Brand Photography for Luz MediSpa
One of my favorite aspects of being a portrait photographer is being able to work with female business owners and be a small part of their journey. When Eileen reached out to me, she explained that she needed a bigger variety of images for her new website and that her current photos, while looking great, looked too much like stock images.
This often happens when the photographer relies heavily on artificial (Studio) lighting and when the person in the image isn’t fully relaxed or comfortable. They might be smiling stiffly or in a way that appears fake or forced. This is why I feel it’s so important to create a relaxed environment during the photoshoot and use posing as the initial setup for portraits but then allow the person to relax into the position.
Lighting, too, is an important thing to consider. Often it’s not possible to create well-lit images in an office that doesn’t have a lot of good window light. And when we think about our own personal spaces, they often don’t have ideal lighting conditions for portraits. One solution is to bring in a Studio lighting arsenal and control every detail of lighting in the room. My approach, however, relies on using one speedlight flash on my camera and being able to move around quickly to capture multiple angles without adjusting any lighting equipment. Using a smaller light also allows me to mix natural and artificial lighting to create images that look more natural and familiar, which won’t get confused with professional stock photos.
We photographed at Luz MediSpa in Somers, NY on a Saturday, a day when nobody else was working in the office, so that we could use the common area for a “mobile Studio” setup for some professional headshots to go with “behind the scenes” photos of Eileen working with clients (our main goal) and lifestyle portraits.
The reason why Eileen had such a hard time getting good portraits in the space was because natural lighting wasn’t ideal. Her office had no windows and flowed into the main treatment room that had one window. And since we were photographing in December, there wasn’t much light on a gloomy winter day. This is why I worked so hard to develop the Studio lighting skillset - you simply can’t get a good crisp image using natural light in these types of situations. Having a mix of overhead lights, natural window light, and flash can work really well if you’re able to understand color temperatures and utilize the physical properties of light to your advantage.
The photoshoot itself was an absolute joy. We were able to walk through the steps of Eileen working with her clients on several procedures, feature several products, and capture portraits where she looked relaxed and more like herself than in her previous images. Below are some of my favorite images from Eileen’s session.
View Eileen’s website here: https://luzmedispa.com/
Follow LuzMediSpa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luzmedispa3115/
Hair & Makeup by Pierra Lortie.
