Portrait Lighting

Video Tutorials

How to Use a Single Light Source to Create Dramatic, Sparkling Portrait Effects

I had a client session last month that humbled me. Corporate headshots, simple brief, nothing fancy. But the client kept pulling up reference photos on her phone, all of them with these gorgeous little catchlights and a kind of sparkle to the skin that looked expensive without looking overdone. I knew the technique existed. I just hadn’t locked it down in a way I could repeat reliably under pressure. That’s when I found this tutorial and it clicked something into place.

July 4, 2026

Video Tutorials

Mastering Reverse Lighting: How to Create Convincing Window Light Portraits in Any Studio

There are mornings in Seattle when the light through my studio window is absolutely perfect. Soft, directional, wrapping around a subject like it was designed for portraits. And then there are the other mornings, which is most of them, when it’s flat grey and useless. I spent way too long early in my career either waiting for good light or driving subjects to locations just to stand near a window. It took me embarrassingly long to figure out that you can just build the light yourself, and that the result can look just as natural as the real thing.

February 20, 2026