LIGHT UP PORTRAITS

Pro Phil Barker shows an amateur photographer how to use studio lighting to capture perfectly lit and atmospheric portraits

- Pro Phil Barker

PRO PHIL BARKER

CAMERA: EOS 5D MARK III

Phil began his career working as an assistant photographer when he was just 13, and is now a professional photographer based in Bath, UK. He’s worked for Future PLC, the publishers of Photography Week, as a studio and location photographer for the last four years, and specialises in portrait and product photography. To see his stunning portfolio go to bit.ly/3uMOdcM

APPRENTICE MICHAEL BROWN

CAMERA: CANON EOS 5DS R

Michael, 59, lives in West London, and is a retired airfield operations officer. He’s been into photography since he was a teenager in the days of 35mm film. His first Canon EOS camera was an EOS 600D, and he bought a full-frame 50MP EOS 5DS R three years ago. Michael enjoys landscape photography, but is keen to learn more about portrait photography and studio lighting.

TECHNIQUE ASSESSMENT

Phil showed Michael how to set up his camera for working shooting under studio lights

MANUAL MODE FOR LIGHTS

Phil says: “Although Michael was used to shooting in Manual mode for landscape photos, when using lights in a studio for portraits there’s no ambient light to factor in, so you control the aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and then adjust your lights to get the desired exposure. We started off shooting at f/5.6, 1/200 sec and ISO100 on our Canon 5Ds, and tweaked our lighting power to around half (4.8) to star with for our first setup.”

AF SETUP