arrangement of visual elements within the frame - where you place your subject, how much space surrounds them, what's included and excluded, and how all these elements relate to each other. Good composition guides the viewer's eye, creates balance or deliberate tension, and supports the story or emotion you're trying to convey. Rules and guidelines (like the rule of thirds, leading lines, and negative space) provide useful starting points, but the best compositions often come from instinct developed through practice. In portrait photography, composition includes not just where the subject sits in the frame, but their relationship to the background, the crop you choose, and the space you leave for the subject to "breathe" or "look into." A technically perfect exposure with poor composition is still a failed photograph. ##### Continuous Lighting Lighting that remains on constantly, as opposed to flash/strobe which fires only at the moment of exposure. LED panels, tungsten lights, and fluorescent fixtures are all examples of continuous lighting. The major advantage is "what you see is what you get" - there's no guessing how the light will look when the flash fires. The disadvantages include lower power output (making it harder to overpower ambient light or use narrow apertures), potential heat issues with non-LED sources, and the need for higher ISOs or slower shutter speeds in some situations. Continuous lighting has become increasingly popular for portrait work thanks to powerful, colour-accurate LED panels that produce beautiful, flicker-free light. It's also essential if you're shooting video alongside stills. ##### Contrast The range of tones from light to dark in an image, and the degree of difference between them. A high-contrast image has extremes of highlight and shadow areas with rapid transitions between them, creating drama and punch. A low-contrast image has similar tones throughout, feeling softer and more gentle. Contrast is affected by lighting (hard light creates more contrast than soft light), post-processing (curves adjustments, clarity slider), and even lens characteristics. For portraits, the "right" amount of contrast depends entirely on the mood you're creating - harsh, dramatic fashion shots embrace high contrast, while airy, romantic portraits often dial it back. Local contrast (clarity/texture) affects the perception of detail and skin texture, which is why portrait retouchers often reduce it selectively. ##### Crop Factor The ratio between a camera sensor's size and a full-frame (35mm) sensor, which affects the effective field of view of any lens mounted on it. An APS-C sensor with a 1.5x crop factor makes a 50mm lens behave (in terms of field of view) like a 75mm lens on full frame - you see less of the scene, as if you'd zoomed in. Micro Four Thirds cameras have a 2x crop factor, making a 50mm lens equivalent to 100mm. This doesn't change the actual focal length or its optical characteristics (like depth of field at a given f/stop and subject distance), only how much of the scene fits in your frame. For portrait photographers, crop factor can be advantageous - that affordable 85mm f/1.8 on APS-C gives you a 127mm-equivalent field of view, perfect for headshots. ##### Curves A powerful tonal adjustment tool found in most editing software, representing the relationship between input tones (original image) and output tones (adjusted image) as a diagonal line on a graph. By adding points to this line and dragging them up or down, you can precisely control brightness and contrast in specific tonal ranges. The classic "S-curve" - lifting highlights and dropping shadows - adds contrast and punch. Curves can also be applied to individual colour channels (red, green, blue) for colour correction and creative grading. Once you understand curves, you'll wonder how you ever edited without them. They're more precise than sliders and far more flexible - the professional's choice for tonal control. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: D ##### Depth of Field The area of the image which is in sharp focus, extending in front of and behind the point where you've focused. Using a wide aperture (like f/1.4 or f/2.8) results in a shallow depth of field, which is great for creating portraits with soft, out-of-focus backgrounds that make your subject pop. A narrow aperture (like f/8 or f/11) produces a deep depth of field, keeping more of the scene sharp. Depth of field is also affected by focal length (longer lenses appear to have shallower depth of field), subject distance (closer means shallower), and sensor size (larger sensors give shallower depth of field at equivalent settings). Understanding how to control depth of field is fundamental to portrait photography - it's one of your primary creative tools for directing attention. ##### Diffuser Any material placed between a light source and the subject that scatters the light, making it softer and more even. Softboxes, shoot-through umbrellas, and scrims all work on this principle - they take a small, hard light source and spread it across a larger area. The larger the diffused area relative to your subject, the softer the light. You can diffuse sunlight with a translucent panel, diffuse a speedlight with a small plastic dome, or diffuse a studio strobe through the fabric of a softbox. Diffused light wraps around features, produces gentler shadows with soft edges, and is generally more flattering for portraits. When you're fighting harsh midday sun or an unflattering direct flash, diffusion is your friend. ##### Distortion A lens fault that causes straight lines in a scene to curve in a photograph, either curving outward from the centre (barrel distortion), curving inward toward the centre (pincushion distortion), or a mixture of both (moustache distortion). Wide-angle lenses are particularly prone to barrel distortion, which is why shooting portraits at 24mm can make your subject look like they're reflected in a spoon. Zoom lenses often show barrel distortion at the wide end and pincushion at the telephoto end. Modern lens profiles can correct distortion automatically in post, but it's worth understanding because distortion also affects how faces and bodies are rendered. Standing too close with a wide lens distorts facial features unflattering - back up and zoom in for more natural proportions. ##### Dodge and Burn A post-production technique inherited from the darkroom, where "dodging" lightens specific areas of an image and "burning" darkens them. In portraits, dodge and burn is used to sculpt the face with light and shadow, enhance dimension, draw attention to the eyes, and smooth skin tone transitions. The technique involves painting with white or black on a separate layer (or using Lightroom's local adjustment brush) to subtly brighten or darken targeted areas. Professional retouchers spend significant time on dodge and burn because it allows them to shape light after the fact. A well-executed dodge and burn pass is invisible to the viewer but transforms the image - it's the secret sauce behind many striking portraits. ##### DPI (Dots Per Inch) A measurement of print resolution, indicating how many dots of ink are placed within one inch of printed output. For high-quality photo prints, 300 DPI is the standard benchmark - this gives enough detail that individual dots aren't visible to the naked eye at normal viewing distance. Confusingly, DPI is often conflated with PPI (pixels per inch), which refers to screen resolution. The DPI of your image only matters when you're printing; on screen, only the total pixel dimensions matter. When preparing portraits for print, ensure your file has enough pixels to achieve 300 DPI at the desired print size - an image that's 3000 pixels wide can print at 10 inches wide at 300 DPI. ##### DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) A camera that uses an internal mirror to reflect the scene from the lens up to the photographer's eye via an optical viewfinder. During the instant that the exposure is made, this mirror flips up out of the way just as the shutter opens, allowing light to reach the image sensor - that "clunk" you hear is the mirror moving. DSLRs dominated professional photography for decades due to their fast autofocus, excellent battery life, and the "optical viewfinder experience" that many photographers still prefer. However, they're being rapidly superseded by mirrorless cameras, which offer similar or better image quality in smaller bodies with faster, more sophisticated autofocus systems. If you're invested in DSLR glass, it still works beautifully; if you're starting fresh, mirrorless is likely the future. ##### Dynamic Range The extremes of contrast that a camera is able to record accurately in a single exposure, from the darkest shadows to the brightest highlights, without having clipped highlights or shadow areas where very light or dark tones are shown as pure white or black with all detail lost. Modern full-frame cameras can capture 14 stops or more of dynamic range, though this varies significantly between models. High dynamic range means more latitude to recover detail from shadows and highlights in post-processing - incredibly useful for portrait photographers dealing with tricky lighting situations. When a scene's dynamic range exceeds your camera's capabilities, you must choose what to sacrifice (usually highlights, which are harder to recover) or employ techniques like HDR, fill flash, or reflectors to compress the range. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: E ##### Elinchrom The lighting company that we are ambassadors for, and the brand behind nearly all of our studio strobes. We've tried plenty of alternatives over the years, but nothing matches Elinchrom's combination of build quality, reliability, and - most importantly - the quality of light they produce. There's something about the colour rendering and the way their flash tubes fire that produces the cleanest, most pleasing light we've encountered. The 100cm Square Rotalux softbox is our go-to modifier; it throws light like a pub window - who could ask for better? When people ask what lights they should invest in, we tell them to buy the best they can afford and make sure they'll last. Elinchrom fits that bill perfectly. ##### Environmental Portrait A portrait that shows the subject in their natural surroundings - their workplace, home, studio, or any location that provides context about who they are. Unlike traditional studio portraits with plain backdrops, environmental portraits use the background as a storytelling element. A chef in their kitchen, a mechanic in their garage, a musician surrounded by instruments - the environment adds layers of meaning that a plain background cannot. The challenge is balancing attention between subject and surroundings: the person should still be the clear focus, even as the environment enriches the image. Environmental portraits require you to think like a location scout, finding backgrounds that complement rather than compete with your subject. ##### Evaluative Metering A metering mode in which the camera takes reflected light readings from multiple points across the image frame, analyses the pattern, and uses algorithms (often incorporating scene recognition) to determine optimal exposure. Different manufacturers call it different things: Evaluative (Canon), Matrix (Nikon), Multi (Sony). This is the "smart" metering mode that works well for most situations, as it attempts to understand the scene and expose accordingly. However, it can be fooled by unusual lighting situations - a spotlight on a subject against a dark background, for instance. For predictable results in tricky lighting, many portrait photographers switch to spot metering and meter directly from skin tones. ##### Exposure The act of light reaching the camera's image sensor, and the resulting brightness of the captured image, as determined by the combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings. A correct exposure renders the scene as you intend it to appear, with detail preserved in both shadows and highlights. An overexposed image is too bright; an underexposed image too dark. "Correct" exposure is somewhat subjective - what matters is achieving the brightness and mood you envision. Understanding how to control exposure, both through camera settings and by modifying the light itself, is the foundation of all photography. The light does the work; exposure determines how you record it. ##### Exposure Compensation A quick and easy way of increasing or decreasing the amount of light contributing toward the exposure when shooting in an automatic or semi-automatic mode. Dial in positive exposure compensation (+1, +2 EV) to make the image brighter; negative compensation (-1, -2 EV) to make it darker. This is particularly useful when your camera's meter is being fooled - a subject against a bright window needs positive compensation; a subject against a dark backdrop may need negative. Exposure compensation adjusts the camera's automatic decisions without requiring you to switch to fully manual mode. Learning to anticipate when your meter will be fooled, and pre-emptively dialling in compensation, is a mark of an experienced photographer. ##### Exposure Triangle The three camera settings that determine how much light contributes to an exposure - aperture, shutter speed, and ISO - and the relationship between them. Change one, and you must adjust at least one of the others to maintain the same exposure. Open the aperture wider (more light), and you need a faster shutter speed or lower ISO to compensate. Each corner of the triangle also has a creative effect: aperture controls depth of field, shutter speed controls motion rendering, and ISO affects noise. Mastering the exposure triangle means understanding these trade-offs and making intentional choices based on what matters most for the image you're creating. It's the fundamental framework for controlling your camera. ##### Exposure Value (EV) The combinations of aperture and shutter speed that allow the same total amount of light to reach the sensor, representing equivalent exposures. For instance, a slow shutter speed combined with a narrow aperture can produce the same EV as a fast shutter speed and a wide aperture - say, 1/60s at f/8 equals 1/250s at f/4. This doesn't mean the same image will be produced, however, as changing the shutter speed will affect how motion is recorded, while changing the aperture will affect the depth of field. EV is also used to describe exposure compensation steps and the brightness of scenes (EV 0 is a dimly lit interior; EV 16 is bright sunlight). Understanding EV helps you think about equivalent exposures and make faster decisions when adjusting settings. ##### Eye AF (Eye Autofocus) An autofocus mode that automatically detects and focuses on the subject's eye, maintaining focus even as they move within the frame. Once a feature limited to high-end mirrorless cameras, eye AF has become standard and is nothing short of revolutionary for portrait photographers. Rather than carefully positioning an AF point over the eye, you can let the camera handle focus while you concentrate on composition, timing, and connection with your subject. Modern implementations can detect eyes even when partially obscured, and some cameras allow you to specify left or right eye priority. If your camera has eye AF and you're not using it for portraits, you're making your life unnecessarily difficult. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: F ##### f/Stop (or f/Number) Denotes the size of the aperture, with lower f/stops (such as f/1.4 or f/2.8) indicating a wider aperture that admits more light, and higher f/stops (such as f/16 or f/22) denoting a smaller aperture that admits less light. The number is a fraction, based on the ratio of the lens' focal length to the diameter of the aperture - which is why f/2 means a larger opening than f/16 (1/2 is bigger than 1/16). Each full stop change (f/2 to f/2.8, f/2.8 to f/4, etc.) halves or doubles the amount of light reaching the sensor. Portrait photographers often shoot at wide apertures (f/1.4 to f/2.8) for shallow depth of field, though stopping down slightly from maximum can improve sharpness and give a tiny bit more margin for focus error. Understanding f/stops is essential to controlling exposure and depth of field. ##### Falloff The rate at which light diminishes in intensity from the light source, or across the surface of a subject or background. Light follows the inverse square law: double the distance from the source, and intensity drops to one quarter. This means a light placed close to your subject will have rapid falloff - dramatic shadows and a much darker background - while a light placed far away will illuminate more evenly. Falloff is a key creative tool in portrait lighting: bring the light in close for dramatic contrast, or move it back for more even illumination. Understanding and controlling falloff allows you to separate your subject from the background, create mood, and shape light intentionally rather than accidentally. ##### Feathering A lighting technique where you aim your light source so the subject is lit by the edge of the beam rather than the centre, using the light's gradual falloff for more flattering illumination. This takes advantage of the softer, less intense light at the edges of most modifiers. Feathering allows you to create more even exposure across a subject (useful for full-length portraits or groups), control spill onto backgrounds, and achieve a more gradual transition from light to shadow. To feather, simply angle your light past your subject until they're lit by the outer portion of the beam. It's a subtle technique that takes practice to master, but it's one of the secrets to beautiful, controlled portrait lighting. ##### File Formats The different ways digital images can be stored, each with trade-offs between quality, file size, and compatibility. The main formats portrait photographers encounter are RAW (unprocessed sensor data, largest files, maximum editing flexibility), TIFF (uncompressed, no quality loss, huge files), JPEG (compressed, smaller files, some quality loss), and PNG (lossless compression, supports transparency). Shoot RAW for maximum quality and editing latitude, export to JPEG for web delivery and client viewing, use TIFF when required by print labs, and PNG rarely unless you need transparent backgrounds. Your working files should always be the highest quality original; compressed delivery formats are for output, not editing. ##### Fill-In Flash Artificial light that is not the main light source, used to lighten shadow areas in order to reduce contrast and reveal more detail. On location, fill flash can rescue a portrait where harsh sunlight creates unflattering shadows under eyes and nose - a touch of flash opens up those shadows without overpowering the natural light. The key is subtlety: fill flash should be invisible, making the viewer think "nice natural light" rather than "obvious flash." This typically means underexposing your flash by 1-2 stops relative to the ambient, so it fills rather than dominates. High-speed sync capability is valuable here, allowing flash fill in bright conditions where you'd otherwise exceed your camera's sync speed. ##### Fill Light The secondary light source in a portrait setup, positioned opposite or near the key light, whose purpose is to soften shadows created by the key light without eliminating them entirely. Fill light reduces contrast to a more flattering level while maintaining dimension and shape. The ratio between key and fill (the lighting ratio) determines the mood of the image: a 2:1 ratio produces subtle shadows and a gentle look; 8:1 creates drama with deep shadows. Fill can come from a second light, a reflector bouncing the key light back into the shadows, or even a white wall or ceiling. Understanding how to control fill is essential to controlling contrast and mood in your portraits. ##### Flag An opaque panel used to block light from falling where you don't want it - on the lens, on a background, or on parts of your subject. Flags are the negative space equivalent of reflectors: while reflectors add light, flags subtract it. In a studio, flags might be black fabric stretched on frames; on location, a black foam board or even a dark jacket held by an assistant can serve the same purpose. Use flags to prevent lens flare from a backlight, to keep fill from reaching the shadow side of the face, or to darken a background. Subtractive lighting with flags is just as important as additive lighting with reflectors - learning to use both is part of mastering light. ##### Flash Duration The length of time the flash tube emits light during a single discharge, typically measured as t.5 (time for the flash to drop to 50% brightness) or the more useful t.1 (time to drop to 10% brightness). A short flash duration - 1/2000s or faster - can freeze motion that would be blurred even at fast shutter speeds. This matters when photographing movement in the studio: flowing fabric, tossed hair, or jumping subjects. Flash duration typically shortens at lower power settings, so if you need to freeze action, use a lower power flash placed closer rather than a high-power flash further away. When choosing studio lights for action work, check the t.1 specifications, not just the headline power numbers. ##### Flash Sync Speed The fastest shutter speed at which the camera's sensor is fully exposed at one instant, allowing the flash to illuminate the entire frame. Above this speed (typically 1/200s to 1/250s depending on camera), the shutter travels as a moving slit across the sensor, and a conventional flash would only illuminate part of the image. This limits your ability to use flash in bright ambient conditions - if you need a wide aperture for shallow depth of field in sunlight, you may exceed sync speed. High-speed sync (HSS) overcomes this by pulsing the flash rapidly during the entire exposure, though at the cost of significantly reduced flash power. Understanding sync speed limitations is essential for location portrait work with flash. ##### Flat Lighting Lighting that comes from the same direction as the camera and creates minimal shadows on the subject, resulting in a relatively two-dimensional look without much shape or drama. While "flat" is often used pejoratively, flat lighting has legitimate uses: it minimises texture and skin imperfections, creates a clean beauty look, and simplifies exposure. On-camera flash and ring lights produce flat lighting. The opposite of flat lighting is "dramatic" or "dimensional" lighting that sculpts the face with shadows. Whether flat lighting is appropriate depends entirely on your creative intent - it's a tool, not a flaw. The problem is when flat lighting happens accidentally when you wanted something more interesting. ##### Focal Length The distance from the optical centre of a lens to the focal plane, measured in millimetres, which determines the lens's angle of view and magnification. A focal length of less than 50mm (on full frame) is considered "wide angle," as it delivers a wider angle of view than the human eye, while lenses with a focal length longer than 50mm are known as "telephoto" lenses, as they magnify the scene more than it would normally appear to the eye. The focal length of a prime lens is fixed, while that of a zoom lens can be changed within an available range. For portraits, the classic range is 85mm to 135mm on full frame - these focal lengths provide flattering compression of facial features and pleasant working distances from your subject. ##### Focal Plane The flat surface where light rays converge to form a sharp image - essentially, the plane your camera focuses on. Everything at the same distance from the camera as the focal plane will be in focus; objects in front of or behind it will be progressively less sharp (depth of field permitting). When you focus on your subject's eye, you're placing the focal plane at the distance of that eye. Understanding the focal plane helps you make precise focus decisions: if your subject is turned at an angle, focusing on the closest eye may throw the far eye out of focus. Modern cameras with eye AF solve much of this automatically, but understanding the concept remains valuable. ##### Focus Breathing A change in the effective focal length of a lens as focus distance changes - most noticeable when focusing from infinity to close distances, where the field of view shifts noticeably. This is particularly problematic for video work (where the composition changes during focus pulls) but also affects still photographers working at close distances. Some lenses breathe more than others, and high-end cinema lenses are designed to minimise breathing. For portrait stills, breathing is rarely a major concern, though you may notice that your framing needs adjustment after focusing. It's one of those optical characteristics that's useful to understand even if it doesn't affect your daily work. ##### Focus Stacking A technique where multiple images are captured at different focus distances and then merged in post-processing to achieve a depth of field greater than any single exposure could provide. While more common in macro and landscape photography, focus stacking can be useful for portraits when you want both a sharp subject and sharp background without stopping down to an aperture that would require prohibitive lighting power or introduce diffraction softness. The technique requires a tripod (or very careful handheld work), consistent lighting, and software like Photoshop or Helicon Focus to blend the stack. It's a specialist technique, but worth knowing exists. ##### Framing A compositional technique where elements within the scene create a visual frame around your subject - doorways, windows, arches, branches, or any other elements that draw the eye inward. Framing adds depth and context to an image, directs attention to the subject, and can create a more dynamic composition than simply placing the subject against an open background. The frame doesn't need to be complete or symmetrical; even partial framing on one or two sides can be effective. Environmental portrait photographers are always looking for natural frames in their locations. Used thoughtfully, framing is a powerful compositional tool; used clumsily, it feels gimmicky. As with most composition techniques, subtlety wins. ##### Frequency Separation A Photoshop retouching technique that separates an image into two components: a high-frequency layer containing texture and fine detail, and a low-frequency layer containing colour and tone. This allows you to smooth colour transitions and blemishes on the low layer without affecting skin texture, or sharpen texture on the high layer without affecting colour. It's become a staple technique for portrait retouchers because it offers precise control over different aspects of the image independently. The technique requires careful execution - overdone frequency separation creates plasticky, unnatural skin. Learn it, use it judiciously, and combine it with dodge and burn for professional-quality skin work. ##### Fresnel A type of lens with a distinctive stepped surface, originally designed for lighthouses, now used in some studio lights to focus and intensify the beam. Fresnel lights (pronounced "freh-NEL") produce a relatively hard, directional light that can be focused from flood (wider, softer) to spot (narrow, harder) by adjusting the bulb's position relative to the lens. These were workhorses of Hollywood film studios for decades and remain popular for dramatic portrait lighting. The focused, punchy quality of a fresnel is quite different from the wrap-around softness of a softbox - it's a more theatrical, contrasty look that works beautifully for editorial and dramatic portraiture. ##### Front Curtain Sync The default flash synchronisation mode where the flash fires at the beginning of the exposure, immediately after the first shutter curtain opens fully. For most portrait photography with stationary subjects, this works perfectly. However, with moving subjects and slow shutter speeds, front curtain sync can create the odd effect of motion blur appearing in front of the sharp flash-frozen subject, suggesting backward movement. For moving subjects with slow shutter speeds, rear curtain sync usually produces more natural-looking results. Most photographers leave their camera in front curtain sync and switch to rear curtain only when deliberately mixing flash with motion blur. ##### Full Frame A camera sensor that matches the size of 35mm film (approximately 36mm × 24mm), considered the standard against which other sensor sizes are compared. Full-frame sensors generally offer better low-light performance (larger photosites gather more light), shallower depth of field at equivalent settings, and a more natural wide-angle perspective without crop factor considerations. The trade-offs are larger, heavier bodies and lenses, and higher costs. For professional portrait photographers, full frame has traditionally been the format of choice, though modern APS-C and Micro Four Thirds cameras are increasingly capable. What matters ultimately is the image, not the sensor size that captured it. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: G ##### Gel A thin sheet of coloured transparent material placed in front of a light source to change the colour of the light. Gels are used to colour-correct lights (converting daylight flash to match tungsten ambient with a CTO gel, for instance), to add creative colour to backgrounds or subjects, or to create dramatic coloured lighting effects. Named after the original gelatin-based filters, modern gels are typically made of heat-resistant polyester. Having a basic set of CTO (orange) and CTB (blue) correction gels plus some creative colours opens up a wide range of possibilities. A well-placed gel can transform a boring background into something vibrant, or help your flash blend seamlessly with mixed ambient light. ##### Golden Hour The period shortly after sunrise or before sunset when the sun is low in the sky, producing warm, soft, directional light that's almost universally flattering for portraits. During golden hour, sunlight travels through more atmosphere, scattering blue wavelengths and leaving warm orange and yellow tones. Shadows are long and soft, contrast is reduced, and even direct sunlight is gentle enough to shoot into without harsh results. The window is fleeting - truly golden light may last only 20-30 minutes - so preparation is essential. Arriving on location with time to spare, having your settings ready, and positioning your subject to make best use of the light direction are keys to successful golden hour portraits. ##### Gobo A device placed between a light source and the subject to shape the light or create patterns of shadow. The term comes from "go between" or "go before" (depending on who you ask). In portrait photography, gobos might be solid (creating hard shadows), perforated (creating dappled light like sunlight through leaves), or framed with mesh or fabric (creating soft gradient shadows). A venetian blind placed in front of a light creates dramatic film noir shadows across your subject; a cutout pattern can project shapes onto a background. Gobos add visual interest and can suggest environment - the shadow of a window frame implies a window without needing one. They're an underutilised creative tool. ##### Grain In film photography, the visible texture created by clumps of silver halide crystals in the emulsion. In digital photography, "grain" typically refers either to digital noise or to grain intentionally added in post-processing to create a film-like aesthetic. Many photographers add subtle grain to their portraits for warmth and texture, counteracting the sometimes sterile perfection of digital capture. The amount and character of grain should suit the image - gritty, contrasty black and white might take heavy grain, while a soft, romantic portrait might take just a hint. Lightroom and Capture One both offer grain simulation tools; for more authentic film emulation, dedicated film simulation plugins go further. ##### Grey Card A precisely calibrated neutral grey card (typically 18% reflectance) used to set accurate white balance or establish correct exposure. Photograph the grey card in the same light as your subject, then use it as a white balance reference in post-processing - everything will be colour accurate. For exposure, meter off the grey card to get a baseline reading for mid-tones. While automatic white balance has become remarkably good, a grey card provides certainty in tricky mixed lighting. The key is consistency: photograph the card under the exact same lighting as your subject, and include it in frame if possible. A small, cheap piece of kit that solves many colour accuracy headaches. ##### Grid A honeycomb-shaped attachment that fits over a light source to narrow and direct the beam, preventing spill and creating more controlled, directional light. Grids come in various degrees - a 10° grid produces a tight spot, while a 40° grid is more forgiving. They're invaluable when you want light to hit your subject but not the background, or when creating dramatic pools of light. A grid on a hair light keeps it from spilling onto the face; a grid on the key light concentrates attention on your subject. The light quality remains similar to the unmodified source (grids don't soften), but the control you gain is significant. Every studio should have a selection of grids for different modifiers. ##### Group Shot A photograph featuring multiple subjects, requiring different techniques than individual portraiture. The challenges multiply with each person added: depth of field must be sufficient to keep everyone sharp (smaller apertures, more light), positioning must be considered to avoid hidden faces and awkward gaps, and getting everyone's expression right simultaneously becomes a numbers game. The larger the group, the faster you need to work before attention wanders and eyes close. Posing groups effectively is an art - varying head heights, creating visual triangles, and connecting people physically all help. Shoot plenty of frames; with groups, you'll need them. Someone always blinks. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: H ##### Hair Light A light positioned behind and above the subject, aimed at the hair and shoulders to create rim lighting that separates the subject from the background. Without a hair light, dark hair can merge with a dark backdrop, losing definition and depth. The hair light adds a subtle halo effect and creates a three-dimensional quality that flat front lighting lacks. Typically, this light is set lower in power than the key (often 1-2 stops) and carefully gridded or flagged to prevent flare and keep light off the face. Also called a "kicker" or "separation light," it's a standard component of classic three-point lighting setups. ##### Hard Light Light that creates sharp, clearly defined shadows with rapid transitions from light to dark, produced by small or distant light sources. Direct sunlight at midday is hard; a bare flash is hard; a small softbox far from the subject is hard. Hard light is dramatic, contrasty, and reveals texture - every pore, every wrinkle. It's challenging to use for conventional portraits but powerful for fashion, character studies, and artistic work. The key to hard light is understanding exactly where it falls - small changes in angle make big differences. Many photographers avoid hard light by default, but learning to use it intentionally expands your creative vocabulary significantly. ##### Headshot A portrait focusing on the face, typically from the shoulders up, used for professional profiles, acting portfolios, LinkedIn, company websites, and similar purposes. A good headshot conveys professionalism and personality in a single glance, with flattering light, sharp focus on the eyes, and a genuine expression that suggests approachability. Headshots have specific requirements depending on their use - actors need variety and emotion, corporate professionals need polished reliability. The background is typically simple (neutral colours, slight blur), keeping attention on the face. Headshot photography is a specialised field that rewards understanding of facial shapes, lighting patterns, and the ability to quickly build rapport and draw out natural expressions. ##### High Key Lighting A lighting style characterised by bright, even illumination with minimal shadows, often using a predominantly white or light-toned palette. High key portraits feel airy, optimistic, and clean - perfect for beauty shots, baby photos, or any situation where you want to minimise drama and maximise a sense of lightness. Achieving true high key requires not just a white background but sufficient light on that background to ensure it renders as pure white (typically 1-2 stops brighter than the subject). The subject lighting should be soft and relatively flat to avoid strong shadows. High key is the opposite of low key; together, they represent the two extremes of lighting mood. ##### High-Speed Sync (HSS) A flash mode that enables the use of shutter speeds faster than the camera's native sync speed, typically by pulsing the flash rapidly to illuminate the sensor throughout the exposure rather than in a single burst. This is essential for outdoor portraiture when you want to use a wide aperture (for shallow depth of field) in bright sunlight - without HSS, you'd exceed sync speed and get partially black frames. The trade-off is significant power loss (up to 2-3 stops), meaning you need more powerful flash or closer positioning to achieve the same output. HSS has become a standard feature on modern speedlights and studio strobes, and it's invaluable for location portrait work. ##### Histogram A graph displaying the number of pixels at each level of brightness in an image, from pure black (left) to pure white (right). If the graph is fairly evenly spread, this indicates a wide range of tones in an image; if the graph is concentrated in one area, there is a narrow range of tones. If the graph is stacked against either edge, this indicates that detail has been lost in the highlights, shadows, or both (clipping). The histogram doesn't lie like your camera's LCD can - learn to read it and trust it over the image preview, especially in bright conditions. A "correct" histogram depends entirely on the scene and your intent; not every image should be exposed to avoid all clipping. ##### Hotshoe A metal mount on top of the camera that can both hold and communicate with external flash equipment, enabling synchronisation between the exposure being recorded and the flash being fired. The "hot" refers to the electrical contacts that pass signals between camera and flash, as opposed to a "cold shoe" which is simply a physical mount. Beyond on-camera flash, the hotshoe is also used for mounting triggers that fire off-camera flash, LED lights, microphones, and other accessories. The ISO hotshoe design is largely standardised, though some manufacturers (notably Sony in the past) have used proprietary variants. Getting flash off the hotshoe and onto a light stand is the first step toward more creative portrait lighting. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: I ##### Image Stabilisation Technology that compensates for camera shake, allowing handheld shooting at slower shutter speeds than would otherwise produce sharp results. Stabilisation may be built into the camera body (IBIS - in-body image stabilisation, which stabilises the sensor) or the lens (OIS - optical image stabilisation, which moves lens elements). Modern systems can provide 5 stops or more of correction - meaning you could handhold at 1/15s where you'd otherwise need 1/500s for sharp results. For portrait photographers, this means more flexibility in low light, though it doesn't help with subject movement (only camera movement). Stabilisation is less critical when using flash (the short flash duration freezes everything), but invaluable for ambient light work. ##### Image Sensor The camera element containing millions of photosites that capture light from a scene before it is converted into an electronic signal and processed into an image. The two most common types of sensor are CCD (Charge-Coupled Device), now largely obsolete in mainstream cameras, and CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), which dominates modern camera design. Sensor size profoundly affects image quality, depth of field characteristics, noise performance, and camera size. Full-frame sensors offer the best all-round performance for portrait work, though APS-C and Micro Four Thirds sensors are increasingly capable. The megapixel count matters less than you might think - sensor technology and size matter more for real-world image quality. ##### Incident Light Reading A meter reading based on the light falling on the subject, as opposed to a reflected light reading, which records the amount of light bounced off a subject. Incident readings are taken with a handheld light meter held at the subject's position, with its white dome pointed toward the camera. This method is the more accurate of the two, as reflected light readings can be fooled by very light or dark tones, resulting in the image being under- or overexposed respectively. Handheld light meters offer the ability to measure both incident and reflected light. For studio portraits with flash, incident metering is the standard approach, providing consistent results regardless of what the subject is wearing. ##### Inverse Square Law The principle that light intensity decreases proportionally to the square of the distance from the source. In practical terms: double the distance between light and subject, and you get one quarter of the light (two stops less). This has profound implications for portrait lighting - a light placed close to the subject falls off rapidly (dramatic effect, darker background), while a light placed far away falls off gradually (more even illumination). Understanding the inverse square law helps you predict and control how your light will behave, shape the contrast across your subject, and manage the relationship between subject exposure and background exposure. It's physics, and it always applies. ##### ISO A measure of the image sensor's sensitivity to light, with a low ISO (such as ISO 100) indicating low sensitivity and a high ISO (such as ISO 1600 or beyond) high sensitivity. ISO is an abbreviation of International Organisation for Standardisation, the group that set the standardised measures. Increasing ISO allows you to shoot in darker conditions without changing aperture or shutter speed, but comes at a cost: higher ISO introduces more digital noise into the image. Modern cameras handle high ISO remarkably well, with many producing clean images at ISO 6400 or even 12800, but there's still a quality trade-off. Shoot at the lowest ISO that achieves your other requirements (sufficient depth of field and sharp-freezing shutter speed), and only push higher when necessary. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: J ##### JPEG (.JPG) An image file format that uses compression algorithms to vastly reduce the size of image files, making them practical for web use, email, and storage. However, the compression causes a loss of detail and quality each time the file is saved - re-saving a JPEG repeatedly degrades it visibly. The name comes from the Joint Photographic Experts Group who created the format. JPEG is fine for final delivery to clients and web display, but should never be your capture format if quality matters - shoot RAW and convert to JPEG at the end of your workflow. The small file sizes that make JPEG convenient come at the cost of editing flexibility and ultimate image quality. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: K ##### Kelvin (K) The unit of measurement for colour temperature, describing the colour of light on a scale from warm (orange-red, lower numbers like 2700K) to cool (blue, higher numbers like 10000K). Daylight is roughly 5500-6500K, tungsten bulbs around 3200K, and open shade can exceed 7000K. Your camera's white balance system uses Kelvin values to neutralise colour casts, and you can manually set Kelvin values for precise control. Understanding the Kelvin scale helps you make informed creative choices about colour - do you want to warm up a portrait for a cosy feel, or cool it down for a modern, clinical look? A little warmth (lowering the Kelvin setting by 200-500K) is almost universally flattering for skin. ##### Key Light The primary light source in a portrait setup, responsible for defining the overall shape, exposure, and character of the lighting. The key light creates the main shadows that give dimensionality to your subject's face - its position determines which lighting pattern (Rembrandt, loop, butterfly, etc.) you're creating. Typically the brightest light in your setup, the key light is placed to one side and often above the subject's eye level. Every other light in your setup (fill, hair, background) plays a supporting role to the key. Understanding how to position and modify your key light is the foundation of portrait lighting - get this right, and everything else follows. ##### Kicker Light A light positioned behind and to the side of the subject that adds an edge of brightness along the cheek, jaw, or shoulder - similar to a hair light but aimed lower. Kickers add separation and a sense of depth, particularly useful when subject and background are tonally similar. The light grazes the edge of the face, creating a subtle rim without the full backlit halo of a hair light. Often gridded or flagged to control spill, a kicker adds that extra polish to a portrait lighting setup. You'll see this technique constantly in Hollywood cinematography, where edge lighting is used to create depth and glamour. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: L ##### Layering (Lighting) The practice of building a portrait's illumination using multiple light sources, each serving a specific purpose - key light for shape, fill light for shadow control, hair light for separation, background light for context. Layering allows precise control over every element of the image, but requires understanding how each light affects the others. The key is adding lights with intention: bring in the key first and shape it perfectly, then assess whether fill is needed, then consider hair and background. Adding lights without purpose leads to messy, confusing results. Master one-light portraits before attempting complex multi-light setups - if you can't make it work with one light, more lights won't help. ##### Leading Lines A compositional technique where lines within the image guide the viewer's eye toward the subject or through the frame - roads, fences, architectural elements, or even implied lines created by gaze direction. Leading lines create depth, movement, and visual flow, making an image more engaging than a static central composition. In portrait photography, look for environmental elements that can draw attention toward your subject: a path converging on them, a railing guiding the eye, or the lines of a building framing their position. Leading lines don't need to be literal; anything that creates directional flow toward your subject serves the same purpose. ##### Lens Compression An apparent flattening of perspective when using longer focal lengths, making objects at different distances appear closer together than they would to the naked eye or through a wide lens. This isn't actually a property of the lens itself, but rather of the greater distance from subject needed to achieve the same framing - but since we choose lenses based on desired framing, the effect is associated with focal length. For portraits, compression is generally flattering: it makes faces appear more proportional, reduces the prominence of noses, and flattens ears back. This is why 85mm to 135mm is considered ideal for headshots - enough compression to flatter, without the extreme background stacking of super-telephoto lenses. ##### Lighting Pattern The recognisable arrangement of light and shadow on a face created by the position of the key light, named for the characteristic shapes these patterns produce. The major patterns include Rembrandt (triangle on the shadow cheek), loop (small shadow under the nose extending toward the cheek), butterfly (shadow directly under the nose), and split (half the face lit, half in shadow). Each pattern has different emotional associations and flatters different face shapes. Learning to identify and create these patterns is fundamental to portrait lighting - they're the vocabulary of light. Once you understand the patterns, you can make intentional choices about which to use for any given subject. ##### Lighting Ratio The relative brightness between the lit (key) side of the face and the shadow (fill) side, expressed as a numerical ratio. A 1:1 ratio means both sides are equally bright (flat lighting); 2:1 means the key side is one stop brighter than the fill side (subtle shadows); 8:1 means the key side is three stops brighter (dramatic, high contrast). Ratio is controlled by the power of your fill light or reflector relative to your key. Lower ratios feel safer and more commercial; higher ratios feel more dramatic and artistic. Understanding ratio gives you predictable control over the mood and contrast of your portraits. Many photographers aim for 3:1 or 4:1 as a versatile starting point for portraits. ##### Light Meter A device that measures the intensity of light, either incident (light falling on the subject) or reflected (light bouncing off the subject), and calculates appropriate exposure settings. Handheld light meters were essential in the film era and remain valuable tools for studio flash photography, where the camera's TTL metering can't preview the flash output. A good light meter gives you precise, repeatable settings without test shots - walk around your subject, take readings from different angles, and know exactly how your lights are behaving. Modern meters also measure flash duration, useful for freezing action. While many photographers manage without one, a handheld meter remains the gold standard for precision lighting work. ##### Loop Lighting A flattering portrait lighting pattern where the key light is positioned to create a small, looped shadow extending downward from the nose toward the corner of the mouth, without connecting to the shadow on the cheek. Loop lighting is probably the most commonly used pattern because it works well on most faces - it provides dimensionality without the drama of Rembrandt or the flatness of butterfly. To achieve it, position your key light about 30-45 degrees to one side and slightly above eye level. The shadow under the nose should angle down and to the side, not straight down (that's butterfly). It's a workhorse pattern worth mastering early. ##### Low Key Lighting A lighting style characterised by predominantly dark tones, deep shadows, and selective illumination, creating a moody, dramatic, or mysterious feel. Low key doesn't mean underexposed - it means deliberately using darkness as a compositional element, with careful control over what is revealed and what is hidden. Typically achieved with a single hard light or tightly controlled soft light, minimal fill, and a dark background. Think Rembrandt paintings, film noir, or moody musician portraits. Low key requires confidence with shadows - resist the urge to fill everything in. The darkness is doing the work; let it. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: M ##### Macro Extreme close-up photography, typically defined as achieving 1:1 magnification where the subject is reproduced at life size on the sensor. While not traditional portrait territory, macro techniques are valuable for detail shots - capturing the texture of fabric, the sparkle of jewellery, or the details of wedding rings. True macro requires dedicated macro lenses or extension tubes; "macro mode" on zoom lenses usually offers close-focusing rather than true 1:1. Depth of field becomes paper-thin at macro distances, requiring precise focus and often focus stacking to achieve adequate sharpness. It's a specialist discipline that rewards patience and technique. ##### Manual Mode A camera exposure mode where the photographer sets aperture, shutter speed, and ISO independently, with the camera providing no automatic adjustments. Manual mode offers complete control and consistency - once set, exposure won't change until you change it, regardless of what your camera's meter thinks. For studio flash work, manual mode is essential because your camera's meter can't anticipate the flash output. For location work, manual mode provides consistency when your subject moves between differently lit areas. The learning curve is steeper than auto modes, but the control and predictability are worth it. Most professional portrait photographers shoot predominantly in manual. ##### Megapixel One megapixel is equal to one million pixels, and the term is used to describe the resolution of image sensors and the image files they produce. A 24-megapixel sensor produces images with roughly 6000 × 4000 pixels. For portraits, megapixels matter primarily for print size and cropping flexibility - more megapixels means larger prints at full quality, or tighter crops without losing detail. However, megapixels are often overemphasised; sensor size, dynamic range, and high-ISO performance matter more for overall image quality. Unless you're printing billboards or cropping heavily, anything above 20 megapixels is likely sufficient for professional portrait work. Don't chase megapixels at the expense of other factors. ##### Memory Card The removable file storage device that holds the image data, inserted into a slot on the camera body. SD cards are most common, though professional cameras often use CFexpress or both. Card speed matters: a fast card allows quick continuous shooting and rapid image review, while a slow card creates frustrating buffer delays. Capacity matters less now that storage is cheap - carry multiple smaller cards rather than one huge one, so a card failure doesn't wipe out an entire session. Always format cards in camera rather than on a computer, and never delete images on the card after reviewing them - wait until they're safely backed up. Your images are only as safe as your backup discipline. ##### Metering The camera's internal system for measuring light reflected from the scene and determining exposure settings. Different metering modes (evaluative/matrix, centre-weighted, spot) use different areas of the frame to calculate exposure. Understanding your camera's metering helps you predict when it will get exposure wrong - a dark-skinned subject against a light background, or vice versa, will often fool the meter. Learning to read your meter, anticipate its weaknesses, and compensate accordingly (or override it entirely with manual exposure) is fundamental to consistent results. The meter is a tool, not an oracle; use it wisely. ##### MILC Short for Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera, a type of camera that doesn't have an internal mirror to reflect the scene up from the lens to the photographer's eye, as happens in a DSLR. Instead, a live image is streamed from the image sensor to the LCD screen on the back of the camera or an electronic eye-level viewfinder (EVF). This design allows for smaller, lighter bodies, more sophisticated autofocus (including eye AF), and the ability to preview exposure, white balance, and depth of field in real time. Mirrorless cameras now match or exceed DSLRs in every meaningful performance metric and have largely taken over the professional market. If you're buying new, mirrorless is the sensible choice. ##### Mixed Lighting A shooting scenario where multiple light sources of different colour temperatures illuminate the scene - daylight from a window combined with tungsten overhead lights, or flash mixed with fluorescent ambient. Mixed lighting creates inconsistent colour casts across the image: parts of your subject may appear warm while others look cool. The solutions include gelling your flash to match the ambient light, choosing a white balance that compromises between the sources, selectively colour correcting in post, or overpowering the ambient light entirely with flash. Learning to handle mixed lighting is essential for location portrait work, where you can't always control the environment. ##### Modelling Light A continuous light built into studio strobe heads that approximates the flash output, allowing you to preview how the light will fall before you take the shot. Modelling lights are invaluable for setting up - you can see shadow placement, catchlight position, and lighting ratios without firing test shots. Most strobes allow you to set modelling light behaviour (proportional to flash power, full power regardless of flash setting, or off). When shooting tethered or reviewing images frequently, some photographers turn off modelling lights to reduce heat and extend bulb life. But for efficient setup, nothing beats being able to see what you're doing. ##### Monolight A self-contained studio strobe where the flash tube, modelling light, power supply, and controls are all built into a single unit that mounts directly to a light stand. Monolights are simpler to set up than pack-and-head systems (which use a separate power pack to supply multiple flash heads), more portable, and increasingly powerful thanks to lithium-ion batteries. For most portrait photographers, monolights offer the best balance of power, convenience, and cost. Quality varies enormously - cheap monolights may have inconsistent output, slow recycle times, and inaccurate colour; professional units from brands like Elinchrom deliver reliability session after session. ##### Motion Blur Blurring caused by movement of the subject (or camera) during the exposure, rendering moving elements as streaks rather than sharp details. In portraits, motion blur is usually undesirable - you want sharp faces, not smeared features. The solution is a faster shutter speed, more light, or flash (whose brief duration freezes motion regardless of shutter speed). However, intentional motion blur can be creative: a spinning dancer, hair flicking, or the blur of a crowd behind a stationary subject. Understanding the difference between camera shake (camera moves, everything blurs) and motion blur (subject moves, subject blurs) helps you diagnose and solve sharpness problems. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: N ##### Natural Light Light you didn't create. Sunlight, window light, the glow from a streetlamp, the warmth spilling off a porch - if it was there before you turned up with your kit bag, it's natural light. The key thing to understand is that a window in a room behaves almost exactly like a softbox. The physics doesn't care whether your photons came from the sun or a Xenon tube. The challenge? You can't dial it up and down. A cloud rolls over, and your beautiful lighting pattern goes flat. So you have to learn to see it, read it, and be ready to move. See also: Available Light, Window Light, Ambient Light, Continuous Light. ##### Negative Space The empty or relatively plain areas of an image surrounding the main subject, providing visual breathing room and drawing attention to the subject by contrast. Negative space can be as compositionally important as the subject itself - it affects mood, creates balance, and directs the eye. A portrait with generous negative space feels calm and contemplative; a tightly cropped image feels intimate and immediate. Learning to see and use negative space is part of developing compositional sophistication. Leave room for the subject to "look into" when they're positioned off-centre; fill the frame when you want intensity. Both are valid choices, made intentionally. ##### Noise Non-image-forming artifacts caused by high sensitivity settings and/or long exposures, visible as coloured speckles (chroma noise) or an underlying coarse texture (luminosity noise). Noise degrades image quality, obscures fine detail, and becomes more problematic when lifting shadows in post-processing. Modern cameras handle noise vastly better than a decade ago, but the physics remain: smaller sensors, higher ISOs, and longer exposures mean more noise. Noise reduction software (in-camera or in post) can minimise the impact, but overdoing it creates its own problems (waxy, detail-free images). The best approach is capturing sufficient light in the first place - noise reduction is damage control, not a solution. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: O ##### OCF (Off-Camera Flash) Using flash units separated from the camera, typically on light stands and triggered wirelessly, rather than mounted on the hotshoe. Moving flash off-camera is the single biggest step toward better portrait lighting - it allows you to control the angle and quality of light, create dimensional lighting with shadows, and position lights for effects impossible with on-camera flash. OCF can be as simple as a speedlight on a stand triggered by a cheap radio trigger, or as complex as multiple studio strobes with sophisticated modifiers. The fundamental principle is the same: separating the light from the lens axis gives you creative control. ##### Octabox An eight-sided softbox that produces soft, wrap-around light with attractive round catchlights, particularly popular for portrait and beauty photography. The octagonal shape creates more natural-looking specular reflections than square softboxes, and the round catchlights mimic those produced by natural light. Octaboxes range from small speedlight attachments to enormous studio units several metres across. Like all softboxes, the size relative to the subject determines softness - a small octa close up produces softer light than a large octa far away. The octabox has become a modern classic for portrait work, offering a beautiful balance of soft wrap and directional shape. ##### Overexposed An incorrect exposure resulting in an image that is overly bright, where highlight areas may be recorded as pure white with no detail, and shadow areas may be unnaturally light in tone. Overexposure destroys highlight information that cannot be recovered in post - once those pixels hit maximum white, the data is gone. This is why "exposing to the right" (deliberately bright but not clipped) requires careful attention to the histogram. In portrait work, the most critical highlights to protect are skin tones and white clothing; a slightly overexposed background may be acceptable, but blown-out faces rarely are. When in doubt, err toward slight underexposure; shadow recovery is more forgiving than highlight recovery. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: P ##### Panning A technique where the camera follows a moving subject during exposure, keeping the subject relatively sharp while the background blurs with motion. In portrait photography, panning creates dynamic images of subjects in motion - runners, cyclists, dancers, or anyone moving through the frame. The technique requires a slower shutter speed (typically 1/30s to 1/125s depending on subject speed), smooth camera movement that tracks the subject, and timing the shutter release while maintaining the pan. Success rate is low; expect many out-of-focus frames for every keeper. But when it works, the sense of movement and energy is impossible to achieve any other way. ##### Perspective The way three-dimensional space is rendered in a two-dimensional image, affected by camera position, focal length, and distance to subject. Objects close to the camera appear larger relative to distant objects; this apparent size difference creates depth cues. Wide-angle lenses exaggerate perspective (close objects loom large, distant objects shrink), while telephoto lenses compress it (near and far objects appear similar in size). For portraits, perspective profoundly affects how faces render - close proximity exaggerates noses and minimises ears, while distance flattens features. Understanding perspective helps you make intentional choices about where to stand and which lens to use for the most flattering results. ##### Pixel Peeping Examining images at 100% magnification (or higher) to scrutinise fine detail, sharpness, noise, and other technical characteristics that may be invisible at normal viewing sizes. While useful for checking critical focus and identifying technical problems, excessive pixel peeping can distort your assessment of an image's quality - no one views photos at 200% zoom except photographers looking for flaws. A portrait that looks stunning at viewing size is a good portrait, regardless of what happens when you zoom to 400%. Judge images at the size they'll be displayed; use pixel peeping for diagnostic purposes only. ##### Post-Processing The digital editing stage that occurs after capture, encompassing everything from basic adjustments (exposure, white balance, crop) to creative retouching (skin smoothing, colour grading, compositing). Post-processing is where RAW files become finished images, and a well-developed post-processing workflow is as important as shooting skills. Software options include Lightroom and Camera Raw for RAW processing, Photoshop for detailed retouching, and Capture One for tethered shooting and colour work. Your goal in post should be to enhance what you captured, not rescue what you didn't. Strong capture technique plus subtle, skilful post-processing equals professional results. ##### Prime Lens A lens with a fixed focal length, as opposed to a zoom lens which offers a range of focal lengths. Primes are typically sharper, faster (wider maximum aperture), smaller, and lighter than equivalent zooms. The trade-off is flexibility - you zoom with your feet rather than the lens barrel. For portrait photographers, prime lenses in the 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm focal lengths (full frame) are workhorses, offering beautiful rendering and fast apertures for shallow depth of field. Many photographers find that the discipline of shooting with a prime improves their composition - when you can't zoom, you have to think more carefully about positioning. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: Q ### Portrait Photography Glossary: R ##### RAW An image file format that contains all the original image data captured by the sensor, without compression, processing, or loss of quality or detail. Different makes of camera have different types of RAW file (CR2/CR3 for Canon, NEF for Nikon, ARW for Sony, etc.), and all require processing in editing software such as Adobe Lightroom, Camera Raw, or Capture One in order to be saved in a file format that can be easily shared and opened. RAW files give you maximum flexibility in post-processing - you can adjust white balance, recover highlights and shadows, and make tonal changes with far more latitude than a JPEG allows. For any work where quality matters, shoot RAW. ##### Rear Curtain Sync A flash synchronisation mode where the flash fires at the end of the exposure, just before the second (rear) shutter curtain closes. When combined with slow shutter speeds and moving subjects, rear curtain sync creates motion blur that trails behind the sharp, flash-frozen subject, suggesting forward movement. This looks more natural than front curtain sync (where motion blur appears in front of the frozen subject). For creative motion effects, rear curtain sync is usually the right choice. Switch back to front curtain for normal shooting - there's a slight shutter delay with rear curtain that can affect timing. ##### Red-Eye Reduction A feature that fires a pre-flash or shines a light prior to the shutter being released, causing the subject's pupils to contract and reducing the occurrence of red eye, where the flash reflects off the back of the retina, making the pupil appear red in color rather than black. Red-eye only occurs with on-camera flash (or flash very close to the lens axis), so moving flash off-camera eliminates it entirely. Most portrait photographers disable red-eye reduction to avoid the distraction of the pre-flash and the slight delay it causes. If you must use on-camera flash, red-eye reduction helps, but the real solution is getting that light off-camera. ##### Reflected Light Reading A meter reading based on the light bouncing off a subject toward the camera, as opposed to an incident light reading, which measures the light falling on a subject. In-camera metering systems rely on reflected light to decide the exposure settings, which is why they can be fooled by very light or dark subjects. Meter a white wedding dress, and the camera will underexpose (trying to make it grey); meter a black suit, and it will overexpose (same reason). Understanding the limitations of reflected metering helps you anticipate when compensation is needed - or when to switch to incident metering with a handheld meter. ##### Reflector A surface used to bounce light back onto the subject, often used as fill to soften shadows or add catchlights. Common types include collapsible fabric discs in white (soft, neutral fill), silver (punchy, specular fill), gold (warm fill), and black (subtracts light by absorbing rather than reflecting). Reflectors are inexpensive, lightweight, and don't require power - making them invaluable for location work. Positioning is key: angle the reflector to bounce the main light source back into the shadows. A simple white reflector held below the subject's face can transform harsh overhead lighting into something flattering. Every portrait photographer should have at least one reflector in their kit. ##### Rembrandt Lighting Rembrandt lighting is a classic portrait lighting pattern defined by a small triangle of light on the shadow-side cheek, created when the key light is placed high and to one side of the subject. Named after the Dutch painter who frequently depicted his subjects with this dramatic illumination, it remains one of the most popular patterns for portraiture. If you squint at the face (always a good test), you're looking for that little "badge" of light under the eye on the far cheek, while the rest of that side stays largely in shadow. The triangle should be roughly eye-width and shouldn't extend below the nose. Rembrandt lighting adds dimension and drama while remaining flattering for most faces - a timeless choice. ##### Remote Switch A device that activates the shutter remotely, reducing the risk of camera shake when pressing the shutter button and enabling the photographer to be away from the camera at the moment the shot is taken. Wired or wireless, simple triggers or sophisticated intervalometers, remote switches are essential for long exposures, self-portraits, or any situation where touching the camera would introduce vibration. Modern alternatives include smartphone apps that control the camera wirelessly. When shooting tethered to a computer, the tethering software typically provides remote trigger functionality as well. ##### Resolution The amount of detail an image holds, typically expressed as the total pixel count (megapixels) or the pixel dimensions (e.g., 6000 × 4000). Higher resolution means more detail, larger potential print sizes, and more flexibility to crop without losing quality. However, resolution isn't everything - a 50-megapixel image with poor focus, motion blur, or heavy noise doesn't contain more usable detail than a sharp 24-megapixel image. Resolution should be matched to output needs: a billboard needs more pixels than a Facebook profile picture. For most portrait photographers, anything from 24 to 50 megapixels is more than sufficient for all reasonable applications. ##### RGB (Red, Green, Blue) The three base colours that combine in different amounts to form all colours (including white) on digital devices like screens and cameras. This is an additive colour model - start with black (no light) and add red, green, and blue light to create colours. Full intensity of all three produces white; absence of all three produces black. Your camera sensor captures images in RGB, your monitor displays in RGB, and most image editing works in RGB. Understanding the RGB model helps with colour correction - if an image is too yellow, you add blue (yellow's complement); if too magenta, you add green. ##### Rim Light Light that hits the subject from behind, creating a bright edge or halo around hair, shoulders, or the silhouette. Rim light separates the subject from the background, adds dimensionality, and can create a glamorous or dramatic look depending on intensity. Also called edge light or backlight, rim lighting can come from dedicated lights positioned behind the subject, from natural backlight (sunset, window), or from reflective surfaces behind the subject. Control is important - too much rim light creates distracting blown-out edges; too little fails to separate the subject. A subtle rim is often more effective than a dramatic one. ##### Ring Light A circular light source, typically LED, designed to surround the camera lens and produce flat, virtually shadowless illumination with distinctive circular catchlights. Ring lights became popular through fashion photography and have since become ubiquitous for beauty content, video calls, and social media creators. The flat, even light minimises skin texture and creates a glamorous, polished look - though some find it artificial. Ring lights also create that signature circular catchlight that's immediately recognisable. For portrait photography, ring lights work well as a beauty tool but can feel one-dimensional compared to more sculpted lighting setups. ##### Rule of Thirds A composition guideline that states images will be most compelling when key elements are placed at one third or two thirds from the sides of the frame, both horizontally and/or vertically, rather than dead centre. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid overlaid on your image; place points of interest at the intersections or along the lines. For portraits, this often means placing the eyes on the upper third horizontal line, with the face along a vertical third. The rule of thirds is a starting point, not a law - centred compositions can be powerful, and breaking rules intentionally is part of developing personal style. But as a default, it's a reliable guide. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: S ##### Scrim A translucent fabric panel used to diffuse light, typically positioned between a light source and the subject to soften harsh illumination. Unlike diffuser panels attached directly to lights, scrims are separate large surfaces - from handheld 1-metre discs to large frames several metres across. A scrim held between your subject and direct sunlight turns hard, unflattering light into soft, beautiful illumination. The larger the scrim and the closer it is to the subject, the softer the light. For outdoor portraiture with uncontrollable sunlight, a good scrim is often more useful than any powered light. ##### Shadow Recovery The process of brightening underexposed shadow areas in post-processing to reveal detail that was captured but is too dark to see. Modern cameras with good dynamic range capture significant detail in shadows, even when they appear black on screen. RAW files offer far more shadow recovery latitude than JPEGs. However, there are limits - lift shadows too far and noise, banding, and colour shifts become apparent. The best approach is getting exposure right in camera; shadow recovery is for fine-tuning, not rescue. When you do need to recover shadows significantly, applying noise reduction and colour correction to the lifted areas helps maintain quality. ##### Sharpening A post-processing technique that enhances edge contrast to create the perception of increased sharpness and detail. Digital images, especially RAW files, benefit from some sharpening as part of processing. However, sharpening doesn't add detail that isn't there - it can't rescue a blurry photo - and over-sharpening creates ugly halos around edges. For portraits, sharpening should be applied judiciously, often masked away from skin (which you typically want softer, not sharper) and applied more strongly to eyes, hair, and clothing. Output sharpening (additional sharpening for specific output sizes and media) should be the final step before export. ##### Shoot-Through Umbrella A white translucent umbrella positioned between the light source and the subject, so light passes through the umbrella material before reaching the subject. This creates soft, diffused illumination similar to a softbox but at a fraction of the cost. Shoot-through umbrellas are compact, lightweight, and quick to set up, making them ideal for location work and beginners building a lighting kit. The trade-off is less control compared to softboxes - light spills everywhere rather than being contained and directed. For simple, flattering portrait light on a budget, a shoot-through umbrella is hard to beat. ##### Short Lighting A portrait lighting pattern where the side of the face turned away from the camera (the "short" side) receives the main light, while the side facing camera falls into shadow. This has the visual effect of narrowing the face, which is flattering for most subjects. The key light is positioned on the opposite side from the direction the subject is looking - if they're turned slightly left, the light comes from the right. Short lighting is more dramatic and dimensional than broad lighting and is the default choice for most portrait photographers. It creates the impression of depth and sculpts the face with shadow. ##### Shutter Speed The length of time the camera's shutter remains open during an exposure, measured in fractions of a second (1/250s, 1/60s) or whole seconds for long exposures. Shutter speed controls motion rendering: fast speeds (1/500s and above) freeze action; slow speeds (1/30s and below) blur motion. For handheld portraits without flash, you typically need at least 1/125s to avoid camera shake and subject movement blur; with flash, the brief flash duration freezes the subject regardless of shutter speed (up to sync speed). Shutter speed is one of the three pillars of the exposure triangle and a primary creative control for how motion appears in your images. ##### Silhouette An image where the subject appears as a dark shape against a brighter background, with no detail visible in the shadowed form. Silhouettes are created by exposing for the background rather than the subject, often at sunrise or sunset when the sky is dramatically lit. For successful silhouettes, you need strong shape recognition - the subject's profile should be interesting and identifiable as a dark outline. Silhouettes strip away detail to focus on form, posture, and gesture, and can be powerfully graphic when executed well. Meter for the bright background, position your subject against it, and let them go dark. ##### Skin Tones The range of flesh colours in a portrait, which must be rendered accurately and pleasingly for a successful image. Skin tone accuracy is affected by white balance, colour profile, and any colour grading applied. Different skin tones respond differently to light - deep skin reflects less and absorbs more, requiring different exposure and lighting considerations than pale skin. In post-processing, skin tones often benefit from slight warming and careful attention to colour balance. What matters ultimately is that skin looks healthy and natural, not that it matches any objective measurement. Learn to see skin colour accurately and your portraits will improve dramatically. ##### Snoot A tube-shaped modifier that attaches to a light source to create a narrow, focused beam of light, useful for illuminating specific areas while keeping surrounding areas dark. Snoots produce hard-edged spots of light, perfect for hair lights, background accent lights, or dramatic face lighting. The length and diameter of the snoot determines how tight the beam becomes - longer and narrower means more focused. Snoots are the precision tools of lighting, letting you paint light exactly where you want it and nowhere else. They're inexpensive accessories that vastly expand creative possibilities. ##### Softbox An enclosed fabric modifier with a diffusion panel that converts a small, hard light source (flash tube or LED) into a larger, softer light. Softboxes come in numerous shapes - rectangular, square, octagonal, strip - and sizes from tiny speedlight attachments to massive 2-metre units. The fundamental principle is consistent: larger source relative to subject equals softer light. Softboxes offer more control than umbrellas because the light is contained and directed forward; internal baffles further even out the illumination. For portrait photography, a quality softbox is often the most-used modifier in the studio. ##### Soft Light Light that creates gradual, gentle transitions from light to shadow, with soft-edged shadows and lower contrast. Soft light is produced by large light sources relative to the subject - overcast skies, large softboxes, light bounced off walls or ceilings. It wraps around features, minimises texture, and is generally more flattering for portraits than hard light. The key word is "relative": a small softbox close to the face can be softer than a large softbox far away. Understanding what creates soft light - apparent source size - lets you control it intentionally rather than hoping for the best. ##### Speedlight A portable, battery-powered flash unit that mounts on the camera's hotshoe or can be used off-camera with triggers. Also called flashguns or shoe-mount flashes, speedlights are compact, affordable, and remarkably powerful for their size. They're the entry point to flash photography for most photographers and remain useful tools even for professionals with studio strobes. Multiple speedlights can be combined for more power or creative multi-light setups. Their limitations include slower recycle times than studio strobes, less power for overpowering sunlight, and less robust build quality - but for portability and versatility, nothing beats them. ##### Split Lighting A dramatic portrait lighting pattern where exactly half the face is illuminated and half is in shadow, with the division running vertically down the centre of the face. Created by positioning the key light at 90 degrees to the side of the subject, split lighting is bold, theatrical, and rarely used for conventional portraiture because it can feel harsh. However, for character portraits, moody artistic work, or subjects with very symmetric faces, split lighting makes a powerful statement. It's about as dramatic as single-light portrait lighting gets - use it intentionally when you want that impact. ##### Spot Metering A metering mode in which the camera decides the exposure settings based on reflected light from a very small area, typically 1-5% of the frame. This is usually the centre of the frame, but some cameras allow you to link it to the active focus point. Spot metering gives precise control - you meter exactly what you want to be mid-toned, ignoring everything else in the frame. For portraits in tricky lighting, spot meter on the subject's face (or a grey card) for accurate skin tone exposure regardless of the background. It requires more understanding than evaluative metering but offers more predictable results in challenging situations. ##### sRGB The standard colour space for web display, consumer monitors, and most non-professional printing. sRGB has a smaller colour gamut than Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB, meaning it can represent fewer colours - but it's the lingua franca of digital imaging. If your images are destined for the web, social media, or most clients' screens, sRGB is the appropriate colour space for export. Working in a larger colour space (like Adobe RGB) during editing and converting to sRGB on export gives you the best of both worlds: editing flexibility and proper display. Always know your output colour space. ##### Stop (of Light) A unit of measurement representing a doubling or halving of the amount of light. One stop brighter means twice the light; one stop darker means half the light. The exposure triangle settings work in stops: opening the aperture by one stop (f/4 to f/2.8) doubles the light; doubling the shutter speed (1/125 to 1/250) halves it; doubling ISO (100 to 200) doubles sensitivity. Thinking in stops lets you make equivalent adjustments - if you need to close down aperture by two stops for more depth of field, you know you need to compensate with two stops elsewhere (slower shutter, higher ISO, or more light). Fluency with stops is fundamental to exposure control. ##### Strip Box A long, narrow softbox that produces a strip of light, useful for creating dramatic edge lighting, accentuating form, and lighting full-length subjects evenly. Strip boxes are typically used in pairs as rim or kicker lights, positioned behind the subject on either side to create separation from the background. A single strip box can also serve as a key light for a dramatic, directional look. The narrow shape creates distinctive vertical catchlights and can light a subject from head to toe while keeping the light contained and controlled. They're a staple of fashion and glamour photography. ##### Stroboscopic Flash A flash mode that fires multiple times during a single exposure, creating a sequence of frozen moments that show motion within one frame. Used creatively, stroboscopic flash can capture the arc of a dancer's movement, the swing of a golf club, or any other repetitive motion as a composite in-camera. The technique requires a dark environment (so ambient light doesn't expose between flashes), careful timing, and usually some experimentation to get the flash frequency and number of pops right. It's a specialist technique, but when it works, the results are unlike anything achievable with conventional photography. ##### Subject Distance How far the camera is from the subject, which affects perspective, depth of field, and the apparent size of background elements. For any given framing, closer subject distance means more exaggerated perspective (larger nose, smaller ears) and shallower depth of field; greater distance means more compressed perspective and deeper depth of field. Understanding this relationship helps explain why portrait photographers typically stand further back with longer lenses - it's not the focal length that flatters, it's the distance that focal length requires for the desired framing. Working distance also affects your relationship with the subject - standing closer creates intimacy; standing further back gives them space. ##### Sync Speed See Flash Sync Speed. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: T ##### Telephoto Lens A lens with a focal length longer than approximately 50mm (on full frame), which magnifies distant subjects and compresses perspective. For portraits, telephoto lenses in the 85mm to 200mm range are popular because their compression flatters facial features and their narrow angle of view simplifies backgrounds. Longer telephotos require careful technique - camera shake is magnified, depth of field is shallower, and atmospheric haze can affect sharpness over distance. The working distance required for framing becomes significant - an 85mm lets you stay in conversation range, while a 200mm puts you across the room. ##### Tethered Shooting Connecting your camera to a computer so images transfer immediately after capture and display on a larger screen, allowing instant review of composition, focus, exposure, and expression. Tethering is standard practice in commercial portrait and product photography, where precise review between frames is essential. Software like Capture One and Lightroom Classic handles tethered capture, and dedicated tethering apps offer additional features. The larger screen makes critical focus assessment easier, speeds up the feedback loop between photographer and subject or art director, and builds a library of images in real time. If you're shooting in a studio, tethering transforms your workflow. ##### TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) An image file format which doesn't use lossy compression, so it doesn't result in the loss of detail and quality that occurs with JPEG compression. TIFF files can be easily shared and opened without further processing, making them suitable for archival purposes and delivery to print labs that require uncompressed files. The trade-off is file size - TIFFs are much larger than JPEGs. For most portrait photographers, RAW files serve as the master archive and JPEGs work fine for delivery; TIFFs occupy a middle ground for specific workflows requiring uncompressed formats. Know when TIFF is required and use it accordingly. ##### TTL (Through The Lens) Metering A flash metering system where the camera measures light through the lens during a pre-flash, then automatically calculates the flash power needed for correct exposure. TTL flash is remarkably convenient - it adapts to changing conditions, adjusts for different distances, and requires minimal manual adjustment. However, it can be fooled by unusual subjects or lighting situations, and provides less consistency than manual flash in controlled environments. For fast-moving location work where conditions change rapidly, TTL is invaluable; for studio work with consistent lighting, manual flash gives more predictable results. Most photographers use both depending on the situation. ##### Umbrella (Reflective) A light modifier where the flash fires into the umbrella and bounces back toward the subject, creating soft, diffused light. Silver-lined umbrellas produce punchier, more specular light; white-lined umbrellas produce softer, more neutral light. Umbrellas are affordable, portable, and quick to set up, making them excellent for location work and learning lighting fundamentals. Their main limitation is lack of control - light spills everywhere, including backward toward the camera, potentially causing flare. Despite their simplicity, quality umbrellas remain viable tools even for professional work. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: U ##### Underexposed An incorrect exposure resulting in an image that is too dark, where shadow areas may be recorded as pure black with no detail, and highlight areas may be unnaturally dark in tone. Moderate underexposure in RAW files can often be corrected in post-processing, though lifting shadows significantly increases noise and can cause colour shifts. Severe underexposure destroys shadow detail permanently - those crushed blacks contain no data to recover. For portraits, subtle underexposure is safer than overexposure (shadows recover better than highlights), but correct exposure is always the goal. Use your histogram to confirm you're capturing the full tonal range. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: V ##### Vignetting / Vignette A fall-off of brightness from the centre of an image toward the corners, appearing as darkened edges. Optical vignetting is a lens characteristic (often reduced by stopping down), while intentional vignetting is added in post-processing to draw attention toward the centre of the frame. A subtle vignette can enhance portraits by naturally guiding the eye toward the subject and creating a sense of focus. Heavy vignetting can feel dated or overdone. The key is subtlety - the effect should be felt rather than seen. Remove optical vignetting with lens profiles; add creative vignetting with intention. ##### Viewfinder The eyepiece of the camera through which you look in order to frame your image. DSLRs use optical viewfinders that show the actual scene via mirrors; mirrorless cameras use electronic viewfinders (EVFs) that display a digital preview of what the sensor sees. Each has advantages: optical viewfinders have no lag and work without power; EVFs show exposure preview, focus peaking, and histogram overlays. Personal preference varies, but EVF technology has improved to the point where many photographers prefer it. The viewfinder you use directly affects your shooting experience and connection with your subject - choose what works for you. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: W ##### White Balance Camera control that enables you to match the colour temperature of different light sources to alleviate any colour casts, telling the camera what "white" looks like under the current lighting conditions. Incorrect white balance makes images look too orange, too blue, or some other colour they shouldn't be. Auto white balance has become remarkably accurate, but shooting RAW gives you complete flexibility to adjust white balance in post-processing with no quality loss. For consistency across a session, setting a specific Kelvin value or using a grey card to create a custom preset ensures all images match. Slight warming of white balance (towards orange/yellow) is almost universally flattering for skin tones. ##### Wide-Angle Lens A lens with a focal length shorter than approximately 50mm (on full frame), which captures a wider field of view than normal human vision. Wide-angle lenses are essential for environmental portraits, group shots in confined spaces, and creative compositions that emphasise depth and perspective. However, they require careful use for portraits - close distances distort facial features unflatteringly, and converging vertical lines can make subjects look wrong. The trick with wide-angle portrait work is to keep faces away from the extreme edges and corners where distortion is worst, and to use the wide field of view to show context rather than shooting tight. ##### Working Distance The physical distance between the camera and the subject required to achieve a particular framing with a given focal length. Longer focal lengths require greater working distance for the same framing; shorter focal lengths allow closer positioning. Working distance affects perspective distortion, depth of field, and the practical logistics of shooting - a 200mm headshot puts you several metres from your subject, which changes the interpersonal dynamic compared to an 85mm headshot at conversational distance. Consider working distance when choosing lenses: how much space do you have, and how close do you want to be to your subject for the interaction you're trying to create? ##### Wraparound Lighting Soft, diffused light that seems to envelope the subject from multiple directions, minimising shadows and creating an even, gentle illumination. Wraparound light is produced by very large light sources relative to the subject - think overcast skies, large scrims, or multiple bounced lights - or by combining main lights with significant fill. The result is low contrast, flattering illumination that works particularly well for beauty and commercial work. While it lacks the drama of harder, more directional lighting, wraparound light is safe, universally flattering, and reliably professional. It's the lighting equivalent of a comfortable conversation. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: X ##### X-Sync The contact or terminal on a camera that triggers external flash units at the moment of exposure, and by extension, the maximum flash synchronisation speed of that camera system. "X" originally referred to the type of synchronisation required for electronic flash (as opposed to "M" sync for flashbulbs). Understanding your camera's X-sync speed is essential for flash photography - exceed it without high-speed sync, and you'll get partially black frames. The X-sync terminal allows connection of studio strobes and triggering systems that don't communicate through the hotshoe. It's a legacy term that's still relevant for understanding flash synchronisation fundamentals. ### Portrait Photography Glossary: Y ### Portrait Photography Glossary: Z ##### Zone System A photographic technique developed by Ansel Adams for controlling exposure and development to achieve precise tonal placement in the final print, dividing the range from pure black to pure white into eleven zones (0-X). While originally designed for film, the Zone System's principles translate to digital: understanding that your camera meters for middle grey (Zone V), and that different subjects should be placed in different zones for correct rendering. A face should be around Zone VI; a white dress Zone VII or VIII. The Zone System teaches you to see tones objectively and expose intentionally rather than trusting automatic metering. It's fundamental to mastering exposure. ##### Zoom Lens A lens with a variable focal length that can be adjusted within a range (e.g., 24-70mm, 70-200mm), as opposed to a prime lens with a fixed focal length. Zooms offer flexibility - one lens covers many framing options without changing glass. The trade-offs typically include larger size, heavier weight, smaller maximum apertures, and sometimes optical compromises compared to equivalent primes. For portrait photography, the 70-200mm zoom is a workhorse, covering everything from full-length to tight headshots without moving position. Professional-grade zooms have reached optical quality that rivals primes in many situations; convenience and versatility make them essential tools for working photographers. ### [The Visual Vault](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/) ### Welcome to the Visual Vault: Real-World Portrait Photography Tutorials When I first started out, I didn't want endless theory or techy waffle - I wanted to see how great portraits were made. Real shoots, real light, real decisions. That's what the Visual Vault is all about. Inside, you'll find an ever-growing collection of lighting diagrams, behind-the-scenes guides, and practical how-to's - all designed to help you understand not just what works, but why. From beautifully simple setups to more complex lighting, it's all broken down clearly and honestly: what we did, what we learned, and what you can try for yourself. Whether you're just figuring out where to put your first light, or you're refining the creative choices behind every click, the Visual Vault is your go-to space for insight, inspiration, and skill-building. It's not about copying. It's about confidence - and giving you the tools to think, see, and shoot like a portrait photographer. Browse through these real-world portrait photography tutorials. ### [Lighting Diagrams](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/) Striking photographs - the kind that makes you stop you in your tracks - usually owe their impact to the use of lighting. It could be the mood conveyed by atmospheric sun flares or the way the subject's eyes seem to sparkle from the studio flash; either way, it's your ability to notice and manipulate the light that is the key. ### [Creative Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/creative-lighting-photography-guide/) Creative Lighting Gels, colours, smoke, fog - there really are a million ways to add excitement and atmosphere to your portraits. And honestly, that's what makes this side of photography so endlessly enjoyable. You can walk into the studio with a plan, throw a coloured gel over a light, fire up the smoke machine, and suddenly the whole mood of a shoot shifts completely. It never gets old. The articles collected here are all about the love of light - the creative, experimental, sometimes slightly chaotic joy of pushing beyond a standard setup and seeing what happens. Whether we're working with continuous LED lights for that smooth, painterly quality, or our beautiful Elinchrom strobes for sharp, powerful bursts of colour, the underlying idea is always the same: light is the most expressive tool we have, and it's worth playing with it properly. Gel lighting photography is a big part of what you'll find here. Coloured gels can transform a portrait completely - a deep blue gel can make a clean white background feel cold and cinematic, whilst a warm amber thrown onto a subject from the side adds an almost theatrical drama that's very hard to achieve any other way. We've explored everything from subtle colour washes to bold, saturated combinations that really push into the dramatic portrait lighting territory. Throw in some smoke or a little atmospheric fog, add a lot of laughter, and that's really the spirit of it. Some of the most striking images we've made in the studio have come from sessions that started with a simple question - what if we tried this? - and then just ran with it. Coloured gel portrait photography, atmospheric portrait photography, creative studio portrait ideas that genuinely excite the people in front of the camera as much as the person behind it. Have a browse through the articles below. There's plenty here to spark some ideas, whether you're just getting started with gels or you're already deep into experimental portrait photography and looking for your next direction. ### [Lighting Up An Ancient Lecture Theatre For A Science-Themed Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/creative-lighting-photography-guide/lighting-up-an-ancient-lecture-theatre-for-a-science-themed-portrait/) Lighting up an ancient lecture theatre for a science-themed portrait This shot was about fire, camera and action, as part of a commercial commission to create a visually striking portrait of a chemistry lecturer. The Royal Institution (RI) is an independent charity that promotes scientific understanding. They put on Christmas lectures every year and in 2016, the lecturer was Saiful Islam and the theme was energy. Saiful is a Professor of Chemistry at Bath University, and I spent a day with him during which I captured about a dozen shots. This was my favourite from the final selection, and indeed, the one that is still used to promote the lecture in the RI's back catalog. My challenge was to create a series of portraits that flattered Saiful, intrigued the viewer and somehow communicated the energy theme. This one took place in the main lecture theatre, in front of a bench that had been used for various science experiments and demonstrations for over 150 years. ##### A controlled risk A technician who was helping us on the day came up with the basis of this idea: to set alight iron filings inside a metal cage and swing it to create a circular light trail. Now, half of my job involves relaxing my subjects, and fast-moving fireballs are not normally conducive to this. However the Head of Demo agreed two things: 1. That the health and safety considerations had been assessed for risk and mitigations put in place (such as covering nearby soft furnishings with fireproof material). 2. He would be the one to swing the lit box behind the subject. These two points would be irrelevant if our subject hadn't been willing to go ahead, but luckily a career in combining different elements of the periodic table had given Saiful an open-minded attitude to controlled risk. ##### Setting up the shot I used two speedlites to light the portrait. One is to the front left of the scene (as we're looking at it), and pointing towards Saiful face. The other is at the back right of the scene, angled towards Saiful's back. I've fitted this second speedlight with a blue gel. This adds interest to the scene thanks to the addition of the colour but also makes the orange fire trail stand out more. That's because orange and blue are on opposite sides of the colour wheel, which means they each look more vibrant when used next to each other. I set a long shutter speed (about 10 seconds), with both speed lights firing at the start of this time. Throughout the exposure, the Head of Demos spun the metal cage behind Saiful, which created the trail of light. Saiful had to stand extremely still throughout the exposure (despite the sparks flying around behind him) to avoid the outline of his body blurring at the edges. As 10 seconds is a very long time to hold a camera without introducing any movement at all, I used a tripod to ensure I didn't cause any blur from camera shake. Unfortunately, despite our precautions, a spark did burn through the fireproof material onto one of the chairs. Happily though, all was forgiven when they saw this final image! ##### Lighting Diagram ### [Flash & Speedlights](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/) Pack your speedlites and portable flash: this section is all about bringing artificial lighting on location to achieve results that wouldn't be possible with available light alone. You'll learn how to make daylight turn into night-time, freeze BMX-riders mid-air and light up snow and smoke for beautifully atmospheric portraits. ### [Alfie | Using Off-Camera Flash For A Comic Book Kick](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/alfie-using-off-camera-flash-for-a-comic-book-kick/) This comic book-inspired action portrait was taken for my local junior football team. Here's how I used two portable flashes to create dramatic lighting. I was asked to photograph the local junior football team, which my son played for at the time. I had seven footballers, all under ten years old, and about a minute with each of them to get the shot done. I wanted to replicate the style of the old Roy of the Rovers comic covers, so I decided to get the boys kicking the ball towards the camera. The time we had meant each boy got two attempts to send the ball in the right direction. The team's coach stood behind me and caught the ball as it sailed over the top of my head. That is, apart from the two times my son, Jake, kicked the ball. His first attempt knocked me in the groin, while the second hit the edge of my lens. The strength of his kick meant the camera flew into my face, where the flash bracket cut into my forehead. I didn't give him a third try... Here's how I created the shots, using Alfie's one as the example. ##### Dramatic lighting I used two portable flashes to light Alfie. They are on either side of him, both pointing towards him. There's one just out of shot on the left of the image (as we're looking at it) which is slightly in front of Alfie, while the other, just out of sight on the right of the image, is slightly behind him. The flashes were wired directly into my camera - this was taken before I owned radio triggers - and they recycled* slowly, so I could only take one shot per kick. I was lucky that there were some clouds that day, so I could underexpose the ambient light to make the sky behind Alfie look more theatrical. ##### The comic book look I had my camera on the ground, angled up towards Alfie. This adds drama and makes the viewer ‘look up' to Alfie, making him the hero of the shot. When I imagined this shot, I pictured it being like an old-school comic cover similar to the old Roy Of The Rovers kid's stories from the 1980's. I love the dramatic angles and viewpoints that comic illustrators use and I picked my lighting, angle and lens to try and create the same sense of drama and action. The grass framing the bottom edge of the scene contributes to the impression that we are right in on the action. The pitch had just been mown, and the grass being flicked up by Alfie's boot was a welcome bonus, giving a sense of motion and impact. I wanted the ball to be coming out of the image, as if flying past the viewer. In the original photograph I took, the ball wasn't quite big enough to create the drama I had in mind, so we used Photoshop to enlarge it slightly. However, this isn't a composite image; it's all from just one shot. So; two flashes, a low angle and a little editing in postproduction. Oh, and one bleeding photographer. It was worth it, though. *Recycled: the time taken for the flash to recharge, ready for the next use. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 82mm - Aperture: f/10 - Shutter speed: 1/160 sec - ISO: 100 - Two speedlights on cables (at the time I didn't have wireless triggers!) ### [Katalin | Channelling Rembrandt With A Speedlight In An Alleyway!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/katalin-channelling-rembrandt-with-a-speedlight-in-an-alleyway/) There are locations for portraits everywhere - even in an alleyway. This is how I created a dramatic shot in a local alley by overpowering the ambient light. If you think there are no good locations for portraits near you, think again. Even an alleyway can be the backdrop for an effective image, just like this portrait of Katalin in one of the curved pathways between streets in Haddenham. Here's how I used a single Speedlight flash to light it in a style made famous by the painter, Rembrandt. ##### Overpowering the ambient light Although this looks like an evening or nighttime shot, it was actually taken in strong, even daylight. However, I was looking for a more dramatic look, so I used an off-camera Speedlight to light Katalin instead of relying on natural light. By using a fast shutter speed (1/750sec), I've darkened the ambient light, with just a pool of light around my subject. Katalin's skin and the wall immediately around her have become the lightest parts of the scene, which attracts our eyes straight to them. The contrast between her dark clothing and the pale wall has added to the visual impact of this area. The light given off by the Speedlight has a quality similar to strong, direct sunlight. It produces hard shadows, as you can see on the right of Katalin's face (as we see it) and the wall behind her. This gives a little intrigue to the image. Without the technical information, a viewer cannot be sure whether Katalin has happened upon a patch of strong sunlight in an otherwise shaded alley, or if artificial light has been used. The hardness of the light means that I needed to be careful how I placed the flash and posed Katalin, as it could easily be unflattering. The Speedlight is raised up and to the left of the camera. It's low enough to produce catchlights in Katalin's eyes, but high enough that its light could be mistaken as the sun filtering through over the left alley wall. ##### Lighting like Rembrandt Although Katalin's body is facing towards the light, I've asked her to bring her face towards the camera slightly. Combined with the height of the light source, this has resulted in a lighting pattern known as ‘Rembrandt Lighting'. Named after the painter, whose portraits often used this lighting style, Rembrandt lighting is indicated by a triangular patch of light on the cheek furthest away from the light source, and a catchlight in both eyes. Whether in the studio, or using portable flash or natural light on location, I'm always checking for the light first. When you can control the light from an artificial source, anything becomes possible - even in an otherwise unremarkable alleyway. Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 122mm - Aperture: f/4.8 - Shutter speed: 1/750 sec - ISO: 280 ### [Kieran, Tom & Evan | Creating Footballer Hero Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/kieran-tom-evan-creating-footballer-hero-portraits/) Using a low camera angle to make your subject the ‘hero' in your portraits, and underexposing a bright sky for a more moody and atmospheric background. When shooting on location, I look to re-create the lighting patterns and posing shapes I work with in the studio. Here, I positioned two portable flash heads in the same way I'd position lights back in the studio when creating a ‘hero' shot. I've arranged the stances of Kieran, Tom and Evan to give symmetry to the image, while inferring a triangular shape with the position of their faces (imagine drawing a line between each pair of eyes to see the triangle). This is more aesthetically satisfying while also stopping group shots from looking like a police line-up. ##### Make your subject the hero with a low camera angle Photographing someone from above eye level can be incredibly flattering. If your subject is looking up towards your camera, their eyes will be open to their fullest, which looks attractive. However, it's worth being aware of the power balance that your angle is implying. Shooting from above eye level conveys vulnerability, weakness and submission. It's an angle I rarely use, as these aren't attributes most people want to see in their portraits! Instead, a low angle infers power and strength on your subject(s) as the viewer is ‘looking up' at them. Have a look at the leading characters on film posters; they are almost always photographed from low down. I aim to capture subjects in the way that they want to be perceived, so that's why the majority of my work is shot from my subjects' eye level or lower. That's what I've done here, to make the three boys the ‘heroes' of the shot: strong, confident and in control. Their expressions match the mood of the shot: these boys want to be taken seriously, like the footballers they aspire to. I'm lying on my stomach in the grass to get as low an angle as possible. This has also shifted what we can see behind Kieran, Tom and Evan from mainly the treeline to mainly the sky. The lighter tones of the sky provide greater contrast, making the boys stand out more. ##### Underexpose daylight for atmosphere If I had exposed for the sky, it would have been recorded as a bright, plain background. Instead, I have deliberately underexposed it, to make it dark, broody and atmospheric. This adds to the mood of the shot; serious, not frivolous. To successfully underexpose the sky, you need to overpower the ambient daylight with flash. I have one portable flash positioned at 45 degrees to left of the camera, and another to the right (as we're looking at it) of the boys. The first flash is the main source of illumination, while the second throws a sharper quality of light across the side of the boys' faces and necks. This second flash is at 90 degrees to the camera, and arranged so that its light reaches all three of my subjects. We didn't want the football kits to look pristine and unused - we were capturing three active and committed footballers, after all. Luckily, Kieran, Tom and Evan gleefully agreed to roll around in the mud beforehand to mimic that ‘just played' aesthetic. This portrait of them will serve as a lasting reminder to their parents of all the washing that came with their children's hobby. ##### Location Diagram ##### ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 110mm - Aperture: f/6.3 - Shutter speed: 1/160 sec - ISO: 200 - Two Speedlights on cables (yup - this was BEFORE I had some radio triggers!!!) ### [Lawrence | Outdoors Sprint Portrait For A Local Gym](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/lawrence-outdoors-sprint-portrait-for-a-local-gym/) An everyday location, some high power flash and a little bit of luck all came together to create this fitness image. This was taken during a commercial shoot for our local gym, Fitlife. Most of the session took place indoors, but on the way in I noticed this industrial-looking garage door. I mentally filed it as offering an interesting potential location for an outside shot. My mind went back to the garage door during the shoot with Lawrence, so we headed out to see what we could do with it. I asked him to launch into a sprint from a standing start, with the aim of freezing his movements. This gave a dramatic sense of motion, while ensuring everything stayed sharp (no motion blur). ##### Lighting the scene It was a bright day and the garage door was lit by ambient light. For the image, however, I wanted the garage to look dark. This would keep all the focus on Lawrence, as he would be the brightest part of the image. To achieve this, I needed to use flash to overpower the ambient light. I placed a portable flash (a Profoto strobe) just out of the frame on the right hand side of the scene (as we're looking at it). This poured light directly on to Lawrence's face and body, with some spilling on to the door behind him. I set the Profoto to maximum power, at which strength the recycle time becomes a longish recycle* time of one second. ##### Lucky timing Due to the speed Lawrence was moving, the long recycle time meant I would only get the opportunity to take one shot for each mini sprint he did. By the time the flash was ready to fire again, Lawrence would be out of the frame and would need to go back, get into position and start again. Happily, on one of our attempts, I timed the shot just right. I love the position of both his hands here, with one reaching out front with a perfect 90-degree bend to his elbow and the other pushed out behind him, both with all fingers stretched. If I could change one thing (and there's almost always one thing I'd love to change!), I wish that his front toe was pointing a little higher up. This would mean it was perfectly parallel with his front forearm, adding another dynamic angle to the shot. Nevertheless, it does the job well, and has been used on the back of flyers, to hopefully get a few more Buckinghamshire locals moving. *Recycle time: the amount of time before the flash is sufficiently charged, ready to fire again. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 130mm - Aperture: f/4.8 - Shutter speed: 1/250 sec - ISO: 140 ### [Lights, Fans and a Seriously Fit Spin Class Instructor](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/lights-fans-and-a-seriously-fit-spin-class-instructor-2/) The creative part of a portrait photographer's job is to look beyond the obvious shot and create something that makes people look twice because it is so striking. In this shot, some creative lighting makes all the difference. Oh, and a whole load of fanning. This was a commercial shoot for Fitlife, our local (boutique) gym. My wife Sarah and I attend a spin class at the gym, and we'd noticed that our instructor, Iona, looked calm and serene. This was completely at odds with the energy, power and movement of her legs propelling the pedals on her stationary bike as she led by example at the front of each class. This gave me an idea for the next shoot we did for Fitlife. I planned to capture the contrast of Iona's serenity with a sense of speed and motion, like a swan gliding over the surface of a lake while its legs paddle furiously below the surface. ##### ##### Lighting the shot Along with a camera and lens, this shoot required three things: * A main light, for Iona's face * A back light, to separate her dark hair from the dark background * Some very energetic fanning from my assistant! The main light is a Profoto portable flash unit, firing into a white umbrella. This is positioned to the left of the shot (as we're looking at it) at about a 45-degree angle to Iona, slightly above her head height and angled down. This high angle put a pleasing catchlight*** in the top left of her iris. To add interest and colour as well as separation from the background, I added a blue gel to the back light (which was simply a second Profoto portable flash on a stand behind Iona, facing back towards her). Lastly, I asked my assistant to grab a large reflector and start fanning like crazy to push her hair up and away from her face. Then, with her feet and hands in position, I asked her to look straight into the lens, and fired off a series of frames. Her hair was flying out behind her in a constantly changing shape, and I liked how it looked in this frame the best. ##### Location Diagram ***Catchlight: the white reflection of the light source in a subject's eyes. If you imagine the eye as a clock face, the optimum position for the catchlight is in the 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock position. Changing the height and angle of your light source affects where the catchlight appears. The size and proximity of the light source affects how big the catchlight is. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 50mm - Aperture: f/3.3 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Lily & Sam | Lighting The Snow For A Wintery Nighttime Kiss](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/lily-sam-lighting-the-snow-for-a-wintery-nighttime-kiss/) This is one of my most popular portraits: the drama of the red dress and wintry weather mixed with the anticipation of The Kiss makes for an eye-catching combination. ##### Never rely on the weather! Ah, best laid plans. It was winter. We had everything arranged: Lily and Sam would come over for some beautiful couple's portraits under the full moon. It would be delicate, romantic and, well, dry. Then the sleet started falling - a sudden downpour of icy rain and slushy snow. I had an idea. I checked Lily and Sam were feeling brave (they were), grabbed a speed light and we headed out. ##### Positioning the flash I wrapped a plastic bag around the flash head to protect it from water damage, then placed it behind the couple. It's facing towards the camera, to backlight the snow as well as my subjects. I positioned Lily and Sam in the street right outside my studio. None of the background is visible, so I didn't need to worry too much about what was behind them. They cuddled under an umbrella, with a coat around Lily's shoulders, while I set everything up and fired some test shots. ##### Locking focus My camera struggled to focus in the darkness, so our video editor, Matt, held his phone near the subjects' faces, and I used the light from his screen to lock focus. Then, I composed the shot. I wanted plenty of space around them to capture the drama of the whirling flurries around them. As soon as I was ready, Lily whipped off her coat, we pulled the umbrella away and this is one of the frames that resulted. The light on Lily and Sam's faces comes purely from the flashlight behind them: you can see the light reflecting off Sam's white jumper, illuminating Lily's elegant neck as she leans in for a kiss. In the end, we had just a 15-minute window of opportunity before the weather changed again. Nevertheless, that was plenty of time to capture the shot - and to get completely soaked! But, when I pulled this image up on the computer, I knew it had been totally worth it. There's just one thing I'd change: in portraits of couples kissing (or, rather, just about to kiss), I always aim to get the woman's nose on the near side. Next time! ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 180mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/45 sec - ISO: 560 ### [Off-Camera Flash At The Skatepark](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/off-camera-flash-at-the-skatepark/) You don't need complicated tricks to create a great action portrait at your local skatepark. Height, consistency and timing are more important. I was photographing a BMX rider at the skatepark when I was nearly run over by a skateboarder, Louis (pictured). Louis had been flying across the area that I was photographing every minute or so, so I had seen how good he was. I loved his style, too, so asked him if I could photograph him. Happily, he said yes. ##### No time to recycle The portable flash heads I was using take a second or two to recycle*, so it wouldn't work to just fire the shutter continuously as the skateboarder travelled across the scene. This meant I would only get one opportunity to press the shutter per ride, so I had to plan for one shot each time he came up the ramp. This was the hardest part: Louis nailing the jump so that he was at his highest point as he passed the fulcrum of the concrete ramp AND me hitting the shutter at that precise moment. Louis needed to position himself in the same place each time, with a consistent height. Then, it was all about my timing. The second hardest part was getting the lighting and exposure right. ##### Lighting the scene and setting the exposure I wanted to darken the sky behind Louis, so it would make a moodier and more atmospheric background. I also wanted strong side lighting to make Louis stand out from the rest of the scene. To do this, I used two portable flash units (Profoto B1s, but any speed light would do a similar job). The first flash is facing Louis and positioned to the left (as we're looking at the scene). The second is on the right, slightly behind Louis, and facing towards the camera. It's this second light that's creating the shine on the concrete ramp. I set my ISO (400) and aperture (f/8) to give me a correct exposure with the portable flash firing at full power. Then, I set my shutter speed to control the parts of the scene that weren't lit by flash (1/750). This shutter speed underexposed the sky, while Louis is correctly exposed in the beam of the flash. Anytime you are working with portable flash, remember that it's the shutter speed that affects how much of the ambient light will be recorded. For the final edit, I've included a vignette to darken the edges of the frame. This draws your eye towards Louis and amplifies the drama in the sky to create a high-impact action portrait with plenty of atmosphere and visual interest. *Recycle = power up for the next burst of flash ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 17mm - Aperture: f/8.0 - Shutter speed: 1/750 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Placing The MD In The Middle](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/placing-the-md-in-the-middle/) Placing The MD In The Middle Positioning your subject in the middle of the frame can appear unimaginative. Here, I've made sure it's a bold choice, by using elements of the environment to create a composition that's both graphic and visually striking. Maurizio Brusadelli was the UK MD for Cadbury when I first met him. I was working with the confectionery giant to capture their part in the 2012 London Olympics. It was a lot of fun but also a full-on year, when I spent more time in London than at home. After the Olympics I was asked to photograph Maurizio to create publicity images of him for his new role. I was booked in by his team and expected the normal tightly timed slot in which I'd have just 15 or 20 minutes to create a whole bunch of potential press and magazine cover images. I was setting up in his office when he walked in, and asked him - as I always do - "How long do you have?". He gave a big, Italian smile before responding, "Oh, an hour or two." Ah, happy times. I then spent a blissful hour creating wonderful imagery of him, all shot with potential magazine and newspaper articles in mind. ##### Restaurant light fittings This particular shot was taken in the restaurant at Cadbury HQ. The space was decked out with these amazing seats and tables with what can only be described as hedgerows along the back of them. I asked him to sit at one of the tables and, as he did so, he clasped his hands as you see them. This beautifully echoed the interwoven panels of the wooden light fitting above his head. I've emphasised this similarity by ensuring Maurizio is directly beneath the fitting, and that both elements are central in the frame. This connects the subject to the environment and gives the portrait a graphic look. It transforms a boring shot of someone sitting in a canteen booth into a portrait that looks and feels crafted and intentional. ##### Lighting the set-up I've positioned a speed light to the right (as we're looking at it), slightly above Maurizio's head height and aimed down towards his face and torso. You can see the shadow this creates on his left. One of the reasons for positioning the speedlight high up is to give the impression that the light falling on the subject is coming from the lamp fitting above him. It's a very simple trick, and a straightforward image, but one that is very effective. To replicate the graphic feel, look for symmetry or striking shapes in your environment, and create a visual connection between them and your subject in the frame. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 70.0mm - Aperture: f/4.0 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Rhodri | Portrait Of A Chef At The Pass](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/rhodri-portrait-of-a-chef-at-the-pass/) Sometimes you've got loads of light sources, stuff everywhere and very little time: this is the world of environmental portraits, & here's my approach to them. Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons (known locally as just ‘Le Manoir') is a hotel and restaurant in Oxford that's owned by French chef Raymond Blanc. It's a stunning venue, and I photograph a lot of weddings there. During one shoot, the bride and groom asked for a shot of the Executive Sous Chef, a chap called Rhodri. I headed into the kitchens with the desire to create something dramatic, but knowing I had very little time to do so. Here's how I approached it. ##### A lighting menagerie There were three different light sources in this scene. Firstly, the overhead fluorescent strips in the ceiling. Secondly, hot lights on the kitchen pass behind Rhodri and just in front of him (spilling the orange glow on his arms). Thirdly, I'm using two portable flash units (speedlights), triggered by radio. That's a lot of lighting to manage at once! I set up my speed lights first, positioning them in the same places as I often use for the main light and a fill light in my studio. One is on the left of the image (as we're looking at it), and slightly in front of Rhodri. It's as high up as I could get it using nearby flat surfaces I could balance the unit on - just high enough to get a catchlight in his eyes at the 9 o'clock position. The second light is behind Rhodri and to the right. It's lighting the side of his ear, neck and uniform sleeve, adding a little edge and drama to the shot. I set the exposure on the camera so that the ambient light would look moody, but still be sufficient to show up some background details. I then set the power on the speedlights so that they would light Rhodri's face sufficiently for it to be correctly exposed under those camera settings. ##### Lights, camera, lead-in lines Lastly, I chose where I would be standing with my camera and decided where to place Rhodri. There were a bunch of background lines around him and I wanted to use these as ‘lead-in lines'. Lead-in lines are compositional elements that guide the viewer's eyes around a photograph. The hot pass to the right (as we're looking at it) of Rhodri, the horizontal gleam of light above his left shoulder, the diagonal edge of the metallic unit by his left elbow - all these are lead-in lines. They provide a visual path that leads towards Rhodri, constantly drawing your eye back to him. I asked Rhodri to cross his arms and look towards me, and I took the shot from one of my favourite angles - level with my subject's neck and shoulders. All-in-all, it's an authoritative portrait of a chef in his home ground. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 30mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Rui | A Little Smoke And A Lot Of Bokeh](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/rui-a-little-smoke-and-a-lot-of-bokeh/) How to backlight smoke so it becomes opaque, and using a slow shutter speed to capture background lights as out-of-focus circles (bokeh) in your portraits. Rui was a guest at a wedding I was shooting. I loved his look and had in mind a specific image I wanted to capture, with backlit smoke around him. Despite not being a smoker*, Rui was happy to pose for me, so we made our way through someone else's packet of cigarettes until I (finally!) got the shot. ##### Making smoke opaque To capture smoke (or water) as a visible element in a portrait, you need to backlight it. So there's two portable flash units at work here. The main one was to the left of the camera and above Rui's head height, kept just low enough to spit a catchlight in each eye. I positioned this flash at 45 degrees away from both the camera and Rui, so that the nearside of his face has fallen into shadow. Only the mask of his face - the oval-shaped area containing the forehead, eyes, nose and mouth - is lit. This created drama and atmosphere in the shot, heightened by the rim light from my second portable flash. This second unit was behind Rui's head, facing towards the camera. As well as the rim light on Rui's back, neck and ear, it has filled the smoke with light, turning it opaque. Without this flash, the smoke would have appeared as transparent and less noticeable. Lighting it makes it a feature of the shot, rather than a detail. ##### Background bokeh I wanted to capture the glow of lights in the background as out-of-focus dots of light (known in photography as bokeh). Using flash means you can use a fast shutter speed, say, 1/200 or 1/250 sec. However, doing so in this instance would have rendered the background as plain black (perhaps with dim specks of light). Instead, I'm shooting with a relatively slow shutter speed (1/45 sec). Although this is still just a fraction of a second, it's long enough for two things to happen. First, the flash fires across Rui's face and through the smoke, ensuring they are recorded by the camera's sensor. Then, during the rest of the exposure, the background detail is recorded, providing interest and a more urban feel to the portrait. You'll also notice that I'm shooting from below Rui's eye level. This means that as viewers of the image, we are looking up at him. As part of that, we infer attributes such as importance, dominance and confidence: all flattering psychological attributes that make my subject look and feel good when they come back to choose which shots they want to buy! -- *I know, I know. Don't encourage people to smoke - it's really bad. But... what a cool portrait! ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 150mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/45 sec - ISO: 200 - Two speedlights on wireless remote ### [Sophie | Horror-Inspired Fashion Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/sophie-horror-inspired-fashion-portrait/) Stylised portraits can be the most fun to create, especially if you enjoy overcoming technical challenges. For this shot, I needed to make a bright sky look like night-time, and match the model's pose to the mood of the set-up. ##### Horror Inspired! This is one of the trickiest images from our book, Mastering Portrait Photography. It was shot for an old friend of the studio who wanted to create some ‘horror-novel-inspired-images' for a project for her fashion degree. I knew the location in advance as it's an old barn owned by a neighbour. It's important you don't just go and shoot on land you know nothing about without permission, especially once you turn pro. Firstly it's trespassing, and secondly you don't know for sure whether it's safe. ##### Turning day to night It was quite a bright evening with the sun just setting. If you look at the leftmost window in the background you can see the bright spot showing the sun going down. My challenge was to underexpose the shot as much as I could get away with and still be able to light Sophie with nothing more than a speedlight. I placed the speedlight on a tripod to the right of Sophie (as we're looking at it). I didn't use a modifier such as a soft box because I didn't want to dilute the light at all; I needed every possible particle of light that I could get on her to overpower the daylight. As you can see from Sophie's hair it was also pretty windy that day, and a soft box would have been blown around like a sail! The speedlight is positioned just outside the frame. The further away the light source, the more power it loses, so proximity was key, but I couldn't have it so close that it would appear in the picture. ##### Making the moment I asked Sophie to walk slowly towards me, while imagining she was looking for something small and hard to spot in the grass, such as an earring in the grass. This meant she would have her head down, her hair blowing in the breeze, and a steady pace as she came nearer. I lay in the grass to get a very low perspective. This adds drama and also reduces the amount of lit grass visible to the camera. If I was standing up, you'd see the large pool of light on the grass from the speedlight, but because of my angle we can only see a thin strip of light instead. With all the technical set-up covered, it was just a matter of shooting a number of frames, trying to capture her foot while it was in an optimal position. This was my favourite. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 100mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Video | Five Ideas For Off-Camera Flash](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/location-lighting/off-camera-flash-techniques/) The thing about off-camera flash is that it has the reputation for being complicated but, like all things, once you get the hang of it, it's one of the most useful techniques you can have. In this video, we step through how to use off-camera flash, how to approach your settings and then show five different creative ideas for using it in the field, from replicating stunning 'natural' daylight to theatrical effects with smoke and silhouettes. If you fancy getting hands-on with off-camera flash and don't know where to start, it's one of our regular workshops - the next one is on the 20th January, 2025. Come along and get to grips with one of the most creative ways to light your portraits! #### Images Created In The Video A few of the images we create in this video: #### Transcript Hello, one and all. In this video, we're going to explore the many and varied uses of off camera flash, whether it's for creating flattering light, whether it's creating effects, isolating subjects, or frankly, a lot of fun and a little bit of theatre. I really, really, really hope you enjoy this video. So with all of the things you have available to you when you're shooting outdoors, or shooting in a room that already has light in it, why would you bother using off camera flash? Camera flash. Well, it's really simple is that you can have glorious, beautiful light. Anywhere you go, as long as you're willing to carry a light in a stand or have an assistant. It means you can create the same light you'd expect to have in the studio, well, right here in the outdoors. So let's just have a quick think about how it works. And off camera flash is in some senses quite complicated, but in others is really simple. So let's just deal with the simple. The simple idea is you have a certain amount of light coming from your scene, that's your background normally, and then you're going to use off camera flash or a strobe or something similar to throw light onto your subject. You've got background light, that's your first set of light. And then when you're happy with that, you're gonna throw a little bit of extra light in to light up your subject. So let me talk it through with a real scene. For this scene. We took Loretta and we just popped her in front of one of our walls in the garden, and I set the camera at about ISO 100. I set it up at about hundred 25th of a second. And when I say about , of course I said it exactly, uh, hundred, 120 fifth a second, ISO 100 at F four. And that gave me a nice darkish. Background, I'm still getting daylight through, and then once I was happy I'd got the tonality of that overall, we brought in the strobe and lit Loretta, so that she was lit independently. So, in broad terms, if you change the aperture, or if you change the ISO, it's going to change the brightness of absolutely everything. If you change your shutter speed, it's really only going to affect lighting. The background, or the bits of your scene that are not lit by the strobe. And if you watch me go through this process, as gradually I increase the shutter speed, and by doing that I'm reducing the amount of background light coming in, you can see that I step up through these shutter speeds, the background gets darker, but the strobe is continuing to light my scene. Loretta absolutely perfectly until I get to somewhere up around the 250th of a second, which is the shutter sink speed. In which case, for all sorts of technical reasons, the light starts to work slightly differently, and you can see now it's going gradually darker and eventually it's so dark. I have to just lean around, turn the power up on my strobe and pop it back in. And you can see now that the background is incredibly dark, almost black. Um, but Loretta is still lit beautifully and that's how you approach it. So the why for this video is you do it so that you have beautiful lighting. Wherever you are, the how is set your background up first, get that about right and then gradually just dial in your strobe or your, um, flash until it's exactly the lighting that you want. Now, if you start with something like, um, 120 second is not a bad shout. Because it means if I decide I want the background slightly lighter, I can open up by a little click or two. If I want it slightly darker, I can close it down by a click or two. So I have a little bit of control, a little bit of latitude left, but that's how you do it. Set your background without the strobe. Get it how you want it ish, bring in your strobe, get that how you want it to balance, and then you're done. And you can be creative, take the shots exactly as if you were in the studio. And in this video, we're going to show you some ideas about how to do that, how to do that creatively. So you're not just taking a studio shot using Mother Nature as your backdrop, but you're doing some interesting things. And throughout the video, we'll explore lots of ways of being creative with off camera flash. So for this first shot, all I'm going to do is use the world as my studio. So I'm trying to create an image where it's beautifully lit, but it's lit in a way that I don't know is So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you a quick demonstration that you'd see that we're using off camera flash. The idea is to take a picture that looks natural, that's beautiful, and I'm using off camera flash because I've deliberately placed our model, and this is Millie, I've deliberately placed her in a spot where I know the light is really bad. Behind me there's a huge tree, there's not a lot of light coming through, and that's going to create terrible light on her face and her figure. So we've brought in our lighting, and for this particular video we're using an amazing off camera flash called an Elinchrom Three. Which is just big enough to give you a ton of power and small enough to be portable. And that's our chosen light for today. So I've got bad light behind me, so we're definitely going to use light from the strobe. We've placed, um, Millie where I want her. The background's a long way away. And I've done that so that it throws out of focus, so that it's just blurred. So it's not really part of the shot, but I love the colors and it's autumn and there's greens and golds and reds. And I just thought it'd be really, really nice. I've set my first exposure, I've set that background exposure to be how I want it, so it's just toned down a little bit, it's a little bit darker than possibly it would be if I was creating a daylight photograph out here, and that just enriches, enriches the colours, it just saturates them up ever so slightly, then we've brought the strobe in with a small softbox, it's a 30 by 100 centimetre softbox, which is just, it's a nice strip size, so it's 100 centimetre on its long edge, which means I can use it Like a big light in the studio, but because it's narrow, it's also really light. It's not a heavy, uh, box to carry around. And I prefer for me a rectangular light source. Lots of photographers like round or octagons, I just happen to like square, uh, light sources 'cause they look more natural to me. For this shot, I'm using the strip box set horizontally. So I've got one meter wide light wrapping light around Millie, which is beautiful, gives soft edges to the shadows. It gives a very even light in that direction. I've got it set, though, with 30cm on the vertical plane. It means that light is going to fall off, roll off really quickly. So it'll just go darker down her figure. So I've got this beautiful light wrapping around, but it'll go darker as I get lower to the floor. And I like working like that. I think it looks natural. The cat's lights in the eyes will look very similar to what you'd see in a skylight. Um, so I've just set up. I've got my exposure right for the background. Bring the light in, more or less where I want it, and then we're just dialing in the power until I get it exactly as I feel. It feels natural. You could use a light meter for this if you want to. I don't. I do it using the camera and the histograms and the displays to gauge how I want it. Um, if I want to make the background slightly darker, I just increase the shutter speed ever so slightly. If I want to make it lighter, similarly, I just open the shutter speed ever so slightly. Just as I said in the earlier chapter, that's how you control the relative light settings. And I've played with the angles, and one thing that doesn't work outdoors like this is the modeling light really is ineffective. I can use it if I just want to spot the catch lights, but it's not good for anything else. So, um, you can put the cat, you can put the modeling light on if you want to, But broadly speaking, I'll turn that off simply because it saves battery power and it's not doing any good. Once I've got that right, taken a few shots, absolutely beautiful, and then we've brought Matt. So Matt is Millie's boyfriend. And I've brought the light back in, but this time I've moved it so it's vertical. And that just gives me lighting down the body, but gives me Much quicker roll off across the face. Just a different way of doing it. Lots of people have different ways and you can use either, and that's the joy of using a strip box, is they're incredibly versatile. So again, I've just set everything as I wanted it, but this time I've got that background, just that little bit darker, and I've brought the light in quite close. So you get this beautiful catch light in the eye, nice wrapped light, beautiful shape and form. Background's nearly black. Matt looks brilliant. What an easy way to create natural looking photographs. Outside when frankly the light is awful. So as we've seen both in the introduction and in our first shot. We're lighting our subject who's in the foreground, and then using daylight to light the background, but of course, you could adapt that, so you're just lighting a pocket of light with the strobe, and your foreground's dark, and your background is dark. Now, I will happily admit, the only reason we've done this in this particular video, is because it rained. It always rains. We try and film, down comes the rain, so we've had to move everything inside. Now, I don't mind working in the rain, but one thing about strobes, There were some fairly high voltages involved. And so I don't really like having them outside unless they're really weather tight. I've got them bagged, we've got waterproofing on them. And today we haven't. So we've moved everything inside or into this sort of barn area just for a moment. And for this shot, what we've done is we've put Millie into a gap let's say we've put Million's who got, we've cleared a gap in our barn. So that there's space between some stuff in the foreground and some stuff in the background. That makes a nice location for Mary to lean nonchalantly like the supermodel that she is, of course. And then we brought the strobe in with it still with its one meter by 30 centimeter box on it, and we just maneuvered the light around. Same process. Okay, we've set the scene, the whole light for the scene with the strobe off, and we've just darkened it to where I want it, and then brought the strobe in, and turned its power up until we've got it exactly the way we'd like it. We're using texture and form, we're using the sort of layers between the front and back, and then popping light into the middle, to create, The subject, now the thing about lighting and the thing about using, um, focus differential, uh, out of focus regions or vignettes, they're really all designed to do the same thing, which is to draw the viewer's attention to the bit of the story you want. That's it, that's our job. Obviously the light. Matter of fact, Medicare has to flatter the subject. But what you're trying to do is figure out what's the story. The story here is Milli. I want the light to pop through, I want everything else to be slightly darker. So that the viewer is drawn to Milli's face. That's my job as a portrait photographer. So what we've done is just make sure that the background and the foreground are that little bit darker that it appears to be. Poured light in from the softbox into the gap as if it was, I don't know, light from just a single window in the space so that you're automatically drawn in to Millie, who's the subject, which is exactly the way it should be. So, okay, in the end, we were forced into doing this in, uh, because of the weather, but that is the job of a portrait photographer is to make the best of everything you have around you. One of the great luxuries of off camera flash, if you can get your head around it. is you can now work anywhere when anything is thrown at you. So with that beautiful result, let's move on to idea number three. So for the introduction and the first two shots, we've used our studio lighting or studio type lighting as our key light. We've used it as beautiful, soft, flattering light. But what happens if you've already got flattering light outdoors? And here we have actually a moment in between the clouds and the showers, where we do have some beautiful light coming in and lighting Millie's face. So in this instance, you don't necessarily need off camera flash, I could just take a daylight shot, but you can see that the shadows around her, Today we're going to be looking at a man, a pretty dark, it's you, sort of, drifting into the background, and actually for me, that's a style of photography I really like. But occasionally, let's say I'm doing something specific, or I want the effect of it, or maybe I'm working with a hair salon where they want things like hair to shine, You can add a second light source, a kiss light, to separate your subject away from your background. And if you remember what I said In the previous idea, a lot of what we're doing is trying to draw attention to our subject. So using a kiss, like using a kicker, these kind of light tricks are great for bringing your subject forwards. So we've lit merely first. I've just got her set in the scene. The light on her face is pretty much perfect. You can see there's great catch lights in her, her eyes and her skin. The texture looks great. Big soft light coming from those. Uh, clouds behind me. Then what we've done is popped a flash in behind and just turn the power down as low as I can get it. Now, not every strobe will do that. These threes will do it pretty well. Um, just so I've got this tiny amount of kiss lighting in, then it's a little bit of a trick of balancing the two. So, initially, although I've got everything right, when I brought that second uh, light source in, when I brought the kiss light in, the kiss light was too bright. So I've had to then knock down my eye. So. Just drop everything down, and to compensate for that, I've opened up the shutter speed a little bit to brighten the whole scene back up, and then just dropped in, uh, the strobe in behind, and you can see it gives this beautiful shine to Millie's hair, it separates her from the background, it adds a level of sophistication to the image, uh, that just, it's almost invisible, people won't really notice it, but it just adds quality, and then we've done exactly the same thing with Matt, we've just brought him into the scene, But this time I've brought that kiss light in a little bit tighter, so it's a little bit brighter, a little bit I suppose harsher the way I've lit it, because with a guy you can use the angles in a slightly different way, and of course I'm not trying to make his hair shine, I'm just trying to define his jawline, his figure, uh, and the coat that he's wearing. Both are very simple techniques to do, just moving the flash around, and of course it's an obvious point, but if you want a flash to be, uh, less bright, you don't just have to turn the power down, or you could just turn the power down, but if you want it even brighter. Darker than that, move it away. If you want it brighter, you can just move it in. Of course, it changes the shape of the light, but it's a different way of changing its impact on the scene. And with that, let's go on to the next idea. And so for this idea, why not try and use your off camera flash in a way That replicates maybe sunlight. So we've gone for the natural skylight with the big soft boxes, but this time we're gonna try and use it in a way that makes it look like our subject is in sunshine, rippling through the leaves. Now our courtyard here is a great location for it, but it's not huge. So we've battled it out. It took me a minute. to find a location for the light where, when it struck the wall and struck our models, it looked like it could be sunlight, Now of course it can't quite be sunlight, for a start, the shadows that are cast by the sun are for all intents and purposes, absolutely parallel. Whereas the light, or the shadows rather cast by a point light source within 2 meters or 3 meters, they're gonna be Divergent. The, the shadows are gonna get bigger as they move away. And you see this very often in drama programs. It's a big thing if you see shadows cast on a back wall, even a lighting cast on all wall behind us here, if the light is diverging, that's not from the sun. It's from a light source much closer. But it took me a while to find that spot where all of the light hung together and it felt reasonably. natural. Now the thing with this, if you're doing this kind of shot, is you're going to need almost certainly your strobe set to full power. It doesn't matter what light you're using, whack it up to full because we want that to be almost all of the light source. So we'll balance that out, that's fine. It doesn't really matter if bits of the, uh, the scene go into the shadows, but it has to look like your key light is a sunlight. And to that end, we've set the power to full, we've taken all of the modifiers off, it's just a bare head strobe, slung on a strobe, high in the air. As high as I can get it on this, uh, particular light stand. Anyway, we found a spot where it's behind some leaves, so some of the light is now coming through those leaves. It's lighting our doorway in the courtyard. We've used matte to stage it because by this point it's really cold. It wasn't the warmest of days to be doing outdoor off camera flash, Millie's cold. So we've used Matt for a little bit. And it's great because it gives us a chance to try things out and he's pretty game. Now when I've got all of that set, we've switched Matt out for Millie, um, and just adjusted it a little tiny adjustment so that the light striking her and the pose that she's gonna pull creates a flattering light across her face and down her figure. Because in the end I'm still doing the same job, just because we're replicating sunlight. Doesn't mean it shouldn't be flattering. And of course, if you've worked in sun light, you know that some angles work better than others. There's no point having Millie dip her head too much because it's going to create dark shadows in the eyes. So we've posed Millie in sympathy with the lighting. Again, quite a lot of trial and error going on because we can't use the modeling light to its extent that you might expect in the studio. But here you go. What beautiful shot. The light comes in, it looks like it's lit by the sunshine. Yeah, right, we get a little bit of roll off as we go across the scene because, of course, the inverse square law, if you double the distance, you quarter the light. Of course, every photographer is brought up with that, but here it is in absolute illustration. The further away you get across the frame, ever so slightly, it's getting darker. But it's still a beautiful shot. It's a neat idea. And with that, we go on to idea number five. So for this last idea, what we're going to do is punch light out through one of the little barn doors we have in our studio. So we've taken the barn door out, we've put the light source inside our studio shining out, and this is a similar idea you could use if you have a strong light source, Just coming outta somebody's windows here, we're using off-camera flash to do it because by now the light levels are pretty gloomy. And I just thought it'd make a really interesting scene because we have this little corridor with some steps, and next to it is where the barn door is, and that's how gonna be our light source. And then if we crop it and frame it in the right way, we've got this brick wall, this really interesting stone and brick wall to offset and create this sort of structure within a structure frame within a frame. So all of this is going on. Now, throughout this session and throughout most of our videos, I've shot everything horizontally, because it looks better in the video. It makes Katie's job, when she's editing, that little bit easier. But of course, a shot like this, I would also shoot in portrait, and you can see a few of those. Have been done, uh, in a vertical format because it just, I think that's probably how the shot should be. Now in terms of creating the image and framing image, the same technique, I've set my background levels, then dialed in the power on the, on the flash. Uh, the trigger wasn't quite reaching it, so we've had to do this a little bit by shouting at each other, um, so someone's in, inside the studio, controlling the power, and I'm shouting the levels I want through it, uh, God bless brick walls, you can't get, um, necessarily all of the Wi Fi signals through it. Well, that's fine. We got to where we needed to get to. Um, and then there's some decisions about how I wanted it to look. Now, if I just move left and right, parts of the wall appear or disappear. If I move up and down, parts of the sky behind Millie appear and disappear. And I have to make decisions as I go as to what I want. When the sky appears in the scene, it's kind of nice in that it shows that it's an outdoor scene, but sort of it also draws your eye up and away. So I've tended to shoot with that sky out of most of the shots. I've tried a few with it in to see what it would look like. Also, the light is bouncing off, so that it's coming out of the barn door, it's striking across the stairs, hitting Millie, and then bouncing back off an orange red brick wall that's to her left, of camera left. And that's creating this beautiful warm glow. I'll admit, not necessarily an expected warm glow. I expected a kicked light, but I hadn't really factored in the color, but I really like it. It has this warmth. It has this sort of autumnal glow about it. It feels like, you know, the same kind of lighting you'd get if you had a log fire. It's that beautiful warmth against the coolness and the greens and the blues and the grays of the background. A simple image to do once you get your head around what you're trying to achieve. Soft, flattering light or melee. The posing is done in a way that tries to make it nice and compact. But also just moves her face around towards the light so that the light is striking. Across the mask of a face, exactly as if I was working in the studio. And that's idea number five, but of course it wouldn't be one of our five ideas if it didn't have a sixth idea. And so with that, let's head on to a bonus. So for this bonus idea, what'd you do? Well, of course, use all of the tools at your disposal. I've got Matt. I've got Millie, I've got the strobe, and, well, we've added in a smoke machine. This particular machine is a PMI Smoke Genie. Fantastic bit of kit, and we will do a video dedicated to the art, the craft, and the isolating your smoke alarms of using smoke machines at a later date. I just thought it'd be fun. I just thought it'd be entertaining. Now, I've taken plenty of wedding photographs on misty days, sometimes just using normal light, sometimes punching light in the background. And if you look through any wedding photographer's portfolio, there's going to be at least one shot where the couple are just romantically posed and they're backlit using a strobe. That's another use for off camera flash. But here we wanted to add a little bit of theatre because we don't have a wedding dress. We don't have all of the drama that naturally goes on. What we've got is just Millie and Matt, who just are adorable. They're a lovely couple. And we've tried to find a spot where, firstly, I can control the light, and secondly, I can drift smoke through the scene. So we've ended up back in our barn. We tried a couple of different places, but the wind direction sort of governs it. It's not a windy day particularly, but there's a limit to the controllability when you're starting to drift smoke around. So we've popped the strobe in the background. I've posed the guys in a way. where it tells a story. Now, when you're doing this kind of shot, Whether it's just a straight silhouette, or you're using mist or smoke, is you need to sort of tell a shadow play story. If you watch Asian shadow puppetry, this is the kind of trick they do with just silhouettes, outlines of characters, and we're trying to do the same thing. So we want it to look romantic, we want it to look close and intimate, we want to add some theatre and drama using the mist, um, and the light. But the first bit to get right is the narrative in the posing. So we've got them really close together. But then I've got them to lean back and pitch their heads in ever so slightly as if they're going to kiss. Um, hand positioning and their faces, it's all done so that there's a gap between them. It's really important that there's just that little bit of space that allows the light to come through. If you just clamp them together in the silhouette, it doesn't look really, it just doesn't look quite right. So we've very carefully posed it and we've had quite a few goes at getting that right. Obviously there's a lot of laughter involved, because you're trying to say to someone, Oh, be intimate, be romantic, pretend that there's not three people around you filming you, smoking you out and taking pictures all at the same time. Pretend we're not here, is a trick in and of itself. However we did it, And once I've got the pose and I've got the light where I want it, so it just pokes through the gap between their torsos, then we've added in the smoke. Now, the great thing about the Smoke Genie and its remote control and the fan on it is I can fog it really quite quickly. So we just keep punching the remote control, drifting the smoke in, the wind directions carrying that fog towards the camera. So all of that mist is going to come round. Which gives you that iridescence, that little bit of flair as the rays of light from the strobe sort of hit the smoke sort of off the edges and it softens all of those edges for you. It's a really simple trick. You could do this on a misty night. Um, the strobe is placed where it is. I've got it whacked up to full power because really the West, I'm not balancing against daylight here. I've got a little bit of light around it. But that's not the objective. I'm just using as much light as I can to darken everything down. Then it's just a case of hoping that the smoke's in the right place, when the couple are in the perfect position, firing a flash, and there it is. It's a piece of theatre, it's a little bit of drama, it's a lot of fun to do, and we'll explore those, some of these ideas in a later video. So if you think that's dramatic, have a look at this next bonus, where we take Jess, who's six years old, and do something even more theatrical. MUSIC So if you think off camera flash isn't something you'd use on a client shoot, think again. So for this shot, genuinely, genuinely, We weren't supposed to be doing this, but Jess, uh, who's Loretta's daughter, so that is one of our regular moral models or clients. Jess is six years old and is brilliant, full of attitude, full of confidence, and we're close to Halloween and she's turned up and she's wearing this great red coat and these boots and she's just rocking the look. And at the end of the shoot, I looked out into the courtyard and thought, you know, what would be fun is if we set Jess out there in a red coat, because at the time I was thinking like red riding hoods, Through to those kind of dark fairy tales and thought it might just be fun. So we popped her outside, um, lit from the background. We popped one of the lights into the doorway of one of the Barnes here. So it was flooding forwards and we put a second off camera flash. This time we're using two lights. I'm using an off camera flash behind her with just a dish on it. So that's throwing light towards the camera. And then we've got another light, which is lighting up Jesse's face. Simple lighting technique, split into two. You're lighting her face, you're lighting forward. So now I've got. Daylight, I've got an off camera flash to the back and an off camera flash to the side, so I'm using it to its full extent. But that hasn't finished the job. Of course, what do you do when it's close to Halloween and you've got all of this lighting going on? You fill it with smoke. And that's a lot of fun. We've got all the smoke machines out. We're just now playing with toys. We've got the Smoke Genie and two Smoke Ninjas all pouring smoke in because we needed as much as we could get. And there's a slight breeze, and we wanted to create as much theatre and drama as we can. You adjust the light, the height of the light in the background, up and down, left and right, so it's completely hidden behind Jess, but it's wrapping light through the smoke around her. We place the, um, gridded softbox, it's a 30 centimetre by one metre, a small softbox, again, it's got an Elinchrom Three. Um, and with a grid on it just to isolate the light so it's only going towards Jess. It's not lighting the rest of the scene at all because I want the theatre to be in the smoke and the background and the way that's kind of darkened, gloomy. Um, Jess, Just brilliant. We're laughing our heads off, moving things around, and the first few shots we didn't have colored lights, and I'm looking at the scene, and it feels like it needs something else, and I said to the guys, I think maybe a blue gel, but as always, it's best to listen to your team, because they see things that you don't, and Katie quite simply said, nah, it's got to be Because it's Halloween and she's wearing a red dress and a whole lot will tie together. Now, I hate to credit other people when I get a great shot, but in this instance, Katie was bang on the money. We lit it with a bright red gel, tons of smoke, tons of light, just, just rocked the look, and there we have it. Theater in its finest form for Halloween to finish the shot. I admit I've used a little bit of AI just to pop a pumpkin into the bottom right corner, but it looked just as good without, I just felt like for Halloween of when we released the, the reel as we did in the end, that would just catch people's eye a little bit more. Not a huge fan of using AI for all these things, but in this instance, it's only a supporting act that could have dragged, dragged a stock photo in there. And it just goes to show if you have imagination and if you have optimism and you have just a little bit of kit. And just go for it. It's amazing what you can create. What a beautiful way to finish this video off. Well, thank you for reaching the end of this video. Now, we would love to see your work. Of course, we would. And when you're a portrait photography junkie like us, well, what else do you expect? As a subscriber to Mastering Portrait Photography, why not head across to the Facebook community and upload a few of your images using off camera flash for me, my team, and the myriad of like minded members. But whatever else you do, off camera flash or otherwise, until next time. Be kind to yourself. Take care. I'm gonna get a much quicker roll light off. Uh, light roll. Much. A much, much. It's ah, ah, my car. I say roll off. Yeah, I'm set. Apparently I'm now in the zone according to Sharpe, someone or other. It isn't working. That was perfect. Did you see that? That was perfect. Go me, straight up. Automaesthetic. Yes, exactly what you said. Automaesthetic. We're working with Millie. I'm looking at Katie's face. Think about that cookie. All right, I'm thinking about that cookie. I'm not a child. Do your homework, you'll get a cookie. All right, I'm doing it, I'm doing it. Honestly, mum, I'm doing it. At what point do my people that work for me become my parents? Paul, concentrate or you're not getting your breakfast. You're not, you're not going to. Scene six, idea, vive, take one. Vive. Automaesthetic. So I did that again. Scene six, idea, vive. What the going wrong? Idea, five, five. I want my cookie. Give me my cookie. I want my cookie. Ha ha ha. It's my reward, ladies and gentlemen, my reward. I get a cookie! Ha! Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom. Turn it off! Your body language says it's not fine. There's a clapperboard without your name on it and you're like Twitching. All right. No, I've rubbed out. Do not rub. It just says, do not. Sorry. I'm trying to hold it in the corner now. Whatever else. Do not, Katie. Uh, where are we? Got your head in your hands. I think I earned a cookie. Damn it. ### [Natural Light Photography Techniques](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/) Natural Light Photography Techniques Many professional portrait photographers focus on natural light photography techniques, working exclusively with available light. This encompasses both the natural light present in the environment and any artificial light that might be available at the time of shooting. This approach can yield stunning results, allowing photographers to harness the ambiance and character of their surroundings. Understanding how to effectively use natural light in photography is crucial for capturing beautiful portraits that resonate with authenticity. #### Available Light Portrait Photography When it comes to available light portrait photography, the challenge lies in working with the light that's already in the scene. This could involve positioning your subject to make the most of sunlight filtering through trees or utilizing the soft glow of an overcast sky. Each setting presents unique opportunities and challenges that can significantly impact the final image. #### Using Natural Light in Photography Let's take an example: shooting outdoors during the golden hour, that magical time shortly after sunrise or before sunset when the light is warm and soft. This natural light can create a flattering glow on your subject's skin, enhancing the overall mood of the portrait. However, it's important to consider how the angle of the light affects your composition. If the sun is too low, harsh shadows may fall across your subject's face. Adjusting your subject's position or using reflectors can help soften these shadows and create a more even lighting effect. #### Portrait Lighting Techniques In contrast, shooting in the middle of the day can pose challenges due to the harsh overhead sunlight, which can create unflattering shadows. Here, using natural light effectively might involve seeking shade under a tree or building. Alternatively, you could consider using a diffuser to soften the light. This technique allows you to create a more even and pleasing light on your subject, proving that even challenging conditions can be transformed into beautiful portrait lighting techniques. Ultimately, mastering natural light photography techniques requires a keen understanding of light qualities and how to manipulate them to suit your artistic vision. By learning to observe and adapt to the natural light around you, you can create stunning portraits that are as dynamic and engaging as the subjects you capture. ### Explore More on Natural Light Photography Techniques ### [A Picture of Health | Fitness Portrait In Harsh Sunlight](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/fitness-portrait-harsh-sunlight/) ### How Harsh Sunlight Can Actually Flatter a Fitness Portrait A wide range of characters pass through our studio, and often there's a local flavour - as was the case when I was asked to shoot a fitness portrait in harsh sunlight of the gym's very own founder. One of our connections in Haddenham is Steve Gregory, founder of Fitlife - an incredible local boutique gym. When I say gym, that barely scratches the surface. Fitlife is a brand built around establishing health, both mental and physical, through exercise. I don't know how you create an atmosphere where people genuinely flock to get sweaty and change their lives, but Steve and the team have absolutely nailed it. We've had a connection since Fitlife opened - we even documented the transformation from rubble and bricks to the pristine place it is now. I'm a regular visitor, both as a photographer and a customer, and I genuinely love working there. Every couple of months we update portraits of the trainers and their clients, giving Steve a fresh portfolio of marketing images. The timings are tricky - most staff are in back-to-back one-to-one sessions, so finding gaps in their diaries usually means around 20 minutes per trainer. And it's not just their time: the gym is in constant use, so I have to avoid accidentally including clients who'd rather not be photographed mid-workout. The various rooms run spin classes, interval training, boxing fitness, yoga and Pilates throughout the day. Being quick and agile matters just as much as being creative. ### The Session Fitlife is a funky brand, and the images have to match that. The rooms are dark - black walls, dark floors, LED strip lighting and nightclub-style spotlights picking out areas in punchy colours. It's beautiful, but not straightforward. Like all gyms, it's full of mirrors, so I'm constantly checking I haven't captured my own reflection and that light isn't bouncing somewhere unwanted. I carry a bag of off-camera flash - Profoto B1s - with small umbrellas, softboxes, grids and colour gels, all packed so I can carry it in alone without clients tripping over it. Or me tripping over it, which happens with alarming regularity. This session covered four people - three trainers and Steve, who regularly updates his images for social media and his podcast. With each trainer we were after two things: a headshot for Instagram and a set of pictures tied to their specialist skill. The spin bike room has fantastic club-style spotlights, and I loved the blue they cast across the bikes and the trainer. I used strobes with colour gels to intensify that further. It's usually better to augment the existing light rather than override it - it looks more natural and keeps the photography in keeping with the brand Steve and his team have built. ### Shooting a Fitness Portrait in Harsh Sunlight The main gym area has high south-facing windows, and on a sunny day shafts of light pierce the space. I knew I wouldn't need the strobes for Steve's portraits - shooting a fitness portrait in harsh sunlight like this would give an incredible effect if I found the right spot. The hardest part was patience: waiting for a patch of floor to become free without disturbing someone mid-exercise. Once the space opened up, finding the angle wasn't too tricky. I wanted a blurred background and, of course, I wanted Steve to look fantastic - which wasn't difficult. He has strong cheekbones, and with light bouncing off mirrors and steelwork I knew I could pick them out with hard shadow. That's the joy and the challenge of direct sunlight in fitness portrait photography: it's brutal, high contrast, with hard shadow edges that reveal every detail. But it's massively rewarding once you get the hang of it. More often than not you need to underexpose to control the highlights. You run the risk of blocking up the shadows, but bright spots are the priority - you can usually recover shadow detail and add de-noising to dark areas if grain becomes noticeable. Blow out the highlights in skin, though, and the image will never look right. I spent a while finding the angle where Steve's jawline looked strong and the background held interesting shapes - notice the shaft of sunlight picking out the gym equipment behind him. I also made sure I hadn't caught myself in a mirror. Once I found the spot, Steve looked like a stage actor under theatrical lighting: full of drama, strength and intrigue. I often look a bit odd on location - standing still, holding out my hand and rotating slowly until the light falling across my fingers looks right. Here, I found my light and decided to use the mirror in the distance, including Steve's reflection in the background. I tried two versions: one with Steve sharp in the foreground, and one where his mirror-image was in focus while he was soft in the foreground. All Steve had to do was fold his arms, turn slightly so the Fitlife logos on his t-shirt were visible, and turn his face toward the light. Look carefully and you'll see the light isn't a single shaft but numerous thin vertical patterns - note the shadow falling across his nose. I thought it added to the drama rather than detracting from it, though it took some adjustment to get it exactly where I wanted. Asking someone to look strong while staying relaxed and precisely positioned isn't as easy as it sounds. ### Lighting Diagram ### Camera Settings - Camera: Nikon D800e - Lens: Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRii at 92mm - Exposure: 1/750s, f/2.8 at ISO 140 ### Post-Production Post-production was relatively straightforward. Ideally I'd have placed Steve further right in the frame, with the sunlight patterns raking across the gym machines behind him - but I was squashed between running machines with no room to manoeuvre. Instead, I cloned some of the light patterns across the image in Photoshop, then used Nik Color Efex 2 to add a little pop to the colours. ### Tips for Photographing in Harsh Sunlight - Visualise the final image first. I knew roughly how I wanted this fitness portrait to look - a shaft of harsh sunlight crossing the entire frame - but couldn't capture it in-camera. Shooting carefully and planning ahead let me get the composition I was after in post. - Harsh sunlight is great fun to work with - and it sets you apart, because it takes practice. Make sure the light strikes the face from a flattering angle (not too high), then adjust exposure to retain the highlights. Those hard shadow edges are what sculpt features like Steve's cheekbones. ### [Alice | Outdoor Portrait In A Pool Of Sunlight](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/video-outdoor-portrait-of-alice-using-direct-sunlight/) How to build texture and shape into your portraits using light and location. For this portrait, I needed to make a choice about whether or not the positives of the location outweighed its limitations. However, I loved the dappled sunlight, and wanted to use it like a spotlight on my subject, so couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop and shoot. Watch the video to find out why you shouldn't trust your camera's meter to expose correctly in a lighting situation like this, and what to expose for instead. ### [Bryony | Topshade & Frames Within Frames](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/bryony-topshade-frames-within-frames/) You can find top shade and framing devices in most natural and urban environments. These give your portraits great lighting and a stronger composition. This portrait of Bryony was taken in the outdoor area that backs on to our studio; part of international architect Peter Aldington's Turn End Gardens. I am incredibly lucky to have such easy access to a varied choice of spaces, but no matter where you're shooting, you can almost always find top shade and framing devices nearby. ##### Use top shade for gorgeously soft outdoor lighting On sunny days like this one, the best place to find soft, even light is just under the shelter of some overhead shade. This could be beneath a building's overhang, near the edge of a group of trees, or just within a porch or doorway, for example. In our studio garden we have an outbuilding that has a walkway through it, with an arched entrance at each end. I positioned Bryony just inside the near entrance, so that no direct sunlight was hitting her face. Instead, the light is being bounced from the ground and walls around her, making it soft and even by the time it reaches her skin. I'm standing under open sky, shooting towards the top shade that's sheltering Bryony from the sun. I positioned her just far enough under the top shade - but no further - and asked her to face towards the archway's entrance. This ensures the light is both controlled - it's front on to her - and that there's enough of it reaching her to pop catchlights into her eyes and make her the lightest part of the shot. If you can't find any ready-made top shade, you can always ask someone to hold a reflector (or a large towel/piece of cardboard etc.) above your subject to do the same job. Just crop in close to make sure you can't see the outlines of the shadow it creates on your subject! ##### Frame within a frame This portrait is a great example of using a frame within a frame to enhance a composition. The dark edges of the archway's entrance behind Bryony add depth, context, interest, visual balance and a sense of place. Instead of this just being a nice portrait of a beautiful woman, the viewer is given visual cues that suggest a narrative. The dark interior of the archway also provides increased contrast against Bryony's light dress, skin and hair, helping to lead your eye straight to her face and keep it there. Frames can be on one, some or all of the edges of the image - in this case it's on the left, top and right. They can be in the foreground or background (as here) and can be created by whatever you have on hand, including foliage, trees, other people or building elements. Before taking the shot, I adjusted my own position to control the placement of the frame relative to Bryony. I opted to position it so that the line of her body crosses the opening of the archway diagonally, bringing a touch of energy to the image. ##### Strike a pose I wanted to capture some slight movement in Bryony's hair, so I asked her to turn her back to me, then swing her face round to the camera when I asked. This adds a little energy and interest to the shot, and also prevents the frozen, slightly pained smile of someone who has been asked to hold a position too long! ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 105 - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Chris And Kyra | Outdoor Newborn Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/outdoor-newborn-portrait/) If it's hot outside, here's a newborn portrait that you can replicate. Everything is a potential source of inspiration: this one was inspired by a 1980s poster. It's a rare day that photographers in the UK can shoot a nude newborn outdoors - the weather just isn't warm enough most of the time. If you're lucky enough to time a newborn shoot with that one balmy summer day we get, or if you live in more exotic climes, here's a shot you can replicate. This portrait of Chris & Kyra was inspired by an iconic poster image from the 1980s. L'enfant features a muscled man holding a newborn baby, an image which went on to sell five million posters. The father for my shoot is a top UK cage fighter, so I knew he would have the muscle definition needed for a similar shot aesthetic. ##### Soft lighting on a sunny day Chris & Kyra are gently rim lit. Their near sides are in shadow with sunlight kissing the contours of their skin from the far side. Midday sun produces hard shadows and edges, which is not the look I was after, so I shielded the subjects from direct light by placing them in the shade of a tree. I asked Chris to lean back against the tree, to help steady him for the pose and also provide a subtle framing device on the right side of the image. The blurry shapes in the background of the image are sun-dappled bamboo shoots, helping to further soften the sun before it reached the subjects. They also provide background interest and a sense of place, without distracting too much attention away from the subjects. The resulting light pattern gives definition and shape to the bodies of the subjects, but in a very gentle way. The image feels very natural as a result: there's clearly no studio involved, the subjects are wearing nothing but their skin, and Chris's expression of love and delight is clearly genuine. ##### Safety first Remember that nude newborns need to be kept in a very warm environment (approx 27-30 degrees C), so don't try this shot unless the outdoor temperature is in that range. Oh, and it helps if your baby is as contented as this little girl was - Kyra's mum is a midwife, so Kyra was very well looked after! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 98mm - Aperture: f/4.8 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 200 ### [Cimmie | Feminine Urban Portraiture](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/cimmie-feminine-urban-portraiture/) Find out the most important things to look for in a location and how to create a simple, authentic and feminine portrait with a non-model subject. It's easy to focus on a location's problems (gutters, street signs, cables, etc.), but a slight change of angle or a different crop can solve all of these. As long as the lighting is good, there is usually a way to make the location work. It would have been easy to walk past this ordinary wooden door in a stone wall, but it provided the perfect opportunity for a portrait of Cimmie that contrasts her femininity against the masculinity of her environment. ##### Keeping poses authentic but feminine To get the pose, I simply chatted with Cimmie until she relaxed. She naturally took up a stance similar to what you see here, and all I had to do was finesse it. This makes the pose more reflective of her, rather than something that she wouldn't do normally. Cimmie's front leg is bent at the knee and with the foot slightly lifted. This does three things. Firstly, it shifts her weight to her back leg, which is partially hidden. Secondly, it softens the stance, making it more feminine and less confrontational. Thirdly, it narrows the figure in the legs, enhancing the curve of the figure up to the hips. An alternative way of achieving this is to ask your subject to cross her ankles. Once she was stood in place, I asked her to place her left hand in her pocket. People rarely stand with both hands dangling loosely, so having your subject's hands hanging by their sides looks odd. When facing the business end of a camera lens people forget what they would normally do with their hands, so it's up to you to guide them. Give at least one hand something to do such as resting on a hip, tucking into a pocket or interacting with something or something in the scene. If one or both hands are visible, soften them for a feminine portrait by splaying the fingers slightly, loosening a fist or facing the thumb side of the hand away from the camera. ##### Location, location, location This portrait was taken in a side street in a typical English village, and there are a whole bunch of reasons why I chose it. The door creates a frame within a frame, which is a powerful compositional tool. The wood it is made from is a darker tone than the other materials in the scene, providing enhanced contrast against Cimmie's skin and outfit. She is the lightest part of the image, which draws your eye to her. The different surfaces of the wall and pavement provide texture, interest and a sense of place to the shot. There's enough room in the location that I could shoot wide, with a large amount of ‘negative' space to the left of Cimmie, which adds drama to the image, and places my subject in a key part of the frame, according to the rule of thirds. The gaps between the bricks and stones, the panels of wood in the door and the curb edge all contribute repeating horizontal and vertical lines, which I've kept as perpendicular as possible. More important than a great location, though, is great lighting. This section of the wall has overhanging trees, which provide top shade and direction to the light (it's hitting Cimmie from in front and to the side). I'm shooting into the shady, North-facing side of the street, and the light is bouncing off a large wall directly behind me. This means she is sheltered from direct sunlight, but the reflected light is giving her face shape and depth. You may not have easy access to a little English village, but almost everywhere has potential. Look for the opportunities in the locations around you, and you'll start to see potential backgrounds everywhere. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 70mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/90 sec - ISO: 200 ### [David | Spotting A Location... After A Shoot](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/david-spotting-a-location-after-a-shoot/) This portrait was taken after a shoot had officially finished, yet it's my favourite of them all. Once you train your eye to notice great light in a location, you'll find it even when you're not looking. A private medical practice in Harley Street commissioned me to create portraits of their team, to be used on their new website. David is a surgeon at the practice and - like his colleagues - was lovely, but not very comfortable in front of the camera. I spent a day photographing them in their current premises at the time. But the team were preparing to move into new offices, and after our shoot David took me to see the new site. ##### Spotting an opportunity While we were in the new offices, I spotted this very dark, oak-clad corridor with a window at one end. I thought that the light there would be nice, and I also noticed that the suit the radiographer was wearing was roughly the same tone as the oak panels in the corridor. I thought the light and the similar tones would combine to make a really interesting low-key portrait. I asked David to stand in the light from the window. I then framed the shot with the right hand wall creating a lead-in from blurred to sharp. My angle - pressed up against the right hand wall - eliminated the window itself. If I had included it in the shot, it would have blown out to white, with no pixel detail, which I wanted to avoid. ##### Creating the pose I had noticed that David often put one hand in his pocket, so I asked him to do this, while making sure his watch was visible, as I liked the detail. Lastly, I asked him to look out of the window. The result is simple, relaxed but also professional and with a high end feel. David liked the shot so much he had it framed and put above his desk. That's not bad considering he wasn't looking forward to being photographed! ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 122mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 1100 ### [Eddie | Window-lit Groom's Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/windowlit-grooms-portrait-at-le-manoir/) We had just a couple of minutes to capture this portrait. To achieve it, I needed to consider the various light sources in the room, and pose this groom so he looked as relaxed as possible. ##### Relaxed groom's portrait at Le Manoir To me, Eddie looks a little like George Clooney, and once I had that in mind it was hard to forget! This was taken on the morning of Eddie's wedding, in the bar of Le Manoir. The light in there is really interesting as it comes mainly from two sets of windows at right angles but there's also artificial lighting on the walls above the pictures. I wanted an unusual portrait so we cleared the tables and stools and placed the chair in a spot of light so that Eddie would be lit primarily from the windows to the left with some back light from the windows to the back and right. ##### Keep poses natural With guys, it's best to keep poses very natural and not overwork them. Watch what your subject does normally then tune, adapt or exaggerate it, depending on the look you're going for. I posed Eddie to look relaxed, with his legs crossed and his arm leaning on the chair's armrest. By having him sit up straight but then lean very slightly towards the camera, he also comes across as more actively engaged with the viewer. I asked Eddie to clench his back teeth. This flexes the muscle at the bottom of the cheek and gives really good definition to the jaw line - it's a great way of giving a guy a squarer, more pronounced jaw. I then sat on the floor with my back pinned against the bar and used a wide angle lens to get everything into the shot. It was created with just available light; no flash was used. We didn't have a lot of time to get the shot - straight after this, we headed off to get Eddie to his wedding ceremony! ##### Room Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 30mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Ellis | Views of the Vale](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/ellis-views-of-the-vale/) This was captured at the end of a family shoot. We'd walked through the woods together, which I've found to be a really good way to get everybody very relaxed. As we left the woods we came across the edge of a hill, with a monument in front of us and Aylesbury Vale spread out at our feet. It was too good an opportunity to miss... I don't head out on shoots with a planned shot list. I might have a few ideas in mind but many of the portraits I take are in response to what I see when I walk around, particularly in a location I use less frequently like this one. This image was taken on a local hilltop that overlooks the Aylesbury Vale. It's beautiful up there, though often a little windswept too! The views are always breathtaking. Ellis's dad, Erik, was just standing looking out over the valleys and it struck me that there might be the potential for a nice image of the two of them together. I wanted to capture the relationship between them, but with most of the the focus on little Ellis. ##### Directing the action Erik was standing on the granite blocks of the monument and I asked him to put his hands in his pockets and move just a little closer towards the far edge of the blocks. The grass in front of the blocks drops gently down towards the valley - it's not a sheer drop as it perhaps looks here! I framed the shot and quickly adjusted the exposure (see note on the ISO and Shutter Speed below). Then I suggested to Ellis that he go over and give his dad a big hug. I knew that at Ellis' young age and small stature, he would have to wrap his hands around one of his dad's legs - although I had no idea which leg he would choose! Ellis happily cuddled in towards his dad, who instinctively reached a hand down to him. I had time to take a single image and then the moment where everything was perfectly aligned passed. But it was enough. The hug, the framing, the obvious affection and - most importantly - the expression on the little boy's face make this an image that is poignant as well as timeless. A black and white conversion in post-production meant that the fields of the Vale in the background turned into subtle textures instead of shades of green, keeping all the focus where it should be - on Ellis. ##### A note on the ISO and Shutter Speed We had just walked out of a dark woodland, so my camera was left on a higher ISO setting (ISO 500) than strictly necessary. I knew I wouldn't get another opportunity to capture this expression, so I quickly ramped up the shutter speed to correct the exposure and grabbed the moment. Sometimes great timing is more important than being technically perfect! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 125.0mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/1250 sec - ISO: 500 ### [Express Espresso Van](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/express-espresso-van/) What happens when a commercial client challenges you to create an unusual portrait in a place where the light isn't quite right? You get creative, work out what the final image should look like, then find out a way to make it happen, of course... This was a commercial shoot for Little Italy, an espresso bar a few hundred yards down the street from us in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. In lieu of payment, Little Italy display my portraits in their customer areas. Their typical client is also my ideal target client, so this arrangement is mutually beneficial: they get free photography, while my work gets exposure to locals with disposable income. This characterful van barely goes faster than walking pace, but we wanted to create a shot with energy and movement. It was destined to go in a big frame on the walls of the bar, where it looked incredibly striking once displayed. ##### The right location but the wrong light I found a location that was ideal with a non-distracting wall in the background and grass in the foreground. I wanted the van to be travelling from left to right across the frame, as this is the direction that people in English-speaking culture are taught to read. Matching this left to right flow across the image makes the whole thing more harmonious; it feels that things are how they should be. The whole scenario reminded me of cartoons where the artist has drawn a puff of cloud and some zoom lines behind a car or character that is moving at high speed. That's the kind of feeling I wanted to evoke here. And as characters generally travel left to right in comics (to lead the reader's eye to the next frame), this was another reason why I wanted the van travelling in this direction. I also wanted the van nearer to the edge of the right-hand-side of the image to give the sense that the van was going so fast it was going to zoom right out of the frame. This adds a little tension to the image (see the NOSE ROOM rule). However, the light was falling in the wrong direction. The sun was shining from the left of the scene, which would put Simon, the driver, in shade. I needed light on his face to draw your eye towards him - he is the subject of the portrait, after all. So I asked Simon to drive towards the sun, meaning he was travelling right to left. I decided I would flip the image in post-production to make the van travel in the direction I wanted, which meant I would need to flip the van's logo a second time to ensure it read correctly. ##### One image in two parts I shot this knowing I was likely to blend two images into one composite later on. This meant I would have more options in post-processing: if you capture a shot like this all at once, you're very limited if you change your mind on any element later on. So I also captured frames of the bare wall while Simon was taking the van around the block ready for the next lap. These shots gave me a full background, which meant I could use any chunk of the wall in the final image. I used the same focal length, focus point and exposure settings, then mimicked the speed of the van as I panned so that the blur would be identical. This consistency made the Photoshop editing easy. ##### Setting up the shot Simon did several loops around the green to provide multiple opportunities for me to capture the shot. I was lying on my stomach with my elbows propped on the ground to steady the camera. This helped me to keep the camera level as I panned in time with the van, at 1/25th of a second. I wanted the van to be sharp, so I focused on that. It was bright out so I needed to use a low ISO and a small aperture (f/22) to allow such a slow shutter speed without letting too much light into the camera and overexposing the image. However, the front-to-back focus of using such a small aperture did mean there were lots of dust spots visible that needed editing out afterwards! Although this is not your traditional portrait, it does highlight the need to be able to deal with client requests that stretch the boundaries of what you are comfortable shooting. With a bit of planning and thought, you can use your camera skills and knowledge of exposure to work out how best to capture a scene like this, delighting your client and ensuring they don't need to bring in another photographer for just one shot. ##### Camera Settings: - Focal Length: 180.0mm, - Aperture: f/22, - Shutter Speed: 1/8sec, - ISO: 100 ### [Family In A Frame Within A Frame](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/family-in-a-frame-within-a-frame/) Family In A Frame Within A Frame Frames within the edges of your image are a powerful way to strengthen your composition. Go one step further by stacking multiple frames-within-a-frame, as in this portrait of Mimi and Milos. Concepts Covered In This Article - Framing - Pregnancy Shots - Composition Mimi and Milos came to the studio having researched us more thoroughly than any client we've ever had. They wanted a series of shoots documenting the birth of their first baby, Dominik and Mimi brought numerous outfits with her, each of which was perfect and well thought out. We spent a while chatting about what they wanted and how we'd go about it. For me, pregnancy and newborn shoots are about family: the two of them (or three once baby arrives) and the closeness that goes with starting a new life. All of the pictures I took during this shoot aim to reflect this. ##### Stacking frames When I was composing this portrait, I wanted to include a frame-within-a-frame. Achieving this adds visual interest to the image while also bringing your eye back to the couple each time you explore the details of the shot. While it's relatively straightforward to include a frame-within-a-frame, what is more unusual (and even more effective) is to do this multiple times in a single image. In the foreground of the portrait, level with the couple, is a low brick wall that visually points towards them from both sides. The bricks extend up the left side of the frame and combine with the potted and hanging plants to further surround the couple with texture and interest. Behind them, framing their heads like a loose halo, is a background frame, which helps draw your eye to Mimi and Milos' faces. So we have the foreground frame drawing our focus to the closeness of their bodies, and the background frame drawing us to their soft expressions. To further strengthen the composition, I've chosen a spot in our studio garden where the couple will stand out as the lightest part of the scene. Our eyes are drawn to contrast, and will naturally look first at the brightest areas of an image. Lastly, I've composed so that Mimi and Milos are in one of the key parts of the image frame, according to the Rule of Thirds. In combination, these elements produce an image that looks crafted, a work of art rather than a snapshot. ##### Simple and heartfelt This is a simple image but it really goes to the heart of their relationship and how they feel about having a new addition. We have carried on photographing their family as Dominik is growing into a beautiful little boy, although they have now moved to Spain so we don't get to see them quite so often! As well as displaying this image in a beautiful 40-inch frame, Mimi and Milos also combined all of the images from their shoots into a lovely bespoke album. They tell me it brings huge amounts of joy to them when they look through it. And that's the kind of reaction that we portrait photographers live for. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 100.0mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/1000 sec - ISO: 280 ### [Film-Inspired Group Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/film-inspired-group-portrait/) This group portrait was taken under a bridge which featured in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Here's how I managed the guys' different heights & outfits. This portrait of Charles, James and William was taken in the London street where Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was filmed. The textured brick wall adds a gritty, urban feel to the shot, matched by the confident poses and cool expressions of my subjects. ##### Under the bridge We were just under the shade of a bridge, which is slightly to the right of the guys (as we're looking at it). This made the ambient light directional, as it was coming from the front and left of the scene. As a result, the gentle shadows on the men's faces give them shape and depth. As you can see from the tones across the brick wall, the light is strongest on the left and gets darker to the right. I placed Charles on the left, as he was wearing the darkest outfit. Then James in the middle, as he was wearing a light-coloured shirt but with a dark jacket over it. William, in the palest shirt, is on the right, in front of the darkest portion of the wall. This averages out the tones across the image to create a nice visual balance, and makes the guys stand out from the wall more due to the contrast. ##### Putting everyone into position I asked the guys to stand in front of the brick wall and then tweaked their positions, to keep everything natural but still styled. The two guys on the ends are facing outwards, with James facing towards the camera. Charles and James have their hands in their pockets while William has his hands behind his back. This gives each of them more individuality, as their poses and stances are slightly different. In a group shot, if everyone's faces are on the same level, it can look like a police line-up. With a group of three, I aim to create a subtle triangle shape from the position of the faces. Charles and James are the same height, so I've asked Charles to lean against the wall, which has reduced his height by a couple of inches. That's just enough to create the lower left angle in the triangle. William's face forms the bottom right. All in all, a simple shot in a famous London street that looks cool, characterful but relaxed. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 92mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 280 ### [Finn | Topshade and Framing in a Doorway](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/topshade-and-framing-in-a-doorway/) The door in the background of this portrait provides a sense of scale, while the boy's pose calls to mind a much older age group, creating a humorous contrast. Here's how it came together. ##### Finding topshade Finn is such a charming little chap - he did everything I asked of him and he had a really cool ‘swagger' about him. I asked Finn to stand in the frame of the door and he did so, looking really cool. Then I said something like, "Finn - look up the road there!". He turned, looked and this is the result. The light in the street just outside our studio is nearly always perfect. Direct sunlight can be too harsh, especially at midday. But along our street is a succession of overhanging trees that effectively mean that light comes from the sides but not too much from above. This provides topshade. Topshade blocks the direct rays of sun, which means your subject will be surrounded by softer, reflected light. This will result in lower contrast across the scene and smoother-looking skin on your subject. You can find topshade under the overhang of a building, or under the branches of leafy trees like we do. ##### Two composition techniques I love daylight and I love using doors, street furniture, windows, buildings, trees - in fact anything that can form a frame within the frame. Using frames in this way is a great compositional device because they can add interest, context, depth and balance to an image. This door (or gate) was perfect for its texture, sense of scale and background pattern, with the vertical planks of wood contrasting nicely against horizontal rows of brick around it. I've also framed the image so that Finn is positioned on one of the lines according to the rule of thirds, which is another guideline that can help you create stronger compositions. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 110mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/160 sec - ISO: 200 ### [Florence | Location Scouting & Cloud Cover](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/florence-location-scouting-cloud-cover/) We had a tight brief for this portrait. Here's how playing games, careful location scouting & controlling diffused daylight all played a part in its creation. This image was commissioned to promote a local beer festival. The brief was very specific: they wanted a red-headed girl playing hopscotch, to be used in a very tall, thin format (you can see the final ad below). If there's one thing kids love, it's playing games. Especially when those games involve movement. Enter Florence, who was more than willing to showcase what an accomplished hop-scotcher she is. ##### Location scouting Taking into account the unusual dimensions that were required for the final image, I looked around for possible locations. I wanted somewhere local that offered four things: Plenty of natural light A pleasant but not distracting background A floor surface that would show up the chalk markings Somewhere that offered a compositional advantage, such as lead-in lines This alleyway in my home town of Haddenham was perfect. I crouched down to get an angle that achieved the Venn diagram overlap of the following: showing that Florence was clearly airbourne, making the chalk marks visible (providing context to Florence's motion) and positioning the walls either side of Florence so they framed her and became lead-in lines. Lead-in lines draw the viewer's eye towards the subject. They strengthen your composition and therefore make your portraits more effective. Often, you can introduce a lead-in line simply by changing your angle or position. Here, the top and bottom edges of the two walls draw your eye towards Florence like four pointing fingers. ##### Cloud cover isn't directionless The sky was overcast on the day of the shoot, so I didn't need to worry about direct sunlight causing high contrast and making my subject squint. I set the shot up so that Florence was facing towards the brightest part of the sky, where the sun was masked behind a solid block of cloud. It's a common misconception that the light is completely directionless on a cloudy day, and that because of this you can shoot anywhere. In fact, it does still have a direction. You need to work with that direction in the same way as any other light source, otherwise you risk unsightly shadows. Although Florence is faced towards the brightest part of the sky here, had she been looking more towards the floor, her face would've been in shadow. It's much more effective with her in the position it is here, making her face one of the lightest parts of the image. A few reminders to Florence to look towards me and keep her head up were all that were needed. I shot loose, ensuring I left plenty of room around Florence so I could crop into the sides of the image later without cutting into her. Then, it was all about timing. I wanted to capture that microsecond when Florence was not travelling up nor down. She looks weightless, her hair haloed around her head and both feet apart from the ground. This took more than a few goes to achieve, but happily she didn't mind bouncing around until I got the shot I wanted! ##### Illustration ### [Iris | Soft Portraits In Hard Sun](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/iris-soft-portraits-in-hard-sun/) Sunny days are a mixed blessing: lots of light but it can be harsh & unflattering. Here's how you can use an unlikely reflector to shoot into the sun instead. ##### The perfect name Sometimes parents pick a name for their child that fits better than they could ever have hoped. This is Iris, and wow - she has the most incredible eyes. How best to capture them, sparkling with light, on a sunny day, without the pitfalls of direct sunlight? ##### Shooting into the sun Direct sunlight can be challenging to work with. It creates harsh highlights and shadows on your subject which can be unflattering, so careful positioning is needed. Asking a child to hold an exact position is a frustrating pursuit, so that's no good. In addition, direct sunlight makes subjects squint, wrinkling up their eyes. So if you're photographing a young child, and there's no shade around (or you've exhausted its possibilities), what else can you try? One option is to shoot into the sun, with a reflective surface behind you. That's what I've done here. The sun is behind Iris, turning her hair into a halo of light - this is called rim lighting. There's also some puddles of dappled light in the background, adding interest and bokeh*. Behind me is the large, pale wall of a house. It's this surface that's reflecting sunlight on to my subject, making Iris's face and eyes glow. Because it's a matt surface, the light that's reflected is soft, even and not too bright - meaning Iris's eyes are at their widest, with no squinting at all. ##### Adding energy with diagonals Wikipedia describes Bokeh as: "the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens" but to create those 'out-of-focus parts of an image' you need a relatively shallow depth of focus - particularly if the background is quite close - usually meaning the aperture needs to be wide open. All lenses have a Bokeh but not all of them create an attractive one! P. I've tilted the camera as I've shot, so that it feels a little more interesting than a vertical image. It means that Iris fills the frame more than she would if the camera was upright: there'd be empty spaces either side of her head in a vertical version. It's also brought two diagonals into play. First, there's the implied diagonal line from the top of her head down to her chest. Secondly, there's another from the top of her left (as we're looking at it) shoulder across her neck towards her other shoulder. So there you have a simple recipe for a great portrait: a stunning subject, soft reflected light and a little bit of interest thanks to bokeh and diagonals. ##### Location Diagram ##### Settings - Shutter Speed: 1/400s - Iso: 250 - Lens: 200mm - Aperture: f5 ### [Jade | Wintery Woods Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/jade-wintery-woods-portrait/) Rushing out to capture a snowy portrait, I took inspiration from Winnie-the-Pooh by imagining the scene as a drawing. This method can help you convey narrative. Our little village of Haddenham is iced with snow only once every few years - and even then it's usually the lightest dusting. Its rarity makes it a novelty, so we ran from the warmth of the studio as it began to fall and headed to the woods to make the most of the opportunity to create something different. ##### On the floor There are three reasons why I lay on my stomach to capture this portrait: two are practical considerations while the third is a creative decision. Firstly, Jade was sitting on a blanket, which stopped the snow from soaking into her jeans (no such luxuries for me!). Secondly, the snow was pretty sparse on the ground: a low camera angle helped to make it look more plentiful by hiding the stems of grass that were poking through. The creative decision was about the image's narrative. ##### Taking inspiration from Winnie-the-Pooh There are scenes from illustrated childhood stories that influence me even now. For instance, the book illustrator E. H. Shepard is most well-known for his drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh. If you look at the images from those stories, you'll notice that E. H. Shepard often depicts scenes from a low angle. This does several things. It brings more of the environment into view, rather than the ground. This makes for greater interest, a stronger sense of place and better reflects the way we experience the world: we focus on what's around us more than what's on the floor. In addition, the low angle makes the viewer feel more immersed and involved in the scene - we feel as though we are there, rather than having the detachment of looking down on the scene from above. Lastly, this angle places the viewer at or below the characters' eye levels, making the character the hero of each scene. These elements combine to create a portrait (or an illustration) that is more than a picture of someone's face and body. It starts to tell a story, and that provides intrigue for the viewer. What is Jade thinking about? How did she come to be sitting in this beautiful woodland on a snowy day? An image that has narrative creates questions in the viewer's mind, rather than being a visual cul-de-sac. ##### Draw your photographs There's an easy way to ensure your portraits convey narrative: draw them. Before setting up a shot, I used to sketch a pencil drawing of the main elements. If the composition looks strong on paper, I know it will work well as a photograph. Try it: look through a bunch of your shots and quickly sketch out what's happening in each one. Before taking your next shot, sketch it out. Does it work? Could it be improved? I still do this, but without the pen and paper: I visualise a mental sketch instead. If the sketch doesn't tell a story, I go back to the mental drawing board. I rearrange or tweak the elements and only then prepare to capture the photograph. This extra step forces you to reduce a scene to its main elements and search for the best way to link them all visually. Without it, there's a tendency to frame a scene using the camera's viewfinder, merely tweaking your angle or moving your position a little way in either direction. Good portraits come from making the best of what appears in your viewfinder, but great ones are planned. ##### Clashing colours? Go B&W In colour, you'd probably pass straight over this image. Jade is wearing a checked coat, marked jeans and bright welly boots. These bold, energetic patterns steal your eye away from Jade's face and the beauty of the scene, so I've drained all the colour out to create a more gentle image. In black and white the colour of her clothing has been reduced to interesting variations in tone. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 116mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/200 sec - ISO: 640 ### [Katalin | Using A House As A Massive Reflector](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/using-a-house-as-a-massive-reflector/) Sometimes the best light is from an unexpected source: find out how I used the white wall of a house near my studio as a giant reflector for this portrait. I frequently use reflectors in my work to soften shadows and bounce light back on to my subject's face. The bigger the reflector, the better, as a broader light source is softer and more natural-looking (you also don't have to watch out for the edge of the reflector's bounced light). But if I don't have a reflector to hand, or if there is a better alternative in the environment, I use that instead. ##### Using a house as a reflector Here, the sun is behind my model, Katalin, and her face is lit by reflected sunlight from a nearby house. The house has a large end wall painted in a light colour and this is a few metres to the left of the scene (as we're looking at it). If you have access to a large, matt surface, then you can position your subject to take advantage of the light it reflects. Any colour on that surface will tint the light that's reflected back, so look for white or very pale-coloured surfaces, otherwise you'll have a lot of colour correction to do in post-production. I've positioned Katalin in a strong, confident pose facing towards the wall, then asked her to turn her face towards me. The sun is lighting up the wall, with enough intensity that the bounced light has created modelling on Katalin's face. Modelling is a photography term for the dimensionality created by highlights and shadows on a subject's face. Flat, even lighting produces shots without modelling. Directional lighting creates modelling. In this portrait, the near side of Katalin's face has shadows along her nose, jawline and cheekbones. This modelling shows off the shape of her face and features. The sunlight behind Katalin has created a rim light; an intense highlight on the edge of her back, outstretched arm and through her hair. The trees behind Katalin are in the shade, so she is rim lit against a dark background, making her stand out even more. Even though her jacket and trousers are black, she is clearly defined against - and separated from - the dark area behind her, adding to the success of the portrait. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 150mm - Aperture: f/3.3 - Shutter speed: 1/350 sec - ISO: 150 ### [Kate | Intrigue In The Abbey](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/kate-intrigue-in-the-abbey/) Want your subject to shine, and your background to fade into the shadows? Make it happen by positioning your subject in a brighter patch of light and exposing for his or her skin. This portrait was taken while I was waiting to photograph a prom in an abbey. The room we were in was pleasant enough. However, as a portrait photographer I want your eyes to be drawn straight to my subject's face, not what's behind them. Lighting their face so it's the brightest part of the scene is an effective way to achieve this. ##### Underexposing the background I loved the sunlight coming in through the window of the room and drew the curtains tighter to see if I could create a more defined shaft of light. I knew that when exposing the skin of a subject standing in this patch of light, the background would become underexposed, making it less prominent and distracting. Indeed, although the background now looks dimly lit, it is still visible. This creates a nice narrative and suggests some kind of story or intrigue to the portrait. I deliberately chose a wide, landscape view of the scene with negative space to the left (as we're looking at it) so that the final image would feel more like a scene from a film than a portrait. I further emphasised this effect with a monochrome conversion in post-production, as this makes it reminiscent of a black and white movie which, to me, seemed more appropriate to the scene than colour. ##### Natural poses in beautiful light I asked Kate to lean back with one arm on the window sill and then turn her face slightly towards the light outside. This created the beautiful Rembrandt-style lighting pattern you see on her face. After your subject holds a pose or expression for more than a second or two, it can start to look less natural. My best tip for avoiding this is to work quickly! With her face angled towards the outdoors, I asked Kate to glance back to me so her eyes are looking into the camera and - ultimately - straight into your eyes as you view this portrait. I was ready to capture the shot as soon as she did this. This was the image that won me the 2011/12 International Contemporary Portrait Photographer of the Year Award. However, given the chance to go back and change one thing, I'd tidy the chairs in the background up so that they were in their proper place around the table. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 50mm - Aperture: f/3.2 - Shutter speed: 1/50 sec - ISO: 320 ### [Lucy | Portrait of an Artist In Her Home](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/lucy-portrait-of-an-artist-in-her-home/) Here's how I photographed one of the world's best portrait painters, using just window-light and white walls for a relaxed, confident portrait in her home. Lucy is a world-renowned portrait artist. I was asked to photograph her in her house for a magazine article, so I wanted create an image where she looks relaxed, confident and very much ‘at home'. Here's how I approached it. ##### Picking a location I chose to take this shot in Lucy's beautiful kitchen. It's painted nearly all white and has two large windows to the left (as we're looking at it). This meant there was plenty of natural light available, and it would be bounced around sufficiently to soften any shadows. I positioned Lucy with one of the windows to her right, with her body facing towards me but her face turned slightly towards the light. This gives the portrait dimensionality, as the shadows on the right side of her face and neck provide a sense of depth and shape. ##### Keeping it simple with the colour palette and pose Although everything we can see behind Lucy is white, the varying light levels mean some of the surfaces are recorded as greys and gradients, adding interest and tonal variation. The open door immediately behind Lucy frames her, while the one in the background gives depth to the shot and a sense of place. Lucy's clothes, skin and hair are the only splashes of colour in an otherwise monotone image, helping her to stand out and drawing your eye to her. I've kept the pose really simple; you can imagine Lucy standing here and laughing like this if she was chatting with a friend. It doesn't feel staged or false in any way. The only thing I've tweaked is her hand position. Whenever asking a woman to fold her arms like this, request that her fingers come in front of each bicep. Asking your subject to spread the fingers apart and bending them a little will soften the pose further. A lot of the success of this image comes down to the laughter. Getting on well with your subject is the only way to capture genuine reactions like this one, showing a subject completely at ease in a familiar space. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 50mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 1100 ### [Natural Settings](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/natural-settings/) Whether it's a walk in the woods, sitting in a meadow, playing in a garden or on a beach, the waves gently lapping in the distance, being in natural settings can be anything you want-dramatic, romantic, gentle, brutal, subtle, relaxing or exhilarating. The world around us can be the perfect location for almost any portrait. ### [Noah & Bailey | Telling A Story Using Viewpoint](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/noah-bailey-telling-a-story-using-viewpoint/) Shooting families with young children? Accompanying everyone on a walk allows you to capture relaxed shots like this one, with everyone being themselves and interacting naturally. It also means you are likely to end up getting muddy... ##### Rolling in the mud Twiggy, mud-splattered clothing is now an expected part of my appearance after an outdoor shoot. I spend a high proportion of my working day lying on my stomach, trying to get the lowest angle possible. In a portrait like this one, a low angle achieves three things. Firstly, the nearest section of the path has become blurred, making it more abstract and providing a framing device on the bottom edge of the shot. Secondly, lowering my position made the trees on the left and fence on the right become leading lines, drawing the viewer's eye towards the boys, Noah and Bailey. But most importantly, a low angle brings a narrative element to the image. ##### Telling a story How you frame your subject - and what they are doing within that frame - removes or provides context. The lower the camera angle, the more of the subject's surroundings we can see. This means the portrait becomes much more than just a nice photo of Noah and Bailey; it starts to tell a story. By this I don't mean a piece of fiction with a beginning, middle and end, but more of an excerpt. We can infer what is going on, rather than just seeing what the subject looks like. Most portraits don't tell a story. The photographer's intentions are more superficial. Perhaps he or she wants to capture and flatter the subject ("Aren't I good looking?!"), to provide a form of social proof ("I was here!"), capture an event reportage-style ("She gave him a kiss") or depict flat representations of a person ("Here's what he looks like"). These images make their point and we can move straight on; they are a visual fling. Images that convey narrative offer the viewer a deeper relationship. They invite questions from the viewer, such as "Where are the boys going to?", "What are they talking about?" and "What will they do with that stick!?". They prompt us to layer our own memories and emotions onto what we see. For me, this image recalls the everyday adventures of childhood, when we're still naive to life's worries and dramas. It reminds me of illustrations in children's storybooks, in particular bringing to mind E. H. Shepard's drawings of Winnie-the-Pooh holding hands with Piglet as they walk into the distance. It's easy to capture someone's likeness. It's bit harder to do it in a flattering way. It's much more interesting to do both of those things but also tell a story. Aim for the latter. ##### Freezing the footsteps Noah and Bailey were walking away from the camera, so there's a couple of things I did to make sure I captured the shot I had in mind. Firstly, I used a fairly fast shutter speed (1/500). Secondly, I used continuous focusing so that the camera was tracking their position and keeping them in focus. Lastly, I set the camera to continuous shooting and fired off a burst of shots, so I could pick the one were the boys' feet were in a optimum position. Noah's foot is just about to hit the floor; Bailey's is just about to be lifted. This gives the image a sense of movement and anticipation. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 200mm - Aperture: f/4.8 - Shutter speed: 1/500 sec - ISO: 800 ##### Room Mockup I love creating images like this - they look great on a wall! I know the client felt the same way (this mockup is very similar to how it looks in their home!) PS - if you fancy visualisation mockups like this one, they can be found here. ### [Phill | Outdoor Portrait Of A Groom-To-Be](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/phill-outdoor-portrait-of-a-groom-to-be/) For outdoor portraits on location, I'll often walk around an area with a subject. This keeps things relaxed and means when we come across a great location, we can set up a shot right there. However, although my general approach is spontaneous, I'm studying and checking every detail of the frame before I press the shutter release. ##### Relaxed groom-to-be portrait This was shot as part of an engagement portrait session at Black Heath, in Greenwich. Phill is one of the most fashion-savvy grooms I've had as a client, and I loved how calm, cool and chilled out he was. I can't remember why we ended up by the tree but it just seemed to work having him lean against it and look away. However, there's a lot about this image that is very intentional. ##### Frames, noses and lifting the exposure Firstly, I've changed my angle and his position to arrange him between the tree he is leaning on and the tree in the distant background as well as the branch passing over his head. This frame-within-a-frame is a compositional technique I use a lot. Secondly, although I have asked him to look away to the right of the frame, the tip of his nose is still contained within the profile of his cheek. If you allow your subject's nose to break across the facial outline, the nose appears larger and this is usually unflattering. Because my subject is looking off to the right of the image (as we're looking at it), I've also left space in the frame on that side. This is called nose room. Thirdly, you can see by the slight shadow on the ground that Phill is under what shade was available beneath the largely leafless trees at the time of this shoot. By positioning your subject in the shade, you can push the exposure up slightly. This allows for your subject being in a darker patch and helps to ‘lift' the rest of the image. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 140mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/320 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Portrait Blocks & Stabilisers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/portrait-blocks-stabilisers/) Portrait Blocks & Stabilisers Why you need wider shots to help you sell wall portraits, and how to place elements in your composition so they are either visual blocks or stabilisers. This kind of portrait works well on the wall. My subject, Emma, isn't so close up that the picture would feel overwhelming at a larger scale. The mood of the picture is calm and relaxing, and the environment surrounding Emma is beautiful in itself. If you're selling prints then bigger is better, so look for opportunities to include wider shots like this one in your portrait sets. ##### Blocks and stabilisers Art theory states that the placement of objects in an image can act as either a block or a stabiliser. In cultures where people read text from left to right, elements placed on the left edge of the frame (such as a tree, wall or streetlight) act as a block. They slow the eye's progress across the image, making it feel less harmonious or aesthetically pleasing. The same element placed on the right hand side of the frame, however, acts as a stabiliser. This means it keeps the eye from leaving the image, encouraging it to return instead to your subject. The opposite is true in cultures where people read text from right to left. In this case, the tree is on the right hand side, so I get a compositional tick from the art theorists. I've also used the trunk and branches of the tree as a framing device. They add subtle background interest to the shot (and a sense of place) while drawing your eye back to Emma, who is the lightest part of the picture. ##### A slice of sunlight I've matched the darker top edge of the image by darkening the foreground. This places Emma in a slice of sunlight in the middle of the frame. It's golden hour, so the sun is gentle enough that Emma can look directly towards it without squinting. When your subject is looking away from the camera, you don't need to worry so much about flattering light patterns. It's enough that the directional afternoon sun has given Emma's face and body a sense of shape through the highlights on the right side of her skin, and shadows on the left. ##### Posing and timing To achieve Emma's pose, I simply asked her to sit down in a way that felt comfortable, while facing towards the light. Then, all I needed to do was tidy up her pose slightly, by asking her to place her left arm on her left knee, and softening the fall of her hand. Then I waited. Just as the wind lifted her hair from her shoulders, I took the shot. This gives a little bit of movement to the image and helps viewers of the image to imagine the scene: warm, golden sunlight and a refreshing breeze. Bliss. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 82mm - Aperture: f/6.3 - Shutter speed: 1/400 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Posing A Couple In A Tourist Hotspot!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/posing-a-couple-in-a-tourist-hotspot/) When you want to include a famous city landmark in a portrait, you need to arrive very early, arrive very late, or be prepared to wait. And wait. And wait... This was taken below the Hertford Bridge in Oxford. The distinctive design of the bridge (thought to be inspired by this bridge in Venice), coupled with its proximity to other landmarks in the city mean that it is continually crowded with camera-welding tourists. Nevertheless, I was determined to get the shot I wanted. ##### Quintessentially English (/Italian) Gib and Geng were due to marry in Thailand but wanted to have their engagement pictures taken in the UK. They asked if we could create pictures in a 'quintessentially English location', so we chose Oxford. Oxford, of course, is English although the architecture captured here is Italian Baroque! They are both keen photographers which was really exciting as they came with a ton of ideas - and many, many outfit changes! We spent a couple of beautifully sunny hours in Oxford and I had seen this location but it was way too crowded. So we headed off elsewhere and came back... but it was STILL too crowded. However, I really wanted the shot so I set them up and waited...and waited... Eventually there was half a gap in the crowd. I had already accepted the fact that I'd have to remove some tourists in Photoshop, so I went ahead with the shot even while there were a few people loitering in the background. ##### Posing, Framing and Post-Production I posed Gib and Geng so that their faces would be at a nice angle when they looked at each other. To do this, I asked Geng to lean against the lamppost, with his hands in his pockets. I had Gib step down off the curb and then lean into Geng, with her face lifted to his. I laid down on the floor to get the nicest composition: I framed the portrait with one lamppost to the left of the couple, another in the distance to their right, and the famous bridge overhead. The exposure took a bit of trial and error as the couple are in the shade but the background is in full sun. Afterwards, I straightened the verticals in Photoshop, as they converge towards the middle when you're low down with the camera pointing slightly upwards. Lastly, I added a black and white conversion using Nik Silver Efex, before applying a slightly warm tone over that. Oh, and of course I had to edit out the remaining tourists and their cameras... ##### Location Diagram ### [Ryan | Woodland Misty Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/ryan-woodland-misty-portrait/) Atmospheric lighting adds mood and interest to a scene. This portrait was taken during a sibling shoot and was well worth setting out early for. Ryan and his sisters bought a photography session with me as a gift for their dad. I set out with the three of them - plus their labradors - early one morning for a walk. I find that walking with my subjects is the best way to help everyone relax, and get a varied set of backgrounds, too. In addition, during this time of day the sun's light hits the earth at a lower angle, giving a side light rather than (less flattering and less interesting) overhead light. We came across this open patch in the woodland with the most beautiful light pouring into it, and a whisper of mist floating across it. I set up and took a shot of the two dogs, and then thought that it would also be a great spot for a portrait of Ryan. ##### Setting up the shot I wanted to capture the backlight and the mist, as these lend the scene an intriguing atmosphere. I directed Ryan to perch on the end of a fallen tree trunk but asked him to sit in a way that felt comfortable and natural to him. I love the way he placed one foot slightly higher than the other. I then simply asked him to lean forward and rest his arm on his knee. To me, this just felt right based on how Ryan had chosen to sit, the informal location and the feeling of the image that I had in mind. I took a pair of shots: one of Ryan looking towards the camera and one with him looking away. I like the latter best: his gaze draws us to the edge of the image's frame (counter to the composition rule of allowing 'nose room' in the direction your subject is looking). This adds a little visual tension to the portrait, and tension creates interest. ##### Apertures and camera angles I set my aperture to f/4 to ensure Ryan was in sharp focus while the background dropped away to soft shapes and textures. You can still tell it's a woodland, but the branches are rendered softly enough that they don't pull attention away from Ryan. I could've opened the camera's aperture to f/2.8, which would have softened the background further, but that would also risk parts of Ryan dropping out of focus. I've used a low camera angle so that some of the thistles and thorns in the foreground rose up into the frame, creating foreground interest and texture at the bottom of the image. I love the curls of mist and the rim light to the rear and right (as we're looking at it) of Ryan - head out into the early morning sun on a crisp day in winter to find conditions like these for your portraits! ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 116.0mm - Aperture: f/4.0 - Shutter speed: 1/400 sec - ISO: 500 ### [Sam | A Window-Lit Portrait in a Client's Home](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/sam-a-window-lit-portrait-in-a-clients-home/) What to look for when shooting a window-lit portrait at a client's home and why negative space provides a welcome visual pause in your portrait sets. Creating a portrait at someone's home is a challenge but also an opportunity, for two reasons. Firstly, you are capturing your subject in the environment where they feel most relaxed and comfortable, which means the whole experience is less intimidating for your subject than attending a studio. Secondly, a shot like this counts as an environmental portrait, which is an image that tells us more than just what the subject looks like. The location provides added context and narrative. The challenges include finding a suitable space to shoot in, with an appropriate, clutter-free background and sufficient light available (if you're relying on natural light). ##### Working with directional windowlight This image is made up of two distinct halves. Samantha, lit by the windowlight on the right, and the open door and hallway on the left hand side. The far side of the door is painted white, so I've left it open to act as a fill light. I've angled it so that it's bouncing some daylight into the shadow areas on Samantha and throwing a puddle of light across the parquet flooring, too. The room is painted a dark colour, which minimises the amount of light that's reflected off the interior surfaces. This means the light is very directional, and could be unflattering if I'm not very careful about how I position Samantha. I angled the chair so that the windowlight fell across half the curve of the chair's headrest, and asked Samantha to sit in the lit part. She is facing slightly towards the light, which means the side of her face nearest the camera is mostly in shadow. This is called narrow lighting, and is flattering for most people (apart from those with narrow faces!). My approach is to think about how I would light my subject if we were in the studio, then replicate that using natural light sources. This forces me to look for and think in terms of lighting patterns, rather than being distracted by the current set-up of the location. I asked Samantha to sit as she would normally do, then tidied up the pose from there: getting her to relax back into the headrest, crossing her legs and relaxing her hands into her lap. ##### Be more negative I could've cropped into this shot a lot more - and if the final image was going to be used at a small scale then it would've made sense to do so. Instead, I've allowed plenty of space around Samantha, known in photography as ‘negative space'. While filling the frame with your subject does create a high impact portrait, using this technique all the time quickly becomes repetitive. Your portrait images will often be viewed as a set, especially when you are selling them to your client, so variety is key. Including negative space around your subject is one of the best ways to vary your shots. Negative space is also the visual equivalent of a pause. An image which isn't crammed with focus areas or a busy composition allows the eye to rest. This gives the shot a calmer mood than a tightly cropped portrait, which might be the atmosphere you want to create. Lastly, negative space allows room for context and narrative. Environmental portraits like this one invite the viewer to layer on their own interpretations of the subject and his or her surroundings. Elements within the negative space provide cues to do this. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 70mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Shooting portraits in direct sunlight: 3 tips](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/shooting-portraits-in-direct-sunlight-3-tips/) Many portrait photographers shy away from direct sunlight. The common wisdom is that you can't capture beautiful portraits in harsh light but that's simply not true. Any lighting source can be used to create either beautiful or unflattering portraits. It's not the light; it's what you do with it. #### You Don't Always Get The Choice Sometimes, I don't get a choice about when or where a shoot takes place. If a midday shoot is the only time my client can do, then I risk losing the job if I can't find ways to work with midday lighting. Equally, as I live in the changeable climes of the UK, then a cloudy day can quickly turn into a clear one (and vice versa!), so I need to be able to handle both situations. And while cloud is loved for its softness and golden hour is praised for its atmosphere, direct sunlight offers something edgier: drama. The defined gradation between light and shadow that is a characteristic of harsh light enables photographers to create beautifully simple but striking portraits. That's because our eyes are drawn to the brightest part of an image. Using the sun as a spotlight on your subject is therefore a great way for directing and holding the viewer's attention when they look at the finished portrait. All that sunlight needs careful control for a flattering portrait, though. You need to choose a suitable location (if you get a choice in the matter!), find the best patches of light and manage your exposure to preserve the highlights. These three tips will help you get started: ##### 1. Choose a location with options Wide open fields and plains give you fewer choices. There's no shade, no corridors of light, no shape to the light. In locations like that, your options are far more limited. Structures such as buildings, archways, bridges, trees and foliage offer you control over the light. You can place your subject in their shade or you can use the way the structures block and bounce the sun to light your subject effectively. Pale floors and walls can act as giant reflectors, helping to fill in shadows on your subject's face, while patterns and textures add visual interest and a sense of narrative in the background or foreground. Anything you can shoot through or around (from foliage to walls and arches) can also be used to frame your subject for some compositional va-va-voom. The structures around you become tools to create your portrait, giving you creative options to flatter your subject and create a more interesting composition. That's why a town or city is ideal - they provide a great variety of options within a short distance, especially if you look for the opportunities (patterns, graphical elements etc.) rather than the problems (graffiti, litter, gutters and so on). After all, if you shoot with a longer lens, as is typically used for portraits (e.g. I almost always work with my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens), then shifting position just a few inches horizontally or vertically will change what's visible in the background of your portrait anyway. 2. Look for where the sun meets the shadows Once you've picked a location that gives you options, start walking. This does two things, both important: firstly, it relaxes your subject, and secondly, it enables you to find interesting patches of light. Moving around burns off adrenalin, so if your subject is nervous about their photoshoot with you, a walk will help to reduce their anxiety levels. It also gives you a chance to find out more about them and put them at ease using your conversational skills, provided you can still conduct your main mission at the same time: finding the light. In a location with lots of buildings, like a town or city centre, walking around even a single block changes everything. A building that is in direct sunlight on one side will be shaded on the other, and this will change according to the time of day. You might find a building element that adds an interesting graphical component to your shot, spot a reflection that adds a unique quality to the sunlight or come across a corridor of light. But what should you look for specifically? The edges of the shadows. Watch for how the shadows change on the floors and walls around you as move around town. When you spot a potential patch of light, ask your subject to stand at the edge of the shadows. Then watch the light change as they slowly step deeper into the shadow, or out into the sunlight. Angle their face up towards the sun slightly, particularly when it's directly overhead, to fill their eye sockets with light. Too bright, causing your model to squint? Ask him or her to close their eyes then open them on the count of three, when you've got your focus point selected and your finger hovering on the shutter release button. ##### 3. Underexpose to preserve your highlights The areas of extreme light and dark when shooting a scene with patches of direct light are likely to fool your camera's in-built metering system. Use manual exposure mode and shoot in RAW format to preserve as much detail from the scene as possible. Check the histogram on your camera's display after taking a test shot. If the chart has pixels stacked on the left side, areas of shadow are underexposed and will be recorded as pure black. If the chart has pixels stacked on the right hand side, highlight areas are overexposed and will be recorded as pure white. Prioritise underexposing your image to ensure detail is still recorded in all the bright areas of your scene, particularly if your subject is wearing white clothing, as ours was. Check that shadow areas aren't clipped at the left of the histogram either, though. As long as there are still some tones recorded, you will be able to lift the shadow areas in post-production afterwards, to give the effect of a correct exposure without burning the highlights to pure white. The sun is as hard a light source as we photographers will ever work with, but hopefully you've seen it can still be an option for beautiful, dramatic and flattering portraits. When summer heads your way, there's no longer any excuse to stay indoors during midday. Just don't forget the sunscreen! Go behind-the-scenes and pick up some extra tips by watching the companion video. ### [Sparks Fly | A Welder At Work](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/sparks-fly-a-welder-at-work/) When shooting people carrying out their jobs, sometimes you have to go beyond your own job description to ensure a happy client... This portrait was taken as part of a commercial commission from a forge. They create the most incredible work for very, very, very wealthy clients. I saw this welder working in the middle of the forge and I thought there might just be a shot in it... ##### Health 'n' Safety I had been watching the welder work for a while, but he wasn't wearing a face mask. I knew I would just get bad feedback about not following health and safety, so I waited until he had finished a task and then asked him to put his visor on. This may not be in your job description as a photographer, but it's worth being aware of when shooting at workplaces and commercial premises. Imagine taking the most beautiful set of images and presenting them to your client, only to be told they are unusable. If your portraits capture people breaking health and safety, that's likely to happen. A client who used these portraits would put themselves at risk of legal action at worst, and looking unprofessional at best. To avoid this, discuss the health and safety aspects with the client before the shoot takes place, so you know what to look out for. There will usually be health and safety posters around the premises, too, which can add extra detail. But a lot of it involves common sense: does your portrait capture a potentially dangerous activity? If yes, then what safeguards are being employed to lower risk and prevent injury? Make sure these are in place before you start your shoot. On the same note, watch that you aren't introducing new risks to the workplace either. This could include distracting workers, wearing inappropriate clothing (loose fabric which could catch in machinery or open-toed shoes, for example) or not following the health and safety protocols for that environment yourself. ##### Setting up the shot I took this during the day. What you see in the background is actually outside the shed this employee was working in, but the light of the arc welder is incredibly bright that it overpowers the daylight behind. I set the exposure to just keep the arc from blowing out. If I overexposed it, I would have patches of the image that were pure white, with no detail in them. Then, I simply hoped that the rest of the image would render well enough to make it all work. Then, I shuffled around to change my viewpoint until the background framed the welder in a visually pleasing way. The mug on the far side of the work bench was there the whole time, and I opted to keep it in the shot as it added some character. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 165mm - Aperture: f/4.0 - Shutter speed: 1/1000 sec - ISO: 1100 ### [Themyo | Creating Studio-Style Light With Two Windows](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/themyo-creating-studio-style-light-with-two-windows/) You don't need flash to create a studio-style portrait like this one; you only need a little lighting know-how... One of the highlights of our year is spending a few weeks on a luxury cruise ship... working, of course. We're taken onboard as the lead photographers, with a remit of capturing beautiful images of their clientele in the stunning surroundings of the ship (with no cheesy printed backgrounds in sight). On one particular cruise, we were looked after by a member of the bar staff called Themyo. Themyo was Indian, but from a part of the country near to China. She was one of the nicest crew members we have met, and was so lovely to our family. As a thank you, I invited her to take part in a free shoot towards the end of our cruise. ##### Finding the light In a studio, I'd create a rim lit shot like this by placing one light in front of the model, and another behind her, both facing towards her. In a non-studio environment, I simply find two natural light sources (windows) in equivalent positions to where I'd place the studio light. On this particular ship, I found a wall between two windows which would enable me to get the shot. Because the light wasn't falling directly on the wall behind where Themyo would be standing, I could expose my portrait so that the background would fall into the shadows. To get the right lighting effect, I can move my model between the windows so that she is closest to the one I want to be casting the most light on her. ##### Perfecting the pose Themyo was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress. An outfit like this offers a bit of flexibility. With a little tweaking, Themyo could push the top edge of the dress low enough that it would be out of the frame. This creates a fine art implied nude portrait style. In a studio you can move the lights around the model. When using available light, you need to move your subject relative to the light. With Themyo standing between the windows, I asked her to rotate her shoulders away from me slowly, watching her to see when the light fell across her collarbones. I asked her to stop just as the light brought out the texture of her hair and the outline of her form, resulting in this beautiful portrait. Easy when you know how (and now you do!). ##### Behind The Scenes For this particular shoot, Sarah was on hand to grab an image or two behind the scenes. As you can (just) see in the image, there are no lights or reflectors for this image - just two windows. p.s. The free shoot as a thank you worked. A while later Themyo sent me a letter saying how much she'd enjoyed herself, and that her time with us had been one of the best days of her life. That's high praise indeed when your job is sailing the seven seas on one of the world's most uber-luxurious cruise liners! ### [Tiffany | Framed By Flora](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/tiffany-framed-by-flora/) One of the (many) challenges of portrait photography is trying to come up with new ideas. In this instance, I was photographing a mum and her new baby in a stunning location overlooking the Cotswolds. The property had a beautiful garden, with a path leading into the distance. I have always liked pictures of people walking away as it seems to have a story about it (go look at E.H. Shepard's illustrations for A.A. Milne and you'll see what I mean!). As I often do, I've adopted a low viewpoint by lying on the floor. This gave me the framing I wanted, with the edges of the path leading your eye towards Tiffany, and the leafy trees framing her overhead. I had to compromise on the composition slightly. I could have moved slightly to the left to get the trees to be symmetrical around Tiffany, but then I would have lost the symmetry of the path, which I felt was more important. ##### Overlapping feet I asked Tiffany to walk slowly away, as if she were walking along a tightrope. Following this instruction gave her a beautiful foot position, and then I simply timed my shots for that millisecond when her feet overlapped like you see here. In this instance I wanted Iris to be looking at the camera. Luckily, she was curious about what I was up to so she watched me throughout! To finish, I've gone for a black and white conversion, with a small amount of colour in the mid tones to warm it up. I've also added a slight vignette in the corners to draw the viewer's eye to the centre of the frame. I'm the first to admit that my portraits aren't perfect. In this instance, I wish Tiffany's foot wasn't dirty... Hopefully, most people's eye will be drawn to Iris, but once you've seen these things, you can't 'un-see' them! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 105mm - Aperture: f/5 - Shutter speed: 1/500 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Video | Five Ideas For Portraits In Harsh Sunlight](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/video-five-ideas-for-portraits-in-harsh-sunlight/) Even in the UK, sometimes the sun shines. Not every day, obviously, but just frequent enough to remind us Brits what much of the world experiences during their summers. SO what do you do when the skies clear and you find yourself creating portraits on a day with searing sunshine? In this video, we explore some of the options from using scrims to using off-camera flash. Enjoy! ### Transcript Hello, what are all well, you know me, it's me. And today we decided we'd already got this in the diary and we decided we take advantage of an unexpected hot sunny day. So we've headed out into our beautiful studio garden. We've grabbed Libby who happens to live just on the other side of the garden. And we are going to explore taking pictures in the harshest of light, direct sunlight. It's May, it's the middle of May. We're starting filming at about midday. So the sun is about as high as it's going to get. And if you were in a traditional world, in a traditional world, if these were your conditions, you'd be like, it's going to be hard, but it doesn't need to be. If you think about it in a particular way, if you approach it with a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of optimism, you can get beautiful pictures like these. This video is all about enabling you, not necessarily giving you specific techniques, but giving you the energy and encouragement to know that even on a day like today when the sun is blazing and it's hot and it's harsh, you can get stunning images. We're going to grab Libby and we're going to use the following techniques. We're going to use some shade. Well, I know that's a little bit of a cop out, but you'll see what I'm doing and why it works. We're going to use reflectors. We're going to use them as reflectors. We're also going to use them to cast a little bit of shadow in those moments when I've got little else to hand. We're going to use a scrim and then at the very end, we're going to use some off camera flash. Now off camera flash is probably the most technical thing of all, but hopefully this video will just wet your appetite into some of the options available to you if you just get your head around it and explore some of the techniques. At the end of the video, I really hope that you feel inspired, enabled, energized, use whatever words you like to get out there in this beautiful sunshine. Who knows if it'll last? Maybe, maybe you're watching it and thinking, "The weather didn't stay like that, did it?" "Can't help that." But if you get sunshine, get out there, put on some sunscreen. We're all a little bit pink in spite of the fact we've got our factor 30 on. And try taking different portraits, different styles using some of these ideas. I really hope you enjoy this video. (Music) (Upbeat Music) the sun is never ever directly overhead. It'll get close, but it's not going to ever quite get there. What does that mean? Well, it just means the sun is always casting shadows at an angle. Today we're photographing towards the middle of May. It's about midday, but you can see that the shadows still have direction and not straight up and down. And that means we can find spaces where we can work. I know it feels a little bit forgot about that. I've talked about how to take great pictures on a bright and sunny day and I'm now saying, well, step into the shade. But it is a solution. It is a way of getting incredible images even when the sun is making life tricky for you. And the thing about sunlight is sunlight isn't rubbish. Sunlight is amazing. It's just the direction of the light, particularly when it's high in the sky, makes it hard to find those angles. So here's one of the best solutions that I know of is simply to use the edge of the shadows. What do I mean by that? all you have to do is get your subject to stand on the other side of where you see a shadow line on the ground. And you've got a good chance of getting great light. Here in this particular bit of our barn, we've got a big wide opening at the front. We have a little doorway at the back. So I've got light coming back as well. So I've got two directions of light to play with. The light coming from the front is huge. And if I bring Libby forwards into the light, you can see the catchlights in her eyes and as I move her further and further and further into the barn, what two things happen? Firstly, the direction of the light starts to flatten down. Why? Because the opening in the front of the barn is governing where the light can come from. The other thing that's happening is that technically there's less and less light reaching my subjects. And that becomes more and more in tune with the background. So relatively speaking, the ratios even out, my background is getting brighter. As I open up the exposure on the camera to allow for my subject for Libby to be well lit, the background also gets lighter. So it depends what I want to do. If I want Libby really beautifully lit at the front and I want darkness in the background, I just bring her forwards. If I want Libby to be more in tune with the background, so telling more of a story about the tools and the gardening paraphernalia in here, then I just move everything backwards. I'm shooting on an 85mm 1.8, which means my backgrounds are usually fairly blurred anyway.(...) But I can create different atmospheres. By moving it to the sides, so there's only the background in shot, I can use the light coming in from the back door as a little bit of a kiss light, a little bit of a rim light around the edge of her face. If I put a right slap bang in the middle of the doorway, of course I can use that as a secondary frame within my picture. Either of those are great, it just depends what you're trying to do. And of course it is a shame to be in the shadows on a bright sunny day. But here's an up point for you. As the photographer, where you can stand in the sunshine anyway, it's only your subject that has to stand in the shade. (Upbeat Music) there's no shade to be found at all? Well, just create your own. For this, we're using a reflector, just a California sun-bounce reflector, very simple rectangular piece of material on a frame. But you, of course, could just use a piece of cardboard, a piece of wood, or if you're in a real page with a tall friend, get them to hold a jumper or a t-shirt or a coat up in the air. You can have exactly the same effect. We've swam the shop round a little bit, just so that my background is in a shadier part of the garden. Because if I shade Libby with a scrim or with a reflector, trying to reduce the sun striking her, and the background is still in sunshine, of course I run the risk of my subject being quite dark relatively, my background just blowing out. Now that might be an effect to use, it might look brilliant, but I don't want that in this particular instance. So I've just swung my camera angle round. I've got the old doorway and some of the ivy in the background here. We're casting a shadow, and again, just look at the cat's eyes in the eyes, absolutely beautiful. Now one thing I'm having to be quite careful of here today, and this isn't in every situation, but it is if you find yourself photographing in a garden or a green space, And that's because everything behind me, everything around us is plant life, and the sun is just striking it and bouncing green yellow light back at our subject. So one of the tricks I'm going to have to do here is make sure that I calibrate the shot. I'm going to take a photograph of the colour checker, and we're going to calibrate any green casts out. And that just helps me in the post-production to make sure I get the most beautiful skin tones. This is really simple to do. And all I'm trying to show is there are techniques for you to create beautiful pictures, even when you find yourself in what most of us would consider to be sub-optimal lighting. Though it is lovely and warm, it's great to be out in the sun. (...) (Upbeat Music) that in its own right it's not bad light, it's just generally coming from the wrong direction. If you think about the golden hour or just before the golden hour when the sun is on the horizon, part of the reason that works so well is because the angle of the sun is very shallow so it's lighting in to the mask of the face. If you think about how you light a studio shot that's true in there too.