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…