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This summer I had the pleasure of photographing the new look book and makeup campaign of makeup brand Lottie London. With 3 models, 2 days, 12 makeup looks, plenty of colour and playful poses, this shoots set out to be FUN. The brand was after soft, feminine lighting to reflect the young and girly vibe of the brand, which is my favourite lighting to create and photograph. As pink was a prominent colour, we decided to incorporate a very subtle pink gel on the side light in some of the shots.

When Profoto contacted me about doing a shoot for their range of soft boxes, I didn’t hesitate one second. Once the mood board was done and approved, I was asked to come up with a lighting setup for the shoot, one that would give off the vibe reflected in the mood board and showcase soft boxes in any shape and size I wanted. My mission on this project became to have a different lighting setup for each beauty look, whilst being very careful to maintain the main mood, exposure and colours throughout the shoot. On this project, I took my time to compare each new lighting setup with the previous shots on Capture 1, to ensure consistency was maintained throughout.

Ever since I first used Profoto years ago, I’ve been worrying less and less about technical issues during shooting, such as radio signal failure between trigger and light or lights missing flashes. This year, I have been both on the Profoto and the Live Stage at The Photography Show, doing lighting demonstrations on soft light and colour gels – two of my ABSOLUTE favourite type of lights to use. My demos started from one light, made to already work well on the subject by itself, and built up step by step to two, three or four light units. Some other times though, there is nothing like adding a splash of colour (or maybe three! ), a fill light or an accent light to create a visual impact that is more detailed and unique.

The first section will give you all the information you need on lighting equipment and standard lighting techniques, whilst the second is focused on working with light hands on in the studio in a more practical and creative way. The last part of the book is made of Resources, a section that includes a wide selection of images in different light matched with lighting diagrams, which can be used as reference for your shoots. RESOURCES Lighting Setups: Hands-on examples of studio shoots Lighting Reference Gallery: Hundreds featuring the same four models lit against a white and a dark background from a number of different angles; the most complete lighting reference available. From the bottom of my heart, home of every single page of ‘Lighting People’, I hope that you will enjoy reading about and learning my favourite techniques, and that this book will convey over to you some of my ever-growing love for light.