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In this episode of Adventure and Art, I break down how to shoot high-end portraits with minimal gear, no studio, and natural light. These are my top “Portrait Hacks!” You don’t need expensive lights or a giant setup — you just need your creativity, a solid location, and a good lens. I take you through three of my favorite go-to spots around LA (the bridge, the Sepulveda Dam, and the old LA Zoo), and show you exactly how I use each one to capture clean, professional-looking portraits. Whether you’ve got a fancy kit or just the basics, this video is about stripping it all back and proving you can make incredible work with what you already have. Big thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this episode — let’s go make some art.
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Comments
32 responses to “How to Make High End Portraits without a Studio”
Thanks for the response here folks! If you are a new subscriber, and like this video, there are a ton of portrait BTS vids in the archives!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2404ncIIy5GbNXtqK0PcZFaEqaO5A0nM&si=8ry0efE2JNgyJmrH
love this setup
the video is great but the KI voice in german translation sounds terrible..
Thanks for the inspiration Ben I appreciate it. I need to remove these artificial road blocks I create. Love this simplicity
Very cool ideas my man. Thank you
Holy shit, great video! You describe many of the things that I do intuitively without explicitly knowing that I do them.
I feel like driving to all these places is a waste of time when you're not shooting an environmental portrait. You can easily do this with a south facing window and use a black sheet behind the subject and if you need to diffuse the light, just put a white sheet over the window
🙏🙏🙏 … Thank you.
Simple and elegant
Beautiful video, thank you for taking the time to make this video. Luv your work, this has motivated me to try some of the things you pointed out this summer. 👍🏾
My first "studio" was a 12×10 shooting area in my Studio Apartment on the top floor of an apartment house… all I had were a mixture of various lighting fixture I bought at Goodwill hooked up to a DIYer multi-switch electrical box and extension cords… LOL… what made it so awesome was the angles of the ceiling that bounced the light evenly, directly, and indirectly depending on which lights I turned on…
Do you ever show the backgrounds in your photos?
Great vid.. love your portrait style very nice 😊 Pete 6:48
Always insightful! Thanks.
Paid models?
That's a little tricky how the idea is presented. I am writing this, because I feel the responsibility as an educator, and because I see that type of videos more and more—which spread misinformation by a good intention (maybe).
That types of videos might be done with a purpose of encouragement for the beginners or enthusiasts. However, they cause more harm than their purpose: "You don't need anything to take cool pictures". A beginner might see, feel impressed, but it is misleading. Are you doing this for a good purpose or to get more followers to make more money on YouTube?
If this video was made, for instance, "how to take pictures with using only natural light"—without saying "you don't need anything (which is a lie).
Day light is acceptable if you shoot in a genre like street photography or travel photography or sports. You cannot rely on day light if you shoot purposefully, in other words, if a concept or an emotion or the repeatability precedes and dictates your photography. An example:
I met a guy who takes headshots for actors. He told me that he shoots outdoor only. I asked him: What do you do if the actor or h/er agent points out one of your pictures and asks for the same type of picture? He could not answer. Because, the picture he took was totally by chance. The light you have in September cannot be found in January. You might not find the same light after 15 minutes if the clouds come and go… Your photography depends on chance and randomness (which might be interesting if you shoot street photography, but not something commercial, something professional).
I am not criticizing your photography (nice pictures though), but I do not find it cool and fair how you sell it.
Awesome, thank you! I always say “The world is my studio!”
Great!!!! Thank you.
Boring… Taking everything with only daylight, and what is available is like rolling the dice… and, this should be the difference between taking and making pictures.
Thank you!
Expanded my thinking, thank you
Would you be willing to share the location of the bridge?
Subscribed. The bridge… my home location is Devon, England. My daily run often takes me along the Exeter Ship Canal path which passes under the M5 motorway bridge. It's a typical, brutalist concrete structure located in a green, rural environment, apparently used as the location for a 1980's or 1990's Vogue magazine shoot. Still trying to find the magazine edition.
I can't believe how underrated this channel is. You are providing high quality content that deserves millions of views. Good Luck!
Your stuff looks great. I don't know a single thing about working with a model.
how do you get the catch light in the eyes with no artificial lighting?
Hi, I just discovered your video and thought it was wonderful. Spectacular photographs. What I'd like to know is what settings you usually use. Do you use f/11 or automatic ISO? And as for lenses, besides the 85mm f/1.4, what other lenses do you recommend?
Thank you so much for that video; it's been an inspiration to me.
loved it. you make me want to take better pictures, Thanks I need a kick sometimes!!
Brilliant and jaw dropping ❤
Just stumbled across you and your work. Beautiful!! Love your black and whites. The rawness, the grit, the connection…all so so good!
Very nice images but they are so close you could be anywhere there isn’t really a clue on location
Just came across this video and your channel by sheer luck. One of very very few videos that immediately got me (except for the topic that keeps me thinking for months now). From production to presentation and its content (AND those absolutely stunning portraits!!) – this is triple A. Love to see a follow up video regarding articifial lighting without a studio!