How do top portrait specialists approach a shoot and what gear do they use? We asked six acclaimed photographers to share their best ever portrait photography secrets
Rory won the Portrait of Britain award for four years in a row and is a National Portrait Gallery BAME artist. He also runs courses and mentorship programmes. See www.rorylewis.studio and @rorylewisofficial on Instagram.
Actor David Morrissey. Image: Rory Lewis
‘Described by the British Film Institute as one of the most versatile English actors of his generation, David Morrissey is noted for the meticulous preparation and research he undertakes for his roles – you may have recently seen him in the hit BBC drama series, Sherwood,’ Rory explains. ‘I captured David’s portrait for a new project entitled Selah, drawing inspiration from the Old Master painters such as Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Titian and Ribera. I have attempted to masterfully recreate the light, atmosphere and tones of classical portrait paintings.
‘I like to call this position the hero shot, positioning the subject side on, looking across their shoulder. I am positioned slightly lower, thus making David look tall and prominent.’ Studio lighting can seem daunting if you have never tried it before, but as Rory explains, ‘It’s not nearly as scary as most people think. To my mind, it’s all about keepng things simple. Most of my portrait sittings are like this one, using just one or two lights. Here, I used two Profoto B10 heads, with two Small Octa Softboxes.
One was behind at 220 degrees right, and the other was in front of David, again to the right at 140 degrees. I also used a Manfrotto 1×1 Skylight Rapid to the left to tone down the shadows.’ David was captured at 1/100sec, f/7.1, ISO 100. ‘I never deviate from either f/5.6 or 7.1 in my portraits, using the medium format Hasselblad X1D II 50C camera,’ adds Rory. ‘These apertures deliver great depth and detail.’
A portrait used in a promotional campaign for Cardiff University. Image: Rory Lewis
Jade Keshia Gordon is a London-based fashion and beauty photographer who has shot for the likes of Nike and Canon. Her work has appeared in magazines including Forbes and Elle. Visit jkgphotography.co.uk
‘This was taken on a shoot for a fashion campaign for the spring/summer collection of clothes brand WMNS WEAR,’ recalls Jade. The theme of the campaign was ‘Euphoria’. The model, Lay, was placed close to a white wall in the studio. The wall was lit by two, colour-adjustable RGB LED panel lights placed at 45 degrees on either side of the model, whch were set to bright purple. A white spotlight was then projected onto the model from the front and slightly to the left of the model.
The effect of this was to create a strong, hard purple shadow in a white circle on the background. Jade took this shot using an EF 8-15mm f/4 L Fisheye on a Canon EOS R5, via the RF adapter, and used an exposure of 1/125sec at f/4 at ISO 320. Because she was shooting so close to the model, this made the placement of the spotlight quite tricky. ‘We needed it to be as close to the front of the model as possible but without getting my shadow in the shot too.’
Sam Nash is a London-based portrait photographer who started out shooting events before progressing to commercial photography – shooting ad campaigns for magazines, retail, and lifestyle shoots. He now focuses solely on portrait and fashion photography as he found his true passion lies there. www.samnashshots.com
‘This shot of dancer Kate Byrne was achieved using the Rotolight AEOS 2 in an indoor abandoned shaft studio which had multiple floors and shooting locations within it. The model was framed neatly within the bricks which I lit up with an orange filter chosen from the 2,500 digital filters that were available.
‘At times, the colours chosen are purely aesthetic to match the wardrobe, as well as the ambience of the shoot. I set up another AEOS 2, set to 40% power, inside the new Rotolight P90 parabolic soft dome placed six feet from Kate to give a beautiful key light on her. I used a Sony Alpha 1 camera with a 50mm F1.2 GM lens.’
‘Kesha appeared in James Bond’s most recent outing, No Time to Die. This shot was achieved using just one Rotolight NEO 3. It was shot outdoors, in an alley. ‘Using continuous LED lighting was essential, as this shot was taken in the evening. A perfectly lit shot controls the shadows in the portrait, making a shot like this more visually interesting and dynamic. The chosen location set the mood and the model’s pose was strategic – it could have been more mundane had the model looked directly into the camera. I used a Sony A1 camera with a 50mm F1.2 GM lens.’
Black dress. Image: Sam Nash
‘This shot, of model Katia Valerievna, was achieved using one Rotolight NEO 3, positioned 45 degrees from the model, during London Fashion Week. ‘The NEO 3 was set at about 36% output. Time was of the essence, so I had to move quickly between shots as there were many people on location. By placing my model on the steps, it gave a 3D sense of depth to my subject, and it allowed the contrasting colours between the model’s dress and the environment to really pop and achieve a dusky, romantic feel to the image. ‘I used a Sony Alpha 1 camera with a 50mm F1.2 GM lens.’
