Behind the Scenes of a Zulu Warrior Photo Shoot

Photography Tips

Inspired by the traditional clothing worn by the Zulu tribe in South Africa, one photographer wished to do a modern photo shoot to capture the essence of the tribe’s wardrobe and also have a little fun. In the behind the scenes footage below, you can see how the shoot was done and pick up a few lighting pointers to help you do a similar shoot:

To get the shot, the photographer used three different lights on a 50% black background. Two were strip light softboxes which were placed just behind the model, one on each side. The third light, a silver reflected beauty dish with a diffuser and grid on front, was placed in front of the model.

Here’s one of the finished images and its corresponding camera setting info:

“The idea for this whole project was to have a Zulu warrior in a dark environment–running out of a bush, running out of jungle–and to have the complete background dark or pitch black, maybe even add some leaves…. Then during the shooting we’d actually play with the idea.”