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 dramatic studio portrait lighting, the pose, and the viewpoint all 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. Rather than isolating her with a hair light or rim light, I used a two light portrait setup: 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. Sunglasses portrait photography tips don’t get much more important than this: you can spend all day chasing reflections unless you control the shape and direction of the light properly. 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 used a low camera angle portrait approach – and I mean properly low. Sitting-on-the-floor low. There’s something about a low camera angle that immediately makes the subject feel commanding. You can see it clearly in the finished image: Katalyn’s strong pose, head slightly turned, hands in the pockets. It’s got a real sense of confidence to it. That fashion inspired portrait photography feel – where the subject looks like they genuinely own the room – almost always starts with where you put the camera, not just how you light the scene.
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. 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 one person, one outfit, one light bank – but the low camera angle portrait, the pose, the light… it all stacks up into something really confident. As a cinematic portrait photography studio approach, it’s about as straightforward as it gets, and yet the result genuinely feels like a still from a film. 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.