Pro Lighting Masterclass: A Corporate Classic
Pose, expression & direction
The subject is seated at the table with both forearms resting on the surface, one hand raised loosely near the chin. Body is angled slightly toward camera-right, which opens up the shoulder line and creates a diagonal through the frame. The head is turned back toward the camera with the chin slightly lifted, and the eyes are looking straight down the lens. It’s direct without being confrontational.
The key to achieving this expression is keeping the conversation going. Don’t just fire instructions, but talk to your subject about their work, their weekend, anything that keeps them engaged and present. The hand near the face happened naturally during that conversation, and it often will if you give people permission to move.
Step-by-step set-up guide
1: Find your spot. You need a room with windows for the background and a pale wall or window blind to one side that you can bounce light off. Kill the overhead lights, otherwise they could add an ugly colour cast and you don’t need them.
2: Position your subject. Sit them at a table or desk with the windows behind them. You want the outside to be visible and reasonably well lit, so face them toward the room, back to the glass. Pull the table a little away from the window if you can, to give yourself more control over the background blur.
3: Set up your speedlight. Put it on a stand, camera-right, roughly between you and the subject. Point the flash head directly at the wall or blind to camera-right, not at the subject. You’re creating a bounced light source, so the wall is your softbox now. Aim for the bounce patch to land at roughly the subject’s head height or a touch above.
4: Set your camera exposure for the background first and shoot a test frame without the flash. Get the daylight outside looking the way you want it: bright enough to read as a real environment, but not so bright that it’s blowing out. Something around 1/125sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 is a good starting point, and then adjust to suit.