(...) So the problem isn't that I've got sunlight, the problem is I've got sunlight in the wrong place. It's right overhead and it casts these downward shadows, they've got hard edges. The thing about direct sunlight is it's almost the ultimate hard edged shadow and it creates dark patches into the eye sockets, under the chin. That might work for you if you're trying to do something theatrical or dramatic but most of the time we're trying to flatter the features. So don't be afraid of posing someone in hard sunlight, a direct sunlight. Just understand some of the tricks you could use to work around it. Here what we're doing is I'm placing Libby into the brightest sunlight I can find and to do that what I'm actually doing, weirdly enough, is I'm watching the floor. So I'm talking to her and positioning her until she's in a gap in between the shadows cast by the trees and the various bits of architecture we have here in this garden. Because if I have the shadows of leaves and things across her face, why it might be dramatic, it might be theatrical, it might be actually stunning, it isn't what I'm looking for in this particular instance. What I'm looking for here is clean light. So I position Libby so she's in a gap where I can see the outline of the shadows and she's in between them or rather her shadow is in between the other shadows. So I know she's casting her own shadow on the ground. What I've then asked her to do is simply to tip her head back because by raising her chin,(...) tipping her nose back, the angle relative to the sun is evening out and now the sunlight is going straight in to the mask of her face. It's filling the eye sockets, it's creating beautiful light. Admittedly the shadows have hard edges but with someone like Libby that doesn't really matter because her skin is really smooth, I'm not trying to hide any lumps and bumps, I'm simply trying to create form and structure. So as she tips her head back, I get this beautiful look but now I've got her looking straight at the sunlight, can't do that so easily so we get her to close her eyes, tip her head back. It's quite dreamy, it's quite ethereal, it's quite beautiful. I'll take that shot anyway. How stunning is that? And then on the count of three, two, one, open her eyes, open her eyes. I see it, click, close your eyes and I've done it in the fastest time possible but if you look at this shot, the catch light is in her eyes, the way her eyes are glowing, the way the light is striking her face, absolutely stunning. Of course that's not the whole story because some of it also is about sculpting the figure. Now if you look at Libby's figure, she's got this beautiful shape and beautiful form and I'm not trying to hide anything. If I had someone who wanted to look at different shape or is sort of self-conscious, maybe I'd do it a different way but here I can use the shadows, the hard shadows to define the shape. Anything that disappears into shadows reduces in size, anything that's caught by the bright light increases in size so you can use shape and form. In this instance, if you look at the curves of her body and the way the shadows fall underneath things and light on top of things, actually what I've done is define her form. I've created an even more elegant photo in lighting that traditionally people would disregard. Of course I can move it into some of the dappled light, I can use some of the shapes of the leaves and a little bit of branches to create a slightly different shot, a slightly more interesting shot but here on the whole I've gone for a super clean, super sculpted, super strong, hard sunlight photograph. (Upbeat Music) thing to have when you're in bright sunshine? Sunglasses. Now, if you're going to use sunglasses, they're a really easy trick because, of course, they hide any shadows in the eye sockets, and that's predominantly where we struggle. Sunglasses, gone. But please, please, make sure the sunglasses are clean. Just before we took this shot, sadly we have no behind the scenes footage of it, I asked Libby to clean her glasses. She went like, "Ee, ee, ee, ee." No, don't do it like that. We've got them cleaned because otherwise it's just horrible in Photoshop trying to clean them up, and you never get them to look super clean. So, make sure the glasses are clean. But then, of course, once they're on, well, you can position the face anywhere you like to tell whatever story you like because the shadows in the sun are always going to disappear under the chin, under the nose. It's going to define the cheekbones. You're going to get some interesting shapes and form, but in the end, you'll never know that the eye sockets would have deep shadows because it's covered by the shades. And if you take their angles right, you can have reflections of the sky, reflections of the sun. You can have them looking at camera, though you never know necessarily that there's eye contact with the camera. All of these shots are great. Why are they great? Well, simply because it tells the right story. Everything in the image makes sense. It's a sunny day. They're wearing shades. What else is there to talk about? It's absolutely in line with what you'd expect. Here, again, we've moved Libby in and out of dappled light. Sometimes it looks almost like she's got tattoos where the shadows of the leaves and the vines and things are rolling across her skin. You can do all of that. But it's a simple way to create a summery, sunny, beautiful portrait. (Upbeat Music) with the direct sunlight, but I want something where I've got control, almost a studio style lighting, one thing I can do is to throw up a scrim. Now a scrim is simply like a reflector, but instead of bouncing light back or blocking light out completely, it lets light pass through. If you wanted to, you could put a bit of net curtain or even a sheet, a white sheet onto a frame or just hold it up so light is coming through it and it will create much the same effect. Many of you will know this without even realizing it. If you're in a lounge or in a hotel room maybe, then the sun is striking the net curtains on the window and you look at this beautiful soft light in the room, well this is exactly the same device. What's happening when we bring up the scrim, and I'm using a round poppet one here. Ideally for me, I prefer square rigid frame scrims. They're much easier to handle, they don't flex and flop, but obviously I can just drop this thing out of the bag. There it is. It's in my hands in no time at all. They're easy to carry, they're very cheap.(...) So we're using a small rig scrim today. But personally I would like a big rectangle one like the Studio soft boxes I have back in the building. So you pop it up, you put it in line with the sun, so it's technically casting a shadow, but it is letting sunlight through. So here I've got Libby in line with the sunshine(...) and then I'm just throwing a shadow through the scrim, or throwing light through the scrim. Part casting shadow, part becoming the source of the illumination. And if I position the scrim in the right place, if you look at the catch lights in our eyes, I know, I bang on the back of the catch lights in every single video because they're my guide. They're the sort of talisman that bring you to the right quality of light. If I've got those catch lights right, I've probably got the light right everywhere else. So we move the scrim around until there's this glow on Libby's face, our eyes light up, the catch lights are where I love to see them. There's smooth soft shadows because my light source is about a meter across. So it's exactly like a large studio soft box. And just by moving things around and manipulating it, I can get all sorts of subtly different looks. But broadly speaking, what I've done is create a soft light. I've created a light source out of this one meter circle of translucent fabric. So if I take the scrim away, what I'm gonna get are hard highlights and hard edged shadows. The contrast ratios are huge. Part of the skin is probably gonna blow out, part of the skin is probably gonna block up into black. You don't really want any of that unless you're doing a very particular stylized look. Here, as soon as the scrim goes into play, I get this wonderful soft light, exactly the same quality of light as I would expect to get in the studio. It's just a very simple technique. (Upbeat Music) But what about using something like a reflector to create a different light source? Instead of shielding the light, we're going to bounce on light. So you have options here. Here I've got a very simple rectangular reflector. It's about 3 foot by 2 foot I think off the top of my head. It's a little California sun bounce. It's my favourite reflector. And I love it because this aluminium frame stays absolutely rigid. It's got a silver side and a white side. And you get all sorts of variations on this. But why would you bother? Well it means again I've got control. I can line the shutter more or less where I want to. And then bounce light in as a key light. It's my main light. And I've got, I can see the light. And I can see the light. And I've got, I can govern where the wind's running, where the light's running. I can govern what's in the background. And I can do all of that simply by positioning my subject where I want it. And then bouncing light in as a key. If I use the silver side, this is not a mirror. So it's silvered but it's not a mirror. Then the whole of this surface is going to be bright and sparkly. And it's going to punch nearly as much sunlight as it would do on its own back at Libby. As long as I keep it flat. So whatever I do, I never ever put my hand in the middle of the reflector. I always hold the outer rails and keep it as square and as flat as I can. And that way all of the light that strikes it is going to go back as a reflection onto my subject. And that's really important when you're working with the silver side. You have to maneuver it round, angle it and you'll see when the light is striking your subject. With the white side, well think about a matte surface. And this is a governing rule when it comes to lighting in photography. Any matte surface Will reflect light equally in all directions.(...) So it doesn't matter what angle you look at it, the light coming back at it is going to be exactly the same. Unlike the silver, whereas if you look at it from different angles you're going to get struck by completely different levels of light. Subtle, true but important. So if I want a really punchy, sparkly light that's very directional, I'll throw the silver side up. And I'm going to position it until the light reflected onto Libby's face is creating these stunning catch lights. And I can see where the shadows are forming on her face, on her cheekbones, under her chin and under her nose. And I'll move her face around a little bit, I'll move the reflector around a little bit until I get exactly what I'm looking for. And there's a bit of instinct in here but it's still governed by those beautiful catch lights in the eyes.(...) The wind is now running in the same direction as her hair. With her hair she's got a long fringe and it's pushing the hair off her face. And all too often the light and the wind are running in the wrong direction. If you can get it so that the hair is blown off the face, it's a much more flattering image for anyone who's got longer hair. It's making a difference to me, it makes a big difference to some of my subjects. (...) So I can maneuver Libby around, I can maneuver the reflector around. The other thing I can do of course is if I want to I can pitch Libby's face down slightly and I can bring the reflector down as well. So now I've got quite a low light source. And golden hour, the golden hour, this thing that all photographers talk about really is nothing more than the angle of the sun as it approaches the horizon. Well guess what? With a silver reflector or a tiger stripe because it's a slight gold one or a true golden reflector, as long as you bring the angle of the reflector down, effectively you're creating a little mini golden hour. Now the colour might not be the same, certainly not the same in the background, that is a giveaway. But at least in the foreground, as I'm bringing the reflectors down and round, that light is coming from almost horizontal. Exactly the same angle as you would get during those beautiful moments when you're sitting with a Pina Colada on a Caribbean beach. Well at least in my imagination. It's exactly the same thing, it's the same trick. And I'm just using knowledge of that to create stunning lighting here for a portrait. (Upbeat Music) little more than a little bit of knowledge of how light rolls, a little bit of knowledge of how shadows form, how reflections are made, and how you can use all of that to good effect. But you could, if you wished, use a little bit of tech. In this particular instance we're going to use off-camera flash. Now, this video is not the place to explore off-camera flash in detail. It's, of all the things we teach, it's probably the most complex, but it's also one of the most rewarding. So here we're just using a very simple setup. I'm using an LNQOM 3, just a simple head with an LNQOM softbox on the front, just to soften a light, create some soft-edged shadows. And we're just turning the power of a light up really quite high for this particular model. These are 200-watt seconds or thereabouts. to overpower sunlight, I'm going to use, I just want to start by using every little bit of that power. Now, when you're doing off-camera flash, there's a couple of things you have to remember. When you're trying to control the darkness of the background, the only control you have available to you is your shutter speed. When you're trying to control the subject, the only thing you have available to you is the power of the light. If you're trying to control the whole image, you can use your aperture and or your ISO. And it's remembering these four variables constantly as you try to create the image you're looking for that can create, well, havoc, but it can also create magic. So for this first shot, I've positioned the light and I've set up the power on the strobe to not quite override the sunlight, but certainly negate its hard-air elements. So if you look at this shot, you'll see that the shadows are vastly reduced. There's a beautiful light on Libby's face. The background is beautifully lit too. All in all, all of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. And I've adjusted my shutter speed, my ISO, my aperture and the power on that strobe to bring that all together. Like I said, this isn't the video to go into detail. This is more just have you thought about using off-camera flash. (...) Then I read the rest of it around. So for the strobe, my off-camera flash to pump light in, soft light. It's off this beautiful, simple little softbox. It creates a really lovely lush shape to the edge of the shadows. Pop that in there, balance it all out again. Background is controlled by my shutter speed. The brightness, sorry, the background is controlled by my shutter speed. The brightness of my subject is controlled by the power of the flash. The brightness of the entire image is controlled by ISO and all aperture. You've got four things you can play with. Two of them work independently and two of them work combined.(...) So I've balanced all of those out. We will pop the settings up onto the screen for you so you can see exactly what I was doing. But what we've got is this beautiful shot that almost looks naturally lit until you really explore it and understand that you're seeing a key light striking Libby's face. You're seeing real sunlight actually creating sculpting around her shoulder, around her neck and on her hair. And all of that comes together to create something that's really, it's not simple in the sense it can be tricky to set up. But it is simple when you think I've only got one light and I've got sunshine and And in a later video we'll talk through in detail how to create beautiful images using just a single off camera flash. (Upbeat Music) shown you five different ways of using hard sunlight to get beautifully soft, stunning portraits. We've used scrims, we've used shade, we've used reflectors, and we've used just a little bit of off-camera flash. Of course, there are many more videos like this on masteringportraitphotography.com, so please do become a member. There you'll find tons of articles, ideas, sketches, diagrams, and just generally a load of stuff all about celebrating the very best of portrait photography, whether it's the creativity, the craft, or the business of it all. But until next time, whatever else you do, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [Video | Seven Daylight Portraits In Ten Minutes](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/video-seven-daylight-portraits-in-ten-minutes/) Your location doesn't have to be a limiting factor: with a little creativity, you can achieve a lot in a space most people would pass by without a second glance. In fact, you don't even need to change or move much to achieve a varied set of portraits in one small area. In this short video, Paul shows how he created seven very different portraits of our young model, Kai, in ten minutes, using only daylight and a little creativity. ### [Video | Simple Portraits Using Window Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/video-indoor-portrait-of-megan-using-window-light/) Capturing a subject and her reflection for a gentle, indoors, window-lit portrait. What can you shoot when stuck indoors on a grey day? We had been planning for sunlight but when it didn't show up, we took the opportunity to capture this window-lit portrait as part of our reflections series instead. In the video I talk about working with changing circumstances (and less than ideal lighting) and also how you can adjust your position to get a more visually impressive reflection. ### [Video: Nikki | Easy natural light garden portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/video-nikki-easy-natural-light-garden-portrait/) Being flexible when things don't go quite to plan often results in the best images of all. Ah, British weather. Here's what happened when all our best-laid plans went out of the window. You can either complain about it or get on with it - we opted for the latter and ended up with a beautiful portrait of our model Nikki, framed by out-of-focus lavender. Sneak behind-the-scenes with us as I talk you though the thinking behind the portrait. ### [Willow | Super-Simple Daylight Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/natural-light-photography-techniques/willow-super-simple-daylight-portrait/) You don't need studio flash to achieve a clean, simple portrait with great lighting. This was taken outdoors at the end of the shoot, and is ridiculously easy once you know the trick. I had nearly finished a family shoot and wanted to get a simple portrait of each member of the family. I asked Willow to sit on the curb at the road side so her face tilted slightly towards me as she looked up towards the camera. This meant the bright but cloudy sky above and behind me softly lit her face and produced a beautiful catch light in each eye, right where I would aim to have it if I was working with studio flash. ##### Tones and Composition Willow was wearing a brown coat and the stone wall in the background is a light brown. This meant all of the tones in the scene are very similar. I enhanced that further by reducing the saturation in Photoshop, giving an even more harmonious finish to the image. I have cropped deliberately tight with Willow's eyes high in the frame as this felt right to me. This has put her eyeline just above the top line according to the compositional rule of thirds. If I had cropped this portrait with her face in the middle it would have felt unbalanced. A tight crop like this also makes it feel more intimate when you view the image, as though you're close to and having a conversation with Willow, perhaps. Note that there's plenty of space between her chin and the bottom edge of the frame, though. Never crop into someone's chin (unless - perhaps - you're capturing an extreme close-up)! ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 105mm - Aperture: f/3.3 - Shutter speed: 1/350 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Portrait Lighting Recipes](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/) ### Portrait Lighting Setups: Lighting Recipes That Actually Work These are our lighting recipes - step-by-step breakdowns of exactly how we lit a portrait, from where the light sat to what modifier was on it, the camera settings, and all the little decisions in between. Think of it as a practical photography lighting guide built from real shoots, not textbook theory. Some of these studio portrait lighting patterns have names - Rembrandt, butterfly, short-side, split - and it's worth knowing them, if only so you can nod wisely when someone mentions them at a camera club or in a workshop! But honestly, most of the time you're not thinking "I'll do a Rembrandt." You're looking at the person in front of you, reading their face, and moving the light until it looks right. That said, understanding the classic portrait lighting setups gives you a starting point - a vocabulary, if you like - and from there you can bend the rules, mix things up, and make it your own. Whether you're just starting out and looking for photography lighting for beginners or you've been at it for years and want fresh portrait lighting examples to spark something new, there's something here for you. Each recipe gives you everything you need to recreate the setup, understand why it works, and then tweak it to suit your subject. ### [Compact Edge - Two-Light Chair Portrait With A High Square Softbox And A Gridded Strip](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/compact-edge-two-light-chair-portrait-with-a-high-square-softbox-and-a-gridded-strip/) Compact Edge - Two-Light Chair Portrait With A High Square Softbox And A Gridded Strip ### At A Glance - Pattern: Short-lit feel with a high key from camera-left, plus a very gentle rim from camera-right. - Mood: Edgy but still commercial, clean, confident, and a bit moody. - Lights Used: Two Elinchrom FIVE heads. - Difficulty: It's simple, but it's fiddly. Little moves matter. - Space Needed: Small studio friendly, but you do want a bit of room behind the subject for the strip to sit slightly back. - Ideal For: Fashion-leaning commercial portraits, branding, and any time you want "cool" without going full high-fashion. ### The Finished Portrait This portrait feels compact and intentional, like the subject has chosen the pose rather than been posed. The lighting is soft, but it still has shape, and that little rim gives just enough separation to stop the hair and shoulder melting into the black. The high key suits this pose because the head angle could very easily end up looking underlit if the light is too low. My job here was basically not to mess it up. ### Before And After Most of the "look" is created with lighting and fall-off, then I've added a subtle texture to the black paper to take the digital edge off it, and I've strengthened the vignette with a simple exposure adjustment and a mask so it stays brighter where I want your eye to sit. ### Lighting Setup - Overview The key light is a 1m square softbox on an Elinchrom FIVE, placed camera-left and deliberately higher than I'd normally go. That height is doing two jobs, it keeps the face from being underlit because of the head angle, and it lets the light roll down across the body without turning the shadows into a mess. The second light is another Elinchrom FIVE in a gridded 30cm x 100cm stripbox, placed camera-right and slightly behind the subject as a controlled rim. The power ratio is roughly 2:1 key to rim, so the rim is a hint, not a headline. White studio walls will kick in a bit of free fill whether you like it or not, so if you want it moodier you'll need to take that away with negative fill. (This is where I start shuffling lights by inches and pretending it was the plan all along.) ### Lighting Diagrams & Notes ### - Camera position: Low, kneeling height, centred, roughly 3m from the subject. - Subject position and orientation: Seated on a chair, about 0.8-1.2m in front of black paper, shoulders slightly angled for shape, head turned back to camera. - Key light: Modifier: 1m square softbox. - Position (clock face relative to subject): Around 8 o'clock (camera-left, slightly forward). - Distance from subject: About 1.2-1.6m. - Height relative to head: Above head height, angled down toward face and torso. - Power relative to other lights: Key is the dominant light, roughly 2:1 compared to the rim. - Fill light (if any): None. Any fill is coming from room bounce. - Kicker / rim (if any): Modifier: 30cm x 100cm stripbox with grid. - Position (clock face relative to subject): Around 2 o'clock (camera-right, slightly behind). - Distance from subject: About 1.3-1.8m. - Height relative to head: Around head height or a touch higher, aimed to skim hair and shoulder. - Power relative to other lights: Around one stop under the key, just a hint. - Hair light (if any): None separate, the rim does that job lightly. - Background light (if any): None. Background is lit by key spill and fall-off. - Background: Black paper, roughly 0.8-1.2m behind the subject. - Reflectors / flags / room influence: White walls add gentle fill. The floor can lift shadows if it's even slightly reflective, especially with a low camera. - Notes on feathering / spill control / grids: Feather the key slightly past the subject so the background gets a gentle lift. Keep the strip gridded and aimed carefully so it doesn't wash across the back of the subject or flare into the lens. ### Camera & Settings - Camera body: Nikon Z9 - Lens & focal length: NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S at 73mm - Aperture: f/10 - Shutter speed: 1/160 - ISO: 125 - White balance: Not provided f/10 gives you plenty of crispness across the pose, and the longer end of the zoom keeps the perspective tidy and flattering. ### Pose, Expression & Direction I start by letting the subject "own" the chair for a moment, then I shape it. The key move here is bringing the left foot up onto the chair and leaning into the knee, it tightens the silhouette and adds attitude without needing props or drama. Keep the shoulders slightly off-square to the camera, then bring the face back to the lens so the eyes stay connected. Expression-wise, I'm after calm confidence, not a grin, so I'll usually talk less, slow things down, and let the silence do a bit of work. ### Step-By-Step Setup Guide - Put the chair in place and sit your subject down, then let them settle into something that feels natural for them. - Refine the pose into a compact shape, foot up on the chair, lean into the knee, keep hands relaxed and intentional. - Set the black paper background and place the subject about 0.8-1.2m forward so you can control how dark it goes. - Add the key light camera-left with the 1m square softbox, place it slightly forward and higher than usual, then angle it down. - Dial the key for soft shape on the face, and watch the chin and nose shadow, that's the "too low" warning sign. - Add the gridded strip camera-right and slightly behind, then bring it up until you just see a touch of separation. - Shoot, then micro-adjust, inches on the strip and a few degrees on the key is often the difference between "nice" and "nailed it". ### Common Problems & Quick Fixes - The face looks underlit or a bit spooky, raise the key and angle it down more, and don't be afraid to go higher than feels normal. - The rim looks like a glowing outline, drop the strip power and aim it more across the subject rather than into them. - The rim disappears completely, bring the strip a touch more toward camera while keeping it slightly behind, or lift it so it catches hair and shoulder. - The background goes dead-flat black, feather the key a little more toward the background, or move the subject slightly closer to the paper. - The whole thing looks flatter than you wanted, your white walls are filling everything in, add a black flag on camera-right as negative fill. - Contrast drops and it feels hazy, the strip is likely spilling toward the lens, rotate it away and keep that grid doing its job. ### Post-Production Recipe #### Global tone & colour - Set the overall contrast and black point so the background feels deep, but keep skin tones clean and believable. - Keep colour fairly subdued so the mood stays "cool" rather than "colourful". #### Background shaping - Add subtle texture over the black paper to break up the smoothness. - Enhance the vignette with an Exposure adjustment layer and mask it so the brighter area sits where you want the viewer to look. #### Local adjustments (eyes, skin, hair) - Keep it light-touch. A bit of clarity and sharpening where it matters, but don't turn skin into plastic or hair into wire wool. - Make sure the rim stays a hint. If it's grabbing attention, pull it back. #### Final polish - Check edges for unwanted light spill on the chair and legs, and tidy anything that drags the eye out of frame. ### Developing This Setup Further - Optional: Mirror the whole setup if your space works better the other way round, but keep the key high and the rim subtle. - Add a black flag on the shadow side to deepen the mood if your white walls are being "helpful". - Swap the square softbox for something smaller to increase contrast, or bring it closer for even softer wrap. - Try killing the rim completely for a pure one-light version, it gets more graphic and a bit more brutal. - Pull the subject further from the background if you want the paper to go darker without relying on vignette. ### Where I Use This In Real Life - When I want something clean and commercial, but with a bit of edge and attitude. - When I've got a strong pose and I want lighting that supports it without stealing the show. - When I need separation from a dark background, but I don't want the "cut-out" rim-light look. - When I'm filming or teaching and I want a setup that's repeatable, but still rewards careful finesse. - Watch-out: it's sensitive. Move the strip a little and it goes from "hint" to "why is there a fluorescent snake on their shoulder? ### [Flattering Lighting: Broad and Narrow Light Patterns](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/flattering-lighting-broad-and-narrow-light-patterns/) Different face shapes benefit from different lighting patterns. Read on to find out how to slim down a wide face or fill out a narrow one by changing just one small thing - the angle of your subject's nose relative to your main light. According to the people who measure these things, there are seven basic face shapes: oval, round, square, diamond, heart, pear and oblong. For our purposes, however, we'll use a shape sorter with just two categories. The first is broad faces, which often suit lighting that makes them look a little narrower. The second is narrow faces, which often suit lighting that makes them look a little broader. Of course, if you're photographing models all day long, then these distinctions matter a lot less. I spend my working hours photographing normal-looking people, with all the perceived flaws and insecurities that they bring in through the studio doors with them. As their photographer, my job is to create images that they will love, buy and display, and that means minimising potential areas of insecurity to flatter their faces and features as much as possible. So if a client has a broad face, I will start off with narrow lighting. If they have a narrow face, I'll start with broad lighting. What does that all mean? ##### What is broad lighting? Imagine a client standing directly in front of you, looking towards your camera, with a studio light 45 degrees to your left. Your client's nose will be along the midpoint of their face as you look at them. Next you ask them to turn their nose slightly to your right (away from the light source). Now you will see more of one side of their face. In this scenario, the light is washing over the side of the face that's nearest the camera and which you can see more of. This is broad lighting, and it makes a face appear wider. That's because our eyes are drawn to the brightest part of an image. Your brain sees the whole side of the face lit up from ear to nose and estimates the total width of the face to be double what it can currently see. ##### What is narrow lighting? Next you ask your subject to turn their nose a little to your left, so they are facing slightly towards the light source. Now the lit side of their face is furthest from the camera, while the near side of their face is mostly in shadow. This shadow makes it look slimmer (narrow lighting), so our brains calculate a total face width that is less than the actual size. This subtle difference in angle relative to the light can make all the difference between flattering your subject or exaggerating a potential area of insecurity. I sure know which I'd rather do! ##### Illustration Broad Lighting Narrow Lighting ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 86.0mm (Broad) 82.0mm (Narrow) - Aperture: f/19 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Inky Shine - Fast Black-On-Black Dog Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/inky-shine-fast-black-on-black-dog-portrait/) Inky Shine - Fast Black-On-Black Dog Portrait ### At A Glance - Pattern: Low-key portrait with a close soft key and two subtle separation lights. - Mood: Calm, premium, "emerges from the shadows" without looking gimmicky. - Lights Used: Key - Elinchrom FIVE with 1m square softbox. Two rear Elinchrom FIVEs with stripboxes for coat separation. - Difficulty: Easy to rig, fiddly to finesse. The rims go from classy to crispy in about half a stop. - Space Needed: Small studio is fine, but you do need enough depth to pull the subject forward from the velvet. - Ideal For: Black dogs with shiny coats, fast charity sessions, and anyone who wants drama without a 12-light spreadsheet. ### The Finished Portrait This one is all about controlled highlights. The background is properly inky, the coat has a gentle sheen, and the eyes have that little spark that stops a black dog turning into a featureless blob. I love this for Hearing Dogs because it feels special but it's still quick. My job was basically not to mess it up, keep the dog comfy, and stop the rim lights from turning the edges into a glowing outline (because nobody needs "Tron Labrador", do they). ### Before And After The pre-edit file is already close, but it's a bit flatter and the background reads more like "dark fabric" than "void". The finished version is tighter, cleaner and punchier, with a deeper black and more deliberate shaping on the face. Main edits were: deepen and smooth the blacks, tidy the coat (little specks and odd marks always show on shiny fur), and add a bit of contrast and definition where the light is meant to live. The key thing was keeping the darkest coat tones close to the darkest background tones so it doesn't look cut out. ### Lighting Setup - Overview This is a fast swap from a white background setup. The two lights that normally point at the white background get spun around to become rear separation lights, then I hang black velvet behind the subject. The key is an Elinchrom FIVE with a 1m square softbox placed close, just off camera-left and a touch above eye line, angled down. Keeping it close gives you rapid falloff so the head stays brighter and the body naturally drops away. The two rear lights sit behind the dog, one each side, aimed back towards the coat to create a controlled shine and edge separation. The important bit is what you don't light, so the dog and key come forward enough that almost no light hits the velvet. ### Lighting Diagrams & Notes - Camera position: Low to the floor, directly in front of the subject, shooting slightly upward with a long lens. - Subject position and orientation: Dog sitting, body turned slightly away from camera, head turned back towards camera for eye contact. - Key light: Modifier: 1m square softbox. - Position (clock face relative to subject): Around 10 o'clock. - Distance from subject: Very close, as close as the dog is comfortable with. - Height relative to head: Slightly above eye line, angled down. - Power relative to other lights: Dominant light. - Fill light (if any): None added. Any fill is just room bounce. - Kicker / rim (if any): Rear rim 1: Around 7-8 o'clock, behind the subject, aimed at the coat, kept subtle. - Rear rim 2: Around 4-5 o'clock, behind the subject, aimed at the coat, kept subtle. - Power relative to the key light: Clearly under the key, just enough to separate. - Hair light (if any): None. - Background light (if any): None. Background is intentionally unlit. - Background: Black velvet, hung behind the subject, with the subject pulled forward to avoid spill. - Reflectors / flags / room influence: None shown. Velvet acts like negative fill behind. - Notes on feathering / spill control / grids: Aim the rims at the dog, not the velvet. If the velvet starts to lift, move the subject and key forward and reduce rim spill. ### Camera & Settings - Camera body: Not specified. - Lens & focal length: NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S at 200mm. - Aperture: f/14. - Shutter speed: 1/160. - ISO: 320. - White balance: Not specified (Flash / Daylight is the sensible starting point). 200mm keeps the portrait calm and clean, and it lets you work a little further back so you're not right in the dog's personal space. f/14 is there for depth and reliability, especially when the dog gives you a micro head tilt at exactly the wrong moment. ### Pose, Expression & Direction I want the dog sitting comfortably, with the body slightly turned away and the head turned back to camera. That gives you shape through the shoulders and a natural line through the neck, but still keeps the eyes engaging. The trick with any dog photography is the owner, not the dog. If you can get the owner doing exactly what you want, the dog follows. I keep it simple: treats, praise, and I reward the behaviour I asked for, not just general cuteness. And yes, collars and leads off if you can, because nothing ruins a clean portrait like a random nylon strap. ### Step-By-Step Setup Guide - Hang black velvet as the background and clear the floor area so the dog can sit without distractions. - Place the dog a good distance in front of the velvet so the background stays unlit. - Put the key light on a boom (or if using a regular stand, postion it as close to the centre line as you can) with the 1m square softbox, slightly above eye line, and bring it in close. - Take a quick test shot for catchlights and face shape. If the face is too flat, move the key a little more to the side. If the body is too bright, bring the key closer for faster falloff. - Spin the two "background" lights around so they sit behind the dog, one each side, aimed at the coat for separation. - Bring the rim lights up gently until you see a soft edge highlight and coat sheen, then stop. If you can clearly "see the rim", it's probably too much. - Shoot in short bursts, keep the dog relaxed, and let the owner do the directing while you watch the eyes and catchlights. ### Common Problems & Quick Fixes - The velvet looks grey or textured. Move the dog and key further forward and make sure the rim lights aren't spraying the backdrop. - The dog looks like a cutout. Match the darkest coat tones to the darkest background tones, and avoid over-separating with the rims. - No life in the face. You need clean catchlights. Adjust key height and angle until they appear clearly in both eyes. - Rims look crunchy or "outlined". Turn them down and aim them more into the shoulders and coat, less towards the face edge. - The body is as bright as the head. Bring the key closer and let falloff do the work. This setup lives and dies on distance. - The dog is uncomfortable. Lower flash power and move lights closer, do a couple of calm test pops, and keep the owner close and reassuring. ### Post-Production Recipe #### Global tone & colour - Deepen blacks carefully without crushing the coat into a silhouette. - Add a touch of contrast where the light is meant to sit, mainly face and shoulder sheen. #### Background shaping - Clean and even the velvet so it reads as "inky" rather than "fabric". - If any folds or patches lift, darken them locally rather than dragging the whole image down. #### Local adjustments - Eyes: gentle lift and clarity, keep it natural. - Coat: spot-heal specks and stray light marks, especially on shiny areas. - Muzzle and nose: keep detail in the highlights, avoid plastic shine. #### Final polish - Subtle sharpening where it matters (eyes and muzzle), avoid crunchy texture in the blacks. - For print, lift the black point a point or two so the deepest tones don't block up on paper. ### Developing This Setup Further - Bring the key slightly more to the side for a moodier, more sculpted face, but watch you don't lose the far eye. - Drop to one rim light on the shadow side for a simpler, more directional look. - Swap the key to a smaller modifier for more contrast and a tighter highlight, great for short-coated dogs. - Add a flag on the key side nearest the backdrop if your studio bounce is lifting the velvet. - Optional: mirror the whole setup if your space forces it. Same distances, just flip left and right. ### Where I Use This In Real Life - Hearing Dogs studio days when I need a fast "wow" look without lots of faffing. - Any time I'm photographing black dogs with shiny coats and want separation without a bright background. - When the schedule is tight and I need a setup that's repeatable for multiple dogs. - For print-led pet portrait sessions, because this style looks properly premium on the wall. - When I want drama but still want the portrait to feel friendly and real, not theatrical. ### [One Light Profile - The Dreamy Over-The-Shoulder Look](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/one-light-profile-the-dreamy-over-the-shoulder-look/) One Light Profile - The Dreamy Over-The-Shoulder Look ### At A Glance - Pattern: Short lighting on a profile, with the key slightly behind the subject creating edge definition and soft facial illumination. - Mood: Intimate, contemplative, slightly dreamy - the kind of portrait that makes people pause. - Lights Used: One. Elinchrom FIVE with a 1m square softbox. - Difficulty: Moderate. The setup is simple but you need to watch the shadows carefully as you position the light. - Space Needed: Modest - works in a standard small studio, around 4m x 4m minimum. - Ideal For: Portfolio work, dancer and performer portraits, beauty-adjacent work, anyone who wants something a bit different from the standard headshot. ### The Finished Portrait This is a subtle image. Katie faces away from the camera, and we're looking over her shoulder at her profile. The light catches the mask of her face - forehead, nose, lips, chin - while her shoulder glows with a soft edge light from behind. Everything else falls into darkness. It's not a corporate headshot. It's the kind of portrait you'd use for an artist's album cover, a dancer's portfolio, or someone who wants something with a bit of mood. The black background keeps things simple and pulls all the attention to that sliver of lit skin. The expression matters here - you want something soft, maybe slightly introspective. Too much intensity and it fights the gentle light. ### Before And After The before image is already doing most of the work. The light and pose are there, and the background is genuinely dark. In post, I've added a touch of skin smoothing to even out texture, cleaned up any stray hairs or small distractions, and given the colours a bit more punch. There's some subtle work on the tonal range to deepen the blacks and lift the skin luminosity slightly. Nothing dramatic - maybe ten minutes of work. The heavy lifting happened in-camera. ### Lighting Setup - Overview This is a single softbox doing everything. The Elinchrom FIVE with a 1m square softbox sits camera-right, positioned slightly behind the subject - roughly at her 2 o'clock if she's facing 12 o'clock. The light is at about head height, maybe a touch above. Because the subject is turned away from the camera and toward the light, we get this beautiful wrap around the mask of her face. The softbox is close enough that it's soft but still has some direction to it. The shoulder closest to the light picks up a lovely edge glow - that's just spill from the same softbox, not a separate rim light. The black paper backdrop sits about 1.5 to 2 metres behind her. At f/13 and with the light angled away from the background, the paper goes properly dark with just a hint of tone where some spill catches it. No background light, no fill, no reflectors. The white walls of my studio might contribute a whisper of ambient fill, but it's negligible - this is genuinely a one-light portrait. ### Lighting Diagrams & Notes - Camera position: About 2 to 3 metres from subject, at roughly head height, shooting toward the subject's back/shoulder. - Subject position and orientation: Seated on a stool, body angled about 45 degrees away from camera, head turned further to show profile, facing camera-right. - Key light: Modifier: 1m square softbox - Position: 2 o'clock relative to subject's nose direction, camera-right and slightly behind - Distance from subject: Approximately 1 to 1.5 metres - Height relative to head: Roughly head height to just above - Power: Only light, set to expose correctly at f/13, ISO 100 - Fill light: None. - Kicker / rim: None separate - the edge light on the shoulder is spill from the key. - Hair light: None. - Background light: None. - Background: Black paper, approximately 1.5 to 2 metres behind subject. - Reflectors / flags / room influence: None used. White studio walls may contribute minimal ambient bounce but it's not significant. - Notes on feathering / spill control / grids: No grid. The softbox is pointed fairly directly at the subject rather than feathered, allowing spill to wrap around and catch the shoulder. ### Camera & Settings - Camera body: Nikon Z 9 - Lens & focal length: NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S at 70mm - Aperture: f/13 - Shutter speed: 1/160 - ISO: 100 - White balance: Not specified - likely daylight or flash preset The f/13 might seem aggressive for a portrait, but it makes sense here. You want everything in that profile sharp - the eyelashes, the edge of the nose, the lips. At 70mm and this distance, f/13 gives you the depth you need without going silly. The low ISO keeps everything clean, and 1/160 is comfortably above sync speed with room to spare. ### Pose, Expression & Direction The pose is doing a lot of work here. I had the subject sit on a stool with her body angled away from camera - roughly 45 degrees. Then I asked her to turn her head further, giving me a clean profile view. The key is that the camera is looking over her shoulder. You're not shooting her back, you're shooting past it to catch her face. Her shoulder fills the lower frame and creates that sense of intimacy, like you've caught a private moment. For the expression, dreamy works. Soft. Maybe eyes slightly down or looking into middle distance. A big smile would kill this - you want something contemplative, perhaps a touch vulnerable. I just asked her to relax, breathe out, and think about something pleasant but calm. (If they look like they're about to sneeze, you've gone too far with the "relax" direction.) ### Step-By-Step Setup Guide - Set your black paper backdrop and position a stool about 1.5 to 2 metres in front of it, slightly off-centre toward camera-left of the frame. - Place your softbox camera-right, about 1 to 1.5 metres from where your subject's head will be, angled so it's slightly behind their seated position - think 2 o'clock if they're facing 12. - Set the softbox height to roughly match your subject's head height when seated, or just a touch above. - Position yourself about 3 to 4 metres back, camera at roughly the subject's head height, so you're looking toward where their shoulder and profile will be. - Bring your subject in and get them seated. Have them angle their body away from camera, then turn their head to show you a clean profile facing camera-right, toward the light. - Take a test shot. Now here's where you need to pay attention - watch the shadows on the nose and cheekbones. Move the light in small increments and watch how the shadows shift. There's no single "correct" position, but you want the mask of the face nicely lit without the nose shadow doing anything ugly. This is a balancing act. - Once the light position feels right, work on を the expression. Keep it soft, keep it dreamy, and shoot plenty of frames. Small shifts in where your subject is looking make a big difference. ### Common Problems & Quick Fixes - The nose shadow looks weird or unflattering. Move your light forward or back in small steps and watch how the shadow changes. Sometimes a few centimetres makes all the difference. You're looking for a shadow that either disappears into the dark side of the face or sits cleanly without cutting across features awkwardly. - The shoulder is too bright and distracting. Either move the light slightly more to the side so less spill hits the shoulder, or plan to knock it back a bit in post with a local adjustment. Don't stress about it too much - some glow is part of the look. - The background isn't dark enough. Check your subject-to-background distance. Move them forward if you can. At f/13, the black paper should go dark, but if light is spilling onto it, either flag the softbox or accept a slight gradient. Sometimes that gradient looks nice anyway. - The profile isn't sharp enough. At f/13, you should have plenty of depth. If it's still soft, check your focus point - nail it on the eye or the eyelashes. If you're shooting wider than f/13, consider stopping down further. - The subject looks tense or uncomfortable. This pose asks them to twist away from you, which isn't natural. Give them something to do with their hands, keep chatting, and let them settle in. The first few frames are usually warm-up anyway. - You can see too much of the far side of the face. Ask them to turn their head slightly more toward the light until you get a cleaner profile. You want to see one eye, one eyebrow, one side of the nose. ### Post-Production Recipe #### Global tone & colour Start with a slight lift to the blacks if they've gone too crushed - you want dark, not plugged. A small boost to contrast and clarity helps the skin pop without going crunchy. Warm the image slightly if the skin tones feel cold. #### Background shaping If the background gradient bothers you, use a radial or graduated mask to even it out or push it darker. I quite like a subtle tone rather than pure black, but that's personal preference. #### Local adjustments (eyes, skin, hair) The eye that's visible is small in frame but important. A tiny bit of lift on the iris and catchlight helps. Skin smoothing should be gentle - you can see texture on the shoulder and that's fine, but even out any blotchiness on the face. Clean up stray hairs with the healing brush. #### Final polish Check for any dust spots (black backgrounds love showing these). Add a subtle vignette if you want to push attention further toward the face. Sharpen conservatively for output. ### Developing This Setup Further - Swap the softbox for an octa and see how the wrap changes - octas often give a slightly softer edge transition. - Add a very subtle hair light from above and behind to separate the hair from the background, if your subject has dark hair that's getting lost. - Try the same pose but with the subject facing camera-left instead - just mirror the entire setup. See which direction suits your subject's face better. - Move the light further behind the subject for more of a true rim-light profile with less facial illumination - moodier, but you'll lose some detail. - Open up the aperture and shoot at f/4 or f/5.6 for a softer, more dreamlike feel with selective focus on just the eye and nose edge. - Add colour gels to the softbox for editorial or creative work - a subtle warm gel can give the skin a gorgeous glow. ### Where I Use This In Real Life - This is my go-to when someone wants something "different" from a standard headshot, particularly performers, dancers, or creative professionals who need portfolio variety. - I reach for it when the subject has a strong profile - a good nose, defined jawline, interesting features in silhouette. Not everyone's profile is their best angle, but when it is, this setup makes the most of it. - It works brilliantly for beauty and skincare adjacent work where you want to show skin texture and glow without a full beauty-lighting setup. - I avoid it for corporate headshots or anything that needs to look approachable and direct - this is too moody for a LinkedIn photo. - Watch out for subjects who struggle to hold a pose - the twist required here can get uncomfortable quickly, so work efficiently. ### Taxonomy - PrimarySubject: Lighting - Tags: Soft Lighting; Low-Key Lighting; Studio Portrait; Single Light Setups; Feathered Lighting; Head Height; Tall Layout; Subdued Color; Natural Posing - ExtraTags: Profile Portrait - The entire setup and article focuses on capturing a profile view, which is a specific portrait type not covered in the standard tags. - Over-The-Shoulder Viewpoint - The camera position shooting past the subject's shoulder is a distinctive compositional choice worth tagging. ### [Sculpted In Shadow - One Light Intimate Profile](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/sculpted-in-shadow-one-light-intimate-profile/) Sculpted In Shadow - One Light Intimate Profile ### At A Glance - Pattern: Short lighting on a profile pose, with the face turned into a single soft key. - Mood: Intimate, quiet, contemplative - the kind of portrait that feels like a private moment. - Lights Used: One Elinchrom FIVE with a 1m square softbox, no grid. - Difficulty: Easy to set up, fiddly to perfect - the face sculpting is all about millimetres. - Space Needed: Small studio is fine, but watch for wall bounce if your walls are white. - Ideal For: Portfolio work, beauty, personal branding where you want something a bit more artistic. ### The Finished Portrait This is a quiet image. The subject is turned away from camera, looking into the light, and there's something almost private about it - like you've caught a moment of stillness rather than a posed portrait. The light wraps gently around the profile, picking out the line of the nose, the curve of the cheekbone, the edge of the jaw. But it doesn't flatten anything. There's real shape here, real dimension, because the shadows are doing proper work. The black background disappears completely, which pushes all the attention onto the subject's face and shoulders. It's simple, but it's not boring. My job was basically to put the light in the right place and then not mess it up. ### Before And After The straight-out-of-camera file is close, but there's a bit of rim light on the subject's hair and shoulder at camera-left. That's bounce from my white studio walls - I should have flagged it on the day, but I didn't spot it until later. Fixed it in post by darkening it down. I also removed some stray hairs and the subject's necklace, which looked fine in a tighter crop but made no sense in this wider frame because it dropped out of view. Basic healing and clone work, nothing fancy. ### Lighting Setup - Overview There's one light here, and it's doing everything. The key is an Elinchrom FIVE with a 1m square softbox, positioned at camera-right, sitting at roughly 2-3 o'clock relative to the subject. It's close - maybe a metre or so from the subject's face - which gives you that lovely wrap where the light rolls off gradually into shadow rather than cutting hard. But because the subject is in profile and turned toward the light, you still get proper shadows under the nose, beneath the cheekbone, and along the jawline. That's what gives the image its shape. The background is black paper, positioned well behind the subject so almost no light reaches it. It goes completely dark, which is what I wanted. No fill, no reflectors, no second light. The only thing I didn't account for was bounce from the white walls at camera-left, which threw a subtle rim onto the subject's hair and shoulder. I killed that in post, but you could use a black flag or subtractor on the day if you're more organised than I was. ### Lighting Diagrams & Notes - Camera position: Directly in front of the subject, about 0.75m away, at roughly head height. - Subject position and orientation: Seated on a stool, body angled toward camera-right, face in profile looking toward the key light. About 1.5-2m from the background. - Key light: Modifier: 1m square softbox (no grid) - Position: Camera-right, at 2-3 o'clock relative to subject - Distance from subject: Approximately 1m - Height: Centre of softbox roughly at face height, perhaps slightly above - Power: Only light, so set to taste for f/13 at ISO 100 - Fill light: None - Kicker / rim: None intentional - wall bounce created unwanted rim at camera-left, removed in post - Hair light: None - Background light: None - Background: Black paper, about 1.5-2m behind subject - Reflectors / flags / room influence: White studio walls caused some bounce fill at camera-left. Ideally flag this with a subtractor or black panel. I didn't, and fixed it in post. - Notes on feathering / spill control / grids: No grid on the softbox. The light is positioned to catch the profile directly rather than being feathered past. You can bring the light further round toward 3 o'clock if you want more illumination on the cheekbone and collarbone, but watch how it changes the shadow structure on the face. ### Camera & Settings - Camera body: Nikon Z 9 - Lens & focal length: NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S at 70mm - Aperture: f/13 - Shutter speed: 1/160s - ISO: 100 - White balance: 5500K The tight aperture gives plenty of depth of field, which you want when you're this close to the subject - at 0.75m, even small movements would throw things out of focus at wider apertures. The 70mm end of the zoom compresses nicely without distorting features, and being this close makes the image feel intimate rather than observed from a distance. ### Pose, Expression & Direction The subject is seated on a stool with her body angled toward camera-right, chest facing roughly toward the camera. Her head is turned further right into a full profile, looking toward the light. Eyes are soft, almost closed, looking slightly down - it's contemplative rather than engaged. The shoulders are relaxed, one strap visible, which keeps it feeling natural rather than stiff. The key to this pose is the angle of the nose and the pitch of the head. Small adjustments make a big difference to how the light sculpts the face. I asked the subject to lift her chin slightly to extend the neck and clean up the jawline, then bring it back down a touch until the shadow under the cheekbone looked right. It's a balancing act - you're watching the shadows, not the highlights. ### Step-By-Step Setup Guide - Position your background paper well back in the studio - at least 1.5-2m behind where your subject will sit. Black paper will go completely dark if you keep it away from the light. - Set up your subject on a stool, angled toward camera-right. Have them turn their head into a full profile, looking toward where the light will be. - Bring in your softbox at camera-right, positioning it at roughly 2-3 o'clock relative to your subject. Start with the centre of the box at about face height or slightly above. - Move the light close - around a metre from the subject's face. This is what gives you the soft wrap with solid shadows. Too far back and you lose that quality. - Take a test shot and study the shadows. Look at the nose shadow, the cheekbone, the jawline. Adjust the light position in tiny increments until the mask on the face looks sculpted but not harsh. (This is the fiddly bit.) - Check for unwanted bounce. If your studio has white walls, you might get rim light creeping in from camera-left. Flag it with a black panel if you can, or plan to fix it in post. - Fine-tune the subject's head angle - chin up or down, nose pitched slightly - until the shadow structure feels right. Then shoot. ### Common Problems & Quick Fixes - Face looks flat, no shape: Your light is too far round toward the front. Pull it back toward 2 o'clock and check the shadows reappear under the cheekbone and along the jaw. - Shadows are too harsh, not wrapping: Move the softbox closer. The closer it is relative to the subject, the softer the transition from light to shadow. A metre is a good starting point. - Unwanted rim light on the shadow side: That's bounce from your walls. Use a black flag or subtractor at camera-left to kill it. Or fix it in post like I did. (A grid on the softbox would also help reduce spill, but then you lose some of the wrap.) - Nose shadow looks weird: The subject's head angle is off. Have them pitch their chin up or down slightly until the nose shadow falls cleanly. Millimetres matter here. - Background isn't going fully black: Move it further from the subject, or move the subject further from the background. Less light will reach it, and it'll drop to black. - Subject looks uncomfortable in the pose: Seated profiles can feel awkward. Let them settle, give them something to rest their hands on, and keep chatting so they relax into it. ### Post-Production Recipe #### Global Tone & Colour I kept this fairly neutral. Minor contrast adjustment, a slight lift in the shadows to retain skin detail, and a gentle S-curve to add punch without crushing the blacks. White balance was fine out of camera. #### Background Shaping The background was already dark, so I just made sure any stray light was crushed to pure black. A radial gradient from the subject outward helped ensure the falloff was smooth and the attention stayed on the face. #### Local Adjustments Darkened the rim light at camera-left that was bouncing off the studio walls - this was the main fix. Used a brush to bring down the highlights on the hair and shoulder edge until they disappeared into shadow. A small amount of dodge on the catchlight in the eye, though it's subtle in a profile shot. #### Cleanup Removed stray hairs with the healing brush. Cloned out the subject's necklace, which was visible at the base of the neck but cut off by the crop - it looked odd, so it had to go. #### Final Polish Light skin smoothing, very subtle. Sharpened the eyes and lashes. That's it. ### Developing This Setup Further - Bring the light further round to 3 o'clock if you want more illumination on the cheekbone and collarbone. This opens up the face a bit more and changes the mood from introspective to something slightly more present. - Add a hair light from camera-left to separate the subject from the background. A gridded strip box or a small reflector with a honeycomb would work. Keep it subtle - you don't want it to fight the key. - Use a grid on the softbox to reduce spill onto the walls and background. You'll lose a little wrap, but you'll gain more control, especially in smaller spaces with bouncy walls. - Flag the shadow side properly with a subtractor or black V-flat. This gives you cleaner shadows without having to fix wall bounce in post. I should have done this. - Try a three-quarter view instead of full profile for a different feel. Same light position works, but you'll see more of the face and the eyes become a bigger part of the image. - Flip the whole setup to camera-left if your space works better that way. Same principles apply. (Optional - only if your studio layout demands it.) ### Where I Use This In Real Life - Personal branding sessions where the client wants something more artistic than a standard headshot. This gives them a portfolio piece that stands out. - Beauty and portfolio work with models. It's a simple setup that shows off bone structure and skin, and it's quick to set up between other looks. - When I want a quiet, contemplative mood and the subject suits a profile. Not everyone does - you need a decent nose and jawline for this to work well. - Small studio days where I don't have room for multiple lights. One softbox, one subject, job done. - When I want to remind myself that complicated doesn't mean better. This is one light and a bit of attention to detail. That's it. - ### [Traditional Lighting Patterns For The Face](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/portrait-lighting-setups-recipes/traditional-lighting-patterns-for-the-face/) These are the traditional lighting set-ups that studio photographers used to be taught as standard. The set-ups create different ‘light patterns' on your subject's face, helping you to flatter their face shape. ##### Worth knowing It's worth learning these traditional lighting patterns for several reasons. Firstly, they are a good starting point when you're new to studio lighting and trying to figure out where to put your lights. Secondly, being able to identify a lighting pattern teaches you to look for highlights and shadows on a person's face, which is an essential skill to mastering portraiture. Lastly, they are tried and tested. They work, and even if you want to ‘break the rules' by lighting your subject completely differently, you do need to know the rules in the first place so you can break them with intention. ##### Butterfly lighting Butterfly lighting is particularly flattering for older subjects, as it minimises wrinkles. It's also effective for people with high, strong cheekbones, as these will be emphasised. It's name relates to the shape of the shadow under the subject's nose, which is said to resemble a butterfly. To achieve this lighting pattern, place your main flash above and in front of your subject, with the light angled down towards them. If you have a second flash, turn it to a lower power setting and place it below and in front of your subject to soften shadows. Alternatively, use a reflector to bounce light back up on your subject's face. ##### Loop lighting This lighting pattern is named after the ‘loop'-shaped shadow that appears to the side and base of the subject's nose. It's particularly flattering for people with rounder faces, as the near side of the face is shadowed slightly, making it appear smaller and less prominent. To achieve loop lighting, set your main flash so that it's above your subject's eye level and about 45 degrees to one side. Turn your subject's face slightly towards the light to create flattering ‘narrow lighting' with the nearside of the face in shadow. ##### Rembrandt lighting This lighting pattern is named after the painter, who often lit the subjects of his paintings in this style. It occurs when one side of your subject's face is in shadow, apart from a triangular patch of light on that cheek. Both eyes should have catchlights in them, although this is sometimes hard to achieve when subjects have a prominent nose ridge. It's a dramatic style of lighting that's often used in masculine or hero portraiture. To achieve Rembrandt lighting, start with your main flash in the position for loop lighting. Then move it further around your subject until the shadow from his or her nose joins with the shadow on their cheek, leaving just a triangle of light (and catchlight) showing. ##### Profile lighting If you're working with a subject who has a beautiful profile (i.e. they look great side-on), then this is the lighting pattern to use. Turn your subject so their nose is 90 degrees from the camera, then position your main flash at about 110 degrees from the camera. As with all the lighting patterns, your main light should be above your subject's eye level. Lighting anyone from below is unflattering and effective only for bad guys in horror films. Optionally, to soften shadows, you can add a second light on a lower power setting at about 30 degrees from the camera's position, or use a reflector. ##### Split lighting In split lighting, a subject looking directly towards the camera will have half of their face in shadow while the other half is lit. It's a dramatic, moody and masculine lighting pattern that tends to be used for male portraits as it's not particularly flattering. To create split lighting, place your main flash at 90 degrees to your subject. Inch the light backwards if any is falling on the far cheek, and forwards to get a tiny catchlight in the shadowed eye, if you can. Again, if your subject has a prominent nose ridge, this can block light reaching the eye furthest from the light. ### [Studio Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/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.Pack your speedlites and portable flash: this section is all about bringing artificial lighting on location to achieve results that wouldn't be possible with available light alone. You'll learn how to make daylight turn into night-time, freeze BMX-riders mid-air and light up snow and smoke for beautifully atmospheric portraits. ### [Abi | Elegance And Simple High-Key Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/abi-elegance-and-simple-high-key-lighting/) Sometimes, the most straightforward approach is the best. Scrub that: the simplest is nearly ALWAYS the best! And if you've read more than a handful of the articles on this site, you know it's something I've said over and over and over and over and over...... This was shot during one of our one-on-one Masterclasses. We set up this shot to show just how simple an image can be on the technical side, even if there are subtleties in the styling, lighting, posing and finishing. The shot uses just one light: an Elinchrom FIVE with a 100cm square softbox. If you have a large studio, that's probably all you need. If, like us, you have a slightly smaller room, then you might need a 'negative fill' board or a 'subtractor' (these things go by various names) to stop additional lighting from bouncing in from the studio walls. The background here is our studio back wall but you could, of course, use a paper roll or a fabric backdrop. For me, I like the versatility of the physical wall as I can as Abi to lean on it if I want. Using one solo softbox is easy, but you do need to 'read' the light, adjusting the position of the softbox so that it is lighting both the subject and the wall. A gentle touch and be observant! So Why? Well, Abi looked amazing in her white dress and she has a gentleness that works beautifully in front of the camera. I love when an image has a 'harmony' to it with the colours and the tones working together so, with Abi in white, I figured the white wall and a single large softbox would create something beautiful. I posed Abi in the simplest way possible - standing with her arms by her side. I positioned her with her back to the light and then asked her to look down and back towards the light stand wheels - this draws the face in the direction of the light, illuminating the features beautifully. The black subtractor boards add some depth and contrast. I could have spun them around so the white side threw some additional light into the subject but I loved the sculpting that this combination created. Simply, elegant, quick - as always, this is great combination for an image! If you fancy one of our workshops (or longer-term mentoring), details of all our education can be found on the Academy pages. Enjoy! #### Lighting Diagrams #### Equipment And Settings - Nikon Z9 with Nikon AF-Z 70-200mm f2.8 - Elinchrom FIVE with 100cm x 100cm Rotalux Softbox ### [Abi And A Faux-Fur Coat | Shaping Light for Texture](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/abi-and-a-faux-fur-coat-shaping-light-for-texture/) Sometimes, a subject's outfit dictates the lighting before I even touch a strobe. That's precisely what happened here. Abi turned up in this stunning faux-fur coat, and I knew immediately that a standard high-key setup wouldn't do it justice. This was all about texture, depth, and mood-so I went for something a little more dramatic. #### The Plan Rather than a bright, punchy background, I wanted something more subtle. A grey-toned background would complement the coat while keeping the focus entirely on Abi. The great thing? The background is actually just the white studio wall-but by controlling the light, we turned it into something much darker and moodier. ### The Lighting Setup I used a single Elinchrom FIVE for these images. With the Rotalux 1m square sofbox and grid on the front, we were always going to have stunning light. Here's how I set it up: #### 1. The Key Light - Controlled Softness The main light is a softbox with a grid positioned slightly to Abi's right. The grid is the secret weapon here-it stops light from spilling onto the background and keeps the illumination focused solely on Abi. That's how we turned a bright white wall into a rich, dark grey. The result? Abi stands out with beautiful contrast, and the texture in the fur really pops. #### 2. Negative Fill - Deepening Shadows On the left side, I placed two black-faced boards, sometimes called negative fill boards. These absorb any reflected light instead of bouncing it back, meaning the shadows on that side deepen. This helps shape Abi's face and adds texture to the fur. #### 3. Subject & Background Positioning Instead of placing Abi right against the background, I pulled her forward, away from the wall. This ensures that almost no light from the softbox spills onto it. Combined with the grid, this technique transforms a standard studio white wall into a much darker, moodier backdrop-no need for seamless grey paper! ### Shooting & Posing I shot this on my Nikon Z9 with a 70-200mm f/2.8, set at F/10 to keep everything crisp. The longer focal length allowed me to stand at a comfortable distance while still compressing the background beautifully. When it came to posing, I didn't want anything too rigid. So I asked Abi to imagine it was cold (not too hard in the UK) and to snuggle into the coat. The studio was actually at about 23degrees Centigrade so she was beginning to sweat! Either way, this kept the images feeling authentic. I fine-tuned angles as we went, waiting for those perfect little moments where her expression and the light clicked into place. ### The Final Shots The results? A gorgeous, moody set of portraits that feel rich and tactile. The fur has fantastic depth, the lighting sculpts Abi's features beautifully and the slightly darker background seems to add drama - at least to me. #### What I Love About These Shots: - The controlled contrast-negative fill keeps the shadows deep, adding shape and dimension. - The texture in the fur - Every detail is crisp and tactile, thanks to the way the light falls. - The mood - It's clean and polished but still has a cinematic, editorial feel. ### What I'd Improve Looking at the final shots, one small tweak I'd make would be softening the shadows slightly on Abi's left side - the negative fill worked pretty well but I might have overcooked it and maybe a little more detail on the left would have worked. You live and learn! ### Final Thoughts Small lighting tweaks can make a huge difference. By using a gridded softbox, negative fill, and careful subject placement, we transformed a basic studio setup into something rich and intentional. PS. Notice the subtle posing lines that comply with the classical corner-to-corner composition aid. This wasn't deliberate but happened naturally! So, next time you have a subject wearing something textured, think about how light can sculpt the details. More isn't always better-sometimes, taking light away is exactly what you need. ### Lighting Diagrams ### [Alan | One-light low key business portrait photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/business-portrait-photography-low-key/) You've got one light. One subject dressed in dark clothing. And one dark paper background. All the ingredients for perfect low key business portrait photography. This is Alan. He wanted some portraits he could use for his business profile which is a fairly straightforward brief. However, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it as best I can! I loved Alan's dark suit and thought it would suit a dark background, so I had this shot in mind from the start. However, I did also shoot some high key images too, to give Alan more options and flexibility later on when he used the portraits in future. For now, though, let's focus on this low key, one-light set-up. ##### Keeping things separate The main challenge with a dark subject on a dark background is separation. If the tones are too similar, the subject's clothes, dark hair and/or dark skin will merge into the background. While you may want to use this for effect sometimes, most of the time it is A Bad Thing. The subject's shape and form becomes lost. You generally don't want to throw light all over the scene, either, because if you're after an atmospheric, low key portrait, flat lighting will instantly kill the mood. Instead, you could light your subject with one studio light and then use rim light to separate him or her from the background. To do this, you place one or more lights 45 degrees to the side and back of your subject, pointing towards the camera. This creates a rim of light, like a halo around your subject's dark outline. Alternatively, you could light your subject with one flash and then fire another at the background to lift those dark tones behind your subject. Your subject's outline then becomes almost silhouetted against the lighter tones behind them, which is a similar effect as you see in this portrait. But what if you only have one light? Or if you want to use a simpler set-up, because you know that the fewer lights you have, the easier it is to control what the light is doing? Or because you want gentle, more sophisticated and more intentional lighting? Feathering is the answer. ##### Light as a feather Although it sounds abstract and potentially complicated, feathering a studio light simply involves turning it slightly away from your subject. This means that the light falling on your subject comes from the edges of the light, where it gets bounced around the inside of whatever light modifier you are using (soft box, umbrella etc.) which softens and diffuses the light more. Of course, when you feather a light, you have a choice in which direction to dump the waste light: you can turn it forwards so the light that's not illuminating your subject falls in front of him or her. Or you can turn it to face towards the background (reverse feathering), where a little bit of it will be bounced back - if, that is, you are using black paper which has a slightly reflective surface, and not black velvet, which absorbs almost all light thrown at it. Reverse feathering is what I've done here. I've ensured the angle of the light is just right to create a triangle of illumination on the side of Alan's face furthest from the light, while also falling on the background sufficiently to stop it rendering as pure black behind him. This lighting pattern, combined with the solid pose and intense eye contact, makes the shot work. The details matter, too. I ensured that Alan's watch was just visible; I like the little touch of visual interest it adds and felt it would break up the image, encouraging the viewer's eye to travel between it and Alan's face. A simple shot, but still very effective. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings Focal length: 155mm Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter speed: 1/250 sec ISO: 100 ### [Alex | Award-Winning Portrait Of A Modern-Day Explorer](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/alex-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 outside of the brief... Alex Bellini is an adventurer, speaker and 'mental coach'. He's rowed 35,000km solo across two oceans, walked 2,000km through polar routes and ran for 20,000km on different terrains. He's an absolute legend, and an all-round nice guy, too. Alex booked in for some images earlier this year, but little did I know that they would turn out to be some of my favourites. Here's what happened. ##### Straying off the brief Alex actually commissioned me to create images on behalf of a company who had given him a high-tech lightweight and weatherproof coat. We spent an hour or so spraying him with water (you can see the water droplets on his cheek and in his beard) taking pictures) and taking photos of him wearing the coat. Towards the end, I asked if we could take just a few pictures without the coat. I had noticed the incredible sweater he was wearing and it reminded me of the kind of outfits explorers wore in those iconic trips such as Scott's expeditions in the early 20th Century. Alex's beard was still wet but I asked him not to dry it off, as I felt it added some intrigue to the shot. ##### Lights and action The lighting for this shot is incredibly simple: there's just a single softbox to the right of the image (as we're looking at it), at about 45 degrees to Alex. I positioned Alex and the light carefully so that some of the light faced towards the black background. Since it's a paper background, some of the light is reflected back, whereas if I'd use material like black velvet, it would absorb almost all the light that fell on it, giving an inky black background. Instead, I wanted just a little tone in the background, rather than it being flat shadow. This technique works best when your subject is wearing dark clothing that absorbs light. If they are wearing a slightly lighter outfit then use a proportionately lighter background. Then it's about expression. In fact it's nearly ALL about expression. I simply chatted to him, asking him questions and interacting with him. At the moment he looked straight down the lens with this expression, I knew everything had come together and I hit the shutter release. Alex's eyes just drill right through to your soul, don't they? This picture was my instant favourite, from an incredible shoot with an incredible guy! --- If you're interested, this is what the judges said: "The stunning tonal range throughout the photograph and the intensity of the subject's piercing eyes draw you completely into Paul's compelling portrait. A powerful image." ##### Lighting Diagram ##### ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 122.0mm - Aperture: f/6.7 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Ben | The Story Of How Our Book Cover Came To Be](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/ben-the-story-of-how-our-book-cover-came-to-be/) The cover of Mastering Portrait Photography features a portrait of young Ben (who is now a professional rower!). Here's the story behind our most famous image. You don't compliment a writer on their keyboard, but so many times good photographers are told ‘you must have a good camera'. Well this was taken on a 6MP Nikon D100, yet it made the cover of our international reference guide, Mastering Portrait Photography. Here's the story behind the image. ##### From little acorns to mighty oaks Ben was just six or seven years old when we took this image. In those days I used to take a lighting rig to people's home. Of course, our studio is a little more sophisticated these days... Back during this time, we had shoe-horned everything (including a six-foot octagonal soft box) into the family's study. I clipped a piece of black velvet up against the window as a background. Black velvet is the ultimate material for an inky black background as almost no light is reflected from it at all. Young Ben wouldn't sit still and wanted to pull silly faces the whole time - just as any six-year old boy would. At some point I spotted that his sister had been playing with his toy car, and I pointed this out to him: "Look, Ben, your sister has left your car on the floor!". I pointed to the ground and Ben reacted precisely as I had hoped. He became instantly serious and looked down to where I was pointing. I hit the shutter button and the photo you see is the result. The Octa light is huge, so it looks more like windowlight than studio light. This was taken in a small space, so there's plenty of light bouncing around the room. This softens the contrast, by lightening the shadows slightly. ##### Antiquated technology The Nikon D100 is a camera that no serious pro would consider these days. But it's worth pointing out that with a good lens and careful focus (to make sure the detail you have is really sharp), your sensor's megapixels don't matter. This shot was picked out of hundreds of others (including from better, newer cameras) to feature on the cover of our book. Ben is now part of the Team GB rowing squad. And at six foot something, he towered over all of us at the book launch of Mastering Portrait Photography! ##### Illustration There really was only just enough room for Ben, me and a 6ft Octa! The background was some black velvet I clipped across the curtain rail. Simples. ##### Camera Settings - Nikon D100 (yup, all glorious 6MP of Nikon's finest!) - Focal length: 62mm - Aperture: f/10 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 200 ### [Bruno | Channeling James Dean](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/bruno-channeling-james-dean/) Bruno walked into my studio wearing his leather jacket. It appealed to me from a photographic point of view and I instantly knew I wanted him to wear it in some of his portraits. As well as turning up with a perfect accessory, Bruno was good-looking and relaxed. Sometimes, life is just too easy! Read on to find out how I used a single studio light to capture this James Dean-esque portrait of him. ##### Setting up the lighting There's just a single light used in this image: one softbox, to the left of Bruno (from our point of view). I've turned the softbox so it's almost facing completely away from Bruno and towards the wall behind him. This means the light that falls on him is ‘feathered', giving it an extremely beautiful and soft quality. By fine-tuning the position of the softbox, I've made it create a triangle of light on the side of Bruno's face furthest from the light, known as a ‘Rembrandt lighting pattern'. This stops the image from becoming ‘split lighting', with one half of the face lit and the other half dark. While I do sometimes use split lighting in portraits, I mostly prefer the more subtle and natural look of other lighting patterns, like this one. Our studio is fairly small with white walls on all sides. The walls bounce the light around the room, which brings a gentle fill light to my portraits. For example, you can see a kiss of light on Bruno's right cheek, which is otherwise in shadow. That patch is created by light from the softbox, reflected on the white wall opposite. ##### Attending to the details Bruno looked great just how he was standing naturally, so I didn't try to pose him. Instead, I simply moved him into the feathered area of light and asked him to gaze straight into the lens. The background is actually a dark grey paper roll, but because of its distance from the light, it has been rendered as almost black. There's just enough light hitting it to throw the shadowed collar of Bruno's jacket into silhouette. Details like this add depth and interest to your portraits, and elevate your work to the next level. They sometimes look like a lucky coincidence, however this one was no accident! The jacket is semi-matte (rather than shiny or completely matte) so it reflects the light back as a sheen. This brings out the creases, shape and fit of the jacket in a pleasing way. There is a slight vignette (darkening of the edges) on the image that I've applied in post-production. However, if I'd used an old 50mm lens from James Dean's era, this vignette would have been created on the exposure automatically! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 86mm - Aperture: f/11 - Shutter speed: 1/250 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Bryony | High Key Office-Style Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/high-key-office-style-portrait/) Bryony actually came into the studio for some headshots. I loved her outfit and the way she looked, so after the headshots were in the bag, I invited her to pose for some full-length office-themed images, too. ##### Getting the office catalogue look I don't normally use office furniture for shoots, but I wondered if it might work well with Bryony's outfit. I opted for a high key, very clean look, the kind of thing you might see in an upmarket office supplies catalogue (hey, inspiration is everywhere, right?). So we stole this chair, which is normally used by Michelle (our lovely client manager) - don't worry, she wasn't in that day, so we didn't steal it from beneath her! Then I asked Bryony to sit down in a way that felt comfortable and natural to her. I had two flash heads pointing at the background to make it a clean, pure white, with a third, main flash slightly in front of Bryony and to the left (as we're looking at it) to light her. ##### Softness and sass Bryony is amazing in front of the camera, so I didn't need to adjust her pose much. What I looked for was a balance of softness and sass. Her body is angled slightly away from the camera, which is slimming (not that she needs it, but it always looks more flattering). Her knees are crossed, with the closest foot pointing towards the camera - this gives a subtle engagement signal towards the viewer. Most importantly, her hands are soft: her wrists are relaxed and not tensed into fists. This gives a nice touch of finesse to the image. All too often it's easy to overlook a detail like this during a shoot, but it makes such a difference to the final image. Offsetting this elegance is a face-forwards head position, confident gaze and low camera angle. A low camera angle infers power and confidence on the subject, ensuring Bryony looks not only beautiful, but strong and competent, too. Which she absolutely is. ##### Lighting Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 75mm - Aperture: f/13 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 280 ### [Dealing With Reluctant Subjects](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/dealing-with-reluctant-subjects/) Dealing With Reluctant Subjects Pauline walked into my studio and declared, "I don't know why I'm here". This is how I responded, and how it led to me creating one of my best-known images. I create images for our local espresso bar, Little Italy, who use them in their advertising. In lieu of payment, they display my portraits in their customer seating area. This is mutually beneficial, as they get free photography, and their customers get regular exposure to my work. Relationships like these are crucial for local businesses like ours. As part of this arrangement, Little Italy nominate people for us to photograph. In this instance, it was Pauline, their most senior customer. However, the shoot didn't go as either of us anticipated - here's what happened. ##### Off to a bad start Pauline's daughter, Frances, booked everything with us directly. The day rolled around, and they both arrived at our studio spot on time. I'm not quite sure what Pauline was expecting, but she distinctly lacked enthusiasm. That is to say, she looked towards me with belligerence and snapped, "I don't know why I'm here." As you can imagine, not the best start to a portrait shoot. I put my camera down and offered her a drink, which she accepted. We sat down and drank a cup of tea together. Then another. After 40 minutes of chatting and drinking - a curiously British solution to any problem - her disdain towards me had warmed to trust. Only now did I pick my camera back up and take some images. ##### Low expectations At this point, my expectations for the session were low. What I could not have hoped for was what happened next. Pauline by now felt so comfortable that she smiled, laughed and took up each of the poses I suggested to her. She lit up my studio with her charm. Dramatic low-key lighting like this doesn't suit every subject but it seemed perfect for this image. I feathered the rim lighting so that it created just the most subtle of outlines around Pauline and her hat. I had to get that hat lit well! It was amazing! There are about ten images in total - this one included - that I took, any one of which I would be happy to share and display. For me, though, this one is the best, due to the glint in Pauline's eye. She was nearly 90 years old at the time, yet still full of spirit and energy. As I was hitting the shutter button, I knew I had caught something truly magical, and so it proved to be. This is one of those images that I have become known for, and I'm very happy that this is the case. The moral of the story is this: it's your job, as a portrait photographer, to work through any worries and wariness that your subjects show up with. Stay calm, put your camera down, ask questions and listen to the answers. Get to know your subject. Use that time as an opportunity to watch how they move, how the light looks on their face. Then - and only then - when your subject is relaxed, you'll be ready to capture a portrait that truly represents them, and is special because you worked for it. When working with people, their insecurities, experiences and opinions are part of the job. Persevere, switch tactics and be patient. And if in doubt, serve up tea. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 80mm - Aperture: f/8 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Dory | Beautiful, Studio-Lit Stranger](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-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 see here. I met Dory in a restaurant and as soon as I saw her, I knew she'd be amazing in front of the camera. My request took her by surprise, and initially she said 'no'. But - happily - when she got home and looked up our website, she changed her mind and emailed us with an emphatic 'yes'. We spent the day experimenting with all different types of lighting, including sunlight, shade and studio flash. While we were in my studio, I knew I wanted to create something with a tight, unified tonal palette. That's when all the colours in the image are very similar, which immediately draws the viewer to anything that stands out. In this case, that's Dory's eyes. ##### The light set-up This is lit with a flash to the right (as we're looking at it), modified with a square, one-metre softbox. There's also a light bounced down from an umbrella above Dory, to bring out the texture in her hair, and a simple black paper background behind her. I set the lights to their lowest power setting, but still needed to reduce my ISO to what Nikon calls the 'Lo 2' on the D5 (equivalent to ISO 50) to expose correctly with an aperture of f/4. The wide aperture was required because I only wanted the mask* of Dory's face to be sharp. ##### The edit When retouching the image in Lightroom and Photoshop, I was careful not to lose the slight shine of Dory's skin. It's easy to make the skin look too dry and flat, which makes it look lifeless. Instead, I wanted to retain her skin's glow. Ah, note that umbrella on a boom: a fantastic photographer, Steve Howdle, demonstrated this technique at an MPA meeting in 2017. You need a bit of height in your studio but it's great for creating shine and texture in the hair. Just keep the power right down! This image works well as both a colour and black and white. My favourite is the monochrome you see here as I love the range of tones it contains, from nearly pure black to nearly pure white. The 'nearly' is important: one of our final post-production stages is to adjust the levels overall so that there isn't actually any pure black or pure white. We do this because areas of pure black or white pixels don't render particularly well, especially in print. But for me, Dory's eye contact and facial expression is what really makes the image. I'm so glad I asked her to model for me - and that she (eventually) agreed. *The mask of the face is the roughly oval-shaped portion containing a person's eyebrows, eyes, nose, apples of the cheeks, mouth and chin - all the main bits at the front of the head! ##### Studio Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 165mm - Aperture: f/4.0 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Feathered Light, Texture and Quiet Confidence - A Portrait of Kai](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/feathered-light-texture-and-quiet-confidence-a-portrait-of-kai/) This portrait of Kai was one of those images that just kind of... happened. I mean, yes, there was planning, and yes, I thought about lighting and background and camera settings and all the usual bits. But really, it was all about reacting to him-his look, his posture, that head of curly hair, and the way he naturally fell into a beautifully calm, introspective pose. He's only sixteen, but there's something timeless about this portrait. A sense of quiet confidence. No theatrics, no performance. Just light, space, and stillness. ### The Plan (ish) I knew I wanted this one to feel dark and moody, so I pulled out one of our dark paper backdrops. It's smooth and rich and gives a great fall-off, but it can look a bit flat straight out of camera. So in post, I added just a touch of texture-not so much that you notice it straight away, but enough to give the background a bit of interest and atmosphere. As usual, I wasn't chasing a specific image when I started. I just responded to what Kai brought to the studio-the suit, the hair, the gentle profile-and built something around that. ### The Lighting Setup This one's simple. Just one light, but used carefully. I went with an Elinchrom FIVE and a 1m x 1m Rotalux softbox, feathered across Kai and the backdrop. Feathering here is doing the heavy lifting-it softens the light hitting Kai's face, wraps it just gently across his profile, and spills just enough onto the background to separate him without losing the mood. You can see in the diagrams that the light is off to camera right, angled in just enough to skim the side of his face and light up that incredible hair without blasting the background. The further he stands from the background, the darker it becomes, which is exactly what I wanted. The result is shaped light, soft shadows, and just enough highlight to define his form. Anything more and it would've lost the subtlety. ### Camera & Exposure Settings Shot on the Nikon Z9 with a 70-200mm at 75mm, f/8, ISO64. I love this focal length for portraits like this-it gives just the right amount of compression without losing intimacy. The f/8 gives me plenty of sharpness across the frame, and ISO64 keeps the tones smooth and clean. ### Finishing Touches I colour graded this in Nik Color Efex 7, with a few tweaks to bring out the shadows and add that slight desaturated look. I didn't want anything too warm or punchy-just cool, soft, and quiet. The kind of grade that lets the mood breathe rather than shout. ### Lighting Diagrams ### What I Might Tweak If I were doing it again, I might try pulling Kai just a little further from the background to get even more fall-off and isolate him just a little more. But honestly, I'm nitpicking. On the whole, everything has worked pretty well. ### Final Thoughts There's something really satisfying about portraits like this-one light, one backdrop, one subject. But when all those things come together, you get something that feels calm, thoughtful, and beautifully intentional. ### [From Black to White: A Creative Portrait Photography Challenge](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/a-portrait-of-two-halves/) From Black to White: A Creative Portrait Photography Challenge (and a Tale of Best-Laid Plans) When Liv and Hannah turned up in opposite-coloured tops I had to adapt from my usual tendency towards portraits with narrow tonal ranges - creative portrait photography can be a bit like that! Getting forced out of your usual habits can result in some of your most creative images, so use it as an opportunity to experiment. When all else fails, you can always exaggerate differences for creative impact. Liv and Hannah came into my studio as part of a project for MasteringPortraitPhotography.com. I prefer harmonious colour palettes when it comes to my subjects' wardrobe choices, so I asked them to wear tops in complementary colours. The message got lost somewhere along the way though, with Liv turning up in a black top and Hannah in white. ##### Throw out the playbook I was stumped for a moment. They didn't have anything to change into, so I had to throw out my usual playbook. After a few minutes' deliberation, I set up the white paper roll background in the studio, and then I draped some black velvet over a wooden door, which I propped up on carpenters' stands. I placed this in front of the white paper roll, making sure the velvet finished in a straight, vertical edge next to the white. ##### Lighting the scene I used one soft box about 45 degree to the front left side of Liv and Hannah. This lit the 'mask' of their faces (the front part of the face containing the eyes, nose and mouth) in a way that flattered them both. Then I used two strip lights (long, rectangular-shaped softboxes), angled towards the white paper background that would be visible behind Liv. This would ensure that half of the background rendered as a fairly bright tone, rather than mid- or dark grey. Then I put Hannah in front of the black half of the background and Liv in front of the white. I posed them with just enough overlap between their bodies to convey what close friends the pair are. And then I picked up the camera and tried to make them laugh: this could have been at me or with me - I don't care when the expressions are as good as these! ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 75.0mm - Aperture: f/6.7 - Shutter speed: 1/250 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Gina | Sensual Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/gina-sensual-portraits/) Sensual portraits tease the viewer's imagination. Learn why it's best not to reveal too much, and how to feather your studio lights for super soft lighting. I wanted to create a sensual portrait of Gina. Sensuality happens when you tease the viewer and let their imagination get involved with the image. There's nothing sensual about a portrait with everything on show, given away to the viewer like a present that's already unwrapped. That's why I've framed the image so that the question of what Gina is wearing remains unanswered. This brings intrigue, mystery and sensuality; qualities that come from what you don't show, not what you do. ##### Super-soft lighting I lit Gina with a square softbox, but angled away so sharply that it was almost edge-on to her. You can see the shape of the white catchlight in her eyes is thin and rectangular: that gives you an idea of how much I turned the soft box away from her. This is a technique called ‘feathering' the light. Using the beams from only the edge of your softbox creates light with an almost indescribable quality: super-soft with gentle shadows and highlights. It means the higher intensity beams from the centre of your softbox fall outside of your scene, and only light that's bounced to one side and then through the diffuser makes it onto your subject. There are two more lights facing the background to make it bright, but not completely white. When printed, the only areas of a portrait that should be pure white - with absolutely no detail recorded - are the catchlights in your subject's eyes (and reflections on jewellery or sunglasses if they are worn). The rest of the picture should have ink across it. The same principle applies with shadow areas. There should be gradients and dark, dark greys but very few areas of pure black with no detail. You can check this by looking at the histogram on your camera after taking a shot. If there are pixels stacked up at either edge of the histogram's graph, that means there are areas of plain white or black with all detail lost. Adjust your exposure accordingly. ##### Styling and format Gina has styled her hair so that it curls around her face. The longer strand on the left (as we're looking at it) of her face brings asymmetry - and added interest - to an otherwise symmetrical portrait. I've gone for a tight landscape crop, almost a square. This breaks away from the conventional expectation of an upright ‘portrait' orientation. The tightness of the crop adds a contemporary, energetic feel to the image. The hardest part of creating this portrait was for us to both to stop laughing! It's in my nature to be silly, mess around and say what's on my mind. That makes it hard to shut up and stay serious long enough for my subjects to stop laughing (at me, probably, not with me!). ##### Studio Layout ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 145mm - Aperture: f/11 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Isibel | Dynamic Gymnast Studio Portrait (With Flour)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/isibel-dynamic-gymnast-studio-portrait-with-flour/) There's specific studio lighting know-how you'll need if you want to try your hand at catching an athlete mid-air with an arc of powder around them. Read on to find out what you need to do. Oh, and this shot comes with a warning, too... Isibel's family came in for a regular shoot together, but with one additional request. Isibel asked if she could be photographed doing her favourite pastime: gymnastics. We'd agreed to this in advance, so she brought her tumble mat with her and set it up in the studio after we'd captured all the family portraits. Her mum suggested we use gymnast's chalk to add drama and movement, but we weren't sure if this would be unhealthy to breathe in once airbourne, so we used flour instead. I asked Isibel to hold the flour in her hands and throw it as she jumped. When doing this type of shot with professional dancers, you have a lot more control over the timing of the jump and the movement of the flour. When kids are involved, however, it's more important to keep it fun, with lots of laughter and no pressure. This means it took a few attempts (and a lot of flour!) to capture this shot. The flour you can see below Isibel was fallen flour from previous attempts, picked up by her feet. This wasn't intentional but I do think it adds to the image! ##### Hold back the power Normally, studio flash fires just once and has to fire exactly when the camera's shutter is fully open. It's only at this point that the whole of the sensor is visible at once, allowing the flash-lit scene to be rendered evenly across the frame. Otherwise, black strips of underexposed areas will appear across your images, caused by the shutter curtains blocking the light from reaching the sensor as they travel across it. On most DSLR cameras, the shutter is fully open at a shutter speed somewhere between 1/160sec and 1/250sec. Check your camera's manual for the sync speed - this is the point at which the manufacturer has programmed the electronics to reliably trigger the flash while the shutter is fully open. The pulse of your studio light is much faster, usually starting around 1/1000sec. This is perfect for freezing motion, like a jumping Isibel mid-air. But if you increase the flash power, that pulse gets slightly longer. The longer pulse can result in visible movement of your subject during the duration of the flash, giving a blurred ‘ghosting' effect in the image. To avoid this, you need to make sure your flash heads are set to fire as fast as possible. One way to do this is to lower the power - we found that around half power worked well, combined with the ‘freeze' setting on my Profoto units. This setting pumps more power into the tube and then compresses it, so that the flash pulses as quickly as possible. This helps to freeze motion a little more effectively. The tradeoff is that there can be slight colour shifts, though I'm not sure why! ##### Balancing the exposure You want the flash-lit scene to be the only thing picked up by the camera's sensor. But if the flash power is too low, you'll have to use a higher ISO and/or open up the aperture to ensure a good exposure. And if you have a higher ISO or a wider aperture, you run the risk of the sensor recording the ambient studio light or modelling light. If these sources of light bounce off your subject and reach the sensor, then the shutter speed of 1/180sec (or thereabouts) will become apparent, as they will light your subject as she moves across the frame, resulting in ghosting. But - as mentioned above - if you increase the flash power to avoid using a high ISO or wide aperture, then the pulse of the light is too long and once again you get ghosting. Phew - lots to think about! A little trial and error helps get the right flash setting and exposure combination. ##### High speed alternative You could also achieve the same effect with High Speed Sync (HSS), although I find it harder to tune properly. In HSS, the flash fires repeatedly as the shutter moves across the sensor at high speed. The sensor is never fully visible at once because the first and second shutter curtains are chasing each other almost instantaneously across the face of the sensor, to expose it for just the smallest fraction of second. But as each portion of the sensor becomes visible, the flash fires again to light the scene for that segment of the sensor. As a result, the scene should look evenly lit across the whole frame, despite the many pulses of light. However, I find it more effective to use the traditional syncing method described above. ##### Instantaneous trigger A secondary consideration when using multiple studio lights for a shot like this is ensuring all flash heads fire at exactly the same fraction of a second. To do this, you need to trigger them all at once from a single source. Some studios are set up so that the camera triggers the first flash, then the other flash sense that light (using the ‘magic eye' setting) and they fire a millisecond later. Again, this would result in ghosting as your subject will move between the initial and secondary pulses of light in an action shot like this one. Instead, use cable or - preferably - radio triggers (which are much more affordable now). ##### A word of warning Thinking of giving this type of shot a try? One warning. On the day of the shoot we covered up as much of the studio as we could and even taped over joins to try to keep the flour out. It didn't work. Even now - several months and many cleans later - I will move something in the studio and a cloud of flour will float up. The stuff gets absolutely everywhere. Worth it, though, right? ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 52.0mm - Aperture: f/11 - Shutter speed: 1/250 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Julia | How To Feather Studio Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/julia-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 narrow tonal range to capture a studio portrait of a young woman, Julia, wearing a hat. ##### Low key lighting and the ‘feathering' technique Low key lighting refers to the predominance of dark tones and shadow areas in an image. This lighting style can be more atmospheric and give a greater sense of depth and shape than high key lighting; a good shoot/portfolio will include a mix of both lighting styles. For this portrait I positioned a soft box at 45 degrees from Julia and then ‘feathered' the light. This sounds technical but just means that I turned the light source slightly away from the subject. As a result, the light that falls on her is from the edge of the soft box, rather than the higher intensity beams from its centre. Light from a soft box is bounced around inside the box's frame before being diffused through the fabric across its opening, so it's already pretty soft when placed near to your subject. Using only the edge of it gives you access to a whole new level of softness: gentle highlights and shadows combined with a beautiful light quality. Try it out - you'll need to adjust your exposure settings to compensate for the slight decrease in the amount of light reaching your subject. ##### Catchlight placement Without catchlights - those white shapes caused by reflected light - your subject's eyes will look dull and lifeless. Our days are lit by the sun in the sky while our nights are lit by bulbs in the ceiling, which means light most often comes from overhead. As a result, we're used to seeing catchlights in the top half of a person's eyes, as this is where they naturally appear when the light source is above us. When creating a studio portrait I usually raise the main light above eye level to replicate this natural catchlight placement. The most aesthetically pleasing catchlights tend to be those near the top of the iris and a little to the side. If you imagine the iris as a clock face, aim to place your catchlights in the 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock position. What is unusual about this portrait is that the catchlights fall in the 9 o'clock position, which is quite low down. If I had raised the lights any higher, however, Julia's hat would have created a shadow across her eyes and wiped out the catchlights. To avoid this I set the height of the soft box just low enough to creep light in under the subject's hat. ##### Colours: less really is more Fashion photographers want the clothes to be the focus of the image. As a portrait photographer, I want my subject - and particularly his or her face - to be the star of the show. That's why I love outfits with a narrow tonal rage - the muted colours give a sophisticated, gentle feel to this portrait, while ensuring bright colours and patterns aren't stealing all the attention. I've emphasised this effect in post-production by bringing down the saturation levels of the colours to mute them further. ##### Drawn to the light Julia's face is the lightest part of the portrait here. Our eyes are drawn to certain elements in a picture, including the lightest parts. Light your scene so that your subject's face is the brightest area of the image to take advantage of this. A black vignette, added to the edges of the image in post-production, has exaggerated this effect. ##### Settings - Focal length: 70mm - Aperture: f/8 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Katalyn, Sunglasses, and the Power of a Low Camera Angle](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/katalyn-sunglasses-and-the-power-of-a-low-camera-angle/) Sometimes, a portrait session is all about subtlety. And other times, it's about making someone look like they've just stepped off a film poster. This one falls firmly into the second camp. This is Katalyn. She turned up to the studio in a quilted coat and a pair of incredible sunglasses, and the second I saw her walk in, I knew I wanted to go big on the drama. It's a simple concept-but everything in the frame needed to line up just right to sell the look. And that started with getting the lighting, pose, and viewpoint working in unison. ### The Setup The backdrop is black paper, chosen to match her outfit and help the whole thing feel cohesive. That coat is fairly matte, but it's still got structure-and I didn't want it disappearing into the background completely. So, rather than isolating her with a hair light or rim light, I used two 30x100cm softboxes, placed side by side, to create one large bank of soft light. No grids this time. I wanted the light to spill just enough onto the background to give a little gradient and depth. The aim here wasn't just about lighting Katalyn-it was also about getting those reflections in the sunglasses. You can spend all day chasing reflections unless you control the shape and direction of the light properly, so pairing those softboxes gave me one large, clean highlight in the lenses. It's theatrical, a bit film noir, and exactly the kind of reflection that makes glasses work with you instead of against you. ### The Viewpoint To give the image its power, I got right down low with the camera. Like, sitting-on-the-floor low. There's something about shooting from that angle that immediately makes the subject feel commanding. Katalyn's strong pose, head slightly turned, hands in the pockets. It's got a real sense of confidence to it ### Shooting Details Shot on the Nikon Z9 with the 85mm f/1.8, dialled into f/4.5 for a little depth while keeping that creamy background softness. ISO 80 to keep the tones clean, and 1/200s to sync with the strobes. Simple, solid settings that let the light and styling do all the work. In post, I added a subtle vignette, just to draw the eye even more to her face and those glasses. And the final colour grading was done in DxO's Nik Color Efex, which gave me a bit more control over the shadows and tonality-particularly in that jacket and hair. I didn't want it punchy, just polished. Lighting Diagrams ### Final Thoughts What I love about this image is how bold it feels, without needing to shout. It's just one person, one outfit, one light bank-but the angles, the pose, the light... it all stacks up to create something really confident. Katalyn looks like she owns the space. Which, to be fair, she absolutely did. Sometimes, you don't need more gear-you just need the right placement. And a subject willing to lean into the moment. This was one of those times. ### [Katherine: Curls, Coat & Catchlights](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/katherine-curls-coat-and-catchlights/) Katherine: Curls, Coat & Catchlights ### The Story This was part of a commission for the Sassy hair styling team. The brief was to create images for PR, advertising and salon artwork. The only time the team could step away from clients was after closing, so we worked late, laughed a lot and survived on pizza and crisps. Not exactly athlete fuel, but perfect for a creative sprint. Katherine is one of the stylists and also a natural in front of the camera. This image happened after the shoot had technically finished. She pulled on her coat to leave and the colour against her silver curls stopped everything. What I love is how the whole thing came together. The single light. The connection. The coat's deep tone with the cool hair. Even the black paper backdrop contributes a little glow because black paper reflects just enough. The white studio walls add a little bounce, so the shadows are gentle without extra kit. ### The Finished Image ### How It Was Lit - One light: Elinchrom FX500 into a 1m x 1m Rotalux softbox. - No fill, no flags, no gobos, no rim lights. - Black paper backdrop with subtle tone from controlled spill. - White studio walls provided enough light bounce. No V-flats were used. - The key light was positioned to place the right amount of light on hair and face, with falloff keeping the coat rich. ### Camera & Settings - Camera: Nikon D5 - Lens: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 at 92mm - Exposure: f/11, 1/160s, ISO 100 - White Balance: 5600 K ### Pose & Direction Katherine was asked to turn away and look back over her shoulder. She is completely at ease in front of the lens, so that was all the direction needed. The turn shapes the coat and the look-back gives the picture heart. ### Problems I Hit (and Fixes) - Background tone: Black paper needs light. Time was spent adjusting the single softbox so it lit Katherine first and allowed just enough spill to reach the backdrop. The goal was to get just enough separation between the coat and the backdrop. - A raw edge to the image: The picture needed a touch of movement and immediacy. We ran the action a few times to find the point where the coat fell naturally and the expression landed. When it did, the shutter was already halfway down. ### Post-Production Notes - Processed in Adobe Lightroom. - Global adjustments were gentle: contrast managed so skin stayed clean, with exposure lifted slightly for a bright, smooth finish. - A light vignette was added to support the natural falloff. - Retouching was minimal: a little dodge and burn on the face. Makeup was excellent. ### Judge's Eye: (What Would I Do Differently Next Time?) - Light ratio: With portraits like this, keep the current key and consider a flagged white card or a low-power stripbox camera right. Lifting the coat by around one to one and a half stops helps avoid blocked blacks while preserving mood. - Exposure discipline: Meter the coat to a solid mid-tone and protect highlights with a controlled curve in post rather than darkening globally. This keeps printable detail and prevents crushing. - Colour management: Neutralise skin with a gray-card reference, then re-introduce cool tones in the shadows only. This prevents cyan seepage into skin and the fur collar. - Edge refinement: When brightening hair, mask with a small feather and check against a mid-grey layer to catch halos before export. - Noise and sharpening: Shadow lifts reveal noise. Apply selective luminance noise reduction to the background, then output-sharpen to the paper size. For a 16x24 inch matte print, a radius around 150 to 180 ppi works well, lower for gloss. ### Diagrams & Setup Photos ### Fast Takeaways - One light is plenty when placement is precise. - Black paper will show tone if a little spill finds it. - A long lens at a sensible distance keeps lines flattering and the frame simple. - The look-back is a tiny move that changes the whole mood of the image. ### Kit List - Elinchrom FX500 - Elinchrom Rotalux 1m x 1m softbox - Nikon D5 - Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 ### [Katie | Advanced Lighting Isn't Always Complicated!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/katie-advanced-lighting-isnt-always-complicated/) Advanced Lighting Isn't Always Complicated! This image was part of a series of images taken during our 'Advanced Studio Lighting' workshop. Sometimes, the simplicity of an image belies the detail it takes to create it: it's simple to place a light but it takes a bit of practice to place it well! Katie was wearing a corset top with cargo pants and boots and looked brilliant so to kick off the workshop, I thought we'd start with the simplest of shots: a single Elinchrom FIVE with a 100cm x 100cm Rotalux softbox (without a grid). For this shot, there is no other kit involved except the walls of the studio, I suppose, as they (along with the ceiling) skip light back into the scene, reducing the contrast between the lit side and the shadow side of the subject. #### The Lighting Our light is on wheels, making it easy to float it around, adjusting the location, angle and height of the light to create a beautiful light on Katie's face and figure. I was also adjusting the positioning to throw some light onto the white wall behind the subject. This is a useful trick if you have limited kit and / or limited space as you can create the entire image with just the one light. There is a 'feel' for positioning the light - it's something that comes with practice and depends on how you like to light your subjects. Much as that is the case, there are some simple guidelines that help: - Look for the catchlights in the eyes! If you have nice bright eyes, your lighting is going in the right direction! - Try to minimise any light / dark / light fluctuations in the face as these typically aren't as flattering irrespective of your client's look! #### Camera Angle It's not talked about enough but the angle of the camera is as important as the angle of any lights or the pose of the subject (low angles create power in the pose, while high angles are flattering but the subject can look subordinate to the viewer.). For me, I nearly always have the camera completely horizontal - i.e. the height of the camera is at the vertical mid-point of the subject as they appear in the frame. This is very much a personal choice, it just seems to work for me and my clients! #### Post-Production The image was reasonably well-lit right from the start so all I needed was remove any marks in the background and any stray hairs (Katie's makeup was almost flawless which is a real luxury for a photographer.) The hardest part? The hardest part was determining what colour tone (or monochrome) would suit the image! In the end - even now I'm looking at it - I am not sure of the answer to that one! I am more than happy to hear your thoughts! #### Lighting Diagrams #### Camera Settings Focal length: 130mm Aperture: f/16 Shutter speed: 1/160 sec ISO: 320 ### [Laura | Headshot For A Teenage Actor](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/laura-headshot-for-a-teenage-actor/) Of all the age groups I photograph, teenagers are by far my favourite. They are at their physical peak, and often walk in full of attitude, which translates into compelling portraits, like this one. Laura needed a headshot for her performing arts course, which could also be used for future auditions. ##### The limitations of high power studio flash I wanted to open up my aperture to get a really shallow depth of field, with just Laura's nearest eye sharp and everything else in front and behind falling out of focus. But I couldn't turn down the power on my studio flash low enough. Even at their lowest setting, with my ISO set to the minimum, and with as quick a shutter speed as would allow my camera to sync with the flash of the studio lights, I would still have needed to use a smaller aperture than I wanted. One of the reasons I upgraded our studio strobes was because I frequently wanted a very shallow depth of field and our old set couldn't do it! Of course, I could have simply moved the flash away from the subject but that would have fundamentally changed the characteristic of the lighting on her face. So instead, I switched the flash trigger off and used the modelling lights* instead. This meant that I could open up the aperture to f/2. As modelling lights aren't very bright or powerful - especially compared to studio flash - I had to compensate for the lower light levels. I used a slow shutter speed (1/60th second - I was risking camera shake as I was using a longer focal length than 60mm) and a higher ISO (ISO 400 compared to ISO 50 or 100 that I would normally use with studio flash). ##### Catchlights and crops I used a strip box (a long, thin soft box) turned horizontally and positioned at 45 degrees and slightly above Laura's head height. The strip box produces the unique rectangular catchlight in Laura's eyes, and means her face is the brightest part of the image, with the light quickly falling off towards the bottom of the image. I have cropped in tight intentionally, to give the viewer a sense of being very close to the subject. This gives it an intimate feel, making for a more striking headshot for her course and auditions. *Modelling lights are continuous, giving you a preview of how the light will fall on your subject when the flash fires. ##### Studio Setup ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 105mm - Aperture: f/2 - Shutter speed: 1/60ec - ISO: 400 ### [Less Is More: Using the Absence of Colour](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/less-is-more-using-the-absence-of-colour/) ### The Subject This is Millie. I've photographed her many times over the years, and I think that familiarity brings a kind of quiet energy to the images. Even when the hero frames are calm and composed, she's got this brilliant ability to flip into laughter the second the camera dips-and I love that. You'll see one of those moments here, and honestly, it might be my favourite. This shoot was part of a one-on-one day in the studio, helping another photographer finesse their image-making. It was a chance to talk about lighting, posing, spacing, colour, and how you can play with all of them while still keeping things beautifully simple. ### The Setup This whole sequence was inspired by Millie's outfit-a loose white-on-white ensemble that immediately pushed me toward a high key setup. It also reminded me that I'd just painted the studio walls again (finally!) and this was the perfect excuse to make the most of that clean backdrop. The light is feathered away from Millie, not pointed directly at her. Instead, it's angled just off to the side, and we point the studio flat (a polyboard reflector) towards the light. That way, the bulk of the light bounces back in, softening shadows and wrapping around her more gently. This kind of feathering gives you light that's flat in contrast but still full of character. The key to this is the positioning of the light. We've drawn out the setup below (top and side view), but the short version is: one large softbox, angled across Millie from camera right, and a polyboard reflector opposite it. I'm standing around 3 metres back from the subject-which is about where I like to be. It gives me enough space to react quickly to anything spontaneous that happens, and keeps the perspective honest. ### The Image These pictures are all about restraint. There's an elegance in them, I think, that comes from holding back rather than adding more. The background, the clothes, the light, the tone-everything leans into the same calm aesthetic. That said, the real twist here is that this is actually a shoot about colour. Or more accurately, about the absence of it. Sometimes, the lack of colour is the colour. In other words, the absence of strong hues forces your eye to pay more attention to the tones, the shapes, the subtle textures. Everything becomes more deliberate. This is where that crisp white suit and clean wall came together with the lighting to form something minimal but visually rich. There's almost no shadow. There's almost no colour. And yet, there's plenty to look at. That's the magic of restraint. Lighting Diagram ### [Lizzie | High Key Striplight Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/lizzie-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 I used strip lights for this studio portrait of Lizzie. A fair-skinned subject in a white top on a white background? Common portrait wisdom states that it shouldn't be done, but I disagree. White-on-white fails when you throw uncontrolled light all over the scene, losing shadow, definition and detail. Instead, control your lights and your exposure carefully for a high key portrait that still has texture and character. Here, Lizzie's fair skin, pale top and the pale paper background have combined to create a gentle image with a narrow range of harmonious tones. ##### Using striplights for defined highlights Striplights are not long, thin softboxes, as you might think. Softboxes have one flash head in the centre of the frame, which means there is slight light fall-off at the edges. They also have fabric frames, which means they sag, bow and alter shape slightly as you reposition and adjust them. A striplight has several built-in flash heads spread out along its length, underneath a white, acrylic cover. They emit an even, consistent light from end to end, with a gentle light fall-off. Their frames are hard, which means their shape and that of the illumination they emit stays the same every time they're used. Because of this, they are often used in commercial photography, where the rectangular highlights they create accentuate the forms of products with reflective surfaces, such as cars. When barndoors are fitted on striplights, they create long, narrow highlights with sharp edges, as you can see from the catchlights in Lizzie's eyes. ##### Background details For this portrait, I positioned the striplight 45 degrees above and directly in front of Lizzie. To soften the shadows it produced, I set up a white reflector on either side of her. I also faced two lights on to the white background paper to bleach that out, for a pure white backdrop. I've also asked Lizzie to breathe through her mouth, to softly part her lips. The lighting and pose work together to create an intriguing, gentle portrait which perfectly complements Lizzie's personality. ##### Studio Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 140mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Mark | Sculpting A Face In A Dramatic Shadow Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/mark-sculpting-faces-with-shadow/) ### Shaping the Face With Shadow Shadows give your portraits a sense of depth and shape. And when you get them right - when the light falls exactly where you want it and the dark side of a face just melts away - the result is a dramatic shadow portrait that feels genuinely sophisticated. Here's how I created this shot of Mark, and how you can achieve the same effect yourself. This portrait is all about controlling the tones across an image to create just the right mix of interest and depth. Every decision, from the light placement to the crop, was made in service of that one goal. ### Sculpting Light on Mark's Face I've positioned a large, hexagonal softbox to Mark's right. It's just far enough forward that a patch of light has formed a triangle on his left cheek, and a catchlight in his left eye. This is the classic Rembrandt lighting pattern - named after the famous painter, who lit many of his subjects in exactly this way. It's one of the most beautiful and enduring approaches to shadow shaping a face in portraiture, and for good reason. The light's intensity is strongest on Mark's right side, nearer the source. It then feathers gradually across the front of his face until it becomes deep shadow on his left. That gradual transition is really the heart of sculpting light in photography - shadowing gives a face shape and dimension, and can either broaden or slim the appearance of the face, so controlling how and where those shadows fall is absolutely essential. I took this photograph in our old, much smaller studio. It had white walls and a white ceiling, which had the occasional benefit of bouncing a little light around - essentially replicating the effect of a reflector, or a fill-in light on a very low setting. You learn to adapt to the space you're shooting in, and I took advantage of that to reduce contrast slightly, as happened here. ### Shades of Grey The background behind Mark is actually grey paper, but because so little light is reaching it, it appears almost black. And yet you can see that Mark's left ear and the side of his head are silhouetted against the backdrop - because there's just enough light from the softbox falling on it that it's slightly more illuminated than the dark side of Mark's face. The result isn't just a silhouette; there's genuine separation there too. I love using a narrow tonal range to build a moody studio portrait. You'll notice I've matched the dark grey background to Mark's grey suit and black shirt. Mark's face is the lightest part of the shot, so the eye is immediately drawn towards it - which is always my goal in portraiture. ### Composition and Visual Tension I've cropped into Mark's hairline to place his eyes on the top line according to the rule of thirds. To understand it, imagine two equally spaced horizontal lines splitting the image into thirds, overlaid with two equally spaced vertical lines going the other way, giving nine identical boxes. Placing a key element - your subject's eyes, say - on one of those lines is a strong compositional choice. Placing it on one of the four intersections where the lines cross is even better. With all these complementary tones and compositional rules working together, the image was getting a little too harmonious. So I've cropped ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 195mm - Aperture: f/9 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Matt & Rob | Light And Dark Skin With Simple Studio Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/matt-rob-light-and-dark-skin-with-simple-studio-lighting/) Sometimes photographing multiple clients at once is pretty straightforward. If the people in front of your camera have similar face shapes, similar heights and similar skin tones, then there's fewer challenges to consider when creating flattering portraits of them together. But sometimes there's a height difference that you want to minimise or exaggerate. Your clients might have different face shapes that require different lighting patterns to flatter their features. Or they could have different skin tones that you need to balance the light for. In this instance, Matt has dark skin tones while Rob has very pale skin tones. How could I achieve a correct, flattering exposure, all in one shot (and with no Photoshop trickery!)