The fans of the American headshot specialist may notice a bit of a Peter Hurley catchlight pattern going on here. In truth I was asked photograph some new team-members at Yellowtail’s new Exeter office and to match the style with that of the existing headshots on their website; the images had presumably been taken closer to home at the London city location had been shot very nicely.

Studio Light Setup

This four-light lighting setup is quite useful offering a gentle and even lighting which is great when trying to shoot a number of sitters in a similar style. Although using full studio strobes here there is no reason why the softboxes shouldn’t take the smaller battery speedlights (they have adapters) for a similar look on location without hauling too much gear around, I shall try this later, probably the next time my daughter asks me to do something!

The main lighting is from three similar (old) Bowens Esprit 1000’s running through small strip softboxes. The background is lit by a further Esprit 1000 and a slightly larger softbox pointing at the backdrop, as can be seen from the test shot it could be taken up to white with a couple of extra nudges of the control. To get the desired ƒ-stop the lens had a 2 stop ND filter applied; at 1000w these strobes were more than needed but it seemed easier to manage four matching lights. Really all very simple, I even triggered the strobes with a cable! I have to say I get a great delight in using these good old light-sources although Bowens’ new additions do look interesting.

Bottom line is a nice flattering light that’s easy to work with. Of course great willing sitters help. The client received an online gallery to make a selection from later the same day.

Thanks very much for your time, yesterday, for the photos, and for getting them back to me so quickly.They look really good, so thank you so much!