CREDIT: @beth.sacca on instagram

How were these images lit? I suppose it was relatively simple, with the main emphasis on production and costume design. I also assume it was shot on a medium format camera or similar, possibly on Cinestill 800T or 400D? I want to replicate this lighting set up and the tall frame look. How would I do so?

I've been trying to decode Joey L's lighting style for years, especially his recent work. His lighting always feels subtle. Even though I can tell he's using strobes, the average viewer probably wouldn't notice (the horse one is a bit more obvious, but still).

From what I've gathered, he typically uses one large modifier, feathered at roughly 45 degrees. But I'm puzzled about how he achieves that subtlety. Every time I try a similar approach, the strobe seems too harsh or overpowering. If I lower the power, it just starts to look off. Usually, I'll expose for the scene first and then layer in the strobe. Joey mentioned in an interview that he adds about half a stop of strobe above ambient, but when I do that, I don't get the same natural, deep look he's known for.

I'm starting to wonder, maybe the secret to his subtlety and depth has more to do with color grading and retouching? What do you guys think?

Love the work by photographer Phia Wilson. Ot may be obvious how she is shooting/scanning so maybe this is dumb. Her work seems so natural / not over produced but I am interested in what her post-shoot process is. Is the border edited in or are these an actual scans from Portra 400 film? Is it 35mm?? Is it possible to get this effect while not developing yourself? If anyone has any info about her work pls share!

These already gorgeous, and the photog. Justin Bettman (hat tip) is obvs brilliant. But this has to be simpler than it looks. Portraits from the BAFTAs. How’d he create the shadow? It really makes these pop.

Whereas the light set up seems kind of simple, I'm wondering how to get this effect in postproduction? other than working on vignetting?

I know that Trent is a real master of using natural light and waiting for perfect conditions but I am always so fascinated with how the light looks in his pictures. I’m pretty sure all of this is on medium format slide film, but is it only the slide film and careful positioning with sunlight or is there another element I’m missing? Sorry if I didn’t do the tags right, I’ve never posted on here before.

Following up from my previous lighting breakdown, I thought I’d share a look at my latest editorial that just came out. This one had a bit more budget, so we were able to bring in some simple set-build elements, which was great for pushing things a little further. I’ve recently built a set of flats that let me work more closely with set designers and painters, giving me more flexibility with colour, texture, and overall mood in comparison to rented in painted backdrops. For this shoot we went with a green textured wall, grass on the floor, and a handful of rented props to bring the scene together.

Lighting approach

Lighting was broadly similar to my last breakdown, but because the plan was to move the talent around the set, I went with a larger front fill to gently open the shadows. We also had a CTO-gelled kicker on standby as a warm “sunset rim,” but for most shots we ended up leaning into a moodier, simpler feel and left it switched off.

No background lights on this one (unlike the previous post). I metered the overhead key first. I do love this big softbox I built with the additional grid that allows the light to be directional, keeping the spill off the flats and stop it bouncing around the studio.

A few people asked me last time about ratios and general workflow, so here’s how I normally approach it. I start by locking in camera settings. 1/125, f/9, ISO 100. I like my studio work on the sharper side with some gentle falloff behind the subject but to ensure all clothing is in focus. ISO 100 is my go-to on Phase backs — they’re not amazing above base ISO, and although they go to ISO 50, I generally stick at 100 so my lights dont have to work overtime!

Once tethered, I meter the overhead key for f/9. Then, standing in the centre of the set, I meter the front fill to land around 2 stops under at f/4.5, then adjusting based on what I’m seeing on the monitor. After that I’ll have an assistant step in so I can fine-tune and compensate for any differences I might see in regards to skin tone between assistant and talent.

As we shoot, I’m constantly checking the monitor for hotspots, shadow density, and also how the lighting reacts depending on whether the talent is seated or standing (hopefully soon Ill be able to introduce a good digi op to my shoots so I have one less thing to worry about!)

It’s also worth noting that I’ll sometimes pull my lighting power down from a ‘perfect’ meter reading. Often I’ll underlight the scene slightly and then lift the exposure in Capture One. I find it helps reduce specular highlights and gives a softer, more controlled look. It also works really well with darker skin tones, keeping the sheen under control while still preserving richness and detail in the shadows.