? ##### Use light for dimensionality in your portraits You may have heard that lighting is the foremost consideration in photography, which is true. Why does it matter so much, though? It's because photographs are two-dimensional images. Areas of light and dark tones in pictures give a sense of shape and depth, a perceived third dimension. That's why I hate flat studio lighting, with no shadows anywhere - it looks shapeless, boring and not true to how we see things in the real world. With portraits of subjects with dark skin, this sense of shape on a person's face is mainly created based on the location of the highlights on their skin. Conversely, with pale skin, the sense of shape is created mainly by the shadows. So we want to see highlights on Matt to add dimensionality, but to shape Rob's face we need to use shadow. How can we ensure sufficient light on both Matt and Rob, without under- or overexposing either of them, or ending up with flat lighting? ##### Understanding the relationship between light and distance The answer lies in the fun-sounding ‘inverse square law', which determines how the strength of the light increases or decreases as a person moves closer or further away from the light source. If you're shooting outdoors using natural light, there's little difference in moving your subject closer to the sun. That big ball of fire is nearly 150 million km away, and placing one of your subjects a foot or two closer won't change anything. But in the studio your light source is a lot closer, and that means the light diminishes at a much faster rate when your subject gets further away from it. Using a bare flash bulb, moving a subject who was two feet away from the light until they are four feet away will mean they will have just a quarter of the amount of light falling on them than before. If you are using natural light though a window that is shaded from direct sunlight (or which has a net across it to diffuse the sun), your light emitter is now that window, rather than the distant sun. This means that the harsher rate of light fall-off applies. It's why good wedding photographers place the groom (typically wearing a dark suit) closer to the window, with the bride (typically in a white dress) furthest away. ##### Testing out the theory In our main example, I put all this theory into practice. Matt has dark skin, so I've placed him nearest the light, while Rob with his paler skin is just a little further away. Because I'm using studio flash, there's a lot less light reaching Rob than Matt. This reduces the contrast between their skin tones, making it easier to achieve a correctly exposed image, while still shaping their faces using plenty of highlights (on Matt) and shadows (on Rob). ##### Illustration ### [Meg | Hollywood Glamour Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/meg-hollywood-glamour-portrait/) The pros and cons of working with a beauty dish, and how to use subtractors to reduce the amount of light bounced around in a white-walled studio. The hardest part of capturing this portrait was stopping Meg from laughing as we took it. Meg is our studio assistant (and all-round superstar), and is normally on the other side of the camera. This shot came about because Meg asked me to capture matching shots of Meg and her mum lit in the dramatic style of 1940s, Hollywood-glamour portraits. Here's how we did it. ##### The good, the bad and the ugly: working with a beauty dish The light was provided by a beauty dish, a unique lighting modifier that you can use with studio lights. Most modifiers soften the light, but a beauty dish reflects it. It looks like a very shallow bowl, circular and with a plate that covers the flash head (to avoid hotspots). Because of its shape, light falls on your subject most strongly from the centre, with a quick fall-off to shadow. This helps to accentuate your subject's cheekbones, while its metallic inner coating creates strong contrast that makes your subject's skin sparkle. But as is always the case in photography, there's a compromise to be made. The light from a beauty dish is semi-hard; softer than the light from a flash gun but much harder than the light from a softbox. Because of this, it's very unforgiving, highlighting any flaws in your subject's skin tone or makeup. Lucikly Meg has super-smooth skin and great makeup skills, so I could get away with using the beauty dish. I've positioned the light horizontally above and in front of Meg, like a lowered chandelier. It took a little fiddling to get it exactly how I wanted it, with the catchlight just above the pupils of Meg's eyes. ##### Subtracting ambient light for complete darkness We wanted to create an image with complete focus on Meg's face. Our studio walls are white, so they bounce light from my studio flashes around a little. Although there was no light aimed at the black paper background behind Meg, some ambient light reached it so I darkened it completely in post-production. I also positioned two subtractors just out of shot on either of Meg. Subtractors are vertical boards to which I peg large sheets of black velvet. This fabric absorbs all the light that reaches it, which is why there's no fill-in light reaching the sides of Meg's cheeks and jaw. This means these parts of her face have shadowed to complete black, just like the glamorous Hollywood portraits of Hedy Lamarr and Marlene Dietrich. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 340mm - Aperture: f/16 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Millie | Feathering Light For A Soft-Low Key Image](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/millie-feathering-light-for-a-soft-low-key-image/) Whenever we're running a workshop or masterclass, there isn't a fixed path or a list of things we're going to do - part of the fun of a group of photographers getting together is that we all have an input and guide the day to get the most out of it. This image, like others in the Vault, was from one of our Mastering Advanced Studio Lighting workshops. We run this workshop a few times a year and it is one of my favourites and always seems to result in beautiful imagery - sometimes subtle and elegant, sometimes theatrical and full of smoke and a myriad lighting kit. This shot is the former. I asked Millie to sit on the stool and then over a sequence of images, I fine-tuned the pose, ultimately asking if she could get her feet and bum on their at the same time (I know I couldn't have done it but Millie is petite and supple! As they say, nothing venture, nothing gained...) So after a lot of laughter, she managed to find a seated position that was really elegant as well as being really compact. We used a dark paper background for this; I like paper because it still reflects some light depending on the angle which means you can create natural halos if you position the light precisely. The lighting is an Elinchrom FIVE with a 100cm x 100cm Rotalux Softbox. Simply my favourite lighting modifier. The soft light these boxes give out is second to none (and I should know, I've tried most of them!) I adjusted the position of the light until I had the precise pattern I wanted: soft light on Millie's face and a gentle pool of light on the backdrop. Our studio isn't vast so it's easy to feather the light as it bounces around the studio, reducing the contrast. Feathering is a bit of an art - it's not hard but it can take a little practice (just use your eyes!) I am always unsure how an image will look until actually I 'see' it. In this instance, when I shifted back and dropped the camera's height, pretty much to floor level, I felt it had the look I wanted. Simple. Beautiful, of course. But simple. Then we adjusted Millie's pose shot-to-shot, moving her face, her pose and her expression, always keeping an eye on how the light played off her features so that she looked stunning in each frame. If you fancy one of our workshops (or longer-term mentoring) details of all our education can be found on the Academy pages. Enjoy! #### Lighting Diagrams #### Equipment And Settings - Nikon Z9 with Nikon AF-Z 70-200mm f2.8 - Elinchrom FIVE with 100cm x 100cm Rotalux Softbox #### The 'Other' Shots! Sometimes it's useful to see the shots either side of the one I thought was the 'hero' image. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments below! ### [Moody & Minimal - A Backlit Portrait of Abi](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/moody-minimal-a-backlit-portrait-of-abi/) Some portraits are about light. Others are about shadow. This one? It's about both. When Abi walked into the studio in this sleek, form-fitting black dress, I knew immediately that I didn't want to go with a conventional front-lit setup. The outfit was elegant, simple, and strong-I wanted the lighting to reflect that. Something sculptural, something moody, something that let the shadows do just as much work as the highlights. So, I ditched the standard key light and went for a backlit, low-key approach, where the only light shaping Abi comes from behind. ### The Lighting Setup This setup is beautifully simple but needs a bit of care to get right. I used two Elinchrom FIVEs with 30cm x 100cm gridded softboxes, positioned slightly behind Abi-one on each side. The grids were essential here because they stopped the light from spilling everywhere, keeping the beams controlled and precise. The goal was to just skim the edges of her body, creating that beautiful, sculpted rim light while leaving the front mostly in shadow. The black backdrop helped absorb any unwanted light bouncing around, keeping the background deep and rich, while also enhancing the contrast of the rim lighting. This is one of those setups where you really need to be careful with positioning-the moment those lights creep too far forward, the effect is gone, and you just end up with a messy, uneven exposure. ### Camera & Shooting Approach For this shot, I used the Nikon Z9 with a 70-200mm f2.8 lens at f/7.1. I wanted enough depth of field to keep Abi's entire form crisp while still letting the background fall into darkness. The 70-200mm lens was perfect for this because it let me step back and compress the scene, making the rim lighting feel even more dramatic. Abi's pose was another key element here. I asked her to drop her chin slightly and fold her hands behind her back, creating a really strong, pose. The downward gaze adds a touch of drama I think. ### The Final Image In the final image, the light just kisses the sides of Abi's face and body, defining her shape without being overpowering. The gridded strip boxes are great for this. #### What I Love About This Shot: - The precision of the rim light - It's controlled, clean, and adds just enough detail without washing anything out. - The balance of shadow and light - It's moody without losing form, letting the subject's shape do all the talking. - The simplicity - No distractions, no unnecessary elements-just strong, minimal portraiture. ### What I'd Improve If I were to tweak anything next time, I might experiment with a tiny bit of fill light in the front-maybe just a very subtle reflector at a distance-to bring in the faintest hint of detail in the shadows. I love the mood of the shot but maybe a little extra light from the front might have helped. Who knows? It's a bit of a balancing act and I don't always get it spot on! ### Lighting Diagrams ### Final Thoughts With just two lights and a little care (actually, quite a lot of care!) it's amazing what you can do! ### [Moody Studio Portrait: Emelia With Attitude](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/moody-studio-portrait-emelia-with-attitude/) #### The Subject This is Emelia - fiery, fabulous and full of fun. Photographed during a family session with Kimberley, Luke, Emelia and Lara, it was one of those shoots where you're meant to be working but you end up grinning the whole way through. The girls had so much character - so much attitude - it was impossible not to be swept up in it. This shot was created partway through the session, after we'd banked all the warm, smiling family moments. Now it was time to go moody. #### The Setup It's a deliberately stripped-back setup - a single Elinchrom FIVE and a 1m softbox. Nothing fancy. The key is in the control: the light is feathered gently across Emelia rather than pointed straight at her. This softens the fall-off and helps light both her and the background with one source. Camera right: the softbox. Camera left: a subtractor - a big black flag - to kill off any unwanted bounce and keep the shadows rich and textured. The background is about a metre and a half behind Emelia, which lets the light wrap onto it without casting strong shadows. No need for a second light - just careful feathering. She's leaning on the stool rather than sitting - a small detail, but one that gives her posture a relaxed confidence. That, combined with the chunky boots and that killer expression, gives the shot its bite. I'm sat on the floor, about three metres back. It's our usual studio floor - nothing shiny - but once you get low enough, the angle picks up the light and gives just a whisper of reflection. It's a subtle thing, but it helps ground the whole image. #### The Image Postproduction is where the tone really comes together. I've desaturated the colour quite heavily - not all the way to black and white, but close - leaving just enough colour in the skin, the dress, and the boots to keep things alive. The shadows are soft but present, and the highlights are never clipped. The dress glows, the boots shine, and Emelia owns the space completely. #### Key Elements That Make It Work - Lighting control: The feathered key, subtractor, and reflector create mood and depth from just one light. - Viewpoint: The low camera angle adds strength and elegance. - Styling: Sequins, ruffles, boots - absolutely nailed it. - Postproduction: Desaturation adds focus and enhances the mood. - Expression and posture: She's not performing - she's just being. #### What I'd Tweak Next Time - I might lift her forward slightly to balance the background gradient a little more evenly. - A subtle rim light (very subtle) could help separate her from the backdrop without losing the softness. - Possibly a tiny clean-up or dodge on the nearest stool leg - just to stop it pulling the eye. - And I'd test print it before final output - just to make sure those floor highlights don't pop too hard. ### [Phil Hitchcock - A Touch of Magic](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/phil-hitchcock-a-touch-of-magic/) Phil Hitchcock - A Touch of Magic ### The Story Phil Hitchcock is one of those rare humans with funny bones. He walked into our studio, shook the room with warmth and gags, and promptly reminded me why portraits are my favourite kind of chaos. This was our second session together, part of a fresh publicity set for his cruise ship shows - magician, comedian, singer, old-school cabaret with proper showmanship. He looks terrific in a suit, which helps when the brief is "give me images for posters, leaflets and those ever-present on-board screens." The idea here was simple: relaxed but powerful. Phil as the effortlessly in-control entertainer, reclining as if he owns the room - because on stage, he usually does. I wanted a dark, graphic space for designers to drop headlines and tour dates into, while still keeping a human connection through expression and eye contact. A single-light portrait with a subtractor felt like the right kind of theatre. ### The Finished Image A low camera angle, Phil reclined on the studio chaise, shoulders open, expression warm. The light caresses his face with Rembrandt modelling and falls quickly into shadow across the suit and the right hand resting along the seat back. There's deliberate negative space to camera right for layout flexibility. It's moody without being miserable; corporate but with a twist. ### How It Was Lit - Key: Elinchrom BL400 with a 1-metre square gridded softbox. The grid keeps the spill under control and lets the fall-off do the mood work. Placed to shape both Phil and a sliver of the background, giving a natural vignette without heavy global darkening. - Fill / Negative Fill: Black subtractor camera right to deepen shadows and stop our small, white-walled studio from bouncing too much light back. - Background: Dark grey paper carefully positioned so it reads almost black under this setup. Big, clean dark areas are perfect for white titles and copy. - Additional lights: None - no extra rim or background lights. The drama is all in the key and the subtractor. Studio note: the room isn't huge and the white walls naturally raise the floor of the shadows. That's why the grid and subtractor are doing the heavy lifting; they keep the contrast honest. ### Camera & Settings - Camera: Nikon D800E - Lens: 50mm f/1.4 - Exposure: f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 200 - White Balance: 5600K Nothing fancy in the menus - straight, considered portrait craft. ### Pose & Direction Brief to Phil: sit back, own the sofa, breathe. I wanted chilled yet confident - the body language of someone who knows he's about to entertain a theatre full of people. The crossed legs tidy the shape; the left arm over the chair signals ease; the smile is the most important light modifier in the room. He's friendly and confident, which is exactly the promise his posters need to make. ### Problems I Hit (and Fixes) - Making it feel more theatrical without overcooking it. Fix: Dropped the camera to a lower angle. That little lift in Phil's stature makes the whole frame feel more "stage". - Wanting a natural vignette rather than a Photoshop tunnel. Fix: Careful placement of the gridded softbox so it lights both the subject and a controlled slice of background. The fall-off does the rest. - Reflective, white-walled studio flattening the shadows. Fix: A black subtractor camera right to deepen the mood and keep sculpting on the face and suit. ### Post-Production Notes - RAW software: Adobe Lightroom CC - Global: Basic tonal tweaks to sit the mid-tones where Phil's expression reads best. - Local: Gentle shaping to keep attention on the face and hands. - Retouching: Skin kept natural - texture intact. Vignette exaggerated slightly for poster-friendly drama, then final polish in DxO's Nik Color Efex. Built with screen and poster use in mind - that dark right-hand side is intentional copy space. ### Judge's Eye: What Could Be Better I ran the image past some photography judges to see what could be done differently in the future (everyone should do this once in a while!) #### Areas of agreement from the panel - Competent single-light treatment giving pleasing Rembrandt-style modelling on the face. - Expression feels genuine and perfectly pitched for the corporate performer, aiding viewer connection. - Post-production is restrained: skin texture largely preserved, colour consistent across the set. - Impact is reduced by an aggressive vignette and the expansive dead space to camera right, which can leave the image feeling incomplete. #### Where opinions diverged - One judge enjoyed the dramatic negative space as an intentional design choice for text; others read it as unused canvas rather than narrative breathing room. - Mixed views on the pose: some liked the laid-back sprawl; others noticed the foreshortened left hand and a clipped shoe tip as mild distractions. #### Chair's observations - The key's fall-off renders parts of the suit and right hand close to the background tone; a subtle rim or feathered fill could lift detail without killing mood. - The vignette reads "added in post", creating a tunnel effect that competes with the elegant furniture. Shaping more in-camera would feel cleaner. - Compositionally, the right hand aligns near the frame edge and points into an unlit area; consider a tighter crop or introduce an element that justifies the space. ### Diagrams ### Fast Takeaways - A gridded softbox plus negative fill is a powerful combo when your studio walls want to bounce light everywhere. - If you need poster space, design it in-camera - but be ready to defend it to judges who aren't thinking like designers. - A low camera angle adds stage presence without turning the subject into a superhero. - Aim for a natural vignette using fall-off first; keep post subtle so the frame doesn't feel tunnelled. - Watch the edges: hands, shoes and furniture lines near the border will shout louder than you expect. ### Kit List - Elinchrom BL400 head - 1-metre square gridded softbox - Black subtractor (flag/V-flat) - Dark grey paper background - Nikon D800E with 50mm f/1.4 ### Credits - Client: Phil Hitchcock, magician, comedian, singer - publicity portraits for cruise ship shows. - Location & Date: Our portrait studio. - Usage: Posters, leaflets and on-board marketing screens promoting Phil's shows. ### Sign-off I love sessions like this - big personality, clean lighting, and images that work just as hard for the designer as they do for the viewer. If you're building a publicity set, don't be afraid of the dark; shape it, give it purpose, and keep an eye on those edges. As ever, be kind to yourself. ### [Rhys | Low-Key Hair Salon Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/rhys-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, I had been planning an image with dark tones, but my model was wearing white. ##### Low Key Hair Salon Portraits I'm a fan of portraits with a narrow tonal range, as they look more subtle and sophisticated (to my eye, anyway). They also enable me to bring the viewer's attention to the face more easily, as I light faces to be the brightest part of the image. These two images were shot as part of a campaign for a hair salon, so it was also essential that the hair was well lit and looked great throughout. ##### A white shirt but a low key portrait The model for this shoot, Rhys, was wearing a white shirt, but we were aiming for a low key image. I knew I didn't want the whole of the garment to be visible, because its light tones would draw your eye and take away from the low-key effect I was trying to achieve. However, Rhys didn't have a jacket with him. We were able to borrow one from another model who was in the studio that day, but unfortunately, it was way too small. Rhys could barely bend his arms at all, which limited our posing options for fear of ripping the jacket! Nevertheless, Rhys looks great in these two portraits, with his hands loose by his sides and then tucked in his pockets. Although the white shirt is still visible, it's well-contained and I like how the pale tones run in a line, from Rhys' face to his belt buckle. Both of these portraits were shot with one light (to the left of the image as we're looking at it) and one reflector (on the right). You can just see the impact of the reflector on the right of Rhys' neck, where the bounced light lifts the shadows and adds definition. ##### Studio Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 85mm - Aperture: f/13 - Shutter speed: 1/160 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Rob | Monochrome Studio Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/monochrome-studio-portrait/) Sometimes a client walks in and I just know. Rob and Abbie are booked in for their wedding with us next year, and when they popped in to see some recent pictures, I took one look at Rob and thought - I have to make a portrait of this man. It was too good to miss. Dark, curly hair. A proper hipster beard. Black t-shirt and a silver chain. The moment I saw him, the monochrome studio portrait I wanted to create was already fully formed in my head. That does happen occasionally - the idea just arrives, fully formed, and all you have to do is execute it. The shot itself is relatively straightforward, but the magic is in the lighting. This is a classic wraparound light portrait technique using two strip softboxes with grids, brought in really close on either side. That gentle wraparound light does something wonderful on a black t-shirt - it gives just enough shape and texture without pulling attention away from the face. Then I used a large 1m x 1m softbox, also with a grid, edged in close to catch the eyes. Simple folded arms. Strong, direct connection with the camera. For a dramatic black background portrait like this, that eye contact is everything. It's a great example of what a well-considered men's portrait photography studio setup can achieve - not complicated, just thoughtful. The black and white male portrait treatment was always the plan. Colour would have been a distraction. In monochrome, everything just lands with more weight. ### Lighting Setup Equipment List - Nikon Z9 with Nikon AFZ 70-200 f2.8mm - 3x Elinchrom FIVE studio strobes - 2x 100cm x 35cm Elinchrom Strip Softboxes - 1x 100cm x 100cm Elinchrom Strip Softbox - Colorama black paper backdrop The Elinchrom FIVE portrait setup is one I keep coming back to for exactly this kind of work. Three heads, precise grid control, and enough power to hold f/16 comfortably - it just gives you everything you need for a clean, controlled monochrome studio portrait without any fuss. ### Settings - Lens at 80mm - f/16 - 1/160s - ISO160 - Rear lights set to same power - Front (key) light set to balance against the rear lights ### [Roberto, Texture, and the Art of Quiet Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/roberto-texture-and-the-art-of-quiet-light/) This is Roberto. He's not just a brilliant guitarist-he's that kind of guitarist. The kind that makes a room go quiet when he plays. I've had the privilege of photographing him several times now, including a few album covers, and every time he steps into the studio, I find myself instinctively dialling things down. No theatrics. No flashiness. Just simple, sculpted light to match the tone and texture he brings. ### The Lighting Setup I used one of my favourite tools for this kind of portrait: an Elinchrom FIVE with a 1m x 1m Rotalux softbox, this time with a grid to keep things nice and controlled. The goal was to get light on the side of Roberto's nose, but not to blast the cheek. You want that little pocket of shadow in the cheek socket to stay intact-it adds depth and character. The softbox was positioned high and just off to camera left, feathered across his face. That's doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. It sculpts the side of the nose beautifully, picks up the skin texture and just enough of the stubble to give grit without distraction. The grid helps me avoid lighting the background too much, which in this case was a simple black paper backdrop. I always get my clients to look at a fixed point on the wall before I even switch the light on. That way, I can get everything set without them subtly shifting around and throwing the shadows off. It's a tiny trick that makes a huge difference, especially when the angle of light is this precise. ### Shooting Approach Shot on the Nikon Z9 with the 70-200mm at around 75mm, and f/8 to keep all that texture tack-sharp-hair, skin, eyelashes, beard stubble, the works. I wanted the background to fall off to full black, and with the grid and careful placement, it just melts away. No fill, no bounce-just the sculpted light from that one softbox doing everything it needed to. ### Monochrome in Post I always had this one down as a black-and-white image. I processed it through DxO's Nik Silver Efex 7, which gave me total control over the tonal range. I went for something fairly neutral-not too crunchy, not too soft. I just wanted those textures to sing: the hair, the skin, and the light itself. ### What I Love About This Shot It's deceptively simple. There's a real stillness to it-but that's Roberto for you. Roberto's not looking at the camera, not performing (for once - we had to stop him bringing his guitar!) ### Lighting Diagrams ### One Thing I Might Tweak If I were doing it again, I might experiment with pulling him slightly further from the background to deepen that falloff even more. The grid helps a lot, but a little extra distance would give the shadows a bit more definiton. ### Final Thoughts There's a lot to be said for keeping things simple. One light, one backdrop, and a subject who carries the image just by being themselves. It doesn't get much better than that. And when your subject happens to be an astonishing musician with hair that could headline a lighting workshop on its own... well, it's hard not to get a good frame out of that. I suspect we'll be doing this again soon-he's working on another album. And I already know which softbox I'm reaching for. ### [Sam | Lighting To Show Physique](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/sam-lighting-to-show-physique/) Sometimes, the oppotunity for a striking image comes when you least expect it. Actually, come to think of it, it ALWAYS comes when you least expect it! This shot is all about light and shade (and physique) but that isn't how the shoot started! ### The Shoot Initially, we were meant to photograph Sam and his partner Lily in front of a full moon on a clear starry night, with a windmill silhouette, and the two of them picked out with an off-camera flash in a romantic embrace. You know, the kind of thing - not hugely original, but impressive nonetheless. However, it was January in the UK, so the weather played a part. Although the forecast was for cold, crisp, clear air, it turned out to be anything but. The final image we created is included in a separate article here. So, having braved the elements to a degree (seriously, it was not just freezing but wet as well-the kind of snow that leaves everything dripping), we came inside to get warm or at least stop shivering! This was all for one of our Mastering Portrait Photography videos, so we couldn't waste the opportunity to have all of us together. Ultimately, we took a range of shots of both Sam and Lily, but for the life of me, I cannot remember how this shot came into existence. It was probably laughter. ### The Shot The key light is a single strobe with a reflector or spill kill on the front. You could just use a bare head, but depending on your space, you might need to put up flags to prevent the light from reaching areas you don't want. Using a small light like this creates hard-edged shadows and high contrast in the image, i.e., you can see every lump and bump clearly, compared to using big, soft light sources. The light had to be placed high above Sam so that the shadows - having gone to the effort of creating them - would fall downwards, sculpting the muscles and body tone. The trick is placing the light relative to the subject so the shadows (and hotspots) are where you want them. I went for a simple 'hands in pockets pose' to make things easy and to prevent Sam from changing position too much. To pick out the side where the key light isn't reaching, I used a simple strip box-in this instance, with a grid attached to stop the light from pinging around the studio where I didn't want it. This light is actually quite close to Sam, with the power turned down low. This gives the torso a much softer, controlled modelling. The background is black paper, which reflects just a little light. If I wanted an inky black background, I would have used velvet, but here, the paper has just a little tone to show through behind Sam's black jeans. I adjusted the power of the lights until I saw the look I wanted on the back of the camera. ### Lighting Diagram ### The Pose and The Camera Angle The pose is quite subtle in this image-mainly because I wanted Sam's face lit with the same light source as his body. The trouble with that is the dark shadows that would fill his eye sockets. I also wanted a low camera angle to exaggerate his height, a trick used by comic book illustrators when drawing superheroes. I asked Sam to tip his head back and tilt a little, adjusting until the sculpting of his face looked about right. Then I asked him to look at the camera without moving his head position. It seems to work well! ### Post-Production There wasn't much on the post-production side-just a minor background cleanup, a slight vignette and a monochrome conversion using DxO's excellent Nik 7 Silver Efex. ### Technical Notes - Camera: Nikon D5 - Lens: 70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8, - Shutter Speed: 1/250s, - Aperture: f/4.0, - Focal Length: 82.0 mm, - ISO: 100 ### [Symone | One-Light Studio Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/symone-one-light-photography-setup/) Often, the simplest things are the best. Here's how you can replicate my go-to studio set-up to get flattering lighting and shaping shadow in your portraits. One light, one reflector and a low camera angle: this is my go-to studio set-up. Here's why I love it and how you can replicate it for your portraiture. ##### Setting up the soft box I've got my main light source - a big soft box - to the left (as we're looking at it) of Symone. I've asked her to stand with her body towards the light and her face brought slightly further around towards me. This is called the two thirds position. To achieve it, start with your subject's face in profile, then bring it two thirds of the way towards being straight on to your camera. When your subject is facing slightly away from your camera, then one side of their face will have more visible width than the other. If the more visible side is lit, this is known as broad lighting. It's a lighting pattern that makes the face look wider, so is ideal for flattering people with narrow faces. If the side of the face with more visible width is in shadow, then this is termed ‘narrow lighting'. This is flattering for the majority of people, as it makes the face appear slimmer. Here, I've used narrow lighting The soft box is high up and angled down towards Symone. This gives a flattering direction to the light on her face and torso while also illuminating her hair. When setting its position, I ensured it was just low enough to spill catchlights - white reflections - in both of her eyes. ##### Shaping darker skin with highlights When photographing people with light skin, you create a sense of shape and depth to their features using shadow. With dark-skinned subjects, that shape and depth is created through the use of highlights. The mask of Symone's face - the central oval containing her features - are in highlight, together with selected areas of her chest and shoulder. I am bouncing a little fill light back in on the far side of the soft box, by using a large reflector to the right of Symone. It's set slightly back and angled towards the camera. Without it, Symone's neck and back would be completely dark and merge into the background. The reflector ensures there's just enough light to stop this happening. My camera is level with Symone's neck; slightly below her face but above her chest. My camera is horizontal, so not angled up towards her. I have always loved this camera position, so you'll see it a lot in my work. It's subtly empowering and when used like this places the subject's eyes on the top rule of thirds line, making for an effective composition. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 125mm - Aperture: f/13 - Shutter speed: 1/200 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Video: Beautiful dog portraits with natural and studio light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/beautiful-dog-portraits-with-natural-and-studio-light/) In response to multiple requests from MasteringPortraitPhotography.com subscribers, we've created a video showing you how Paul captures his famous dog portraits. Paul's expertise in canine photography stems from his ten years' experience as lead photographer for the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. In this role, Paul has taken hundreds of thousands of images of puppies and older dogs, as each of the charity's hearing animals passes through the charity's training process. To add to this, in 2018 Paul was awarded the title of Dog Portrait Photographer of the Year by the Master Photographers Association. So he knows a thing or two about the topic, and he's sharing all that knowledge and experience in this video, which is jam-packed with tips and techniques. We'll start off photographing a dog, Hebe, in direct sunlight. Paul explains why a low angle is so effective when working with four-legged subjects and shares a great, quick tip for getting a dog to snap his or her mouth shut for a couple of seconds. He also shares (and demonstrates) a few techniques for getting a dog to look straight down your camera. Not every dog (or every location) is safe and suitable for off-lead photography, so next Paul demonstrates how to position the dog's lead so that it's super-easy to edit out in post-production. He'll also talk about why expression is so important, even when photographing animals. After that, Paul shows you how to find a patch of sunlight that will create a spotlight effect on your subject, placing them centre-stage between a darker foreground and background. Then things get active, with a running dog portrait to show a pet at play. Paul talks through the camera's limitations when shooting a moving subject and what exposure and camera settings he's found works best for this type of image. You'll also find out how to emphasise the dog's motion through the air simply through your choice of camera angle. Then we head into a studio with a black dog, Dudley, for some portraits lit with flash. We'll start off with high key images on a white background, and talk through what to consider if you're thinking of buying a vinyl sweep for your studio. Paul shares what he's looking for when setting the power on his studio lights, and what to focus on during the editing process - check out this post-production walk-through when you're ready to retouch your white background in Photoshop on your own dog portraits. We're leaving the best until last, finishing with a tutorial on capturing stunning images of a black dog on a black background. We'll cover the studio set-up first, then show a DIY solution for a similar effect if you haven't got a studio. For each portrait you'll see Paul's images straight-out-of-the-camera, with exposure settings and the final edit, too. Enjoy! ### [Video: Capture elegant portraits with soft but simple studio lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-capture-elegant-portraits-with-soft-but-simple-studio-lighting/) Bring elegance to your portraits with a soft and simple one-light set-up. A beautiful subject can be undone by ugly lighting. Instead, think about whether the characteristics of your light flatter your subject and complement the qualities you are trying to convey about him or her in your final image. In this video, you'll see me working to capture a gentle, softly lit portrait of a professionally-trained ballet dancer (after we were worn out capturing more dynamic dance-themed portraits!), using just one studio light. ### [Video: Lily, Sam, Multiple Studio Strobes And A Little Romance!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-lily-sam-multiple-studio-strobes-and-a-little-romance/) I do love a black and white portrait, so after shooting to emphasise Lily's stunning red dress, I started to plan some black and whites next. First off is a low key couple's portrait where the focus (and the lighting) is shining on Lily as she reaches up for a kiss from her partner, Sam. ### [Video: One-light Studio Portrait Of Lily in the red dress](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-one-light-studio-portrait-of-lily-in-the-red-dress/) I was planning a high key shot of Lily in her stunning red dress, but opted for a more painterly, low key set-up instead. Find out why it's easier to work with one light than multiple ones, and peek behind the scenes of this set-up. #### Video #### Diagram Here is the lighting used for the image in this video. ### [Video: Replicating a windowlight portrait using studio lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-replicating-a-windowlight-portrait-using-studio-lighting/) Achieve the soft, gentle and natural look of a window-lit portrait using carefully positioned studio flash. If you want to replicate the look and feel of natural lighting after the sun has set or when the windowlight is just too weak, here's how you can do it with flash. I've used two studio lights: one to light my subject, and another to throw enough light around the room to subtly separate her dark outfit from the black paper behind her. If you don't have studio flash, you'll need to time your indoor shoots for when you have sufficient natural light. To achieve a similar effect simply stand your subject near a patio window. You'll need a dark background; preferably a black paper roll (and not black velvet - watch the video to find out why). ### [Video: Studio portraits of Princess Amelie using a simple light set-up](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-studio-portraits-of-princess-amelie-using-a-simple-light-set-up/) Amelie (aged three-and-a-half) brought her own creative ideas (and demands) to her portrait session - who am I to argue?! We had a spring-themed, outdoor portrait session planned with Amelie, but she turned up with a plan of her own... to wear her princess outfit. Everything goes smoother when you work with your client, rather than fighting against them, so I went with the flow and started the session by capturing Amelie in her golden dress in the studio. Watch the video to see how I used two studio lights (and how you can get a similar effect with just one) to create a couple of indoor portraits of Amelie. ### [Video: Studio-Style Portraits of Bob with one Flash Gun](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-studio-style-portraits-of-bob-with-one-flash-gun/) No studio? No problem. It's cheaper than ever to get flash guns that you can use on- or off-camera. In fact, some enterprising brands are now offering complete sets of flash guns with transmitters and receivers for under £200. With a little bit of thought and one or two light modifiers (including a simple white-painted wall), you can recreate studio-style portraits in any location. In this video, my friend, neighbour and very patient portrait sitter Bob steps into the studio. I'll show you: - How you can use off-camera flash to create high key portraits and low key portraits - How you can bounce the light from a flash gun to soften it, whether on- or off-camera - And how you can use bare, direct flash for harsher, more dramatic shadows What are some of the cons of using flash guns? Firstly, they don't have the power of dedicated studio flash. Secondly, they don't have modelling lights. This means that you can't see how the light will fall on your subject before you take the picture. Nevertheless, a little bit of guesswork and experimentation will lead you towards the result you're looking for, as you'll see in the video. ### [Video: Three studio portrait ideas for working with dark skin](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/video-three-studio-portrait-ideas-for-working-with-dark-skin/) Add shape and depth to portraits of dark-skinned subjects by manipulating the highlights on their face and body. Whereas shadows create definition in portraits of pale-skinned subjects, for dark-skinned subjects the opposite applies. Instead, you create shape and depth by focusing on the highlights. This approach to lighting dark skin applies whether you are a studio or natural light photographer, so make sure you watch this video to understand the concept. In it, Paul talks you through three completely different portraits of Matt, our video editor. First up is a traditional, one-light set-up, then a close-up using 'Rembrandt lighting' and lastly a funky, rim-lit portrait using two studio lights. You'll see the straight-out-of-camera images as well as the final edits. ### [White On White With Vicki](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/lighting-and-light/studio-lighting/high-key-portrait-photography/) White On White With Vicki ### The Story This was a simple studio test. I was exploring a high-key look for future client work, much like a chef tries a recipe before adding it to the menu. Vicki is always a riot to photograph, but here I wanted calm rather than chaos. Clean lines, soft edges, quiet confidence. We kept the palette tight. White outfit against a white wall. Bare feet for simplicity, even though you cannot see them in this frame. The brief to myself was straightforward: bright, airy, and honest. ### The Finished Image The result is a relaxed portrait with a lot of breathing space. Vicki sits comfortably on a stool, weight settled, one hand in a pocket. The tonality is compressed, so there are no hard blacks and no glaring whites. It feels light without becoming washed out, and it retains enough texture in the clothing to avoid the paper cutout effect. ### How It Was Lit - White wall background for a natural, even field. - Key positioned to create a gentle shadow on the far cheek and a tidy catchlight. - Studio flats to camera left to lift the shadows and keep the wrap soft. - Overall balance is biased toward airiness rather than punch. This combination created the bright envelope I was after while still giving Vicki some definition. ### Camera & Settings - Camera: Nikon Z9 - Lens: Nikon Z 70-200 f2.8 - Focal length: 110mm - Exposure: f/8, 1/160s, ISO 50 - White balance: 5600 The 110mm viewpoint keeps perspective flattering and lets the background fall away smoothly. ### Pose & Direction We kept it casual. I asked Vicki to sit and relax. No big choreography, just small shifts in weight, a soft shoulder angle, and hands that felt natural. The focus was on body language rather than formal posing. Calm energy, open posture, and a look that suits the clean aesthetic. ### Problems I Hit (and Fixes) - A clean and airy brief The white outfit against the white wall did most of the heavy lifting. It set the mood immediately and made the palette coherent. - Avoiding hard edges and outlines Studio flats filled from camera left. This lifted the shadows and kept the look gentle. It runs the risk of whites merging into each other, but that was the point for this test. ### Post-Production Notes - RAW software: Adobe Lightroom with DxO PureRaw4 in the pipeline. - Global adjustments: Tones lifted to compress dynamic range. Deliberately no pure whites and no pure blacks, keeping the whole frame in a soft place. - Local adjustments: Minimal. The lighting was doing the work. - Retouch: Kept tidy and restrained to preserve texture in the clothing and skin. ### Judge's Eye - Build depth with placement, not colour High key portraits succeed when dimension is created through the position of lights rather than colour contrast. - Key and fill discipline A medium softbox at roughly 45 degrees and just above eye level will shape a gentle cheek shadow and a tidy catchlight. Opposite, a large reflector or low powered fill keeps wrap soft without flattening. - Background separation A dedicated background light with flag control or a subtle gradient helps the subject sit forward so clothing and wall do not merge. - Protect highlight detail in white clothing Exposure should be set to preserve fold texture rather than clip the brightest tones. - Posture and lines Encouraging the sitter to engage their core, lengthen the spine, and vary shoulder angles prevents the casual slouch that can creep into relaxed poses. - Commit to a confident crop Go either full figure with safe space around hands and feet, or choose a decisive mid length framing. - Check edges and halos while tethered Viewing at 100 percent during capture helps spot rim haloing and mushy edges early. - Print ready finishing Before printing, soft proof the intended medium, ensuring headroom in whites, smooth gradation, and sharpening matched to final size. ### Diagrams ### Fast Takeaways - White on white needs shaping light as much as brightness. - Studio flats are a simple way to lift shadows without adding a second powered head. - Compressed tonality creates an elegant, modern look when kept under control. - Decide on the crop with intention. Either all in or confidently mid-length. - Protect the highlight texture in white clothes so the subject still has form. ### Kit List - Nikon Z9 - Nikon Z 70-200 f2.8 - Studio flats for fill - Stool and white wall background - Adobe Lightroom and DxO PureRaw4 for processing ### [Tutorials & Guides](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/) Your Camera's Brilliant. But You're Still in Charge: Camera Control For PhotographersSure, modern cameras (and even your phone) are packed with mind-blowing features: perfect exposures, AI skies, skin smoothing, body shaping-it's like having a sci-fi toolkit in your hand. But here's the truth: there are still moments when all of that tech won't know what you want to create. That's where understanding your camera properly really matters. In this section, you'll find straight-talking articles that explain how to take full control of your camera-what to tweak, when to override the auto-settings, and how to make creative choices that genuinely improve your portraits. Because great photography doesn't come from letting the camera guess. It comes from you knowing what you're doing. ### [Business](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/) Business Possibly the greatest joy I have is that I get to earn my living from what was my hobby. But making a living from photography requires an additional set of skills to those of simply being a great photographer. If you're working for yourself, then you need to develop or outsource these skills to ensure you stay profitable. Happily, we've been there and done it. We opened our studio - Paul Wilkinson Photography - in the middle of the 2008 recession. Despite many challenges along the way, we quickly turned it into a six-figure business. The studio now provides income for both my wife (who works full-time behind the scenes) and me plus our amazing employee, Michelle, too. In this section, we share the lessons we learned along the way. From mistakes we made (and how we rectified them) to how to find clients, what to charge for your photography and even how to stay sane in the crazy world of professional photography - it's all here! ### [Create the right client experience](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/create-the-right-client-experience/) ###### Your customers are important, so ensure that you look after them and watch what you say One of my clients told me about an experience they had with another photographer. They commissioned a shoot of their family, and were due to meet at a local woodland spot. It was the first time they'd done anything like this, and they were a bit nervous. Their two children - six-year-old Harry and three-year-old Jade - provided the usual challenges on the morning of the shoot: "I don't want to wear that!" and "I don't want to go!" Still, mum and dad managed to bundle everyone into the car and get to the location on time. The photographer clearly had limited experience with children. He seemed unsure how to respond when Harry complained about feeling cold and when Jade preferred to kick up leaves rather than stand and pose for the camera. However, the parents felt it went well overall. Mum and dad's anxiety was replaced by relief that there'd been no dramas and there was an anticipation to see the images. Everyone started walking back to the car park when the photographer made a comment... "My goodness," he said to the parents, "Your Jade's a handful, isn't she?!" This sentence is what they remember most from their experience with that photographer. Despite appearances, I'm not in the business of selling pictures, at least not when it comes to the families I photograph. I'm selling memories. When Harry and Jade's parents got in the car after their woodland shoot, the first thing they asked each other was, "Did you hear what he said about Jade?" They dissected the comment and mentally replayed Jade's behaviour during the session. They wondered whether the photographer managed to get anything good, and felt anxious about seeing the images. I create these memories through every interaction clients have with our brand: on our website, through our pre-shoot email sequence, and at the final unveiling of their chosen product at our studio. But mostly, I create these memories during the shoot itself. I'm not in the business of selling pictures, at least not when it comes to the families I photograph. I'm selling memories I capture the memories in beautiful, aspirational images that show each family at their best: full of joy and love. When my clients look at the pictures they do so through an emotional filter: they remember how they felt at the time when I took the shots. That's why the client experience is so important. I know that my clients will arrive at my studio feeling at least a little frazzled - it's my job to suck the heat out of the situation as quickly as possible. If they are running late, they will be even more stressed and I have less time to fix the mood, then it's even more important that I do it. I meet my clients at the door with a big smile and a warm ‘hello'. I use my tone of voice and body language as well as my words to convey how excited I am to photograph them, and how confident I am that the images will be stunning. If the shoot is at our studio, we serve up drinks and cookies, and talk about the trigger for their booking; perhaps they've had a new arrival in the family; maybe the kids are starting school; perhaps the shoot was a gift from a loved one. Whatever it is provides a useful conversation starter to find out what they're hoping for from their shoot. ### A guided experience When possible I start family sessions in our beautiful garden before transitioning to indoor studio work. We're fortunate to have a Grade II listed garden as our outdoor shooting space, and walking through it often prompts a ‘wow' from clients, distracting them from anxieties. As we start taking photos, I comment on how good my clients look, how amazing the images are, and how well the pictures will work on the client's wall, or in an album. At the end of every shoot, we book in a date and time for the client to return to the studio to see their pictures. I show them the room where viewings take place and explain our process. I point out the different products we offer and talk them through prices. Then, I help them collect up any coats and bags and walk them to the studio door. I tell them how well the shoot went and how excited I am to look at their pictures. I wait at the door as they climb into their car - even if I'm late for something I have to do next - and stand there waving goodbye as the car departs. Throughout all this, I'm still smiling. I hope that everything you do and every word you say leads to your clients having a different conversation when they drive away afterwards: "That was fun!" and "I can't wait to see the pictures!" Because those are the feelings you want your client to experience when they return to look at the images you've created for them. A good client experience makes good business sense. ##### N-Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 105 of N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon Magazine, N-Photo is the only magazine devoted to Nikon photographers. Brimming with expert advice, product tests, tips and tricks, plus beautiful images to inspire your next session, you'll be motivated to get creative with your photography and learn brand new skills with every issue of N-Photo magazine. Packed full of interviews and masterclasses with award-winning photographers, you will discover how to shoot great pictures, as well as enhance any imagery using Adobe Photoshop and other popular tools with helpful guides and step-by-step tutorials. ### [Do you need your own studio to be a pro?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/do-you-need-your-own-studio-to-be-a-pro/) ####### Can you make a year-round living using daylight, clients' homes and the great outdoors? A couple was walking up the drive of our house to meet us. They were choosing a photographer and this was the first time we'd meet in person. In fact, it was the last time. I was inside and they didn't know I could hear them, or that I would pick up on the disappointment in the woman's voice. "Oh," she said, "it's just a converted garage." We didn't win the job this time. That's when my wife Sarah and I knew it was time to take the next step. There had already been other clues that we'd outgrown our current setup... There was the time when a client was watching an emotive slide show of their portraits in our lounge, set to music, and our daughter strolled through. Or when a client walked into the toilet to find our son sat there, reading his comic. We wanted to grow the business and work with high-end clients. We wanted them to spend several thousand pounds. And inviting them into our home and garage wasn't going to cut it. That's why we took the big and scary financial commitment of leasing business premises. We chose a place with the ‘wow' factor. It was designed by influential architect Peter Aldington OBE and had huge, dramatic doors, an airy lobby and stunning steps that drew you into the heart of the building. ### Onwards and upwards At the back is a world-famous garden. In front is a quintessential England village street, with textured walls and huge trees. I use a combination of the studio, garden and street outside in almost every shoot. This increases the chance of me capturing something my client will love and shows that, even though I now have a studio, I still choose to shoot outdoors. That's where I started. Before we leased the studio, before we converted our garage, like most photographers I had to start with something more basic. I would take a portable flash to clients' homes, or meet them at woods and parks. When the weather was dry, it worked fine. But in Britain 43% of days are rainy, so that meant we regularly had to postpone outdoor shoots - that's bad for business. We wanted more control; We wanted to be able to work in any weather, and we wanted to show clients their portraits in a location where we could display products in a calm atmosphere. The impact of the space, and the images on display in it, tell them everything I want them to know That's why we converted our garage in the first place. And it worked well enough to take our business to the next level at that time. But now, with a dedicated studio space, I feel incredibly motivated to become the best studio photographer I can be. With multiple rooms on the premises, we can show a client their portraits at the same time as I'm shooting: we've doubled our capacity. In addition, when our converted garage was set up for a reveal, sometimes I couldn't be bothered to change everything back to a studio setup. Instead, I'd decide to stay outside, which meant less variety. Now that the studio is permanently rigged, it's so quick to walk in and take a picture that I almost always take some indoor shots, too. Today when a client walks in, I don't need to sell my skills. The impact of the space, and the images on display in it, tell them everything I want them to know. The wow factor sets the expectations for a wow experience with me, and that leads to the shared expectation that the client will invest accordingly. So no, you don't need a studio. But if you are struggling with growing pains like we were, and you want to impress your clients, it might just be time to take that step and sign that lease ##### N-Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 99 of N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon Magazine, N-Photo is the only magazine devoted to Nikon photographers. Brimming with expert advice, product tests, tips and tricks, plus beautiful images to inspire your next session, you'll be motivated to get creative with your photography and learn brand new skills with every issue of N-Photo magazine. Packed full of interviews and masterclasses with award-winning photographers, you will discover how to shoot great pictures, as well as enhance any imagery using Adobe Photoshop and other popular tools with helpful guides and step-by-step tutorials. ### [How to be a kleptomaniac](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/how-to-be-a-kleptomaniac/) ###### Everything you see, hear, taste and feel is an opportunity to ‘steal' - to gather inspiration for the images you create Being a photographer is beautiful; you wake up every day then (in theory at least) pick up your kit and create. Portrait photographers capture characters; landscapers portray the world around them; the product guys lift the lid on packages; and wedding photographers? Well, they capture everything from landscapes to fashion, products to portraits and everything in-between (as well as being counsellors, planners, jesters and directors). Every month, as I sit and write this series of articles, I am acutely aware that I write from the viewpoint of a portrait photographer. Like most of us, I can switch genres (I love capturing a twilight landscape once in a while) - but I am a thoroughbred portrait photographer when all is said and done. Nonetheless, I spend my life fascinated by everything from a shaft of morning sunlight to the colour shifts created by hotel lighting. Maybe I will spot the texture of a wall or be curious about a magazine cover. Currently, I am having a love affair with behind-the-scenes movie-making videos on social media: watching each scene being planned, lit, shot and edited is inspirational, even though I have little desire to move into film-making! Photographers must be collectors, accumulating inspiration and storing it away for some yet-to-be commissioned work Every day, I will trip over, see, hear, taste or touch something that inspires me and gives me ideas. Not all of them are great ideas, of course - some are dreadful - but they are ideas nonetheless. As photographers, ideas are the very lifeblood of who we are. Without ideas, without inspiration or imagination, then what are we? Just automatons, creating the same-old same-old. I love that I could read a book today; tomorrow, the words (and the imagery they conjure up in my head) will trigger an idea. The more I do and experience, the more tools I have to do my job. And yes, this is a job; every day, my clients ask me to create images that will require all the skills and ideas I have ever accumulated. I need those tools! ### Light show For instance, on a recent break, the room we were staying in had four wall lights and one diminutive (but relatively tall) window. The light that these five light sources created in different spots was intriguing, to say the least: the warm LED (for we no longer have tungsten) pools of light on the green decor, and the bluish (though ever-changing) daylight that rippled through the curtains across parts of the room as the sun made its way across the day. And that, of course, has given me an idea for lighting a portrait. Given that one of my bookings next week is to create atmospheric portraits in an old building with mixed lighting, I guess some of that hotel experience will be coming with me. Similarly, as we strolled across a beach, the sun setting in the distance, I couldn't help but think of where I might place a wedding couple for a glorious, dramatic, romantic portrait, with waves crashing on the cliffs in the background. Now all I need is to be shooting a wedding near the coast! This happens to me every day; I am constantly accumulating reference points and influences. Of course, most of these will inspire me and then, as quickly as I thought of something, will be instantly forgotten; such is the way of these things. But maybe one or two will stick long enough for me to apply them. The more things I notice, the more ideas I might remember. Collecting ideas like this may not come naturally, but it's a skill worth developing. Almost anything can invoke an idea by learning to see and sense everything around us, whether it's a great book, a pop video or the design of a light cluster on the back end of a car. (Ever noticed how all the designers have laid out the lights to be simultaneously functional and appealing?) It's not just inspiration we need to put away for future use; skills and techniques are equally important, whether it's an idea for using an off-camera flash or dragging a shutter. Maybe you've read a piece on focus-stacking, thinking it's something you'll never need - only to be asked to capture a stunning macro image of the engraving inside a wedding ring. That, by the way, is a real story. Photographers must be collectors, accumulating inspiration and storing it away for some future, yet-to-be- commissioned work. The more you collect, the more you have to draw on. The more you have to draw on, the better you can serve your client. And that is what turning pro is all about. ##### N-Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 140 of N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon Magazine, N-Photo is the only magazine devoted to Nikon photographers. Brimming with expert advice, product tests, tips and tricks, plus beautiful images to inspire your next session, you'll be motivated to get creative with your photography and learn brand new skills with every issue of N-Photo magazine. Packed full of interviews and masterclasses with award-winning photographers, you will discover how to shoot great pictures, as well as enhance any imagery using Adobe Photoshop and other popular tools with helpful guides and step-by-step tutorials. ### [Shoot what sells (and a little of what you love, too)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/shoot-what-sells/) Shoot what sells (and a little of what you love, too) There's not always an overlap between what you want to shoot and what your client will buy. As always in life and business, there's a compromise to make. Imagine a Venn diagram, with ‘what you love to shoot' in one circle, and ‘what sells' in the other. I know of many full-time portrait photographers who prefer nothing more than shooting landscapes and wildlife. Unfortunately, they struggled to make a living from them, so they capture portraits as their main source of income and shoot everything else as a hobby. I'm lucky. It's always been people that I've wanted to photograph. I feel like I've got the best job in the world, because I get to spend all day doing what I love. Nevertheless, there's a little more nuance to it than that. ##### Miserable award-winners On the MasteringPortraitPhotography.com forum, one of our members asked why so many award-winning portraits featured subjects that looked... well, miserable. Indeed, the image that won me Studio Portrait of the Year features a very intent and serious-looking man, explorer Alex Bellini. When we're in the salesroom with clients, we know they'll often skip over or respond negatively to a portrait with an unhappy subject. So why are you more likely to win an award with a portrait that the family probably wouldn't even buy? Like many photographers, I almost always prefer enigmatic pictures like this one of Grace. People's eyes are at their biggest and their cheekbones most defined when their facial expression is sad or neutral. And the narrative of the shot is more intriguing. An image like this draws me in, both to Grace's beauty and her state-of-mind. I'm wondering, ‘What's going on in her head? What is she thinking about? ##### Happy families However, there's an exception. There's one time I really don't want to see sad or neutral portraits, and that's when my own family are in them. When my wife and children are in an image, I want to see them bubbling over with laughter. I don't need to see big eyes and defined cheekbones. They are already the most beautiful people in the world to me. It worries me as a parent and husband when they look sad, and it satisfies me to see them happy. I don't want wall art that makes me worry. I want wall art that confirms what I want to believe: what a fab family we are. In my experience, most families feel the same. So I love this shot of Grace, but it wasn't a favourite for her family. Happily, it went in their album, but their main wall art is - as you'd expect - a big, happy family portrait. That's why shots like this are always a second priority to me, after I've captured the ones the family will prefer. I'm appealing to the family primarily, not myself or other photographers. But I do get more enjoyment from shooting and editing the more serious sad-looking shots, so I try to sneak one or two of those in whenever I can, too. ##### Room Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 86mm - Aperture: f/1.9 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 200 ### [Story behind the image - Pauline](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/story-behind-the-image-pauline/) Portrait of Pauline I had been working with a local espresso bar for a few years, documenting their development from one small station coffee van to a chain of coffee shops. From the outset the owners, Cathrine, an energetic Norwegian visionary, and her husband, Simon, an ex-international male model (he's the beautiful guy in some of those Levi's ads!), had a clear vision of their photography. The images they were after were to be monochrome and aggressively cropped with intense eye contact. For me, this was a client from heaven! Every few months, we would take some of their customers and create a new set of imagery that would then be used to adorn the walls in their flagship espresso bar just down the road from our studio. These photographs became so popular that people begged to be included in the next shoot! One day we were given the contact details for a lady called Pauline. Simon and Cathrine filled us in by telling us she was in her eighties, she drank espresso every day and furthermore was thoroughly excited to be a subject for the wall. Oh, and she always wore a bright, red, woollen, beret! So, slightly nervously, we booked her into the studio for her shoot and then it was a case of waiting for the big day to arrive. ##### The Thinking Stylistically, at least, I was excited about this session. In my head, I had a vision of a smooth, sophisticated monochrome image, a gentle contrast, a shot that would maybe have a little warm tone to it. I knew I wanted to avoid that gnarly, exaggerated black and white imagery you so often see in character portraits of older subjects. I wanted this to be beautiful. I wanted it to be striking because it was beautiful, not because it was sad or heavily processed. However, at this stage, I still hadn't met my subject and so to some degree, at least, I was unsure how possible this approach might be. I rarely pre-meet my subjects and, to be truthful, I prefer it that way: I love the excitement of opening the door, welcoming them in and figuring out on the spot what will work. The way they dress, the way they carry themselves, their hair, their body shapes, their makeup, their expressions. I simply love the process of figuring it out and creating something for them on the spot. I get a real kick out of it, and I think I'm more creative when working this way. However, with Pauline, I knew I had little time and, by all accounts, she was quite frail, since she walked using a stick. So this time I pre-visualised what I hoped to shoot, setting up the studio and lighting ready. Of course, I still didn't know what Pauline would be wearing or what she looked like, but I figured I would always be able to change tack if I needed to. ##### The Shoot When Pauline arrived with her daughter, Francis, I opened the door, she walked in, she looked at me, she looked at the stairs (stairs define the very look of our studio!) and then she stated flatly, "I don't know why I'm here." Ah. ##### Now the thing about portrait photography, for me, is that it's all about the experience - I'm not a fashion or fine-art studio, each image I sell is a memory. The more memories I create, the more people like their images, the more we sell. Simple. So, I resorted to what I do best. I made a pot of tea. Then we carefully helped Pauline into the studio, some six different sets of stairs later - our shooting space is right at the furthest point of the building! It was crucial to be safe and for the session to be enjoyable. It's during this part of a shoot that I'm usually piecing together what I'm going to do. A game plan. In this instance, I had already set the lights - though I had pulled the key light back to make the scene a little less intimidating as she entered. Pauline sat down, I poured the tea, and we talked. Or rather, Pauline talked, and I listened. She was fascinating. She had grown up in rural west Ireland (county Cork to be precise), had moved to London and married a doctor. We drank tea; she told stories; we drank more tea. After about thirty minutes or so, there was a noticeable change in her body language. Her eyes gleamed; she leant forward, she began to smile as she recalled her life in Ireland and later in blitz-torn London. She was lovely and utterly fascinating. Whatever doubts she had on entering the building, they had dissipated. And that was the point: it was me that was hooked and she knew it. Her eyes sparkled and her face lit up. I saw then precisely what the image would be. ##### ##### The Setup A simple chair, two strip boxes and a key light. Nothing more. I turned the chair through ninety degrees so that her elbow would be at an angle across the chair back, a little like someone leaning on a bar. I thought that it would add a little more energy to the pose. Two strip boxes were used from the back to gently lift her outline from the background. I always use strip-boxes for this purpose as they form a subtle, gentle, even light rather than using spots or dished heads that create a much harsher outline. I chose a mid-grey background paper roll since this seemed the most appropriate for the image. I brought the key light in last and adjusted it to create a gentle pool of light on Pauline's face but with those characteristic catchlights that bring the image to life. Throughout the session I adjusted this light on an ongoing basis to ensure her face was always perfectly lit. Using big (or bounced) light sources is more subtle and flattering than small, point light sources that give harsh textures and hard shadows. These images of Pauline were illuminated with three large softboxes - two to create the subtle rim lighting and one to light Pauline's face. Adjust the power of each to create the look you're after. Note: If you don't have strip boxes, try spinning the strobes away and to the back, bouncing the light off the studio walls or reflectors. Before I invested in the strip boxes, this was my solution, and it's effective - you have to make sure the light doesn't strike your background unless that's the effect you want to create. ##### Creating & Capturing The Moment Portrait Photography is as much about timing as it is about the light and the pose. I love the moments in between the moments if you see what I mean. I will chat and listen, laugh, engage, joke and capture those little moments that show my subject lost in the moment. Sometimes I'll slow it down if I want a more reflective side of their character to emerge, sometimes I'll break the tension by saying "stop looking so flippin' miserable!" It always works. You can't tell someone to laugh; make them happy because genuine laughter comes from joy. I wanted the final black and white to be rich and sumptuous - gentle but still striking. I figured the mid-grey would go reasonably dark when I ran the black and white. I intended to lift the skin tones, possibly using an orange or yellow filter. Had Pauline worn any other colour than red, this would have worked perfectly. But, as you can see from the contact sheet, she wore the brightest, reddest sweater you could imagine and, no matter what filters I applied, her sweater was always brighter than her face. I could, of course, run a blue or green filter in the black and white conversion but this ran the risk of making her skin gnarly and contrasty - precisely what I was trying to avoid. A little Photoshop would be required. ##### Post Production There is almost no retouching on the image but there is a little magic in the conversion to monochrome. I selected the sweater using a simple mask and changed it to blue, which isn't hard to do with such a strong colour, and you can use the ‘Selective Color' function or, in the more recent versions of Photoshop CC, use ‘Select Subject' and then deselect the areas you don't want. But I wanted that sweater to be anything but red! With the colour changed it freed me up so that I could run whatever filter I wanted in the black and white to lift the skin and the red tones in the beret while keeping that background nice and dark, along with the sweater and chair. I shot the image with plenty of space around it but, in the end, the crop was always to be pulled in hard, through the beret and the lower body, bringing the viewer straight to the point of interest - Pauline's wonderfully sparkling, Irish eyes. This image captured precisely what I was trying to achieve, namely Pauline's energy and warmth. Using f8 at 80mm gives enough depth of field for Pauline to be sharp but allows a little blurring of the background, which helps to hide any marks that might be on the paper. This image has since become synonymous with me and my brand. Everyone who sees it seems to like it and we have it blown up as a piece of huge acrylic wall-art as you walk in. And that isn't an accident. It's also the first image our clients are going to encounter on the website. ##### Pro Tips - It's a good idea to be known for a handful of striking images. I'm not suggesting you should never evolve or change your style as your progress in your career, but having a handful of pictures that are identifiably yours helps connect people to you. They need to be strong images, of course, but it helps your business. - Too often, photographers use the same lighting pattern for every client, irrespective of their face shape, body shape or clothing. It's essential to adjust the lighting to suit every shot. If you learn to do this quickly and keep engaging your client, it needn't be a distraction or kill the mood. And it will give much better results! - Pre-visualising and pre-planning your images has its place and, for many photographers, it's a great safety net, but learning how to see and develop an idea on the spot is a skill worth developing - it allows you to react to every situation. And it will result in much more creative imagery! ##### Professional Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 176 of Professional Photo Magazine, Professional Photo magazine targets the whole territory of professional photography and has a particularly strong affinity with those working in the wedding, portrait and event markets. With a readership that consists of full-time professionals, part-time pros and those aspiring to break into the market, the title concentrates on money-making ideas, essential marketing tips and advice from seasoned experts who are happy to pass on their experience. You'll also find regular reviews of the latest pro gear included every month, plus features on high-end technique which are designed to boost the skill set of the working professional. If, like me, you're a professional photographer (or looking to turn pro), please do support the magazine and think about subscribing! ### [Story behind the image - Take Advantage of Autumn](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/story-behind-the-image-take-advantage-of-autumn/) Take Advantage of Autumn Although the weather gets predictably gloomier around now the same cannot be said for my mood. This is - and always has been - my favourite time of year. The ever-shifting colours, the coolness in the air, the shorter days: whatever the reason, I find this to be one of the most enjoyable and creative times to be working as a portrait photographer. The end of the summer also seems to bring plenty of opportunities for portrait photography. Katy had booked me to create images of her and her young family - twin boys and a very bouncy terrier! Katy is a long-standing client of our business - we first worked with her on a book she had co-authored on raising twins. She is energetic, smart and, frankly, lovely so it's always a thrill to be working with her. ##### The Thought Process Although we are lucky to have a fantastic studio and gardens here in Haddenham, whenever the mood takes me, I will grab my camera and host the shoot out on location. With two small boys and a dog, I thought it would be an opportunity to go on an autumn country walk. The psychology of parking up, finding the route and then spending an hour or two, strolling, chatting, laughing and occasionally stopping to create an image, seems to work for my clients - particularly those with small children. And the autumn colours can be incredibly vibrant too! I nearly always take just one camera and a single lens along with me, although I have spares in the car of course should the worst happen. I just love the freedom it brings - no lights, no camera bags, no reflectors: just me, my camera, my client and a little imagination! In these Covid-19 days, of course, it's also a very safe way to work: outdoors and at more than two metres. The weather plays its part, of course, but if you can learn to live with what you're given then this way of working certainly has its advantages. I didn't know what Katy wanted to buy at this stage - this would only unfold during the session itself - but I knew that if I created joyous, aspirational images, then we would be in an excellent position to sell something for the wall, or maybe even an album of the whole shoot. Either way, the location and the experience needed to be truly memorable. ##### The Session This particular walk is a linear one, rather than a loop, which gives the benefit of being able to scout for images on the way out that can be shot on the return leg. The final image was one of those that I spotted as we headed out. Of course, the light on the return trip is running in precisely the opposite direction to the camera as it was on the way out, so you need to bear this in mind when considering your options. Katy is a likeable, smart, erudite client of ours and so it was a pleasure to catch up with her and chat as we walked. Her young boys enjoyed the walk as much as we did, picking up sticks, conkers, leaves and anything else that looked vaguely interesting. We even played Pooh-sticks as we crossed a small bridge over a stream! Although this might not particularly sound like I'm working, of course I am: it's a very natural method I'm using for getting everyone to relax and not worry about being photographed. Every 50 yards or so I would spot some beautiful light and I'd set up an image, either of the boys, the boys with the dog or all four of them. Once or twice, I captured an individual portrait ##### The Key Image On the walk out, I had seen this location and the colours of the trees surrounding the lane and, in my head, I imagined the two boys walking away into the distance. I love to climb inside a ‘genre' or a ‘brand' when I'm creating an image. For this shoot, it was a combination of magazine fashion images - Katy always dresses the boys beautifully - and the simple, evocative pencil drawings of E.H.Shephard, which he created for A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh and Christopher Robin books. Whatever I pick for my style guide, it has to be in keeping with my target client and the brand of my business. Some regular ideas I use: - E.H. Shepard - Leonard Da Vinci - Rembrandt (of course!) - Netflix/Amazon Prime Boxset Posters - Film Posters - Magazine Covers - Music Album Covers - Book Covers - Author Sleeve Notes, found inside the cover of a book In my head, I will sketch out an image - it's almost like drawing it on paper - and I'll place the constituent parts within it. It helps to slow me down a little and to take control of the moment, creating more potent, deliberate images. It's a useful trick to master. Sometimes I'll even share a joke with the client - especially if I'm shooting a large family group - by asking them to nominate what the tile might be were we to be producing a poster for a Netflix box set. My favourite suggestion so far has to be: ‘The Dysfunctionals, Friday Nights, 9pm, Sponsored by Cadbury's Dairy Milk.' For me this particular image would maybe have a title like ‘My Best Friend And I.' I lay on the floor to better get inside the boys' world. The low viewpoint also blurs the foreground road surface as well as making the fencing tall, creating leading lines to the boys and bringing the autumn colours in the distance down into the frame. I love this kind of perspective, shot on a long lens, as it feels like a drawing or a painting. As the boys headed into the distance, they scooped up a piece of wood and were enthralled as they trundled away. I knew I had my image! ##### Post Production I shot this image with a neutral exposure - the histogram sitting more or less in the middle - which is excellent from a technical standpoint, but it washes out those beautiful autumnal oranges, reds and yellows. The only postproduction required was to add a natural-looking vignette to the image that not only draws the viewer's eye to the two boys happily wandering away in the middle of the frame but also helps to saturate the colours around the edge. The image also needed a little straightening as - per usual - I managed not to get the horizon perfectly level! ##### Shooting for the Wall We don't sell files in our studio, so everything I create is destined for the wall or a collection such as an album or folio. It's essential to keep this in mind when I'm shooting and not to get too distracted by everything that I see. If you're shooting for the wall, landscape-shaped pictures, such as this one, are the easiest to place in a frame that will look great in someone's living space. Overall you should be looking to shoot a greater number of wide, as opposed to tall, images. If you're designing multi-aperture frames then a variety of shapes is good but be careful of those creative, jaunty angles, since when you place them all in the same frame or collection they can look weird! I created this particular image intending to sell a large acrylic or aluminium print that would look superb above a sofa or sideboard. And so it proved to be! ##### Shooting for the Sale For significant sales, you need to have created beautiful memories of the session: after all, it's memories, not pictures, that families are buying. You also need a variety of groupings in different locations and to have created gorgeous images that go beyond what an average parent could capture on their smartphone too! As I work, I keep a mental tally of how many of each type of shot I have created: - Whole family - Just the boys - Katy with the boys - Each boy individually - Katy on her own - The boys with the dog - The dog on its own - Katy with the dog I try and keep a balance so that I have plenty of each type of shot. Usually, I will only capture maybe three sets of pictures of the entire family group, since this is always the hardest image to capture. The rest will consist of pictures of individuals and pairings. This combination reduces the stress of the family group but gives me plenty to work with when it comes to the salesroom - yes, this is a business! ##### Conclusion Here we have a beautiful, timeless moment that's been captured and turned into a gorgeous image on a wall. This is what portrait photography is all about for me. Having the boys walking away adds a poignancy that every parent will recognise and the beautiful colours just add to the romance. The road and the fencing created leading lines that, along with the vignette, leave the viewer in no doubt where to look. The finished image is deceptively simple but works on several levels. It's beautifully pictorial but also full of memories for Katy and the boys. It produced a great sale too. In a nutshell, that is exactly what running a portrait photography business is all about! ### [The f-words for photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/the-f-words-for-photographers/) ###### Faith, fear and fatigue: how to manage the many feelings of running a photography business Hey honey,' I typed, ‘I thought I'd dump some thoughts on the photo business... I really want to get this thing rolling.' I was on the 8:49pm train back from London. All the regular commuters had returned home hours ago. The ones still out in town for drinks and dinner would be staggering into seats on later trains. This carriage was full of IT consultants like me, the ones working crazy hours for demanding clients in return for six-figure salaries. It was 2006 and I was totally disillusioned. I enjoyed the work I was doing, but it left me with very little time left for my family. By this point, friends of friends had seen some of the photos I created of my own children, and were paying me to capture their own family's milestones. I was convinced that photography offered a way forward. In that email I sent to my wife, Sarah, I listed why I loved creating portraits so much, and what I wanted from the business. It was full of lofty ideals and big ambitions. I believed the business would be successful and provide us with a sustainable income. At that point in time, I was fuelled by my faith that it would all work out in the end. I signed off the email with a question and a little bit of reassurance: ‘What do you think? See you in half an hour. P.S. I've only been drinking coffee.' That email marked the birth of our business. I started getting clients beyond two degrees of separation. Those clients recommended me to their own connections, and the bookings increased steadily. A few years, awards and qualifications later, and our business was no more a baby, or even a toddler, but a full-grown adult. I was no longer one person with a camera. Now there was a small team behind me, depending on the business for their livelihood. At first, it was just my parents and a few friends following our social media accounts. Now there were tens of thousands, and my irreverent social media posts suddenly seemed a bit... risky. What I said, how I looked and the photos I created were no longer just about me: they either strengthened or undermined our brand. ### Perseverance Over that same period, the faith I had in the business was elbowed out by a new, stronger emotion: fear. Fear of losing what we had worked so hard to build. Suddenly, I had a lot to lose if I said or did something off-brand. Whenever things in the business didn't lead to the result we expected, we amended our processes. We were no longer led by our hearts - how we felt things should be done - but motivated by avoiding potential client problems or damage to our brand. Our business was now its own entity, with a reputation all of its own, and we wanted to keep it safe. Our strategy was defensive. Harness the faith: chase your dream with passion and energy, using your belief to power you through those early challenges And then came the third ‘F': fatigue. Sarah paused one of my latest Mastering Portrait Photography podcasts and turned to me, with worry in her eyes. "You sound tired," she told me. It was true. I adore this job, and that means I put everything I have into it. When workloads spike, I don't always get the rest I need. I eat food that's quick and easy to consume, rather than something more nourishing and nutritious. The highs from running a successful photography studio are completely euphoric. But when I'm tired and under pressure and little things start going wrong? I feel a darkness start to gradually swallow me up. The lows drain me just as much, if not more so, than the highs that pick me up. So what can you do to manage these feelings? Harness the faith: chase your dream with passion and energy, using your belief to power you through those early challenges of starting something new. Write down why you love photography and what kind of business you hope to build, either as a letter to yourself, or someone who is supporting your new (and exciting) venture. When the fear inevitably sets in (and it certainly will), remember how you felt and what you aspired to when you first set out on your venture. Re-read your letter, celebrate how far you've come and perhaps smile over any initial naiveté you once had. Bring in an external set of fresh eyes - a consultant, a coach or a business guru - to reflect back to you what you're doing well and what could be better. Then knuckle down and carry on to better the business. But when the fatigue hits, remember to take time to recuperate. Find someone you can talk to. Schedule in time to have a life outside of your day job. And lastly, take solace in the fact that all of us, no matter where we are on our business or photography journeys, are grappling with the same f-words that you will encounter. So try to always be kind to yourself, and carry on. ##### N-Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 110 of N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon Magazine, N-Photo is the only magazine devoted to Nikon photographers. Brimming with expert advice, product tests, tips and tricks, plus beautiful images to inspire your next session, you'll be motivated to get creative with your photography and learn brand new skills with every issue of N-Photo magazine. Packed full of interviews and masterclasses with award-winning photographers, you will discover how to shoot great pictures, as well as enhance any imagery using Adobe Photoshop and other popular tools with helpful guides and step-by-step tutorials. ### [Thieves, Drumsticks And My Very First Nikon](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/thieves-drumsticks-and-my-very-first-nikon-2/) ##### Paul Wilkinson recalls how he became a Nikon user in the beginning - and what he would buy first if he was starting all over again... We're taking our daughter to see The Lion King, and we're passing time before the show starts. The tickets are tucked inside my camera bag, along with my trusty Pentax, loaded with film. This is 2002, after all. The camera bag is on the floor under our table. I reach for it and it's no longer there. Our house keys, my wife's purse, the tickets and the camera inside it have been stolen. A great day out quickly turns into a stressful evening. A few weeks later I head into the London Camera Exchange with money from the insurers. I haven't yet been paid for any of portraits I've taken - it's just a hobby. I knew buying another film camera would be a short-term solution. As an ex-drummer, I had already watched the analogue to digital revolution transform the music industry. Critics and commenters would proclaim that analogue sound was superior, but crowds were choosing CDs over vinyl. I saw the same wave was about to crash through the camera industry. I asked the sales rep what was available in digital. The Nikon D1 was available but exceeded my budget. The sales rep suggested the Canon D30 so I picked one up and played with it. It was... fine. Seeing my unenthusiastic reaction, the rep mentioned that a new Nikon body would soon be available. It would be a digital version of the F100, he told me, and handed one of those over for me to try... ### Change is in the air When I picked up the F100, I felt excited. It wasn't about the features or pixels, because this wasn't the body I would be buying. It felt right at that exact moment. I have fairly small hands, and the F100 slotted straight into them. There was an instant connection to it, like the camera was just an extension of me. I pre-ordered it right there on the spot and bought a 35-70mm f/2.8 lens and a flashgun too. Then I slowly counted down the days until my new Nikon arrived. When it finally showed up it was everything I hoped for and more. One of the first professional shoots I did was of a young boy called Ben. His portrait, taken with the 6Mp D100, beat photos taken with newer, higher-res and more expensive cameras, later making it onto the cover of my book, Mastering Portrait Photography. My most recent upgrade is the D5 [NOTE: this was first written in 2019 - I am now working with the incredible Nikon Z9]. I'm certain that mirrorless bodies are the future. Mirrorless cameras encounter fewer technical issues, like misalignments when focusing and parts getting jammed as the mirror swings up and down. But I don't think mirrorless technology is sufficiently advanced to meet the expectations our clients have of our business, so we'll probably be getting the D6 next. And I will be just as excited when that arrives as I was when I first held the F100 all those years ago. ##### N-Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 98 of N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon Magazine, N-Photo is the only magazine devoted to Nikon photographers. Brimming with expert advice, product tests, tips and tricks, plus beautiful images to inspire your next session, you'll be motivated to get creative with your photography and learn brand new skills with every issue of N-Photo magazine. Packed full of interviews and masterclasses with award-winning photographers, you will discover how to shoot great pictures, as well as enhance any imagery using Adobe Photoshop and other popular tools with helpful guides and step-by-step tutorials. If, like me, you're a Nikon user, please do support the magazine and think about subscribing! ### [Using The Room Sets - Step By Step Instructions](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/using-the-room-sets-step-by-step-instructions/) Using The Room Sets - Step By Step Instructions Room sets are a great way to show a client how wall art might look. They will significantly increase your sales value and are also a great way to show your work on social media and your website. You can find room sets to download in the Store. If you prefer to watch a video of these steps, a step-by-step guide can be found here. ### Instructions for using a room set in Photoshop When you open the PSD file, you will see something like this: When you first open the file, each frame has an image with a number - these will be removed when you put in your own photos, but it makes the process easier if there is a placeholder to start with.If you look in the layers window, you will see a number of layers (you may need to expand the group "Three Frames" to see all of the layers): - "Background" Layer - The wall, sofa and frame rims and mounts. This is the background layer for everything. - "Frame Images" Group - this group contains the frames themselves - this is the layer you'll swap your own images into. - "Reflections" Layer - this layer contains the window and light reflections on the wall art (acrylics and glass-fronted frames have clear, sharp reflections over the top of your images - this gives an accurate representation of what the frames will look like in real life - If the Room Set is colour-adjustable, you will also find a "Colour Adjustments" group - this has various adjustment layers depending on what can be changed in that particular Room Set ##### How To Insert Your Own Pictures, Step By Step To use the Room Set with your own picture, first expand the group 'Frame Images" (note the name may vary depending on which room set you are using).You should now see each of the frame layers:Notice that these are SMART OBJECTS - it just means they have a PSD within a PSD. To access the contents, just double-click on the layer icon:You'll enter the embedded Photoshop object (it will look just like a regular file - it will have a .PSB extension but it isn't a file you can find on your computer, it is embedded into the main .PSD file.) In this .PSB file you will find a Frame layer for that piece of wall art:There are two parts to a Frame layer - the left hand icon represent the boundary of the frame. In a regular Photoshop usage, you would place this somewhere on an image canvas but here, we've filled the WHOLE canvas for that piece of wall art. The right icon represents the image that is INSIDE that frame. We need to change that image to whatever it is that you'd like to show. To change the image, single-click on the LEFT icon of the layer:In the properties window (you may need to open this if it is not already open - go to > and make sure it's ticked) you should see the following: Click on the 'Inset Image' drop down (it will initially say 'Place from Local Disk - Embedded') - select 'Place from Local Disk - Embedded' and Photoshop will ask you to select an image to use. Alternatively you can drag an image from your folders straight into the frameOnce you have an image in the frame, you need to position it. To do this, click on the IMAGE thumbnail this time (rather than the frame placeholder thumbnail):Go to > to position the image:Drag / scale your image until it suits your taste and hit to commit the transform - Now, close that - go to > and Save the changes. - You should now see that the frame image has been updated: Do the same thing with any other frames: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 realism of the finished Room Set, depends on adjusting the opacity and/or the layer mode for the group "Frame Images". There are no clear rules for this - every image and every room set combination will need a little adjusting. Try changing the opacity and / or the mode to Multiply, Overlay, Hard Light or Normal:Sometimes, it is also necessary to slightly soften your images - if they are too sharp within the finished Room Set they'll look out of place. To do this simply add a blur to the Smart Object Layer. Click on the frame layer you want to change and go to >>. Usually a value of less than 1px is sufficient to help the images bed into the Room Set correctly. Because you're adjusting a filter onto a smart object, you can repeatedly go back and make changes without degrading the image in any way.Adjust the opacity of the 'Reflections' layer (if there is one - matt wall art such as canvasses won't need one) to suit you and your clients' taste. Too much reflection can be distracting and can obscure parts of an image:Too little and the frames can look like they're made from a matt glass (such as the type found in museums):If the Room Set has Colour Adjustments, BE CAREFUL! You need to be subtle for it to look realistic (if you require a particular colour wall, email us a photograph and we'll see what we can create for you) To alter a colour, expand the Colour Changer group and double click on the colour adjustment layerMost colours work well when the Layer Mode is set to Multiply, but, of course, this can only make the colour of the wall darker:If you would like brighter colours, try using a different Layer Mode and /or change the opacityEnjoy the reaction of your client! ### Most Recent Room Sets: ### [Write your story, find your people](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/business/write-your-story-find-your-people/) ###### As much as images are in a photographer's DNA, words (and the stories they tell) are every bit as important. What's your story? Go along to any photography convention and you will no doubt see classes and workshops on every aspect of the craft: how to use lights; choosing the right printer paper; posing your subject; the joy of f-stops, shutter speeds and why you should care; retouching skin; how to add fake backgrounds... The list goes on. What I find intriguing, however, is that there is much less emphasis on one key aspect of any business: finding and telling your story. In this age of smartphones, tablets and the internet, we photographers have access to our images right here in our pockets. So if we are ever asked (and sometimes even if we're not asked), we can drag out a phone and, with just a few flicks of a finger, have our entire portfolio right there to show (or bore) people in a heartbeat. But have you ever noticed how the most successful photographers rarely do this? Have you ever wondered why? #### The art of the storyteller There is an adage in business that you will attract people like you. Outdoor people will attract outdoor people; country music fans will attract country music fans; geeks will attract... Okay, maybe the list isn't perfect, but you get the point. When you become a professional photographer, it's easy to slide into the mindset that it's all about your photography - and there is, of course, some truth in that. Indeed, as your image-craft develops, your confidence in selling will increase, but that is only a part of the puzzle. When you turn pro, you build a traditional business - albeit as a one-person band, but a business nonetheless. And all the regular, boring, old-school principles apply. If you pick up any book on business- building, it never says you should become the best dressmaker or car maker; they never say your sandwich shop has to invent something new; they will never say you have to have the best tech when it comes to selling real estate. So why do we, as photographers, think it is only about creating the best images? Any book on starting your business will say you need an ‘elevator pitch': a short sales pitch you can give in the time it takes to go between floors in an elevator. Say 60 seconds or so. Dragging out a gadget and swiping through pictures has its place, but in the end, people buy into people and the stories they tell But your story is bigger than that. The elevator pitch is just a teaser of the story you wish to tell - but first, you must have a story. When you're next thinking about the things you need to do to turn pro, spend some time thinking about the kinds of people you'd like to work with, and the clients you'd like to attract. Write all of this down and develop avatars of them: what they do, where they shop, what they drive, what they wear, what they eat, how they relax and where they live. I'll wager the list will be familiar to you; it will contain things that you find appealing and aspirational. Then weave your story. Don't invent something unbelievable - this is a docu-series, not a JK Rowling saga. This is about you. But write your story to draw your prospective clients to you. Every aspect of you as a person has a place in this story (unless you have some weird habits to keep behind closed doors!); the more varied your story, the more varied the clients you will attract. #### Creating opportunities Some people - like me - will find taking on this project easy, others much less so. But I have lost track of how many jobs I have won simply by bumping into someone and having a story to tell: from the CEO of a pesto-making company I bumped into in a ski-resort transfer queue who laughed about me being a snowboarder; or the hand-surgeon I worked with because one of their team came to the studio and liked the way I put him at ease. (His wife had told me I had 20 minutes at best - two hours later we were still laughing and chatting about a hand injury I had needed operating on.) Finding clients is about finding common ground - and that comes through the stories you tell. Dragging out a gadget and swiping through dozens of pictures has its place, but in the end, people buy into people and the stories they tell. So when you're next thinking about how to best market your business, you could do a lot worse than pulling together your story: it is at the very heart of you and what you do. And the best part of having a story? You don't need a gadget to be able to tell it. ##### N-Photo Magazine This article is adapted from my article in issue 138 of N-Photo - the unofficial Nikon Magazine, N-Photo is the only magazine devoted to Nikon photographers. Brimming with expert advice, product tests, tips and tricks, plus beautiful images to inspire your next session, you'll be motivated to get creative with your photography and learn brand new skills with every issue of N-Photo magazine. Packed full of interviews and masterclasses with award-winning photographers, you will discover how to shoot great pictures, as well as enhance any imagery using Adobe Photoshop and other popular tools with helpful guides and step-by-step tutorials. ### [Creative Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/) ### Creative Lighting Techniques From a single speedlight in a less-than-ideal office space to smoke machines and gels in a fully-equipped studio, this is where we delve into the myriad ways to shape, bend, and play with light. Creative lighting techniques are essential for any photographer looking to elevate their work and capture unique images that stand out. You'll find everything here, whether you're balancing off-camera flash with available light or experimenting with continuous LED sources. For instance, consider the impact of using a combination of natural light from a window and a speedlight positioned at an angle to create dramatic shadows and highlights. This simple setup can transform an ordinary scene into something quite extraordinary. If you're curious about how slight adjustments can make a significant difference, you'll discover the reasons behind why moving a softbox just three inches can change the entire mood of a shot. The nuances of lighting setups for creative shoots can lead to stunning results, and understanding these subtleties is key to mastering your craft. ### [Video | Beautiful Outdoor Christmas Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/video-beautiful-outdoor-christmas-portraits/) No sign of the sun? Flat, overhead lighting? In this video, we'll show you a quick trick to instantly improve the light on your subject. Then, things take a festive turn as we deck the halls with... well, fairy lights. Learn how to turn them into beautifully defocused orbs of glowing gold behind your subject. Next Paul shows how you can use an outdoor structure like an arch to protect your subject from the elements, and create beautiful light on their face, too. Then we head into a residential street to find a tunnel of light under that most commonplace of environmental objects - the humble tree. You'll see how placing your subject between two open areas in the tree canopy above gives beautiful catchlights in their eyes and soft light on their hair, as well as highlighting some subtle textures in the background, too. Lastly, we'll show you how you can work with the last wisps of winter sun for a backlit portrait, too. Once again, we're using a minimum of kit, so there's no excuse not to put these ideas into practice. You just need one model, one camera, one reflector... oh, and a string of fairy lights! For each portrait you'll see Paul's images straight-out-of-the-camera, with exposure settings and the final edit, too. Enjoy! ### [Video | How I Use Smoke for Drama, Depth, and a Bit of Magic](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/smoke-photography-portraits-drama-depth/) Want to add a cinematic edge to your portraits without setting off the fire alarms? Here's how I use smoke (safely!) to build mood, depth, and a touch of theatre - with practical tips, gear advice, and plenty of trial-and-error stories along the way. Because smoke, when used well, is like a cheat code for creating depth and drama in portraits. Whether you're shooting in a studio, on location, or in your back garden with a very confused neighbour watching - this walkthrough covers how to control it, light it, and make it look intentional rather than "someone just burned the toast." It's cinematic portraiture, without the Hollywood budget. ### Transcript How Smoke and Fog Can Transform a Portrait So, have you ever wanted to try something different with your portraiture? Maybe something a little unusual. In this video, we're going to do precisely that - with just a touch of smoke. Smoke and fog can completely transform a portrait, whether it's indoors or outdoors. It can add atmosphere, depth, mystery, and sometimes even just a touch of magic. We're working with Jess, who's a dancer, for this series - because movement and smoke seem to go really beautifully together. We'll show you how the different settings, nozzles, and machines can create different styles and types of effect, and it'll all come together in one beautiful image at the end. ### Planning Your Smoke Shoot When you start thinking about using smoke, the best way to approach it is with a mood board. I've spoken about these in other videos - it can be images from Google, it can be AI images, it doesn't really matter. What you're trying to get is a sense of the vision for your shoot. With smoke, you can go in lots of different directions. Are you going to make it cinematic? Dreamy? Gritty? What is the story you're going to tell, and why is smoke going to be part of it? Because at the end of the day, smoke is just a tool. It's just like light. It's just like posing. It's just like finishing. It's just part of your portrait. So when you're working it out with a mood board, take into account not just the atmosphere and the colours, but what you have available to you in your space. We don't have a particularly big studio and that governs a lot of what we can do - but we can use that to our advantage. With a slightly smaller space, smoke has a bigger impact. Take all of these things into account when you're planning, and you'll make the most of your time. ### Types of Smoke Broadly speaking, there are three different types of smoke available to you. Hot smoke bombs - we don't use these very much. That's not my thing. Mostly because when you have these huge clouds of smoke - and you have to use these outdoors, you cannot use them indoors - whenever there are pictures with smoke bombs, people say "wow, that's amazing." And they do look amazing, but it doesn't make my subject look amazing. It makes the picture look amazing. For me, smoke bombs are the reason for the picture rather than a supporting act. If that's your thing, brilliant - they look incredible. But in this video, we're going to talk about how to use smoke to support the narrative, to be part of the picture, but not to dominate it. Everything else we use is cold smoke. That just means it's not generated with heat. It won't lift to the ceiling on its own. Cold smoke sits in the air really well - it won't drift up or down by its own natural merit. It just kind of hangs in the atmosphere. You can use cold smoke in a couple of different ways: Fog or smoke - these are slightly richer dispersions, so they tend to stay clumped. You get texture in it. It's great for controlled use - little trickles, clouds, that sort of thing. It has a much slower dispersion. Of course, once you've been at it for half an hour, trust me, you'll soon have a haze filling the room anyway. Mist or haze - this is the most subtle type. If you've ever been to a concert and you can see everything clearly, but you notice those shafts of light cutting through and illuminating the stage or the crowd - if you can see those beams of light, there's haze. Look again and you'll usually notice along the edges of the stage, at floor level, there's a gentle mist being poured in. They use tons of it, but it's not thick. All they really want to do is define the edges of the light. You can do exactly the same thing in the studio. Once you fill the space with a light fog, anything you light will show up - you'll actually see the beam tracks. It gives this cinematic feel, this atmosphere. ### The Kit So what kit is available? Well, it ranges from pretty big, hefty units you might use to fill a nightclub or a stage, all the way through to tiny handheld units for the smallest amounts of smoke. Our studio is pretty small, so as you'd expect, we're at the smaller end of the technology. We use PMI smoke machines - PMI stands for Practical Magic and Innovations, and they've been supplying into the film and photographic industry for decades. The PMI Smoke Ninja - this thing is tiny. Depending on what mode you've got it set on, it ranges from full-scale smoke all the way through to just gentle drifts. With a little nozzle, it allows you to create threads of smoke through a scene - maybe from a cigarette or candlelight, something really detailed. You can also attach a dry ice attachment that cools the smoke even further, so by the time it hits the air, it's actually drifting downwards. That's great for directional fog clouds - probably more for product photography, but you can do some clever things like filling someone's hair or beard if you're looking to do something a bit interesting. The PMI Smoke Genie - this is the slightly bigger unit and a really capable little machine. It has a nozzle that creates the smoke, plus a fan on the front which allows you to create a haze by blowing the smoke around the room. Basically you're controlling the speed at which the smoke comes out and how much it's generating - from thin threads and tiny details all the way through to full-on, all fans running, as much as it can produce. One limitation of these units is they really only stay running for about a minute at a time before needing to cool down. They're designed for detailed smoke, so if you want haze running constantly throughout a shoot, it's probably worth investing in a £40 or £50 fog machine. Pop a sugar syrup-based liquid in it and you can have that haze constantly trickling out. You can pick up units for anywhere between £100 and £200. ### Before You Start Shooting There are a few things to consider before you get going. Check with your subject. Make sure they're not asthmatic or going to have a reaction to the smoke. This stuff is safe - it's designed to be used around humans - but you are still creating something in the atmosphere that people are going to breathe. Just double check, in the same way that if you're using strobes, you check for photosensitivity. Think about the order of your shots. If you want a self-contained cloud of smoke that just hangs in the air, do that first. It'll be great for the first ten or fifteen minutes, but before you know it, that smoke is going to disperse and become haze in the rest of the room. Watch your air movement. You'd be surprised just how much air moves in a studio. It was only once I started using smoke machines that I caught on. We have an old building - it's a converted barn - so there are drafts everywhere, and that impacts the smoke as you'd expect. Gaps in windows or doors on a windy day, air conditioning units, heaters - they'll all move the smoke around. One thing people don't necessarily think about are the fans in your lights. If you've got any kind of electrical fan in any equipment, it creates air movement. So if you want stillness, if you want threads of smoke, think about isolating any fans you can. And you need to stay still yourself. The number of times I've created a beautiful cloud of smoke around my subject and then moved - of course, the smoke moves with me because I'm creating air movement. An awful lot of this is just about thinking about how smoke works, how it behaves, the physics of it. Turn off your smoke alarms. I know lots of manufacturers claim their machines won't trigger a smoke alarm. What they're not telling you is they won't trigger a heat-based smoke alarm because the smoke is cold. But that doesn't mean they won't trigger a smoke alarm. I've learned from bitter experience - we've set the alarm off numerous times here in the studio, but also, one day out on a client site, we didn't just set off the smoke alarms. We had to evacuate the entire site and the fire brigade had to come in and check that all was well. Slightly embarrassing for those of us on the shoot. A word to the wise. ### The Creative Concept Here's the shot we're going to create, and the idea was based on a cartoon. I think I've seen it with different cartoonists, different ideas, but broadly speaking, the premise is somebody who carries their own little cloud with them. You know the guy in the office - one of those shows calls it an energy vampire - always sad, always raining on them. No matter how joyous everything is, there's always a negative view. That sort of cartoon where one person has their own personal dark cloud. I thought about that and thought: wouldn't it be interesting if you had an umbrella where the weather was inside the umbrella rather than outside? Now, I'm not a fine art photographer. That's not my thing. Usually I'm just a portrait guy - I love creating beautiful pictures, working with people and capturing character. But in this particular instance, I wanted to create something quite pictorial. So the setup: we have Jess holding a translucent white umbrella - just a normal umbrella we used to use when we did weddings. We used translucent because it means we can shine light through it or at it. If you had a black umbrella, this might not work so well - but don't be limited by that. If you have an umbrella, just try it. What we want to do is fill the inside of it with smoke and maybe wrap the outside of it too. Some of it can be done for real - we're actually going to fill the whole scene with smoke - and some of it can be done in post-production. But broadly speaking, we're going to try and do as much as we can in camera. We're thinking whimsical, surreal, almost a modern fairytale. There's a slight sense of humour to this idea that bad weather is pouring out of the one thing that should protect you from it. ### How We Did It Firstly, we filled the umbrella with slow smoke - no fans on, just clouds of smoke from the machines, moving around as slowly as we can. We're trying to make sure the smoke stays inside the dome of the umbrella. Some will go on top - we'll put some on top - but every time we step out, we've got to get out quick without creating too much movement. Everything has to be done really smoothly and softly. When it comes time to shoot, Jess has to stay still, the people filling the umbrella have to move slowly as they step away, and while the smoke is still there, that's when we take the shots. One crucial thing about lighting smoke: you typically either backlight it or light it from a three-quarter rear side. If you just shine light at smoke from the front, it's not nearly so effective. But if you backlight smoke, it becomes incredibly illuminated. Think about all those pictures - usually black and white - of someone smoking a cigarette or a cigar, with light coming from the rear and all the smoke trails visible. That's because the smoke is backlit, and it looks brilliant. So: if you want smoke to look great, light it from the back or the side, not the front. We're also lighting the smoke from around to create volume. And we set the camera for a relatively shallow depth of field, because it helps everything pop out from amongst the haze. ### Post-Production So here's the raw image, straight out of camera, and it's about 80% of the way there. We have depth, we have structure, we've lit Jess well from the side and lit the smoke really well. Now let's take it into post-production to finish off the job. #### Colour Work in Lightroom The raw file starts in Lightroom Classic - I always do my colour work here because it suits my workflow. You can use whatever you like, of course. First things first, we set the white balance. My lights run about 5,500K, but we're going to warm it up just a little - around 6,000K - to bring up the skin tones. I've set exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks so that the histogram has a full range of tones. I'm not too worried where highlights are blowing out in the two lights, because they're going to be taken out of the final shot anyway - remember, I want this to look like one big cloud. #### Into Photoshop Once that's set, we open it up in Photoshop. The first thing I do is leave the background layer alone - I always do this so I've got somewhere safe to go back to if anything goes wrong. A quick note on workflow: I've set up one of my function keys to do a content-aware fill and then deselect. So I can marquee an area, hit the hotkey, and it fills and deselects in one go. Speeds things up enormously. Cleaning up the frame: I duplicate the background and work my way around it, getting rid of the bits I don't want - the shaft of light from the right (I just want Jess lit well in the middle of the frame), remnants of the paper rolls in the background. I'm using content-aware fill because it's quick and easy. I don't have to be super accurate here because in a minute I'm going to overlay another cloud image. Removing the umbrella edge: I've decided I want the image to look like there was no umbrella except for the handle - so she's inside a cloud rather than a cloud pouring out of an umbrella. I want the cloud to be the umbrella. Overlaying a cloud layer: I took separate photographs of just the smoke hanging in the air. I copy one of these across, paste it in as a new layer, and change its blend mode to Screen so it overlays nicely. I convert it to a smart object - that way I can make lots of edits without changing the integrity of the layer - and then apply Levels (Command+L). Holding Option/Alt, I drag the black point in until I've got the outline of the cloud I want, then expand and reposition it to fill the frame. Because it's a smart object, if I double-click the Levels filter, I can readjust it at any time. That's the beauty of non-destructive editing. Adding clarity to the cloud: I do a Stamp Visible (Shift+Option+Command+E on Mac, Shift+Alt+Ctrl+E on Windows) to create a merged layer, convert that to a smart object, and then apply the Camera Raw filter with the clarity pushed up nice and high. I really want that crunchiness in the cloud. But I don't want Jess to have the same clarity applied. So I go back to the bottom layer, use Select Subject, inverse the selection, and apply it as a mask on the clarity layer. Now the cloud has crunch but Jess stays soft. Adding a backlight glow: From my library, I've got some pictures of a speedlight that I took years ago. I drag one in, expand it to full size, set it to Screen blend mode, and position it behind Jess. Again, I use Select Subject to create a mask so the light sits behind her - but I paint back in a little bit across her arm, because that's what would happen if this were real light. It just makes it a touch more realistic. Vignette: I add an Exposure adjustment layer, drag the gamma down, then use a gradient mask from black to white to create a nice vignette that darkens the edges and throws focus straight at Jess. A bit of brush work to fine-tune the edges. Final colour grade: One last Stamp Visible, convert to smart object, and then I apply colour using Nik Color Efex - my favourite go-to. I tweak the levels to make sure there are some proper blacks in there, just to give it that final bit of depth. And because it's a smart object, if I want to change the colours later, I just double-click the filter and adjust to my heart's content. Cropping: I'll decide the final crop in Lightroom rather than Photoshop. I've kept the file big so I can create as many different crops and aspect ratios as I like without changing the integrity of the originating file. ### Wrapping Up So there you have it. Smoke is theatrical. It's a little bit of a show-off trick, but it really works. It can be cinematic, it can be dramatic, it can be whatever you like - and that's why we love it. It can elevate a very simple setup into something quite mesmerising. But the key is a bit of planning, a bit of knowledge, and mostly just experimenting. Take your time, play, try things. If it doesn't work, bend it, try something else. Do not be afraid to fail. A little bit of smoke will reap huge rewards, and when it works well, it really works. We hope you've enjoyed this video. We hope we've shown you just how straightforward it is to come up with something completely different by using special effects such as fog, haze, or smoke. We'd love to see your work - if you're a member of Mastering Portrait Photography, please upload some of your images into our community on Facebook. We'd love to see them. And if you fancy a critique, of course, all you have to do is ask. And until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [Video: Backlit snow portrait using location flash](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/video-backlit-snow-portrait-using-location-flash/) Backlit snow portrait using location flash One of my best ever images was the result of a best laid plan gone horribly wrong (thanks, weather forecast). Instead of a romantic Valentine's portrait in the moonlight, we were faced with the coldest, slushiest, iciest rain/snow instead. But I still needed my Valentine's shot, and I thought perhaps I could get something decent despite the challenges. Find out how we went from a disastrous shoot to a soggy but successful one, and why it's always helpful to have freezer bags on hand... ### [Video: Creating Stunning Portraits With Rotolight AEOS and NEO2](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/creating-stunning-portraits-with-rotolight-aeos-and-neo2/) The good folk at Rotolight lent us two pieces of kit for this demo: the Rotolight AEOS and the NEO 2. These lights were originally designed for video work, but Rotolight have added a strobe feature that means they can be used like studio flash lights or location strobes (off-camera flash). They are extremely lightweight, very portable and their battery goes on as long as you can. We had a lot of fun putting them through their paces! ##### Don't worry if you are using alternative strobes or continuous lighting. The ideas and concepts in this video apply to any artificial light source. So whether you've got traditional strobes, LED lights or any other means of electronic illumination, you find new ideas here. And if you're deciding what to invest in, the kit introduction chapter in this class gives you a great overview of the pros and cons of the Rotolight hardware. Our models for this class are two sisters, so you'll also pick up some posing ideas for pictures of women on their own and together. This video is ideal for beginner and intermediate photographers with an interest in flashlit portraits, location lighting portraiture and sibling posing. We'll finish off with some words of encouragement before it's over to you to put your new skills into practice! Enjoy - and don't miss the outtakes at the very end! :-) ### [Video: Headshots with whatever you've got (studio flash / speedlights / windowlight)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/headshots-with-whatever-youve-got-studio-flash-speedlights-windowlight/) Want to create corporate headshots but not sure how? Scared of studio or location lighting? Wondering how to work with windowlight? This video shows how you can create striking, flattering and professional-looking headshots no matter what your lighting set-up is. First, Paul talks about the importance of eye contact in corporate headshots. He explains what to consider when planning what orientation to use (upright or landscape format), and talks about how the confidence of both photographer and subject develops over the course of a shoot. Then, starting with his ‘safety' three-light studio set-up, Paul talks you through where he positions his lights and why. Then, he strips it down to a basic one-light set-up and demonstrates why the height of the light is so important (hint: it's to do with flattering light on the face and beautiful catchlights in the eyes!). In the same segment, you'll learn how you can turn your plain white background dark or mid grey with a simple lighting adjustment. Staying with one light, Paul shows you how to incorporate background shadows for a characterful portrait. Then he adjusts his light and subject to quickly and easily turn the background pure white. Lastly, see what a subtle difference a second light creates, with a soft ‘kiss light' on the subject's cheek. Next it's time to experiment with the kind of set-up you'd use if you were creating headshots on location. Paul shows you how to get beautiful results whether you're using a single bare-bulb speed light, a portable umbrella or a pop-up soft box. If you've got two speedlights, you'll learn how to use the second one to create a bright white background or a pool of light on a dark background. No lighting kit? No problem? Paul explains what he looks for when using windowlight, and shows how he created a beautiful headshot in a hallway of his studio. At each stage, you'll see Paul's images straight-out-of-the-camera, with exposure settings and the final edit, too. Watch the video, give it a go, then send your images in for critique - we can't wait to see them! ### [Video: Indoor portrait using a picture frame reflection and video light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/creative-lighting-techniques/video-indoor-portrait-using-a-picture-frame-reflection-and-video-light/) Indoor portrait using a picture frame reflection and video light Get creative by photographing a subject and her reflection indoors - using whatever you have around you for the reflection. Windows provide a great opportunity for portraits on our theme of 'reflections', but what about... picture frames? Using just the glass on a piece of wall art and a video light, I created this indoor portrait of our model, Megan. Watch the video to see how I did it then try it for yourself. ##### Concepts Covered In This Video - Reflections - Video Light - Indoor Photography ### [Flash & Speedlights](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/lighting-portrait-photography/) Flash & Speedlights Discover how to harness location lighting to craft stunning natural light portraits. This guide is designed to provide you with practical tips and insights into lighting your subjects beautifully on location, whether you are shooting indoors or outdoors. Understanding the nuances of available daylight, you can create portraits that are not only visually striking but also convey emotion and personality through effective lighting techniques. For instance, consider the importance of scouting the perfect spot before a shoot. Look for locations that offer natural reflectors, like light-coloured walls or surfaces that can bounce light onto your subject, enhancing the overall quality of the portrait. Working with the available daylight can involve strategic positioning relative to the sun, using techniques such as backlighting or side lighting to add dimension and interest to your images. In one of my videos, I demonstrate how I crafted a striking outdoor portrait of Megan, beautifully lit through a glass pane by a softbox indoors. This approach illustrates how indoor lighting can be utilized creatively even in an outdoor setting, allowing for a unique interplay between controlled and natural light. Another technique worth exploring is the use of off-camera flash to create captivating effects. In one video, I showcase how to use off-camera flash to make raindrops sparkle in portraits, transforming a dreary downpour into a magical backdrop. By positioning the flash correctly, you can add highlights that bring a sense of life and vibrancy to the scene, making the subject stand out beautifully against the weather elements. Additionally, using location lighting through a window can yield atmospheric, reflective portraits. The soft diffusion of light filtering through the glass can create a serene and intimate mood, enhancing the connection between the subject and the viewer. A minimalist setup that takes advantage of existing structures can be both efficient and effective, allowing you to focus on capturing the essence of your subject. Finally, consider the exhilarating experience of shooting action sports like BMX. In my session with Sam, we explored using off-camera flash heads mid-air as he zoomed through the BMX park. This technique not only freezes the action but also adds a dynamic flair to the portraits, highlighting the thrill of the moment. By mastering these flash photography techniques and understanding the best lighting for portraits, you can elevate your work and produce stunning images that resonate with viewers. ### [Sam | Airborne BMX With Flash Heads In The Frame](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/lighting-portrait-photography/sam-airborne-bmx-with-flash-heads-in-the-frame/) 99.9 per cent of the time, I don't want my portable flash units to be in the final image. In this instance, however, I kept them within the frame to add interest and atmosphere to this action portrait. I had already created several different shots with this BMX rider, Sam, and I focused on lighting him with flash heads outside of the camera's view. For this one, I wanted him in a semi-silhouette while still lighting his face, if I could. ##### Setting up the lighting I placed one portable flash high on a stand to the left of the scene (as we're looking at it) to light Sam's face and the front of his body. I placed a second flash opposite the camera, facing towards me, with an orange/yellow gel over it. This one would light the ramp and any bits of the bike that reflected the light back at that angle. I underexposed the scene to make the background darker than it really was, with Sam correctly exposed in the light from the portable flash. The centres of the flash have blown out to pure white: there isn't anything you can do about that. Indeed, it would be odd if strobe lighting was anything other than completely white in the centre (try it and see!). ##### Timings and angles As with all these types of images, timing is of the essence. You have to hit the shutter at exactly the right moment as the flash won't recycle* quickly enough to take more than one shot per trick. I've picked a low angle (I am sitting on the floor), so that the sky is big in the frame and the ramps lead your eye towards the action - the gap between the two concrete segments is perfect for this. Then, when Sam does his trick, he is high above the camera's point of view. This adds to the drama and impact of the trick, as it exaggerates the gap between Sam's bike and the surface far below. And, in case you're curious... Sam did, in fact, get the BMX back underneath him and landed safely (this time!). *Recycle = power up for the next burst of flash ##### Illustration ##### ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 17mm - Aperture: f/9.5 - Shutter speed: 1/500 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Video | Using Off-Camera Flash To Make The Rain Drops Sparkle](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/lighting-portrait-photography/using-off-camera-flash-to-make-the-rain-drops-sparkle/) In the UK, the month of April is famed for its continuous showers. On the day of this shoot, however, the promised rain did not arrive... Instead, we improvised with a hose pipe, using a flash head behind the subject to light up the 'raindrops'. Watch the video to see how we did it. https://player.vimeo.com/video/275296598 ### [Video: Outdoors portrait of Megan lit through glass by a softbox indoors](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/lighting-portrait-photography/video-outdoors-portrait-of-megan-lit-through-glass-by-a-softbox-indoors/) Outdoors portrait of Megan lit through glass by a softbox indoors A softbox brings flattering light and a striking reflection to this outdoors portrait. As part of our series on reflections, I wanted to show how light from indoors can be used to light a subject standing on the other side of the glass. Shooting along the surface of the glass from the right angle then captures the subject's reflection. Watch the video to find out how to light your subject in a flattering way in this set-up, and how to overpower the ambient light to capture a dark and moody portrait in the middle of the day. ### [Video: Using location lighting through a window for a reflective portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/lighting-portrait-photography/video-using-location-lighting-through-a-window-for-a-reflective-portrait/) Windows are always an effective foil for the photographer (reflections, semi-reflections, light-sources etc.) and in this video, we show how to create a strong reflection using light from INSIDE the building - in this case, a Lowell ID Video Light - with a model, Megan, outside the building. This technique can be used and adapted in many ways, including using the lights from inside a shop window to light and create reflections of your subject outside of the shop, particularly after dusk. Enjoy! https://player.vimeo.com/video/278729930 ##### ### [Foundations](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/) This is where it all begins. The heartbeat of portrait photography isn't in the kit bag or the presets-it's in the connection, the light, the way you see. This section is the grounding point for everything else we teach and explore. Whether you're just starting out or looping back to refine your eye, these are the core ideas that shape every image, every session, every story we tell through a lens. Expect practical tips, honest insights, and the kind of advice that comes from years of standing behind the camera-not just the textbook stuff, but the real-world "what do I do now?" kind of knowledge. We'll talk light, composition, expression, instinct, and that elusive magic of making someone feel at ease in front of your camera. It's not about doing things "by the book"-it's about understanding the rules well enough to bend them with intention. So, settle in. We're building strong foundations here-so everything else you create can stand tall. ### [Foundations: Composition](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/) Composition Humans don't absorb all the detail in a scene or image instantly, but instead we selectively scan it. Our eyes are first drawn to eyes and faces, certain colours and areas of high contrast. To test which area of an image is the main focal point, turn it upside down and note which area your eye is pulled towards. This trick turns the photograph into an abstract, making it easier to be objective. There are compositional rules and techniques that you can use to keep a viewer's eye within a photograph for longer, or to bring attention to a certain area of the image. There are also ways to make an image more pleasing and harmonious or - conversely, more unstable and unbalanced - the effect you are aiming for depends on your intentions for each shot. A successful composition - like a successful exposure - is one that creates the effect intended by the photographer; whether that's a sense of space, pleasing aesthetics and visual harmony or claustrophobic framing, disruptive aesthetics and visual tension. Consider how the portrait will be used and seen: Will the image be displayed as a large print on a wall, or as a tiny shot on a website page? Where do you want the viewer's eye to go to first? What path do you want their eye to take within the frame? While there are many guidelines and ‘rules' for this area of photography, these are generally intended to create attractive compositions. Depending on your desired intentions, you may want to achieve something else entirely. In addition, relentless applying the Rule of Thirds or The Golden Ratio to every shoot will inhibit your creativity and result in images that look repetitive and uninspiring. Developing your own compositional style will help set you apart from other photographers, so learn the rules but also experiment with breaking them. ### [Foundations: Angle and Viewpoint](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-angle-and-viewpoint/) Angle and Viewpoint Positioning your subject in a location is only one part of the puzzle - even in a studio environment, you need to consider where you will be positioned, as the photographer, and whether you will be holding the camera level or angled towards your subject. Even the choice of whether you stand or crouch can have a huge impact on the composition and connotations of the final shot. If you always take every photograph at the same angle, you will be missing out on a world of creativity. Instead, for each shot, consider and experiment with a range of different angles. With experience, you will instinctively know where to position yourself in order to achieve the kind of image you are planning for. ##### Perception of power Changing your viewpoint affects the balance of power between the viewer and the subject. If the image is taken from a low viewpoint, angled up towards the subject, this implies strength, confidence, power and even arrogance of the subject. Conversely, taking an image from a high viewpoint and angling down towards the subject results in associations of the subject's vulnerability, weakness and lack of power. To exaggerate this effect, stand on a chair or use steps to make your high-angle shots more extreme, while raising your subject or lying on the floor yourself will give you options for low-angle shots (however, watch out for double chins and unappealing nostrils!). A shot taken straight on to the subject's eye-level has a neutral effect on the viewer's perception of the subject's power or lack of. ##### Angling the camera As well as holding the camera in a portrait and a landscape orientation, you can also tilt it midway between the two. By angling your camera so that neither edge of the frame is parallel to the horizon, you can add a sense of drama and energy to a shot that might otherwise appear mundane or too static. It can also sometimes improve compositions that aren't working well in either a portrait or landscape orientation. Using the camera like this also gives you a longer axis to shoot along, so may enable you to fit in more than you could otherwise with a portrait or landscape, especially where you are just struggling to fit in the elements of your subject that you want to include in the frame. When adding a diagonal tilt, it should be significant enough that it doesn't look accidental, as a shot just a few degrees off being level with the horizon will feel like a mistake to the viewer. Also, use this technique sparingly - a whole set of images taken at extreme angles will reduce the impact of the effect and it quickly becomes tiring for the viewer. Also consider how the images will be used or displayed - would an angled shot work in that format? If in doubt, take additional shots in portrait and/or landscape formats too. ##### Flattering your subject Often, your aim is to show your subject at their very best. One angle that works for almost everyone is to shoot from about 45 degrees above their eye level, with their body facing slightly away from the camera and their face turned back towards the lens. In general, bigger eyes are considered more beautiful. When we look up, our eyes are opened to their fullest, creating the illusion that they are bigger. In addition, it's common for people to consider their eyes to be their most attractive feature. This angle - combined with a wide open aperture - places all the attention on the subject's eyes, while body parts they may not be so keen on are either out of the shot completely, blurred in the background or just not the focus of the image. ### [Foundations: Background Patterns and Textures](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-background-patterns-and-textures/) Background Patterns and Textures Textured backgrounds, or those with repeating elements, can often form ideal patterns to add low-key interest behind a subject. For example, the horizontal lines of a brick wall or the vertical lines of wooden planks on a shed could both make great backgrounds. Horizontal lines tend to suit a landscape format image best while vertical lines are more powerful in a portrait image, as the background lines echo the angle of the longest edge of the image. However, patterns or background lines that are set at an angle can add energy to a composition. Where the lines naturally form a vertical or horizontal plane, simply tilting the camera can change them into a high-energy diagonal. Angle your camera so that the lines run corner to corner rather than edge to edge for the most powerful effect. This is easily overdone, so experiment with lesser tilts and don't feature too many unusually tilted shots in the same set. ### [Foundations: Cropping](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-cropping/) Cropping A crop is the removal of unwanted elements from the frame in order to improve the composition or to increase the focus on other elements. For example, a close-up shot involves a conscious decision to exclude the rest of the subject's body, in order to focus on their eyes, for example. Conversely, you may want to show the full body of your subject by not cropping, and perhaps show some of their environment, too. Tightly cropped portraits tend to have more impact on smaller screens, such as smart phones and tablets, as a lot of detail is lost when viewing photographs at this small scale. ##### Ways to crop You can crop by physically moving closer to your subject, zooming in using your lens or by trimming the edges of an image in photo editing software. However, try to avoid getting into the habit of consistently delaying cropping choices until post-production - instead, aim to get as much right in-camera as possible, as this will save time later on and push you to create images, not just take them. Post-production should be an additional opportunity, not a default that you resort to, as you lose a little quality each time you crop and re-save JPEGs. ##### Where to crop When cropping into a subject's body, do it confidently or not at all - a bit of a foot cut off or the very top of a head sliced into looks accidental, drawing attention to the crop rather than the subject. Equally, crop above or below the subject's joints, rather than on them - a crop through the ankle, knee or elbow looks odd. Cropping into a subject's hairline can really strengthen a composition as it tends to place the eyes on one of the lines of the Rule of Thirds. However, be careful with crops into the top of the heads of people with thin hair (as it makes them look completely bald) or those with no hair at all (as it can look unflattering) - asking your subject to wear a hat can help here. Avoid cropping into a subject's chin, unless you are taking an extreme close up - losing this element of a person's face tends to result in a weak composition. Elements touching or too near the edge cause visual tension and can look accidental. They draw attention to the edge and the apparent mistake, distracting from the main subject. Crop them out completely or allow sufficient room around them so that they don't draw undue attention. Variety is key when it comes to cropping. Having a variety of full length, three quarter length, bust shots (upper torso and head visible) and close-ups will help ensure your final set of images looks as varied as possible even if all the photos were taken in the same location. ### [Foundations: Eye Contact](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-eye-contact/) Eye Contact Having the subject look straight down the lens gives a feeling of direct eye contact when the image is later viewed. Just as in real life, eye contact is more arresting than a lack of eye contact - it captures your attention and is a form of communication in itself. However, it also demands more of the viewer, so a whole set of images containing eye contact can become tiring and repetitive. As with all the other elements of composition, variety is key. There are two alternatives to through-the-lens eye contact; a subject looking off-camera but at something within the frame, and a subject looking off-camera at something outside of the frame. When the subject is looking at something within the frame, such as an object or another person, it's as though the photographer has captured a private moment candidly, rather than a posed shot. It can enable more of a story telling approach to image-making than with direct eye contact, as the viewer tries to work out the relationship between the subject and the thing they are looking at. The expression of the subject forms part of the story - is it a look of love, of fear, or intrigue? When the subject is looking at something outside of the frame, this provides an unanswered puzzle for the viewer - what are they looking at? Again, the expression of the subject is key; if they look tense, the viewer will believe that they are anxious about the thing they are looking at, whereas a serene expression or a smile tells the viewer that the subject feels positive. If the subject is looking towards the floor, this can imply shyness and modesty - this can be an appealing quality, which is why it's a commonly used image set-up for a bridal portrait. When viewing an image, our gaze follows that of the subject, so be aware that if the subject is looking out of the frame, then our eyes are pulled towards that point, creating visual tension. Harmonious compositions usually aim to keep the eye within the image, so leave plenty of space on the side of the image that your subject is looking towards. ### [Foundations: Frame Within A Frame](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-frame-within-a-frame/) Frame Within A Frame You can use elements of a scene to provide an additional frame within the edges of the image. This could be a full frame, on all four sides of the image, or a partial frame, where only one, two or three sides of the image are affected. Potential framing elements include doorways, foliage, tree trunks or even other people. Frames can either be an obvious element in their own right, or merely blurred parts of the image. Frames can be in the foreground or background of an image, although the former is more commonly seen (and easier to achieve) in portrait photography. Frames are used as a compositional device because they can add interest, context, depth and balance to an image. For example, a shot of a subject in front of a plain background tells you very little about the place it was taken, and has only two elements - the subject and the negative space around them. In contrast, a shot of a subject framed by an ancient archway has added detail (interest), a greater sense of place (context), greater depth (particularly if the archway is nearer to or further from the camera than the subject) and increased visual balance (particularly if the archway is centrally positioned in the overall image). When using frames in your image, consider what will complement the tone you want to convey. For example, photographing a cuddling couple through the leaves of nearby foliage gives the impression of an intimate moment captured, and the leaves and flowers in the foreground will add to the sense of romance. You will also need to decide how much of the frame you want to be visible. This will depend on what is physically possible (sometimes the location will dictate), whether you want the frame to be a key part of the image or an edge detail and where the frame is best positioned in order to lead the eye towards the main subject of the image. If you want the frame within a frame to be blurred, you will need to consider your aperture settings and also the distances between the foreground element and your subject. The wider the aperture and the further apart the frame is from your subject, the more blurred it will become. ### [Foundations: Image Formats](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-image-formats/) Image Formats The vast majority of cameras provide a set, rectangular image frame. However, photo editing software enables you to access other formats too, including square and panoramic shapes or combinations of images in montages. Different formats lend themselves to different scenes and compositions - practice capturing the same portrait using a range of different formats to see which you prefer and why. Over time, you will soon become able to judge which format will work best before even lifting the camera to your eye. ##### Portrait or landscape Despite the latter's name, both portrait and landscape formats can be used in portraiture. In fact, some portrait photographers use the landscape format almost exclusively. Sometimes this is based on personal preference, but landscape shots can also offer some marketing advantages - they display better on digital media and on some screens, where the viewing area is better suited to landscape format images. Take a look through your recent images. Do you naturally incline towards portrait or landscape format? Or does your work have a fairly even mix of both? Your choices may depend on your subject matter, or you may wish to develop a distinctive style by predominantly featuring one format. ##### Square images This format is ideal for emphasising visual balance and symmetry by placing your subject in the centre of the frame. Alternatively, for a more arresting portrait, you could position your subject off-centre or with an extreme crop. To achieve a square format shot, shoot a portrait or landscape photography loosely, with plenty of space around your subject. Then, carefully crop your shot in editing software. ##### Panoramic images This format takes longer for our eye to travel across and absorb the whole scene. It's harder to take in everything at once, particularly if the image is large, but this may be to your advantage. Some cameras offer a built-in panoramic function, while on others you can take several shots (using a tripod to ensure consistency of viewpoint) and stitch them together in editing software. Alternatively, if your camera offers high enough resolution, you could simply crop a regular shot into a panoramic format. ##### Montages Montages enable the photographer to tell a story through a series of photographs. The word 'story' doesn't imply a detailed plot here, but rather a journey or experience brought to life through its visual details. The relationship of the different images may be clear, with each of them featuring the same colours or the same subjects or the same lighting conditions, for example. Alternatively, the relationship could be implied simply by the grouping of a selection of images for the montage. The story's narrative could be as simple as 'our day at the beach', 'our child's first year' or 'a fashion shoot in the factory'. Montages allow space for shots that might otherwise not be considered standalone display material, but which add depth to the photographic story, such as close-ups of seashells, a tiny newborn fist or a macro shot of a heel amongst rubble. They could include images which are not portraits, strictly speaking, but these shots provide space for creativity and variation that can give the viewers a visual rest between images that may otherwise be too similar. Two popular configurations are triptychs - three images presented side by side - and montages of nine images, often in a three by three square. However, there are limitless variations, including the choice of the width of borders and gaps between images (if any), and whether the image formats within the montage are the same (e.g. all portraits) or mixed. ##### Considerations when choosing a format include: - What do you intend to use the image for? A social media profile or music album artwork might necessitate a square crop, whereas an image intended for a book or magazine cover may need to be portrait. - Will one format cut out extraneous clutter more effectively than another? - Which format will make better use of any lead-in lines/perspective lines/background details? - Do you want to give a sense of space or capture a tight crop? Landscapes also lend themselves towards shots where you want to include space or background details around your subject. On the other hand, the portrait format can work better for tighter crops, as its dimensions mirror those of a seated or standing human. ##### Aspect ratios The exact shape of images from your camera will depend on which aspect ratio it has. This is the measure of the width and height of the image frame expressed as a ratio; common aspect ratios include 3:2, 4:3 and 5:4. When taking photographs that you intend to print, bear in mind that standard print sizes won't necessarily correspond to your camera's aspect ratio. In this case, your image may be cropped to match the print size. This may result in details positioned near to the edge of the frame being cut off, or unintended adjustments to the overall composition of the image. If print crops may be an issue, shoot 'loose', with slightly more space on both edges of the image frame. Then, when you take the shot into editing software, you can crop it to the precise aspect ratio you need for printing, actively choosing where the crop occurs. ### [Foundations: Lead-In Lines](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-lead-in-lines/) Lead-In Lines Lead-in lines are strong compositional elements that guide the viewer's eye around the image, and draw the viewer's focus towards the subject. For example, in a shot of a subject walking along a winding path, inclusion of the path in the foreground will create a lead-in line. Equally, two rows of converging trees either side of your subject create converging lead-in lines that draw the viewer's eye to their vanishing point behind the subject. By giving the eye a clear path to travel through the photograph, they help to make the image more visually appealing. When the aperture is opened wide in order to blur the secondary elements of the image, lead-in lines can also add a powerful sense of depth, particularly where they are partially or fully blurred and the subject is sharp. This is because they clearly illustrate that the elements of the image are at different distances to each other, evidence by the shallow depth of focus. Lead-in lines can be formed by natural or manmade elements and are not all that hard to find, if you look around you, think creatively and are prepared to change your angle. Even a wall can become a lead-in line when you shoot along it (not parallel to it), with the rows of bricks drawing the eye towards the subject. Repeated elements in a row can form an implied line, such as a sequence of equally spaced trees or rocks. Even in full-frame portraits, the subject's body can be positioned to create lead-in lines, by placing limbs where they will encourage the viewer's eye to travel along them towards the subject's face. Diagonal lead-in lines, like diagonal background lines, add a sense of energy to compositions, so look for ways to add these to your portraits, starting them from one of the image corners for maximum compositional effect. ### [Foundations: Leaving Space Around Your Subject](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-leaving-space-around-your-subject/) Leaving Space Around Your Subject While filling the frame with your subject can lead to a high impact portrait - particularly if the final image will be used at a small scale - using this technique all the time leads to a selection of images that are repetitive. As with many of the rules of composition, when your images are viewed as a set, variety becomes key. Allowing space around your subject also enables you to include background or environmental details. Sometimes you may want a simple background, which keeps the focus on the subject but adds more interest than a plain white or black studio background. Everyday locations - such as flaking paint on an old wall or rusty garage doors - can become attractive areas of texture or colour when used as out-of-focus backgrounds behind your subject, yet are not so visually strong or distracting that they pull the viewer's eye away from the subject. In this instance, the 'empty' area around your subject is known as 'negative space'. Other times you may want to include environmental details that help to provide additional narrative details to the 'story' of the image. Either way, by not filling the frame you give yourself additional compositional options, such as positioning your subject to one side, and making them small in the frame - perhaps to imply isolation or vulnerability. Additionally, your shots will have a wider range of commercial opportunities, as negative space provides an area for graphic designers to position text without crashing into the subject, making your images more appealing for editorial usage, for example. Similarly, if you use the camera in landscape format and position your subject so they stand on one of the vertical lines according to the rule of thirds, then even if you later need a portrait version, you can easily crop into the shot. ##### 'Nose room' The viewer's eye tends to follow the gaze of the subject in an image. So if your subject is looking off-camera to the edge of the image, the viewer's eyes will follow. To keep the viewer's gaze within the portrait, allow sufficient space around your subject, particularly in the direction they are looking. The same is true of a moving subject - allow sufficient space in the frame in the direction of the subject's movements for a more harmonious composition. Having a subject crashing towards the edge of the image creates tension for the viewer, and brings unwanted attention to the frame itself. ##### Visual flow In cultures where text is read from left to right, the eye tends to also travel across images in this direction. Therefore, a portrait where a small child is running across the frame from left to right reflects this visual flow, and will appear more harmonious in its composition. In contrast, a model placed on the right hand side of the frame, looking towards the left side, subtly disrupts this flow, and may appear more challenging, strong and/or rebellious as a result. ### [Foundations: Shoot With The End In Mind](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-shoot-with-the-end-in-mind/) Shoot With The End In Mind The end intention of your image will - to some extent - determine the best composition to use. For example, if the subject wants to use the photograph as their image on a social media profile, you may need to crop the shot into a square. In addition, taking a full length shot with plenty of space around the subject would result in detail too tiny to make out once the image is a small, online box. Instead, a close crop will be more usable. If the image is for a large frame on the wall, a very close crop may be overkill, as you would need to stand too far back to take in the subject's full features. In this instance, a portrait that includes a lot of background detail could work very well at a large scale - the smaller the subject in the frame, the larger the print needs to be to have the same impact. A lot of website templates aimed at the photography market feature a large, landscape frame for a powerful first impression. Therefore, if all your shots are portrait, you'll struggle to find one suitable to use. If you plan to fill a photobook with the images you take, you will find many of the templates available feature a range of landscape, portrait and square apertures for images, so having a variety of formats in your set will be key. Similarly, if you are hoping to take images that may be used by a newspaper or magazine, then providing them with a portrait version as well as a landscape one will boost your chances of having something that fits the space they need to fill. ##### Scaling If you are taking the images for wall displays, you need to be aware of underscaling - one of the most common failings when people choose a print size. This happens because people don't tend to use a reference point, but make a guess on which dimensions to buy while the print or frame is immediately in front of them. If you hold a piece of A3 paper near your face, it seems huge. But hold it up to a wall and it quickly appears lost. Visit interior design shows or new show homes and you will quickly see what sizes compliment different spaces - and they tend to be much larger than most people would naturally go for! As a photographer, part of your job is to introduce the concepts of usage and scale to your clients, so that prints and frames compliment the space they will be displayed in. Hold a print up in the space the client is considering displaying it, so they can make a more informed decision. If you intend to make money from selling prints, then big is definitely better for you too, as you can make more money from them! The alternative is to cluster multiple, smaller framed images together for a similar effect. It's therefore good practice to consider the end use of the image, and, where possible, take both portrait and landscape versions, as this will give you the most opportunities later on. ### [Foundations: The Golden Ratio](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-the-golden-ratio/) The Golden Ratio Like the Rule of Thirds, the Golden Ratio is a guideline for positioning elements of the image within naturally powerful areas of the frame. It is an ancient design principle which states that the ratio of 1:1.618 is the most visually pleasing. This particular ratio has been found to appear repeatedly in nature (such as in the shape of a snail's shell) and is one that humans are drawn to. It can be used to divide the image frame into a series of smaller and smaller rectangles. A line is then curved from the outer corner of the first rectangle, through the corners of the second largest, through to the next and so on, until you have a spiral flowing through the whole image. This ratio can also be used to create a guideline grid, which looks very similar to the Rule of Thirds, but with slightly different placement of the lines and intersections resulting in a smaller central box. In fact, it is possible that the Rule of Thirds is a simplified version of the Golden Ratio, but the latter is supposedly more refined and historically proven to be superior. Try both, see which you prefer, and - if one version isn't quite working successfully in certain situations, switch to the other to see if that helps. ### [Foundations: The Rule of Thirds](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-the-rule-of-thirds/) The Rule of Thirds The Rule of Thirds provides a guide to the most impactful place within the frame to place key elements. Imagine two horizontal lines that split the image into thirds, crossed by two vertical, equidistant lines that split the image into thirds the other way. Placing an image component along one of these lines or - even more powerfully - on one of the four intersections where the lines meet - contributes to a strong composition. For close-up portraits, aim to get the nearest eye on one of the top two intersection points. For three-quarter or full-length shots, the subject's face should be on one of these top two points, no matter whether you are shooting portrait or landscape format. In either case, ensure the focus point is also on the area that falls on the intersection so that this part of the image is the sharpest. The rule of thirds is beneficial in portraiture, as if you take a landscape shot according to the rule then decide to crop it to portrait orientation, the subject is likely to be still placed on one of the key areas of the frame when the rule is applied again to the new, portrait version. ### [Foundations: Visual Balance](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-composition/foundations-visual-balance/) Visual Balance ##### Visual weight Every element in a photograph has a 'visual weight' attached to it, and a harmonious composition is one in which these elements are arranged in a way that seems to achieve visual balance overall. Elements that are high contrast, large, dark in colour, placed on one of the key sections of the frame according to the Rule of Thirds or Golden Ratio, or that we know are genuinely heavy, have increased visual weight compared to those that are low contrast, small, light in colour, placed randomly in the frame or that are known to be light. ##### Subject placement A perfectly centred subject will quickly draw the eye to the middle of the frame and hold it there. This type of composition can be effective to emphasise a subject's symmetry and visual balance. However, it can lessen the interest of other types of portrait, with the viewer immediately moving on to more interesting stimuli. Off-centre subjects inherently carry more interest, particularly in landscape formats, but need to be placed carefully in the frame. The Rule of Thirds and Golden Ratio (see page REF) offer potential solution for off-centre positioning. Alternatively, you could balance an off-centre subject with other elements in the frame or leave empty, negative space (see page REF). Photographs with off-centre subjects and plenty of negative space can make your images more saleable for use in advertising and publishing as designers frequently require space inside the frame to add text and other elements. ##### Reading directions In cultures where text is read from left to right, be aware that a background element such as a tree or lamppost which is positioned on the left hand side of the frame can act as a visual block, slowing the eye's progress across the image. The same element on the right hand side can act as a stabiliser, keeping the viewer's eye from leaving the image. In cultures where text is read from right to left, the opposite is true. ### [Foundations: Kit](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-kit/) Kit With hundreds of different camera bodies and lenses to choose from, in addition to a limitless number of accessories, it's tough to know where to draw the line when it comes to kit; there's a fine balance between having what you really need and buying equipment that you'll use only once. If you plan to offer studio shoots, then clearly you'll need to buy more gear than if you were to specialise in natural light photography. Some accessories can be improvised, such as using scrunched up and flattened tin foil instead of buying a reflector, but you may find the effectiveness, usability and professionalism of a purpose-made product outweighs any cost savings. The following pages tell what you to look for when selecting a camera and lens, and briefly cover some of the accessories on offer. We suggest that you spend some time at a specialist store, handling and testing the different options, trying out different accessories and only buying the things that you are sure you'll make use of. After all, if you're looking to earn money from portraiture, the cost of any equipment needs to be balanced by the likely income you can earn by using it. And besides, owning expensive kit won't make you more competent; knowing how to use it and putting in many hours of practice is the only way to become a master of portrait photography. ### [Foundations: Accessories For Portrait Photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-kit/foundations-accessories-for-portrait-photographers/) Accessories For Portrait Photographers Once you've got your camera and lens choice sorted, there are optional accessories to consider. In addition, if you are shooting professionally, you need to consider having spares of your entire kit. Although this may seem like an unreasonable additional outlay, cameras, lenses and supplementary kit can occasionally fail, and if you are photographing portraits that can't easily be re-shot, then you could be risking your professional reputation if you don't have back-ups. In addition, you can have different lenses on each camera body, enabling you to switch between lenses more quickly than if you had to turn your camera off, remove one lens and fit the other. ##### Camera bags Camera bags are not just for transporting your kit around, they protect it too. When working outdoors you'll need to be mindful of the risk of condensation and avoid exposing your camera's body and lens to extreme changes in temperature, especially when leaving a warm building to go outside in winter. The simplest way to do this is to keep everything inside a good quality bag for long enough that the temperature inside gradually matches that outside. ##### Computer and editing software Post-production is an essential part of the portrait photography process. You'll need a computer that can easily handle the large file sizes created by today's DSLRs and editing software that will facilitate the final stage in the creation of your portraits. ##### Memory cards Memory cards store the image files as you shoot, and can be taken out of the camera in order to move or copy their contents to a computer. The most common types are Secure Digital (SD) and Compact Flash (CF) - the type you need will depend on which camera body you are using. The cards come in a variety of different capacities and transfer speeds, determining how many image files they can store and how quickly they can transfer the data to your computer, with larger capacities and faster speeds costing more. If you are shooting Raw files, which contain unprocessed and uncompressed image data, smaller capacity cards will be used up very quickly, whereas JPEG files are compressed and require less space. Top-end camera bodies often have two memory card slots, enabling you to back-up your images as you shoot. ##### Tripods If you want to shoot in low light levels with a slower shutter speed while avoiding camera shake, you will benefit from using a tripod. However, your subject will need to stay completely motionless while the shutter is open, otherwise their movements will blur the shot. Tripods take time to set to the right height and angle and are cumbersome to transport around. Instead, lean on the back of a chair or against a door-frame to support yourself while shooting, or switch to a steadier posture, with elbows close to your body to minimise camera shake. You can also increase your ISO, open your aperture or use external flash in order to enable a faster shutter speed - more on all of these later. Newer cameras and lenses often feature integrated image stabilisation technology, which can also help reduce your need for a tripod. ##### Light meters Cameras have in-built light meters which measure the amount of light reflected from your subject. They are easily fooled by high contrast or backlit scenes. External light meters are small gadgets which can measure the light falling on your subject, giving you suggested camera settings in order to achieve a good exposure. They are particularly useful when working with artificial light. ##### Metering cards Rather than using a light meter to get accurate exposure settings, you can ask your subject to hold a card which is coloured at 18% grey, the exact average tone that digital cameras meter for. Then take a meter reading by pressing the AE-Lock button, ensuring the grey card fills the area that's being metered (using spot metering is easiest for this). Finally, discard the grey card, recompose your shot and press the shutter release. ##### Reflectors Reflectors are effective but low cost accessories that help to fill in shadow areas. They come in a variety of sizes, but 100cm would generally be considered the minimum useful size for varied portraiture situations. There are circular, collapsible versions which are the most portable, but require an assistant to hold them; ones with hand-grips that photographers can hold on to if they can use their camera with just the other hand; or there are large ones with frames which can be used free-standing. For close-ups, it's often possible to ask the subject to hold the reflector. Different colour options include: - White: Bounces back a subtle light and needs to be used closer to the subject or on brighter days. - Silver: Bounces a stronger light than white, without colouring it. Good if light levels are lower or if the subject is further away from the reflector. Can be overpowering or make the subject squint if used too close to the subject on a very bright day. - Gold: Bounces a stronger light than white, and adds a warm tint which replicates golden hour. Good for warming up skin tones on a cloudy day or in shade, but can look overpowering and fake if not used subtly. - Hybrids: Stripes of white and gold or white and silver are combined across the face of the reflector for a more subtle effect than gold or silver alone. - Black: Used to absorb light and create shadows. You can get double sided or 3-in-1 reflectors that offer you increased flexibility while still offering portability. When using a reflector, remember that light travels in a straight line, so angle the reflector so it catches the light and bounces it back to your subject's face. The closer to your subject it's positioned, and the stronger the ambient light levels, the stronger an effect it will have. ##### Diffusers Diffusers come in similar sizes and shapes to reflectors, but are made of a thinner material intended to soften the light, rather than block and reflect it. They are positioned between the subject and the light source, and are typically used on location shoots and for window-lit portraits where the sun is harsh and direct. A low cost alternative with a similar effect can be achieved by using thin white fabric, such as a bed-sheet. ##### Backgrounds What do you want to be visible behind your subject? If shooting on location, you may want to have the environment around you visible. For indoor shoots, you may want a cleaner background, such as a plain white, black or coloured backdrop. You can buy fabric or paper rolls which are made specifically for photography use; the size you'll require depends on whether you want to be able to capture full length shots as well as close ups, and how many people you want to photograph at any one time. ### [Foundations: Choosing A Lens](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-kit/foundations-choosing-a-lens/) Your images will only ever be as good as the glass you use, so don't blow all your budget on an amazing camera body and end up with a cheap or kit lens. Professional photographers tend to upgrade their camera body every 2-5 years, but top quality lenses can last much, much longer, so consider them a long-term investment: cameras wear out, but lenses don't. Lenses that are included with entry-level and mid-range camera bodies tend to be lower quality, made from cheaper materials and with limited aperture ranges. Instead, get the very best you can afford, and you will reap the rewards with superior image quality. Naturally, people want a single lens that can do everything, and for a low price, but as with most things, there are compromises to be made. Some of the things to consider before buying a lens include: ##### Focal length The focal length of a lens refers to the magnification of a scene that it provides. Wide angle lenses, such as an 18mm or 24mm lens, enable you to fit more of a scene in and are best for group portraits. However, if you want to fill the frame with the face of a single subject, then you'd need to move in very close to him or her. Not only could this feel intimidating, it will also result in distorted portraits with exaggerated foreshortening, giving your subject a huge nose and tiny ears. Telephoto lenses, such as an 85mm or 200mm lens, have a much narrower angle of view, and enable you to crop in close to one part of a scene or subject. However, you need to move further away from your subject in order to include more of their body in the shot. This can make it harder to interact, and can be impossible in a small room. Longer focal lengths can also flatten perspective, making the background look much closer to the subject than it really is - something that you can often use to your advantage, but need to be aware of. This lens type produces much more flattering shots than wide angle lenses, and can feel less intimidating as they are used further away from the subject. Whether you choose a wide angle or a telephoto lens, bear in mind that unless you have a camera with a full frame sensor, the actual focal length will be more magnified, as smaller sensors ‘crop' into the image. This means that a 50mm lens would have an effective focal length of 75mm-80mm on a camera with an APS-C sensor. As a minimum, professional photographers would typically have a 24-70mm lens for wider angle work and a 70-200mm lens for close-up work. Wedding photographers may also have a 16-35mm, in order to include more of the venue in shots, and for group portraits, and possibly a ‘fast' prime lens too. ##### Maximum aperture Wide apertures enable you to isolate the subject by blurring the foreground and background. They also allow more light through the lens, which means you can work in lower light conditions and achieve higher shutter speeds (minimising camera shake). For this reason, lenses that offer extremely wide apertures are referred to as ‘fast lenses'. Professional portrait photographers often take the vast majority of shots at the widest end of the aperture scale, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4, for example. Yet many kit or entry-level lenses may only offer f/3.5-5.6, which really limits your options. Look for a good quality prime lens which opens up to f/1.8, or a zoom lens that offers a fast, constant aperture throughout the focal range. ##### Zoom Vs Prime Lenses Zoom lenses offer a range of focal lengths, which means you can crop into and out of a scene without physically moving yourself nearer or further away, by simply rotating the lens barrel. Optically zooming in this way provides superior image quality compared to taking a wide angle shot and cropping it digitally, as the latter method simply results in the selected area of pixels being magnified. However, make sure you check the maximum aperture throughout the focal range of a zoom lens, as cheaper models can't achieve the widest aperture at every setting. Having wide apertures at all focal lengths adds greatly to the cost of the lens, as the design is more complicated and more optics are involved. Prime lenses have fixed focal lengths, which makes them cheaper to design and manufacture, as the optics only need to be optimised for a single level of lens magnification. If you're on a budget, you'll get better quality from a prime lens than a zoom lens at a much higher price point. However, you'll need to work harder, moving yourself or your subject in order to achieve different crops. 50mm, 70mm, 85mm and 105mm prime lenses are ideal for portraits, as they avoid the distortion of wide angle lenses but don't require vast amounts of space between you and your subject in order to fit them in the frame. You can get very good 50mm f/1.8 primes from the main camera system brands for around £100, which is significantly cheaper than a good quality zoom lens. ##### Build quality The more you spend, the better the aperture and focal length range available to you. However, there are additional benefits to higher-end lenses, including improved weather resistance, better build quality and faster, more accurate focusing, especially in darker scenes. The out of focus rendering of points of light in shots taken with wide apertures - known as bokeh - is also more aesthetically pleasing in images captured with a better quality of lens. ##### Filters Having splashed out on a high quality lens, you can increase its longevity by adding a filter, which helps to protect it. The most common filter types screw into the end of the lens. Filters can add effects, such as neutral density filters which darken skies, UV filters which reduce haze in landscapes and polarising filters which minimise reflections and increase the intensity of blue skies. For most portrait work, however, a Natural Colour filter is best, as it won't add any additional effects. Remember that your shots will only be as good as the glass you use, so spend a little more to get a decent filter. ### [Foundations: Choosing Your Camera](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-kit/foundations-choosing-your-camera/) Obviously you won't get far in photography without having the necessary kit - but which type of camera is best for portrait photography? There's more to it than just having a high count of megapixels - unless you're printing out huge enlargements of an image to go on the wall, a lot of the pixel detail will go to waste anyway. Instead, look for sensor size, lens quality and the ability to have full control over the camera's settings. Once you commit to a brand's camera system - whether Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony, Pentax or a less well-known name - you are tied in to their stock of lenses and accessories, so make your decision with the full range of equipment in mind. Having said this, there are adapters you can get that enable some mixing and matching between brands, and there are other third party manufacturers like Tamron and Sigma who offer a number of Nikon- and Canon-compatible lenses. On the whole, however, you are making a long-term commitment to a particular brand of camera system, so go in-store to try them out. Pick up all of the different cameras which fall within your price bracket, note how they feel in your hands and try taking a few test shots. Choose the one that makes you want to go straight out and shoot. Bear in mind that while prices may be cheaper online, if you buy your kit from a store then you have somewhere to go if it breaks. There are two very different camera types for serious portrait photographers to choose from: Mirror-less Interchangeable Lens Camera (MILC) MILCs are smaller than DSLRs because they don't use an internal mirror to reflect the scene up into the viewfinder. Instead, the scene is shown on an electronic display on the back of the camera. This can cause a slight lag compared to DSLRs, which show a live view. The lack of a mirror in MILCs, however, allows the lenses to sit much closer to the sensor, which means that lenses don't have to be as large as those on DSLRs to let an equivalent amount of light through. With smaller camera bodies and smaller lenses, MILCs are far more portable than enthusiast- and pro-level DSLRs, yet often have image sensors of comparable size and output quality to DSLRs. As the lenses are interchangeable in MILCs, you can buy a range of different types for different shooting situations. MILCs have a quieter operation than DSLRs, and their more discreet profile makes them well-suited to street photography or candid portraiture, where the appearance of a DSLR may attract too much attention. As MILCs are a relatively new breed of camera, current body and lens choices are much more restricted than for DSLRs, although if you already have a lot of DSLR lenses, you can get an adaptor which enables you to use them on some types of MILC, too. In addition, as the technology is less developed than that for DSLRs, the autofocus systems aren't yet as good, particularly in low light situations or when the subject is moving. Digital Single Lens-Reflex (DSLR) Camera DSLRs are named after the ‘single lens' view they provide, due to the internal mirror which reflects the scene from the lens up to the viewfinder. This mirror flips out of the way just before the shutter opens, allowing light from the scene to reach the camera's sensor. The mirror mechanism takes up a significant amount of space, resulting in bulkier camera bodies than MILCs. Nevertheless they are the camera type of choice for the majority of professional portrait photographers, due to their speed, reliability and durability. There are a huge number of lens options available on the market, giving a range of options for different shooting situations, lens effects and price points. DSLRs have big image sensors and lenses, allowing lots of light into the camera and a larger surface area for it to fall on. They are compatible with additional accessories that will enhance your portraiture, such as flash guns and triggers for studio lights. There are entry-level, mid-range and top-end DSLRs to choose from, with increased build quality at the higher price points, offering better resistance against rain and bumps. The more you spend, generally the higher resolution you get, as well as ever-increasing ISO ranges which enable low light photography. Top-end DSLRs offer ‘full frame sensors', which means a wider angle of view and maximum image quality as smaller sensors crop into the scene to make up for their size. Expect to pay under £500 for an entry-level camera, £800-£2,000 for a mid-range and £2,000+ for a pro-spec DSLR body. Whatever your budget, make sure there's enough left over for a top-spec lens, as the lenses that come with entry-level and mid-range camera bodies aren't going to get you shots like the ones on this site. Sensor size Pixel count is often considered the foremost consideration in digital photography, but the sensor size is actually more important. The sensor is made up of many photosites, each one responsible for recording the light that will generate a single pixel in the final image. Larger photosites will record more light, so in general will produce a better image than millions more small photosites crammed onto a tiny sensor. This is why smart phones with an in-built camera (and a typical sensor size of just 5mm long), struggle in low light situations compared to MILCs and DSLRs (which generally have an APS-C sensor which is up to 23mm on its longest edge). Top-end DSLRs have what's known as a ‘full-frame' sensor, which is 36 x 24mm in size. As APS-C sensors are smaller than the full frame, they crop into the scene slightly, meaning that the focal length of any lens they are used with will become magnified. The extent of this magnification is labelled as a ‘multiplier' on all camera bodies with a crop sensor. Other considerations Other factors to consider are in-built image stabilisation (top-end lenses increasingly offer this, so it shouldn't be a deal-breaker if it isn't included in the camera), sensor cleaning (usually by vibrating the sensor at start-up to clear it of any dust particles) and wider dynamic ranges (which indicate an ability to cope with detail in high-contrast images). More important than buying any specific camera is getting to know whichever one you choose inside out, until you can instantly adjust the ISO, aperture and shutter speed without looking, and you know by gut feeling whether the shot will be right or not as you hear the shutter movements click. ### [Foundations: Portable Flash Your Mobile Studio](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-kit/foundations-portable-flash-your-mobile-studio/) Mobile Flash: Your Mobile Studio ##### On-camera flash Entry- and enthusiast-level DSLRs usually include an on-camera flash which pops up on demand or when using auto mode and shooting in low light conditions. Out of necessity, the flash is physically positioned only a few centimetres away from the lens, which causes a few problems, including ‘red eye' and harsh, flat lighting. The flash emitted typically overpowers the ambient light, resulting in your subject looking like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights. In addition, any reflective surfaces in your scene which are parallel to the camera will end up recorded as areas of white glare. Although there are professional photographers (like Juergen Teller) who have developed a unique style around using on-camera flash, these images are notable for how unflattering they are. As he regularly photographs celebrities, the appeal of the shots is that the subjects don't appear to be professionally photographed, giving the viewer a feeling of a private image taken by a close friend. For the majority of photographers, however, the main priority of a portrait is to flatter the subject, which is much more easily achieved with off-camera flash. In low light situations, instead of resorting to on-camera flash, try raising the ISO, slowing the shutter speed and/or widening the aperture to let more light in. Experiment with other light sources - even a street light or a table lamp. If you end up using on-camera flash as a last resort, stick a layer of masking tape or white fabric over the cover of the flash to diffuse and soften the light slightly. ##### Flash Guns Flash guns offer many advantages over fixed on-camera flash. Their larger size means they can pack in more power, while providing you with accessible options to adjust and control that power. Their adjustable heads mean that the light can be bounced off walls, ceilings and other surfaces rather than just firing straight at your subjects. Some have in-built or add-on diffusers, which soften and spread the light, and small white pop-up cards that reflect catch-lights into your subjects' eyes even when the flash is angled upwards or to one side. You can buy mini soft-boxes and umbrellas for flash guns, enabling you to recreate flattering studio-style lighting on location, while still being much more portable. Flash guns slide into what is called a ‘hot-shoe'; a metal mount positioned on the top of your DSLR which transfers data between the flash gun and the camera. A lever on the back of the gun locks it into place, ensuring it won't slip off again. On the back of the flash gun is an LCD screen that shows the active mode, the effective range of the light output with the current settings and the camera and lens set-up. ##### Flash gun modes The most common modes on flash guns include: - ##### Through the lens (TTL) auto mode The camera uses through the lens flash metering to judge how much flash is required to make a correct exposure. If necessary, you can use flash exposure compensation (indicated by the same plus and minus sign used on most cameras to indicate exposure compensation) to quickly increase or decrease the amount of flash that's fired. - ##### Red eye mode Red eye is caused by flashlight reflecting off the inside of a subject's eyeball; in low-light situations where you are most likely to use flash, people's pupils expand to let more light in, making the reflections worse. In this mode, the camera fires several bursts of flash before the exposure is made in order to shrink the subjects' pupils, helping to reduce the effect of red eye. - ##### Slow sync mode Uses a slower shutter speed to capture ambient background light as well as the subject, making this a good choice for twilight and evening portraits. However, watch out for camera shake and be aware that the flash fires at the start of the exposure. This means that if your subject moves, their position at the start of the exposure will be frozen by the flash, with their later movements recorded as blurred trails. This can look odd, as you would expect the movement trails to show the earlier movements, with the final position of the subject captured most prominently by the flash. - ##### Second/rear-curtain sync mode Uses a slower shutter speed to capture ambient light, but also addresses the movement trail issue mentioned above, as the flash is fired at the end of the exposure instead of at the beginning. The name comes from the physical process that takes place during an exposure - a ‘curtain' draws back to allow light to reach the sensor, then a second follows it to block out light again. In this mode, the flash is timed to burst just before the second curtain moves into place. - ##### Flash off mode In automatic exposure modes, the camera will default to using flash whenever light levels are low. Selecting this mode disables this function. ##### Zooming the flash Flash guns use the focal length information from the lens to concentrate the beam of light before firing, minimising the wasted light that would be spread over a wider scene when a longer focal length is used, and giving the flash a longer reach. This also makes the light more controllable when bouncing it, as setting the flash to its longest zoom setting will ensure it becomes a narrow tunnel of light, rather than an arc, reducing the amount that spills elsewhere. ##### Taking flash guns off camera Cable connectors and wireless trigger systems mean that you can just as easily use flash guns completely off-camera, even using multiple flash guns at once, increasing the number of effects you can use them for. Slide a trigger into the hot-shoe instead of a flash gun, and it will fire the flash remotely using radio or infrared signals in time for when the camera makes the exposure. Alternatively, with one flash gun on the camera, set another to ‘slave' mode and it will fire as soon as it senses the burst of flash from the ‘master' flash gun. Your positioning and choice of power settings for the flash guns will determine how flattering the light is. Use the same principles as those set out earlier for studio flash and, whether you are relying on a single flash gun or have several that you can position around your subject, you will be able to recreate similar effects on location. For example, you can use a large, white, matt surface (such as a room divider or neutrally painted wall) to replicate the effect of a giant studio softbox. When you point light at a matt surface, the amount of light reflected from it is the same in any direction, no matter what angle the light is coming from. This is why you can see images on modern overhead projector screens, no matter where you are sitting - the light entering your eyes is the same from all angles. This creates a similar end result to using a softbox, which bounces light around in all directions inside, so it becomes soft and non-directional. Simply position your subject as you would if the surface was a softbox in a studio (at a 45 degree angle, or behind the camera, for example), then fire the flash towards that surface, using the maximum zoom setting on the flash to minimise spillage. If using a wall behind the camera, be aware that the shape of your body will block light, so allow some distance between yourself and the subject to avoid shadowing them. Depending on the power of your flash and the distance between your subject and the surface you are using to bounce the light, you may need to widen your aperture, raise your ISO or use a tripod to achieve a correct exposure which doesn't suffer from camera shake. If you have a second flash gun, you can aim it at the same surface to double the flash output, use it on a lower power setting aimed towards the shadowed side of your subject as a fill light, or angle it towards your subject's hair to add depth and texture to the image. Alternatively, position it behind your subject, pointing towards their back to add a rim light that will lift and separate your subject from the background. This is particularly effective on very overcast days, when the background and subject are both under similar lighting conditions. Remember that the main flash gun will need to be at a higher power setting than any secondary light sources, and higher still if used with a light modifier which will diffuse some of its power. When using multiple flash guns, take test shots of the effect produced by each one individually so you can check and balance their eventual effect on the final image. Remember that coloured surfaces reflect coloured light, so stick to reflecting light off white ones to avoid adding unwanted tints to your image. ##### Make it manual As with camera settings, leaving your flash in an automatic mode means you lose out on creative control. Although through the lens (TTL) flash metering gets it right most of the time, it can fail in backlit situations, when the scene is highly reflective or when the backgrounds are very light or very dark. If you don't know your kit well, you won't know how to correct its output in these situations, which is risky. Instead, spend time experimenting with your flash gun until you can accurately predict what settings will create the desired effect in different situations. ##### Flash sync Be aware that you will need to use a shutter speed within the camera's flash sync range. Depending on the make of your DSLR, the top shutter speed available to you will either be 1/200s or 1/250s; anything faster and your image will have a black band across it, where no detail is recorded. This is because one of the two curtains that open and then close the shutter were in motion at the time the flash was fired, and they have blocked light from the burst of flash from reaching the sensor at that point in the frame. Sometimes, a shutter speed of 1/200s or 1/250s is too slow, especially if you are using flash to fill-in shadows on a bright day. Even at the lowest ISO and smallest aperture settings, the image would be overexposed. To remedy this, some flash guns offer a high speed sync (HSS) mode, in which the flash is repeatedly fired as the curtains move across the sensor, enabling you to use faster shutter speeds and wider apertures than you would be able to normally. To avoid overpowering the scene, especially when using a wide aperture, simply turn the power of the flash gun down, by using the manual settings or the flash compensation control. ##### Flash gun power and range Flash guns have a guide number (GN), which indicate its maximum power when used at its narrowest setting. For comparison purposes, GNs state the distance that the light from a flash gun will reach when using ISO 100. Divide the GN by the aperture you are using to get the maximum distance the flash can reach, when fired directly towards the subject. For example, a GN of 40, divided by an aperture of f/4, means you can be up to 10 metres away. Change the aperture to f/8, however, and you'd need to be no more than five metres away. These calculations are complicated by the fact that most of the time you will be taking advantage of a flash gun's adjustable head to fire the flash indirectly at your subject or reducing its output by adding a diffuser, in order to make the light more flattering. When used in this way, flash guns will only be effective across fairly limited distances of a few metres. Note also that when using your flash gun at its maximum power setting, it will take longer to ‘recycle' (which means the time taken for it to become ready to fire the flash again), and will use the batteries up quicker. ### [Foundations: Studio Lighting And Modifiers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-kit/foundations-studio-lighting-and-modifiers/) Studio Lighting And Modifiers Photography isn't a cheap pursuit and it's all too easy to spend a huge amount of money on equipment, but a lot of it will end up being unused unless you buy it for a specific purpose. Before getting out your wallet, think about what you want to achieve with the kit, and only buy what you will definitely need to get started with - you can always add to it later. If you're going to set up a permanent home studio, it makes sense to get proper studio lights, but if you want more flexibility with regards to your location, it's probably better to get a set of flash guns instead, which you can use in a similar way to studio kit but which are much more portable. ##### Studio lights Studio flash kits are available from just a couple hundred pounds right up to the thousands. All feature the same basic ability to produce a burst of flash at a pre-determined power level, but you'll get more control, better build quality and additional features if you go for higher-end versions. Studio flash usually comes with modelling lights, which are lower intensity bulbs that stay on throughout the shoot. These can help when you're deciding where to position the flash heads relative to your subject, as you will get an idea of how the light will fall on their face and body. A cheaper alternative to studio flash is continuous lighting, which uses daylight-balanced fluorescent bulbs which remain on the whole time. These take some of the guesswork out, as you can see how the lighting will look, but lack the power output of flash, restricting you to higher ISOs, wider apertures and slower shutter speeds. Do you intend to always shoot at the same location or will you need to move your kit around? Some studio lights pack away into carry cases, so also consider portability if you aren't going to be always working from the same place. If you plan to be working outdoors, you'll need battery packs to power your kit, while extension cables almost always come in handy for indoor shoots. Flash bulbs can stop working without warning, so always take spare ones with you. Avoid moving lights when they're still hot from use, as this is when they are at their most delicate. Kits typically include stands for the lights and one or more modifier attachments per light, such as umbrellas or softboxes. These light modifiers subtly alter the quality of light, so choose a kit with the right accessory for your purpose, or be prepared to buy extra attachments. Common light modifiers include: ##### Beauty dish These are commonly used for close-up portraits as they have a unique combination of soft and hard lighting which can show off makeup really well and make the skin sparkle. However, if your subject has anything less than flawless skin and makeup, then using this accessory will highlight those imperfections. ##### Honeycomb grid These ensure that the light doesn't soften and spread, by keeping it in a narrow, directional beam which is strongest at its centre and weaker at the edges. They enable you to light a specific area of the shot in a more subtle way than is achievable with a snoot. ##### Softbox These are the most popular with portrait photographers, as they produce a soft, diffused light which is very flattering. They can be square or rectangular, and the larger the size the softer the light will be. ##### Snoot These produce a small beam of hard, directional light similar to a spotlight. They are best suited to rimlighting or used as a hair light. ##### Spill kill These concentrate the light into a narrow beam, minimising how much gets ‘split' outside of that beam. They are ideal for lighting backgrounds and hair or as a rim light, but are quite harsh and unflattering for faces. ##### Umbrella There are two versions of umbrella modifier; translucent ones, which act as a diffuser and which you can shoot through, facing the light towards the subject; and ones where the light faces away from the subject and is bounced back onto them from a reflective white or silver-lined brolly. White produces a softer light, while silver reflects back a more powerful but harsher light. ##### Wireless triggers Rather than having cables connecting your camera to the lights, a wireless trigger system will give you more freedom of movement and far fewer tripping hazards. Choose between infrared models (which require the receivers to be in line of sight of the triggers) and radio models (which require a clear channel so the signal isn't obstructed). ##### Flash guns Flash guns offer more powerful and flexible lighting than built-in, on-camera flash. If you're willing to use the flash on manual mode, you won't need to spend much at all. If you want the camera to set the flash, then you'll need to invest more in a flash gun which is compatible with your camera model. Either way, the more you spend, the more features and power you get. If you are planning to use flash guns as an alternative to studio lighting while on location, you may want to invest in more than one, so you can mimic multiple light studio set-ups. If you're going to use the flash guns off camera you'll need stands for them so you can position them at the desired height, and wireless transmitters/receivers to trigger them remotely. It's also well worth investing in some light modifiers, such as mini softboxes or umbrellas, to improve the quality of the light that falls on your subject, and colour gels so you can match the white balance of the ambient light if you wish (without them, flash guns emit daylight-balanced light). For shoots when space is limited, you can buy a very affordable reflector panel called a Rogue Flashbender, which attaches directly to the head of the flash gun and contains repositionable rods that allow you to mould the panel into different shapes to suit the lighting effect required. You can add on a diffuser to the panel, which in combination greatly increases the size of the light source and softens its quality, compared to using a flash gun on its own. ##### Light meters When using studio flash, the camera cannot determine the exposure for you, as the lighting will be different when the shot is taken. That's why you'll need to use manual mode for studio photography. To help you gauge what the camera settings should be, you can input your chosen ISO into a light meter, and ask your subject to hold the device in front of their chin while you trigger the flash. The light meter will show which combination of shutter speed and aperture will give a correct exposure. If you want to use a different aperture setting, you can increase or decrease the f number using the up and down arrows and the light meter will adjust the recommended shutter speed accordingly. Enter these settings into the camera and you should get a correct exposure straight away. You'll only need to take the light meter reading once, unless you change the power settings of the lights or the distance between the subject and the lights. Light meters can be used in any lighting situation, not just for flash. They are more reliable than your camera's built-in metering scene, which just measures light reflected from the scene and is easily tricked by high contrast scenes or those with uneven lighting. Because a light meter is held within the scene, it measures the light falling on the subject, enabling you to get more accurate exposures in-camera first time, rather than guessing, adjusting and fixing in post-production. The price range for these small pieces of kit falls mainly between £20 and £200; however you do get what you pay for in terms of build quality, reliability and extra features, such as the ability to measure ambient light and artificial light at the same time, so the two can be compared and balanced. ##### Backgrounds What do you want to be visible behind your subject? If shooting on location, you may want to have the environment around you visible. For indoor shoots, you may want a cleaner background, such as a plain white, black or coloured backdrop. You can buy fabric or paper rolls which are made specifically for photography use; the size you'll require depends on whether you want to be able to capture full length shots as well as close ups, and how many people you want to photograph at any one time. ### [Foundations: Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/) Foundations: Lighting An amateur may not know quite why one portrait looks so much better than another one taken in slightly different lighting conditions. A subject will look at a shot of themselves and instantly assess: "Do I like how I look in this one?", but not necessarily be able to understand what part light has played in their conclusion. Masters of portrait photography, however, know that light is key to taking a shot from average to amazing. In fact, it's the foremost consideration in portrait photography: its quantity determines the exposure settings, its quality determines how flattering it is and its direction determines the highlight and shadow areas on the subject's face and body. Every day, we encounter light of different colours and intensities, yet we rarely notice that it's changed at all, thanks to the ability of our eyes to instantly adapt. The exact nature of the light matters to your camera, however, and if the settings don't take them into account, at worst your photographs will just look wrong. At best, you're unlikely to capture the best version of your subject, nor create an image with atmosphere. This module will show you how to start noticing the changing light around you, and describes what to look for when lighting a portrait. ### [Foundations: Learning To See The Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/foundations-learning-to-see-the-light/) Learning To See The Light Above all other elements - composition, camera settings and camera equipment included - lighting will determine whether a shot goes from being pretty standard to perfectly stunning. For example, you can photograph someone with model looks, but if the noon sun is causing them to squint and casts dark shadows in their eye sockets and under their nose, they will look mediocre at best. Moving them to a shaded area or using a diffuser would quickly remedy the problem. Equally, when working with artificial light, the quality of the light can be vastly improved with readily available accessories that soften it. In addition, careful positioning of the light source will ensure that any shadows cast are flattering, help to shape the subject's face and give the image a sense of depth. To master the art of lighting you need to get in the habit of noticing its effects. Consciously force yourself to evaluate it regularly, until you automatically start to notice when it changes. For one day, you could set an alarm on your phone to ring every 20 minutes and use the alarm as a reminder to look around and notice the light, wherever you may be. Where is the main source of light? How strong is it? Is it harsh and directional or soft and diffused? What colour is it? Study the way it falls on the faces of people nearby or ask a friend to pose for you. At which angle is it most flattering? Which sources of light are least and most appealing? How does daylight differ in its qualities from morning to afternoon, and from afternoon to evening? How does this change during the seasons? Here are three elements to consider when judging light: - Its strength (affected by the distance between the light source and your subject, and also your exposure settings) - Its direction (angling and positioning of the light relative to your subject) - Its quality (whether it is hard or soft). ##### Strength Light loses its strength quickly, the further the source is from the subject. For broad light sources (such as large windows and softboxes), doubling the distance between the light source and the subject will cause the strength of that light to be halved. For point light sources (such as flash bulbs and the sun), the Inverse Square Law applies. This states that light falls off in inverse proportion to the square of the distance travelled. This means that if at first your subject is one metre away from the light source, and then you move your subject so they are two metres away the light will be only one quarter of its strength compared to how strong it was at first (and not, as you might assume, half as strong). If you then move your subject three metres away from the light source, its strength will be one ninth of what it was in the first instance - simply multiple the distance by itself (3 x 3) to get 9, then put that figure as the denominator (the bottom number in a fraction), with the numerator (top number) as one: 1/9th. This is why a dark background will appear pure black, if it's sufficiently further behind your subject and away from the light source - the light's fall off will mean it becomes underexposed in relation to the subject. Sometimes, you may want this, such as when you want to minimise the visibility of background clutter. Other times, you may want to include elements of the room too. The trick is to re-position the subject, so they are the same distance from the light source as any other element in the room that you wish to be correctly exposed. ##### Direction The angle at which light falls on to the subject will affect the amount and placement of any shadows and catchlights (the reflection of the light source in the subjects' eyes). Some shadows are flattering - such as those that help to slim the subject and give the image a sense of depth - while others are unflattering - such as those that make the subjects' eyes look sunken or highlight imperfections. Don't underestimate the difference that a slight adjustment to the angle of the lighting can make! 'Narrow lighting' occurs when the side of your subject's face furthest from the camera is lit by your light source, causing the near side to be more shaded. This slims the subject's face, as the visible side looks narrower than it really is due to those shadows. 'Broad lighting' occurs when the side of the face nearest the camera is lit, making it appear wider. When using natural light, you will need to reposition your subject in order to change how the light falls upon him or her, whereas you can move artificial lights around your subject to change the direction of their output. You can also use lighting aids such as reflectors to fill in shadows and bounce light, while black-coloured 'reflectors' absorb light, helping to create shadows. ##### Quality Photographers often speak of the 'quality of light', by which they usually mean whether it is hard or soft. Hard lighting is directional, and high contrast, creating extremes of light areas and shadow areas. Examples include the midday sun and spotlights. This is good for low key portraits with prominent shadows. Soft lighting is less directional, hitting the subject from multiple directions as it is bounced and diffused. It is more even and lower contrast. Examples include natural light on a cloudy day or a studio flash within a large softbox. As a general rule, the smaller and more distant the light source (such as the sun, 93 million miles away), the harsher and less flattering it becomes. Large, close-by light (like a big window on a bright but cloudy day or studio flash in a big soft-box) is softer and therefore generally more flattering. ### [Foundations: On-Camera Flash vs Flash Guns](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/foundations-on-camera-flash-vs-flash-guns/) Foundations: On-Camera Flash vs Flash Guns ##### On-camera flash Entry- and enthusiast-level DSLRs usually include an on-camera flash which pops up on demand or when using auto mode and shooting in low light conditions. Out of necessity, the flash is physically positioned only a few centimetres away from the lens, which causes a few problems, including 'red eye' and harsh, flat lighting. The flash emitted typically overpowers the ambient light, resulting in your subject looking like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights. In addition, any reflective surfaces in your scene which are parallel to the camera will end up recorded as areas of white glare. Although there are professional photographers (like Juergen Teller) who have developed a unique style around using on-camera flash, these images are notable for how unflattering they are. As he regularly photographs celebrities, the appeal of the shots is that the subjects don't appear to be professionally photographed, giving the viewer a feeling of a private image taken by a close friend. For the majority of photographers, however, the main priority of a portrait is to flatter the subject, which is much more easily achieved with off-camera flash. In low light situations, instead of resorting to on-camera flash, try raising the ISO, slowing the shutter speed and/or widening the aperture to let more light in. Experiment with other light sources - even a street light or a table lamp. If you end up using on-camera flash as a last resort, stick a layer of masking tape or white fabric over the cover of the flash to diffuse and soften the light slightly. ##### Flash guns Flash guns offer many advantages over fixed on-camera flash. Their larger size means they can pack in more power, while providing you with accessible options to adjust and control that power. Their adjustable heads mean that the light can be bounced off walls, ceilings and other surfaces rather than just firing straight at your subjects. Some have in-built or add-on diffusers, which soften and spread the light, and small white pop-up cards that reflect catch-lights into your subjects' eyes even when the flash is angled upwards or to one side. You can buy mini soft-boxes and umbrellas for flash guns, enabling you to recreate flattering studio-style lighting on location, while still being much more portable. Flash guns slide into what is called a 'hot-shoe'; a metal mount positioned on the top of your DSLR which transfers data between the flash gun and the camera. A lever on the back of the gun locks it into place, ensuring it won't slip off again. On the back of the flash gun is an LCD screen that shows the active mode, the effective range of the light output with the current settings and the camera and lens set-up. ### [Foundations: Traditional Head Positions](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/foundations-traditional-head-positions/) ### Looking towards the camera, or looking away? These five head positions offer a little more nuance to your portrait photography. As with the traditional lighting patterns, these head positions hark back to a time when meeting specific technical expectations was considered more important than capturing atmosphere and emotion. Nevertheless, they are useful to consider in your photography as they make you think about the nuances of positioning your subject. Feel free to come up with some more inventive names for them, too... ##### Profile I asked my model, Saskia, to face 90 degrees away from the camera. If she looked straight ahead, the visible part of her eye was mostly white eyeball. Instead, I asked her to move just her eyes towards me a little, so that we can see her iris in the portrait, which looks more appealing. ##### Three-quarters Starting from a profile head position, I asked Saskia to turn her head slowly towards me and the camera. I asked her to stop moving as soon as the tip of her nose was tucked within the curve of her cheek. Allowing the nose to break through the cheekbone makes it appear bigger, which looks unflattering. ##### Two-thirds Starting from a profile position, I asked Saskia to turn her heads towards me until it was two thirds of the way towards being straight-on to the camera. ##### Seven-eighths Can you guess this one? Yup, you got it right. You achieve this head position when your subject's face is turned seven eighths of the way towards being straight-on to the camera. If he or she is starting face-on to the camera, simply ask them to turn an inch to the left or right. ##### Face forward Saskia's face is angled directly towards the camera for this, perhaps the easiest of them all. ##### Camera Settings (all images) - Focal length: Various - Aperture: f/8 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Foundations: Using Studio Flash](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/foundations-using-studio-flash/) Using Studio Flash Natural light is variable and impossible to control, whereas artificial light provides a consistent and adjustable light source. You don't have to wait for the right time of day, or for the weather to clear, if you have studio flash or flash guns. Learning to use studio lighting is also great training for on location shooting - visualise where you would place the lights in a studio and find ways to replicate that with whatever light you have available to you. It's easy to get started, and basic studio kits are now readily available and affordable - you could get everything you need for under £500 with some careful shopping around. What's more difficult is learning how to control and modify your light sources to create the kind of shots you envision; it can take years of practice to fully master. Don't be put off though, as you can get professional quality shots fairly quickly. Remember to follow the posing guidelines as well as these lighting guidelines for a flattering result. ##### Positioning the lights There are several traditional ways of lighting a portrait. Not all of these lighting styles will be possible on all types of face, as different bone structures may block or allow too much light to reach the shadowed side of the face. However, it's worth practising all of them until you are able to quickly and easily light a subject according to any of them, and then you can start to experiment and tweak them. In general, portrait lighting is either broad or narrow. Broad lighting occurs when the nearest side of the face is brighter than the far side, which can make the face look wider and heavier. Narrow lighting is when the side of the subject's face nearest the camera is more shadowed than the far side, making it look slimmer. Unless your subject has a very thin face, it's likely that they will prefer portraits of themselves that feature narrow lighting. There are five distinct traditional portrait lighting styles: ##### - Butterfly lighting: Great for older subjects, as it disguises wrinkles better than the other lighting styles, and for subjects with high cheekbones, as these will be enhanced further. Position your main light directly in front of your subject, but behind and above your camera's position, angled down towards your subject. Use a second light below the camera position to fill in shadows, or alternatively use a reflector (the subject can hold the reflector on their lap if you're creating a close-up shot). The name for this style comes from the shape of the shadow that forms under the subject's nose, and the gentle shadows on the subject's cheeks. ##### - Loop lighting: For this style, the nose throws gentle shadows to one side and its base, where it creates a 'loop' shape. The shadow of the nose shouldn't touch that of the cheek, otherwise it becomes Rembrandt lighting. To achieve loop lighting, your main light should be slightly above the subject's eye level and about 45 degrees to one side. It's particularly flattering for people with rounder faces. ##### - Rembrandt lighting: Named after the painter, because his portraits commonly utilised this lighting style. The main light needs to be further around the subject's side than in loop lighting but not so far it becomes split lighting. There should be a patch of light hitting the far cheek, forming a triangle shape, and a catchlight in both eyes. ##### - Profile lighting: With the subject's nose 90 degrees from the camera, and the main light about 110 degrees from the camera position, this style is perfect for showing off a beautiful profile. You can add a fill light on the side of the subject nearest the camera; about 30 degrees from the subject's line of sight is ideal. ##### - Split lighting: Equal halves of the face are lit and shadowed respectively on a subject who is facing directly towards the camera.. This is a dramatic lighting style that tends to be used more on men than women, as it's atmospheric and moody rather than flattering. To achieve it, position the main light at 90 degrees to your subject - the subject's eye on the opposite side should just be picking up the light. If light is falling on the far cheek, try moving the light a little further back around the subject. All of the above lighting styles can be achieved with a single light, but you can experiment with a reflector to lift the shadows or, if you have additional lights, you could use these as fill lights, to light the subject's hair or on the background. The main light should always be set or positioned so that its light output is stronger than the fill light, otherwise there will be no shadows, causing your portrait to look flat. As a starting point, set the fill light to about half the strength of your main light. When you're comfortable with selecting a lighting style and adjusting it where necessary to flatter your subject, begin experimenting with shooting at the edge of the light source, rather than at its strongest point. At the edges, you'll find the light has an indescribable quality that will take your portraits to the next level. ##### High and low key shots Bright portraits with few or no shadows are classified as 'high key'. Without the sense of depth that shadows provide, high key portrait lighting can appear a little flat. However it is the easiest type of lighting to work with when you have a group of people or fidgety kids, as changes in the position of the subjects relative to the light source don't matter so much. If you use the above lighting styles on a bright or white background, and/or supplement the main light with strong fill-in lighting, the end result is likely to be a high key image. Conversely, portraits with lots of dark tones and shadows are considered 'low key'. They are more atmospheric and have a sense of depth and shape that can be missing from high key portraits. In the right place, shadows help to slim a subject, so it's a good lighting choice if you want to flatter a subject. If you create portraits on a dark or black background, use only a single light and/or use a fill-in light at a very weak setting, the end result is likely to be a low key image. A good, balanced set of portraits should have a mix of both of these lighting types. ##### Catchlights The small white reflections of the light source in your subject's eyes are called catchlights. Without them, eyes look dull and lifeless. Unless your light source is very high or low relative to your subject, or is a long way off, then catchlights will automatically appear in your portraits. Start to consciously notice them, and aim to adjust your lights and your subject's position so that the catchlights appear in the 10 or 2 o'clock position (apart from butterfly lighting, where the catchlight will be at the 12 o'clock position). If your lights are above your subject's eye line and slightly to one side, then the catchlights should appear correctly. If your subject is looking off-camera, check that the catchlight isn't directly over their pupil, as this can make the eye look a little alien. Simply ask your subject to adjust their gaze downwards or slightly to one side to remedy this, or move your lights. ### [Foundations: White Balance, The Colour Of Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/foundations-white-balance-the-colour-of-light/) White Balance, The Colour Of Light Our eyes automatically adjust to different lighting conditions as we move from place to place, and we don't tend to notice the subtle colour tints it carries. Nevertheless, these variations are much more obvious to the camera than to us and you may need to change your white balance settings to correct for them. For example, the light from a candle has a warm red/orange colour cast, whereas an energy saving light-bulb emits light with a cool blue/green tinge. Midday sunlight is a clear white whereas shade has a blue tint. The aim of changing the white balance is to make whites appear as they would under the tint-free light of the midday sun, and keep the skintones accurate. Often, the camera's automatic white balance (WB) setting will do a fine job of measuring the 'temperature' of the light and adjusting accordingly. If, however, your images appear off-colour, you may want to manually select a white balance mode appropriate to your lighting situation. This is as simple as holding down the WB button and rotating the dial through the choices - tungsten, florescent, daylight, cloudy, shade, flash etc. For a more accurate reading, use your camera's custom WB function and position a piece of white card in front of the camera, under the lighting conditions you want the reading for. Fill the viewfinder with the white card and take the shot. The camera will calculate the correct colour settings so that the white card appears correctly and will use those settings until you take another custom WB reading or change the WB mode. Alternatively, you can attach a WB filter to the end of your lens and set the camera using this. If you are shooting in Raw format, the camera will not make any white balance decisions for you. Instead, when you load your images into photo editing software, you will need to select the white balance tool and click on an area of the photo that should be white. The software will then make the appropriate colour adjustments so that the white area is rendered correctly. In Adobe Lightroom, you can do this in batches, by selecting all the images taken in the same lighting environment at once before using the white balance tool. Alternatively, you could photograph a piece of 18% grey card (available to buy from specialist stores or online) under each of the lighting conditions, then use this to set the white balance. Alternatively, you could intentionally use an 'incorrect' setting for a creative effect. For example, you could use the cloudy setting on a clear day to warm up the tones of your portraits. One final thing to note is that coloured surfaces reflect coloured light. If you photograph a subject near a bright red wall, for example, then the side of their face nearest that wall will be tinted red, too. To avoid this, you could use only white surfaces near your subject, photograph your subject with the coloured wall behind them or convert the image to black and white afterwards. ### [Foundations: Working With Natural Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-lighting/foundations-working-with-natural-light/) Working With Natural Light Natural light is freely available, requires little or no kit, and comes in enough different forms to keep your portraits looking varied for many years to come. In fact, many professional photographers use natural light exclusively. Of course, this comes with as many challenges as benefits, with the weather, intensity of the light and time of day being just a few of the variables you'll need to consider. You'll need sufficient light on your subject's face to create an exposure, but not so much that they end up squinting. You'll need to protect your kit - and your subject - from extreme conditions. And you'll need to react as the light changes, sometimes on a minute by minute basis. Although you'll never be fully in control of natural light, there are ways you can react to what's available: you can position your subject cleverly to get the benefits of shade, time your shoot well to benefit from the golden hour or use two low-cost tools - a diffuser and a reflector - to manipulate the light. Having limitations forces you to be creative. Read the advice on the following pages then go out and get experience in every type of lighting situation - soon you'll be able to handle anything nature throws at you. ##### WINDOW LIGHT Using window light means you get all the benefits of natural light without having to worry about the weather. There are two main restrictions, the first seasonal: some rooms, particularly with small windows facing away from the equator, may not get enough light in the winter months to make indoor portraiture feasible. The second relates to time of day - obviously you will need to time your shoot for when the sun is strong enough to light the room sufficiently. ##### Direct and indirect window light If you have strong, direct sunlight streaming into the room, this can cause the same problems as shooting outdoors without shade - your subject's eyes may be forced into a squint due to the glare, and there will be high levels of contrast in the image. To resolve this, simply hang a thin, white sheet across the window to diffuse the light. In the northern hemisphere, a north-facing window will always have indirect light, which has a softer, more diffused quality as it is reflected, but this also means it is weaker. In the southern hemisphere, the opposite is true. Larger rooms with big, floor to ceiling windows (or patio doors) and pale, plain walls are ideal for window-lit portraiture. ##### Positioning your subject The distance between your subject and the window will affect the strength of the light that falls on them. The closer the subject is to the window, the more intense the light will be. However, it falls off faster too, leaving any background looking dark and underexposed. Sometimes this may be desired, especially if the background is cluttered or will otherwise distract from your subject. Sometimes, however, you may want to show the subject in their environment. To do this, move your subject further away from the window, and compensate for the reduced light strength by increasing the ISO, widening the aperture or decreasing your shutter speed. Any object or background that you wish to be correctly exposed needs to be the same distance from the light source as the subject. The angle of your subject relative to the window will determine the extent and position of any shadows that fall on their face. For flattering shadows that slim your subject's face, position them 45 degrees to the window. To remove facial shadows completely, have them look towards the window. Remember that 'narrow lighting' - with the near side of the face in shadow - is more flattering than 'broad lighting' - with the near side of the face lit. ##### Using a reflector If you want to lighten any shadows, position a reflector opposite the light source and angle it towards the area you want to brighten. Alternatively, to deepen shadows, you can use the black side of a 5-in-1 reflector, or place very dark fabric on the appropriate side of your subject. These create a barrier stopping reflected light reaching that area of your subject. ##### DIRECT SUNLIGHT It's a common misconception that good weather results in good portraits - direct sunlight actually presents the most difficult challenge to the photographer out of all natural lighting situations. Aside from during golden hour, the sun is a harsh point of light that makes subjects squint their eyes and creates ugly, unflattering shadows around the contours of their face, highlighting any imperfections. It's also tricky to expose correctly, because of the high levels of contrast it produces. Even if you position your subject so that the sun is behind them, you risk unwanted lens flare and still need to overcome the exposure challenge, otherwise your backlit subject's face will be underexposed. You can alleviate this a little by using a reflector in front of your subject to bounce some light back on to their face, however even a reflector's glare can be blinding, again causing the subject to close their eyes. Instead, you could angle the reflector so it pushes light towards the ground in front of your subject, which then will result in a small amount being reflected from the floor back onto your subject's face (the colour and texture of the ground will determine how much). Sometimes there's a need to capture a portrait in a large open area with little or no shade when the sun is fierce, and there are no other options other than having the subject face towards the sun. If you don't want your subject to be squinting, you could have them wear sunglasses, if it suited the mood and intentions of the kind of image you wanted to capture. You could ask them to close their eyes fully and look towards the light, as though they are basking in its warm glow. You could have them look away from the camera, so the squint is not obvious and it's not so important to have flattering light across their face. Or, you could use a diffuser, so that the subject is shaded from the direct light, while the background behind them is still bathed in sunlight. ##### Diffusers If you want to take outdoor portraits in places like beaches and fields, which typically don't have any shade available, then a diffuser is a worthwhile accessory. They have opaque fabric stretched across a frame, and are positioned between your subject and the sun. They come in several different shapes and sizes - as part of a 5-in-1 circular, collapsible reflector set, triangular versions with a handgrip for solo shooting and larger versions aimed at pros which can be attached to stands for free-standing use. Unless you use the latter two types, you will need someone to assist you by holding it in place. The more expensive versions have different weights of fabric which block the light to different degrees, in case you want very precise control over the level of diffusion. Look for one that is at least 60cm, and always check your viewfinder to make sure that the edges of the diffuser aren't visible in the frame, by way of its outline visible as a shadowed shape. Bear in mind that your background may become overexposed, as you will be exposing for your subject's face, which will be in the shade of the diffuser, while the background may have the full glare of the sun falling on it. ##### SHADE On bright, sunny days, when you want to avoid dark shadows and squinting eyes in your portraits, head for the shade. You can find shaded light under trees, around buildings, by angling your subject so their face is in the shade, or even by asking your subject to wear a hat, if it suits your intentions for the final shot. One of the most consistently flattering places to shade a subject for a portrait is just inside a doorway entrance to a building, with yourself positioned outside, shooting back in. When the subject is standing far enough inside that no direct light falls on their face (or just inside the edges of a north-facing doorway in the northern hemisphere or a south-facing doorway in the southern hemisphere), they will be lit purely by reflected light, bouncing back on to them from all sides of the door-frame. If no doorways are available, look for topshade. This could be under the overhang of a building, or under the branches of a leafy tree. Topshade blocks the direct rays of sun, which means your subject will be surrounded by softer, reflected light. This will result in lower contrast across the scene and smoother-looking skin on your subject. Make sure that dappled sunlight isn't creeping onto your subject's face as it will result in blown highlights - areas of pure white with no detail recorded. However, dappled sunlight looks great as out of focus highlights in the background of your shot. Be aware that coloured surfaces reflect coloured light, so if you shade your subject by positioning them next to a bright red wall, the reflected light will carry a red tint. Equally, a subject standing on grass underneath a tree will be lit by subtly green-tinted light. Move your subject further away from the reflecting surface to reduce the effect, or adjust the colour balance in photo editing software afterwards. Concrete floors reflect a lot of neutrally coloured light, so are ideal for using in this situation, especially for close-ups where the background isn't visible. Shaded light can sometimes look too flat or 'muddy'; to rectify this, use a reflector to bounce more light onto your subject's face and fill in any slight shadows. For close-ups, ask your subject to hold the reflector for you. Angle it towards his or her face, adjusting its position until the light appears to gently glow from your subject's skin. You could also use a fill-in flash for a similar effect, and to add catchlights to your subject's eyes. The colour temperature of shaded light is much cooler than direct sunlight, and has a blue tinge. Change your white balance to the cloudy setting to compensate for this and warm the images back up. If the area behind your subject is also in shade, then due to the way that light falls off, the background will appear dark, and potentially unexposed. Conversely, if you have an unshaded area in the background, it will be lighter, and potentially overexposed. Always prioritise the exposure for your subject's face, but be aware that the level of lighting in the background will affect the final look and feel of your portrait. Once the sun drops below the horizon, there's a brief amount of time when any area will be shaded but there's still sufficient ambient light, enabling shots in open spaces that may not have been possible earlier in the day, while the sun was visible. ##### CLOUDS / REFLECTOR On overcast days, clouds become a giant diffuser in the sky, softening the sun's light before it reaches the earth. This reduces the levels of contrast, making it easier to expose a shot without blowing highlights and losing detail in shadow areas. When the cloud cover is very thick, light levels may be so impaired that you need to raise your ISO or widen your aperture to compensate. Cloudy but bright days are the easiest to work with, as there is still plenty of light available, although if the clouds are too thin, you may need to look for shade to soften the light further. Lots of small, individual clouds mean the light will keep changing as they pass in front of the sun then move away again. You'll need to constantly watch the changing light levels and time your shots accordingly. Although light on a cloudy day is significantly less directional than on a clear day, there will still be some direction to it. Look up to the sky and note where the lightest patch is, as this is where the majority of the light will come from. For a flattering portrait, angle your subject with their face towards the brightest part of the sky and take your shot from above their eye level, at an approximately 45 degree angle. If the cloud cover is thick, or the light on your subject looks flat or 'muddy', boost it by using a reflector to bounce light back onto your subject. Use a white reflector for a more subtle boost, a silver one for a stronger effect or a gold one for a strong effect with a warm colour tint. Remember that light travels in a straight line, so consider the placement and angle of the reflector to ensure it catches the light and bounces it back to your subject. The closer the reflector is to your subject, and the stronger the light source that you are reflecting, the more pronounced the end result will be. Alternatively, use a fill-in flash to lighten any shadows and add catchlights to your subject's eyes, ensuring you don't overpower the ambient light. Selecting the 'cloud' white balance setting will ensure the camera compensates for the slightly cooler colours of daylight under cloud cover. ##### GOLDEN HOUR The Golden Hour - sometimes referred to as the Magic Hour - occurs just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the sun is about ten degrees above the horizon. It is the one time of day that direct sunlight is soft enough to use in portraiture without making your subject squint. In addition, it adds bags of atmosphere to your shots, with a warm, golden tinge to the light. Confusingly, this period of beautifully soft sunlight doesn't necessarily last an hour. Its duration depends on both the season, and your distance from the equator. Nearer the equator, the sun moves very quickly above ten degrees, so Golden Hour sometimes lasts only a few minutes, while nearer the poles at certain times of year, it can last all day. There are free smartphone apps and dedicated websites that accurately calculate the exact time that this period of magical lighting will occur for your location. Of course, if the sky is too cloudy, then it won't happen at all. It occurs because when the sun is lower in the sky, its light passes through more of the atmosphere before reaching earth. This reduces its intensity and filters out a lot of the blue end of the spectrum, making it appear orange-red. At this time of day, you can shoot in the sunlight without needing a diffuser as the light is no longer harsh and directional. This softer light means that there is less contrast between the highlight and shadow areas of your scene, making it easier to expose without losing any detail. As well as using the low sun to light your subject, you could also position him or her so that they become rim-lit by the sun behind them, giving the edges of their hair a halo of gold. Alternatively, you could include the sun in the image too, spilling an atmospheric flare across your image. When you include the light source in your shots, shadows become muddy grey-brown instead of black, so you will need to use photo editing software to bring them back to black. ### [Foundations: Post-Production](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-post-production/) Post-Production Some people are critical of post-production, thinking a skilled photographer should get everything right in-camera. However, even the famous film photographers used post-production, burning and dodging to enhance their work in traditional darkrooms. It is simply the second part of the creative process for producing the end image envisioned by the photographer. However, it's wise to get as much right in-camera as possible, so that editing time is spent doing things that your camera cannot, rather than fixing exposure issues. After all, post-production can't rescue a bad shot, but it can make a good one great. The key is to learn what you need to capture in-camera in order to create the image you were hoping for. ### [Foundations: Getting Started With Post-Production](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-post-production/foundations-getting-started-with-post-production/) Getting Started With Post-Production One of the hardest things about editing images is that there's no obvious finish point - after spending hours zoomed into different areas of the image, pulling back to look at the whole once again may reveal that you've gone too far and the shot no longer looks realistic. To avoid this, rather than just sitting down to start editing, consider how you want the final shot to look, so you begin with the end in mind. Generally, the aim is to gently enhance each portrait, keeping it believable, rather than drawing attention to the post-production stage by overdoing the manipulation. To help you get a sense of the look and feel you want to achieve through post-production, spend time looking at the work of others', collecting together examples you like. This is easily done using social media platforms like Pinterest, which make finding and tagging inspirational photography easy. Then, start to consider how you can use editing software to head towards a similar end product for your own images. Look at online video tutorials, download some free software trials and invest in books that focus on technical post-production skills. These tips will help you get started: - Screens display colour differently to printed images, so calibrate your monitor before you begin otherwise you may find the colour adjustments you've made look completely different once printed. Most Macs and PCs have free, in-built wizards that explain the colour calibration process step-by-step and there are free or low cost online options, too. For flawless calibration, however, you'll need to invest in some specialist calibration hardware. These small devices plug into a USB port and attach to your screen, with pre-loaded software that takes you through the process. - Where possible, ensure any makeup is flawlessly applied before shooting, to save hours of time trying to fix it later. Remove snot, sleep dust, drool on babies and any other marks before you begin, too. - For best results, work on Raw files, as JPEGs are compressed when they are saved, losing quality and detail each time. Raw files contain all the image information, enabling you to make more decisions at the post-production stage and retain maximum detail in extreme highlight and shadow areas. - Get the exposure right in-camera: post-production is easier and more convincing when the image colours and skin of your subject are light and bright before the file is edited, rather than dull and muddy. - Apply different categories of adjustments on different layers, e.g. use one layer for smoothing the skin, another for editing the eyes. This means you can go back and tweak each layer individually, and adjust how it affects the image in combination with your other layers. - Save Photoshop files as .PSD files to retain all the layer information, or TIFF files to compress the layers without losing quality and detail. - Apply the 'two week' rule when editing out blemishes: if it wouldn't be there in two weeks' time, take it out. Leave permanent features such as moles as they are unless your subject specifically requests their removal, otherwise you risk causing offence. - Use the golden ratio or rule of thirds overlays when cropping images to achieve the most visually pleasing compositions. - Look into 'actions', which are a bunch of postproduction adjustments packaged together to give a shot a specific look and feel. Many are free, some have a small charge. ##### Software options Adobe Photoshop is the most well-known editing software option, and is undoubtedly powerful. It is expensive, however, and doesn't help you to manage your images; this is where Adobe Lightroom comes in. Lightroom enables you to tag, store and easily find thousands of photos, as well as make significant post-production edits, including handling Raw files. Some professionals find that Lightroom meets all their post-production needs; others switch into Photoshop for fine-tuning and more involved editing. Adobe currently offers free trials for both programmes, so it's well worth experimenting before you make a decision. It would be easy to believe Adobe products are your only option for post-production, but there are alternatives. Top of the list is GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Programme), a free Mac- and PC-compatible programme which offers many of the same capabilities and features as Photoshop. There's also Aperture, made by Apple specifically for Macs, and the free-of-charge Paint.net, made by Microsoft for use with the Windows operating system. You can also get automated post-production software, in which you only need to click on different areas of the image to select where the subject's features are. The software then adjusts the image towards pre-set ideals - smooth skin, white teeth, bright eyes, for example - giving you sliding bars to tweak the level of adjustment for each of the different fixes on offer. They are a quick and easy solution that can produce surprisingly good results, and many offer free trials. However, like using your camera on automatic mode, you'll be giving away creative control of the editing process, limiting your options and producing what is essential someone else's idea of what your portraits should look like. ### [Foundations: Workflow Essentials -Keeping Things Organised](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-post-production/foundations-workflow-essentials-keeping-things-organised/) Workflow Essentials - Keeping Things Organised It's easy to quickly accrue hundreds and then thousands of images. A good workflow will help you organise, store and retrieve them so you never find yourself pulling your hair out trying to track down a specific shot. 1. Backup your images First, transfer your images from the camera's memory cards onto your laptop or computer. We use Adobe Lightroom to do this, but you could also use Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. Make sure you copy rather than just move the files, so you have backups of them all from the start. Next, back the files up on an external hard drive or by uploading them to a cloud storage system (like Dropbox or iCloud, for example). Memory cards, computer drives and hard drives fail all the time. In fact, the average life of a hard drive is between three and six years, so it's just a matter of time before yours lets you down. We always have at least two copies of each image for all our commissioned work. This starts in-camera, with dual memory cards recording each image just in case one fails. Protect yourself from losing hard-to-replace images by having multiple backups. 2. Import your images to your software Again, we use Adobe Lightroom for this, but alternatives include Adobe Bridge and Capture One. During the import process, you can add metadata such as a title, caption and keywords. Taking a minute to do this now will save you hours of searching later on, when you are looking for a specific shot. The information you add will be applied to every file affected by the import, so relevant data could include the shoot, the client and the location (e.g. engagement shoot for Mr & Mrs Smith at Forest Woods). 3. Rename your images Sort your images by capture time (so they are ordered chronologically) and rename them. In our studio, we use the format YYMMDDZZZZ_XXXX where: - YYMMDD is the date the image was captured, formatted in reverse so that files are stored first by year, then month, then day. - ZZZZ is a four-letter code that represents the shoot (e.g. ESFW to represent Engagement Shoot Forest Woods). - XXXX is an incremental counter starting at 0001. We always use four digits as it ensures the images are always displayed in the correct order, no matter which application opens them. We store our images in folders named YYMMDDZZZZ_JobName so they are also stored in order, and are descriptive enough to be helpful when searching. 4. Format your memory cards Once your backup is complete (and you've double-checked that the images are safely stored), format your memory cards and repack your cameras, so they are ready to go for the next session. 