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.…