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What Peter McKinnon's Studio Desk Setup Taught Me About Building a Space That Actually Works
Video Tutorials

What Peter McKinnon's Studio Desk Setup Taught Me About Building a Space That Actually Works

There is a version of my studio from about six years ago that I am not proud of. Cables everywhere, a monitor positioned so the window threw glare directly across the screen, editing happening on a machine that wheezed through Lightroom exports. The work I was doing for clients was solid but the environment I was doing it in was working against me. I have spent years since then iterating on the setup until it actually supports the pace of commercial work.

What the Closure of Polyarc Studios Means for Virtual Production and Immersive Imaging
News

What the Closure of Polyarc Studios Means for Virtual Production and Immersive Imaging

I’ve been following Polyarc Studios’ work for years, and I have to say, their closure this week caught me thinking deeply about where our industry is headed—particularly regarding how immersive technologies might reshape studio lighting and posing practices. A Studio That Pushed Boundaries Polyarc made a name for itself creating exceptional experiences for PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest platforms. Their titles showcased what was possible when developers prioritized aesthetic detail and environmental design.

Plan Your Studio Shots Before You Ever Plug In a Light: A Guide to Virtual Lighting Tools
Video Tutorials

Plan Your Studio Shots Before You Ever Plug In a Light: A Guide to Virtual Lighting Tools

I keep a lighting journal. Every setup from every shoot gets a sketch - light positions, modifiers, approximate power ratios, what worked, what didn’t. It took me years to build that reference library, and it cost me real money in wasted studio time and blown test shots along the way. When I was starting out, the only way to understand what a beauty dish actually does differently from a softbox was to rent both, set them up, fire them, and compare.

The Octabox 75: A Working Photographer's Case for the Modifier Everyone Underestimates
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The Octabox 75: A Working Photographer's Case for the Modifier Everyone Underestimates

There’s a modifier on my studio shelf that has a strip of masking tape on the side with two words written in black marker: “daily driver.” That’s the 75cm octabox, and I’ve been reaching for it more than anything else in my kit for the better part of a decade. When I came across Kyle Taylor’s breakdown of this modifier over at Visual Education, I found myself nodding along and occasionally pausing to sketch something into my lighting journal.

How to Shoot a Live Event: Lighting, Gear, and the Etiquette Nobody Teaches You
Video Tutorials

How to Shoot a Live Event: Lighting, Gear, and the Etiquette Nobody Teaches You

Event work terrifies most studio photographers, and I’ll admit it used to rattle me too. In the studio, I control everything. Every light is labeled with masking tape, diagrammed in my phone app, and tested before the client walks in. At a live event, none of that applies. The room is what it is, the crowd moves when it wants to, and the window to get the shot is usually about three seconds wide.

How to Suspend a Subject for Action Shots (And Light It Like a Stadium)
Video Tutorials

How to Suspend a Subject for Action Shots (And Light It Like a Stadium)

Clients come to you with ideas that sound impossible until you break them down into problems you already know how to solve. A stretched, reaching, mid-air pose for a soccer player sounds like a job for a trampoline or a very patient athlete. In practice, jumping produces chaos: uncontrolled body position, expressions you can’t predict, and a setup you can’t repeat. I’ve been in that situation more than once, and the solution is almost always more control, not more attempts.

Turn Any Wall Into a Studio Backdrop Using Newspaper, a Projector, and a Little Patience
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Turn Any Wall Into a Studio Backdrop Using Newspaper, a Projector, and a Little Patience

There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with a client who wants “something editorial” but has no budget for a location, no interest in renting a studio, and a two-day turnaround. I have been in that situation more times than I can count, and my default move has always been to fall back on what I can control: light and surface. What sits behind the subject matters almost as much as what falls on them, and when you cannot afford a seamless or a custom set build, you have to improvise.

How to Scout, Sequence, and Pose Large Family Groups — Lessons from Michele Celentano
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How to Scout, Sequence, and Pose Large Family Groups — Lessons from Michele Celentano

Large family sessions are the shoot type that separates photographers who understand light from photographers who just own cameras. I say that not to be harsh, but because I’ve watched talented shooters with excellent studio instincts completely fall apart the moment someone’s grandmother and seventeen cousins show up on a front lawn. The variables multiply fast: competing light sources, children who need breaks, adults who want to be somewhere else, and a client who has strong opinions about which part of their property is “the pretty spot” (it’s almost never the pretty spot, at least not in the way they mean).

Low Key Lighting Is Not About Darkness — It's About Discipline
Studio Lighting

Low Key Lighting Is Not About Darkness — It's About Discipline

The Mistake Most Photographers Make Before They Even Fire a Frame I keep a lighting journal. Every shoot, I sketch the setup — light positions, modifiers, distances, power settings. I’ve been doing it for years, and when I flip back through the early pages, one pattern is obvious: I used to fight with shadow instead of working with it. Low key photography trips people up because they approach it backwards. They start by dimming everything down and hope drama emerges from the murk.

What Softbox Size Actually Controls (It's Not What You Think)
Video Tutorials

What Softbox Size Actually Controls (It's Not What You Think)

I used to buy softboxes the way a lot of photographers do: bigger shoot, bigger box. It seemed logical. More surface area, more coverage, more light reaching the subject. It wasn’t until I started diagramming my setups more carefully, sketching out every modifier position and comparing results across jobs, that I noticed something uncomfortable. My large and small softboxes weren’t behaving the way I expected them to. The coverage was similar.

How a Working Commercial Photographer Packs, Plans, and Shoots on Location with Six Lights
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How a Working Commercial Photographer Packs, Plans, and Shoots on Location with Six Lights

Every location shoot I’ve done in the last decade has started the same way: a mental list that I’m convinced is complete, and a bag that proves otherwise. I’ve arrived at industrial facilities without a trigger, shown up to editorial jobs with dead batteries, and once spent twenty minutes hunting for a support plate while a client watched. The checklist isn’t glamorous, but it’s the difference between a shoot that flows and one that hemorrhages time and money.

The Rogue Flashbender Kit Explained: A Studio Shooter's Take on Speedlight Modifiers
Video Tutorials

The Rogue Flashbender Kit Explained: A Studio Shooter's Take on Speedlight Modifiers

Every working studio photographer eventually hits the same wall: the job calls for location work, the client wants polished light, and your monolight stays home. Speedlights become the answer by necessity, and suddenly the quality of your modifiers matters more than you expected. I’ve been shooting commercial and editorial work long enough to know that a bare speedlight is a liability, not a tool. Controlling and shaping that small, harsh source is the entire game.