5. Shortlist your images The last step before editing is to shortlist your images. Choose your favourites and split them into two levels: Level 1 for keepers and Level 2 for non-keepers. Alternatively you could use flags, colours or stars in Adobe Lightroom or Bridge to differentiate between your choices, but the downside of this method is that you won't be able to tell them apart when browsing files in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. We archive every image taken and never delete anything. We just shortlist the images with a high likelihood of being selected by the client, but keep the rest anyway. ### [Foundations: Technical Skills](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/) Technical Skills There are hundreds of choices to make when taking a portrait, even once you've selected a model and a location. Although this may seem daunting, it provides a creative difference between images taken by two photographers, even if they are shooting the same person in the same place, with the same kit. For example, cameras can't process the full range of light and dark tones in a high contrast scene, so you'll need to decide which tones you want to expose for. This will determine the look and feel of the image, and whether detail is captured or lost in different areas. Understanding the technical limitations of the camera prepares you for these decisions and enables you to begin predicting how the camera will record different scenes. Once you learn how the settings interplay, you can adjust them to achieve a specific outcome. Don't shy away from manual mode. Although it will slow you down at first, it's the best way to understand how the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings combine to affect the final exposure. With sufficient practice, all the detail in this module will quickly become second nature and you'll be able to accurately guess which settings will achieve your desired result in a range of situations. ### [Foundations: Aperture, The Pupil Of Your Camera's Eye](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-aperture-the-pupil-of-your-cameras-eye/) Aperture: The Pupil Of Your Camera's Eye The aperture is like the pupil in a human eye - it's the hole in the lens which permits light to enter through to reach the camera's sensor. The size of the aperture can be changed - just as a pupil shrinks in harsh sunlight and expands in the dark. A wider aperture lets more light in (causing a brighter exposure), while a narrower one restricts the amount of light that enters (for a darker exposure). Increasing the size of the aperture to let more light into the camera has a side effect - less of that light will be focused. This means that areas in front of and behind the point in the scene which the camera is focused on become more out of focus the further they are away from that point. This effect is commonly used in portrait photography to draw the viewer's attention to a key part of the image, usually the subject's eye(s), while the foreground and background fall out of focus. Wider apertures also enable you to take portraits in lower light levels without having to use flash. #### Setting the aperture Changing the size of the aperture is done by setting different ‘f' numbers. Switch your camera into Aperture Priority mode (usually marked as ‘A' or ‘Av') and turn the main control dial to view the aperture settings available to you with the lens you are using. Confusingly, the wider the aperture, the lower the ‘f' number. So a setting such as f/1.4 or f/2.8 will let much more light in than a setting at the other end of the spectrum, such as f/18 or f/22. The amount of the image which is in focus is referred to ‘the depth of field'. An image with a low ‘f' number will have a wide aperture but a very shallow depth of field. Conversely, an image with a high ‘f' number will have a narrow aperture but a wide depth of field. At the extreme end, such as f/1.4, the depth of field could be as little as 1cm, so accurate focusing becomes essential. Any slight movement of your camera or your subject between setting the focus and taking the shot could result in your subject's eyes becoming accidentally blurred. #### Bokeh Bokeh is a Japenese word that translates most closely as ‘blur' and is used when discussing the aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of photographs. Although a subjective judgement, ‘bad' bokeh tends to refer to out-of-focus objects in the background which have harsh outlines, or when blurred points of light are captured as edged polygons rather than smooth circles. ‘Good' bokeh is when the background is blurred so it is smooth, creamy and complementary to the overall image, rather than an unwanted distraction. If, for example, you are photographing someone at dusk, and there are coloured lights in the background, using a good quality prime lens at its widest aperture will ensure the lights become beautiful, soft circles of colour glowing behind your subject. #### Lens limitations Cheaper lenses aimed at amateurs, or those provided in a ‘kit' with enthusiast cameras, simply don't offer the wider apertures that are available on prime and professional lenses. Therefore you may find that the widest aperture you can get on one of these lenses is f/3.5 or f/5.6, which means it's harder to throw the foreground and background out of focus. To achieve a similar effect, you can step back from your subject and zoom in. The further away your subject is from the background, the more blurred it will become. ### [Foundations: Focusing, Making The Right Thing Sharp](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-focusing-making-the-right-thing-sharp/) In the majority of portraiture, the subject's eyes are the main focus of the shot, and it's therefore important to ensure they are sharp, especially when using a wide aperture. By default, your camera's autofocus system will usually focus on whatever is in the centre of the frame, or closest to the camera. As a result, when your subject is positioned off-centre or behind foreground elements, you will end up with a blurred subject if you rely on the default focus settings. Even when your subject is in the middle of the frame, you may still end up with your subject's nose or ears as the sharpest point, rather than their eyes. To avoid this, you need to manually select which part of the frame the camera uses to set the focus from. DSLRs have anything from a handful of focus points up to 50 of them - with your eye to the viewfinder, use the arrow keys on the back of the camera to select one which covers the area of the frame where your subject's eye is, then take the shot. Alternatively, you can leave the focus selection on the central point, position the camera so that this point is on your subject's nearest eye, press the shutter button halfway down, then re-frame your shot so the composition is how you intended. Remember that some metering modes are biased towards the area of the frame that's in focus, so use the Automatic Exposure Lock (a button marked 'AE-L') if you want to meter from a different part of the scene to your selected focus point. ##### Depth of field Differential focusing is the creative use of focus to intentionally blur the main or secondary subject of your portrait. For instance, you may want the background blurred behind your subject to provide separation and stop it distracting. In a group portrait, you may want just the children to be sharp while the parents are out of focus behind them. Alternatively, you may want to focus on some foreground foliage, while your couple become a blurred silhouette behind it. The depth of field in an image is the amount of depth in front of and behind the focus point that is also sharp. If using a wide aperture, the depth of field could be as shallow as 1cm, which makes accurate focusing essential - any slight movement of the subject or camera after focusing could mean the subject's eye isn't pin sharp anymore. ##### Manual focus Sometimes the camera's autofocus can whir back and forth, 'hunting' for something to focus on. This can be caused by low light levels, low contrast in a scene, or due to obstacles in the foreground (e.g. a wire fence in front of your subject). In these situations, you may want to switch to manual focus, by flicking the switch near the lens. When you are ready to take your shot, look through the viewfinder and turn the focusing ring on the lens until the subject's eye looks sharp. ##### Moving subjects If you are photographing a child running towards you, the time between the camera focusing on them and taking the shot may be enough that the child is out of focus again, particularly if you are using a wide aperture. There are two ways to counter this. The first is to pre-focus on an object that is the same distance from the camera as the child will be by the time you want to take the shot. The second option is to use your camera's continuous focus setting, which means the camera will track the subject's movement right up until the shot is captured. ### [Foundations: ISO, Adjusting Your Camera's Sensitivity To Light](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-iso-adjusting-your-cameras-sensitivity-to-light/) ISO: Adjusting Your Camera's Sensitivity To Light The ISO setting affects how sensitive the camera's sensor is to the light that falls on it. It is the third element in the triangle that determines the overall exposure of the image, alongside aperture and shutter speed. ISO stands for the International Standards Organisation, and harks back to the days when photographs were captured only on film, rather than a digital sensor. The ISO ratings created an industry standard for the sensitivity of different film types. ISO 100 film was less sensitive, so ideal for use in brighter situations, such as outdoors, whereas ISO 400 film was more sensitive and used for indoor shots, for example. The trade-off for using film that was more sensitive was ‘grain' - visible speckles or texture on the final shot. ##### Image noise The digital version of grain is ‘noise'. Ramping up a digital camera's sensitivity to light causes the pixels on the sensor to record detail that doesn't actually exist, resulting in ‘noisy' images that have coloured pixels in areas that should just be one even tone. It's the visual equivalent of playing an old recording at a high volume - a background hiss eventually becomes audible. This is a phenomenon present in all electronic devices that transmit signals, but one that is becoming less and less of a concern in digital photography due to the pace of progress by the manufacturers and software developers. Only a few years ago, any digital photographs taken at ISO 800 or above would be negatively affected by the presence of noise. On new equipment, it is now possible to photograph at ISO 1600 and above without any problems. ##### Setting the ISO You will need to select the ISO setting whenever using Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual Mode. On most DSLRs, there is an ISO button which you hold down while rotating the main control dial. The current setting will be visible on the main control panel while the ISO button is pressed. Typical ISO settings start from 100 and then double each time - 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 - although many cameras now offer settings in between, too. The lower the number, the less sensitive the sensor is to light. Each time you double the number, you double the sensitivity and therefore the brightness of the exposure. To fully understand how the ISO affects exposure, take a series of shots in different light levels at each setting. Study your images afterwards to find out at which setting noise becomes visible on your DSLR, particularly checking the darker areas where it tends to be most evident. Compare these shots with photos taken on a compact camera or smart phone in low light. As smaller devices have less space, they have much smaller image sensors. Although a manufacturer might boast about the high number of mexa-pixels that a compact camera or smart phone can capture, these pixels are smaller than the ones on a DSLR sensor, and are therefore much more likely to misfire, resulting in digital noise. If you have a more recent DSLR and/or one with a large sensor you are likely to be pleasantly surprised by how high the ISO can go before you start to see a detrimental effect on image quality. Constant improvements in photographic technology mean that digital noise will continue to become less and less of an issue, and image processing software will become better at mitigating it when it does occur. ### [Foundations: Metering Modes, Getting Your Exposure Right](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-metering-modes-getting-your-exposure-right/) Metering Modes: Getting Your Exposure Right Whenever your camera isn't in full manual mode, it measures the amount of light reflected from the scene (a process called ‘metering') and uses inbuilt algorithms to decide how to set the aperture, shutter speed and/or ISO. The camera doesn't understand what exactly you are trying to capture, so by default chooses exposure settings that result in the tones in the image averaging to a mid-grey tone. Adjusting the metering mode changes which parts of the image frame the camera meters from, which is particularly useful when photographing a scene that is backlit or high contrast. For example, if you were shooting portraits on a bright, snowy day, with pure white scenes behind your subject, the camera would underexpose the scene in order to render those white tones as mid-grey. If you were photographing a dark-skinned subject wearing dark clothes on a dark background, the camera would compensate for all those heavy tones by overexposing the image. Equally, if your scene is high contrast, with a light subject in front of a dark background or vice versa, the camera's default metering mode is likely to get the exposure wrong. Here's what the different settings mean: #### Multi-zone metering This setting is known by several names: evaluative metering - Canon; matrix metering - Nikon; and multi-segment metering - Sony. It is the default metering mode on most DSLRs, and uses light readings from multiple areas across the frame, biasing the exposure settings depending on which area of the frame which has the focus point selected. Although this mode works well on most low-contrast scenes, it can let you down when there are extremes of light and dark tones. Using exposure compensation is a quick and easy way of compensating for over- or underexposure when using this mode. #### Center-weighted metering In this mode, the camera meters from a large proportion of the frame, but with a bias towards rendering the central tones as an average mid-grey. It works well when your subject is in the middle of the viewfinder. Unlike multi-zone metering, it doesn't take into account which area of the image is in focus. #### Spot metering This mode takes the light readings from as little as 2% of the frame, only taking into account a small area in the very centre. This mode is ideal for high contrast scenes. Don't worry if you don't want your subject to be in the exact middle of the frame in the final image; push the shutter release halfway down while the central focus area is on your subject's face (or nearest eye), then hold it there while you reframe your shot, before pressing all the way to take it. #### Partial metering This mode is similar to the spot metering mode, but instead measures the amount of reflected light from a slightly larger central area, roughly equivalent to about 10% of the whole frame. Like spot metering, this mode is useful when there are extremes of light and dark tones in a scene, but would be used when the key area of the image - usually your subject's face - is slightly larger in the frame. #### Exposure lock The area that you are metering from needs to be a mid-tone, otherwise the camera will under- or overexpose the scene. When using center-weighted, spot or partial metering, you may need to frame the shot differently at first to make sure that a mid-tone is in the center while the camera takes the meter readings. When you press the shutter release button halfway, the exposure settings are locked until the button is pressed fully. This means that you can quickly reframe your shot before pushing the shutter release all the way. Alternatively, or if you want to meter from a part of the scene that you don't want to also focus from, look for a button marked ‘AE-L', which stands for Automatic Exposure Lock, and press this before focusing your shot. ### [Foundations: Shooting Modes; Automatic, Semi-Automatic and Manual](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-shooting-modes-automatic-semi-automatic-and-manual/) Shooting Modes; Automatic, Semi-Automatic and Manual The range of modes and settings can seem daunting at first. The best - and quickest - way to become a confident photographer is to experiment with your camera on every setting, so you fully understand how ISO, aperture and shutter speed inter-link. It's often better to do this exercise without having another person involved - having to worry about your subject getting bored or uncomfortable adds unnecessary pressure at this stage! In summary, the different exposure modes are: ##### Programme Mode In this mode, you only set the ISO - the camera chooses the aperture and shutter speeds according to the amount of reflected light it meters from the scene, as it attempts to render that scene so that mid-tones are exposed correctly. This mode is the quickest and easiest to start shooting with, but leaves all the exposure decisions down to the camera. Even the most expensive camera has no idea what your intentions are, so you risk limiting yourself to decidedly average images if you never venture away from Programme Mode - using it at all is a bad habit! ##### Aperture Priority Mode This is the mode to use when depth of field is the most important consideration. If you want a blurred background to your portrait, choose an ISO setting most appropriate for the available lighting and dial in a wide aperture. The camera decides which shutter speed will result in a mid-tone being correctly exposed, according to its internal algorithms. Again, the camera doesn't know what kind of portrait you are trying to create, so in any scene which has high contrast, backlighting or extremes of light and dark, the final result may not be what you were hoping for. ##### Shutter Priority Mode This mode will help you control how motion is recorded, whether you want to freeze it or include it as a blur. Choose an ISO then dial in how long you want the shutter to remain open for, bearing in mind the risk of camera shake if the shutter speed's denominator is less than the length of the focal length (e.g. on a 50mm focal length, keep the shutter speed above 1/50th of a second). The camera will select an aperture that will result in a mid-tone being exposed correctly. ##### Exposure Compensation adjustments When using any of the above semi-automatic modes, you can use exposure compensation to quickly increase or decrease the exposure. Hold down the button marked with the +/- symbols in a box and rotate the dial - if the scene is overexposed dial in around -0.5 to -1.5EV depending on how big an adjustment is required; if it's underexposed, dial in around +0.5 to +1.5EV, again depending on how much exposure needs adding. This provides a quick fix to your images while you build your confidence to shoot in Manual Mode. ##### Manual Mode Only in manual mode are you fully in control of each exposure. You'll need to select the ISO, aperture and shutter speed most appropriate to the image you are trying to achieve. Some DSLRs have exposure indicator scales displayed inside the viewfinder, to give a guide of how bright or dark the exposure will be using the current settings. You can use this to make quick adjustments to your shot, or review the image on the preview screen after you've taken it, tweak and try again. With time, you will start to be able to roughly guess which settings will work in different situations. Once you've nailed the exposure, you can focus on the composition and interaction with your subject. You only need to adjust the exposure settings again if the light changes or if you want to vary the outcome. Even when you are using manual mode, some settings can still be automated, such as the focus and white balance settings, although these too can be switched to manual control separately. ##### Balancing the exposure triangle Each of the three settings you adjust in manual mode affect the brightness of the final exposure, and also have positive and negative side effects that need consideration - the image degradation of using high ISOs, the shallow depth of field of wide apertures and the risk of camera shake and subject blur with a slow shutter speed, for example. Your settings should be determined by the final image you have in mind, including any steps you want to take in post-production. Baby photographers often overexpose slightly, to help smooth out the baby's skin. For a moody portrait, you may want to underexpose for added atmosphere. On a real life shoot, you often need to change and adapt according to how the light changes. For example, if you are a photographing a couple outdoors, you may want a wide aperture so that the background behind them is blurred. So dial in f/2.8. If it's bright, you might start with an ISO of 100 and a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second. After a few shots you may ask the couple to move under some trees. The light levels are slightly lower here, so you could either increase the ISO or decrease the shutter speed - either one will result in a brighter exposure. ##### Neutral density filters On a very bright day, you may have your camera on its maximum shutter speed and its minimum ISO, but find there's still too much light to use your widest aperture, as the image is overexposed. Or you want to use fill in flash to brighten some shadows caused by the sun behind your subject, yet the fastest shutter speed at which your camera can sync with the flash is 1/250th of a second, which means the image will be overexposed if you use a wide aperture. In both of these situations, adding a neutral density filter to the front of your lens will fix the problem. These tinted glass discs screw securely into the end of the lens, reducing the amount of light that can enter. They come in varying tints, affecting how much they reduce the exposure by. ### [Foundations: Shutter Speed, Your Camera's Eyelid](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-shutter-speed-your-cameras-eyelid/) Shutter Speed: Your Camera's Eyelid If the aperture is like the pupil in a human eye, then the camera's shutter is like an eyelid - light can only enter while it is open. The ‘shutter speed' refers to the length of time that this shutter is open for, allowing light to fall on to the camera's sensor in order to create an exposure. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, with a ‘fast' shutter speed including settings such as 1/250th of a second or 1/1000th of a second while a ‘slow' shutter speed setting would be 1/15th of a second, or even two seconds. ##### Slow shutters speeds Opening the shutter for longer means that more light will enter, enabling brighter exposures, even in darker environments. A slower shutter speed also enables motion to be recorded as blurred elements in a scene. This is because anything that moves during the time the shutter is open will be recorded in multiple places in the frame. Sometimes you may want to capture movement in this way. For example, if you wanted to show the fluid grace of a dancer, you may want the arc of their outstretched limb to be visible as it swings across the image frame, while their face, which didn't move while the shutter was open, remains sharp. ##### Avoiding camera shake An unwanted side effect to watch out for, however, is camera shake. This is when the photographer's movements cause the whole image to be blurred. The speed of the shutter that you will need to use in order to avoid this happening depends on your personal ability to hold steady - some people can still all motion easily, while others naturally tremble more. A general guideline is the ‘Reciprocal Rule': this dictates that the shutter speed should be equal to or higher than the focal length of your lens (see page REF). For instance, if you are using an 85mm lens, your shutter speed should be 1/85th of a second or faster in order to avoid camera shake. Test yourself by taking shots at each different shutter speed and noting when camera shake starts to affect your images. You can eliminate the risk of camera shake by using a tripod (and by even using the time delay on the shutter release so you aren't in any contact with the camera at the point that the exposure is made). However, tripods can be very limiting in portrait photography as they slow or restrict your ability to change your angle. Instead, you could widen your aperture (see page REF) or raise your ISO (see page REF) in order to enable you to use a faster shutter speed. Alternatively, try to stabilise yourself by leaning against the back of chair or on a door frame or adjust your stance to a more stable one in order to minimise any unintentional movements. ##### Fast shutter speeds In brighter environments, or when you want to freeze motion, a faster shutter speed is needed. This limits the amount of light that can reach the camera's sensor. If you wanted to use a wide aperture on a bright day for example, you would need to combine it with a fast shutter speed to avoid the image becoming too overexposed. Equally, if you want to photograph a moving subject without any motion blur, a fast shutter speed will be required. ##### How to set the shutter speed Select Shutter Priority on your DSLR's Mode dial. On Nikon cameras, this is marked as ‘S', while on Canon cameras it's ‘Tv' (for Time value). Turn your main control dial to adjust the shutter speed. It will usually be displayed as a full number, rather than a fraction: e.g. a shutter speed of 1/100th of a second will show as ‘100', while a two second shutter speed will display as ‘ 2″ ‘. The standard shutter speeds are 1 second, 1/2 second, 1/4 second, 1/8 second, 1/15 second, 1/30 second, 1/60 second, 1/125 second, 1/250 second, 1/500 second and 1/1,000 second. Each adjustment up or down the scale will roughly halve or double the length of time the shutter is open, and also halve or double the amount of light that reaches the sensor. ### [Foundations: The Exposure Triangle](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/foundations/foundations-technical-skills/foundations-the-exposure-triangle/) The Exposure Triangle Exposure is the technical term for the creation of a photographic image. An exposure can be deemed underexposed, correctly exposed or overexposed although, as photography is a creative art, this is a subjective judgement. Therefore, a correctly exposed photograph is one that is as the photographer intended. An underexposed image has darker tones than it ‘should' have, while an overexposed one is too light in tone. ##### Exposure Triangle An exposure is created through the combined effects of the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. These interact to create a brighter or darker image, in a relationship often called the ‘exposure triangle'. Your task as the photographer is to control these three elements so that the correct amount of light contributes towards each exposure you make, in the way that you intended. In a scene where there is less available light, you can manipulate the camera settings to maximise the amount of light contributing to the exposure, so that the image isn't underexposed. Conversely, on a very bright day, you can adjust these settings to minimise the amount of light contributing towards the exposure so it doesn't become overexposed. In both cases, the final image should look as planned - often the photographer's intention is to capture an image that reflects how the scene appeared to the human eye. Whereas our eyes automatically adjust to changing light levels, cameras use algorithms to judge the exposure settings required in order to render an average mid-tone correctly in the ambient light. While the camera can often make a very good job of this, it will struggle in certain situations, such as when there is bright light behind your subject or when a scene has a high level of contrast. ##### Side effects Each of the three key elements that contribute to an exposure - aperture, shutter speed and ISO - has ‘side effects'. Changing the aperture affects the amount of the image that is in focus, while changing the shutter speed impacts on how motion is recorded, whereas changing the ISO impacts on the image quality. Allowing the camera to make the exposure decision for you means you won't be in control of any unwanted side effects caused, and you will also miss out on the ability to use them to your advantage. ##### Histograms can help A histogram is a graph which you can display over or next to your images, either on the back of your camera or in photo editing software. The graph shows the spread of pixels across the different tones. An image with a lot of light tones will have more pixels towards the right hand side, whereas a darker toned image will have more on the left. An image with a wide range of tones will have a spread of pixels across the graph. There isn't a correct shape to look out for; rather, you can use the histogram to help you judge whether the spread of pixels looks right for that particular scene. If there are pixels stacked at either edge, this warns you that you are likely to have lost image detail in this area. Lighter-toned areas of the image may appear pure white and/or darker-toned areas may appear pure black. This occurs when the exposure settings aren't suited to the amount of light available, or when the scene has a high level of contrast. Many cameras now show blown out highlights as flashing areas on the image preview when you review the image. ##### Dynamic range Cameras have a limited ‘dynamic range', which means they can't process the same extremes of light and dark tones in a scene as a human eye can. In a backlit or high contrast scene, the camera will only be able to accurately capture a limited portion of the visible detail. This means some areas of the image will be recorded as just pure white or black, with none of the subtle variances in tone or detail. In this situation, the histogram will show stacked pixels on both the left and right hand edges. You have two options - take two different exposures to capture each end of the tonal scale accurately and combine them in photo editing software, or accept that you will have to compromise on image detail at one end of the scale at least. ### [Layout & Composition Guides](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-composition-techniques/) Discover the art and science of posing with practical insights and approachable techniques to make your subjects feel comfortable and look natural. From nuanced body angles to client rapport, these guides dive into everything you need to create portraits that breathe life. ### [Essential Tips for Captivating Author Headshots](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-composition-techniques/headshot-photography-authors/) Essential Tips for Captivating Author Headshots Imagine this: book author Sarah Virág, a dynamic confidence coach, reaches out for a set of headshots that will capture the essence of her upcoming book. Little did I know, those images would need to serve multiple purposes. From eye-catching book covers to engaging online profiles, the demands were high. This is where designer-friendly composition becomes crucial. #### Positive Attributes What does it take for a portrait to exude confidence, professionalism, and warmth? Sarah's portraits were tasked with doing just that. As a confidence coach, her images needed to radiate positivity and approachability, inviting others to join her on their own journeys of self-discovery. And let's be honest, most clients share this desire-who wants to look nervous or unfriendly? The stakes were high, and the attributes of professional portraits had to shine through. #### Account for Unknown Future Uses When you're faced with uncertainty about how your images will be used, how do you ensure a winning shot? The answer lies in variety. We aimed to capture a range of compositions to give designers the most flexibility, now and later. This approach future-proofs the photographs for whatever needs might arise down the line. During Sarah's shoot, we explored a vibrant outdoor shot alongside low-key and high-key studio images. We experimented with full-lengths, three-quarter lengths, and close-ups. This variety not only showcases individual portraits but also makes them more appealing to potential buyers. It's a practice that benefits any shoot but can be challenging to execute with so many factors at play-lighting, camera settings, posing, and the all-important connection with your subject. Keep a mental or written checklist handy. Take a moment to review your captures as you go. Don't wait until the session wraps, only to discover you've missed full-length portraits or your subject is too close to the edges of the frame in every shot. #### Leave Space in Your Compositions Here's a vital tip: shoot wide and loose. Why? Because it's far easier to crop an image than to add pixels later. In one of my favourite shots, I positioned Sarah using the rule of thirds, placing her face at a key intersection. The 'negative space' to her left is a design goldmine, perfect for overlaying titles or text in a magazine, cropping for a social media profile, or even wrapping around to the back cover of her book. This particular image shines because the lighting is on point, Sarah's expression is inviting, and the colour palette is contained. Those softly blurred florals in the background harmonise beautifully with her outfit-it's almost as if I planned it! In the world of headshot photography for authors and portrait photography for coaches, understanding composition is essential. It elevates the image from mere photography to a powerful storytelling tool. Take these insights to heart, and watch your work transform. Essential Tips for Captivating Author Headshots ### [Farmhouse Rule-Of-Thirds Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-composition-techniques/farmhouse-rule-of-thirds-portrait/) Rule-Of-Thirds Rules For Farmhouse Portrait Sometimes the best portraits start unplanned - in this case, during a shoot break. I saw a patch of light, adjusted the scene to improve the composition and used the Rule of Thirds for a visually pleasing result. My client for this shoot commissioned me to create some portraits of their two grown-up children, at their beautiful farmhouse home on the top of a hill in the Chilterns. As you'd expect, we spent loads of time outside, making the most of the beautiful scenery as backgrounds for the images. We came inside for a cup of tea and I spotted a pool of light in the far side of the lounge. There was a room beyond the lounge with a wooden door leading into it, a wooden door in the background and a window to the right. All these elements combined into a sketch of a possible portrait in my head... ##### Adjusting the composition I asked one of the subjects, Rosie, to stand in the light so I could see what the shot might look like. I didn't like the composition at first, so I closed the inner door slightly, so it created a frame-within-a-frame on the left side of the shot. At this point I knew there was potential for a great portrait, so I fine-tuned Rosie's pose further. I asked her to lean against the window frame and put her finger-tips in her jeans pockets. This creates a nice shape, with a bend to the elbows, rather than having Rosie's arms dangling at her sides. When framing the shot, I've positioned Rosie so her body falls on one of the key parts of the frame according to the Rule of Thirds. Her face is just resting on the top of one of the intersections of the lines in the same compositional rule, and again this creates a visually pleasing result. I've cropped the image just above knee height. Wherever possible, avoid slicing through people's joints by cropping them with the edges of your image frame - it just looks odd. Instead, crop just above or below the joint. ##### Exposing for the face I adjusted my camera settings so that Rosie's face is correctly exposed. As she is standing right by the light source (the window), exposing for her face meant underexposing the rest of the scene. This makes the room behind Rosie darker, which helps draw your eye to her face (the lightest part of the image) and transforms the background into abstract textures. Lastly, I chose a monochrome treatment in post-production as I felt it suited the mood of the image. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 102.0mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/250 sec - ISO: 2200 ### [Four Ways To Crop A Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-composition-techniques/portrait-cropping-techniques/) Four Ways To Crop A Portrait To crop, or not to crop? For all portraits other than full-length ones, you have to decide where on your subject's body to place the edge of the frame. There are portrait cropping techniques for both where you can crop (and where you might want to think twice about putting those cut lines!) The nice thing about working on location is that, more often than not, you can create numerous images out of one spot, and make them look very different simply by changing your crop. I photographed Cimmie shortly before her birthday. Her mum wanted to create a photobook as a gift so it was imperative that I created a wide range of images from the time we had. It varies as to whether I will start with a wide shot and then work my way into a close portrait or whether I start close in and work out - it depends what first attracted me to the image in the first place, I guess. If your subject is nervous about being photographed, it can be helpful to start with full length shots taken from further away, as it will feel slightly less intimidating for them. With Cimmie, I started with a close-up then pulled back. The change in crop is a combination of me moving and changing the zoom length on the lens (though I also do this with prime lenses in which case I have to move a lot further!). Note that the image with the widest crop is in fact shot on the longest zoom - although I wanted a full length image and plenty of background, I like the effect a long lens gives, making the house in the distance appear large behind Cimmie. I also like crouching on the floor to the get the perspective I am looking for, which makes Cimmie appear taller. This sequence was taken within a minute or so, and shows my four favourite places to crop into a subject's body. ##### Crop shot (close-up) The easiest of all is a tight crop on the face - I love these kinds of images and they are great for social media as they are punchy and striking even when viewed small. Crop shots can cut into the subject's hairline, but never the chin. This type of shot enables you to place one of your subject's eyes according to the rule of thirds, helping to create a strong composition. ##### Bust shot Coming out a little is a slightly more traditional and formal crop, the bust shot. These cut into the subject's torso, but include the full head and hair of your subject. ##### Three-quarter length Three-quarter length portraits like this one crop into the subject's mid-thigh area. They include the subject's head and hair, torso and hands. This time I asked Cimmie to look to the right to create a slightly more candid image, as if it wasn't quite so posed. ##### Full-length The final image is full length and, in this image, the background has become less blurred and is now adding context and narrative to the image. When shooting full-length portraits, aim to have an even or greater amount of image space between the top of the subject's head and the top edge of the frame, as there is below their feet. ##### How not to crop So those are four ‘safe' places to crop. What about the places to avoid? Unless you have a very good reason - and I can't think of any which might apply - never crop into your subject's chin. It just looks and feels wrong. Another one to avoid is slicing off just your subject's feet. It's so close to being a full-length portrait that it seems odd: why not just include the feet, too? Thirdly, crop above or below your subject's joints, never through them: a frame cutting into an ankle, knee or elbow doesn't work. Lastly, watch out for body elements near the edge of the frame. Either crop confidently, or not at all. A slither of a head or foot sliced off looks accidental. For me, the best portrait cropping technique is to make it deliberate - don't make the view wonder if you meant it: crop it or don't! If you're interested in what to look for on a location, head straight to this article, which also features Cimmie. ### [Golden Spiral Curve In Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-composition-techniques/golden-spiral-curve-in-portraits/) Golden Spiral Curve In Portraits The Golden Spiral is a compositional tool that helps you create more high-impact portraits. Here's how I used foreground foliage to create the spiral's curves. The Golden Spiral is a compositional guideline that helps you place key elements of your scene within naturally powerful areas of the frame. In portraiture, that key element is typically your subject's face or eyes. The Golden Spiral is based on an ancient design principle that found a ratio of 1:1.618 is the most visually pleasing. There's speculation (among those who care to debate such matters) that it might just be a more refined and superior version of the Rule of Thirds. But how does it work in practice? ##### How to create a Golden Spiral A wall portrait that measures 1m along its height, and 1.618m on its width (or vice versa), is thought to possess the most visually pleasing height : width ratio for a rectangle. That's called the Golden Ratio. Now imagine you grab a pen and draw a line down this wall portrait at the 1m point along its width. That would give you a 1m square on one side of your line, and a rectangle on the other side. Like magic, that rectangle's dimensions will also comply with the 1:1.618 Golden Ratio. Inside the rectangle, you draw another line, splitting that space into a smaller square and another rectangle. Repeat this again and again, until you have a sequence of smaller and smaller squares. When you can't go any smaller, take your pen to the corner of your first square. Draw a curved line to the opposite corner, where it meets the slightly smaller square. Then, inside that smaller square, continue your line, curving it down to meet the opposite corner and the next smallest square. Continue until you reach the last square. Congratulations - you've drawn a Golden Spiral. This curve/ratio is found repeatedly in nature (in cells, shells and plants, for example) and it's a composition that humans are naturally drawn to. You can use it in your portraiture by placing your subject's face and/or eyes within the area of the spiral's tightest curls. Extra compositional points are available if you replicate the outer curved lines of the spiral, like the foreground foliage does in this image of young Julia. ##### Creating vignettes and being silly Other than angling myself to take advantage of the Golden Spiral in my composition, what else makes this shot work? For me it's the engagement with Julia and the way the long grass frames her. I love getting the camera low down and shooting through things that might create an interesting vignette (meaning a softening, darkening or lightening of the image around the subject). The grasses in the foreground had an interesting shape and texture, with a handy gap for me to shoot through, so I positioned Julia so that the grasses framed her. I was messing around (my default state of being) and chatting away with Julia about the plants around us. She had picked one up and we were having some silly conversation about it - enough to make her look towards me and smile. I was ready for the moment, and grabbed the shot. The foreground is nicely blurred by my depth of field settings (f/4 on a 190mm focal length), contributing towards a portrait that feels natural (rather than contrived) and full of nature, too. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 190mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/160 sec - ISO: 200 ### [Who ‘Nose' The Rules?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-composition-techniques/who-nose-the-rules/) Who 'Nose' The Rules? The ‘nose room' rule & ‘cheekline' rule are rules about noses in portraits that you need to know, even if you decide to break them to create visual tension. I had just finished a shoot with Ryan and his sisters in a wood on his farm. We were walking back when I saw this caravan and thought it would make an interesting background for a portrait. So I asked Ryan to sit on the wooden pallet - a makeshift step - in front of it. Note that rules are ALWAYS there to be broken! Conventional wisdom says I should have asked Ryan to look to the right, or recompose the frame to create space in the direction of his gaze: I tried both and, for me at least, neither had the 'bite' of this final image. So I simply ignored the rule! I tidied up his position a little - asking him to lean back against the caravan and relax the position of his legs to make the pose look more natural. Then I considered his face with regards to the two nose rules - deciding to break one and follow the other. ##### The Nose Room rule I asked Ryan to look to his right, then framed the shot so that he is looking towards the edge of the image. This does a couple of things. Firstly, it creates curiosity and intrigue about what he's looking at. Secondly, it adds a little tension and edginess to the shot, as it breaks the ‘Nose Room' rule. When looking at an image, our eyes follow the direction of the subject's gaze. Therefore, the Nose Room rules states that you should allow sufficient room around your subject, particularly in the direction they're looking at (typically, that's the way their nose is pointing, hence the rule's name). This is also the case when a subject is moving. The rule states that you should allow space in the frame in the direction that the subject is moving towards. So if your subject is running left to right, allow some space on the right of the subject as that's the way their body (and nose!) is facing towards. Complying with the Nose Room rule ensures a more harmonious composition. Ignoring it creates a little more unease in the viewer, as was my intention here. It just adds a little punch to an image that might become boring if it's too harmonious. And it's good for the soul to break a rule every now and then. ##### Noses and cheeklines The second rule about noses is to always keep them within the cheekline when your subject is looking away from the camera. If the nose breaks through the outline of the cheek, it will look more prominent. It is rare to meet someone who wishes to exaggerate the size of their nose, so keeping it within the cheekline is the safe bet. You can see here that I have obeyed this rule, this time. Lastly, I converted the shot to black and white in post-production. There were too many colours going on, and I prefer working with a limited palette. Now the colours have become different tones of grey - much better. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 82mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/160 sec - ISO: 500 ### [Motivation & Creativity](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/) Having the motivation to pick up you camera and having the creativity to do something magical when you do is at the heart of what it takes to be a successful portrait photographer. In this section you will find articles and ideas here to keep you fresh and energised! ### [Using Location To Avoid Portrait Fatigue](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/using-location-to-avoid-portrait-fatigue/) I share my method for avoiding portrait fatigue then discuss light direction, visual balance/tension and why the unplanned portraits are often my favourites. One of the questions I often get asked is, "When photographing all day, every day, how do you avoid repeating images?" For me, one way of avoiding portrait fatigue is to head out to new locations with my clients. We meet up and go for a walk somewhere that I believe will provide good opportunities for aesthetically pleasing lighting and backgrounds. The fact that we're walking along helps everyone relax and keeps the whole thing informal. Young children are able to move freely and expend energy, which avoids the challenges of trying to keep them in one place in the studio. And the change in surroundings provide inspiration and force me to find new ideas. That's how I ended up with this unique portrait of Nancy, Phill and baby Oscar. ##### Light has direction even on overcast days There's a common misconception that on overcast days, the sun is so diffused by the clouds that it is soft and directionless. However, as you can see from this portrait the daylight still has direction to it. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a shadow under the bench. If the sun was behind clouds in the background, Oscar's face would be a lot darker. As the sun was directly overhead (but still behind clouds), there's plenty of fairly soft light falling across his face, and good, strong catchlights in his eyes. How can you tell the direction of light on an overcast day? Often you can see the white hotspot in the clouds which tells you where the sun is. In those cases, I position my subject relative to the sun to mimic the way I'd set up studio lights indoors - 45 degrees above and to one side, for instance. With heavy cloud cover, sometimes it isn't possible to see where the sun is hiding. One trick to is to hold your hand out in front of you, with your palm facing inwards. Turn in a circle, watching how the light changes on your palm as you spin. When the light on your hand looks the most interesting - that's the direction to shoot in. ##### Somewhere between visual balance and tension I crouched close to the ground to get a low angle on the scene. This meant that more of the clouds and cityscape across the river came into view in the background, giving us a better view of what the parents, Nancy and Phill, are looking at. My angle also enabled me to line up with the bench so that it was square on to the camera. This created a balanced, harmonious feel to the composition, with visual tension added by the off-centre placement of the family on the right hand side of the bench. The trees on either side and the buildings in the background help to balance this out, so I've ended up with a family portrait that has strong symmetry but with a good dollop of visual interest. ##### Capturing the unplanned shot Oscar was watching me as I walked towards the bench, and I loved the interesting take on an image that this created, with everyone else facing away. I sunk to my haunches and quickly captured it. I think it feels like a moment caught, rather than staged, and makes the baby the star of the shot. To me, this portrait demonstrates the importance of being alert to opportunities for unplanned shots. If you are too focused on capturing pre-conceived images during a shoot, you can miss out on a great opportunity that just presents itself, like this one. So always be looking, noticing and mentally framing potential shots. My favourite portraits are almost always the spontaneous ones, perhaps because they are such a welcome, unique and unexpected surprise. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 82mm - Aperture: f/6.3 - Shutter speed: 1/400 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Video | How To Structure A Portrait Shoot](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/video-how-to-structure-a-portrait-shoot/) Every day is different. Every client is different. Every shoot is different. True. But there are still consistent principles for making the very best of the time you have available during a portrait session. In this video we step through a shoot with Millie and give ideas and insights for running the session so it is efficient, creative and, just as importantly, a lot of fun! #### Transcript So no matter how much we'd love this to be the case, time is never limitless. So when you're structuring a portrait shoot, how do you make the best of it? Because your time is valuable, your client's time is valuable, and yet still, you want to create the widest variety of images you can. I'm Paul Wilkinson, an award-winning photographer, judge, trainer, and author of the Mastering Portrait Photography book, as well as being the host of the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. And in this class, we're going to walk through a real-life shoot with a real-life client and show how you plan, how you walk through an hour and a half of your time and your client's time, and create the widest variety of beautiful images that you can, so that you feel great as a creative and your client walks away with images that they're going to love. At the end of the class, you too should have an idea of how to shape a shoot, how to create a sense of direction, how to sense, how to give reassurance to your client, create the energy that's necessary for them to enjoy the session and consequently love their images. (...) (Music) (Upbeat Music) in our studio, we've sent them out a little briefing pack and in there we're going to ask for some information and we're going to give a little bit of information. What we're going to ask for is the style of photography they're looking for. What's the purpose of the images? Now I suppose in a sense it doesn't really matter because I am the photographer I am, I have the style that I have and just like you, our clients come to us because of what we do, the way we approach each shoot and that's absolutely correct. Every portrait photographer should have a client base that's in tune with their imagery but nonetheless if we have a CEO of a multinational or a manager of a hedge fund looking for LinkedIn profile shots, those images are probably going to have ever so slightly different messaging to someone who's come to us for images on a dating website. So it's useful for us to know sometimes people send us example pictures, sometimes people send us styling guides but more often than not it's a description of their job and the kind of images they're looking for. I can't remember the last time I didn't get asked to make the images look authentic, friendly, approachable, energetic, smiley often. We always shoot both laughter and we shoot the serious side because we don't know how those images are going to be used. (...) On the flip side of that we also give our clients just a little bit of guidance into what kind of clothing works. Usually as all of you photographers will know we're going to try and avoid really strong patterns, really strong colors, anything vibrant, anything with checks and stripes, these are not necessarily going to work as well in our photographs. Now of course if our client specializes in pinstripe suits they're going to turn up in a pinstripe suit and we're going to have to deal with it, that's absolutely fine but where I can we will always sort of gently guide them towards block colors, simple ideas, not too busy so that for me as a portrait photographer it's going to be about their face, their character, their personality, their energy, it's not going to be about the clothing they wear. Now I have had to photograph for instance fashion designers or scientists where the clothing absolutely is part in the brief but more often than not it's about the face. We very very rarely suggest bringing props just because it's not my bag. I don't see the need to have children or adults holding things that are not part of their everyday lives. However there are of course exceptions, I photograph violin makers, I photograph piano players, I photograph drummers, keyboard players, a dulcimer player, violinists, viola players, you name it, an accordion player and we photograph magicians and gymnasts with their Olympic medals. In these instances of course the props are important that we have yet to manage a grand piano in the studio, not because it isn't big enough but because it's up two flights of stairs and frankly none of us fancy that. So where we can we'll work without props unless the props are actually part of someone's everyday life. now Millie who we've got in today, we're going to capture who she is, we're going to capture about her personality and the life of her. We've worked with her quite a bit over the years and she's super lovely, super energetic, super photogenic. She laughs, she just barrel laughs in between the shoots but the minute I swing up a camera did serious and sultry and it's great to work with. So the first thing we do is look at the outfits that Millie has brought with her. Now she's brought a fair range. According to Millie, it's less than one percent of her wardrobe. I can only imagine what her wardrobe looks like. Some of our clients turn up with just one t-shirt, other clients turn up well with entire wheelie bags. In this instance we've got plenty to choose from, but we took it down to three quite quickly, and not least of which is the outfit that Millie has turned up in. Because frankly, why wouldn't you? She looked great, she's already in it, it saves us having to do a change. And if you remember, we're trying to be as efficient as possible. The other thing of course we're going to look at is the weather and the style of Millie's hair. Now Millie has beautiful hair and I don't think she straightens it, but if it was really damp outside or if it's humid, we might have to consider starting working indoors first so that someone's hair that's been straightened doesn't just go frizzy. Because A) the client doesn't really like it if they've gone to the effort of straightening their hair and B) it's a nightmare to Photoshop. So I prefer to start outdoors because it's nice, it's gentle, the client will feel more relaxed and for that we're going to start with the outfit that Millie wore. Now on this particular day (...) shooting this, of course the weather threw us a curveball and doesn't it always? It said it was going to be the hottest day of the year and so it proved to be, but what it didn't tell us in the even medium range forecast was it was just going to tip it down with rain which it did for about 20 minutes and delayed the start of everything. So we had to just change our tack a little bit but that's fine, we had a cup of tea and we chatted. But what's really apparent now is we have three outfits and we'll go through each of those later in the video and I'm beginning to form the plan, I'm beginning to form the direction of travel. But this and this is really important for you as a creative and for your clients as well, is you need to allow time, you need to allow space and you need to allow yourself the luxury of being inspired and being flexible. Very often the images that you see along the road are not the ones you expected, they're not the ones you planned, they're not the ones you've ever taken before and even during this video, this recording, there's one image in the entire set that I've never seen before, I've never noticed it before in spite of walking in and out of the same door over and over and over every single day, merely turned, there's an image in it and it's absolutely beautiful. And those moments, those are the moments that are not only energizing for you as a portrait photographer but they also give your client confidence that you're working on their behalf. When you explode into energy and say stop, wait, let me get that image, you look fantastic, how do you think your client's going to feel? So of course, allow yourself the room to be the creative portrait photographer that of course you are. So let's crack on with each of these segments. (Upbeat Music) that Millie turned up in. And quite often, this is a safe bet. Not always. Sometimes our clients turn up when they've said it's gonna be a business shoot and they're in shorts and a raggedy old t-shirt. But quite often, people will turn up in something they really like and certainly something that they feel comfortable in. And if it works, well, why not use it? Because of course it reduces the number of outfit changes you need to do. And you're almost certain to have a more relaxed beginning to your session.(...) This particular outfit, the shorts and the top, really suited the street. Now, it's a Monday. We filmed this on a Monday. We always film on a Monday, but it's been day. So the street is full of wheelie bins. The car park next to the studio is full of cars for some reason, I don't know why. And we're just gonna have to battle our way through it. But the thing about the street is that the light is pretty good down there. This is what was the hottest day of the year. And the sun was properly creating hot spots and light patches and dark patches. But we have a better chance of finding good light out in the street, as well as being able to tell a story that suits Millie in her denim and black outfit. So we meandered our way around, started very simply. The first thing I always do when I step out into the street is find a patch of shade. I know we've talked about this on the hard light video,(...) but finding shade gives me options. It gives me a soft light, but I can use reflected light and the light pinging around to create beautiful lighting on the face and the figure. So we really are right on the steps of our studio here. Then we've just meandered our way down the road, looking for doors, using the pavement, even using the car park. There's a gap, there's a really narrow gap between one of the cars and the hedge. And I was just walking past it and the light, the light looked to be really beautiful. So we took a few photographs in there, nice tight head shots.(...) It doesn't have to be a great expansive wide angle. It includes the tailgate of everything. If you zoom right in close, of course you've still got a perfect shot. (...) A couple of things that happened during this session, and this is that process of reacting to your client, is there's just, there's an edge to the way Milly presented herself in this outfit. The way she put her thumbs in her pockets, the way she sat, even in between two of the shots, she just sat on the floor and got out of her phone and checked up on some stuff. And I thought, do you know what? that's probably quite a nice image. It's very much an in situ character portrait of the person we met. So I took that photograph as well, got the camera onto the floor, shot along the length of the footpath, and you get these sort of really quite beautiful, right down in with the character sort of images. Then it's up into the studio. Like always, we dance from outdoors to indoors, outdoors to indoors. (...) And I've created a variety of images here. Now with a denim skirt and a black top, we have quite a lot of options open to us, but not a huge amount of time. So I've created some very simple portraits. Now the thought process over the three outfits that we've chosen is that one of them is probably going to look good on a dark background. Dark outfit with a a black skirt and a black top, that's going to look better on black. The pink dress, the light flowy dress, is going to look better at either high key or maybe a mid tone.(...) But this outfit, very versatile, can shoot it on almost anything.(...) So I've just shot some very simple shots using the wall. The way Millie stood, her attitude, her angles, it felt like a very fashion-y edge to the image.(...) Lents on the wall, simple lighting, absolutely beautiful. Simple second shot, dark background, sitting on a chair. Got it to kind of scrunch up so it's really tight and compact in the frame. Now this as a personal branding shot might not be useful, but as a real interesting character portrait of Millie, really, really lovely. And when we'd finished doing all of the formal stuff with the studio lighting, we simply opened one of the blinds, shuffled our little shades along a little bit and took an image of her sitting next to the window. Admittedly, the light that's coming in is pretty green because it's coming through foliage, but we can either color correct that out or just turn it into the most stunning black and white. And I'm using every second we have to create beautiful images. So that's it, outfit one done. Now let's move on to the second of those outfits. (Upbeat Music) which in this instance is a beautiful pink flowy dress with some white trainers. As it happens, it was Katie that suggested this outfit would work really well, and I'm really happy when we get a collective input into what we're shooting, because it means there's more ideas, there's more creativity, and we'll generate energy from that. It's a really, really hot day, the sun is baking down, but this outfit with those shoes will look great in a sort of garden setting where the sun will kind of dapple through it, and there's beautiful light, but it's still really, really hot. So we're gonna have to find some patches where light is coming in through the foliage, it's pinging around us, but if we can, we're going to try working as much as possible in the shade. So we started down the far end of the garden,(...) we've used the trees, we've used little alleyways in amongst them, even the old dairy in this particular garden, there's like a dip where it's slightly cooler, and that used to be where they kept milk from the cows. We've gone and found little alleyways and little pathways, and as Millie was walking away in one shot, literally the way she walked away, the way the light played on her, the way she was actually messing around, and the dress flowed, it made the most beautiful image. So of course we reacted to that, turned her around, I got her to walk to and fro from the camera a little bit, because you get a movement, and you get energy in the images that are slightly different to when you deliberately pose it, and it is a great tip. If you're working with someone, and you're thinking, I just don't know quite what to get, try just taking some pictures of them walking, and see where the energy takes you, it can be really interesting. Again, as an aside, we've done this a few times, and I loved it, and then later on, Sarah had videoed a section where Millie was walking towards her camera, and it looked on the back of her camera brilliant. So we set it, and I started to shoot it, and realized immediately that it wasn't gonna work. Never be afraid of doing that, never be afraid, in the same way, don't be scared of saying, this is brilliant, I've never seen it before, let's try it, equally, don't be afraid of saying, ah, this time, that didn't quite work, because in that context, it means that I'm trying. The whole point of creativity is you're experimenting, the whole point of experimenting, you don't always know what the outcome is. In fact, if you do know what the outcome is, you're not experimenting. So it's worth playing, but always admit defeat quickly, so you're not investing time in a shot, it's not gonna get you there, it's just absorbing time. However, always have your camera ready, because you don't know when that magic moment, as they come towards you, might just appear.(...) Then we move our way around the garden, we shoot around the back in some little areas that we don't use so much, because that was in the area of shade. We've got a deep blue sky today, so we have to be very careful, when we're getting the light from the sky, not to let the images get a little bit blue, you get a slightly different light than when it's on a cloudy day, So when we've finished outside, we're gonna head back up into the studio. Now here with this light colored dress, it's sort of, it's not a mid tone, it's actually slightly lighter than that, this will look good on a high key background. I haven't shot with a pure white, I've not lit the background, I'm just lighting merely and letting some of that light flood onto my walls here in the studio. (...) I've sat on a little white stool, it's just a really simple, elegant shot. In my head, the best inspiration I have always are things like album covers in Spotify, Netflix, (...) I'm really curious about artwork, so I'll always go to an art gallery. Sarah and I are lucky, we've traveled all over the world, I will always go and find an art gallery, something interesting, and I'm always absorbing ideas. So this feels like it could be an album cover for a singer. You know, Millie's the right look, she's the right age, I think it might be a little bit conservative for a lot of the stuff that's around, but with this outfit and this setting, it looks absolutely beautiful. Having nailed that, it's onto outfit number three. (Upbeat Music) very simple black skirt and a black top. But with the way Millie rocks it, it just looks really cool. And so we decided to go back out onto the street, front side of the studio, because the sun has moved round a bit. We've got different lighting out there. Some of the bins have gone so we have fewer bins to battle it out with. But as always, there are cars parked and people cycling through. But for me, I just like that. I like the energy of it. And the way Millie is, that sort of works for her. His slightly edgier teenage look, which I really like to photograph. I think this age group is really cool to work with. So we've used some of the walls. I've used light reflected off one of the buildings as a great big soft reflector, which I always think is wonderful as a beauty light. (...) We've used the gate, which is the back gate, into our studio, and just use it as a frame within a frame. We've used all of these little bits of texture and context, and the way the walls are cracked. And one of the walls, for instance, has just been repaired. And it's created this really interesting sort of patch of new plaster that when Millie stood, the angle of her arms and the way she kicked the hips just felt the same sort of angular feel to it. So it makes a shot almost like you brought it all together. You thought of it. But in fact, what I'm doing is reacting to it. I'm seeing things and piecing it together. When we've done all that, we head back to the studio. But of course, this is that moment. This is what as a portrait photographer I live for. That split second when you see something. We're walking along the road. I am literally, you can see it in the video, dragging cables behind me, which I shouldn't be, but hey, sometimes there's too much effort to pick them up. And as Millie went ahead of me and opened the door and turned round, just the way she looked and the way the light struck her and her whole attitude, the whole angle of her figure and her outfit and the door and the light, just there it was. There's a shot. It's absolutely beautiful. And this is real. You can actually see it in the video. Me simply going, "Stop. Let's do that." They come back. Let's take the shot. And of course, Millie being Millie closed the door just to annoy me. But it was a brilliant moment and it illustrates really well the process of creating photographs as you work. Once we've done that, up into the studio, we've just taken some simple shots on the top of our stairs, a little bit of daylight. I love these little spots, but they don't always work. And that's a really important lesson when you're using daylight. The reason that artists crave north-facing windows, simply because the light is much more consistent from the north, in the northern hemisphere anyway, than it is from the south.(...) And on a studio, we get quite variable light in the studio. But at this moment, as we walked up the stairs, the light just looked beautiful. So I took some photographs there. I sacrificed a little bit at the time we'd spend in the studio, the former studio, and just used the building a little bit. Then into the studio, just a few really stunning dark background images, picking out details. And of course, if we light it well, there's tone and shape to it. It just oozes quality. (...) (Upbeat Music) it's done. And by absolutely certain, I mean your client has left, because at that point, there are no more photographs for you to take. But Millie, she went downstairs and she changed into her original outfit and then came back upstairs.(...) And this isn't videoed. I've got through the viewfinder footage, and I've got the final images I took, because even in the process of saying goodbye and saying thank you for the filming,(...) she emerged and just stood in a patch of light in our studio, and this patch of light is only there for probably, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes every day, just at this moment. The sun is coming through this huge skylight that we have, and it struck Millie, and the background, the way it looked, the way she looked, the outfit, all just hung together. And it created this really stunning, unique image in the sense that you can't take it every time because you can't predict it. But as she turned around and came up the stairs, there it was. Of course, I grabbed my camera and took an image. I didn't wait for everyone to get the video cameras in to have a look at it, because frankly, there just wasn't time. And I love that split second, that moment of creativity, that indefinable thing when you see a stunning image. And that wraps up the shoot. We've taken this beautiful final image, and then it's time to say goodbye to your client. Now, remember, at this point, this is the moment you put into their head all of the memories, all of the laughter. You just remind them what a fantastic time you've had and what incredible images they have to look forward to receiving. It's really important, particularly in the lifestyle end of portraiture, because you're not selling photographs. You're selling memories. You're selling an experience. And this is that moment when you can truly make that stick. Make sure you say goodbye with laughter, with energy, and remind your client just how lovely that whole experience has been. (Upbeat Music) been to make a plan now I haven't made a plan a long time in advance I haven't sat and worked out every single image what I've done is I've reacted to the client I've used them as my inspiration their outfits their energy their styling we've used the weather so it gives us the space as photographers to create within a framework to reassure the client but also to have the opportunity to be inspired and be creative during that process I've never put the camera away and it's a great tip just keep your camera with you that's not quite the same thing as never putting it in fact I put the camera on the floor all the time but it's always close by and I'll always have it ready to take a picture even when I'm walking along or having a drink or just meandering around the camera is close because who knows when that moment of someone open the door and simply looking sensational might happen location doesn't work do not worry simply move on to the next one but don't spend ages dedicating valuable time to something where your gut instinct is this just isn't quite working because who knows around the corner might be that incredible image that's the best thing you've done all year and in the studio create variety with your backgrounds with your outfits with your poses using chairs and different viewpoints but try and tie everything together so that has a sense of purpose it has a sense of your style about it do you have locations around you do you have somewhere that you can use to create that kind of variety do you cope on a hot summer's day all of these are things we would love you to explore and share with us in the projects down below you've enjoyed this class please head across to mastering portrait photography.com which is a website completely full of ideas it's full of lighting diagrams presets tools everything you can imagine dedicated to the art and the craft and the creativity of portrait photography as it happens it's also the spiritual home of the mastering portrait photography podcast until next time whatever else be kind to yourself thank you (Music) I am a f***ing god. (...) (Laughter) (...) Walk nicely, Millie. (Laughter) Okay, get in the f***ing... Get out of the way. (...) (Laughter) (Laughter) (Laughter) (...) Okay, so we've done our first outfit. We've been out in the garden... No, we haven't. We've been out in the f***ing street. (Laughter) Okay,(...) so we've done outfit two. We've played in the street. We've been in... Oh, for f*** sake! (...) (Laughter) (...) Here's me doing Millie. (...) (Laughter) Okay, we've done our funny face. (...) (Laughter) You know how to make a man feel good. Why the funny face? It was what I was born with. (Laughter) Stop spilling tea! (...) Did that spill? Yeah. Oh. As always,(...) it's your unique talent. It's to piss tea on our floor. (...) We're inspired by them. We looked at them. We felt their energy. We felt their sort of... (...) No, I'll do that all again. (...) No, I don't want to be feeling my client. Don't feel it. Here's a lesson, folks. Do not feel up your client. It doesn't go down well. I've never done it, but I'm expecting, if I did, a slap.(...) Didn't I just get a decent from the floor? I got a decent. Oh, f*** it. We're going then. We're done. (...) I've been sat on that step a bit. (Silence) (...) ### [Video: Mastering Location Portraits In Oxford, UK](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/video-mastering-location-portraits-in-oxford-uk/) Ever wondered what goes on during one of our location workshops? Well, here's a quick video showing our route through Oxford on a recent Mastering Location Portraits workshop. This video wasn't really intended for public use rather it was a way of triggering memories for the attendees so they can match up their images with the locations we were using. However, the video proved so popular that I am putting it up here as a way of showing the kinds of things we do when we go out onto the street and simply play with cameras, locations, people, laughter and light. Bring good shoes! Our next Mastering Portrait Photography On Location workshop in Oxford is on 8th April 2024, click here for all the details. ### [Video: Mastering Portrait Photography Workshop on Location, Oxford, UK, 2024](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/video-mastering-portrait-photography-workshop-on-location-oxford-uk-2024/) Ever wondered what goes on during one of our location workshops? Well, here's a quick video showing our route through Oxford on our most recent Mastering Available Light on Location workshop in April 2024 . It is a whistlestop tour of the kinds of things we do when we go out onto the street and simply play with cameras, locations, people, laughter and light. Bring good shoes! To find out more about our upcoming workshop on location and at the studio, click here for all the details. ### [Video: Outfit Selection for Portrait Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/video-outfit-selection-for-portrait-photography/) Planning a shoot around a client's wardrobe When a client turns up with a suitcase of clothes - or even just the outfit they've got on - how should what they wear affect the type of portrait you create? In this video, model Sophie arrives at my studio with an array of outfits that I'm seeing for the first time. I select a handful of them, talk through the shots I visualise based on the outfits, then go outdoors and into the studio to create those shots. I share lighting tips, explain how I match location with clothing choices and share my images straight-out-of-the-camera (with camera settings) as well as the finished edits. ### [Video: Using photo walks to add variety to a shoot](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/motivation-creativity/video-using-photo-walks-to-add-variety-to-a-shoot/) What's my favourite trick for relaxing a client while generating a variety of opportunities for beautiful daylight portraits? Going for a walk together. The exercise helps release adrenaline the client may be feeling if they are a little nervous about being in front of the camera. And the changing backgrounds and light conditions help create a range of looks for the final portrait set. It's a win-win. Join me for a walk with Megan as we tour the streets of my local village, Haddenham, looking for flattering combinations of light and location. You'll see how light leads all of the decisions I make, and how I use background details, layering and framing devices to add interest and variety. I'm travelling light for this shoot, with just my Nikon D5 camera body and one prime lens: my 105mm. This lens is my free gym, keeping me fit by making me move closer and further away if I want to change how much I include or exclude from my frame. It certainly creates a challenge when the shot I want is in a tight spot in an alley! I'll be working with direct sunlight, shade, reflected light and dappled light - showing that you can capture great portraits even when the sun is at full blast (just position your subject accordingly!). We hope you find it useful - leave a comment to let us know! ### [Portrait Photography Techniques](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/) ### Portrait Photography Techniques This is the nuts and bolts of portrait photography - the how and the why behind creating images that actually feel like the person in front of your lens. Portrait photography techniques cover everything from posing families without it looking like a police lineup, to working with kids who couldn't care less about your carefully planned composition, to headshots that need to look professional but not wooden. It's all here. If you've ever wondered how to photograph portraits that go beyond the technically correct and into something genuinely moving, this is where we get into it. How you interact with your subject. Where you place their hands. How you read the light on their face. What to do when the session isn't going quite the way you'd hoped. Because that's the bit nobody talks about, isn't it? The real stuff. These portrait photography tips come from years of actual sessions - the brilliant ones, the tricky ones, and the ones where everything went sideways and you had to think on your feet. Have a dig through and see what's useful. ### [Flattering Feminine Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/how-to-pose-women-portraits/) Flattering Feminine Portraits Here's how to combine one woman, one feminine pose and one close crop for a quick and easy, high-impact portrait - with absolutely no lighting kit at all. ##### Concepts Covered In This Article - Emphasising Femininity - Posing - Cropping - Rule of Thirds Sometimes the best portraits are the simplest. There's no lighting kit here: just natural light and beautiful shadows that emphasise Liv's great cheekbones. A tight crop, a gentle smile and a natural-looking pose combine to make this a portrait you can do with anyone, anywhere. ##### Posing women's hands Liv is sat down and leaning forwards, with her elbows propped up on her knees. I've asked her to support her face with her hands to produce a natural-looking pose. Each hand is at a slightly different height, which makes them look more natural and interesting than a symmetrical pose - they create a bit of zigzag shape within the frame. Whenever asking a subject to rest their face in their hands like this, watch that the hands don't push into the skin too much. Otherwise, the cheeks and chin bulge around the imprint of the hands, misshaping the face as a result. Also, whenever the hands are in a prominent position, make sure the thumb is facing away from the camera for a more feminine portrait. Thumbs are not very delicate-looking things, so focusing on the little finger side hides them away. ##### Crops and compositions This is a ‘crop shot'. The top of the frame cuts into Liv's hairline, which has positioned her eyes in a powerful place within the composition, according to the Rule of Thirds. We can just see a strip of her hair above her forehead - this is important as without it your subject's forehead will look as though it carries on indefinitely. [Note: while it's fine to crop into someone's hairline, it rarely works to crop into someone's chin. Avoid!] I've tilted the camera slightly to fill the frame with Liv's face. This creates a subtle, implied diagonal line from the top of Liv's head through to her wrist, adding a little energy to the composition. I'm shooting from slightly above, which has opened Liv's eyes to their widest, and using a shallow depth of field with just the eyes sharp, making them the focus of the shot. It's a simple, feminine and flattering portrait you can replicate with ease. Go try it - and share your results! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 200mm - Aperture: f/3.3 - Shutter speed: 1/90 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Group Graffiti Portrait In London](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/group-graffiti-portrait-in-london/) What's the best way to include a variety of locations in your images from a single shoot? Go for a walk with your subject(s), just as I did with these five friends. This graffiti wall was just one of the perfect locations we came across. These five friends are all from Norway (although the woman who contacted me to arrange the shoot, Cathrine, now lives in the UK). They wanted some portraits together in London, so I arrived there bright and early on the day, feeling a little less than bright myself (I'd been out with friends in Rugby the night before). ##### Walk 'n' shoot We walked along the South Bank, chatting and stopping to create a portrait when the light and location combined to catch my eye. This walk 'n' shoot approach is always a good way to get variety in the images, and helps everyone relax between set-ups, too. I noticed this wall of graffiti slightly hidden away in a corner. I always look for great light first of all; in this spot the light was soft (so flattering) but still with a little dimensionality (adding shape and depth). I also loved the water on the floor, as I thought this might add some great foreground interest. ##### Posing the group Once I had picked the location, I needed to place the women inside the scene. Posing five people is always a balancing act, as you don't want it to look like a wedding (or police!) lineup. Instead, I asked them to stand very close together - with no gaps between them - and lean against the wall. To stop them tensing up or becoming self-conscious, I continued chatting to them and laughing with them all the time. This is so important as I want to see how they stand naturally, not when they're wary of the camera. Once they sorted themselves out (while still laughing away) I tweaked the poses a little to make sure the women were standing in a natural, but still visually appealing and flattering way, with a strong, fashion-shoot look. Then, with everyone in place, I crouched down to achieve a low camera angle, adjusting my position until there was a little water from the foreground puddle included in the frame for additional visual interest. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 98mm - Aperture: f/4.0 - Shutter speed: 1/40 sec - ISO: 320 ### [Megan | Soft Light And Reflections In A Window](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/megan-soft-light-and-reflections-in-a-window/) Shoot your subject's reflection using studio light outdoors. Continuing our series on reflections, this portrait stars the reflected image as the focus of the shot. I've brought my soft box outdoors to light my model (therefore also lighting her reflection) and photographed over her shoulder so that her body frames the shot. Watch the video to peek behind-the-scenes and see how we did it. ### [Nikki | Laughter, Lighting And Articifical Rain](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/nikki-laughter-lighting-and-articifical-rain/) Don't let the weather spoil a weather-themed portrait when you can be resourceful instead. Of course, when you DON'T want it to rain, it almost certainly will, and when you DO want it to rain, the clouds withhold. Sometimes, when you have a specific image in mind, you have to be resourceful to make it happen. And sometimes, being resourceful leads to additional creative opportunities. Yes, we wanted (and planned for) rain for this portrait, but when it didn't come we simply got the sprinkler out. At least my camera (and I) stayed dry, and we were able to light the rain with a strobe flash, giving it amazing backlighting. Watch the video to take a glimpse behind-the-scenes. ### [Running In The Rain](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/running-in-the-rain/) As a professional portrait photographer, you can't always wait until the weather is perfect. And sometimes it is perfect when you start a shoot, but then everything changes... and a different, even more unique opportunity emerges than the portrait you had planned. As so often with the British weather, the rain on the day of this shoot took us all by surprise. We had started proceedings on a bright, clear and warm day, when suddenly the sky started to darken. With just ten minutes, black clouds started unloading their watery cargo. We took refuge under some nearby trees, but soon we were drenched in spite of the leafy canopy and decided to run for studier shelter. ##### Down on one (wet) knee I ran ahead, and - looking over the my shoulder - saw the scene above. I dropped to one knee (straight into a puddle) and took a handful of images, stopping only as I started to worry about the camera getting damaged. We rushed into a coffee shop and waited there until the rain subsided and we stepped back outside to a hot, sunny day again. Unfortunately, my camera's viewfinder was now useless, as the lens had completely fogged thanks to the rapid humidity and temperature changes. This brought our photoshoot to an unceremonious finish but all was not lost, as luckily I had this shot in the bag. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 185mm - Aperture: f/4.0 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 200 ### [Video | Five Ideas For Photographing Dogs](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-five-ideas-for-photographing-dogs-2/) It is a well-known fact that we love our dogs nearly as much as our family (possibly more!), so it is always wonderful when the opportunity arises to create pictures of our best friends. In this video, we walk through various ideas for capturing our canine companions, from taking a stroll to finding unusual angles. Enjoy. ### Transcript: Well, if I'm brutally honest, there's nothing I like more than creating portraits. Mostly of people, but equally of dogs, having spent the past decade working with hearing dogs here in the UK. And I've won as many awards, and I'm as well known for our dog portrait photography as I am for the human form. And in this class, we're going to take five ideas for photographing dogs and their owners. I'm Paul Wilkinson, an award winning photographer based here in the UK. And in this class, we're going to take the simplest of kit, one camera, one lens, one dog, one owner, a bag of treats, as it turns out, quite a lot of dog slobber, and we're going to go out and see what we can create just using daylight, the environment, our eyes, and our ideas. For this class, we have Elton. Who is a hearing dog stud, lucky boy, and we have Sarah, his owner, and we're going to take the pair of them out into the village no more than a couple of hundred metres from our studio door, and just see what we can create. The weather today, well, the weather today is up and down, but what we do know is it's going to be hot, it's going to be over 24 degrees. Now If you live in other parts of the world with hot climes, 24 degrees doesn't seem like much. But that is the threshold for dog welfare where we have to start being just a little bit careful of how much time we spend particularly on hot tarmac or out in the open sun. So we're going to keep an eye on that. And what I want to capture in this class is the joy of the dog, the beauty of dogs. I've got a dog. I love being around dogs. And so it's really, it's a really lovely thing to be able to create unique. so today I want to create interesting and beautiful pictures of Elton. He's a gorgeous dog. But also the relationship between him and Sarah. Four years ago I worked with Sarah to take pictures of Elton as a puppy. I was working with hearing dogs, we were out in the open. It was during a lockdown, if you remember a small little thing called COVID, we were out in the open taking pictures And little did either of us know that that one puppy would become Sarah's lifelong companion. So I want to create some pictures that capture just a little bit of that. We're going to find some interesting light, we're going to find some unique locations, and we're going to do it quickly and we're going to do it safely, but we're still going to create some amazing images. And so without any further ado, let's leap straight in to the first of those ideas. So for this first idea, we're just going to use an alleyway. Now, most of us have some kind of alleyway nearest, whether it's a green lane, whether it's a footpath, whether it's a brick alleyway in a town. This particular alleyway is cobbled and it has some pretty old walls in it, but it's in our village and it's less than a hundred meters from the studio. And of course, timing is part of the puzzle. We need to do things. That the dog is comfortable with and that we are efficient in doing so. I've seen the alleyway and the way the light is running is absolutely perfect. Oh, nearly we've got a bright overcast day. But what do I mean by that? Well, I mean, there's cloud, plenty of it, but it's quite thin cloud, so we're getting shadows. We've got shape to the light. You know where the sun is? If you look at the sky, you can see it. But it's cast in these really soft edge shadows. And when the, the overcast just increases a little, the contrast levels the difference between the shadows. And the bright spot diminishes, which is perfect. So the alleyway is pretty good. I'm going to frame along the path. I'm going to take the dog, I'm going to put it in a position where all of the lines, the lines of the edges of the cobbles, the lines of the tops of the plants, and the lines of the walls, all sort of form this, uh, corridor that disappears into the distance, and that helps bring the eye to the dog. Into the shot. Now the problem here is that the sun is coming from camera right across the walls. So one wall is in shade and one wall is in bright sunshine. At least it is when the clouds pass by. So we're having to kind of just think that through a little bit. So what I've done is I've. I found a position where the camera is low on the ground. I'm going to climb into the dog's world. I always think that's more exciting. So the camera is down low and I've pushed it across to the side of the path into the, sort of, foliage and things that are down there to try and eliminate any of the wall that is lit by the sun. Why am I doing that? Because if I include that in the frame, It's going to be bright. It's probably going to blow out, so I don't really want that to happen. I don't mind a few bits and pieces showing through, but I certainly don't want as much wall on the left hand side of the image as there is on the right. I've got the camera down low. Now, that gives me another slight problem. It's lovely down there. It's a different view. It's the view of the world as the dog would see it. But now if I tip the camera back to point it at the dog, I've got sky in the distance, and the trouble with a bright, overcast day, is that just goes to white. So I'm gonna have to just figure my angles out, and if you look in the video, you can see me sort of moving the camera around, trying to find that spot where it's still low, it still has all of the lines I wanted, it still feels like I'm in the dog's world. But that bit of sky hasn't dropped down into the frame. It's a balancing act, as it always is in photography. But those are the things that are going on. I've got the leading lines, the floor, the dog's world, that sort of anthropomorphic thing going on with the characteristic of the dog. But I'm trying really hard not to let the sky creep in. Uh, for this shot, we've got, uh, Elton's collar off. Now, when we're working, we will work with the dog's collar on as we move around from scene to scene because the dog's safety is paramount. But as soon as we've got the shot set and everyone's happy, Sarah's really good with Elton and Elton will do anything for Sarah. This is Sarah, his owner, so there's no danger here and Sarah's really comfortable that we have control and the dog is safe. As soon as we're happy, the collar can come off. And then we can start to think about getting the picture. Now, the dog is dark. Elton is a chalk lab, a dark chalk lab. Now, when you have a dark dog, one of the tricks is to allow the image to expose just a little bit brighter to bring out details in the fur. The extreme, of course, would be something like a black lab. Where the only way you're going to get any detail in the dog at all is if you overexpose the image ever so slightly. But I'm still trying to keep an eye on it. I'm still trying to make sure my histogram is contained. I'm not blowing out any of those highlights, but I'm just going to lift the exposure a little bit. And then it's relatively easy to get a sitting shot, a lying down shot, and of all things, a slow walk. I have never, ever photographed a dog that can do, on command, a slow walk. Now I have a dog who's quite capable of walking slowly, but usually when you're trying to take him somewhere he doesn't want to go, it certainly isn't, because you'll get a treat for plodding along at the pace of a snail. Elton will do it, and of course we've taken advantage of that. To get the dog's ears forward again, I'll keep coming back to this throughout this video, video. Anthropomorphism. You want the dog to look cute, preferably almost human esque, and in doing that, one of the tricks to doing that is to get the dog's ears forward to get his attention, and also, with a big slobbery dog like Elton, to get his jaw to snap closed, because if I can do that, Then it just kind of looks better overall. He's not one of those dogs, some of the Spaniels have a smiley face when they've got their mouth open. Elton doesn't really, so we're going to try and keep his mouth closed. And so the trick is to get Sarah, who's now right behind me, is to get her to do things that he will pay attention to. So usually it's to get a treat, pretend to throw it, wave it around, put it down behind the camera. So we're trying to get him engaged, we're trying to get him to pay attention, because the minute he sees that treat, the minute he doesn't know where the treat is, the minute he thinks he might get it, that he can work out where the treat is, his ears will come forward, he'll be attentive, he'll snap his jaw closed, and I can get my shot. It's a very easy shot to do, it's done within, like I said, 100 meters of our studio, and this is just one idea, uh, of the next four or five. So this is idea number two. Now, as Katie, our erstwhile film editor, producer, director pointed out, I'm being called instinctive as a photographer because it sounds more markety than easily distracted. But the fact of it is I'm easily distracted. So as I turned around Having just photographed Elton, Sarah was leaning against a wall in the alleyway, and the lights, the location, the colours, everything about it was the kind of photography that I adore. So yeah, alright, it wasn't on the plan, and that's why we might have a few more ideas in this video than the original five that were listed. But that's the way it goes. You want to love what you do. You want to create images that excite you. And if it's there in front of you, then it's great. Well, why wouldn't you? So the light is pinging around on this day. It's really bright, but we're in between two taller buildings when I'm shooting in this direction. I'm stood more or less in the same place that I was for shot number one. I'm just 180 degrees rotated. And there are these beautiful walls to the cottages here, and there are basically four tones of the same colour. Color, and that all seems to just work for me. It's not perfect. There's a drain pipe, which is frankly not attractive. Uh, but I do like the little window with its, it's got, um, bars in it like a little prison, which of course is just for security to stop people breaking in rather, and than I assume for people breaking out. But I quite like the storytelling. It's really old, it's rustic. I'm not a huge fan of the modern barn like structure in the background. But if I slip the camera, if I set the aperture to 2. 8 wide open, then that will drop to more or less a blur. So Sarah's in this shot, I've got her leaning against the wall, but of course if she's there, I've got no one to control Elton. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna place Elton next to Sarah, she can do that bit of it. But if I want his attention, then I'm going to have to do that using some kind of device. Usually, if you use a whistle, the dog comes running to you. So you can't do that, but Elton's better trained. He was, after all, a hearing dog. He's now a hearing dog stud. Go Elton! Um, so, but if you whistle him, he just looks at you. Because you're, I'm not Sarah, so he won't come to my command. But he is curious as to what I'm doing. So a quick whistle, he'll do a look, not a recall. And I think, in the end, this shot But all the little variations will make a fantastic monochrome. That's idea two of, well, however many we get to. So, as is always the case with a portrait shoot, it's really a little bit of a journey, just as it is, With this idea number three. So we've walked down the alleyway, turned a corner, and there it is. I hadn't expected to see it, but it's there. And that's the joy of it, discovering images, or the ideas for images, um, that are right there in front of you. I've seen this beautiful Arch that's formed by the overgrown hedge or the overgrown hedges, I guess, reaching across from both sides of the alley. And it cast this beautiful shadow down onto the ground. Now here, if you look along the alleyway in the sunshine, when the sun is at its strongest, you can see shadow, then light, then shadow the light. And of course, there's this patch of darkness where the sunlight cannot get through the hedge, and I'm betting that that will make a great photograph. Now, at this point, I've got two possible ways. The shot will work. And right now, even as I record this video, I don't know which way that's gonna go. Um, it could be that the light in the background, the sunlight in the background as Sarah and Elton pass through the arch, will create such a strong backlight that I can create a silhouette of the two of them under the arch. Equally, I could expose for them as the light flattens out a little bit. Maybe the cloud's just skidding across. Then maybe I can use the light to drag detail out of the two of them. I don't know which way it will go, but both of those ideas Have a certain appeal. See if you notice the way the sun is moving and changing, the light is constantly changing. So what I'm asking the guys to do is repeatedly just walk up and down through, uh, this archway away from me and back towards me, away from me and back towards me. Now I've got Sarah. So when you're photographing someone walking, particularly if there's a feminine sort of look to it, it's best to try and get the feet to walk along a line. It's easy enough to show them how to do it. But what it creates is this nice form down to the ground, it just creates a sort of, a nicer shape I suppose, and if you hit the button, as their feet make contact with the ground, you have this lovely contact point. Now as it turned out, the alleyway, or at least the alleyway through the arch, is slightly narrower than I thought it was, and so Elton repeatedly tried to either walk behind, or ahead, but very rarely could he walk beside the arch. Sarah Now I didn't foresee that, but it still works as a nice image when he is ahead of Sarah. It works really well when it's behind, uh, not so much unless they're walking away. So we've got 'em to walk backwards and forwards and I'm just looking for those really lovely, uh, little moments. I've taken the camera and as I love to do and I'm photographing dogs, I've brought it down to ground level and this time. There's so much hedge growing out of the top in the distance that I don't need to worry quite so much about whiteness in the sky creeping into the top of my frame. So it's given me options on where I place the camera without being quite so And precise as I was in idea number one. So I've taken the camera and I've moved it down to the left, camera left, and I've done that because it's creating this sort of scene where the subject as they pass through that arch are gonna be somewhere on the right hand side of the picture where the low or high in the frame. I haven't decided when I took the picture, I'm still just working it out as I go. But I know from experience that if I put that into a double page spread of a magazine or if I place it in. A big frame. Having that really interesting off-center composition has a certain appeal to it. Now, when I'm working with the hearing dogs, remember the Elton is a hearing dog or he is a hearing dog stud. So these are the same guys I've been working with for the past 10 years. I know that they love to have options for laying images out for magazines, for promotion material, for banners, for the websites. Um, but when I'm selling to personal clients, I like to have that same sort of thought process. What would this image look good in? Because if I could do that, and particularly if I can talk about that during the shoot, who knows, maybe I'll be able to get a sale and I'm a business. This is a business. This is the creative industry. And I know that sounds a little bit harsh because it should all be about the artistry and it is to an extent about the artistry. But we also, as professional photographers, need to be thinking about the artistry. Will I be able to sell this picture? How am I going to recoup my costs? How am I going to be able to make a profit? How do we put food on the table and my kids in trainers? And so thinking about how a shot is going to be used is good from a creative standpoint, but also from a commercial one. So the only problem we had is that Elton kept trying to walk behind, uh, Sarah, it took me a while to get. And that's it for this week's video. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please like and subscribe. And if you want to get the shot where Elton walked beside or a little bit more in front, but there's some interesting shots here. And don't ignore the opportunity to get a shot where the dog's quite close in the frame and you have just the foot or feet of the owner in the background. It still is quite an interesting shot and it tells a story. And certainly if you're shooting these kinds of images for commercial use, there's a value in that, too. So with that shot grabbed, on we go to idea number four. So on to idea four. So this is a very simple shot in every aspect, but it's very typical of what I do is I spot the way light falls and it forms and it pulls and it moves. And if you learn to read. Little patches are light like this. Basically, there are great shots to be had all around you. So the tree is in full leaf where at that time of year, it's sort of the end of August, and because of that, there's an archway underneath the branches. But there's light coming in from the back. There's light going in from the front. It's got this beautiful shape to it. What actually drew me to it wasn't just the pool of light inside that opening, it's the fact that where the leaf fall has happened. It's gone golden. Now, I'd expect to be looking for that once we get into October, November. However, today, it's dry, it's warm, and there's this golden color coming through, and I just love those colors. Now, when I got Elton into there, I'd expected it just to pop, and it didn't, and I don't really know why. We tried a few bits, it didn't quite work, and sometimes, maybe you bail on it, but if you persevere, I was absolutely convinced. There was a shot in there, and as it happened, I was right, but it didn't come straight away. What we had to do was move Elton round a little bit, and then I got Sarah to move around a little bit and I turned his head in different directions to see how the light was playing. But if you look at the light in his eyes. It's perfect. So I knew the shot could work. Sitting up is a nice shot, but really the magic happened when he lay down on the ground. I say when he lay down, Sarah got him to lay down, because we're trying things out. And then I got Sarah to move to the left, and when, when a dog's lying down, they move their head across their body, and I love that shape of the shot. So if the body is going slightly to the right, I'll get the head also to turn, so he's In the same direction, similarly to the left, and I just think there's more story, there's more narrative to that. I've opened the camera up to F 2.8, so it's a nice, shallow depth of field, beautiful cat size in the eyes, admittedly gallons of s slobber. It's like working. with some kind of animatronic special effects of an alien, there's just goo coming out of the dog. Now, fortunately, that's not my worry, that's Sarah's worry. And she stepped in and cleaned it up at every opportunity. Which is great, if she hadn't, and I didn't want to do it, it's actually pretty quick to get rid of it in Photoshop. And of course, once I've got a shot of the dog, and I know everything's working, the light is beautiful, I Well, this was a great opportunity to put Sarah in the same shot as the dog, which of course we did, and that's idea number four. On to idea number five. So here we are, on to idea number five, and if I'm honest, This is a shot that I will do on pretty much every shoot I run with a dog. And the reason is, it gives the dog a chance to relax, uh, it gives the dog a chance to just play and be a dog. So up to this point, we've been controlling Elton, um, and confining his space, making him sit, making him walk. Whereas now, do you know what? You can go for a sniff and you can go for a run. It's safe, we're working in an enclosed ish space. There's a couple of exits out of the orchard, but we know where he's going to be. Which gives him a chance just to, well, be. Elton. Now the hard bit is working out what line I'd like him to run towards or away from. Usually I will find some kind of alleyway or some kind of pathway through a field, or if I'm in a truly wide open space, what I will do is I'll get the dog settled on a weight, hopefully if he will do a weight, And I'll get the owner or the trainer to come right behind my camera and ask the dog to come towards us, and that way the dog will track straight to the lens. If the dog's weight isn't that strong, what I might do is get the trainer or the owner to stay with the dog, and then one of us will call the dog over. That works most of the time. Occasionally you'll have a dog with attachment issues, and it gets a little bit trickier. But what you can then do is get the owner to run towards the camera and try and stay separate to the dog, one side or the other. And that way you'll get at some point, um, a shot. Now in the old days, these shots were not easy, but with modern technology, I'm shooting on a Z9. I've put it into animal tracking mode. It'll lock onto Elton like nothing, 20 frames a second. So now I can concentrate on making sure that my compositions are where I want them. I can put Elton at the side of the frame, in the middle of the frame. I can just time those bits where the dog motion is good. With a Labrador, you get that kind of jumping. It's very slow paced, sort of lollop. When Elton's doing his slow walk, like a dog and a cat walk, you've got all the time in the world. Obviously with poodles, spaniels, the smaller breeds, they tend to be a little bit more electric, a little bit harder to time. So, but at 20 frames a second. The camera will lock on and I can then get the shot. And even at f2. 8, I know that sufficient of these images will be bang in focus, that I've got a nice soft background. The sun is behind the dog, so it picks Elton out. Elton's dark coated, so having the sun behind creates a little bit of separation, a little bit of rim light. Against those dark leaves. Uh, in the background with Elton, we got him to walk slowly and then he broke into a run. But both of those were really, really good. I'm down on the ground , I dunno how many times I got bitten while lying down in the ground. But I like that camera angle you'll have seen in some of these shots. Um, I'll just sit and use the flip screen, but I find it much easier when I'm tracking a fast moving animal or a car or something. If I'm doing any kind of motion work is, it's easier through the viewfinder. I just find it. I get better isolation from my surroundings so I can see exactly what's going on and I can pick out the detail that I'm interested in. So for me, I'm lying down in the grass. I'm trying to pick the height of the camera. If it's too low, I just get this kind of fudgy green in the foreground. So I'm just lifting it a little, just on my elbows. To separate it from the ground a tad, that way I get the same sort of sense of being inside the dog's world, right there as it's happening, but I haven't got too much interference. I've got a nice soft edge to the frame, but it's not going over and around Elton too much. Really easy shot to do, and the dog will love it. So if you're working with a dog, this is a great way to not only let the dog have fun, but also get incredible pictures. So that was idea number five, but as is the way with me. Well, we're going to have a few bonus ideas. On to the next one. So, we've done five ideas, but well, the shoot simply never stops. So this was a shot we've been discussing through the shoot. We'd like a shot of Elton peering around a corner, looking through a gate, something just a little bit different. Anyway, we'd stop for lunch and as it happened, we opened the back door to our studio and it occurred to me that if Elton just looked around the corner, I'd not only be able to get a shot of a peeping dog, but he would also be reflected in the glass as long as I lined my camera up correctly. So I'm down on the floor as usual with the photographing dogs. I seem to spend my life lying on the floor in one form or another. I've moved the camera angle really quite close to the glass, but not right up against it, because I'm looking for the reflection, but we don't have any. Uninterrupted glass on the side of the studio. There's big wooden frames on it. So I have to keep the camera out a little bit so they don't sort of impede. Um, but then the trick was to get Elton to kind of look around the corner. So a lot of trial and error. Um, I've got some beautiful shots of just his nose, but the perfect angle felt to me when Elton just came out a little bit further. There's a shot of his nose and his eyes and just the chest and maybe a leg. And if you look at the tones in the final image, the wall, the floor. The wood, even the reflections in the glass, and of course the colour of Elton are all chocolate tones, they're all browns of one form or another, and that means I've got a really harmonious image, and I love that, you know from other videos I've made, that's something I look for all the time, because it has a really cool sense about it, it has This idea or this impression that it's all deliberate. And of course it is deliberate, but it's not something that you can always get. But here we've managed to get it. So once we managed to get that moment, and the trick seemed to be this trick seemed to be, is to have the dog have Elton just behind the edge of the door and then have Sarah by my shoulder, and then she'd make a noise or something and he'd peer out to see what was going on. So a beautiful bonus shot. But as is the way with these things, not the only bonus. And with that happy note, we're heading inside. So we've done five ideas. We've had one bonus, which we spotted during lunch. But of course, Where would we be without some studio photography? I'm really, really well known for taking pictures of black dogs or really dark dogs on dark backgrounds. It's something I've always loved doing. So this isn't really an idea as such, though it's a beautiful photograph. So we stepped inside after we'd had some lunch and I just took a handful of pictures of Elton using a dark background, some very simple side lighting and a very simple key light. I'm looking for different angles. I'm looking for the way the dog looks. I'm looking for those ears to come forward. I'm looking for catchlights in the eyes. I'm using Sarah to move around to get his attention. I've lit it top down to have this beautiful wash of light. I like to have my key light quite close to the dog. Because you get this incredible fall off. Of course, the inverse square law doesn't quite apply with big light sources, but nonetheless, the light is falling away. And I love that look. But that's not the purpose of this video. Really, what we're doing is teasing you into keeping an eye out for when we do a video dedicated entirely to photographing dogs in the studio. But we thought we'd include it here because we did literally step inside from having lunch and thought, you know what? With a dog as beautiful as Elton, why the hell wouldn't you? What a happy way to work. Well, I hope you've loved this video. Hopefully we've shown you how simple it is just to take a dog, some light, a simple camera, take your locations, and we've given you five ideas to From which you can build many, many more. We hope you've loved it. We'd love to see your work. Please do get in touch, but until next time, whatever else, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [Video | Location Portrait Photography: Mastering Natural Light on Oxford's Streets](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/location-portrait-photography-tips/) I've lost count of the times I've rocked up to a jaw-dropping spot-batteries brimming, creativity running on fumes-and my client's given me that "Well, maestro?" stare. Sound familiar? That's exactly why I filmed this Oxford street-to-college ramble. In just under thirty minutes I'll walk you - literally - through my no-fuss approach to location portrait photography: no studio strobes, no entourage, just curiosity, a well-loved DSLR and the world's prettiest campus as our playground. First up, light. I show you how I hunt it down before I even think about posing or backdrop. A slice of overcast sky bouncing off sandstone? That's my softbox. A stray sun-beam raking across a wall? Instant drama. You'll see how those fast fixes turn everyday bricks into studio-grade illumination and lift natural light portraits from ordinary to portfolio-piece. But gear and geometry are only half the party. The real magic happens in the space between people. Watch me coax laughter, swagger and genuine intimacy out of Troy and Nicole with nothing more than playful banter and a cheeky lamppost lean. You'll learn why movement melts nerves, how a quick walk-and-talk sparks chemistry, and when to crop tight versus pull back for context - skills that transform stiff headshots into relaxed, informal portraits clients actually love. Keep an ear out for my "look, shuffle, shoot" mantra, see why a rain-dark pavement doubles as a five-foot reflector, and discover the sneaky psychology behind getting couples to sync their steps (spoiler: Paris is optional, trust is everything). By the time we wrap, I guarantee you'll be itching to drag a mate into an alleyway, chase that slice of soft light you normally walk straight past, and create images that stick. So pour a coffee, settle in and hit play. Let Oxford's ancient streets reboot your inspiration-and the next time you're staring at a concrete wall, you'll see a canvas instead. Watch now and let's get shooting. Enjoy. Transcript: So, have you ever found yourself on location and wondering quite what to do with your client? Well, this video, we are gonna walk through a workshop that we ran it in Oxford a few weeks ago. It's an amazing place to take a client to create pictures, and in this case, to take some workshop delegates as well, to go through the thought processes and the techniques for creating stunning portraits, not just. In Oxford, where of course most of the scenery is beautiful, but in any location, you happen to find yourself, whether we're talking about posing, we're talking about interactions, whether we're talking about light form, shape, architecture, and backgrounds. In this class, we hope we will give you a ton of information and insight into how portrait photographers create the stunning images they do when they find themselves out with nothing more than a camera, some enthusiasm, and a client. At the end of the class, we really would love to see your work. We'd love to see what you've got up to in the locations near you, whether it's on this side of the world or the other side of the world, hot, cold, wet, dry. Wherever you happen to find yourself. We would love to see your ideas. We really, really, really hope you enjoy this class. So the trick when you're out and about on a location, and to be honest, anywhere where you're taking portraits, is to look for the light, and that will make all of the difference. If you've got crappy light, you're gonna take a crappy portrait. So always identify. The light that you're going to use. And of course when you're working outdoors, you can't change the light. You can simply change what you do with it or where you do it, walls, pavements, you name it, you'll get reflections off it. So either you are looking for the way that light drifts down from the sky between walls as it does here in this first scene or the first place. Uh, we walk to. Or it's reflecting off the buildings, the shop fronts, everything becomes a reflector. So look for natural bounce and soft light. And while we're at it, what do we mean by soft light? I hear this all the time. Hard light, soft light. Well, generally speaking, when we talk about hard light, we are talking about having a small light source, which gives you a hard. Edged shadow, but that's not the whole story, of course, because if you have a hard edge shadow, but the shadows are really faint because you've got ambient light all around you, it won't come across as hard at all. It'll come across actually pretty soft. It's only really when you have both. A hard edge and a high contrast that you really have hard edge light, a hard light. And here you can see in some of the shots, we've used the sunlight where it's raking down the walls. And we've used that to light Nicole, and it looks really beautiful. And of course, you can do this with any subject in any place using the sunlight directly. Me personally, I prefer to use the soft light that's either from an overcast sky or maybe it's bouncing around, uh, from the buildings and you position your subjects. Into the light. You pose them into the light that you want to work in, not the other way around. Obviously, you can't move the light if you're not using off-camera flash or studio lights or something. The light is where you find it. You kind of shuffle your client or your subject in among, you know, amongst it because you cannot control it. And here we're working without scrims and without reflectors, and so I really only have the light that's there to tell the story. So what we do. Is we just look for it and hone in on it. But always be aware that the light you find isn't always in the prettiest locations. The great thing, or to me at least, the great thing about portrait photography is it's about a face. It's about a person. Which means if I just find an alleyway, and here we found a tiny spot between a truck and a cafe, and I just saw the light. There's something about it. It's not a wonderful portrait in the end, my bad. But it's beautiful. The lighting, the scene, the idea is beautiful. And while, okay, this time round, I didn't get an iconic shot. Next time I see exactly that combination. I'll know the light is there. I'll know there's something I can do with it and I'll hone in on it. With that, let's move on to the next chapter. So the joy of walking around a city like Oxford, it is just full of locations and things to look at and distractions and people and sounds and smells and history. Of course, it's one of the Aldus University cities in the world. There's a point to that. What it is is it acts as a foil, it acts as a stage. So as we are meandering around, what I'm doing is I'm watching the locations, I'm looking at the light, but I'm also. Paying attention to the subjects and it's a trick that you learn to do. You learn to do it in your studio, you learn to do it on location. You learn to do it in every aspect of portrait photography or you should do. You need to learn to read people. You need to learn to sense when their body, when their attitude feels like them. For most people, I'd say relaxed. Some people though are naturally tense, in which case, if that is their character. Don't worry too much. That's just the way it's gonna portray unless they ask you to make them look relaxed, when in fact they're just one of those people that's kind of slightly buzzy, a little bit of energy about them. All of it's good for the kind of portrait work that I do, the kind that I like. What I'm trying to do is get my client, my subject. To, uh, get out of themselves a little bit, to be natural, to talk, to move, and of course, being in a city and walking around like we are in this workshop is the perfect way to do it because one of the things that you can do when you are working with your client is give them something to do. Now, I know that's kind of weird, right in, in the sense that what you really want is just a portrait. People walk in in front of your camera and immediately they seem to go, oh, I don't what to do with my hands. I don't wanna do with my feet. What do I do with my face? When they've survived all of the years prior to that moment without really thinking about it. And so your job as the photographer, as a portrait photographer is to try and get them outta themselves, or more importantly into themselves. You're trying to get them outta the situation they're in and just be them. So as we're meandering around, I'm just watching their body language. But when people walk into the studio, I do exactly the same thing. Because the way this works is a pose really begins in the body way before the face. Your shot starts in the whole physiology, and if you can get your client to relax, the face will follow. Don't worry. But you have to get your client to disengage from the process. You have to get them to think. They're not being photographed, in essence, out here in the city. Of course, I've got all of this space to play. And so I'm watching for the way they walk. I say to someone lean on a wall. If I ever post someone, and you can see this in the video, I think is I'll get them maybe to sit on some steps or lean on a wall or lean on a lamppost, but then immediately I'll distract them by chatting. So I'll put them somewhere and then I'll take that sort of formal control away. So I'll get, um, Troy or Nicole to sit or lean, and then I'll start talking maybe to them, maybe to someone else. And what happens if you talk to someone else? If you divert away? Maybe if I'm, if I pose Nicole and then talk to Troy, Nicole will interact in that conversation and she will relax. Once I've got that, as her body changes, her attitude changes slightly. You'll see everything just become natural. Now I'm looking out for things like really soft hands. What do I mean by soft hands? I just mean not clumped fists. You don't wanna see the back of a hand. Um, you don't really wanna see people looking like that. If you look at this, my hands are bigger than my face. So you need soft hands. You need to be looking for those moments to relax. Put them in their pockets, get 'em to fold downs, put them onto a floor to support anywhere that gives the hands something to do. You can see in these videos. Um, I talk with my hands, and so if I'm chatting, my hands are relaxed and then I just sit and they'll just find a position. You can do that with your client. Just get 'em to shake it out and drop the hands and it will work. You are looking for really natural posture. If they lean or shift their weight against the wall, you're looking for that to look like. The way they should. And by that I simply mean it doesn't look like you pose them. You need to, I, I've written in my notes here, wait for the subject to relax. That's not strictly speaking true. You need to help them relax and yeah, there's a little bit of a waiting game there, but you'll see it, you'll see when the mood changes. If you're posing two people together, you need to get them to be together, which of course is really awkward. I'm standing really close. They're now really, really close. And the three of us, it's all a little bit strange. But you can do it in a way where you step in, put them together and step out. I did a shoot once at the hearing dogs where I work an awful lot and I was posing a couple. They were in their seventies. Um, and they were uncomfortable in front of the camera, but I needed a shot where they just looked in love and happy with their hearing dog. It was the briefest what I had to do, and I'm trying to figure out what mind games to play to do it. So I found a path where it just came away. It came and went into the woods a little bit. Um, some leaves, some leaves and things around it, and the sunlight dappled through it. And I simply said to them, right, you're gonna walk off into the distance and walk back to me as if you are on a romantic evening in Paris. Now, I don't know if there was ever a backstory to this, but the lady just fell about laughing and they kind of snuggled up, but I dunno what the story was. And off they went and back they came. And there's all sorts of tiny little bits of psychology in there. But I took them outta the situation. I took them outta themselves and as they walked, and this is a really interesting slight thing that happens, is if two people really get on. If they're really in love is their steps will synchronize as they walk and you'll see it, which makes it very easy to take a photograph 'cause you just clip the shot as their toes hit the ground. Very, very straightforward. But it was lovely. It was romantic in their mind's eye. They were in Paris. They weren't, they were in, uh, a little town down the road here, but it looked wonderful. The shots were beautiful. It was everything I could ever wish for. So when you're posing couples, try and get them to be them. Sometimes if you have to post models, that's a little bit harder if they don't know each other and you have to work slightly differently. But if a couple is truly a couple, it should be straightforward. It'll feel awkward to start with. Let them be them, let them be them, and then step out of it and just let the magic happen. And here's a footnote. It doesn't always work. So remember, it's okay to fail in this shot. I never got it right. I could see it, and in fact, Katie was on the film camera, took a better shot of it than I did with my stills camera. I couldn't see it at that moment. I wasn't feeling it. I stepped away. It's okay to fail. Not every shot's gonna work. Just fail fast, move on and don't let it bother you. And with that, let's move on to the next chapter. So one of my favorite, favorite techniques, which you'll deal with in this chapter is using movement and using joy to create all of the pictures that you want. Even if those pictures as it happens are really serious, they're really enigmatic, maybe they're sensual. But at the end of the day, it's still a joyous process. And remember, whatever else you do as a portrait photographer is your mood is contagious. Having a good day, it'll carry having a bad day. That'll carry too. So whatever you do in a shoot, you must carry the energy. It's your job to carry the energy. You know what it's like when you go out for a friend? You say, how you doing? And you go, oh, I'm glad you asked. And you're like, oh, here we go. Don't be that guy. You can't be that person. You have to be upbeat, you have to be energetic, and you have to be full of joy and laughter. You have to be, even if what you are looking for is a really sensual, moody shot, because if the light has gone outta the eyes, and I don't mean that as in actual light. I mean, if the emotion is lost, then you lose it. So while I'm working, I'm always looking for opportunities to put couples together to get some movement. I've always got my camera close. So, um, if a couple start to laugh, for instance. Bang, the shot is in the bag. I will never miss that shot, even if what we're doing is a really serious shot. Those shots of laughter serve one of two purposes, sometimes both to me. I think they take really beautiful pictures. I love laughter in the pictures. I think it's, um, enigmatic. I think it's engaging. I think it's infectious. I