Portrait photoshoot with local drag queen and entertainer

I know Lola Versace from a local amateur theatre company and I’ve shot with her before, but my lighting back then wasn’t quite what we needed. Now, at my home studio in Paignton, Devon, I had a much better set-up for the look and feel we both wanted for the photos. Lola needed to get some new photos for her social media and portfolio and these were the results…

Lola is quite tall and my home studio in Goodrington has a normal height ceiling, so there is always the challenge of lighting her from above. We started off with the whiter look…

This was a 3 light set-up; one for the hat, one of the face and body and one helping light up the background just a little.

Lola then went downstairs to change and use the time to set-up the lighting for the next outfit. This time it was a sports theme…

These photos were taken with a large white paper backdrop.

I love music and I always ask the model what kind of music they like. For this shoot we have a mixture of Britney Spears, DJ Earworm and Club music

Lola wanted a couple of more moody, dark and serious poses so a change of backdrop and harsher lighting was used to create the next couple of photos…

I used two stripboxes with grids. One with a red gel, one with a blue gel. I also used a small godox softbox to light her.

On the next shoot we switch over to a stool and went from the most moody shot of the photoshoot…

The camera set-up for this portrait session was:

  • Sony A9
  • 24-70mm GM lens
  • F11
  • ISO 100
  • 1/250
  • Lighting was a mixture of: AD600 Pro / AD200 / Godox V1 and 2x Godox TT685

If you like my work and would like to see more or to hire me, please visit my portrait photography page.

Simon Day

If you have a wedding, portrait, event or festival coming up please contact me. Likewise for portraits. Check out my social media channels: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter