Often when people are unsatisfied with their photos they may point the blame towards their camera. Of course your gear matters to a degree and your camera might be crap, but this likely isn’t the root cause for why your photos don’t pop in the way you want them to. The reason many overlook however is the importance of lighting. Iris Magazine wanted to find out how you can become an expert in photography.
In photography, lighting is crucial. Without good lighting your photos will likely become dull and flat. Jamie Carmichael, a Sheffield based photographer and lighting expert says: “60% of photography is about lighting. If you’ve not got good lighting, then your photos won’t look great.”
Jamie Carmichael’s career has really evolved after working in the industry for almost a decade. He earned his first studio job, working for Burton: “I worked in a studio just working on flat ecom shots, it was really boring work.”
His lighting has developed dramatically since the days of Burton thanks to his curiosity and desire to learn and grow as an artist: “When I finished a day of work I stayed behind for an hour or so, moving the lights around to see how I could make the lights look better, but they didn’t like it so I realised I needed to get out of there.
This desire to push the creative boundaries in studios has continued through his career.
“I remember bringing something to my boss when I was working Halifax thinking maybe we can try this way, he wasn’t very accepting of it, but after a while, he agreed that it did look better, I was still quite young then.So looking back now, it was still crap. But at the time, I thought I was the dog’s bollocks.”
His decision to leave Burton allowed Jamie to spread his wings creatively: “My career changed from being very basic to quite creative in ten years. I’ve done loads of, like, free test shoots, spending hours with one model with one outfit and just trying different positions and lighting.”
Since starting his career he has been hooked by this side of photography, dedicating hours to the studio: “It can be tiring but I love it, I will be in at six in the morning testing for two hours before I shoot.”
Despite this commitment there is always room to grow: “I feel like I’m never gonna master it because there’s always going to be someone asking you for something different that you’ve never done before, and you have to work out how you’re going to achieve it.”
Jamie’s studio photos are dramatic yet grungy, as his models often pop out from dark ominous backgrounds. A lighting setup is detailed and can seem complex to begin with, it’s important to develop a basic understanding of what everything does: Learning little things like how to use reflectors and polyboards is key.”
All of this terminology might sound confusing and foreign, so what does it all do? Well polyboard is used to absorb and reflect light: “White poly board will bounce light back and if you turn it around to a black polyboard, that’s how you can create contrast.” And reflectors do what they say on the tin, they reflect light: “I like putting a light above, so having a reflector below, is gonna cast that light back into the face, that is probably the best way that I use reflectors because when you’ve got a hard light coming from above them the reflector, creates this soft glow in the face.”
The lighting setup varies from each shoot to the next depending on the clients. “I’ve played around with different lighting for different clients and I’ll have a few ideas of what lighting I want for each shoot so I’d always have, like one look that I’m going for and then if client doesn’t like it, then I’ll have a second option that I can do because a lot of it, especially for a client, will have a mood board and with 15 different lighting techniques on there so I’d always try and plan, have a bit of knowledge about setting something else up.”
This information and demand for different lighting can be confusing and intimidating: “When I started I didn’t I didn’t have a clue. It took me weeks to learn everything. I feel like everyone’s intimidated at the start but don’t be scared. If something doesn’t look right, take your time, or change it. If something takes an hour to set up, then it takes take an hour to set up and if the client is in a rush, tell them you need the time just to set up and make it look good.”
“If you’re, like, feeling a bit intimidated by it you can learn a lot by assisting for free alongside doing test shoots for modelling agencies.”
Despite all of these small details, Jamie’s setup isn’t all that complicated, as he opts for a three or four light setup, using flash lights. His vast experience allows him to set this up quickly: “It takes twenty minutes to get set up, I’d know where I want the reflector, I’d know where I want, like, a light from below, just to achieve the look I want because of the knowledge I have, but it’s taken quite a few practices to get to that point.”
Jamie used grids and snoots to prevent light leaking to undesired areas of his frame: “I used a grid to make the background quite dark, focusing light fromonto the model.” This helps to make the image pop and separate the model from the background.
The Sheffield based photographer often tries to avoid using one light, accompanying the light from above with the light from the side: “If you just have one light, it creates all these dark shadows, and you want to counteract that a bit more to make it a bit more flattering, I’ve quite enjoyed recently putting a light on the floor here as well as having that light up.”
This setup does come at a cost and this is before considering the cost of hiring a studio: “It would cost £400 to have a decent setup, which is quite a lot of money.”
Jamie uses high end equipment from Profoto and Elinchrom, but it doesn’t have to be this expensive. There are ways around spending that much money: “You can ask people if you can borrow equipment, or let’s say you’ve got a hundred quid kicking around, go on FatLama to rent some lights out and try planning a campaign shoot.”
This flexible and innovative attitude can be crucial for finding studio spaces: “I was at a brewery and I saw this guy coming out of this office next to me. So I told him I need, like, a space to do a shoot and asked if I could check it out and he just gave us a room for free.”
Jamie’s proactive and patient approach shows that success in studio photography comes from creativity and determination as much as equipment. By staying resourceful and open to opportunities, he’s been able to push his work further and break through limitations.