love it. Clients don't always, because of course it makes the eyes small, it brings up wrinkles. You get teeth and all sorts of other things, but I would always take those shots. Second reason is, should anyone say, wow, you're a, it's a bit of a moody shot. Wasn't that looked like a bit of a sad, serious photographic session. I can show them all the laughter shots as well to say, no, actually we are having an absolute blast. It's just that the shots we were looking for were serious or sexy or sensual or whatever it is, um, that we're doing. So I'll always grab those. Those moments, look for those tiny micro interactions between a couple. Here we've got quite a few, um, where Troy and Nicole, who as it happens, are a wedding client of ours. So we asked them to come back and do this session. So they're, they got married over a year ago, just over a year ago. So they're still very much in love. There's still that lovely energy and just putting them next to each other. You get that your job is to put it in good light and photograph it, and I'm looking for those little bits where they look at each other and laugh, or they look away and laugh. It's just wonderful. You can't fake. That emotion and the trick of it is in being fast with your hands, faster spot, it makes sure your camera's set up, they're in good light and you'll always have an opportunity to take those stunning images. Me? Well, I'm always laughing as you've probably worked out from those videos and 'cause of that. So have my clients. The hard bit for me usually is to bring the mood down, not to lift the mood up, but if you seal after shoot it, if you see any kind of emotion. Shoot it, whatever it is, it'll be contagious. And with that, let's go on to the next chapter. So for those of you who know me, you know my passion really is all about light. But when you're out in location, there's no getting away from it. The very nature of it is you're gonna have to use the background, you're gonna have to use the buildings, lines, corners, road markings, street lamps, you name it, is gonna be part of what you are doing. And using the geometry, using a physicality of a location is really interesting to do, provided of course, as I said in chapter one, you found some good light in which to work. So there's a couple of tricks to it. I'm always looking for angles. I'm looking for corners. I'm looking for walls where they join at right angles, and there's one side's lit, one side's maybe in shadow. I'm spotting areas on the floor where lights bouncing off a window or something. But I'm always just on the lookout for interesting geometry, or to be honest, something neutral that we're going to the background of a tight crop. And while I talk about tight crops, actually it's quite a good idea when you're location to shoot wide. Crop later. That way you have more options down the line. That said, here's an admission from me, is I find that really difficult because I see the image in its finished form in camera, and when I do that, I can feel the, my excitement, my energy levels rise, and I just know I'm getting something really cool. And so what I've learned to do is one of two tricks. Is I take the shot I really want. I take it as I want it. Tight, crop, missing head, missing top of heads. I don't care. I want it to look the way I want it, and either one of two things. I either zoom out and take it again, or I step back and take it again. That way I've got an image that I will love. I've got the energy to keep going through the shoot because I'm beginning to get inspired by what we're creating. But I've also got an option that can go to a design, a web design, a magazine design, or my client. That has some options around the cropping. If I know we're gonna be selling to a client where I don't know whether they're gonna have an album or frames, then what I will do is I will shoot quite a few different crop options and we'll deal with that later where it could go into a wide frame, a tall frame, or something small as just a tight headshot. So you need to guide the eye with your geometry and the space around it. Um. I love doing this. I love finding doorways that you can layer up in the background so that you can place your su, your subject, your client into the space. But of course, you're not just limited to physical objects to create shape and form in which to place your client. Here in one or two of the shots I've actually just used where the sunlight is raking down a wall and then place my client in it because it makes a really interesting shape that isn't born out of bricks or mortar. It's just born outta the sunlight, chasing across a surface. And spotting these things is a little bit of a skill. You just get better at it. You get a sense of it. It can be, I suspect, a little irritating to be out with a portrait photographer who's constantly looking around. But that is the job. And sometimes you'll walk past the same thing over and over and never notice it. And then one day, as we did here, I'll walk in the other direction and see it. This concrete back, the back of this building, these concrete walls, I've walked past these a dozen times. It's right in the heart of Oxford and we've always walked past them in one direction. And if I'm honest, they didn't look much. There was no shape to them, no formed them. Wasn't an exciting location to photograph in. And by exciting, I don't mean. It's a classic Baroque University building. I just mean there was nothing about it. There's no light, no shape. And of course the problem was, I was just looking it in the wrong direction. This walk, we came the other way round. Came outta the shopping center and there it was these beautiful concrete blocks, this wall that just towered above us. It's geometric. It's just almost a sci-fi scene. And of course, what else could you do, but just see if you can create a couple of pictures. We use Nicole here with her Air Jordan trainers, which she's really proud of, and just took these pictures 'cause it looked kind of cool. And the point is. Keep your eyes open, and sometimes you'll see things you've walked past a thousand times and never thought to use before. And the background isn't decoration, it's structure. It's the way it seats the image down. And when you're doing this, and when you're putting something in the background, learn to move with your camera, your viewpoint, and when you're seating someone into a scene, into the frame makes all a difference. So two things. Firstly. When you are looking, just move around with your camera a little bit. And when you do that, the background will change. As you move a camera around, the background will change relative to your subject, and it's amazing how many distractions you'll see in the far distance that you just never notice. Until you move, the actual motion itself helps you see things. And then the second thing is check your viewpoint. Everyone takes a standard viewpoint. Maybe get above the client really high and look down. Maybe get the camera on the floor and look along the railings and see what is different in the shot. Make something out of nothing because particularly for me, when you get really low, the everyday disappears. The normal. Disappears and you end up in this slightly weird hinter world where everything is just that little bit different, that little bit strange, and I love doing that. It's my favorite thing to do is have the camera on the floor and just see how the world looks different. But with all of that, let's move on to our next chapter. So in this chapter, let's talk a little bit about cropping. And of course, the way you change the shape or the amount of information in your image fundamentally can change the mood of it, not just what you include, but of course. What you are excluding in a busy street. Tons going on, crop in tight, beautiful scene, huge building. Why not open it up and tell a full story? Full length shots tend to give you context and a bit of confidence in your subject. They can look really impressive. And of course, somewhere like Oxford, a full, a full scene ahead of you with a subject in it. Well, what's not? It's a love mid crops, those slightly tighter crops, maybe mid thigh, and there's no secret at weddings. The most, um, widely sold shot. It's a threequarter length portrait of a bride and groom. It works. It tells enough of a story about the clothing, enough of a story about the character, but's still a portrait, and of course that's always gonna do pretty well. Tighten that up. Make it a headshot. Those eyes, the intimacy of it, the fact that it feels like you as the viewer are right inside that conversation. Of course, there's an intensity, there's an emotion to that that you cannot easily do on a wide crop. Of course, as I said earlier, you can shoot loose crop later and that's fine, but I, like I said, find that really hard to do and still keep my energy up. When you're cropping, watch for your edges, watch for things creeping outta the edges of the frame and things creeping in you. The way your mind works is that it will assume anything that's headed out towards out the side of the frame will continue forever. It's a useful trick if you wanna make it look like railings or walls just go on and on and on. You just crop them in a place where it feels like they just carried on. In the opposite of that, make sure you don't crop limbs or crop joints. If you crop across an elbow or a knee, it will always look like something unfortunate happened to your subject. So you're always looking for these little tricks. Make sure the edges of your frame are clean. There's nothing creeping in, and only the stuff you want to head out the frame is heading out of it. Because the cropping really changes the feel, not just the framing. And I think you can see this here in this, these three shots where, um, Troy and Nicole are snuggled up in the doorway. Of one of Oxford's beautiful buildings. I've taken a really tight shot, just a wide shot, and they're laughing and of course it's joyous and lovely. They've stepped back a bit, so they're contained within just the door frame. It's a baroque building. It's beautiful. And then I've taken a very long hike backwards and put a wide angle lens on and captured the whole of the side of the building with them just tiny in it. The first frame, the wide frame gives you a sense of them. As people. And the last frame gives you a sense of just how small we are in the world with these huge buildings. So that's what I mean about cropping. Use it, be creative with it, do exciting things with it, but do it deliberately. Don't do it accidentally. And with that, let's go on to the next chapter. So there's more to using locations than just the fact that we get some nice pictures out of it, and it's a good location for running workshops. If you are ever thinking I've run out of ideas or I dunno what to do next, take a client for a walk. Just out the door. Take them somewhere you've never been. Take them somewhere crappy. Take them somewhere beautiful. Take 'em somewhere in awful light. In great light. Take them somewhere in the rain. It doesn't really matter. What you are doing is you're taking yourself and your client out of your everyday. It'll force you to think differently. Just being on location means you're sort of at the whim of the architecture, the locations, the people, the weather, of course, particularly in this country, everything out of your control. All you can do is decide where and when and how to take a photograph. So that whole process of walking with your client, talking with your client, listening to your client as you move in between locations, puts your brain in a different space. It gives it time to breathe. And during those those times or immediately after those times, that's when creativity really happens. And this is not. An unknown piece of psychology. It's well known that, for instance, driving, um, mowing a lawn, going for a swim. These are the things that after you've done that, that's when the ideas really come. The subconscious of your brain is phenomenally creative. The conscious side, not so much so when you're desperately clawing for ideas, that's not when they'll come to you. But when you are chatting, having a coffee, going for a walk, just idly looking at the side of a building from a different direction than you have before. That's when it happens. That's when the ideas come and yes, all right, all of the skills you're developing or you've developed over the years, come to the fore. You need those. But the ideas, they come from the subconscious. They come from the other side of you. They come from the bit that's gonna work when you don't think it is. So when you go out in location. You are forced to adapt. You're forced to think differently. It's fun, it's energizing. You get a decent cup of coffees, often you can just go find someone to have some tea and a bagel. I dunno, all of this just adds to the entertainment. And remember, for an awful lot of portrait photography, it's not just about the images and in these days of ai, there's no getting away from the fact that you can create a beautiful portrait of. A computer generated face just by typing the right words into your favorite AI engine. So if you're gonna create something of value, it has to be attached to an experience. And what better way to do that than being out on location, looking for ideas with your client, walking, talking, listening, being a part of their lives for a couple of hours. It gives, not just gives you creativity and more ideas to play with, but it gives them memories. And if they attach positive memories to the shoot. Trust me, they will love the images even more. So when you get the chance, why not just embrace the weather, embrace the architecture, and go and have a walk? It works. Trust me. So as always, we hope. You've really enjoyed this video. We've stepped through a real workshop with delegates walking away through the streets of Oxford, but hopefully we've shown you some of the techniques to use when you're out on location with your client, whether it's reading the architecture, the direction of the light, using sunshine, avoiding the crowds, or just getting genuine emotion out of your client. Either way, we hope you've loved it and we would love to see your work. So please get involved. With the Facebook community, it's full of really interesting people who are really kind and generous. And if you'd like to upload your images, I'm sure you'll get feedback. And if you'd like some feedback from us too, of course we'd be more than happy to help. Please do look around the rest of the website, find things that entertain you or interesting and you'd like to have a go at. And if you have any questions at all, please email me. It's Paul at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot co.uk, but whatever else happens till next time. Be kind to yourself. Take care, but you're not just hula hoops. King of crisp, woo. I'm gonna call you a dinosaur or you can put a little thing saying, for fuck sake, Paul, get your hands off the microphone. Like he said, don't pose them like that. If they've got a microphone on, ah, are you taking the piss? Okay. And with that, Katie's taking the piss and with that she's not working with us anymore. Yeah. You wish, could you, could you be more sassy? Stood there with your hand on your hip next? Well there's um, a pee hole hole. What? The Mr. Poopy butt hole? Yeah. The character from. Excellent. Make it up. I worry about you. I really don't. Okay. Not students. Students. Riffraff. Twaddle model. We don't bring them, but we bring people together. We bring them, we take them, we They bring cameras. Yes. Cameras. Cameras. Wonderful. GA bags. ### [Video | Photographing Siblings: Chaos, Chemistry & Connection](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-photographing-siblings-chaos-chemistry-connection/) Photographing Siblings: chaos, chemistry and real connection Have you ever tried to photograph siblings and wondered how on earth to get them all in one frame looking like they even vaguely belong together? In this session I take you behind the scenes on a full sibling shoot with Ellie, Ryan and the inimitable Olivia. Sunny garden to studio set, candid giggles to Vanity-Fair-ish poise, this is a practical walk-through of how I turn eye rolls into wall art. You will see exactly how I read the family dynamic, shape natural poses, manage light for three different heights, and coax real expressions without the dreaded "say cheese." There are gentle post-production tips too, because we are polishing personality, not replacing it. #### What you'll learn - How to read sibling dynamics fast, then use them to your advantage - Posing three people for connection, not stiffness - Lighting for trios, inside and out, including avoiding dappled sunlight - Simple prompts that unlock genuine expressions, even with teenagers - Studio structure vs garden looseness, when to choose which - Light-touch retouching that keeps the soul in the image - Why the "heartbeat shots" sell, and how to make sure you capture them #### Who it's for Portrait photographers who want family group images with life, warmth and a touch of polish. Whether you are just starting out or sharpening your craft, you will pick up ideas you can use on your very next session. #### Featured setup Garden portraits in open shade, then a studio set using a large softbox as key for even coverage across three faces. Small changes in pose, small changes in light. Change one, check the other. #### Why it matters Parents book these sessions because time is sprinting away. Do this well and you are creating little time capsules that live on the wall and in the heart. That is the job. The rest is technique. Hit play, grab a cup, and come along for the chaos, the chemistry and the lovely bits in between. #### #### Transcript Have you ever tried to photograph siblings and wondered how on earth to get them all in one frame looking at least vaguely like they belong together in this class, we'll be diving into one of my favorite types of shoots, photographing siblings. There's just something about the chaos, the chemistry, and the completely unpredictable nature of it all that makes these sessions well so much fun, and occasionally they're just a little bit bonkers. It was a beautiful sunny day here at the studio. Perfect. For easing into things in the garden. The three siblings you're gonna see are Ellie Ryan and the inimitable, Olivia, a trio of personalities, laughter, and the occasional sarcastic eye roll. And honestly, well, that's exactly what I love. When siblings arrive at the studio, there's always this mix of excitement, nerves, and the obvious, why aren't we doing this again, kind of energy. So we start gently, a little bit of chatting, a bit of banter, and then when no one's really paying attention, we start the process of creating some photographs. The goal isn't to get the perfect shot straight away. It's to help everyone feel comfortable enough to be themselves. That's for me at least when the magic really happens, when the walls come down and we capture something real. Over the course of this video, I'll be walking you through the full sibling session from understanding family dynamics, to posing to lighting, and even a few post-production tips. I'll share what I've learned, what to look out for, and a few things that well hopefully might surprise you along the way. So whether you are just starting out or looking to sharpen your portrait skills. Grab a cup, get comfy, and let's get into it. So why do we photograph? Siblings. Well, aside from the fact that it's often loads of fun, it's also one of the most meaningful kinds of portraiture that we get to do. Parents book these sessions for all sorts of reasons, but they all come back to one thing. Time is flying by. You'll notice in this shoot we've got three siblings, Ellie, Ryan, and Olivia, at 12, 14, and 16, they were right in the middle of a huge chapter of life starting secondary school, preparing for GCSEs, discovering. Well, who they are. The teen years are packed with milestones, school transitions, proms turning 18, maybe even heading off to university, leaving parents as empty nesters. It's the season of growth spurts, mood swings, braces first loves. Ooh, they hurt. And finding your voice. And while the kids might not always be thrilled about having their photograph taken. Parents usually are for them. These things aren't just portraits. Their memories in the making proof that yes, they were all under the same roof at the same time, even if someone had to be bribed with snacks to sit still for more than 10 minutes. These shoots also help families mark a moment before everything shifts because one day. Trust me, the house gets quieter, the bedrooms get emptier, and these images become a beautiful reminder of that wild, wonderful, messy funny in between stage where everyone's growing up, but they're still together. So when you're photographing siblings, you are not just taking pictures, you're creating a little tiny time capsule. A moment parents can come back to again and again long after the kids have flown the nest. Now photographing siblings isn't just about getting them in the same place. At the same time, it's about understanding their dynamic. Every set of siblings has their own rhythm, their own tick. It's like a clock. Some are thick as thieves, finishing each other's sentences and collapsing into giggles over private jokes. Others are more independent, happy to be photographed together, but clearly used to doing their own thing. And then of course, you get the wonderfully combative ones who can't go two minutes without a bit of banter or a poke in the ribs and honestly. I love you all. Well, nearly all of it. I don't like it when they're arguing. When I start a session, I'm not just watching how they smile. I'm watching how they interact, who's the leader, who hangs back a bit, who rolls their eyes when the others start being silly. This gives me a huge amount of insight into how to approach the shoot, and it helps me decide when to step in. And went to just let them be in this session. Ellie is the youngest, cheerful, bright, completely up for anything, and very sassy. Ryan, her older brother, had a look on his face that makes him seem like he had no idea what was going on. And that's throughout the shoot. Just confused and away with a affair. He, most of the time, but a complete sweetheart. And then there's Olivia, the eldest. Energetic, self-assured and keeps the others in line without saying much. Trust me, she didn't need to, and it's wonderful to watch. So I let them interact. I talk to them, I ask them questions. I tell, well dad jokes and gently guide things without forcing it. Some of my favorite images are the ones that happen in between the real shots. Real shots. The ones where someone's cracking up, teasing Ryan or someone else is giving their sibling a look that says, seriously, you're doing the squirrel face. That's the gold. That's the stuff that the parents will love. Of course, I'll also mix in some more stylized poses. The ones you'd want to print big for the living room wall, but even those work better when the kids are relaxed, connected, and natural. I think of these sessions as a conversation, not a performance. It's about tuning in, tuning into the personalities, the relationships to those fleeting little moments that only happen when people feel safe enough to be themselves. And if you can get that balance, the real connection, and just enough structure, you'll come away with portraits that feel honest, they'll feel beautiful, and they really will feel full of life. Ah, posing that magical art of making people look completely natural while telling them exactly where to stand, what to do with their hands, and how not to blink when it comes to siblings. Posing is a little bit of a dance. You want closeness, but not awkwardness structure, but not stiffness. So normally I will start by reading the room, or in this case, the garden. If the energy is playful and loose, I'll begin with candid groupings, sitting, chatting, teasing each other. I might say, stop looking some miserable at each other, which usually gets a laugh and breaks the tension. From there, I can start shaping things, arms around, shoulders, leaning on each other, shifting weight. Adjusting angles. What I'm looking for is connection, physical and emotional. When they touch or lean in naturally it tells a story of closeness without saying a word. In this shoot, we did a mix of candid and more styled poses. The garden shots are lighter, looser, lots of natural light and movement. But once we moved into the studio, I brought in some more refined posing. We use the CHAS launch, the setup gives us a beautiful structure, a bit more elegance, a bit more symmetry, and the siblings look like they're sitting for a Vanity Fair cover Shoot. It's formal. Yep, I'll give you that. But it also gives 'em a reason to get close and as long as I frame it in a sort of fashion context, the body language kind of takes care of the rest. If I sense they're feeling stiff or awkward, I'll give them small prompts. Lean your head just slightly towards your sister, for instance. Can you rest your arm across the back without squashing her? Can you scooch back closer to Ryan without sitting on him? The idea is to give direction, but not take over. I want to shape the image without flattening their personalities. Essentially, it's a piece of theater. And sometimes the best pose is the one that happens in the moment. After I say, okay, relax, I've got it. That's when you get the little laugh, the breath out, the shift in posture. That's just real. So don't be afraid to guide them, but leave enough room for who they are to come through. Lighting, three people, especially three siblings of different heights, can be a bit of a puzzle, a a fun puzzle, but a puzzle nonetheless. Let's start with the basics. When you've got just one subject, you can chase the perfect light all day. When there are three, you've got to make some compromises and you have to work smart. In the studio, I use a key light with a huge soft box, a great big elron box on the front, and that gives me a wide, soft spread of light that covers all three faces without too much in the way of harsh shadows. But with Ryan being quite a lot taller than both his sisters, we had to think carefully about how to keep the light consistent. So in this setup, I had Ryan stand in the middle slightly back from the girls that let me shake the light across the group slightly more evenly. And it also helped balance the composition. He becomes the central anchor, and while the girls framing with their expressions and posture, it all kind of hangs together pretty well. It's a small adjustment that makes a big difference. We tweak the lights quite a bit to avoid hotspots and deep shadows, especially important when you've got three faces, three sets of cheekbones and three different hairlines, all catching the light differently. And this is a key point, is if you change any bit of a pose, change your light, make sure that when you've moved things around, the lighting is still entirely what you want. Change the pose, change the lighting. Now in the garden, of course, we're dealing with the sun, which is beautiful as it is, can also be a bit of a diva. Just like Ellie Dappled. Sunlight is a particular menace. It might look lovely to the eye, but the camera sees every harsh patch of light on the skin. So I'll often have to reposition the group to get them into open shade under a tree beside a wall, wherever the light is soft. And even. Here I got them to pose on a bench under a little brick shelter. The light, however, was coming from behind me through a tree, so I had to look out dapple patches of sun to make sure their faces avoided these strange and weird little patches. And if that's not possible, I either wait for the clouds but which where they usually obliges eventually, or I use a scrim to soften things. You don't need fancy gear. Even a sheet or a piece of clothing can make a world of difference. Now one quick tip. If you're working with natural light and trying to pose three people, watch the angles of their faces. If one person turns just slightly the wrong way, you can lose the light that strike in their face while the others are still perfectly lit. So I'm always checking. Are the catch lights in the same place, the couch lights in the eyes? Is the light consistent across all three as much as it can be? When you're working outside? Does the composition still feel balanced? Lighting. A trio isn't about perfection. It's about harmony. Making sure everyone feels like they're part of the same moment in the same world, lit by the same soft, flattering glow. It takes a little finessing, but well, when you get it right, the result is just beautiful and timeless. So let's talk a little bit about connection, expression, and prompting. Now, this is where the phone really starts the moment when you stop just posing people and start connecting with them. Getting great expressions from siblings, as it is with anyone, isn't about asking them to smile nicely. It's about drawing out something genuine. And with teenagers, let's just say the more you ask for a smile, the less you're likely to get one. So instead play a bit of a game, for instance, I might say, okay, I want you all deadpan, serious moody fashion faces, no smiling. Within three seconds. Of course somebody snorts, someone else laughs. And now we've got real smiles, real reactions, and not the force kind of thing. That's the trick. Use prompts, use language, use your body, use everything. You have to flip expectations. Tell them not to do the thing you actually want. Telling someone not to smile will just make them smile. Heard the old thing. Don't think of a pink elephant. Well, the same psychology don't smile. Almost always causes a smile. You can always, uh, you can always tell 'em to stop looking so moody, and that usually results in laughter and smiles too. With siblings, you've also got this brilliant, built in dynamic. They already know how to wind each other up. So maybe, maybe I'll say something like, tell me who's the favorite child? Boom, off it goes, or who's the messiest? That usually gets a laugh from the parents. The the favorite child thing usually doesn't get a laugh from the parents, but cue the laughter, cue the teasing, and yes, the eye rolls. These in-between moments are where the real gold is. I also have my camera ready for that exact second. Someone drops, their guard, forgets they're being photographed and becomes themselves. Even when I'm aiming for a more serious stylized portrait, I'll often use humor as a reset, get the giggles out. Then ask them to still bring the energy down. Eyes to camera. Cool. It just, that's it. Nice and moody. And of course, within two minutes they've laughed again and we're away and running. Their body language is soft. If they're relaxed, everything just kind of works. The seriousness feels earned, not staged. It often results in a certain light in their eyes, not from the soft box, but from happiness and emotion. One of my favorite moments in this particular shoot came just after I told them how moody they all looked, completely deadpan. Ryan broke first, then Ellie couldn't hold it in, and then Olivia gave this wonderfully indulgent big sister smile, and I got that shot that split second of shared silliness right before they all composed themselves and went back to where we were a second ago. So my best advice, don't chase the smiles, chase connection. Don't push for perfection. Create space for play. Give them just enough direction to feel confident. Then let them surprise you because that, well, that's where the real portraits live. So let's talk a little about post-production. So you've done the shoot, captured the magic, and now you're sitting as you always will be in front of a screen with a memory card full of sibling chaos and sibling brilliance. Time for the final piece of the puzzle, the post-production. Now, I'm a big believer in light touch editing. We're not trying to turn teenagers into porcelain dolls. We are trying to enhance and bring out the best of what's already there. Think of it as polishing a gem, not replacing it with cubic zirconia. For sibling portraits, I usually start with some fairly basic cleanup. Flyaway hairs, tiny blemishes, fluff on the clothes, nothing drastic, just enough so the final image feels tidy and intentional. I'll also remove the light if it creeps into the edge of my photos, which for me, well, it always does. It's my worst habit. I like the soft box close. I'll Photoshop it out later. Color grading. Now, this is where you set. The mood warmer tones for sunny garden, ch softer, cooler palettes may be for elegant studio portraits. I try to keep the colors true to life, but with just enough style to elevate the image. I often either use color desaturated or black and white to really cut through the clothing choices and get to the soul and the life in the eyes. Then it's cropping and the composition. Now, this is often overlooked as a step, but it does make a huge difference. I'll fine tune the framing to keep the energy in the center of the image, balance out any awkward gaps, and make sure each sibling has presence within the group. Now, here's something curious, and it's true in almost every session I've done. The photos that I want to show, the photos that photographers pick are typically the serious, beautifully posed, more grownup portraits. And if I wanted to put something on the wall, that is where I'd be drawn. But the ones of laughter of those kooky little moments, the things that possibly a photographer would reject are the ones that make the parents smile. They're the ones that the parents see their kids, they see the life in their children, and they're the ones that typically they're gonna buy. They're the ones they'll come back to year after year after year. For the laughing, the spontaneity, the slight messiness of life. And no matter how much you try to predict the best pictures, at least in terms of your sales. It's not as easy as you think. So we always include a mix. You do need the showstoppers, the polished, elegant pieces. They're the bits that anchor you as an artist. They're the ones that possibly win awards, but don't underestimate the value of a perfect little moment where someone's halfway through a laugh or their arms flung around a sibling made squeezed. Those, certainly to the parents are the heartbeat shots. The ones that would raise their hairs on the back of a loved one's neck. The edit is where you bring it all together. Polish, yes, but keep the personality. Keep the soul in the image. Keep the story intact. So think about it when you do a shoot with siblings, particularly when it's for the parents to remember a moment in time. The memories you are creating in your studio with your camera, the experience you are giving, not just the siblings, but the parents too. Those are the memories they're gonna attach to the pictures you're going to sell them if you do that. That coupling creates something which is truly magic, truly unique, and it's something that no amount of AI and retouching and synthetic stuff that's going on around us at the moment can substitute. Create that authenticity, create that memory, create that experience, and it will live for a very long time on someone's wall and in their hearts. So there we have it. We have talked about why these sessions matter, how to work with sibling dynamics, posing lighting, connection, and even just a few gentle post-production tips. But more than anything, I hope what comes through is this. Photographing siblings isn't about perfection, it's about presence. It's about capturing a chapter in a family story, one that passes way quicker than you think. If you can hold that space with care, with humor, and just a little bit of creative flair, you're gonna give family something they're gonna treasure for life. If there's anything else you'd like us to cover on the website, please do ask. Either drop us a message inside the Facebook community, or you can always get hold of me at Paul at paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk dot co.uk, but whatever else happens. Until next time, be kind to yourself. Take care. Oh, oh. You're gonna have to tell me if my pits get sweaty. All right. No posing. That's about that. I was about to do an eye roll. Maybe I'll do it anyway. Finished. Okay. Are you, you fancy selling your kidney? You can sell your kidney. I can have veneers. My teleprompters just like Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. Oh, love that. That's great. Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you. We are done. No smiling, laughing at me. Any of that. Even I'm laughing. You are. You are useless. I can hear. I can feel it. I can't see my eyes on, there's just a laughter in the room and it's just shush. Stop now. Right? Go over there. It's you. It's you, Olivia, and you, Claire. It's you over there. Over there. And the notice set. Yeah. Alright. You stay over there. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye now. Bye-bye now. Okay, bye bye. She very, uh, caring and supportive. Uh, yeah, she's quite bossy at times, but yeah, just general. Well, she's really nice and I get along really, really well with her. So like she's sometimes a best friend as well. Well, 'cause he's 14 and I'm 16. He is quite close in age, so we do bicker the most probably out of the siblings. But I can't lie when he is in a nice mood, he's actually really fun to be around and he's very caring. Probably the most caring out of all of us, as much as I hate to admit it. And he can be quite helpful. So I think he, he's nice and he is annoying, but. Like nothing bad. He's all good. He just likes to take the piss out of us a little bit, but it's all good. Yeah, well, he can be really caring sometimes, but he always makes me laugh, so it's kind of always a fun time when I'm around him. She's very sassy. Uh, some moody as well, but yeah, she's really nice, very supportive as well, very uh, caring. I think we probably get along better because we have like more shared interests. Like she'll watch the same shows that I wanna watch. We'll listen to the same music, play the same games, but now that she's getting older as well. And she's a tween, so she's nearly a teenager. She can be very sassy. Like she has a lot of attitude, but I can't really blame her 'cause she says she gets it all from me. She said she's like my mini me, which is good and bad 'cause I had quite a bit of attitude and now she has it as well. But, but no, we, we get along quite well, which is nice. Being the youngest, it definitely has its perks, but then sometimes I'm like, oh, I can't do that. But then they never really make me feel bad about that and stuff, so. Uh, it's always me who gets blamed for everything. I'm always the one getting told off. But yeah, I mean. I quite like being the oldest, to be fair, and I quite like having both of them because it's never boring, like it's never lonely. As the oldest, I get to take the piss out of them the most because I've watched them grow up. It just means that I always feel like I wanna like look after them, like I wanna make sure they're always okay, like no matter what. But no, I like being the oldest. I get along really well with her. I do quite a lot of stuff with her because my sister is gonna get a job and stuff. My brother plays this game, so I do quite a lot with her. Uh, she laughs at us and with us a lot. She's very supportive. She's like, yeah, always there for us, being supportive and everything. So, yeah, she's. Well, she's very, she's actually really nice. Like we, we need her really, I dunno what we would like we'd do without her. Um, she can be very funny, but not because she makes jokes because she just says the most stupid things and when she laughs she sets the whole house off. I mean, we're quite a funny family. My dad always makes jokes. My brother and sister are hilarious. And so it is quite, yeah, no, she's, she's very funny. But she's, she's really nice. She is very lovely. So. Yeah. ### [Video | Transform Any Workplace Into A Pro Portrait Studio](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-transform-any-workplace-into-a-pro-portrait-studio/) This video's for any photographer who's ever had to turn a boardroom into a backdrop-or a broom cupboard into a beauty light setup. It's a straight-talking guide to packing smart, lighting fast, and keeping your head while juggling cables in someone else's office. We'll cover the gear that earns its keep: think Elinchrom 3s, softboxes that don't fight back, stands that stay up, and backgrounds that roll out smoother than your sales pitch. You'll get practical tips on how to wrestle with awkward spaces, tame rogue reflections, and still deliver clean, consistent headshots that don't scream "converted meeting room." It's all about preparation, flexibility, and knowing your kit inside out-because when the lift's broken and you're three floors up with a full setup on your back, trust me... you'll want to be ready. ### [Video: A simple spring-themed portrait of Nikki in the studio garden](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-a-simple-spring-themed-portrait-of-nikki-in-the-studio-garden/) A simple spring-themed portrait of Nikki in the studio garden Bring context to your outdoor portraits by including foreground and background details. Sometimes you want your portraits to convey a sense of time and place. I was photographing our model, Nikki, in our beautiful studio gardens just as the spring colours (and daffodils - bleurgh) were starting to emerge among the flora. I've included some of those colours as out-of-focus details in the foreground, while others surround Nikki in the background. As a result, the portrait conveys the garden surroundings and time of year while still ensuring Nikki is very much the star of the show. Oh, and in the outtakes at the end I get cornered on why I hate daffodils so much... ### [Video: Capturing skate park rider silhouettes during sunset](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-capturing-skate-park-rider-silhouettes-during-sunset/) Capturing skate park rider silhouettes during sunset Inspired by a portrait taken by my son, I headed down to the local skatepark to see if I could replicate his shot for MasteringPortraitPhotography.com Watch the video to see what's involved in capturing fast-moving riders silhouetted against the setting sun, from timing to lighting and - of course - health and safety. ### Transcript Hi, I'm Paul Wilkinson from mastering portrait photography.com and in this video we're gonna talk about these three images where we silhouetted, uh, A BMX rider, uh, a skateboarder and a scooter rider. I'm sure there are proper names for that and I apologize to the entire skate community 'cause I've got it wrong. However, what is interesting from us was. Creating some images. The reason we're going down to the skate park is I wanted to create some really interesting images. Of riders silhouette against a beautiful sky. Got a beautiful sunset. And this particular evening we got the sunset. We had everything we wanted and I had a whole plethora of riders down there, which is great. And I wanted to replicate a shot that my son actually took. A brilliant shot he took of A BMX rider performing a trick, silhouette against a sunset. And I thought, do you know what, that's such a great thing to be able to do. Um, and although he'd done it brilliantly, it'd be great if we could explain how it's done. So we settled down the skate park and worked with some of the riders down there To do this, the first thing you've gotta do is to figure out how you're gonna get a silhouette. And of course, a. Silhouette essentially means that the light lighting, the subject is all coming towards the camera. There's no light hitting the visible bit of the subject. So if, if you have a camera pointing at me and I shone all the light from my back to you and there's low light hitting my face, I would be in shadow. I'm not in shadow because the lights are hitting my face here. And so you always do it with the sun. Pointing towards you, so you look at the sun and figure out what can go on in front. We then used very, very fast shutter speed and also a very large depth of field. So I'm shooting about F 7.1, F eight, around there at 3000th of a second at about ISO 100. It's actually quite a bright evening, but because the light from the sky is all coming to towards me that there's a darker sky behind me, very little light gets to hit the rider who I have in the frame. When I hit the button at 3000 a second, whatever's in front of it, it's. Such a fast snapshot, everything freezes. All I've gotta do is figure out firstly where to stand so that I'm safe. Remember, I've got people hurtling around me, and the last thing I want someone to do is either hit me and damage me, obviously my priority, but also trip over some of my care. I step back into the path of a rider and send them hurtling. So we've had to work with the riders to get this safe and doable. I've then looked at what they're doing and some of the guys we actually worked with and said, could you do that again? Some of the guys who've just watched the channels as they run through the skate park and say, okay, if I position myself here, I'm not in anyone's way. There's an amazing sunset behind and if they go up and over the bowl, they'll be airborne and I'll be able to capture this image. So we've just waited. The guys have ridden and I'm just, usually what I'm doing is trying to figure out that the point in the apex. So as they come up, they ride the curl and at the highest point, that's the apex of the trip is that's when I'll freeze it. Occasionally you need to do it a different way round. So if you look at the scooter rider, what was really important, it might not be the apex of the trick, but it's the bit where his grab is on his deck. So he's reached down, he's grabbed it. That's the bit I've frozen. 'cause that's such an iconic position for a rider to be in. And that's it. That's the trick. You wait, you watch, and as they come up with a very fast shut speed, a very large depth of field, everything's in focus. The sky looks amazing. You hit the button and you freeze it, and you just get these beautiful shots. You've enjoyed this video. There are plenty more on mastering portrait photography.com. Hop across there and until next time, take care. Right in, uh, our priority to, sorry. And you take this amazing image and I wanted to, I ate that. ### [Video: Creating a sense of motion](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-creating-a-sense-of-motion/) Creating a sense of motion Most of the time, portrait photographers work with a stationary subject and camera. The best action shot of this young skateboarder, however, involved moving both subject and camera at the same time. When your subject is moving, you typically increase your shutter speed to freeze their movements. But what if you want to capture that sense of motion, rather than prevent it? Here, Paul shows us how he used controlled panning to capture young Kai on his skateboard. ### [Video: Fine-tuning your subject's position in a tunnel of topshade](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-fine-tuning-your-subjects-position-in-a-tunnel-of-topshade/) Fine-tuning your subject's position in a tunnel of topshade Topshade occurs when your subject is shielded from the sun overhead, by trees, building overhangs and archways or tunnels. Tunnels of topshade provide a special lighting opportunity, and are worth looking out for. As Paul shows in this video, changing the position of your subject within that tunnel enables you to fine-tune the balance of light on your subject's face compared to the light in the background. Then, in the second half of this video, Paul touches on taking opportunities to create goodwill amongst your models (and their parents) while also capturing great portraits. ### [Video: Fun, beautiful and characterful portraits of sibling groups](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-fun-beautiful-and-characterful-portraits-of-sibling-groups/) Fun, beautiful and characterful portraits of sibling groups We've created this video in response to a question on one of our forum threads: how do you capture life, laughter and interesting images when working with children? The MPP team sent me on a shoot with 10-year-old George and his 6-year-old twin brothers, Alfie and Freddie, with a brief to capture six very different images: one of each of the boys alone, one of the twins, and at least two of all three siblings together. On the day of the shoot, the light was rapidly shifting between harsh, direct sun and cloud cover. I explain how I deal with challenging conditions like these, using a reflector sometimes to add light on the face but also as a shade. You'll also learn why I don't recommend the circular, collapsible reflectors, as well as the exact reflector I use on location and why. We'll cover framing, backgrounds, catchlights and getting the best out of children. You'll see my images straight-out-of-the-camera (with the exposure settings I used) as well as my finished edits. ### [Video: How to photograph two men with different heights, skin tones & face shapes!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-how-to-photograph-two-men-with-different-heights-skin-tones-face-shapes/) How to photograph two men with different heights, skin tones & face shapes! Create a film-poster style portrait of two guys with contrasting physical characteristics. My team challenged me to take a portrait of Rob and Matt (our video editor) together, using just one studio light. The point to prove was how to flatter both of my subjects when they each have very different heights, skin tones and face shapes. As I explain in this video, the strategies I apply here can be used in any situation where you are photographing two people with different characteristics. For example, if you had a short bride in a white dress and a tall groom in a dark outfit, you can copy my approach to even out the height and tonal differences. If you are photographing a couple in which one looks best when lit by broad lighting* and the other narrow lighting*, again, copy my approach and you'll flatter them both. *Broad lighting is when the side of the face that is closest to the camera is lit more than the far side. This makes the face appear wider, so works best on subjects with a narrow face shape. Narrow lighting is when the near side of the subject's face is shadowed more than the far side. This makes the face appear slimmer, so works best on subjects with a round or square face shape. ### [Video: How to shoot a dark and moody portrait in the middle of the day](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-how-to-shoot-a-dark-and-moody-portrait-in-the-middle-of-the-day/) How to shoot a dark and moody portrait in the middle of the day Overpower daylight with portable flash for an atmospheric outdoor portrait. Although this image looks as though it was taken after dusk, as you'll see from the video it was actually captured during a fairly bright but cloudy day. In the video, I explain how I overpowered the ambient light using a battery-powered soft box, and how you can do the same with any portable flash. ##### Tech Details: - Camera: Nikon D800E - Lens: Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRii at 150mm - ISO: 100 - Shutter Speed: 1/180 - Aperture: f19 - Profoto B1 Strobe with 1m x 1m Softbox ### [Video: Indoor portrait of Megan with a tabletop reflection](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-indoor-portrait-of-megan-with-a-tabletop-reflection/) Indoor portrait of Megan with a tabletop reflection As part of our series on using reflections in portraits, learn how to include a tabletop reflection of your subject to add visual interest. This technique works on glass tables, shiny bars and even wet tables, so there's no excuse for not trying it out - the results are always worth it. ### [Video: Looking For Light And Locations In The City](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-looking-for-light-and-locations-in-the-city/) Looking For Light And Locations In The City Oxford. One of the greatest cities on earth. Full of history, of course, but also a vibrant modern city with a huge range of locations in which to create portraits. So how do you go about looking for that perfect patch of light and that sumptuous scene to create an iconic portrait? In this video, we go for a long walk through Oxford with our models, Dory and Anisia, looking for interesting patches of light in which to create images. Each location is explored and explained, and we show you just how searching out interesting light (even at midday in June) can help you produce beautiful images. This video is a little longer than most of ours (it's 27 minutes long!) but is broken into chunks that should be easy to watch and understand and it is FULL of ideas for working out on location with nothing but a camera, a reflector and some energy! As always, do please leave us comments. Enjoy! ### [Video: Photographing A Couple Outdoors](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-photographing-a-couple-outdoors/) Photographing A Couple Outdoors How do you get a couple to relax when you're pointing a camera at them? How can you evoke genuine smiles in your engagement and wedding portraits? How does light, location and posing come together in a successful couple's portrait session? Join Paul behind-the-scenes as he creates beautiful portraits of an engaged couple in everyday locations, including on a garden lawn, under a pergola and in front of a street doorway. Paul shares tips for working with light and shade and you'll see his camera settings as well as the unedited and final images. Afterwards, ask a loved-up couple to model for you. Take a walk through your local park and/or town, stopping to take romantic portraits as you go. Then, upload what you create for critique to get positive, practical and actionable feedback. ### [Video: Photographing Children With Their Favourite Props](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-photographing-children-with-their-favourite-props/) Video: Photographing Children With Their Favourite Props The Mastering Portrait Photography team asked four-year-old Benji to bring some things to the studio to be photographed with. He chose some toy cars, a camera and... our studio dog. First though, Paul shows us one of the most common lighting set-ups he sees - flat lighting. This happens when the light hitting the subject is equally powerful from both sides, such as when you have two equidistant studio lights at the same power settings. Paul explains why he hates how this looks and the very easy way to fix it. Then it's on to our first prop, a toy car. Paul looks to create a dynamic, high key portrait, with the car zooming towards the camera, headlights aglow. The second prop is a toy camera. Paul starts off with another high key set-up (using two subtractor boards to add shadow and character into the shot), then he decides to try a low key version with a family heirloom camera for a completely different look. Lastly, we head outside for a portrait with Rufus, the studio dog. Paul explains why he picks the location under the tree and shares some of his tips for working with dogs. ### [Video: Photographing Siblings](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-photographing-siblings/) It's the one single picture that parents want most of all: their children together, looking happy. However, the perfect sibling shot can be challenging for photographers to achieve, particularly when it comes to posing: how do you place sisters and brothers together without making them look like a couple? You'll get three totally different posing ideas from this video, and you'll see how I achieved each of them. You'll learn why I chose each location, how I posed a teenage brother and sister together and - most importantly of all - how I generated some great expressions from them both before I pressed the shutter release. You'll also find out that great locations can be found everywhere: in a car park, along a village street and even in between scaffolding poles! In fact, all three images were created within 50 metres of our front door! All you need is the right angle, and you can cut out anything that doesn't add to your image. This class covers: - The challenges and considerations of sibling photography - Capturing a standing/leaning portrait in a tree-lined car park - Creating a seated portrait between scaffolding poles - Shooting a walking portrait on a village street - Lots of behind-the-scenes fun! This class is ideal for beginner and intermediate photographers with an interest in family portraiture and posing. Try one of our other videos for more detail on setting your camera exposure, although you will see my exposure settings and straight-out-of-the-camera images for each portrait, as well as the final edit. We'll finish off with some words of encouragement before it's over to you to put your new skills into practice! Enjoy - and don't miss the outtakes at the very end! :-) Paul and the masteringportraitphotography.com team ### [Video: Spring-themed garden portrait of three-year-old Amelie](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-spring-themed-garden-portrait-of-three-year-old-amelie/) Spring-themed garden portrait of three-year-old Amelie Natural light, a few daffodils and a slightly reluctant toddler were all it took to get this spring-time portrait. I'm no fan of daffodils but I do admit they lend a spring-time feel to portraits. Of course, as garden flowers tend to be just a foot or two from the floor, you need to get low down in order to include them in the frame, as I did here. Talking of frames, find out why I often shoot with my subject right over to one side of the image, like in this example. Click the play button and all will be revealed. ##### Concepts Covered In This Video - Children - Garden - Flowers - Natural Light - Wide Shot - Simple Shot ### [Video: Striking teenager portraits on the street](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-striking-teenager-portraits-on-the-street/) You don't need to go far to find great locations and beautiful light for your portraits. Join us behind-the-scenes as we take a walk around the streets near the studio to capture stunning portraits of two teenagers using just one camera, one lens and Paul's favourite light source of all, daylight. You'll get inspired by how easy it is to find potential in everyday locations: a wall, a doorway, even a kerb! Paul shows the settings he uses, how his portraits look straight-out-of-camera, and how he finds and uses composition to create award-winning portraits that clients will be willing to pay you for. ### [Video: Studio portrait of a ballet dancer en pointe](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-studio-portrait-of-a-ballet-dancer-en-pointe/) Studio portrait of a ballet dancer en pointe Sneak behind-the-scenes of one of my most popular images and find out why you don't need to get everything right in-camera all of the time. Professionally-trained ballet dancer Emily Gloyens rises en pointe as red satin flows around her. This poppy-like portrait merges the stylings of a fashion shoot with the energy, elegance and movement of a dancer's portrait. Things weren't quite so serene in the studio, however. Find out how I captured and created this image, and glimpse behind-the-scenes to see how it all came together. ### [Video: Tutu Tutorial With A Beautiful Ballerina](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/portrait-photography-techniques/video-tutu-tutorial-with-a-beautiful-ballerina/) Tutu Tutorial With A Beautiful Ballerina It's not every day we have a ballerina in the studio or, in this case, just outside the studio, so when we do we make the most of it. This tutorial shows how we created some interesting portraits focussing on dance posing and beautiful light - both available and artificial. It was a particularly cold evening when we created these images - especially for Emily who was wearing a tutu and pointe shoes! However, with a little perseverance and some wonderful ability from our dancer, we managed to create some lovely portraits. Watch the video to see how we did it! ### [Posing](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/) As soon as people are in front of the camera, they can become self-conscious and awkward. How can you pose them in an authentic, natural way, without it looking all... posed? In this section, we'll show you how to use the way people naturally hold themselves to get portraits that - with a little fine-tuning - flatter them but also look true to who they really are. ### [A Crouch To Suit The Composition](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/crouch-posing-techniques-men/) A Crouch To Suit The Composition I invited Steve into the studio to create some portraits for our book, Mastering Portrait Photography. I was specifically looking to capture portraits that illustrated different angles for photographing subjects in casual attire, with a particular focus on posing techniques for men. ##### Matching the pose to the subject and his outfit Steve turned up wearing jeans and a jacket, so I aimed for a pose that complemented that combination. This crouch is quite striking and masculine, yet relaxed and informal, which aligns perfectly with his outfit. I particularly like a crouch as it allows for a complete portrait-no part of the subject is cropped-while still maintaining a nice proportion for a standard ratio image (2:3). Since Steve is an ex-footballer, this crouch also evokes memories of masculine portrait poses often seen in team photographs, which seemed fitting. ##### Placing the subject for the best light and composition Before asking Steve to get into the crouch, I looked for the best light. In this spot, the light was coming from above and to the left. A brick wall on the right absorbed light, casting shadows on Steve's face and body. I chose my camera angle so that the roofline in the background acts as a frame around Steve's head. If I were to do this again, I'd try to align the roof slightly better for a neater frame within a frame. I took this shot lying on the floor, adjusting my position with the camera to line everything up. Having the floor in the shot helps draw your eye toward Steve. I used a fairly long lens (170mm) to compress the perspective, making the background elements appear larger than they would with a wide-angle lens. Additionally, I shot with a shallow depth of field (f/4) to create a thin slice of focus in the scene. All of these elements-pose, composition, angle, lens choice, and light-tie together to create a high-impact portrait that's flattering, interesting, and harmonious. ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal Length: 170.0mm - Shutter Speed: 1/250sec - Aperture: f/4.0 - ISO: 1100 ### [Aiming For The Lens](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/engaging-portraits-children/) Aiming For The Lens My high risk strategy for getting young James to look directly down my camera lens (and why safer alternatives are a good bet for engaging portraits, too) To get this shot, I challenged James to throw one of his marbles and land it inside my lens hood. He thought this was very funny and set about the task with enthusiasm. This gave me plenty of opportunities to capture the right moment just as a marble went airborne. I happily acknowledge that this was a high risk strategy. Because James is aiming for my lens, his eyes are completely focused on the target. This gives really lovely engagement with the camera and is a great approach to use whenever you're working with children. If you can get them involved in a game that they enjoy, they'll relax and be themselves in front of the camera. The game doesn't have to involve endangering your camera equipment: you could look for fairies under leaves, play hide and seek or sing/chat/tease as appropriate for your subject's age and personality. ##### Setting up the shot I'm using a relatively slow shutter speed (1/100 sec), so that both James's hand and the most recently dispatched marble are slightly blurred. I've set the aperture to f/4 to blur out the details of the room behind him, so all focus in the final image is on my subject. The room we're in has large windows on either side. These have lit the edges of his face but left the mask - the oval containing the facial features - in soft shadow. I am lying flat on the floor to get a camera angle that is lower than James's eye level. This is my preferred camera angle, looking slightly up towards the subject. I'm using a fast-repeating shutter, so I can take a succession of images within milliseconds of each other. Afterwards, I shortlisted these down to just the ones with a marble in mid-flight, just released from James's hand. ##### Finishing up I changed the image to black and white in post-production to change the multi-coloured marbles into a series of varying tones of light and dark. I'm a fan of restricted tonal palettes, so this is my go-to solution when a subject or a scene has lots of colours. Lastly, I'm happy to report that James didn't quite manage to land a marble in the lens. I'm using a long zoom lens set at a focal length of 175mm, so the marble-in-the-lens challenge was a tougher one than it might initially appear! ##### Location Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 175mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/100 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Award-Winning Studio Dog Portrait](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/award-winning-studio-dog-portrait/) Award-Winning Studio Dog Portrait This portrait of Rufus, our studio dog, won 'Dog Portrait of the Year' at the 2018 Master Photographers Association Awards. Here's how we created it. It's always lovely to win an award. It's extra nice to win one for a personal portrait. This shot was taken for Sarah, my wife, as a birthday present. Sarah loves Rufus (a slightly errant working cocker spaniel) possibly more than she loves the rest of us, so I knew she'd be delighted with a beautiful portrait of him. One day, while she was out, my son, Jake, and I, spent a happy hour desperately trying to persuade Rufus to sit still and look at the camera. I don't think we took more than three images and this was by far the strongest. Still, you only need one - a beautiful framed print of this shot hangs on our living room wall. We might need to get a copy for the studio as well, now it's an award winner! ##### Setting up the shot I've used three lights in this set up. My main light (the 'key light') is a softbox, which is positioned above and slightly to the right as you look at the image. Study the catchlights in Rufus' eyes and you'll see the pointed edges of the bottom of the softbox reflected back. I used a dark grey paper background, slightly lighter in tone than Rufus' fur. However, without any light falling on it, the paper looks almost black in tone, and the dark outline of the dog would merge into it without any separation. To remedy this, I've used two big strip boxes (long, thin soft boxes) which are pointing slightly back towards the camera. I've turned these to a low power setting, so they produce a really subtle rim light, giving just the slightest hint of outline to Rufus' shape. Now, the dark background has stayed in the shadows, but we can still see the edges of Rufus' fur against it. ##### Achieving eye contact The shot has impact because of Rufus' eye contact. When you look at this image, it's as though Rufus is looking right at you, in that slightly sorrowful way that has helped him get out of trouble many times before (such as after this cookie episode). To achieve eye contact, your best option is food. You've got 'low value' treats, such as dry dog food, which a hungry dog will pay a lot of attention to. And then there's 'high value' treats, which are dog luxuries such as cheese and chicken. In the world of the dog, high value treats are like a cold beer on a hot Friday, the flashing notification light of your phone or those shoes you've been considering buying suddenly going on sale. Simply irresistible. We had cheese, so that's what we used. I set up and tested the lights so everything was as ready as could be. Then Jake brought Rufus to the spot I needed him in, by luring him into the studio and into position with a cube of cheese in front of his nose. With a strong 'wait command', Jake then walked back towards me, eventually placing the piece of cheese on the lens hood of my raised camera. Some dogs look at the food; others eye their owner. Rufus was eagerly watching Jake's face, hoping for some indication that the cheese was for him and that he'd be allowed to have it. So Jake looked at the cheese, which meant Rufus followed his gaze. Rufus' ability to sit and wait isn't very strong (it's negligible, if I'm being honest), so I had to be incredibly quick once he was in position and looking towards me. But in the millisecond before Rufus thought 'This is torture - I'm going in for the cheese', I had the shot I needed. In case you're interested, the judges' comments were: "A simply outstanding portrait showcasing the personality of this dog. Texture, depth and detail have been retained throughout the image and it completely draws the viewer in." More importantly, however, Sarah loved it. ##### Bonus Tip Once you've got eye contact, aim to generate a great expression from the dog. Strange noises are your friend, including any sound the dog is unlikely to have heard before. My favourite is the raspy quack of a Donald Duck impression. (Dog photography is not a genre to pursue if you want to look and sound cool and sophisticated!). ##### Camera Settings: - Focal Length: 185.0mm, - Aperture: f/5.6, - Shutter Speed: 1/250sec, - ISO: 200 ### [Blue-Eyed Boy](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/blue-eyed-boy/) Blue-Eyed Boy A simple, one-light set-up, a narrow colour palette and a bit of silliness (to catch your subject's eye) are all that you need for a child's portrait like this one. While parents usually want to have pictures of their children looking happy, sometimes it's the more serious expressions that capture the true nature of their sons and daughters. This youngster, Jack, was transfixed by my antics for a few seconds, enabling a shot with a gentle feel that shows off his big blue eyes. ##### Lighting set-up This image is shot with just one light: a 6-foot Octa. There's a white paper background behind Jack, and Jack was wearing white, too. I knew that if I controlled the lighting, the background would render as a light grey, just a little bit darker than Jack's clothing. The white walls of the studio help reduce the contrast and, along with the white paper that Jack is sitting on, create the wonderful lighting quality on his face and in his eyes. ##### Sweet spot This was taken during that sweet spot when an infant is old and strong enough to sit up unaided, but hasn't yet mastered walking. Kids this age are perfect - they don't run away! In case you think it's easy though, I also have lots of outtakes of him crawling around the studio at a rate of knots you wouldn't believe! I was lucky to attract Jack's curious gaze for this shot. I can't remember what I was doing - probably messing around - but whatever I did it was enough to get his attention, resulting in this portrait with his eyes looking straight down my lens. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 140mm - Aperture: f/9.5 - Shutter speed: 1/90 sec - ISO: 140 ### [Close-Up Male Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/close-up-male-portraits/) Close-Up Male Portraits Two simple, naturally lit portraits of two lovely guys. Read on for three tips for emphasising masculinity in portraits like these, and how to pose guys without making them look posed. Sam (left) is a builder and this image was taken during his engagement shoot. He has really engaging eyes that I wanted to make the focus of this portrait. It's lit really simply: there's a window to the right (as we're looking at it). I asked Sam to sit and turn his face towards the light a little and then look back at me. I met Adam (right) on the morning of his engagement. He had just proposed (and had his proposal accepted!) at Le Manoir. I loved the way he connected with the camera so I made the best of it by simply asking him to look into the lens. Like the first portrait, this one uses available light; I didn't even need a reflector. ##### Emphasising masculinity Typically, a male client will prefer a portrait of himself that subtly conveys some of the attributes that we consider ‘masculine': strength, power, confidence. There are a couple of little tricks you can employ to add perceived masculinity to a portrait. Firstly, for a squarer jaw, ask your subject to clench his back teeth. This flexes the muscle at the bottom of the cheek and gives really good definition to the jaw line. Secondly, asking your subject to lift or push forward their chin a little will accentuate their jaw line further. It will also decrease the visible area of his eyeballs: big eyeballs are typically considered feminine. Thirdly, avoid shooting from a high viewpoint. This forces your subject to widen their eyes when looking into the lens, and also conveys a power disadvantage on your subject. ##### Keep it natural I've found that it's best to keep poses very simple and natural, especially with guys. It's so easy to overwork them, but then your subject looks uncomfortable or clearly posed. Instead, notice how your subject holds himself when you first meet him and you're making small talk. Does he put his hands in his pocket? Fold his arms? Rest his weight on one side? Then, when your camera is trained on your subject and - as is often the case - he forgets what he normally does with his limbs - guide him into a stance that is natural and typical for him. Adapt, tune or exaggerate as necessary for what you are trying to achieve, but use your subject's genuine body language as a starting point. This is why when people see my portraits, they often say, ‘Oh you've captured him perfectly!'. Often, they don't realise what it is about the image that does this, but it comes down to posing subjects in a way that is authentic to them. ##### Camera Settings - Sam (LHS) Focal length: 185mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 800 - Adam (RHS) Focal length: 200mm - Aperture: f/4 - Shutter speed: 1/90 sec - ISO: 280 ### [Crafting Stories: Using Props in Portrait Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/using-props-portrait-photography/) Crafting Stories: Using Props in Portrait Photography I don't often bring props into my portraits, but when I do, they have to serve a purpose. In this instance, the prop belonged to my subject, and it was the perfect way to visually reveal a little about the man himself. This is Alex McAleer, better known as 'Alex The Mind Reader'. I photographed him as part of the Champions of Magic series, and his shoot in our studio is the reason we have a signed playing card stuck to our ceiling... ##### Picking the right prop This was one of the craziest shoots I've ever done. There were random props everywhere, including doves, wands, hats, swords, a fake pistol and a portable Nespresso machine. His act is mind reading, which you may have predicted from his name (see - you're a mind reader, too!). One of the props he brought along was a phrenology head. This object was once used by doctors, scientists and psychologists in Victorian Britain to study and diagnose illnesses of the brain. I thought this might make an interesting and relevant addition to his portraits, so I asked Alex to pick up the head and look at it. As soon as he did this, I had a clear idea of what the portrait could be. ##### Lighting the scene I wanted lighting on Alex's face and the face of the prop. To achieve this, I used two studio strobes in strip boxes to the rear of the scene: one either side, each facing in towards Alex and the prop. The background is dark grey seamless paper, but it looks nearly black because there is no light striking it. I love the intensity between the two faces in this portrait. It really does look like they are reading each other's minds, even though one of them is made of porcelain! ##### Lighting Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal Length: 50.0mm - Shutter Speed: 1/250sec - Aperture: f/4.8 - ISO: 100 Crafting Stories: Using Props in Portrait Photography ### [Creating triangles with a family of four](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/creating-triangles-with-a-family-of-four/) Creating triangles with a family of four When you're faced with a group of people, the easy option is to get them to sit or stand close together. Instead spend a little more time to position them so that the pattern of their heads in the frame creates a more interesting shape, like a triangle. Amy, Blaise, Kai and Callie spent the day with us while we were filming our promotional video for Paul Wilkinson Photography. Part of the video shows what our portrait shoots are like, and this is one of the images captured while we were filming that segment. I was looking to create a shot in a wide format, so that it would fill the screen when shown as part of the video. I wanted a traditional family grouping, with everybody looking towards the camera. The video was filmed in November 2017, and it was pretty damp outside. Luckily, these guys are an outdoorsy family, and they were more than happy to sit on a blanket on the grass in our studio garden. There was incredible light that day - as you can see in the video, there was some gorgeous autumnal sun quite low in the sky, bouncing soft light all over the place, which meant I didn't need to use any reflectors (look at the lovely sun rays hitting the dad's cheek!). ##### Putting the pose together I asked Blaise (the dad) to sit down first, and then tidied his pose a little. If I were judging this image, there are a couple of imperfections I would flag up, such as the Blaise's foot coming straight towards the camera, and how his thumb looks amputated due to the angle of his hand. These are quick fixes in the moment, but much harder to correct in post-production. I then asked Amy to snuggle in beside Blaise. Now, Amy is super slim with nothing to hide, but if you have clients who might be self-conscious about their figure, tucking them partway behind a family member is a great technique. The visible width of their body is reduced because it's partly hidden, and this is incredibly flattering. Next I got the kids involved. I asked them to look at mom and dad and suggest where they might fit in. Happily, their suggestions were spot on, with Kai cuddling up to mum while Calli jumped in next to dad. Again, if I were judging this, I would've liked Calli's head slightly more over to the right of the image (as we're looking at it). This tweak would make a more powerful composition. ##### Building triangles If you imagine a line joining up the noses of everyone in this family portrait, the shape it would create is a triangle. In family and group photography, you almost always want to avoid having everyone's faces in a straight row. At best it can look visually boring, but at worst it looks like a police line-up. Equally, you don't want to position people with their heads aligned vertically (the 'totem pole' effect). Instead, position people so their heads form a more interesting shape. One of the most powerful choices is a triangle: it's angular, dynamic and makes for a successful composition. That's what I've opted for here. At the same time, this pose doesn't look unbelievable or forced. It has a close-knit, natural feel to it. Now, with everyone in position, I set my aperture so that my depth of field was enough to ensure everyone's face would be sharp, but not enough to make the background become distracting. Lastly, I lay on the ground to lower my camera angle. This helps to minimise how much of the blanket is visible, leaving all the focus on this lovely family. ##### Camera Settings: - Focal Length: 120.0mm, - Aperture: f/6.7, - Shutter Speed: 1/125sec, - ISO: 400 ### [Fun portrait of a close friendship](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/fun-portrait-of-a-close-friendship/) Fun portrait of a close friendship It was the last summer before four very good friends said their goodbyes and parted ways. My commission was to capture the joy of their time together for them to look back on. This was taken as part of a 16th birthday shoot for Sophie (second from the right of this shot). She was one of a group of four who had been friends forever and were about to be apart for the first time as they were heading off to different sixth-form colleges. They wanted some pictures to remember each other by as well as to commemorate their friendship and the end of this particular stage in their lives. I was hoping for a timeless, almost-nostalgic location for the shoot and happily a friend agreed that I could ‘borrow' their fields and farm buildings. We all went for a picnic there, and the girls were bubbly, fun and very energetic - characteristics that I was hoping to capture during the session. ##### Pin-sharp focus This was one of those shots where I needed my Nikon D3 to live up to everything that it was designed for: fast-moving, pin-sharp images. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. I used my trusty 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at its maximum focal length. I wanted the foreground and background to be blurred, but all four faces to be sharp, so I opted for an aperture of f/3.5. As my subjects would be moving towards me, I needed a fast shutter speed to freeze their motion. 1/325 second would ensure the shutter was fast enough to prevent movement while the image was captured. To achieve a correct exposure at these settings, I needed to up my ISO to 500. ##### Getting the right angle My own height and position was incredibly intentional. I wanted a low viewpoint to include the grass in the foreground and make it look like the girls were running straight out of the image. At the same time, I didn't want the seed heads to confuse my autofocus. I also wanted to avoid having any seed heads overlap the faces of the four girls. Then, when I found the optimum spot, I simply asked the girls to run towards me while holding hands. This helps keep them on the same focal plane, as they can't easily run at different speeds. It also adds to the silliness of the moment, helping to prompt the beautifully natural smiles you see here! For me, this image really portrays what the shoot was about: four bubbly, fun and very energetic close friends having a wonderful time together. Ok, the sky lacked a little character but other than that, the light and the location were perfect for an image that almost looks like a still from a movie. And, if you do capture an otherwise-great image with a slightly blown out sky like this one, our recent video will help you fix it in Photoshop. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 200mm - Aperture: f/3.5 - Shutter speed: 1/325 sec - ISO: 500 ### [Generating Genuine Expressions](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/generating-genuine-expressions/) Generating Genuine Expressions I love talking. My wife says that all I need is a budgie mirror and I'll happily chatter away all day. Thankfully this characteristic is pretty handy when it comes to generating expressions like this one. I invited Sophie into the studio to model for some images that could potentially be used on the cover of our book, Mastering Portrait Photography In the end, our publishers opted for this image, but nevertheless we managed to make use of this one inside the book. Sophie is lovely; she and I get on really well and we spent most of this shoot laughing. I cannot remember exactly what I said here, but suddenly she erupted into laughter and all I had to do was make sure I captured it. You would never get an expression like this just from asking someone to smile, or even to laugh out loud. Instead, I ask questions, make jokes and chat about the topics of the day. This helps put people at ease, partly because there's no awkward silence, and partly because we can only think about one thing at a time. When someone is talking to you, it's difficult to simultaneously worry about your insecurities, too. So the studio air is always full of speaking, and I am always ready in case something I say produces a moment like this. To me, they are the most powerful images of all. Studio set-up As the image I had in mind with Sophie was a full-face, flawless skin portrait, I lit her with a beauty dish positioned just above the camera. A beauty dish has a unique effect that makes skin sparkle. However, it is always quite a harsh light, and if your subject has anything less than perfect skin and makeup, a beauty dish will highlight those imperfections. The background paper is a medium grey, but it looks a lot darker because very little light is reaching it. It also looks a little warmer in tone than you'd expect from grey, and that's because I've adjusted the white balance of the image to be slightly warmer than the 5500K colour temperature of the studio flash. ##### Lighting Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 100mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Getting Kids To Smile](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/getting-kids-to-smile/) Getting Kids To Smile Asking for smiles from young subjects doesn't work. Instead, you need to set the right atmosphere, tune into the child's personality and interact with them. ##### Concepts Covered In This Article - Kids - Creating Natural Smiles - Energy - Creating the Right Atmosphere - Framing What happens when you tell a kid to smile for a photograph? At best they pull the corners of their mouth upwards in a pseudo-grin. At worst they find the whole exercise boring and refuse to comply. Equally, if you try and force the fun, it can be just as awkward. I have two kids of my own (in their late teens now), so I have a good understanding of what children are into at different stages of development. I've always loved joking and messing around, and this means I naturally bring a lot of energy and playfulness to my shoots. This is true to such an extent that it's normally the serious and moody shots that I struggle to capture most - we're too busy laughing! Humans pick up on the signals others send subconsciously, and if you don't like working with children, they'll sense it. You have to be genuine with kids to get reactions like this one. And you need to ensure their parents are helping to set the right mood, rather than undermining it. Here's my approach. ##### Set the right atmosphere from the start If the parents are fussing or being critical, you'll struggle to get the best from their children. Tense parents tend to ‘peck' at their children, saying things like "Stop pulling that face", "Do what the photographer says or I'll (insert threat here)" or - my personal favourite - "We've paid a lot for this; don't ruin it". Instead, create the right atmosphere by laying a little groundwork before you start the shoot. Ask Mum and Dad to pass on responsibility for worrying about the photos to you. Tell them if they don't love the images you create, they can come back for free another time. Let them know they are responsible for the safety of their child, but for everything else, you're in control. Give them permission to relax. Then, tune in to the personality of the child. Are they confident and independent? Or are they shy and perhaps a little wary of you? Spend time getting to know him or her, to break down any barriers and find out what their interests are. Focus on building trust and rapport first. Once that is in place, everything else becomes easier, and you can start working to create the kind of expressions you want to capture. For this portrait I began by chatting with the boys about the absurdities of life and school. Then I let the topics flow on naturally from there, making up jokes, gently teasing the trio and laughing along with them. I don't know why, but it seems to be getting easier to think up funny things as I get older. ##### Frame within a frame On a separate topic, this image is also a great example of the frame within a frame technique. The edges of an image create an outer frame, and by using visual elements from within your scene you can create an additional frame around your subject. It's a compositional tool that helps draw the viewer's eye to your subjects, and keep it there. Here, the square wooden door behind the three boys surrounds the boys, creating a first frame. I was lying on the ground to take the photo, and my low camera angle has introduced blurred grass in the foreground. This creates a second, partial frame across the bottom edge of the portrait. The most perfect composition won't matter, however, if your subject doesn't look like they want to be there. If you want to work with kids, work on your ability to relate to them first and foremost. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 120mm - Aperture: f/6.7 - Shutter speed: 1/350 sec - ISO: 800 ### [Kai With His Skateboard](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/kai-with-his-skateboard/) Kai With His Skateboard Simple is often best. A patch of daylight on a simple brick wall is all I needed to create this portrait. Oh, and the coolest kid on the block as my subject. Kai is very cool, very photogenic and completely at ease in front of the camera. I've photographed him a few times, and knew how relaxed he would be during this shoot. I asked him to bring his skateboard, and loved how it was nearly as big as him! ##### Setting up the shot This patch of wall is less than 20 metres from our studio's front door. You don't have to go far to find usable locations, and there's a big advantage of tapping into ones close by: you can watch how the light changes during the course of the day and the year, and so learn the best times to use it for different types of light. Here, the overhanging foliage (out of shot) shapes the light that falls on the wall. Gaps in that foliage leave patches of brighter areas, and that's where I've placed Kai. Our eyes are drawn to the lightest part of an image, which means we are visually pulled to the subject in a portrait like this. I asked Kai to stand naturally with his skateboard to see what happened - this pose is what he did in response. I simply asked him to look down the street. This adds implied narrative to the image (what is he looking towards? Is he waiting for someone?), and gives an impression of a moment caught, rather than created. To the right of the image (as we're looking at it, my assistant is holding a large piece of white cardboard. This makeshift reflector has created a subtle 'glow' on Kai's skin, which you can just see on the right side of his neck. This lightens the shadows. ##### Post-Production Tweaks I did three things in Photoshop, in addition to a general tidy up of the image. Firstly, I changed it to a black and white, as this seemed to suit the style of the portrait. Then, I cropped it to a wide format, as it felt to me a little like a still from a film, and I wanted to enhance that effect further. Lastly, I added a simple vignette (darkening around the subject), to further emphasise the focus on Kai. All-in-all, it's a simple shot, but - to my mind - they are often the best. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 80mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/180 sec - ISO: 140 ### [Movie-star posing for teen groups](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/movie-star-posing-for-teen-groups/) Movie-star posing for teen groups Three sisters wanted a great shot of their collective pre-teen, teenage and young adult children. The kids were less than enthusiastic - how could I get them on board? This portrait was one of 20 images in my submission for the top professional qualification, a Fellowship with the Master Photographers Association. I took it during a session booked by three sisters. They were looking for a portrait of their combined offspring: ten cousins, aged between 10 and 21 years old. Driven by their desire for a perfect shot, mums and dads can sometimes ‘peck' at their children and make lots of ‘suggestions'. Although trying to help, this interference can backfire. That's a particular risk with teenagers, who tire of parental directives particularly quickly. In addition, the cousins were not totally enthusiastic about having a formal family photograph. To get them onboard, I sent their mums (the three sisters) off to make themselves a drink, and instead asked the children what kind of portrait they'd like to see. Naturally, they wanted something that would make them look cool, and definitely didn't want a cheesy group cuddle with matching grins. Once they saw that I was listening to them and would take their preferences into account, they were a lot more interested in taking part. ##### Finding the light It was a lovely summer's evening, and I noticed that they were all wearing very different styles of footwear: some heels, some flats, some smart and some casual. To bring more coherence to the portraits, I asked them to slip off their shoes and go barefoot instead. The shoot took place at the beautiful family home belonging to one of the mums. I had worked with the family in this location before and knew that there was usually good light down the end of the garden at this time of day. I dragged everyone down there to see what we could create. As soon as I saw this wall I started to visualise the shot. The sun was dipping low enough that there was no direct light hitting it. Another wall opposite (behind the camera, as we're looking at the image) was pale, helping to bounce more light towards where my subjects would be standing. Soft light, bouncing in from all directions, is perfect for flattering everyone in a group portrait. ##### Directing the pose I asked the cousins to move close together and then lean against the wall as though we were just having a casual chat. Once everyone had done that in a way that felt natural and comfortable to them, I asked each individual to make small adjustments to make sure nobody was standing in exactly the same way, as this would look regimented and forced. As I backed up to take the shot, I kept talking and bantering with them. This meant their eyes would maintain focus on me, and therefore the camera, too. If your subjects start to tune out, their eyes glaze over. In the final images, this loses the connection with the viewer, so be intentional when engaging with your subject and timing your shot. In post-production, I felt the image worked best as a black and white. The cousins were wearing an array of different-coloured tops, and converting to just light and dark tones removes the distraction of the colours. The end result feels more like a movie poster, rather than a family portrait, and I'm not sure who loved it the most: the parents or the cousins! I'm quite pleased with it, too! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 58mm - Aperture: f/5.6 - Shutter speed: 1/320 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Newborn Portraits With No Kit And No Time](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/newborn-portraits-with-no-kit-and-no-time/) Newborn Portraits With No Kit And No Time With all the time and kit in the world, it would be easy creating spectacular newborn portraits all the time. Back in the real world, there's often a balance to be sought: what kit do you really need, versus what would be nice to have, and what can you realistically achieve in the time that you have? ##### No Kit And No Time This was taken before I owned dedicated kit for photographing newborns. When it comes to equipment, it's easy to feel like you can't get started until you own this light, that lens and a hundred different gadgets. But as this image shows, it's about working with what you have, rather than having everything you think you need. So we piled up pillows and then draped a blanket over them. At the back, the blanket is clipped on to a background crossbar that's just out of sight. There's a large window to the left (as we're looking at it) that's providing all the light for this portrait. I've shot with the lens wide open for as shallow depth of focus as I can manage. I wanted the detail of the blanket to disappear as much as possible in the background, while keeping Xavier's face sharp. ##### Accepting compromise I didn't really want Xavier to be clenching his hands. A newborn photography specialist would wait until the baby was asleep and then properly manipulate the arms. However, this shot was taken at the end of a normal family group session, so I was happy to get a simple, well-lit image that the family would cherish, rather than get nothing at all. Unless you can dedicate many hours to newborn photography (and all credit to those specialists whose work I so admire), you have to work quickly and make the best of the situation. In this instance, my priority was creating a gentle image of a precious new addition to the family. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 135mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/50 sec - ISO: 400 ### [Searching For Giants](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/searching-for-giants/) Searching For Giants Making your shoots fun for your subjects is key to getting memorable portraits. This image was the final shot of the day and the result of a playful interaction. The shoot with George and his parents was over, and we were walking back to the studio. I had plenty of shots already, but then we passed a church with a huge door. An image formed in my mind. Note: to create the sense of height in the doors, I lay on the ground. In my head I sort of knew what the image could look like but I had no idea it would be so effective! All thanks to George! I asked George who he thought might live there, and we agreed that it might be a giant - who else would need a door as gigantic as this? ##### Playing detective We discussed whether the giant might be at home right now, and how we could find out. We listened to see if we could hear heavy footsteps or thunderous breathing. We looked through the windows for the glow of a supersize TV. Nothing. After much debate, we decided that the best way to tell for sure would be to knock on the door. After all, that's what the postman must do to deliver the giant's parcels, right? The trick for me has always been to be authentic: I genuinely like messing around! Some photographers have a whole approach to working with kids, but I am just who I am and it seems to work - I don't overthink it. You will need to find your own way of getting kids (and their parents!) on board during a shoot but make it natural, fun and safe and you should do well! So I asked George if he would go up and knock, not really expecting him to agree, but clearly he's a brave little guy. He strode up to the huge oak doors, reached his arm up to its maximum stretch and gave the knocker a massive clang. I took the photo, loving the humorous visual narrative of the huge door and the small boy. The pale stonework lining the doorframe contrasts against the darker outer brickwork, while George's blond hair and light-coloured outfit sets him apart from the door perfectly. George ran back to us. Clearly, the giant was out that day. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief and made it home without being ground up and cooked by the giant for his stew. ##### Making it fun for your subject This is how I work with children. I meet them on their level. I find out what interests them, and use this as a way of having meaningful interactions with them. I keep their attention throughout the shoot by being playful, silly and energetic (in bursts), all while staying in charge. In this line of work, you need to become an entertainer as much as a photographer. If you want to capture a range of expressions, you need to learn to create them authentically in others. During this shoot with George, I wasn't firing a list of instructions at him, just like all the other boring adults he meets. I was making it exciting for him. He was oblivious to the fact that I was holding a camera, and that his parents wanted some nice photos of him. Next time his parents bring him to our studio, he'll happily run through our doors, because he knows this is a place where he'll enjoy himself. And that, of course, makes good business sense, too. ##### Illustration ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 95mm - Aperture: f/3.5 - Shutter speed: 1/640 sec - ISO: 500 ### [Snoozing Newborns](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/snoozing-newborns/) Snoozing Newborns Ah, newborns. You can't ask them to pose or reason with them. They sleep when you don't want them to, and wont sleep when you do want them to. Nevertheless, it's magical when it all comes together. Here's the stories behind two of my favourite newborn portraits. ##### Newborn Bonds I'm not a newborn portrait specialist, but we do occasionally get new mums and dads contact our studio for photography sessions. Mostly I prefer to pose newborns with one or both of their parents, to show how special the bond is. However, for this first image, Theo's father had a particular shot in mind. ##### Baby on a basket The image on the top left is of Theo. His dad was looking for a more graphical portrait, alongside the ones I captured of Theo in his parents' arms. He specifically asked me to use the hamper basket in the shot, and - although it's not something we normally do - I agreed. The challenge was making sure Theo was completely safe. No portrait - no matter how beautiful - is worth risking a baby's safety over. Babies come first, portraits second. So just out of the frame, Theo's mum and dad were right there on either side, ready to step straight in if Theo began to stir. In the end, he stayed sound asleep and didn't budge, but it's never worth taking a risk with babies. I wanted to create an orthogonal view (with lots of right angles) so I shot facing straight on to the basket. This draws attention to the gentle shape of the sleeping baby. ##### A kiss from mum The image on the top right is Kyra. Her mum is a midwife, so she was more confident handling her baby at just four days old than most parents ever become! For this image, I wanted to create a feeling of intimacy, so I used a close crop and a slight angle to make it feel like you (the viewer) are very close to the pair. The studio is nice and warm - not hot, as it would need to be if these babies were undressed - but warm enough so that the baby was comfortable, which aids sleep. ##### Camera Settings - Theo (LHS) Focal length: 78mm - Aperture: f/8 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 50 - Kyra (RHS) Focal length: 200mm - Aperture: f/6.7 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 50 ### [Striking a deal to get the shot](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/striking-a-deal-to-get-the-shot/) Striking a deal to get the shot Alex wasn't interested in having his photo taken, so I needed a strategy to encourage him to cooperate. Happily, one of the tricks up my sleeve worked a treat, enabling me to get him involved and even capture this joyful portrait. I still don't know what the official term for this leaping heal-kick is. I've always called it a ‘Dick Van Dyke' as, along with his decidedly dubious Cockney accent, this is what I most remember him for. When I describe it to people this way, they seem to understand what I'm talking about, so that's what I'm calling it. Anyway. ##### Striking a deal to get Alex onboard Alex was ten years' old at the time of this shoot, and had decided he didn't want to be photographed. This is quite common with families, as kids push back, challenge authority and assert their own preferences and demands. At the same time, however, I'm being commissioned to capture family portraits, and I need all the children to participate and cooperate. So I struck a deal with Alex, using a trick I often try when kids don't want to be in the photos. I agreed he could use my camera to take pictures of the rest of his family provided that - periodically - I could get a shot of him that I wanted. He decided this was a fair exchange, and our little bit of bargaining worked beautifully all afternoon. This leaping heal-kick was the final shot I asked of him. We were heading back to the studio at the end of the shoot when I noticed this path bend away into the distance. I thought it would make a nice location, and visualised the energy and motion of a heel-kick as the perfect pose. I spent quite a while showing him how to do it, so I was quite out of breath by the time I backed up to take the shot! But it was worth it - I couldn't have wished for more. The light, the hair, the hands and the heals all came together at the right millisecond, framed perfectly by a set of appealing shapes from the road and the verge. Alex got it right first time, and I hit the shutter just once to capture the shot. It's always worth trying these things because sometimes you just get lucky! ##### Shooting for speed It was a bright day with hazy skies and a beautiful, bright light. I set my aperture to f/5. While I wanted to separate Alex from the background by having it dissolve out of focus behind him, I also couldn't control exactly where he'd make the leap, and wanted to ensure he would be sharp in the final shot. F/5 on a 70-200mm lens gave me the right compromise. At the same time, I needed a fast shutter speed, as I wanted to freeze Alex in midair. A slower shutter speed would result in blur as Alex moved across the frame while the shutter was open. So I opted for 1/600th of a second, raising my ISO to 500 to ensure a correct exposure. Lastly, I converted the image to black and white in post-production. As you can see from the image, Alex has some details on his socks, and stripes on his top. These are brightly coloured and can distract your eye. I wanted the shot to be all about the mood and joy of the heel-kick and a black and white conversion achieved this. All-in-all, this shot was a great outcome for someone who decided he didn't want to be photographed at all. You might even say it was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 200.0mm - Aperture: f/2.8 - Shutter speed: 1/600 sec - ISO: 500 ### [Turning Props Into Fresh Portrait Ideas](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/turning-props-into-fresh-portrait-ideas/) Turning Props Into Fresh Portrait Ideas When Grace's mum turned up at my studio with her daughter's name in big fabric letters, an idea started to form... Follow my thought process and find out how I turned it into a reality. Grace is the daughter of one of the couples whose wedding I photographed previously, Amy and Jonny. When they came in, Amy mentioned she had brought some props but nothing quite prepared me for the soft, fabric letters spelling out her name! I'm not normally a big fan of this kind of accessorising but when I saw the letters, I noticed that the letter ‘A' sat in the middle of her name. I also noticed that the colour and pattern of Grace's sleeves was similar in style to the letters, and an idea started to come together in my head. I stood the letters up then sat Grace in the middle, in place of the letter A. In fact, Amy could have saved a few quid by only buying the other four. ##### Look to the light Once I could see what the shot was we had to sort out the lighting. This is a single, big flash to the left and fairly low down to the floor. Although the floor and wall look grey, they are in fact white vinyl. But, with no light reaching the back of the studio, the white looks much darker, like a mid-grey. There is a little bit of vignetting applied to the image but not too much - it's mostly done with the lighting. Once the light was in place, I knew I wanted Grace to look towards it (i.e. to the left as we're looking at it). So I asked Jonny to go the side next to the flash and get her attention. This only half worked as Grace looked to her dad and then immediately became engrossed with the letter R. Who knew an ‘R' could be so fascinating? However, that made the shot even better in my opinion. ##### Too young to run away This age is great for photographing small children because they're sitting up (so I can get really lovely full face portraits) but they're not yet crawling or walking so won't run off anywhere. That doesn't mean they'll always cooperate but it does increase your chances! The final colouring is just a hue / saturation layer in Photoshop with the saturation level reduced. This makes the image become primarily about the form of the subject and the letters, rather than focusing on the colours. ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 70mm - Aperture: f/6.7 - Shutter speed: 1/125 sec - ISO: 70 ### [Using Your Subject's Natural Stance](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/using-your-subjects-natural-stance/) Using Your Subject's Natural Stance People need direction in front of the camera - otherwise they often become self-conscious and suddenly forget how they would sit or stand in a relaxed manner normally. So how do I pose them without making them look all... posed? ##### Posing people without posing them Glen got in contact with us because he wanted some portraits to give to his nan. He has quite a dark skin tone, and arrived in this dark suit, which made me very happy because I love portraits that combine a very narrow range of tones, especially when combined with an uber-cool pose like this one. I like the rule-breaking crop on this image. I remember when I created it that I couldn't work out which crop I liked best: the traditional way of the subject looking into the negative space or, as I eventually concluded (rightly or wrongly) looking away from the negative space, creating more an uneasy feel to it. Not everyone will agree I got it right! I could see that Glen's suit and skin colour would - once converted to monochrome - be almost identical in tone, so I planned the image conversion from the start. ##### Look for your subject's natural stance I want to create portraits that don't look posed. So I talk to people before I photograph them - just regular small talk - and I watch how they stand and move and hold themselves. Then, when we get into the studio, I guide them into a position that is natural for them. By doing this, they look more authentic in the final portraits, as they are holding themselves in ways that their friends and family recognise as being typical of them. While I was chatting with Glen, he stood naturally with his hands in his pockets. So that's exactly how I posed him, turning him to a seven eighths head position away from the light. ##### A single softbox set-up There's just a single light used in this image: one softbox, to the right of Glen (from our point of view). The light is close to Glen and facing directly towards him. It's been interesting going back and analysing images I created years ago as - like all things - my techniques and tastes have changed. It's nice to see that the images still stand up to scrutiny of course, but you develop over time. That said, this lighting pattern is gorgeous and I might just revisit it! This portrait is from a few years back. Nowadays, I tend to feather the light more by angling the flash head and soft box slightly away from my subject. By doing this, the light that falls on him or her has more of a soft, gentle quality to it. I also place them slightly further back from my subject. This means more light bounces around the room, giving a little fill light on the shadowed side of my subject like in this portrait of Bruno. While I'm really pleased with this image, there's just one thing I'd like to change. Our eyes are drawn to the brightest part of an image, and at the moment that's Glen's collar. Given the chance to get Glen in the studio again, I would switch him into an off-white shirt, so that we are drawn first and foremost to his face. ##### Studio Diagram ##### Camera Settings - Focal length: 100mm - Aperture: f/8 - Shutter speed: 1/100 sec - ISO: 100 ### [Video: BJJ Fighters - Pose, Shoot, Photoshop](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/bjj_fighters/) BJJ Fighters - Pose, Shoot, Photoshop In this video, we take a couple of good friends of the studio - Chris and Ben - who are both Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) Fighters and create some images for their new YouTube channel. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to show: - How I work with, pose and frame two subjects for an image that will fit a wide aspect ratio (for a video channel). - How to light dark-toned clothes so that they stand out on a dark background. - How I met the brief with three different images (one in-camera portrait, one composite portrait and one contrasting background portrait). - How I develop an image in Lightroom and carry out a full edit in Photoshop. - The last thing I do in Photoshop to add the finishing touch and bring a composite together. The first half of the video walks through the posing and lighting (and some considerations when you know you're going to be working on the image later in Photoshop) and then the second half walks through the compositing and finishing in Photoshop. For each portrait you'll see my images straight-out-of-the-camera, with exposure settings and the final edit, too. Enjoy - and don't miss the outtakes at the very end! :-) ### [Video: Simple studio couple portraits of Lily and Sam](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/video-simple-studio-couple-portraits-of-lily-and-sam/) Simple studio couple portraits of Lily and Sam We came into the studio to warm up and dry off after a rather soggy winter portrait taken in the rain/snow outside. I put the kettle on and handed out the cups, and spotted the opportunity for a few simple but lovely studio portraits featuring some splashes of red. Watch the video to see what we created and find out why you shouldn't complicate your lighting, or be scared of including shadows in your portraits. ### [Working with people of different heights](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/posing/working-with-people-of-different-heights/) Working with people of different heights How do you balance out height differences in a couple or group? This is my approach to photographing short and tall people together - and why sometimes it's best not to manipulate height differences at all. I was recently commissioned to create a panoramic image for a company's website, featuring everyone in the team. For this kind of job, I typically shoot everyone individually, then combine the images in post-production. This allows for a little manipulation to even out big variances in height for a more pleasing composition. However, I never want to overdo it or have everyone's heads on the exact same horizontal line - that just looks like a police line up. A little variation looks much more believable. In a private portrait shoot, such as for a family, I don't usually try to manipulate heights much, if at all. If one person is a lot taller than everyone else, I might get them to lean on a wall or other structure to reduce the discrepancy a little. But if I adjust the heights too much, then it's not really a true portrait of them and their family anymore. ##### Extreme height differences in couples What about couples? A few years ago, I was booked for a wedding by a four-foot bride who was marrying a six-foot groom. They'd had engagement photos done in Sri Lanka, but the photographer hadn't known how to handle the height difference, and simply insisted the couple were seated in all of the shots. The couple were disappointed with the result, which was stilted and repetitive. On their wedding day, I asked them to simply snuggle up. They were an affectionate couple and knew how to fall into each other, which looked really natural and was very true to how they were as a couple. However, sometimes I get couples where one or both partners are sensitive about their heights, for example when a bride is taller than the groom. If they've requested that I manipulate their perceived heights then I'll use staircases or steps, seat them or turn them in towards each other in different ways to achieve this. But otherwise I'm not overly focused on bringing people's faces closer together. Having faces at different heights enables me to create a more interesting and pleasing composition. ##### Using camera angles to minimise height differences In the case of this image of Matt and Rob, though, I was challenged to balance out a number of physical differences, including height. To do this, I positioned Matt a step further back than Rob. Then, I lowered my own camera angle until their heights evened up. How does this work? Put your hands in front of you, palms to the wall opposite and your wrists level with the top of your head. Raise your left hand an inch higher than your right hand to represent the difference in height between Matt and Rob. Now bring your right hand an inch closer. Suddenly, the height difference vanishes. That's because things that are closer to us appear taller when viewed from a low angle. Of course, now your right hand might look slightly bigger as it's now closer to your eyes. Using a long focal length (a 78mm lens in this instance) helps to minimise this effect, whereas a wide angle lens used closer up would make Rob look much bigger than Matt. ### [Post-Production](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/) Post-Production There are purists who believe that no post-production editing should be necessary for a great shot. For the majority of portrait photographers, however, using software to improve their images is just part of the standard workflow. ### [Bits, Bytes & Banding: Which File Format Is Best?](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/bits-bytes-banding-which-file-format-is-best/) Have you ever wondered which file format to use for images and why? Well, I promise that is an entirely unanswerable question! However, in pursuing those pesky details, let's take a journey through file types, image compression, bit depth and why you would choose anything other than JPGs. ### The Basics - Bits, Bytes And Nibbles! Firstly, despite the fact it is the analogue world we capture, digital images are stored as a series of 0's and 1's - called bits. These 'bits' are grouped into 'bytes', each having eight bits. So, using 8 bits, you can represent any positive number between 0 and 255 (i.e. 256 levels.) By the way, if you thought the boffins who originally designed computers were humourless geeks, think again: a group of 4 bits is called a nibble. I kid you not. Why is this important? Well, the bit depth (I have no idea why we use the word 'depth') describes how much detail you can store in your image. For example, 8, 12, 14, 16, or 32 bits per channel are the most common bit depths. Each defines how many brightness levels you can store for each pixel in its red, green and blue "channels" (every humanly visible colour can be created by mixing just Red, Green and Blue light). #### Diving The Depths 8 bits per channel allows 256 levels of luminance for each red, green and blue channel. So, if we multiply this for the three channels, we get 256x256x256 or 16.7 million possible colours at each pixel. 16.7 million colours may sound vast, but imagine an image with nothing but blue sky tones or a red studio backdrop; you are suddenly limited to something closer to 256 levels because only the blue or red channel (just 8 bits) is being used. Have you ever wondered why you get banding in a blue sky when you edit an 8-bit file? Well, there, you have 256 reasons: there aren't enough visible levels in your file to truly represent Mother Nature. In addition, you may notice that your histogram has gaps - these are tell-tale signs that you have lost image detail. 12 and 14 bits per channel are more specific to RAW file formats. Again, there is a balance between speed and quality; the files aren't as huge as 16-bit files but give much more information than 8-bit files. For example, a 12-bit file allows 4096 levels per channel, while a 14-bit file provides 16,384. Just think of those silky-smooth blue skies or flawless red backdrops! Only a handful of high-end medium-format cameras or backs use 16 bits per channel on the sensor. With 16 bits, you have 65,536 levels per channel, and the files are huge. That said, you may end up using 16 bits per channel when you convert your file ready for Photoshop (or whatever your editor of choice is). While RAW files may support 12- and 14-bit formats, standard image formats (JPG, PSD, TIFF, etc.) don't; the standard bit depths for editing are 8, 16 and 32 bits per channel. Opening a 12- or 14-bit RAW file in your editor means you have to make another decision: do you downscale to 8-bit (losing some information in the file) or upscale to 16-bit (making the file a lot bigger and slower to process)? Only you can make that decision. Note that you can't add information if you decide to work in 16 bits after initially saving with 8 bits per channel. If you start with 8 bits per channel (256 levels of red, green and blue), you cannot 'invent' the missing information by converting to 16 bits per channel later on: the colour information has already been lost. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it (sometimes effects may look better if they're applied to a 16-bit image even if some information has already been discarded, as the effect itself may use 16-bit calculations); it's just that you have already binned image data, and you can't simply reconstitute it out of the air. Note: incidentally, Photoshop technically uses 15-bits when processing 16-bit files. I threw that in there to keep you on your toes. It does this for historical reasons, and no good can come from retaining such useless facts - unless you're writing plugins or filters, in which case it is critical information. ### Feeling The Squeeze: Compression Nearly all file formats support compression - and with bigger and bigger sensors, that's a good thing! Compression is a mathematical means of making a file smaller without losing that beautiful sunset you've just captured. OK, maybe the sunset doesn't come into it, but we'd never use compression if it completely wrecked your artistry. #### Lossless compression Lossless compression is your best friend: smaller files and, as the name suggests, nothing lost. So what's the catch? Indeed there has to be a catch and it's this: you can only squeeze a file a little if you're not willing to throw something away. But, much like a ZIP file (in fact, some image compression techniques are based on the ZIP technology, so loved when downloading large files), the compression downsize may only be about 25%, which is not much to write home about. #### Lossy Compression Lossy compression, on the other hand, well, what information would you like to discard? You can throw away almost as much data as you'd like, and the files will be tiny. Crappy but tiny. How much you want to discard depends on how you intend to use your image and what kind of image you capture. For instance, studio images with a white background can effortlessly compress to tiny sizes because the compressor figures out how many pixels are identical. On the other hand, a woodland scene will not squeeze nearly so well (but you might get away with heavier compression as any errors will get lost in the leaves!) The thing about lossy compression is that you can decide how much detail you want to sacrifice. Sadly, there is no 'compress it until the sky starts to look rubbish' button, but there is a quality setting running from 0 to 10. Or 12 in Photoshop. I don't know why it goes to 12. It's a little Spinal Tap for my liking: "Well, it goes to 12, dunnit..." Every image will compress differently-sadly, there is no 'one-size-fits-all' setting you can use. For example, if you regularly shoot deep blue skies or smooth studio backgrounds, it might be worth keeping the compression set at a higher quality. Conversely, if you shoot complex street scenes, you may well get away with lower-quality settings. ### File Formats There are so many file formats out there we cannot cover them all - you only have to hit that 'Save As...' button in Photoshop, and the list goes on forever. Each of those formats has its place, but we're only going to talk about the ones we're interested in as Photographers: - RAW - JPG - TIFF - PSD #### RAW Files What on earth is a RAW file? Well, if you look through your file system for the extension ".RAW," you'll be hunting around without much success. This is because RAW files are not a file standard: the term RAW denotes the original, raw data from the camera's sensor, and it is different for each sensor manufacturer. Most RAW formats (Nikon's NEF, Canon's CRW, etc.) are based on the TIFF file format (see later), and each camera manufacturer uses that format differently. However, they all have in common that they stuff the data from the sensor (pretty much unprocessed) and a preview or thumbnail into the file. Thus, every bit of the data is captured, and a preview helps you quickly flick through them later. By their very nature, RAW files provide a straightforward benefit: the absolute maximum data your camera can provide. RAW files are often nicknamed 'digital negatives' (in fact, Adobe defined its very own proprietary RAW format and gave it the extension DNG - denoting 'digital negative'). Why digital negative? Well, if you cast your mind back to the days of film - yes, I know that some of you have never shot on film while others of you are clinging onto the stuff for dear life - you'll recall that a negative wasn't much to look at until it was processed. And that's the point. A RAW file contains all the information you need to drag a great image out of it, but almost none of that work has been done at the point of saving. Instead, the camera saves the data from the sensor and then creates a record of all your settings like white balance and ISO sensitivity. It also creates a JPG preview using those settings so you can quickly see what you've done. Oh, and by the way, even RAW files can be compressed - both lossy and lossless (look in your camera menu for the settings.) So why would you compress a RAW file? As with all things, it is a calculation you have to make. If you have small, slower cards, compression may speed up your camera as it has less data to (slowly) move onto the memory card - and the card will fill up much more slowly. Conversely, compression will slow things down without much benefit if you have ample, fast memory cards, as the compression process will be slower than simply storing the original uncompressed data. #### JPEG Files Well, JPEG files are relatively simple and much smaller than RAW files. JPEGs are limited to 8 bits per channel. That's your lot. Nothing more. But that still may be more than enough! Also, all JPEG files are compressed to some degree. Most people believe that JPEG files always use lossy compression, but if you keep the quality set to maximum, it will default to lossless compression. Not many people know that. But it also somewhat negates the point of a JPEG file. #### TIFF Files The TIFF (or Tagged Image File Format) is the daddy of them all. It is a long-standing format, originally developed by Aldus Corporation in 1994 for desktop publishing (does anyone remember Aldus Pagemaker?!) And it is very much still here. It has been around for so long that virtually every image application supports it - it can hold 8- 16- and 32-bit images and supports a myriad of compression schemes - including JPEG. Huh? What? A TIFF file can use JPEG compression. Yup. A TIFF file can hold almost any image data in any format - which is why it is the basis of so many RAW file formats: you can store the sensor data, camera information and a preview in the file and change the extension to NEF or DNG. OK, so I'm simplistic, but you get the gist. They can also store layered files (including effects layers), which is the norm for anyone who retouches their images. TIFF files are a versatile and long-lived format! #### Photoshop PSD Files Well, we can't talk about file formats without at least mentioning PSD (Photoshop Document) files. These are the default for many of us and, just like TIFF files, can store anything you care to throw at it in Photoshop. Just like TIFF files, PSDs can be compressed and will store 8- 16- and 32-bit images. In-Camera: What Should You Use? That is not entirely straightforward to answer. The problem is that each file format has its pros and cons, depending on how you shoot. Most cameras store RAW (e.g., DNG, NEF, CR2, etc.) or JPEG images (a few also support TIFF images). The problem with RAW and TIFF files is that they can be huge. However, given the cost of memory and storage is more cost-effective all the time, saving space may not be your most significant consideration. And think of all that image quality! If you never edit your files and each of your images arrives fully developed, has a house, a partner, a high-power career, two kids and a poodle, then JPEGs are for you. It will be hard to tell the difference between a RAW file (which is very big) and a JPEG (which isn't). If, on the other hand, you love to process your images - they are like children, needing nurturing to adulthood, absorbing time, stress and no amount of sleepless nights, then RAW files are for you. I jest, of course, but there is a serious point. JPGs are a perfect end-format file; they're great for printing and distribution, and even when printing large, you probably won't notice the effects of mild compression. The 8-bits per channel limit will only really affect areas such as smooth skies, and, as long as you get the exposure spot on in-camera, there is little to be gained by using RAW formats. However, RAW files record the sensor's original data at typically 12 or 14 bits per channel. That is significantly more information in the file (up to 60 times more information!) Underexpose a RAW file? No problem. Overexpose? Just push that slider in Lightroom. You have so much more data to play with that you can retain detail in the shadows and hold onto those highlights no matter your future decisions about the image treatment. But it will eat up storage and processing time. ### Conclusion Me? Well, I am a quality junky - I love single malts, fountain pens, vinyl audio and the best lenses I can afford. So why would I sacrifice even the slightest image quality, given a choice? For me, it's 14-bit RAW and then 16-bit TIFF files for editing anything with a smooth gradient, such as a plain studio backdrop or a clear blue sky. Now pass me that glass; I have some whisky to enjoy as I edit those silky blue 16-bit skies with some eighties prog-rock in the background. ### [Photoshop Quickies: How To Remove Any Skin Colouration (Quickly!)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-quickies-how-to-remove-any-skin-colouration-quickly/) Photoshop Quickies: How To Remove Any Skin Colouration (Quickly!) Ever had a portrait ruined by weird green shadows from foliage? Or maybe red bounce from a wall? You're not alone. In this Photoshop short, I'll show you a simple technique to remove ANY colour cast-green, red, magenta, you name it-without affecting the rest of the image. This builds on our popular redness removal tutorial, but takes it a step further: selective correction using Hue/Saturation layers and precise masking. Perfect for fixing light contamination from leaves, grass, or colourful walls-quickly and cleanly. Thanks to everyone who asked for this! Enjoy! - Introduction and Overview So many of you will have seen our video on how to remove redness from the skin.... - Identifying Color Contamination In this portrait, you can see that the light coming from the left camera left is a normal daylight balanced light.... - Adjusting Hue and Saturation So all I'm gonna do, I'm gonna add a hue and saturation layer, and then I'm gonna just make sure I'm, uh, working on a different group than the master.... - Fine-Tuning the Adjustments Now I can move this up and down so it changes different bits of the image.... - Applying the Mask Um, that's how to do it for the overall image, but what I then need to do is make sure that the mask, um, on this human saturation layer, it is only affecting the skin tones.... - Final Adjustments and Conclusion Everything is working the way it should. - Outro and Additional Resources For more videos like this, please head over to mastering portrait photography.com, which is absolutely full of ideas and techniques for everything we love about portrait photography.... ### [Photoshop Quickies: How To Remove Skin Redness (Easily!)](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-quickies-how-to-remove-skin-redness-easily/) Photoshop Quickies: How To Remove Skin Redness (Easily!) As a portrait photographer, it's not unusual to need to remove redness (such as acne, eczema or other rashes) from the skin. There are plenty of techniques - mostly slow and painstaking - but this method is simple, fast and reliable: it requires nothing more than adding a hue/saturation layer and doing some careful adjustments! PS. It has not gone unnoticed that my own skin in the video could do with a little of this technique, haha. Enjoy! - Introduction: Have you ever wanted a really simple and reliable method for removing redness from your subject's skin? In this video, I'm going to show you exactly that. It's quick, it's easy, and it's repeatable. 0:00 - Identifying the Problem: In this image, you can see that the subject has redness in her skin, particularly across the nose and chin. 0:32 - Creating a Hue/Saturation Layer: To fix that, we will create a Hue/Saturation layer and adjust it so that we only affect the reds. 0:41 - Selecting the Reds: Here, we're going to select the eyedropper tool to select the red areas more accurately, and then we'll drag the hue slider to the left to identify which bits of theimage we will affect. 0:54 - Isolating the Reds: We will isolate the reds further by dragging the endpoints on this little slider, narrowing down the types of red that will be affected. 0:79 - Adjusting the Hue: We'll move the hue slider back, shifting those reds towards the more yellows and oranges. We'll zoom in and just double-check it. 1:02 - Fine-Tuning: There are a few bits here that we want to include, so we're just going to click on those little bits of red. We'll also ensure not to affect the lips and the corners of the eyes. 1:30 - Final Result: If we turn this off, you can see what it was before. Turn it back on, and you can see we've moved the redness out of the skin. It's quick, it's simple, it's reliable, and it works pretty much every single time. 1:69 - Conclusion: If you want to see more quick videos like this, more walkthroughs, and more tips on the art and the business of portrait photography, head over to our website (https://masteringportraitphotography.com). And while you're at it, why not subscribe to our YouTube channel? 1:86 #### Practice Image If you'd like to try this technique on the same image - it can be found in our shop (it's FREE! it's just that once you've checked it out, it will appear in your downloads are for you whenever you need it.) ### [Photoshop Shorts: 3 Simple Ways To Enhance Eyes In Photoshop](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-shorts-3-simple-ways-to-enhance-eyes-in-photoshop/) Photoshop Shorts: 3 Simple Ways To Enhance Eyes In Photoshop In this video, I step through 3 ways of enhancing eyes in Photoshop. These are simple things you can do that bring out the magic of someone's eyes without it being a huge amount of work (at the end of the day, I'm a portrait photographer not a retoucher so I need techniques that are quick, efficient and get me 90% of the way there!) Enjoy! ### [Photoshop Shorts: Create A Reflection That Can Be Adjusted](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-shorts-create-a-reflection-that-can-be-adjusted/) Photoshop Shorts: Create A Reflection That Can Be Adjusted In this "Photoshop Shorts" episode, I show how to create a reflection in Photoshop. Not just that but one that can be done quickly and can then be tuned so that it looks like a mirror-reflection all the way through to a semi-matt surface. I use a picture of a dog to demonstrate the technique, but it's equally applicable (and just as quick) to use on product or portrait photography too. The video uses layers, masks, the Blur filter, Smart Objects and layer modes. So just a few things to get your head around! But I go through step-by-step, so hopefully, it is easy to follow! ### [Photoshop Shorts: How To Add Textured Backgrounds](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-shorts-how-to-add-add-textured-backgrounds/) In this video, I step through how to (very easily) add a textured background using Photoshop. You can download the background used in this video in the MPP Store. Enjoy! ### [Photoshop Shorts: How To Create An Action](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-shorts-how-to-create-an-action/) Photoshop Shorts: How To Create An Action A short video explaining how to create an action and assign a hotkey to it. Actions are a very useful function in Photoshop, enabling repetitive tasks to be performed quickly and simply. Put simply, they are one of things most retouchers rely on day to day. I use the example of a simple 'Content Aware Fill' action that is perfect for removing blemishes, stray hairs and dust spots. ### [Photoshop: Creating An Action To Remove Flyaway Hairs](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-creating-an-action-to-remove-flyaway-hairs/) Photoshop: Creating An Action To Remove Flyaway Hairs In this video, we create an action to (almost) automatically remove flyaway hairs. We step through each step so you can create your own action. Enjoy! ### Summary Of Steps In The Video: - Select the Image: Choose an image with flyaway hairs, preferably with a blurred background and shallow depth of field (0:67). - Select the Hairs: Using the lasso tool, select the flyaway hairs, being careful not to select too much of the background (0:99). - Start Recording the Action: Begin recording the action in Photoshop, naming it appropriately (0:194). - Save the Selection: Save the selection of the hairs, duplicate the background layer, and expand the canvas size by 20% (0:254). - Use Content-Aware Fill: Apply content-aware fill to make the image slightly bigger, which aids in removing sections of the hair later (0:422). - Select the Subject: Select the subject and save the selection. Add the hair selection to the subject and use content-aware fill again (0:473). - Fine-Tune the Removal: Edit the mask and use the dust and scratches filter to fine-tune the removal of flyaway hairs (0:598). - Finalize the Image: Crop the image back to its original size and stop recording the action (0:661). - Test on Another Image: Optionally, test the action on a different image to ensure it works on various images (0:792). - Optional Fine-Tuning Step: If you want to fine-tune the action every time you run it, you can set a dialog box to appear during the dust and scratches filter step, allowing you to adjust the settings (0:734). #### Download The Action If you'd like to try this Photoshop Action, it can be found in our shop (it's FREE to our subscribers! Once you've checked it out, it will appear in your downloads are for you whenever you need it.) ### [Photoshop: Getting The Best Out Of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/photoshop-getting-the-best-out-of-nik-silver-efex-pro-2/) Photoshop: Getting The Best Out Of Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 OK, this is quite a long video! In response to a question from Rachel on the Forums, I step through all of the controls of Silver Efex Pro 2 and then in the second half of the video, run a handful of conversions showing the steps I usually take. I use a colour wheel during the video as a reference point. If you'd like to download the wheel for your own purposes, it can be found here in the store. Enjoy! ### [Realistic Eye Reshaping Using Masks, Smart Objects And Liquify](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/realistic-eye-reshaping-using-masks-smart-objects-and-liquify/) Realistic Eye Reshaping Using Masks, Smart Objects And Liquify This walkthrough steps through a method for realistic eye re-shaping. The walkthrough is in response to Rachel's question posted on the Forums and is to reshape the eye of someone who had a stroke a couple of years ago so it has it has to be sympathetic and realistic. This is probably for intermediate Photoshop users and includes techniques in the following: - Layers and Masks - Smart Objects (Smart Layers) - Liquify - Content-Aware Fill ### [Video | Multi Exposure BMX Stunt](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/sam-multi-exposure-bmx-stunt/) In this video we head to a skatepark for an action portrait with a difference: five exposures combined into one. You'll find out how I spotted the shot, captured the frames I needed to bring it together and worked safely (well, as safely as possible!). You'll see my images straight-out-of-the-camera (with the exposure settings I used) as well as my finished edits. ### [Walkthrough: Black Dog, Black Background](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-black-dog-black-background/) Some of our members are creating beautiful images of dogs on black backgrounds and so I thought I'd post up some of the techniques we use here to make the process both effective and efficient. It's about half an hour long and takes us through the process from the original rough image through to the finished PSD and covers: - Prepping the file and the importance of the blacks - The lighting patterns used - The Photoshop techniques to clean it up including layers, masks, the burn tool, the pen tool, select subject, the spot healing tool and stroking along a path - Things to bear in mind when creating deep blacks in an image Enjoy! ##### Camera Settings: Focal Length: 82mm, Aperture: f/13, Shutter Speed: 1/180sec, ISO: 200 ##### Lighting Setup The lighting for the image is a soft box (1m square) front right and a Lastolite Highlite with two strobes and some black velvet dropped down the middle to create the inky dark background and the rimlight: ### [Walkthrough: Creating High Key Images Of White Dogs](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-creating-high-key-images-of-white-dogs/) Walkthrough: Creating High Key Images Of White Dogs In response to a question on the Forum, this walkthrough covers a method for creating high key images of white dogs (i.e. white dogs on white backgrounds.) The video is just me sitting and doing what I normally do: figuring out what each image will finish up looking like as I go. Although I usually have a pretty good idea of the steps I'm going to take and the finish of the ultimate image, there is no way of being 100% certain until I get under way. ##### Video The video steps through the retouch and creating black and white images in Photoshop using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. ##### Finished Images ##### Camera Settings: Focal Length: 200.0mm, Aperture: f/16, Shutter Speed: 1/180sec, ISO: 100 ##### Camera Settings - Focal Length: 190.0mm, - Aperture: f/10, - Shutter Speed: 1/180sec, - ISO: 100 Lighting Setup The lighting for both these images is a softbox (1m square) front left and a Lastolite Highlite to create the white background: ### [Walkthrough: Fast Method For Replacing A White Sky Using Layer Styles In Photoshop](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-fast-method-for-replacing-a-white-sky-using-the-layer-styles-blend-if-in-photoshop/) Walkthrough: Fast Method For Replacing A White Sky Using Layer Styles In Photoshop In this video, I follow up on a question on the forums about how to replace a white (over-exposed) sky. There are numerous methods for this from Luminosity Channels (something which is pretty advanced and I'll cover it in a different video) to creating complex masks (something that is a lot of work) to this method: Using Layer Styles. The video should be fully self-explanatory but you may need to brush up a little on layers and masks (although I do try to explain each step as I go.) ### [Walkthrough: Fast Method For Retouching A White Background](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-fast-method-for-retouching-a-white-background/) Fast Method For Retouching A White Background In this video, I talk through how to clean up a white background. The image in question is of two puppies taken for the Hearing Dogs where I shoot pretty much every week. The priority for this particular technique is the balance of speed to quality, something that is often missed: all too often, photographers think quality is the ultimate goal but, of course, it's only the goal for an appropriate price, whereas it's the balance of quality and the time it takes that ultimately will create a successful business. Enjoy! ### [Walkthrough: How To Use Frequency Separation In Photoshop Step-By-Step](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-how-to-use-frequency-separation-in-photoshop-step-by-step/) Walkthrough: How To Use Frequency Separation In Photoshop, Step-By-Step In this video, I walk through step-by-step the Frequency Separation in Photoshop - one of the best techniques for retouching skin. Frequency separation is one of the most useful techniques for retouching skin but it can seem a bit daunting to begin with. In this video, I explain a simple step-by-step process for setting up the layers and then retouching the skin. Hope it's useful! ### [Walkthrough: How To Use The Photoshop Mockups](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-how-to-use-the-photoshop-room-sets/) In this video, I walk through using the Mastering Portrait Photography Room-Sets. These can be found in the store and are the perfect way to show your clients just how stunning their images are going to look on their wall! They are simple to set up and use and before you know it, you'll be showing off your images in beautiful, realistic room settings. If you prefer to read these things step-by-step, there is an alternative version here. Enjoy! ### [Walkthrough: Removing Creases From Clothing Using Frequency Separation](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-removing-creases-from-clothing-using-frequency-separation/) Image Copyright Rachel Thornhill 2019 Walkthrough: Removing Creases From Clothing Using Frequency Separation This is in response to a post on the forum from Rachel Thornhill on retouching clothing. The video uses Frequency Separation plus a couple of curves layers and should be straightforward for most situations. To learn about Frequency Separation watch the video here. ### [Walkthrough: Removing Reflections From Your Client's Glasses](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-removing-reflections-from-your-clients-glasses/) Removing Reflections From Your Client's Glasses This walkthrough is in response to a question on our forum. Rob Dunse (who kindly provided the photograph that I use in this walkthrough) asked if there's a way of removing those nasty, purple reflections you sometimes get when photographing someone who is wearing glasses. It occurs when you can't find the relationship between your subject and the lighting where you completely eliminate the problem at the moment you hit that button. While of course it's much better to avoid it in the first place, let's face it, sometimes it does happen. So when it does, here's a quick walkthrough of how to remove it. The walkthrough mentions the following: - Using layers in different modes (in this case, the 'Color' mode) - Using layer masks - Using layer styles - Creating selections from masks Watch the video to see a simple method for removing those reflections. Image Copyright Rob Dunse. ### [Walkthrough: Retouching A Black And White Portrait Of A Young Woman](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-retouching-a-black-and-white-portrait-of-a-young-woman/) Retouching A Black And White Portrait Of A Young Woman Bright sunshine and a beautiful subject, glorious greens and satin soft shadows. Ah, I have drifted into a romantic phase! This walkthrough takes a summer portrait of Megan and shows the basic steps from colour correction in Lightroom, retouching in Photoshop, conversion to a beautiful monochrome using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 and the ultimate cropping back in Lightroom. The walkthrough mentions the following: - Using Adobe Lightroom to colour correct - Using 'Content Aware' fill as a more effective way of retouching skin and removing hairs - Using the 'Dust and Scratch' filter to remove stray hairs - Using Curves layers to apply soft, makeup-like treatment to the skin - Using a lasso and an Exposure adjustment layer to create a smooth vignette - Using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 to create a monochrome image - Using a Color Balance adjustment layer to add a warm tone to the finished monochrome - Using Lightroom to finish the crop Watch the video and see how we take a location portrait to it's finished monochrome. ### [Walkthrough: Retouching A Black And White Portrait Of An Elderly Man](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/post-production/walkthrough-retouching-a-black-and-white-portrait-of-an-elderly-man/) Retouching A Black And White Portrait Of An Elderly Man There is nothing quite like a beautiful black and white portrait. In this video, we walk through how to use Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 to add that magic to a portrait of Bob, a senior citizen, who came into the studio. The walkthrough mentions the following: - Using 'Content Aware' fill as a more effective way of retouching skin and removing hairs - Using the Camera Raw filter to remove dust spots - Using a lasso and an Exposure adjustment layer to create a smooth vignette - Using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 to create a monochrome image - Using a Color Balance adjustment layer to add a warm tone to the finished monochrome Watch the video and see how we transform a studio image using some monochrome magic. ### [Reels And Shorts](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/) ### Reels and Shorts: Your Ultimate Hub Welcome to our comprehensive collection of reels and short photography tutorials, where every quick-fire video we've ever created is gathered in one convenient place. These engaging videos are the same ones you might have seen on our TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube channels, but here, each reel and short is accompanied by notes, extra images, and behind-the-scenes insights. Think of this as your go-to companion guide for navigating the world of short-form video content. Whether you're after a 60-second lighting tip or a brief overview of how we approached a project in the studio, our reels and shorts are designed for easy browsing. You can filter through the content to locate that one video you half-remember seeing at 11pm on a Tuesday. ### [Clamshell Lighting Setup For Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/clamshell-lighting-setup/) ### Understanding Clamshell Lighting A few people have asked about the next steps for setting up clamshell lighting. This technique involves using two lights positioned to resemble the shape of a clam when viewed from the side. One light is placed above the subject, while the other is positioned below. #### Setting Up Clamshell Lighting To set it up, bring the lights in close to the model. The goal is to maintain a large, beautiful light source that creates captivating catch lights in the eyes. Start by turning off the bottom light for a moment. With only the top light active, take a picture to assess the result. This setup can yield a beautiful shot on its own. The bottom light, even when off, may act as a slight reflector, providing a bit of lift. Next, turn on the bottom light. Ensure both lights are set to the same power level to maintain balance. Take another shot, adjusting the model's chin slightly for the best angle. #### Adjusting Light Levels While the initial results may look good, the bottom light can often be too strong. To correct this, reduce its intensity by two stops. The aim is to fill in shadows and enhance skin texture while adding a subtle catch light in the lower part of the eyes. Take another photograph to see the improvements. You should notice that the bottom light now supports the top light effectively. If it still appears a bit bright, make further adjustments by reducing its power. It's important to note that I am not using a light meter. Instead, I rely on taking photographs, reviewing them, and making adjustments based on what I see. #### Final Adjustments After a few tweaks, the lighting should be nearly perfect. In this setup, the ratio of the lights is approximately four to one, with the top light acting as the key light and the bottom light filling in shadows. Remember, these ratios can vary depending on your specific lights and modifiers. The bottom light should enhance the shadows while the top light remains the primary source. With these adjustments, you will achieve effective clamshell lighting that beautifully highlights your subject. ### Before And After Image ### [Combining Broad and Narrow Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/light-face-body-differently/) ### Combining Broad and Narrow Lighting in Portrait Photography A quick thought here, because we're photographing Abby in a fairly tight frame and not really thinking about moving her body. But if you want to combine the two lighting patterns - and this applies whether you're doing fairy light portrait photography, festive portrait photography ideas, or a straightforward studio session - what you can do is move the body around so that you're lighting different parts of it in different ways. It's a really useful technique, and once you start seeing it, you'll find yourself using it constantly. ### How to Light Face and Body Differently With One Source You don't have to light the face and the figure with exactly the same lighting pattern. Think of the body as two separate subjects that just happen to be connected. If I turn my body one way, I'm creating a different look onto my shoulder. If I then move my face the other way, I've got narrow lighting on my shoulder and broad lighting on my face. But if I want narrow lighting on my face instead, I simply bring the face - or the subject's face - back across the shoulder slightly. #### Using Posing to Change the Lighting Pattern A practical example of why this matters: say you're photographing someone with broader shoulders and you want to slim that part of the frame. You'd angle the body away from the light to create narrow lighting across the torso, which naturally reduces how wide it reads in camera. But perhaps the face looks better with a little more light and openness to it, so you bring the chin slightly forward and across to pull it into broad lighting. Same single light source. Two completely different effects on two different parts of the same person. ### How to Use Clamshell Lighting Alongside This Approach You can combine lighting patterns like that all the time - and if you're exploring how to use clamshell lighting, this same principle applies beautifully. The clamshell setup wraps light around the face in a very open, flattering way, but you can still angle the body away from that source to introduce narrow lighting across the shoulders and torso. You just have to read different parts of a person's body in different ways and then light them appropriately. It's a bit like posing, really - you're making small, considered adjustments rather than one big sweeping change. It doesn't mean you have to have two lights. It just means you have to think in two halves. #### Thinking in Two Halves for More Creative Control And that shift in thinking is genuinely quite freeing. Once you stop trying to find one lighting position that works for the whole person, and start treating the face and the body as separate problems to solve, you have so much more creative control - all from exactly where your single light is already sitting. That's true whether you're working with a simple studio strobe, experimenting with slow sync flash portrait techniques, or even playing with long exposure flash photography to add something a little more atmospheric to the frame. ### [Eliminating Reflections In Glasses](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/eliminating-reflections-glasses-2/) ### Eliminating Reflections In Glasses I am often asked about eliminating reflections in glasses during a shoot. The good news is that modern anti-reflective coatings are quite effective. However, there are still some challenges to consider. #### Understanding Reflections When photographing someone wearing glasses, you might notice a blue-purple band at the top of the lenses. This is the reflection of light bouncing back to the camera, which can create an unusual haze due to the anti-reflective coating. To address this issue, the most logical approach is to adjust your angles. For instance, by simply asking your subject to look up and drop their chin slightly, you can often find the moment when the reflections disappear. #### Adjusting Angles Another technique involves having your subject shift their face slightly towards you. This change in the angle of incidence can significantly reduce reflections. If you want to capture that specific shot where your subject is looking up at the lights, there's an additional trick. Ask them to tilt their glasses forward just a little. This adjustment can help minimize reflections while still achieving the desired look. #### Post-Production Considerations While it is possible to remove reflections in post-production, many photographers feel that this approach can feel like cheating. Instead, focusing on these practical techniques during the shoot can lead to more authentic results. By mastering these simple adjustments, you can enhance your portrait photography and create images that truly shine, even with reflective spectacles. ### [Fairy Light Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/fairy-light-portrait-photography/) ### Spinning Lights and Slow Sync Flash - A Festive Portrait Trick If you're looking for something festive at this time of year, here's a lovely idea to try. Take a string of fairy lights, suspend them from the ceiling, and put somebody beautiful in amongst them. Get them to spin the lights around their head, set your camera to around eight to ten seconds at f/22, turn off your studio lights, and fire the flash in the dark. It's a beautifully simple approach - and it pairs wonderfully with a clamshell lighting setup if you want to add a little more shape and polish to your portraits. #### Shot One: Inside the Lights The effect of this first approach is wonderful. Because the lights are spinning around your model, it looks as though she's standing inside them. The long exposure captures all that movement while the flash freezes her perfectly within it. Just hope the lights don't catch her on the way round. #### Shot Two: In Front of the Lights For the second variation, move your model forward so she's standing in front of the swinging lights rather than amongst them. Turn off the studio lights and shoot exactly the same way. Because of where she's standing, her body blocks out the lights swinging around behind her, and you get a beautiful, quite different effect. If you're already familiar with how to use clamshell lighting for portraits, you'll recognise that same principle of controlling what falls on your subject versus what falls behind them. #### Shot Three: The Ghostly Variation The third approach builds on the second. Set everything up the same way, but this time, the moment the flash fires, have your model step quickly out of frame. What you're left with is something slightly ghostly - it looks almost as though she was never there at all. Three variations, one simple setup. A string of fairy lights hanging from the ceiling, a long exposure, and a touch of flash to light the model. Whether you're experimenting with a full clamshell lighting setup or just playing with a single flash in a darkened studio, the principle is the same - keep it simple, stay curious, and see what happens. Christmas is coming. ### [How to make a scene look cold](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/how-to-make-a-scene-look-cold/) ### The Colour Temperature in Photography Trick We often associate cold with blue tones, right? So here's a little trick I use to make a scene feel colder without freezing my fingers off even more. First, I lit Kai with a lamp set to 2,700 Kelvin. That's a warm light, the kind of glow you get from a cosy lamp or candlelight. When I took the shot with this warm light, the image looked anything but cold-it was warm and inviting. Then came the clever part: I reset the camera's white balance to 2,700 Kelvin, matching the lamp's colour temperature. This adjustment shifts the colours in the image, making everything else appear much cooler and distinctly chilly. Suddenly, the scene that was bathed in warm light now looks like it's biting cold. I love that effect. It's a neat way to play with perception and mood without changing the actual environment. ### Equipment The light is an Aputure LS60x with an Elinchrom gridded reflector (and a small piece of diffusion filter on the front to soften the edges. ### [Memory Card Management: Don't Lose Those Precious Images!](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/memory-card-management/) ### The Importance of Memory Cards in Photography One aspect that often gets overlooked in photography is the significance of memory cards. Every photograph you capture is stored on a memory card, making it crucial to understand how to care for them properly. #### Dual Slots for Safety When shooting, I always use cameras equipped with dual slots. This feature allows me to save images to two memory cards simultaneously. If one card fails, I still have all my images safely stored on the other. This redundancy is essential for peace of mind while working. #### Formatting Cards Before starting any shoot, I make it a point to format all memory cards in the camera. This process happens automatically every time I prepare for a job. Formatting ensures that the cards are ready for use and helps prevent potential issues, especially when using cards from different manufacturers. Ideally, format the cards in the specific camera brand you are using, and if possible, in the same model. #### Managing Used Cards After filling a memory card during a shoot, I take it out and place it back in its pack. However, I turn it face down to indicate that it has been used. Any card that remains face up is a fresh one, ready to be used again. #### Backing Up Images Once I return to the studio, my first action is to transfer the images from the memory cards to our hard drives. I rename the files and ensure they are backed up. I will never format a card until I have at least two copies of the images stored elsewhere. This practice keeps me organized and aware of my workflow. #### The Risk of Card Failure It's essential to acknowledge the discomfort that comes with a memory card failure, especially when you are unsure if all files are securely backed up. Taking care of your memory cards is vital to avoid such situations. #### Quick Footnote on Card Maintenance Memory cards are relatively inexpensive. If one malfunctions, do not attempt to rescue it. Retrieve any accessible files and dispose of the card. Investing in a new card is a wise choice that can save you from future headaches. In summary, treating your memory cards with care and following a systematic approach to managing them can significantly enhance your photography experience. ### [Reliable Method For Off-Camera Flash](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/reliable-method-for-off-camera-flash/) The studio was lit bright pink the day we filmed this, because sometimes you need to make a sensible educational video... and sometimes you need to make the studio look like a strawberry milkshake exploded. Why wouldn't you. Anyway, we get asked this all the time: "What's a quick and reliable method for setting up off-camera flash?" Not "the perfect method", not "the method that requires a light meter, a spreadsheet and three engineering degrees". Just something you can do every time, under pressure, with a subject waiting, that gives you a clean, repeatable result. So here it is. ### The simplest off-camera flash setup: background first, flash second This video isn't about perfect light positioning (that's a whole other rabbit hole). It's about something far more practical: How to set the power of the light quickly. #### The core idea You balance your exposure in two stages: - Ambient (background) exposure - Flash (subject) exposure If you do it in that order, you stay in control. If you do it the other way round, you end up chasing your tail while your client slowly forgets what their face feels like. ### Step 1: Turn your trigger OFF (no flash) First job: make sure the strobes aren't firing at all. Trigger off. Silent lights. Peaceful studio. Now take test shots until the background looks exactly how you want it. That's your ambient exposure. Nice and simple. In the video, I'm working at: - ISO 200 - 1/180 sec - f/2.8 At this point, I'm not thinking about Millie. I'm thinking about the pink. It's all about the background and how I want it to render. Want the background brighter? Adjust exposure. Want it darker and moodier? Adjust exposure the other way. Just keep an eye on your sync speed, obviously. No need to summon the black band of doom across the frame. ### Step 2: Turn your trigger ON (add flash at minimum power) Once the background looks right, now you bring the flash back into the equation. Turn the trigger on, and take a test shot with the flash power as low as it'll go. Why start low? Because it's predictable. You can always add power. Starting too hot is how you end up with a perfectly exposed forehead and a subject who thinks you're testing a lightning machine. In the video, the first pop is actually pretty decent, but it needs a little more, so I nudge the power up by a couple of notches and shoot again. That's it. Tiny adjustment, second frame, done. ### Why this works (and why it's so repeatable) Because you've separated the problem into two clean decisions: - Ambient exposure controls the background - Flash power controls the subject When beginners struggle with flash, it's usually because they're trying to fix both at once and it becomes a messy guessing game. This method turns it into a checklist. ### Quick troubleshooting (because real life happens) - Subject too dark: increase flash power a notch or two - Background too dark/light: adjust ISO/shutter/aperture with trigger off, then switch it back on - Want shallower depth of field (wider aperture): you'll likely need to lower flash power, or move the light back - Want darker background: increase shutter speed (staying under sync) or lower ISO And yes, you can absolutely refine from there, but this gets you to "good" fast, which is the whole point. ### The result A beautifully balanced portrait, a bold pink background, and Millie looking like she's never been asked to "eyes to meet" in her life. Perfect. If you want more full-length videos that walk through lighting setups properly, step-by-step, with the reasoning behind each choice (and not just the final pretty picture), join the Mastering Portrait Photography membership and work through them with me. Go and try this method on your next shoot, even if the background isn't pink. Though... I mean... it could be. ### [Rembrandt Lighting For Portrait Photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/rembrandt-lighting-portraits/) ### Rembrandt Lighting For Portrait Photographers Many photographers discuss Rembrandt lighting, its applications, and techniques. Let's explore where you might use this lighting style. Typically, Rembrandt lighting is a strong and dramatic pattern. It works well for subjects like Kai, but it may not be suitable for softer beauty shots. #### What is Rembrandt Lighting? Rembrandt lighting is characterized by a triangle of light on the far cheek of the subject. This triangle is known as the Rembrandt triangle, and it is a favorite among photographers. To achieve this effect, you should ideally use a fairly small light source. You can use any light source, but larger sources may not produce the triangle as clearly. In my setup, I have a reflector with diffusion material and a grid to contain the light. It's important to position the light further back than you might expect. If the light is too far forward, you'll create loop lighting, which is a more flattering style. When you push the light backward, away from the camera, the triangle becomes visible. Taking a picture at this angle will reveal the triangle clearly, although the image may appear quite dark, adding a sense of drama. #### Softening the Light If you want to soften the lighting and lift your subject, like Kai, from a gray background, note that I am using gray paper instead of black. Without light striking it, the gray appears almost black. To enhance the image, you can introduce a second light to add shape and form to the shadow side of your subject. This adjustment can make a significant difference. Now, with the second light, you can see the added "kiss light" around the jaw and the shape of Kai, which brings the portrait to life. While Kai may still look a bit bored, the lighting technique is effective in creating a compelling image! ### [The Importance of Deliberate Practice In Photography](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/short-photography-tutorials/deliberate-practice-photography/) ### The Importance of Deliberate Practice You've all heard the quote that 10,000 hours of practice is what is needed to become good at something. While there is some truth in that, it's not the whole truth. As Anders Ericsson pointed out, it's 10,000 hours of quality practice that matters. He emphasized the importance of deliberate practice, which must be useful to you. There is no substitute for this. Muscle memory is beneficial and will develop over time, but you must actively engage in learning your craft. I love the idea that we all wake up and are instantly brilliant, but that's simply not true. You may wake up with talent, and some people have it while others do not. However, talent can be cultivated through practice. With deliberate effort, anyone can improve. Ultimately, there is no substitute for picking up your camera, finding a subject, and trying to capture it. You will fail, but that's part of the process. Failing is as important as succeeding because you learn significantly more from your failures than from your successes. Make it a habit to pick up your camera every day. Take a deliberate photograph that you believe might be great. Some of them won't be, but some will. I can guarantee that you will improve through this process. Take your time and practice. ### [Studio Lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/studio-lighting-techniques/) ### Studio Lighting This is where we live - the studio. Every article and video here is about studio lighting techniques for portraits, from a single strobe and a softbox to multi-light setups with modifiers, flags, and everything in between. No light meters, no formulas - just eyes, experience, and understanding light shaping by looking at what's in front of you. Whether you're after a beginner studio lighting guide to get you started or creative studio lighting ideas to push things further, it's all here. Flash photography tips that actually make sense, lighting setups for portraits that you can replicate, and the thinking behind why moving a light six inches changes everything. If you want to go from flat and lifeless to something with real depth and drama, this is your starting point. Have a browse, pick something that catches your eye, and see where it takes you. ### [Video | Eight Lighting Patterns For Portraits Every Photographer Should Know](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/studio-lighting-techniques/lighting-patterns-portraits/) Eight Lighting Patterns Every Portrait Photographer Should Know Learn how to master eight essential portrait lighting patterns - including Rembrandt, Split, Loop, and Clamshell - to create professional, beautifully lit images in any setup. Lighting can make or break a portrait - and understanding how to shape it is where the magic begins. In this energetic, hands-on class, Paul walks you through the eight essential lighting patterns every portrait photographer should know - from the moody drama of Split and Rembrandt to the polish of Butterfly and Clamshell. Whether you're working with natural light, strobes, or a torch taped to a wall (yes, really), you'll learn how each setup affects the face, how to adapt it for different subjects, and when to break the rules entirely. Think of these patterns like musical scales: foundational techniques that unlock endless creative freedom. Filmed with real-time examples, clear diagrams, and just a dash of chaos (one camera, one tripod, and a barefoot Sarah), this class is packed with practical insights and warm encouragement to help you master the craft. ### Understanding Portrait Lighting Patterns Have you ever wondered why some portraits have that cinematic glow while others seem to fall flat? Chances are, it's all in the lighting. In this article, we will demystify eight essential lighting patterns that every portrait photographer should know. From the drama of Split and Rembrandt lighting to the polish of Clamshell and the subtlety of Loop and Short lighting, we will explore how to shape light, flatter your subject, and make creative choices that elevate your images. #### The Importance of Lighting Patterns Before diving into the specific lighting patterns, let's discuss the setup. For this demonstration, I've set the camera on a tripod-something I rarely do. Typically, I prefer to move around freely, capturing images from various angles. However, for this class, I want to illustrate how changing only the lighting affects the subject's face. We will take each shot twice: first with a hard light source, specifically a bare head strobe, and then with a softbox, which is more realistic for portrait photography. Using a bare bulb allows for hard-edged shadows, making it easier to see how light falls across the face. The softbox will soften those edges, resulting in a more flattering and natural look. #### Why Learn Lighting Patterns? Understanding lighting patterns is akin to learning scales on a musical instrument. While they are not an end in themselves, knowing them allows you to explore various creative avenues. These patterns form the backbone of beautifully lit portraits. #### Split Lighting The first lighting pattern we'll discuss is Split Lighting. This technique divides the face into two halves: one half is lit while the other remains in shadow. Achieving this effect is straightforward with hard light but more challenging with soft light, as it tends to wrap around the subject. Split lighting is ideal for creating drama or mystery in your portraits. It's typically dark and ominous, making it suitable for character portraits, such as those of musicians or actors. This pattern requires precise light placement to achieve the desired effect. #### Rembrandt Lighting Next, we have Rembrandt Lighting, a favorite among portrait photographers. Named after the famous painter, this lighting pattern is characterized by a triangular patch of light on the far cheek, opposite the light source. To achieve this effect, the light must be positioned at a specific angle to create a self-contained shadow on the far eye while illuminating the other side of the face. This technique adds depth and dimension to portraits, making it a staple in fine art photography. #### Loop Lighting Loop Lighting is an adaptation of Rembrandt lighting. It is named for the shadow created under the nose, which forms a small loop. This pattern is flattering for nearly all face shapes, adding dimension and depth without being overly dramatic. Loop lighting is commonly used in lifestyle and editorial photography, as it creates a natural and polished look. It's a versatile pattern that can be easily softened with a softbox. #### Short Lighting In the film industry, this technique is often referred to as Short Lighting or Narrow Lighting. In this pattern, light falls on the side of the face that is slightly further away from the camera, creating a slimmer appearance. Short lighting is effective for adding drama and depth to portraits, making it an excellent choice for moodier images. It tends to be more flattering for rounder faces, as it emphasizes shadows and creates a three-dimensional look. #### Broad Lighting Conversely, Broad Lighting illuminates the side of the face that is closer to the camera, making the face appear wider. This pattern is useful for clients who are tall and slender and wish to appear slightly broader. While broad lighting is common in traditional corporate portraits, it can be less flattering for round faces if overdone. It's important to use this pattern judiciously, especially with clients who prefer a slimmer appearance. #### Butterfly Lighting Also known as Glamor or Hollywood Lighting, Butterfly Lighting is named for the butterfly-shaped shadow created under the subject's nose. This pattern requires the light to be positioned directly above the camera, creating a flattering effect that smooths the skin and enhances symmetry. Butterfly lighting is ideal for beauty and fashion photography, as it minimizes distractions and highlights the subject's features. #### Clamshell Lighting Clamshell Lighting combines butterfly lighting with an additional light source positioned below the subject's face. This pattern creates a soft, flattering look while reducing shadows. To achieve clamshell lighting, start with butterfly lighting and then add a secondary light or reflector beneath the subject. This technique is popular in the beauty and fashion industries, as it creates a luminous effect without harsh shadows. #### Mask or Profile Lighting Finally, we have Mask or Profile Lighting. This pattern focuses more on how you view your subject than on the light's position. By positioning the light at a 90-degree angle to the subject, you can create beautiful shadows and highlights that enhance the subject's features. This technique is particularly effective for creating contour-like effects, emphasizing cheekbones and jawlines. It can be used with various backgrounds to achieve different moods, from dramatic to clean and fashion-forward. ### Conclusion There you have it-eight core lighting patterns that underpin much of portrait photography. Think of them as musical scales or rudiments for drummers; while you don't need to memorize every detail, understanding these patterns will enhance your photography skills significantly. Hopefully, you've picked up a few ideas to try out and gained a bit more confidence for your next shoot. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out through our website. Thank you for watching, and remember to be kind to yourself. Take care! ### [Video: Five Ideas For High-Key And Low-Key Studio Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/studio-lighting-techniques/video-five-ideas-for-high-key-and-low-key-studio-portraits/) Video | Five Ideas For High-Key And Low-Key Studio Portraits So why does everything have to be, well, so grey? What do you do if you want something bright and punchy or maybe you want to tap into your darker side? Well, in this latest 'Five Ideas For...' video we explore the extremes of studio portraits starting with bright, vibrant high-key imagery and then moving toward the darker low-key portraits. All done with minimal kit as long as you have a creative eye and an open mind. Beautiful images with the most basic equipment (well, OK, maybe a few gadgets later on...) The video is about half an hour long with the usual outtakes at the end. It seems we laugh a lot when we're recording these things! Just a few of the images from the video: Hopefully you enjoy it! Take care Cheers P. #### Transcript: Have you ever wanted some ideas for creating some beautiful high key and low key imagery? I'm Paul Wilkinson, an award-winning portrait photographer, and for the past 20 years my incredible team and I have run one of the UK's most exclusive boutique studios just a spit in the throw from Oxford and London. I host the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast and I'm also the author of the best-selling book of exactly the same name. In this video we're going to show you some ideas, some really simple ideas for creating punchy, high key, bright, vibrant images and on the other side of the line some really moody, romantic low key images all here in our studio. Hopefully at the end of the video you'll feel inspired to drag out a light or two and go create some images all of your own. Please enjoy this video. (Upbeat Music) So what do we mean by high key and low key? Well, broadly speaking, a high key image is where the predomination of tones are bright, white, light, whatever words you want to use. Similarly or conversely, low key simply means dark and moody. So when we knew we were gonna do this video, Katie, Sarah and myself sat down and put together a quick mood board. Just a collection of images that we thought either we might try and replicate or we could be influenced by. Now it's a great idea to do this on any shoot anyway. A lot of those shots were my own, some were from other photographers. I'm guessing by looking at them, some were probably generated by AI. But we just trolled the web and found some ideas that we thought would be interesting to experiment with. The great thing about a mood board is even if you don't get to do everything that you find and frankly, we haven't, is there's always an opportunity at another date to go back, revisit the board and think, do you know what, I wish we could have done that. So I can highly recommend you do it. Now we've picked a couple of models on our outfits to suit the day. We've got Abby who has fair hair or rather had, we last met had fair hair, fair skin and we knew she looked great in a white outfit and we could do really clean interesting images where every single tone is right up in those high registers. Alongside that we've got Lizzie who's beautiful and dark, dark hair, dark skin and we picked dark outfits for her and she really has a more kind of 80s rock of, I mean, I'm guessing I'm giving my age away here, but that sort of big curly hair and a really dynamic face, beautiful jawline and we knew we could create really moody, dark images with her. Now of course, of course, life throws you whatever life throws you. When Abby turned up, her hair was no longer blonde. So what we did is as a little bit of a trick, I thought we could probably still do everything, it'll be fine, but if she ties her hair up into a bun and just leaves a couple of curls to frame her face, actually that will work beautifully. So I've still got a predomination of really light tones and I've reduced how much her dark hair is in the shot. She's also wearing a top where, oh, she brought with her rather, a top that was off the shoulder, which we picked out because we thought we could work with that. And the point is a very simple one, is it doesn't matter how much planning you put into something, how many mood boards or pictures on mood boards you collect together, in the end, you're gonna be sort of a little bit at the whim or the control of your client. When they turn up, you're gonna photograph them. However they look, whatever color their hair is, whatever outfits they've brought and even in this case where we're defining something, we're creating something, the models still managed to throw me a curve ball or two. But there's not a lot we can do, so we just adapted and went with it. Now luckily for me, I'm an instinctive photographer. That's the whole joy of it, is that while I'm working, I'm constantly thinking of new ideas. And so, okay, I couldn't do quite what I had in my mind. We'll revisit those at some other point. But what we have created in this video, well, they're stunning. So with that all in mind, let's head on to the first of the ideas. (Upbeat Music) So in this first section, this first idea, we're just gonna play with one light. I like doing that anyway, nearly all of my shoots. I will start with just the one light. Why? Well, it's really straightforward. And the less things you have to worry about on the technical side of your job, the more things you can concentrate on, on the experience, making sure someone's having a good time, and most importantly, making sure you make someone look good. Here, we start with a wall. I've got a wall in the studio. It's painted a nice photographic neutral white. Everyone has some kind of surface they can use, whether it's a wall, indoors or outdoors, or whether you're just using a studio backdrop, a paper or a canvas. In this instance, because it is a wall, I can easily get Abby to lean against it. And I like doing that because it allows me, while I'm just getting my head around it, starting to read my subject, it means that she can just stand, lean on the wall, put her hands in the pockets, and do you know what? That's the easiest pose of them all. I'm not a big fan of creating exaggerated or extravagant posing. That's just not my style. And it's a style decision. It's not, don't do it. It's really not a lesson. It's just that I like that casual, capturing a little bit of who someone is. And if you ask someone to lean on the wall for long enough, eventually they will settle into it. So Abby's leaning on the wall. I've just moved the light around for a little bit, create a little bit of a shadow to the side. So as you move the light to camera right, you get a little bit of shadow, camera left. And that helps to seat the subject into the scene. If you don't have any shadows, you're always running the risk of it looking sort of cut out or artificial. Now, of course, there are instances when that's precisely what's required. If you're doing photography for Darlene Kindersley, for instance, then that's almost exactly what they're going to need. But here, we want it to look real. We want it to look authentic. It's a portrait. It's not a fashion shot. It's not a sort of documentary shot. So it's appropriate that it looks really natural. So we've moved the light around a little bit just to create that shadow. And of course, at the same time, I'm paying attention to the halo of light that's appearing on the wall. And of course, every light has a hotspot. And you want that hotspot to make sense in your photograph. Now, unless you're blowing it out completely to white, the hotspot will be visible in your final image. So we've just spent a little bit of time dancing that around until the whole shape of the light on the wall, the shadow behind Abby and Abby herself all hang together. It all feels correct. Like I've paid attention to the layout of the image. Of course, there's always that thing of making sure there's catchlights in the eyes. That's sort of a given for me. We brought Abby forward a little bit as well. So just to see what would happen if we tried, let's say, a bit of Hollywood lighting. Now, Hollywood or glamour or butterfly lighting is a very simple lighting pattern. It's a very effective lighting pattern. And you can use it with almost any modifier, as you'll see later on when we get to one of our later ideas in the low key section. But Hollywood lighting has the single characteristic of throwing shadows away from the camera, away and down. And you can see it really clearly when the shadow under the nose is bang under the nostrils. It's called butterfly lighting because the shape of that light is meant to look sort of like a butterfly's wings, but I've never spotted it. I can't see it. I just know that that's its name. And if you're doing this lighting pattern, what we're trying to do here is make sure the light and the camera and Abby's nose are all on the same line. And that way all of the shadows are falling away and down. There's no light going to the sides. It's just away and down. And that's a very traditional Hollywood or glamour or butterfly lighting pattern. And then I thought about playing a little bit using one of our reflector boards. Now in our studio, our reflectors are actually doors painted white with a stand. And so we've put that up in the studio with an autopole behind it so it's nice and stable. And that gives me a corner in which I can do things. It has two primary effects. One, the obvious one, it gives me somewhere to lean someone if I felt like it. And two, it gives me a kickback light which just lifts the contrast. It's a really beautiful light. When you're working with high key subjects or high key images, having that extra fill, it just reduces the contrast ratios and brings this sort of softness to the image. Now I'm using a studio reflector or door in this instance, but most of us have got a corner in a wall or corner in the studio, corner in the room. We don't here. I don't have that ability or not easily. And so we've just built our own. Just put the door in, put it on its stands, put an autopole behind it for safety and asked Abby to lean back into it. And of course, as she's done that, we've laughed a little bit about it because it's not the easiest thing to do once you actually place someone in a corner and where do your elbows go? Well, we've worked that out with her and we're laughing and messing around and I've captured some of those images as well. So at some point she played with her hair and it has a real life about it. It has a rawness, a naturalness. Never ever avoid taking those pictures. I mean, reword that. Always take those pictures because if you take those pictures, your portrait show will have an authenticity and energy about it that's one step above just posing everything. Now some of it is posed. I asked her to twirl her hair because she had done it earlier off camera and it just looked natural. And she did this thing where she moved and caught her eye towards the camera and it just made the most beautiful image. So always try those things, move around a little bit, use the studio space that you have. If you have a corner, try it. If you don't have a corner, maybe consider getting a door or something you can prop in nice and safe. And then at the very end, kind of to prove a point, we tried exactly the same thing with Lizzie who has dark hair and a dark outfit because you can do it that way around. I've sort of, all of this is about taste. It doesn't matter how much we teach or how many ideas we give out, in the end it comes down to what you like or what I like in this instance. And so I really like harmony in my image. I like, if I've got someone with a high key outfit, fair skin, fair hair, I'm gonna generally migrate towards high key images. If I've got someone with dark hair, dark skin and dark outfit, my go-to position, still probably with one light, is to shift across to low key. Here we thought just as an experiment, we'd just try and get the picture with Lizzie. She's wearing a dark outfit, she's got dark, beautiful hair, her skin is a tone or two darker than Abby's. And we've just popped her in just to see what it would look like against a light wall. Now here, it's worked really well. As it happens, you can create a beautiful image with a light background and a dark outfit. But as I will demonstrate later, it's a little bit more tricky to get a great image of a light outfit with fair skin and fair hair on a dark, dark background. And on that, let's head on to idea number two. (Upbeat Music) (Upbeat Music) So for this second idea, still using high key lighting. And I can't stress this enough, we're using simple kit. Not, I mean, we're using very expensive kit, it's beautiful Ellington lighting. But my point is that you don't have to splash out on the most sophisticated, widest range of equipment on the planet. We're just using two lights. We're using, on the front light, we're using a strip box. And all I'm trying to create here is some contrast in the image. And when you're figuring out what you're gonna photograph, part of the puzzle is to reverse engineer how you'd like it to look and then try and create lighting for it. Occasionally, you just trip over it, you move a light around, wow, there it is. And that's happened to me several times today as it happens. But this one, this one we knew we wanted to try and create. And it's a very simple approach. And what we're trying to do is create a very softly lit, high key look camera right, but then have dark tones and dark contrast camera left. So to do that, we're gonna move the strip box to the right. We're gonna use it in its vertical form, so it has a lovely wash of light down Abby's figure. And then on the other side of that, we're gonna spin our studio flat round. And on the other side of what was a white door is now black foam. And it's useful when we're recording podcasts and it's just sound absorbing foam tiles, but they have the very happy coincidence of being able to absorb light. And if we move that really close in to Abby, it stops any light going past her and then bouncing back and softening those shadows. The closer I get it, the darker the effect. So we've run it in pretty close to Abby. We've run a soft light in the front, we've got this beautiful shape to the light. But now I've gotta answer the next question, which is I wanted it on a white background. The idea for this shot is to create something that's really contrasty, it's almost pure white in the background, it's almost dead black in the shadows. And then there's that really lovely skin tone in between. So two options and you could approach it either way. The most obvious and the one that most people do is to shine light at your back wall or your backdrop. Very easy to do, turn the power up almost a full probably and just chuck light at it. But the problem with that is you don't have an awful lot of control. It tends to ping around your studio, it tends to soften the shadows unless you've got other studio flats to kill light where you don't want it. But here's a really simple approach. If you have a big soft box like we have here, a one meter square soft box, bring it in really close behind your subject. That gives you total control over the whiteness in the background, but it also gives you a little extra touch of joy that doesn't get a photographer who loves light. Which is the edges of that white light source start to wrap around your subject. So where it transitions from front light or the shadow to where it's lit by the backlight, you get these beautiful little white highlights around the figure and around the jaw line. They're just, I don't know, for me, they just feel wonderful. So then we moved on to doing something just slightly different. It's all based off the same idea. I'm gonna leave the big white soft box in the background. And then I've got a couple of options here that are really, really easy. They're almost like bonus images. I turned Abby to the side and got her to find a spot on the wall for her to look at. I always do it that way around so there's a known point. Don't try and go turn your head left, turn your hat right, just pick a point on the wall, put your finger on it, and say look there, and then you can work outwards from that. So I've got Abby to look across the frame. She's totally surrounded by the white from the background. And then I've lit her first with the same soft box I lit earlier. In fact, we've really not moved it very far. And that gives us this beautiful, high key, white background portrait. Which has this really, it has a sophistication about it which belies how simple it is to do. And then simply switched off the front light and taken a silhouette. And because that soft box is so close to Abby, it's right up against her pretty much. Is you get light wrapping around. So if you look, there's this most beautiful catch light that runs across the surface of the eye. Now I know it's a subtle detail and it's probably lost on half my subjects. But for me and for you as photographers and for some of our subjects, it just adds this really beautiful little detail. So then we brought Lizzie back in with her dark outfit and dark hair just to see how that looked. And of course, it still looks absolutely fantastic. It's still not where I'd head to as my first point of call. But rest assured, if you've got a white background and someone that just looks great, you can always take a classic portrait. So we've done enough of the punchy, the high key, the light and airy. Now let's go and explore something on the moodier side of light. (Upbeat Music) (Upbeat Music) Okay, so we've spent some time playing with a ton of light, high key backgrounds, high key subjects, really punchy, beautiful, energetic lighting. Now let's move it to the other end of the spectrum. Let's turn the light down. Let's do something darker, the moodier. Let's face it as photographers, we're all drawn towards that slightly Rembrandt Dutch masters feel for some inexplicable reason. We do love the gloom. So here we're just extending what we did in the first two ideas, but we're taking one big light source, it's a 35 centimeter by one meter softbox, and I'm just moving it around Lizzie. She's got dark skin, dark hair, dark clothes, we brought down a dark paper background. Now you can use a couple of things. You can use gray if you wish and just move everything slightly forward. In fact, if you want to, you can have a white background. If you've got a white wall, don't think for a minute you can't make it dark, just make sure no light hits it. It's a very simple trick, move everything as far away from the wall as possible and make sure no lights are pointing at it. It's amazing how dark you can make it go. In theory, if you get your ratios right, you can make it jet black. However, here what we're trying to do is we're trying to create tones across the whole image so that we move the light around so that first and foremost, of course, we want Lizzie to look incredible. Many of these shots are reminiscent of the kind of headshots you'd see Hollywood actors and Hollywood actresses have. It's a very simple lighting pattern. One light, you can place it really quickly. You don't need a lot of kit, you don't need a lot of space. Black background or dark paper background, a little bit of room, nice subject and you're done. And I think that's probably why it's so popular with actors who don't have a lot of time but still want something beautiful. So I'm positioning the light to try and create the light on Lizzie first. Then I'm adjusting it to see how much light I need on the background so it has some detail in it. If it just goes jet black, it comes back to that same problem where it feels cut out. It feels just, I don't know, it just doesn't feel quite right. And I really love to have it so there's like a harmony in the tones. We need some light striking the background even though it's dark. At Disney, we can bring our whiteboard in, it's still on its stand so I can just move it around, kick some light in. And that will also create just a little bit of detail on the edges and will also lift the shadows so that if I've got tone in the file, I can make decisions later on in post-production about what I want to do with that. I can if I wish, make them hard black. But here I just want that gentle tonality. In my head, I've got a really beautiful monochromatic image. Actually when I pointed the camera at Lizzie, it just erupted and there's also some really beautiful color pictures in there because with the dark top, dark background and her hair, really the only bits of the subject that are not monochromatic are her skin tones. And so that has a joy in and of itself as well. So when we've done all of that, we've moved Lizzie forward and then I've put the light over above her nose. And that creates of course same lighting pattern as we've done before, the Hollywood, the glamour or the butterfly pattern where it diminishes the shadows. And I'm just trying to concentrate on where the shadows, rather where the light is striking my background. And I'm looking for that archetypal shadow under the nose, that particular shape. And when you've got that, you know you've hit it more or less. The light, your subject, your camera, are all on the same line. So all of the shadows are dropping away and down. And then I brought in a second light, another strip box, that's another 35 centimeter by one meter soft box, just underneath Lizzie's chin. And this lighting pattern is pretty much university known as clamshell. And clamshell just means you've got one light pointing down, you've got another light pointing up and they make that pattern, which apparently looks like a clam. So there you go, clamshell. People of a certain age, Pac-Man, but nobody calls it the Pac-Man lighting pattern. Don't know why, they should do. So anyway, you have this beautiful lighting pattern and that uplift light reduces the shadows even further. So even though with Hollywood lighting, the shadows are moving down and away, now I've got this sort of light coming up as well. And that just takes off the edge of even those shadows. Hence the fact this is a lighting pattern you'll see on every oil of Olay and every beauty magazine cover on the planet. A lot of fun, a very effective thing to do, very simple to set up. Just set your powers of lights until you have, you don't want too much light coming up from underneath, you want just enough to create the effect you're after. Now, just to prove a point on idea three, we're just gonna take a quick picture of Abby, who's still got her white outfit on, and we're just gonna show if you're not really careful, it can have the tendency to look like it's cut out. A light skin, light hair, light outfit on a dark background, particularly on a black background, can look like a cutout. It's not my go-to. It's much more effective when you've got dark outfits on a white background, but when you've got white outfits on a dark background, at least to my taste. I don't like the look of it quite so much. But on that happy note, let's move on to using some hard light for idea number four. (Upbeat Music) (Upbeat Music) So on to idea number four, which in so many ways is the simplest of all. It's just a bare head flash or a bare head flash with a simple reflector dish on the front. Now I would think most of the time you buy a studio flash, it's gonna come with either a spill kill or a dish of some description. So this is a shot you can take the day you take your U-strobes out of the bag. You don't need soft boxes, you don't need reflectors, you don't need anything, you just need your light and a little bit of knowledge. Now, that said, of course a hard light. Now we talk about hard and soft lights, and I say this in pretty much every video. A hard light simply means the edges of the shadows are distinct and clear, they're hard edged shadows. The best example of course, is anything on a bright sunny day. You've got long drawn shadows on the floor and they have a very clear and distinct edge. Soft lights, that edge is blurred or almost non-existent. Now here, if we're using a really hard edged shadow, I need to know my model really well and know that they trust me and they know that in the finished images, any sort of lumps and bumps that are part of that puzzle are gonna be either fixed or they're gonna be shot in a way that they're flattering. Because the thing about hard edged shadows is they don't just pick up structure and the beauty of a face and cheekbones and the eyes, and they don't just define shape and sculpt with lightness and darkness. Of course they do exactly the same thing. For skin textures and for chins and for wrinkles, they do exactly the same job. So you have to know your model and they have to trust you. But therein lies the reward because it's a style of work that is very classic. You can make it look like sunshine, you can make it look like a candle is lit in your subject, you can do a thousand things with it. You ever wondered, when someone, you ever looked when someone opens a door in a dark house and the light from one bulb comes through it and it just picks out some detail in the distance, it's exactly the same effect. So it can be used for really theatrical interesting images if you just have the courage to do it. So here we've started with some simple lighting. Much of this is either a combination of Rembrandt lighting and Rembrandt lighting is a name given to a lighting pattern where you have a triangle of light on the opposite cheek to the light source. Very, very classic. It was the Dutch masters, we're going way back, who first painted it or at least first got known for it. And so you can start there, you can then do Hollywood or glamor lighting straight down the nose. If you look at Hollywood and glamor lighting and you turn everything to the side, so set your subjects up, set your lighting up and then simply move around and look at it from a different angle, it gives a really beautiful interesting light but in a very different style. And we've done that here with one or two of the images. Now here we've used a reflector dish just to try and contain the light a little bit. Our studio isn't huge. And I don't want light just pinging around the room willy nilly, because it makes it harder to control. We've done a few, but mostly we've used a dish. If you want a little bit more control, you can get a dish with a grid or get it with some barn doors, equally effective. A grid gives you a much more tightly defined cone of light from the reflector. And you know, you've seen this before but probably not knowingly. If you walk into an office and it has those metal grids on all of the lights, they're there for the pure reason that until you're right under the light, the light doesn't strike you. It creates these beautiful washes of light over the workspace. And so a honeycomb grid on a reflector has a very similar effect. We've used it in all sorts of ways here. We've lit the face, we've created dramatic lighting. We've moved the light around so it has a little bit light on the background. We've used it from the side. And I've created in particular, this really stunning image where the light is just running down Lizzie's face. And there's these beautiful cheekbones, beautiful lights, really dramatic and like an album cover or a book cover. My kind of thing. So with that, let's move on to something a little bit more complicated for idea number five. (Upbeat Music) (Upbeat Music) Okay, so onto idea number five. Now this is a little bit more technical, I suppose, but the simple idea, the real idea, the bit that underpins it, is what if you combined high key and low key in one frame? Now, of course you could do a lot of this in post-production, but ideally we're going to create something in camera for the simple reason that it's quite satisfying to do it that way. Now, traditionally when we've done this kind of work, we'll put a split background down, so we'll have half white and half black and mess around with that, but what if we lit it in a way that created half high key, half low key? So what we've done is we've dropped a gobo into one of our focusing projector heads for the lights, and just shone as a basic window frame style gobo at the back wall. So that's kicked out into bright white, and we've put Abby into it with her white outfit and a fair hair, and we've used that whole frame, and in fact, on its own, it's quite an interesting image. It meant quite a theatrical arty monochrome. And then with Lizzie, we've positioned her on the side of the frame where it's gone dark. The great thing about using things like focusing spots is you don't get quite so much light pinging around your studio. We do get some here, there's no avoiding it because it's such a small space, but you can control it in a way that you can't with soft boxes and even with grids. So I've got this sort of angled window lit up. I've got Abby in that, and then I've got the darker shadow off to camera left, and I've put Lizzie in there. We've brought another light in, just the same sort of combination of lights. It's still one of our Elincron 5s with its 35 centimeter, one meter soft box on it, and shone light across the frame to pick Lizzie out. I've brought Lizzie slightly further forward, so I'm trying to avoid too much light spill into the background. I don't want it to be light. I want it to be really, really dark. And then to compensate for that, I've come back a little bit with my camera so that it doesn't make Lizzie look that much bigger than Abby, because there is a distance between them. And if you want to compress perspective so things look closer together front to back, you just stand further back and zoom in. So we've got it all positioned up. I've made sure that the outline of the window light or the go-bo is nice and straight, sorry, nice and sharp using the focusing on the head. Balanced all of the lights up just by taking some test shots. And then you end up with what I think is just quite an interesting unusual take on what to do when you have a dark subject, a light subject, and two lights. Excellent. Right, with that, that finishes our idea of five, but of course, it wouldn't be one of our five ideas videos if there wasn't a little bit of a bonus at the end. With that, let's get out the smoke machines. (Upbeat Music) (Upbeat Music) So five ideas wouldn't be five ideas if it didn't have, well, a sixth. And of course the thing about being a photographer is you get excited. And so we've allowed ourselves the same excitement that you will have when you're creating images. Why wouldn't I? I've got amazing people in our studio. I've got time and space to do stuff. Well, who wouldn't want to play? So for this final section, and we're gonna create a video that explores the use of these kinds of techniques in more detail, I just thought, wouldn't it be great if we brought out one of our PMI Smoke machines and lit it as if it was a stage production. Think something gothic, think something phantom of the opera. Because Lizzie's whole look, she's got this beautiful black dress and her hair and this incredible cheek line, the whole of it just works. And I just thought it would be incredible if we filled the room with smoke. And if you fill a room with smoke and shine light through it, all of the light shows its tracks. So you use hard-edged light sources, which is why theater productions are going to see a band look so good. If you look while you're waiting for the band to start or you're waiting for the orchestra to pipe up, if you watch, you'll notice there's always hazy machines kicking out fog. And it does that so that you can see all of the beams of light. In clear air, you can't see a beam of light, it doesn't work. But here, we're filling the studio with smoke. I've tied one of our, or clamped rather, one of our Elinchrom 3s to the ceiling with a snoot. It's just a basic snoot. These are not expensive. They're typically in traditional photography used as a hair light. You'll see them flown over the top of different shots just to point light at hair so that it separates it from the background. Here though, we're using it as a defined shaft of light from the gods. The room is full of smoke. You can see the light track. And then I've taken a Fresnel lens. Now these are a little bit more unusual. Not every studio will have these. But you can also use a second snoot. You can use a gridded reflector. But I like the beam of light you get out of a Fresnel to be more correct lens. These are the same lenses you'd see in any theater anywhere in the world. So I've got this snooted light creating a cone of light behind Lizzie. I've got another light coming in that's got that beautiful Fresnel shape. And we've sat Lizzie in my nan's old armchair. It's just this glorious, almost gothic in its own right. And all I did to Lizzie is I said, pretend you're the protagonist in some movie. You're the arch nemesis of someone and just own the space. And let's see what happens. Then she kind of got into it and the way she sat and the way she looked, it just all sort of worked. It took a minute to get all the lights in the right places and to get all of the smoke to be the right density. And I'm wandering around with a smoke and a fan trying to get it all right. By the way, this will, this will set off smoke alarms. If you're using smoke machines, you have to override the smoke alarms for a period of time. Trust me, I know this. So we've got the room with smoke. We've got these shafts of light. We've got Lizzie, she's just got attitude galore. I've got her to move her face around a little bit. And I'm using a really low camera angle to create a bit of theater, a bit of drama in the positioning, the viewpoint of the camera, something that is ignored so much of the time. So I've got the camera pretty much on the floor, wide angle lens, shafts of light, beautiful. And then we kind of got a bit excited and thought what would be fun if we lit a candle and just did something sort of almost like a Netflix poster for, I don't know, a religious drama. I'm making this up, of course. And she held this candle and we popped the smoke nozzle up behind and changed its setting. So instead of it pouring smoke out or pouring haze out, it drifted threads of smoke. And these PMI machines are brilliant for that. You can create cold smoke, looks like dry ice. You can create warm, drifty smoke, which is what we're using here. And you can create hot haze, which is what we were using for the first shot. So this little drift of smoke, we just ran it across. Now we're all having to hold our breath a little bit because the air movement itself in the studio is moving the whole thread of smoke around. Poor old Lizzie, every time she wanted to breathe, we had to breathe away so that the air movement didn't move the track so much. We had to turn off all of the air conditioning in the studio as well, because the fans were just moving the smoke around. So we did all of that and it looked amazing. So we finished creating this image with the candle. And as I do, I'm messing around and I'm talking to one of the guys from Ellen Crumb who's visiting us. And I just laugh and say, look, we can change the whole lighting in the studio. We have some aperture B7C bulbs laced throughout. So I get my phone out and I turn it to blue just to show him. Lizzie is still holding the candle. The light from the two lights is still there shining through. It's actually the modeling lights off these amazing Ellen Crumb lights. And it just looks amazing. And so very quickly we switch mode and I take some photographs, not using strobes, but now using the LED modeling lights and the blue lights in our studio and the natural glow of the candle. And of course it gives you a completely different look. But that at the end of the day is what photography is all about, seeing things, creating things, solving puzzles and just having the best time with cameras and light. (Upbeat Music) (Upbeat Music) So there you have it, five ideas for high key and low key photography and well, a handful of bonus ideas beyond that too. Hopefully we've shown you just how little equipment you really need to create the most stunning images, whether they're bright and punchy, whether they're dark and moody. And on that note, we'd really love to see what you come up with. Maybe you'll create something bright and punchy but maybe you're like I am sometimes, more of a moody soul and it's the darkness that appeals. Either way, please upload your projects using the links below. And we promise that we'll have a look at those for you if you wish. Also, why not head across to masteringportraitphotography.com where there's a whole load of content, all dedicated to the arts, the craft and the business of portrait photography. And it also happens to be the spiritual home of the ever popular Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. But whatever else you do, remember, be kind to yourself. Till next time, take care. (Beep) You two must, two doesn't matter. Anyway. (Beep) Get there. (Beep) I see in the background Katie's gonna edit this going, oh no. (Beep) Again, she's still wearing her dark outfit, still dark haired. I don't know why she would have changed it. I'll do that again. Why would she change the hair? One minute. Ah, you've come in, you're blonde. We've done this within 10 minutes. (Beep) Right. (Beep) Stop laughing. It's really hard when you're just in my eye line, giggling like a fool. (Beep) No, he went like this, it doesn't matter. (Beep) (Humming) Wow, wow. No. (Beep) Ha ha! (Beep) I just wanna go eat, oh. (Beep) Oh, sit down. (Beep) (Beep) That's him, there's... (Coughing) A fly. (Beep) (Beep) Be kind to yourself, kinder than there being to me in here. (Beep) CURPLE'S! (Beep) So what do we mean? (Thud) God. (Laughing) (Beep) (Beep) CURVE BALLS! (Beep) (Beep) (Beep) Be kind to yourself, take care. (Crowd Cheering) We're done. We're done. Woo hoo! (Crowd Cheering) (Beep) CURVE BALLS! (Beep) (Music) ### [Video: Master Studio Dog Portraits](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/studio-lighting-techniques/video-master-studio-dog-portraits/) Master Studio Dog Portraits: Calm Handling, Beautiful Light, and the "Black Dog on Black" Trick Dog portraits in the studio are not really about the lights. They're about the atmosphere. If the owner is calm, the dog is calm, and once you've got that, the photography part becomes the fun bit. In this video I walk you through my full studio process - from welfare-first prep and owner direction, to lighting setups that work for every coat (including the infamous black lab on black velvet), and finally a simple, repeatable post-production workflow. You'll see how I use one large softbox as my main workhorse, how I control expression with treat placement, how I test a dog's reaction to flash safely, and how to avoid the cardinal sin of studio pet photography: making the dog look like a cutout. We'll cover high key, midtone, low key, and the inky-black look with Nigel the Labrador, then finish by polishing the final image so it stays rich, believable, and full of character. #### Transcript Have you ever wondered what really goes into creating those beautifully lit, expressive portraits of dogs? You know the ones that capture not just how they look, but seemingly a little bit of their character too. In this video, we're gonna dive into exactly that, how to master photographing dogs in the studio. Hi, I'm Paul Wilkinson, a portrait photographer based in the heart of the English countryside, and for the past two decades or so, my team and I have run an exclusive portrait studio just outside Oxford, creating images of people and dogs from every walk of life. Alongside that, I'm also the voice behind the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast where we talk about everything we love and occasionally don't love about life behind the lens. I've also been the lead photographer for the Hearing Dogs UK Charity for the past 14 years, and I've won Pet Photographer year three times. In this video, we'll explore the complete process of photographing dogs in a studio setting, from building trust and creating a calm environment through lighting, posing, and composition, all the way through to finishing the images in post-production. We'll be working with two beautiful Spaniels, a Cockapoo, and a Labrador. Hebe being the light spaniel. Ella is the brown one. Chili is the black Cockapoo and Nigel. Yes, Nigel is the silky smooth black lab Using these dogs and images from our everyday shoots, I'm gonna show you how to handle the different coats, personalities, and the lighting challenges, and you'll see how to adapt your setup for each dog, how to create both high key and low key portraits, and how to portray a sense of personality as much as fine art. So whether you are a professional photographer looking to refine your technique, or simply someone who wants to take better portraits of your own dog, this class is designed to give you practical, real world skills you can use straight away. So grab a cup of tea, settle in, and enjoy this video. By the end of it, you'll have everything you need to create dog portraits that are expressive, professional, and full of life. So the first thing you have to know about photographing dogs in the studio is it's as much about the atmosphere as it is about the techniques. So the first thing we do when we welcome someone into the studio is we tell 'em how today is gonna work. Before we even touch the camera, we need to assess the situation, so it's welfare first. The first thing we do is check to see whether the dog has been toileted, whether they need some water, whether the owner has treats, et cetera, et cetera. We also make sure that as soon as the doors are closed and the studio is safe. Again, working with the owner is to let them take the lead off. In our studio, we have lots of shiny stairs and actually a dog dragging you up or down them on the end of a lead is dangerous, not just for you, but for the dog too. As an aside, it also scratches our beautiful wooden stairs, so we always get the lead and the harness taken off at the door. Once work calm and we're inside the studio. Then maybe a cup of tea, and we're gonna have a chat about the things we do. The calmer the owner is, the calmer the dog is. Now some ground rules here. One of the things I never do is I very rarely handle the dog that's down to the owner. And I explain that to them that they are gonna be in control of their dog. Yes, sure. I'm gonna direct what I want and I'm gonna use very short cues. Sit, wait, stay, whatever it might be. And I'm gonna tell the owner how to do that. What's really important here is that I teach the owner how to do it. It's really key that you only ever reward a dog, for instance, for the thing you ask them. To do. Now, this is a point that's missed by the majority of owners. Let's say we put the dog into a sit. We tell 'em to wait. We come outta the frame. The dog breaks that weight and comes over to the owner. More often than not, an inexperienced owner will say, oh, go and then have the treat, and then think it's gonna work. Putting the dog back into position, that's simply not going to happen because the dog now has learned that by coming over to the owner, it's gonna get a treat. And there are simple techniques to this. Just put the dog in a sit in a weight. Hold it there. If it holds the, the commands you asked it for, reward it. Only ever reward the dog for what you ask it to do. And I explain this to the owner. Another key point is it's not a great idea. Moving lights while a dog is in place. Should the dog get spooked by the movement or the noise. That's it. You are done, so make sure your cables are sorted, your stands are weighted down. Everything is done before you put the dog into place. It's really key that you do not spook the dog. So the plan for a shoot is really straightforward. We're gonna start simply, we're gonna read the energy of the dog, whether it's lively or calm. We're gonna build the set. And for me, these sets are very simple. It's just lights and a backdrop. We're going to do some different ideas. We're gonna do light on lights, we're gonna look at midtone. We're gonna look on dark and dark. And ultimately we're gonna go for a black velvet finish with the Labrador named Nigel. Now there's a quick test I normally do with a dog that I'm unfamiliar with now with the hearing dogs. Of course, they've been photographed since they were puppies, all of them. It's part of their training and it's part of the publicity that the hearing dogs generate. That's why I work there. But for normal dogs, everyday dogs, you cannot be certain how they're gonna react to the strobes, to the flashes in the studio. So a quick trick we do is we turn the power quite low on the lights, throw some treats onto the floor in between the lights and while the dog's eating them. We simply fire the strobes. What I'm looking for is the reaction of the dog. Do they even register that it's going on? Um, if they don't, we're fine. If they do, then we just have to take some time and figure out how we can distract the dog. So the lights are not really part of the puzzle. Don't ever have your lights on full. By the way, if you have your lights on full, it seems to seems to be as much about the pop as it is about the light. The dogs don't like the noise or the electrostatics of the discharge. Now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna direct the owner as to where I want them with the treat. Now the treat usually here is food. 'cause it's easy, it's repeatable. But some dogs, um, are not particularly keen on food. They'd rather play with a ball or a toy. Sometimes it is just a fuss. But nine times out of 10 we're gonna be working with a treat. Now that treat the dog is gonna fixate on it. So if we put the treat by the lens. The dog's gonna look straight to camera. If I want a threequarter view, we simply get the owner to move and move the treat around. And that's how we do it. We control the dog by its desire for the treat. Now sometimes the dog is watching the treat. Sometimes the dog will watch the owner and we have to sort of gauge that. If the dog is totally fixated on the owner's face, then it's the owner's face that we're gonna have to move. Even though probably the dog's trying to figure out how to get the treat, it's watching the owner on how to do that. Now there are certain expressions we really, really, really want to have in the photographs. We want their ears engaged. And what do I mean by that? I simply mean up and forward. Now, not all dog breeds are happy with their ears forward. Whippets and Greyhounds, for instance, the lurches tend to be happy with their ears back, and you have to sort of read. However, we're gonna look for mostly ears forward. We want the eyes to have light in them, couch lights so they're nice and bright. We want the mouth to be closed more often than not. Now you can get a goofy kind of, particularly with things like the golden, uh, retrievers, who look a bit goofy with their tongue hanging out and their mouth open, and that's fine. But on the hole we're gonna try and have the tongue contained inside the mouth. And the mouth closed, just a soft closed, so it just looks natural. Now to do this, there are little tricks that we can use. One for instance, is to pretend to throw the treat. And when you do that, quite often the dog will snap its mouth closed while it concentrates on where the treat might be going, and then you can get your shot. If that doesn't work, you can just step in with something a little bit chewy and maybe just give it to the dog. 'cause the dog's still in its weight, so it deserves its reward. While it's chewing, quite often you can get the mouth closed, ears forward. Nice expressive shots. Now remember, the breaks are part of this. You're gonna need to let the dog rest, and that's fine because it gives us a chance to reset lights, for instance. Move things around, try different ideas, and maybe for us to go to the loo and have a cup of tea as well. Our shoots here are about 90 minutes long because, well, I like to talk, but the dogs themselves, well, were unlikely to be shooting them for more than 30 minutes or so. Dogs really do just get bored and disinterested in the treats. So let's visualize what success looks like. We want calm, expressive portraits that feel like the dog, the owner wouldn't recognize. We're gonna bring the owner back for a viewing and a product chat, of course. And if they see those pictures of the dog that say things to them like, oh, that's so him. So her. Then of course we're gonna make good sales. So having said all of that, let's start with lighting. Some dogs on a light background, so let's start with a nice. High key setup. What do I mean by high key? I simply mean it's full of bright tones. It's light, it's airy, it's luminous, and it's clean, but it's not necessarily flat. Now the dog here can be slightly brighter or slightly darker, or very much darker, uh, than the background as long as you have some kind of separation. I don't always get it right. There's an image in this set that you're gonna love, where you can see I managed to overdo it and a dog has merged into its background. This is not great. A high-key approach is possibly the most versatile way to photograph dogs, possibly humans, as even black dogs can look great on a clean, bright. Background. The background here is gonna be a white wall or a light gray paper, and that way we get this really lovely harmonious tone. For me. Just a personal thing, if I'm shooting a white dog, we'll use a very white background. If I'm shooting a slightly darker dog, we'll bring it forward so the, the background maybe is just that little bit darker and creamier, but of course we could just photograph it on a bright white as well. Now your key light, your main light for these is gonna be one large square or rectangular soft box. For me, lots of photographers prefer octas or umbrellas or rounds. For me, I like a rectangular soft box because I think it gives a really nice catch light in the eyes. Now for high key. You don't have to have the light too close, as long as it's a big light source. We have white walls here in our studio and so everything just pings around and you get that airiness. And if I have that, I don't really have to have the light source too close for a few of these shots. We've used a six foot Okta. For others, we've used a square, uh, soft box. Both work really well with the square soft box. I'll bring it in slightly closer 'cause it's smaller with the big, uh, big Octa box. I'll have it further back. Now you can, if you wish, bring in some black flags or black studio flats, some absorbers just to soak up some other light knocking around. But also to give you a little bit of edge definition. So if you find a white dog starting to blend into your background, consider bringing in some blackboards or subtractors that will just help shape. Your background. If you want to use just one light, you can do that. Here's on a few of these shots, we've done that where I'm just lighting the background forwards using our main key light. Alternatively, you can spin a couple of strip lights round and shine them at the background, both work. Just make sure you've got everything contained. Generally, as a rule of thumb, particularly when I'm working with the hearing dogs where we do this week in, week out, I try to make sure that the white background isn't. Pure white, it's just a little bit down. That means you're gonna get all those beautiful hairs and the whiskers and everything contains 'cause if you don't, if you just force light forwards towards the camera, which is what you're doing when you're lighting a white background, you run the risk of making the dog look like a cutout. And that's a recurring theme here. One thing we wanna avoid at all costs is that the dog looks like a cutout. It should always feel like it's part of the scene. Camera craft, you want it to be around F eight, F 11, or up to F 16. If the lens and distance, uh, defines it, a shutter speed for us is between a hundred 60th, 202nd. Um, and you want your strobes at mid power. Now you really don't want to have your strobes at too higher power 'cause you run the risk of spooking the dog. And if you spook the dog, you're done. So we run the lights at a lower power and just increase the ISO accordingly. It's not a problem these days to run higher ISOs than pups you were used to on film because the Denoising technology and things like Lightroom and on most sensors is so good that honestly, you won't notice. Now if you wanna do a quick test just to make sure ambient light in your studio isn't bleeding in, simply turn your flash triggers off and take a shot and see what your histogram shows. As long as that histogram is bunched right down at the left with almost no other tone in it. You know that you are not getting contamination in your frame. Your ambient lighting isn't pouring light into your photo when you actually take it. On the handling side, it's the owner who positions the dog. I will cue them. Sometimes I will show them what I'm looking for. So if it's an inexperienced owner or someone hasn't done this before, I might take the dog, take a treat, and show them how to lead the dog in by the nose. And it's always done this way. If the dog is rewarded by treats, particularly food, then put it in your hand so the dog can't get hold of it. Make sure the dog can smell it, and that's usually enough. And just draw the dog in and walk it round. It's exactly the same as you've seen people moving horses around. They very rarely back a horse by pushing it. They almost always lead a horse in, turn it round and draw it into the frame. We do exactly the same thing for the dog, partly because it's the most comfortable way of doing it with the dog, partly because when the dog starts to walk towards the camera, you know it's back. Legs are directly behind its front legs. And I know that sounds really weird, but if you want a front on shot, you have to find a way of positioning a dog. So the whole thing is in line. If you move the treat around. Now, once I've given it back to the owner, if I put the treat by the lens, I'm gonna have a straight to camera look. If I move the treat around to the side, then of course I'm gonna get a threequarter view. So what I'm looking for when I'm shooting is single clean frames over bursts. I very rarely go, the cameras will do it, the lights will do it, but frankly, you're not gonna gain very much. And, and one thing that does happen with most lights, these crumbs are really, really fast. But if you have slightly cheaper lights. Or some older models, they don't recycle so quickly. And if you run a burst thinking, do you know what? As the dog's moving, I'll get as many shots as I can. You run the risk that occasionally the light simply won't fire, and you'll miss that magic shot. For these. Just keep your things nice and calm, keep it quiet, and shoot at a steady pace when you want it, when you want the image that's in front of you. Now our cameras are really, really quick, but other cameras might not be, uh, so fast. So one thing you can do is if once you've set everything up is maybe put your studio lights back up. We use the modeling lights on the cameras to set the shot. But maybe you just need that extra little bit of light to give your camera, uh, what it needs to focus. Now, for those who are technically minded, one thing I'm doing is I'm using back button focus and I'm using it in continuous servo mode. This Nick on Z nine is so good that it could just lock onto the dog, and as long as I'm holding that button, no matter what the dog does. The camera is tracking it, and this is great because if the dog comes towards me, I can take that picture too. I don't have to lock and refocus, but each technique is up to you. It's whatever you find comfortable, but find and practice variations of your camera that just seem to work. Now there are some pitfalls here, so do be careful. Try really hard to make sure there's some kind of separation between the dog and the background. Now, this is a balancing act, no separation. The dog just merges in and it's a little bit weird. Too much separation, and the dog's gonna look like a cutout, so you have to find that nice balance and there's no replacement. For practice. Just get in there, try a few things, make sure you can always see those loose strands of fur around the outsides, and you'll get stunning pictures like these. So we've had a look at high key images, so white or near white backgrounds, that light, airy feel. But what about if we take it down a notch? Midtone images are another really flexible look that can suit well, pretty much any dog. The background options here are light gray. I want a fresher sort of look, but it's still just off white. Charcoal if I wanna bring the mood down, and of course if I want something more sort of traditional, a textured canvas can work really well. Two again for me, and I'm pretty consistent with this. The key light is gonna be the same big soft box, but now I'm bringing it in closer. And why? Well, I like the shape and form it gives. And whereas with high-key, you're looking at light airiness and everything sort of balanced. Here I'm looking to pick out the dog and light the background accordingly, so I'm gonna bring the soft box in that little bit closer and adjust its height. I'm gonna bring it in nice and tight looking always to make sure there are catch lights in the dog's eyes. If you have no catch lights, the dog can look dead and flat. Now, you can correct some of these things in Photoshop if you need to, but ideally you want it in the eye during the shoot. Why? Well, generally, as a rule of thumb, if the eyes are lit, well so's the rest of the dog, and that goes for humans too. As an aside. Now here, rim lights might be useful. What do I mean by rim lights? Well, they are typically a couple of lights at the back of the studio pointing forwards towards the dog to create a little bit of an outline, a little bit of highlight around the edges. This enhances the separation, but try not to overdo it, unless of course, that's the look you're after. For me, personally, I don't use rim lights that much, only when it's a specific look. I'm after. If you wanna add a little bit of contrast, a little bit of shaping, think about bringing in some black flags or black subtractors in near to the dog optionally. If you would rather go the other way and you want to reduce that contrast and fill in some of those shadows, then why not bring in some white reflectors to bounce some light in and just give a little bit of a lift. Either way, what you want is subtle control and make sure it's the story you're trying to tell. Once again with the direction we're gonna move the treat, or if the dog is fixated on the owner's face, move the owner, uh, to change the angle of the dog. And as we do that, we're looking for those really lovely moments where the dog looks happy and healthy, the ears are forward and it looks engaged for a little bit of pose, variety. Maybe do a sit a down if the dog will do it. The rare shot, but I love doing it when I can is a dog standing. Maybe use a small platform so the camera is on floor level. Uh, maybe use a chair. All of these are great ideas for producing interesting and different images, but do everything in a very predictable, calm way. Don't get too excited because once the dog goes, there's no catching it. Now with your exposure, as you might expect for a midtone image, you really want the majority of your terms to be in the middle of your histogram. You want space at the left, space at the right. All of it, just so you know, you've got everything more or less in the middle. Now, if you've got a white dog on a gray background, you're gonna get a couple of bumps where the mid grays of the background and the dog of course, is gonna be that little bit brighter. Either way, understand your histogram and get it sorted in the middle from midtone image. Now, a little bit of a pitfall here is you don't get enough separation between your dog and the background. For me, I like the subtlety of one light and just letting the ambient light. Around the studio, create the image I'm after, but that works in our studio here and for the backgrounds we use. So try to make sure your dog doesn't blend in too much, have a little bit of control of the edges so that the story, again, this is all about the story that you want to tell. What is it you want the user to see? Do you want it to blend into the background or do you want that little bit of a separation? And having done that now for darker coats, let's go on to doing something a bit more low key. So we've done a high-key, we've done a midtone. Now let's think about something that little bit darker, not quite a pure black, but certainly heading in that direction. The aim here is to capture the texture and the tone of the dog, but with a little bit of mood, a little bit of richness, sumptuous, capturing the shape and the texture without turning the dog gray. Now the background here, a dark gray paper will do it, or maybe a fabric or a painted background. Again, it depends a little bit on what you want and a little bit of how you set the lights. Your mindset should be that you are looking for the tonality and the texture of the dog. Now again, I'm using a really large soft box slightly above the dog so that it's lighting the fur, it's lighting the dog, it's lighting the eyes. There's always catch lights in the eyes. You can do this with worn light. You don't need extra rim lights or kiss lights. One light actually will do really very well because then if you bring it in close light, the eyes light the fur, it'll have a ton of texture because it'll be directional, it'll be sumptuous, but the rest of the dog will drift quietly into the shadows. You position the light well, you can throw some light onto your backdrop, which lifts the dog away from it. Um, alternatively, you can push the light forwards and have the background go darker. Both will work, but again, it's about the separation that you are looking for. If you want to use rim lights here, that's perfectly applicable. As with all of our shots, the camera angle. It's critical for me. Almost always, the camera is on the floor or just above. I want it to feel like we are in the dog's world, so we get to see what it's like dog to dog, and that just seems to work for the characterization. Not everybody likes that. Of course, you can lift the camera up and look down. There are plenty of shots that we've done like that. But here right now, everything is about having a camera at a reasonably low angle. Now with the exposure, again, we're gonna use the histogram. We're gonna check primarily that the highlights are not blown. Everything will fall into place as long as I don't blow the highlights. Why? Well, with dark dogs, dark backgrounds, dark shapes, you typically demonstrate the shape or render the shape of the of subject using highlights With bright things, you render the shape using shadows with dark things, you render the shape. With highlights, so we're gonna protect those catch lights in the eyes and the specular highlights on the nose. Now if I'm using rim lights, if I'm bringing light, so it's shining forwards, it's crucial that I don't lose contrast through lens flare. So use a lens hood, make sure your lens hood is on. Alternatively, if you haven't got one place, some blackboards, some black flags or studio reflectors so that the light coming from the rim lights doesn't get to your camera. You want a ton of contrast. You don't want any ghosting or flaring. You want it to be rich. And sumptuous. You do not want the coat to go gray handling yet again. I'm gonna get the owner to do it. I'm gonna show the owner what I'm expecting, how I want them to do it if necessary. A key thing here is you want the owner to be confident, so if it isn't quite working, don't say, this is how to do it. Say in our studio, one thing that sometimes works is if you do it like this and just demonstrate it nice and gently, just say, here's another idea. Don't say you're doing it wrong. Just say, look in a studio. This whole environment is completely novel to the dog. The dog won't have experienced this. Why don't I show you some things that over the years have worked with other owners and see if that works. Nice and calm, nice and gentle. Just make sure your heart rate's slow. If you start to get stressed at all, the owner will get stressed. If the owner gets stressed, the dog will get stressed. All bets are off, so take your time. Be kind now. One pitfall here. Is if you do use any kind of fill light and you can. So if you wanna just fill in all those little shadows to make sure there's no black. Just be careful not to make the dog go gray. If it's a dark dog, keep it a dark dog. Just make sure there's just enough light in there so that there's no blocked up shadows. There's little bits of detail in there. The whole image can stay nice and dark with defined highlights. So when you've done all of that and got some beautiful low key pictures, what happens when we take it all the way and do it on an inky black? So what do you do if you want that Really sumptuous dark, inky black finish? Well, shots like these typically work best with shiny coated dogs such as Labradors Retrievers. Setters, those kinds of coats, and what you're looking for is that sheen, and you're gonna use the sheen to define the shot. Unlike a short or wiry haired coat, that doesn't reflect so much light where you throw light into it to pick out the texture. Here, what we have to do is almost always shine some light from the background. There are other ways, but on the whole, you want to pick out the shape of the dog, the s shyness of coat, using backlighting of some sort in conjunction with your key. Now the background here, we're gonna use black dress makers, velvet. It is amazing stuff. Don't skimp on it. I've had this particular piece of velvet for about 20 years, so it's worth investing in a good one. You can buy it from a dress makers, you'll pay through the nose. But when you look at it, it's thick and it doesn't reflect any light at all. That said, don't throw light at it. 'cause of course you will get some, but if you've got light, all of your light away from it, it will just vanish into the background here with sculpting, with specular light and specular light, the specular reflections are just where light pings off the reflective surfaces and the shiny coats. That's essentially every strand of hair. So what we do is we place our key light again. I'm using a really big soft box or an Okta, slightly above and slightly to the side. You can just put the, the soft box in the middle. By the way, it's just a personal choice. I tend to run it slightly to the side for two really good reasons. One, I like that look where the light seems to wash from a window from one side or the other. Also, if you don't have a boom like we have here. Post gets in the way your tripod post, and so actually you can't put it bang in the middle because it just gets in the way. So moving it to the side just makes your life a little bit easier. So the soft box is big. Okta square doesn't really matter. We are using a square. We're gonna angle it to make sure that the eyes are really beautiful, beautifully lit. There's catch lights in them, some dark dogs, some of those glossy spaniels, and one or two of the labs have golden eyes. And when you get those, oh my goodness, you are rewarded. You are rewarded when you push light into them. They are just pop and ping and look in credible. Either way, you wanna make sure there's light into those eyes. The closer your soft box is to the dog has two effects. One is it's gonna wrap around the dog a little bit and you get a really beautiful finish. The other thing is you get a much quicker roll off. The closer the light is to the dog, the more rapid the roll off, which just means anything further away. Disappears into the shadows, and that then means you can use your rim lights or your back lights to pick out a little bit more shape than perhaps you would do otherwise. So at the top of the dog, it's all lit with the key light and a little bit of rim lighting, but towards the bottom of the dog. Maybe it's only your, uh, rim lights that are having an effect. But what you're trying to do is create that sense of muscular, that the muscles of the dog, the definition in the coat, the shiniest, the shininess of the coat. You want it to look absolutely pristine. Once again, you do not want your histogram to blow out. You want it to be down to the left, but you keep your highlights contained. Now here we're using gridded strip boxes or gridded dish that you can pop behind a dog so it outlines it all. You can use flags for instance. So if you want to just block any stray light and it's starting to lift in your lens, if your lens that's not doing the right thing, bring in some flags, bring in some just ways of blocking a light from reaching the camera from the back. You do not want light popping around your studio for this particular one. Camera angle is low again, to re write down in Nigel's world, and that just gives you that really intimate sense and an owner will appreciate that. Now again, you want the mouth to be closed. Ears forward. Head inquisitive if the dog's panting. And stress is part of the puzzle here as much as we try to look after the dog. Um. Being in a strange environment with lights and everything else probably means there's a higher than usual risk of the dog panting. So if you get the owner just to pretend to throw the t, uh, the treat towards the dog, more often than not, the dog will snap its mouth closed and look at the treat. So depending where the treat is, that's your shot. If that doesn't work, get the owner to step in having given a weight command. Reward the weight, actually give it the treat, step back out in the direction you want the dog to look. And that probably will work too. Either way. Once the dog's mouth is closed, that's when you take the shot. Once again, a reminder, I never move the lights around with the dog in the middle of the floor. Nigel would freak out, and that's the end of the shoot. So we always get the owner to take the dog out and then we put, uh, the lights where we want them. Now the final mile here is in the post-production, making sure everything stays inky black, and the dog doesn't look like a cutout. This is a cardinal sin. When photographing animals in the studio, you really don't want the animal to look like a cutout. So take your time, get a nice balance in the tones, make sure those highlights are not blown out. If you get the time, move the light, just one big key light, maybe behind or beside the dog, and see what happens when you do that. When you wash light over a dark dog and a dark background over its snout or into its eyes, you get these beautiful different types of shot that frankly add value, and you can put them into composites and you look incredible. But one thing that's key with a black dog on a black background like this is the final mile makes all the difference. And with that, we're gonna go into the post-production. So having captured your image of a dog, how do you edit it? In this short section, I'm gonna step through the thought process from taking the raw file as you see it here, all the way through to the finished image. It's all pretty straightforward. I'll try and explain everything that I'm doing. And why. So here we go. We've got our raw file. Um, let's just reset that back to zero. So this is basically how it came out of the camera. And you can see we've used black velvet. Which is left nearly no tones at all. It's nearly completely black. Um, and of course, here's our beautiful Labrador. Um, first thing I always do is get my white balance set. Now for me, um, I know the, the, um, the lights in our studio are set to about 5,900 Kelvin, which has a little bit of warmth to it, but that's just the, um, setting of the stross. What we're now gonna do though, is just move the exposure up a little. Now the exposure, if you see at the histogram here, that's this mig section. Um, so it's almost like a gamma in, um, other bits of software when we're in Lightroom. Um, I'm then gonna just bring the highlights down a little bit because I don't want to the dog to look really bright, but I still want some sheen in the coat and I'm just gonna move the whites around until I'm happy. And what I'm looking for is for there to be some tone up here. Not too much. Um, and I'll keep just balancing the controls until I've got what I want. What I'm now gonna do though, is I'm gonna bring those blacks down. Now, if you want a dog on a black background, a black dog on a black background to look correct, what you can't do is have the background black and the dog not black. Now, if your dog's been properly lit, as you move the black slider, black should start to crunch up across the whole image. Now you have to make some decisions at this point. It depends on the look you're going for. If you want detail in the dog, then you might just wanna keep that black slider just up here. But in the final image, when you are prepping the image, remember this, the blackest area of the dog must match the blackest area of the velvet. Otherwise, it'll simply look like a cutout for me. I've learned over the years I'm gonna compress the blacks quite a lot so that there's plenty of blacks on that dog. I'm just gonna move the shadows around a little bit. Um, lemme turn the highlights off and I'm looking for that density in the black. Now you could argue that the dog needs more detail in those shadows, ar shadow areas of the fur, but I found over the years that actually if you do that, it still has a tendency to look like a cutout. So I'll leave some in there, but I'll let some of it black up block up as well. Um, just pushing those whites again. Somewhere around there. Looks about right to me. Just in a quick double check. Everything looks okay. There's just here. You just see the whites are starting to creep out and the highlights of the eye, that's pretty much on the money. That's what I'd expect. Uh, not too worried about that. It means we've got a full range of tones. Um, and at that point we are now gonna go into Photoshop. Now I do understand lots of you who use Lightroom for everything. You'll do your entire edit here. Um, and I think that's perfectly fine. It's just for me, I like to work at a Pixellu level more than I like to work at a slider level. But that probably just shows, uh, my background and my age having worked on Photoshop or worked in Photoshop ever since version one. So this is where I feel the most comfortable. But if what you like to do is work entirely in light rub, then you do that. So here we're gonna do, uh, we're gonna export it. I've got presets for this. Uh, I'm just gonna use an eight bit tiff and go into, uh, Photoshop. I'm gonna give it unique name, okay. So now here I am in Photoshop. Um, the first thing I always do is to sort out my background. Again, everyone has their own way of doing these things for me, that just seems to work. So, um, I'm gonna go, um, in the old days, I'd lasso this, but now of course all I really need to do is to hit, um, select subjects. So I'm gonna first off copy my background layer. This is gonna be my black layer. So I'm gonna select subject, let it do its thing. Um, so that's done. A will have done a pretty good job of selecting a dog on that selection note. I'm gonna expand it by some amount, let's say. I dunno. 50 pixels. Let's see where that gets me. Not too bad because what I'm looking for is for it to miss the fur. Now if I see any of the bits of fur sticking out, um, beyond this selection, beyond the lasso. There we go. There's one. I'm just gonna expand the selection round that. So that I don't accidentally delete it, because again, I'm gonna work really hard to make sure this looks like a black dog on a black background, not a cutout. We really, really, really do not want it to look like a cutout. That should do. Okay, so now I'm gonna do, I'm gonna invert that selection and I'm gonna fill it with black. So we go to edit, fill, uh, black here. Okay. Okay, so now I'm gonna unselect or deselect all of that. So select, um, deselect. Now I've got a reasonably good, um, approximation of where we're headed Now. Of course it looks like there's black all the way around, but I'm not convinced that's true. So what we're gonna do now is put in a helper layer, just something that in the end won't get used. It's just gonna help me to see everything that I'm doing and all for this. And then for this, all I'm gonna do is add a curves layer. So we're gonna add a curves there and then whack, um, one point up high here. And now you can see if I zoom in, you can see there's a lot of information still there in between the dog and the jet black background. And that's that boundary area. So now we're gonna go to the burn tool. Um, I'm gonna make sure that it's set for shadows, protect tones is off. I'm just gonna turn. That size down a little bit, and the exposure is set at about 10%. Oops. So let's just just work my way round. I'm gonna zoom in and work my way round on the black layer, just pushing that black in. Again. I'm just being careful not. To let, um, any stray hairs like those get blown to or pushed to black because I want those little bits of detail to be left and they're gonna be the convincer that that really was a black dog on a black background. Otherwise, like I say, you just run the risk, um, of it looking like a cutout and I really don't want it to look like a cutout. Okay. It's working my way around. Everything's good. A bit of dos there. This method works really well because if you do happen to catch bits of the dog as you're burning it in, um, it will just look like a natural shadow. It's a very convincing way of doing it. So let's turn the layer off. There you go. Now that's beginning to take shape. Lemme just have a quick look around and make sure I know everything that I now have to do. Fine. So the next step for me is to go round and get rid of all of those little bits of snot, saliva, treats, whatever is on the dog. So that dog looks absolutely pristine. So I'm gonna speed this up, but I'm gonna use, um, the remove tool, which is just the most effective way of doing it. It's gonna work my way around every one of these little areas. Um, and I'll see you in about five minutes. Alternatively, if you find that you're removed till this playing slowly like mine is today, you can do a different thing, which is to find each little defect, we got lasso around it, and then go to edit fill. And this time, instead of it being black, just go to content Aware. And then deselect at the end. Now I've set a little action for that, which does all of those things. So I just last through each bit, hit the hot key, and it just does it for me. I don't know why the remove tool is playing up to date, but the remove tool is playing up to date, does it? Sometimes it just takes forever. I assume it's network load, but let's just work my way around. Okay, so that's looking pretty clean. Now what we're gonna do is just make sure that all of the blends are good. Um, and I am going to, I see there's a bit that I missed. Sorry, that one's. Now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna add a couple of different layers. I'm gonna add two curves, layers. One that's gonna help me brighten things and one that is gonna help me talking things. I'm gonna set both of those masks to black, and then I'm just gonna paint into the areas where I want things to be brighter or things to be darker. So here I'm just gonna work on um, frightening certain areas, general gently. Now notice that the curves are only really lifting the mid tones, so I'm holding onto any of the real shadow detail and the same here, dark in a few areas off so they're not quite so dominant. Okay, so that's looking pretty good. And the final couple of steps to do is I'm gonna just add in an exposure layer and then onto to the top and put a gamma correction on it so it's nice and dark overall, and with a nice big brush, mask it back out. Final step, create a copy of all the layers. Smart object. My favorite of all of the um, plugins. Find a preset from my list that I really like, or from the hearing drugs probably. I will do nicely. There you go. There you have it. Black dog and a black back ride. So there we have it. We've talked about how to prepare your studio, how to understand and handle dogs, and more importantly, the owners, how to do it with confidence, how to light them beautifully, whether they're black, white, curly, shiny, and how to pose, compose, and polish the final images. But more than anything, I hope what comes through is this, photographing dogs isn't about. Just control. It's about connections. It's about a connection between you and the owner, the dog and that owner, and ultimately the dog and the camera. It's about patience, empathy, and of course a good sense of humor because frankly, nothing ever goes to plan and you're on the back foot the entire time, and I love that it's about capturing that personality, that curiosity. It's about the softness in the eyes, the chaos, and hopefully a little bit of calm in between all of it. And all these things are what make dogs such extraordinary companions and extraordinary subjects to photograph. If you can do all of that with kindness and a little bit of a creative flare, you will genuinely create beautiful images that people will treasure for a lifetime. So whatever else you do, be kind to yourself. Take care. ### [Video: One-light studio headshot with shallow depth of field](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/studio-lighting-techniques/video-one-light-studio-headshot-with-shallow-depth-of-field/) One-light studio headshot with shallow depth of field One lens, one light and... one ladder. This is my absolute FAVOURITE type of shoot and it's so simple. Watch the video to see how I captured a beautifully flattering portrait of Sam with a shallow depth of field in the studio (and how you can replicate the effect with your lights). Here, I use a grey background behind Sam, but don't worry if you only have white paper: I explain how to make it look grey behind your subject. ### [Video: Studio Lighting For Available-Light Photographers](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/studio-lighting-techniques/video-studio-lighting-for-available-light-photographers/) Perhaps you're at home with window-lit portraiture, but feel a little intimated by the idea of studio strobes. If so, you're definitely not alone! For a very long time, I struggled to understand all the technical detail that seemed to be a requirement for getting started with studio lighting, especially as I just wanted to get back to what I love doing most - creating beautiful portraits! I finally had a breakthrough and realised that my knowledge of photographing people using window light was actually all I needed to get started. That's the starting point for this video. We'll look at how three simple lighting patterns are created using window light, before recreating them with studio strobes. We'll also discuss some of the benefits of strobe lighting and why they've become so crucial in my business. It's aimed at portrait photographers who are reasonably confident using natural light, and will equip you with the confidence and skills to invest in, set-up and use your first studio light. We'll cover: - Why I found studio lighting so confusing to start with (and the huge breakthrough that changed everything for me, bringing the fun and creativity back to my portrait photography) - The simple studio set-up I use everyday (and why the shape of your lighting modifier matters) - Three very different lighting patterns you can create with just a single flash in a soft box, including Rembrandt lighting, Mask lighting and Split lighting. For each portrait you'll see my images straight-out-of-the-camera with exposure settings and the final edit, too. As always, please leave a comment or get in touch if you have any questions about this video or requests for what you'd like us to cover next time. Enjoy - and don't miss the outtakes at the very end! :-) ### [Video: Characterful portrait trio of Rob using studio lighting](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/the_visual_vault/techniques/video-characterful-portrait-trio-of-rob-using-studio-lighting/) Characterful portrait trio of Rob using studio lighting Create strong, masculine and characterful portraits by controlling your light and shadow areas. I see WAY too many studio portraits with flat lighting. In this video I explain why I hate images where light is thrown from every direction on to the subject and background. Don't be scared of shadows. They bring shape, depth and character to portraits. In fact, when you bring shadows into play, you can effectively capture subjects in white clothes on white backgrounds, without everything merging. Click the play button to get three ideas for characterful, masculine studio portraits, and learn how to use a subtractor to introduce shadow areas in white-on-white portraits and in all-white studio spaces. ### [Used Images Index](https://masteringportraitphotography.com/used-images-index/) There are so many images on this site, it can be hard to know where to look! This is an index of every image used in an article and a link to that article.