Are you famous? If so, you probably had your portrait taken by Mark Seliger. If not, you have most definitely seen his iconic portraits. Perhaps it was the one of Kurt Cobain, Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie or P Diddy, to name just a few examples.
We recently had the privilege of meeting this master of portrait photography. The meeting resulted in five unique videos, in which Seliger shares his thoughts on lighting and portrait photography.
In this episode he shares some tips and tricks on how he lights his portraits.
Watch all videos at: www.profoto.com/light-shaping-by-mark-seliger
Learn more about the products he uses at www.profoto.com
Comments
25 responses to “How Mark Seliger Lights His Portraits”
I tested my beauty dish bare, with a grid, with a diffuser, with a diffuser sock over grid and grid over diffuser. I like the latter but to be sure it didn't fall out, I used A clamps around the sides and top. I now call it sputnik. I did like my ring light for on camera axis fill but the sun glasses in your shot got rid of what I hated about it, the spooky donut catchlight bulls eyed in the eyes. I saw the image in your epson paper ad and wondered how you did it. I have a huge epson printer in my livingroom. Told my lady friend that if she dated a pianist he would have a piano in his living room, I'm a photographer and have a printer the size of a piano in my livingroom.
The images are just average. The reason they seem to be better is because of the icon in the image. Remove Lenny and it’s an uninteresting studio shoot.
Lenny!! 😍
Cropped at the shins? Yuck! Any light could achieve these results.
old school 90's glamour
really boring image! sorry!
Muito bom!
Down right naf images.
Can see the whole studio in the sunglasses 🙈
I did not care for the ring light.
This guy needs 4 assistance? Oh man! I can do that whole job by myself.
Looks like some one prefers a Mamiya.
lighting set up were fool
but results not so cool
so to be famous u need to connect and market and not good at your work
With a camera that cost 50k shit can look like gold.
LOL
You would think the music for this video would be, I don't know, better!?
oh c'mon guys this person photographed celebrities and really important people. They obviously come to him because they like his work. He is able to capture the right expression on one's face. His work is clean and timeless.
I like that Mark features his videos on Youtube, but lighting is never a fixed configuration for portraits. Some of the greatest work happens with a single light source and good chemistry with a subject. The great equipment also helps.
Why would you use a beauty dish, grid and then the diffuser. That would negate the grid. You would need to use the grid after the diffuser if you want to control the light direction wouldn't you?
cómo iluminaron tu cuello?
not impressed.
very traditional lighting.
Rankin for example does t better, also Joe L. is more innovative.
he's the greatest photographer, musician and and even cooler human being!!!
Carlton Hart one of the best in the biz for portraits!
step one, get the light equipment. step two, get a hassleblad..
unless you're totally awesome cuz in that case you can just do it with your iphone and some free camera app right..
can i get this lighting effect with less lights?