There is something I like with cinema lighting, or lighting for television, when they tend to have faces painted with just two tones of the same skin colour. This might sound strange when I try to explain it, I blame it on not having English as my first language. What I am trying to say is; I like interesting shadows.
For this portrait, a headshot for an author I did a couple of weeks ago, I tried to balance the key and the fill light so there would be one half of the portrait in a lighter skin tone, and the other in a darker.
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I mostly work alone, but I rent a desk in a house full of nice people doing different stuff. Some are copywriters, some write code, some are art directors and the rest work as project managers and planning production. We all work on different projects for different clients, but share a house, so we really should have portraits in a similar style to present ourselves with.
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Or maybe it was just an excuse for me to try out a different light setup with my brand new Molton fabric and two Profoto D1? I got more or less cooperative models, and they got new profile pictures.
Molton, a 5-foot Octa and a beauty dish…
I usually don’t let my light modifiers be a part of my portraits, sometimes I have to clone out the corner of a reflector panel or crop to get rid of a softbox that was placed very close to the model.
For this portrait of a Swedish authour and illustrator, we tried a lot of different angles, the white Profoto Softlight Reflector (a beauty dish) was first just used as hair light, placed very close to the background, out of frame. When I changed my position a bit, it became a part of the portrait.
Moving around in the studio can give new results…
A magazine I work for a lot sent me to a clinic where they are specialized in x-raying dogs, and the vet above is well known in Sweden for being very good at positioning the dogs right, which is important, I have learned.
The assignment was for an article, and usually I try to deliver realistic photos using only available light. But, for some photos, it is nice to bring your own light and not have to rely on the dark skies of Sweden or the un-flattering light from fluorescent lamps.
One light is often enough…
This will be the last photo from this portrait session I did for a guy wanted to get into the modelling business as a male model. Last I heard from him, he had signed for an agency so I guess the pictures did what they were for. Showing his potential.
First we started with a one-light setup using only a Profoto D1 250 Air and a Magnum reflector, together with a reflector for a little fill.
Adding another light reveals details…
