Lighting Diagrams

Why I've Kept a Lighting Diagram for Every Single Shoot - And Why You Should Too
Video Tutorials

Why I've Kept a Lighting Diagram for Every Single Shoot - And Why You Should Too

There’s a particular kind of frustration that comes from recreating a setup you know you’ve nailed before - but can’t quite remember how. I’ve stood in my studio staring at a photograph I made two years ago, genuinely unable to reverse-engineer my own work. What modifier was that? Where exactly was the key in relation to the subject? What was the ratio? I’ve lost more time to that guessing game than I care to admit.

The Studio Workflow That Stops You Rebuilding the Same Lighting Setup Twice
Studio Workflow

The Studio Workflow That Stops You Rebuilding the Same Lighting Setup Twice

Every strip of masking tape in my studio has a name on it. Each light, each stand, each modifier gets labeled before a single strobe fires. My assistants think it’s obsessive. I think it’s the reason I can rebuild a beauty setup from six months ago in under twelve minutes while my client is still getting coffee. I did not always work this way. Early in my career, I winged it.

Why Those AI Studio Setup Guides Are Setting You Up to Fail
Studio Lighting

Why Those AI Studio Setup Guides Are Setting You Up to Fail

I’ve spent twenty years building studio setups and teaching photographers how to light subjects properly. In the last six months, I’ve noticed something troubling: my inbox fills with questions from photographers who’ve built studios based on AI-generated diagrams, and almost every one of them is fighting with something that doesn’t work. The diagrams look fantastic. They’re rendered in clean 3D, they have professional labels, they show modifiers positioned at precise angles.