On location: Headshot in a gym
Headshots on location are often taken with only the light in the room. Adding a couple of extra lights can make all the difference or a subtle one. The story Miranda is a personal trainer at The Rack in Atlanta. She wants her headshot to be more than a face on the wall of coaches. She told me she wanted it to show her confidence, power and femininity. “No makeup! I wear mascara and some lip gloss,” she said. “That’s all… in life and in photos.” The Rack is lit with overhead LED tube fixtures hanging in the rafters. Overall, it’s good light. The drawback is that it has no direction. It was clear to me that I had to bring in extra gear. Portable window light I always choose the background that supports the story first. Here, I wanted some of the racks to set the stage. Sadly, this means that there is never a window in the right place. So, I bring my own. In this case, a three-by-four foot softbox mounted on a Generay Endeavor ML-33 daylight moonlight. By moving it in close to Miranda, I created soft directional light. The light was angled in a shotgun configuration. This gave a beautiful wrap-around effect. A battery-powered Generay RGB Mini-Moon adds highlights to Miranda’s hair. Notice the camera position. My Canon R5C with a 70-200 f/2.8 RF lens on a Really Right Stuff tripod is tethered to a MacBook Pro M2. The long focal length, 153mm, threw the equipment in the background out of focus. It suggests a gym setting without being obvious. The “PRIME” label behind Miranda was left on purpose. It’s a positive description of her skills as a personal trainer. Composition There are some serious black vertical lines in the background. I use a tripod to eliminate the variable of composition. There is no way that I can put the camera in the same place every time I hold it. My tripod keeps the compositions the same. It allowed me to put Miranda’s head between the uprights to avoid the distraction of one of them cutting the shape of her head (a common compositional faux pas). Lighting matters I made the light from the softbox about a stop brighter than the background. She has big catchlights in her eyes. Without the extra lighting, her eyes would have been shadowed by the overhead fixtures. It doesn’t take much time to add a portable window light to any environmental headshot or portrait. Do it and see your results flourish!
Headshots on location are often taken with only the light in the room. Adding a couple of extra lights can make all the difference or a subtle one. The story Miranda is a personal trainer at The Rack in Atlanta. She wants her headshot to be more than a face on the wall of coaches. She told me she wanted it to show her confidence, power and femininity. “No makeup! I wear mascara and some lip gloss,” she said. “That’s all… in life and in photos.” The Rack is lit with overhead LED tube fixtures hanging in the rafters. Overall, it’s good light. The drawback is that it has no direction. It was clear to me that I had to bring in extra gear. Portable window light I always choose the background that supports the story first. Here, I wanted some of the racks to set the stage. Sadly, this means that there is never a window in the right place. So, I bring my own. In this case, a three-by-four foot softbox mounted on a Generay Endeavor ML-33 daylight moonlight. By moving it in close to Miranda, I created soft directional light. The light was angled in a shotgun configuration. This gave a beautiful wrap-around effect. A battery-powered Generay RGB Mini-Moon adds highlights to Miranda’s hair. Notice the camera position. My Canon R5C with a 70-200 f/2.8 RF lens on a Really Right Stuff tripod is tethered to a MacBook Pro M2. The long focal length, 153mm, threw the equipment in the background out of focus. It suggests a gym setting without being obvious. The “PRIME” label behind Miranda was left on purpose. It’s a positive description of her skills as a personal trainer. Composition There are some serious black vertical lines in the background. I use a tripod to eliminate the variable of composition. There is no way that I can put the camera in the same place every time I hold it. My tripod keeps the compositions the same. It allowed me to put Miranda’s head between the uprights to avoid the distraction of one of them cutting the shape of her head (a common compositional faux pas). Lighting matters I made the light from the softbox about a stop brighter than the background. She has big catchlights in her eyes. Without the extra lighting, her eyes would have been shadowed by the overhead fixtures. It doesn’t take much time to add a portable window light to any environmental headshot or portrait. Do it and see your results flourish! 
