Cinematic portraits

PETER FENECH reveals how to use creative lighting setups to produce painterly, theatrical portrait images

Portraiture takes many forms, but for many people the first images that come to mind are shots on a seamless white background taken in a studio, or high-end location shoots with a model posed against a dramatic backdrop. However, there are a wealth of opportunities in between these extremes, and with some creative thinking it’s possible to take unique images with minimal lighting in any location.

Many clients will ask to be photographed in their own home or office, so learning how to craft lighting to fit around the environment you have is an essential pro skill. Once mastered, this technique can empower you to work unrestricted by ambient lighting conditions, and produce stunning images regardless of the weather, surroundings or budget.

For the style shown here the intention was to create a cinematic image with theatrical lighting produced entirely from artificial sources. The theme was inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, whose works made

use of strong, undiffused sunlight and a wide tonal range. On the day of this shoot it was not possible to have the interior and exterior perfectly illuminated naturally, as the sun never directly shone through the window facing the subject. It was therefore necessary to expose for each image zone separately, and light the interior with a constructed-to-natural lighting balance of 3:1. Here’s the technique you need to achieve this shot…

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Advanced

TIME TAKEN: 3 hours