Peter Searle makes portraits of some of the most influential people in British society: Prime Ministers, CEOs, opera stars and generals. He is London-based but shoots all over the world, and has work in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery. Although Peter uses flash sometimes, here are his tips for working with available light. www.petersearle.com
Ncuti Gatwa. Image: Peter Searle
‘This lift at the BFI, London, was the perfect location for this portrait shoot with actor Ncuti Gatwa because the red contrasted nicely with the daylight coming in through a glass entrance lobby which was supplemented by a huge backlit panel of strip lights. Fortuitously the setting is in keeping with his forthcoming role as the new Dr Who. ‘I shot Ncuti with a Fujifilm GFX 50S camera and 63mm lens. Settings were 1/100sec at f/2.8, ISO 160.’
Runyararo Mapfumo. Image: Peter Searle
‘Runyararo is the director of the hugely successful Netflix show, Sex Education. For this portrait I placed her in the shade under an overhang of concrete architecture. Soft light bounced off buildings behind my back. ‘I shot Runyaro with a Fujifilm GFX 50S camera and 45mm lens. Settings were 1/500sec at f/8, ISO 160.’
Prya Kansara. Image: Peter Searle
‘Prya’s TV credits includes Bridgerton and Polite Society. I photographed her at BFI, London. With the table at just the right distance from the large windows in the BFI, she is exposed perfectly, but so are the warm illumination of the bar lights. ‘I shot Prya with a Fujifilm GFX 50S camera and 45mm lens. The settings were 1/30sec (on a tripod) at f/2.8, ISO 320.
Robert is a roving street portrait photographer living in north-east London. He focuses on impromptu street portraits, particularly around the East End. Robert’s images have been published widely and appear in several editions of Portrait of Britain and Portrait of Humanity. See Instagram @rafhuggins
Couple in Hackney. Image: Robert Huggins
‘I asked this couple to move in to the light slightly, and thought this was an ideal background. You can’t move around people too much or they get bored, but I sometimes ask subjects to adjust their hands. I shot this on a Leica SL. There was minimal editing apart from a square crop, which I like for this kind of portrait.’
Couple in Cafe. Image: Robert Huggins
‘Most of my photos are of interesting-looking strangers or intriguing situations. The background and setting are crucial, and I work all this out before asking the person for a shot. This couple were embracing in a cafe as I passed, which caught my eye, so I asked them to recreate this for the shot. It turned out the guy had just declared his love for the first time!
My work is more about informal portraits of people rather than street candids, but I don’t want to have to re-arrange the shot at a later date. I like the spontaneity of the moment. I find people are generous with their time, but only for about three or four shots, and then they lose interest – so I have to work fast. I shot this on my Leica SL2 and a 35mm Summicron lens.’
Hackney Market. Image: Robert Huggins
‘I explained to this burka-clad lady that I really liked her eyes. I wanted to make sure that as a Muslim woman, she was okay with being photographed, and she also phoned her husband to check (sometimes very orthodox Muslim people are fine about being photographed, sometimes not). Then I asked her to move against this background, as it was a busy market with lots of distractions. There is often humour in my images, and I liked the rug she was holding – an interesting juxtapositon. The light was very bright that day so I had to do more editing than usual. Again, shot on the SL2 with 35mm lens.’
Based in Kielce, Poland, Iwona specialises in child portraits and is an expert in colour grading. She’s in high demand, despite only starting out in 2013, and travels around the world teaching, as well as creating online tutorials. Her latest book, Dreamy Childhood Portraits, was published in 2021. See iwonapodlasinska.com and Instagram @iwonapodlasinska
Adam 2017. Image: Iwona Podlasińska
‘I asked my son Adam, who was just three then, to look at the cakes through the glass, which he only did for three seconds – enough for me to get the shots. The portrait was taken entirely in the natural ambient light of the bakery, with light also coming in from the case. At the time, I was shooting with the Sony A7, using an 85mm f/1.4. Editing involved removing a distracting price tag from the bottom left of the image and then just doing the usual tweaks in Lightroom to boost contrast etc.’
Adam on the Bed. Image: Iwona Podlasińska
‘Adam was seven when I took this portrait. I was preparing for a photo shoot and wanted to test some new ideas. So I brought an album for him to look at, and a desk lamp. I didn’t give him any instructions other than to lie down (Adam is very relaxed in front of the camera if he is comfortable). The lamp was not enough to light up Adam’s face, and the only window in the room was behind him on the right, so I added a small LED video light in front of him. I used a warm setting, around 3000K. The image was shot on a Sony A7 III with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. The Lightroom edits involved some exposure corrections and colour grading to emphasise the lovely colour harmony.’
Jan, Krakow Market. Image: Iwona Podlasińska
This shows my older son Jan, who was four then, feeding pigeons on the square. Like most of my images of my kids, the shot wasn’t planned. As Jan fed the pigeons, it started to rain, and it was quite technically challenging because I was shooting with a manual 85mm f/1.4 lens on a Sony A7. Everything came through sharp, however. The light was entirely natural and I edited the image in Lightroom and Photoshop – I cropped the original image from the right and added a part of another image on the left to improve the composition (initially, the frame would end right behind the pigeon’s wings on the left). Then I also colour graded the image to get that orange-blue complementary harmony.’
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