Men vs Women Studio Portrait Photography Tips

Photography Tips  •  Portrait Photography  •  Studio Photography

Photographing guys in a studio environment requires a much simpler lighting arrangement than when shooting women. With men, you can get away with things like deeper contrast and shadows across the face. In this video, Daniel Norton shares some invaluable tips to light up a male model inside a studio:

Beauty Dish with Grid

For the first lighting setup, Norton uses a 2 foot Profoto collapsible beauty dish with a grid to stop the light from spilling onto the background. The light is fired from the front of the model at an angle. A black background emphasizes an overall dark mood.

Beauty Dish with Grid

Adding a Kicker Light to a Male Portrait

For the next shot, Norton brought in a kicker light to separate the model from the background: a Profoto light with a grid on aimed at the back of the model’s head, with some light spilling onto the model’s right cheek.

Key Light and Kicker Light

This lighting setup reveals the texture of the model’s beard, narrows down the face, and showcases the strength in it.

Do you light men’s portraits differently than women’s? Tell us more in the comments.