When working in a small studio space, there is always a certain limitation that you encounter. Be it because your ceilings are not high enough or you can barely get two lamps in there. While this may be an obstacle that is hard to overcome, it also gives a lot of opportunities to keep pushing, discovering and creating new light set-ups. The light set-up, that I’ve built lately, allows me to create countless atmospheres and looks, without changing anything on my lamps except the gels.

For this shoot I worked again with Jasmijn, “My Fragility”. We dressed her with a vintage outfit from my own wardrobe and two pieces from polish designer Agnieszka Osipa.

For this particular set, I tried three different colour combinations. The first being teal, yellow and pink, the second purple, teal and magenta and the third being yellow, green and orange. While the last one didn’t completely work out, the first two created stunning results with a minimum of post-processing.

My first step was deciding on the color themes. I knew that I wanted to try complementary or opposite combinations as a harmonious set for both sets. A quick google search of a color wheel provided me with the answer. Because I wanted to focus on the colours, I decided to shoot this on a white backdrop, a black backdrop under her and my giant reflector on the right side of the wall. I took these two steps to avoid any colour spill under her as well as any light bouncing back from the left side, where I positioned my octabox. To make sure there wouldn’t be any harsh or colourless shadows, I laid a reflector directly in front of her which would bounce just enough light back to illuminate her.

Choosing the colours was simple. For the first set, I wanted the yellow to be my main light, with a teal touch in the front and a blue on the back. For the second, I decided to make teal my main light and magenta as the back-colour, with a purple in the front to give it more depth.