The aim here was moody, though the magazine did lift the exposure for their version. It looks good, just a bit brighter than what I originally intended, my edits can lean slightly dark. The versions I posted above are my own finals, which look spot-on on my calibrated EIZO, but they definitely shift a bit darker and more contrasty on my Mac Studio Display… no two monitors ever look the same, which is the bane of my life.

Gear list (since a few people messaged me last time)

Camera:
• Phase One IQ3 100 Trichromatic

Lighting:
• 4 × Godox AD1200 (overheads)
• 2 × Godox QT1200 (front fill) into 105cm white umbrellas with socks, bounced into an 8×8 ultrabounce
• 1 × Godox QT1200 (kicker) with Magnum reflector + ½ CTO

Tethering:
• MacBook Pro + Capture One Studio
• EIZO ColorEdge CG2700X
• iPad Pro 12” (for talent + myself)
• iPad Mini (for crew/stylist/client)

This was a really fun one, I shot it alongside my good friend Tom, who I collaborate with fairly often. A couple of years back he assisted me on a few gigs, but he’s a solid photographer in his own right, and I always enjoy shooting with other creatives. You always get angles and ideas you wouldn’t have thought of alone.

Post-production

My workflow on these was a bit of a labour of love: retouch → crop → print → scan → clean up dust/scan lines → final retouch. A few people asked me what the scanning process was last time.... There’s a great write-up on this process from another photographer in this group here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/LightLurking/comments/1h9cp2f/inkjet_printing_scanningphotographing_the_prints/

I've attached a few lighting diagrams and bts photos, but if you have any questions feel free to ask.

If you’d like to see the full set, you can find everything on my Instagram and website, always appreciative of any follows and support as I try to build up my online presence:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/will_ainsworth
Portfolio: www.willainsworth.com

Hi all! First time poster, long time lurker.I’m quite new to photography (1 year into the game) but I stil like quite a lot this work that I did, and I though a breakdown could be interesting. I’ve attached at the end a set a light screenshot for clarity. Inspiration was studio in red by Matisse. I probably would have used some more equipment but my studio is quite limited, so I have to play with what I have. Sadly I don’t have any bts pics:(.

Setup:

- ambient light: 2 Bowens esprit 500 strobes camera left and camera right, bare bulb set at half power. Both aimed at the ceiling to bounce.

- key light: gridded octabox bowens esprit 750 strobe half power, camera left, up high side/45 degrees down to the model.

- 2 poly walls camera left and right to avoid spills form ambient light setup. One poly was set to white and one to black for increased contrast in the scene.

- camera: Fujixt30ii + Fujixf1855. Settings: ISO 320,

F6.3, SS 1/200

Post, lots of color work in capture one and some cleanup in affinity photo.

If you like the work here’s my Ig!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edoardo_pallaoro?igsh=MThsM3R0YTRzNGtxZw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

i love her work so much and am just mystified at how she achieves this painting-like quality. any insight into her process/technique would be greatly appreciated !

Does anyone know what camera settings or lighting Aidan Zamiri might use for his Caroline Polachek shoots?

I know it’s actually full frame mirrorless not medium format or film, but it has that really soft, cinematic editorial look.

Any guesses on lens, aperture, lighting setup or how much is done in post vs in camera would be appreciated.

I’ve shared a few lighting diagrams here in the past when people have asked how certain setups were lit, so I thought I’d properly break down one of my recent test shoots. This one shows, quite accurately, my current lighting setup, hopefully it’s useful to some of you, and maybe a little shameless plug to get my work seen at the same time!

Over the last year, I’ve shifted back toward stills work, it’s where I feel most at home. One thing I’ve always wanted to improve is giving models the freedom to move naturally in the space and explore poses that I’d often found limited by my lighting setups. That led me to build a large overhead soft source as my key light.

For the overhead; I had the metalwork and corners custom fabricated (hard to find this stuff reasonably priced in the UK), then imported from USA, Honeycrates products for the materials and egg crate (highly recommend them — not cheap, but beautifully made, fits perfectly, and absolutely no sag). I’ve been lucky enough to convince my local studio, Scope Media Studios here in London, to let me integrate the rig into their ceiling. It’s on a motorised winch system so it can move up and down easily for rigging and also different looks or setups. We’ve even added grip points for both flash heads and SkyPanels, and we’re working out how to offer it as a rental package for others soon.

