PRO INSIGHT

Expert studio portrait photographer Vennie shares his favourite lighting setups and solutions to challenges

DESCRIBE YOUR FAVOURED LIGHTING SETUP IN THE STUDIO.

My go-to lighting arrangement consists of two strobes. Firstly a large softbox with a grid at 45 degrees to the model, with the top of the modifier approximately level with the top of the model’s head, set at high-ish power. The second is a honeycomb grid placed directly in front of the model, at 60 per cent power of the first.

WHAT ARE THE GREATEST CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH CREATIVE LIGHTING?

The biggest challenge is planning what you want from the shoot, and what part you want the lighting to play. Do you want dramatic contrast, clean and clinical, or something in between? Then it’s about placing the lights to produce the required result, giving thought to where the light will fall in the picture. Finally allow time for the many small adjustments to angles and settings you’ll invariably need to make to get the lighting spot on.

IN YOUR OPINION WHAT DEFINES CREATIVE LIGHTING?

For me creative lighting is simply where the lighting has been used to lift a composition from a simple photograph to a picture. It needs to in some way have added another layer or dimension to the final image – whether it’s done subtly or overtly really doesn’t matter, as long as it does what it’s meant to.