Business Portrait with window light

Light is nothing we take for granted here in Sweden, but during this season assignments that might would have required a couple of studio lights, light stands, reflectors and a big bag can be done with just a camera.

The portrait of a business woman (above) was taken for the cover of a magazine late last summer, she is a professional board member and was featured in an article covering her skills and experience.

My job was to create a portrait that could be used on the cover, preferably with and uncluttered background so the magazine designer could place design elements around it without disturbing the portrait too much.

One really big window

Her office was in one of the few “skyscrapers” in Stockholm, with a conference room that featured large windows, wall-to-wall. Lucky for me, the photo session was during the time of the day when the sunlight was not shining directly in through the windows.

My job was really simple, let her have a seat facing the large windows by the almost white and glossy conference table, and me just sitting on the other side taking pictures while she changed poses a couple of times.

As a small bonus, they had som curtains on the wall behind her, and with a relatively short depth of field, gave a soft but nice pattern to the background of the portrait.

Large window light is very flattering and easy to work with, and if you add a glossy and light table as a reflector it almost looks like a very advanced beauty setup, but this was just the room and the sun working beautifully together.

Sometimes it can be this simple.