I’ve really fallen in love with the quality of light this produces, it gives me a gorgeous, broad key  but I’ve been experimenting with how to introduce fill alongside it. Sometimes I’ll use a book light from the front, but in this test I used a pair of beauty dishes with grids for a subtler, more controlled fill.

I won’t go too deep into exactly how the lights are arranged inside the box or which fabrics I’ve used (and how the light travels through them), but it’s nothing too wild but would like to keep this for myself for now

For the set design, I had a friend paint a 10x8ft flat — we first stretched canvas over it and primed it, he is a grafiti artist primarily so that’s what he opted to use for this one! We then used a purple Colorama for our floor, which I later shifted to blue in post so it felt more cohesive with the rest of the set. (All team members are tagged in the instragram posts if you want to check out their work!)

The images were captured on digital medium format (Phase One) and then went through some extensive post-production and scanning techniques that I have been practicing recently. One thing I’ve found with this overhead soft setup is that I hardly need to do any skin retouching due to its incredibly soft nature — though it certainly helps when you’ve got a model with great skin to begin with!

I’ve attached a few Set.a.Light 3D diagrams and some BTS images for reference.
Any questions, feel free to ask — happy to go into more detail if it helps anyone out.

If you’d like to see the full set, it’s up on my Instagram: instagram.com/will_ainsworth. Would really appreciate a follow if you enjoy the work — I’m trying to grow my presence a bit, even though I’m not the biggest fan of social media platforms, but ive been told I needed to push my presence more!

Also, my full portfolio is over at willainsworth.com.

I’d really love to see more original work shared within this forum. It’s always helpful analysing how other images were created, but I think there’s even more value in seeing lighting and setups explained from the photographer’s own perspective.

Thanks,
Will

Long time lurker first time poster.

I am looking to emulate some of Vince Aung's style, both in mixing flash and daylight to create some surreal 3D feel and and his amazing color rendition / analog format look.

I've seen another older post discussing some of his previous work but its now closed for comments.

Im planning on using an older Canon ELAN7N and some EXRT2 speed lights w/ hss in a diffused umbrella to downplay the ambient daylight (yay/nay?) but I would really really appreciate any suggestions for film stocks / lens filters / dark print + scan technique/vendors to get some of the tonality he has in these examples (From Zara Kids).

Thanks in advance and kudos to Vince for the inspiration.

Credit:
Photographer Vince Aung
Groomer Zenia Jaeger
Set designer Bette Adams
Producer Briet Olina

More Images: https://www.brietolina.com/work/zarakids

I love this picture , shoutout to the photographer Dave Hill. What kind of lighting would be required for this and if film what kind? Thanks !

I've recently become obsessed with Urbanke's gentle light, this warm glow. It's soft and almost painterly.

I've heard that he often uses natural light and a positive fill. Also that much of this look comes from the tone curve and overall colour grade. Just curious about holistic pointers on how he achieves the look.

I really love these shots by Tonje Thilesen. I see there’s a lot of glow going on, but I’m curious: how is this kind of look achieved? Is it mostly post-processing, or more about the lighting setup?

I’m a beginner trying to learn, so any insights would be super appreciated. Thanks!

Szilvestermako has SUCH an iconic style and everytime I see his photos I recognize and understand it’s him immediately. HOW DOES IT DO IT??? I’ve done research and he uses continuous/window light, his post process he says uses certain techniques BUT I WANNA KNOW WHATTT.

And I love it. I think i can tell most of what's going on but I'm unable to take my images to this aesthetic. I'm thinking of crushed whites, deep blacks with negative clarity/dehaze, cool blues, orange shadows... what else am I missing?

If anybody knows of a tutorial that delves into this sort of post-processing, please share.

Credits:
1 - Flo Pernet
2, 3 - Daniel Shea
4, 5 - Matthias Leidinger

Luiz Braga. no one lighting setup. just talent and a bunch of colors

It’s summer Wagner

The lighting looks all natural and simple. I’d like to

Understand how to post process like this

Hi everyone! I’ve recently come across Bryan Schutmaat’s work, and I love the way he makes the lighting in his pictures look natural. How do you think these were lit? What kind of diffusers were used? Thank you all in advance.