Making the photograph with what you’ve got
Most people looking at my portraits assume they were made in a studio with professional lighting.
Very often, they weren’t.
Many were made using nothing more than natural light – the available daylight and the space around me – in someone’s home, beside a window, in a doorway, or simply in a corner of a room where I could see the possibility of a photograph.
This one-to-one portrait photography workshop in London is about learning to recognise those possibilities and use natural light with confidence, whether you’re working in a studio, someone’s home or an unfamiliar location.
For me, daylight portraiture has never been about finding the perfect location. It’s about walking into whatever space you’re given, looking at what the light is doing and asking:
What can I make here?
During my years working as a professional portrait photographer, I rarely knew exactly what I would find when I arrived at a location. Sometimes there was beautiful light. Sometimes there wasn’t. Sometimes there was barely a location at all.
An editor once told me that one of the reasons she regularly booked me was because she could put me in a dark shoebox and I’d still come back with the photograph.
That’s really what this workshop is about.
Not lighting recipes. Not expensive equipment. And not learning where somebody should stand beside a particular kind of window.
It’s about learning to see.
Daylight can be soft and delicate, hard and graphic, bright and commercial, or dark and atmospheric.
Two people photographed in exactly the same room don’t have to result in two photographs that look remotely alike.
During the workshop I’ll show you how I look at a space: where the light is coming from, what it’s bouncing from, where it falls away, how the background interacts with it and how moving the subject — sometimes by only a few feet — can completely change the photograph.
The aim isn’t to teach you a series of setups to reproduce.
It’s to give you the confidence to walk into an unfamiliar room, look around and begin to recognise the photographs that are possible there.
Same room. Same available daylight. Three completely different portraits.
These photographs of Lee Ingleby and MyAnna Buring were all made in the same living room using available daylight. By changing their position, their relationship to the windows, the background and the way I used the light, the same ordinary room produced three very different kinds of portrait.
The close portrait of MyAnna was later used on the cover of Freelance Photographer magazine for an issue that also featured a profile of my work as a celebrity portrait photographer.
Before reaching for a reflector, flash or studio light, I look at what’s already there.
Where is the light coming from? How soft or hard is it? What is it bouncing from? Where does it fall away? What happens if the subject moves a metre towards the window, or a metre away from it?
Sometimes the difference between an ordinary portrait and a beautifully controlled one is only a few feet.
During this one-to-one workshop, I’ll show you how I approach an unfamiliar space and find the light within it. Rather than teaching a collection of lighting recipes to copy, I’ll help you understand what you’re looking at so that you can make those decisions for yourself wherever you happen to be photographing.
Charlotte Riley — available daylight, Soho, London
Photographed in a hotel room in Soho using only the available daylight. The large window and strong backlight could easily have become a challenge, but by looking at where the light was falling, what the room was reflecting back and where Charlotte was positioned within it, the room itself became part of the portrait.
Finding the light is only part of making a portrait. There’s still a person standing in front of the camera.
We’ll look at how I work with people: how I direct them, when I don’t direct them, how conversation can change a photograph, and how small changes in expression, posture and gesture can completely alter a portrait.
For me, portrait photography isn’t about imposing a collection of poses on somebody. It’s about paying attention to the person in front of you and recognising the moment when something begins to happen.
Rupert Young — available daylight, at home
Photographed at Rupert’s home using the available daylight. Sometimes the photograph appears between the poses. Learning when to direct someone, when to keep the conversation going and when simply to watch is just as important as understanding the light.
Orlando Bloom — daylight, my living room
Orlando was visiting one afternoon and asked me to photograph a new tattoo on his stomach. There was no planned portrait session or lighting setup. I simply used the daylight available in my living room and made the photograph.
It’s a simple example of something that has always been central to the way I work. A portrait doesn’t need to begin with equipment or an elaborate setup. Sometimes you already have everything you need — a person, a space and some light.
During the day we’ll work with different daylight situations, including window light, side light, backlight, open shade and direct sunlight.
We’ll look at how the position of the subject changes the quality and direction of the light, how backgrounds affect the portrait, and how simple tools such as reflectors or negative fill can be used when the available light needs a little help.
We’ll also explore exposure, lens choice, camera position and perspective, along with how these decisions affect not only the way somebody looks, but the way the portrait feels.
The workshop isn’t about memorising a collection of rules. It’s about understanding why something works so that you can make your own decisions when the circumstances change.
Charlotte Riley — same room, different photograph
This portrait was made in exactly the same Soho hotel room as the environmental portrait above, using the same available daylight. By changing Charlotte’s position, my position and how I used the light and background, the room disappears and the result becomes a completely different kind of portrait.
I spent many years working professionally as a portrait photographer, shooting editorial, magazine and commissioned portraits of actors, musicians and other public figures.
Throughout that time I was often required to arrive at a location without knowing exactly what I would find. There wasn’t always a studio, a perfect background or even particularly good light.
You learned to look.
Over the years I’ve also been asked by other professional photographers to teach them how I work with daylight.
Many years ago, a well-known photographer asked me to take his portrait. He later admitted that he hadn’t really wanted a portrait at all — he’d wanted to see how I worked with daylight.
That way of working forms the basis of this workshop.
These one-to-one portrait photography lessons are suitable for photographers at different stages of their practice – from those beginning to explore portraiture seriously through to experienced and established photographers who want to develop the way they see and work with natural and available light.
You should already have a basic understanding of your camera, but you don’t need any previous experience of studio lighting.
Because the workshop is one-to-one, the day is shaped around your own experience and what you want to develop. For some photographers that might mean becoming more confident photographing people; for others it might be about breaking away from familiar lighting setups and learning to respond more instinctively to different locations and situations.
You don’t need a studio lighting kit or specialist equipment. Bring the camera and lenses you normally use.
Most importantly, come prepared to look.
The aim isn’t for you to leave knowing how to reproduce one of my portraits.
It’s for you to walk into a room you’ve never seen before, look around and think:
I can make a portrait here.
Location: Hackney, East London; Essex; or your own location
Duration: 10am–4.30pm
Fee: £650
Format: One-to-one tuition
The workshop can take place at my studio in Hackney, at my home in Essex, or, if you’re reasonably local, I can come to your own home or studio.
Working in your own space can be particularly useful. Rather than learning in an ideal photographic environment, we’ll look together at the daylight you actually have available and explore the different portraits that can be made there.
Every location presents different possibilities, and learning how to recognise them is at the heart of the workshop.
Because the workshop is one-to-one, the day can be adapted to your existing experience and the areas of portrait photography you’d particularly like to develop.
For locations further afield, please get in touch to discuss travel and any additional costs.
Enquire About a Workshop
Workshops are arranged personally and tailored to experience level, interests, and process.