I like studios with big, old industrial windows and wood, especially when there’s good morning light. At Wade Studio in Toronto, I was also drawn to the deep teal wall. I wanted to photograph Dana’s white crop top and shorts against it, and that contrast became the starting point for our shoot.
She hadn’t worn the set for a shoot before. We wanted lively, natural photographs, and the room already had much of what I was looking for. The sunlit frames were a bonus.
One outfit, a changing light
With the blinds open, we began with broad daylight. The white fabric stood out against the wall, while the wood and the tall windows gave the photographs the setting I’d had in mind. We spent some time with that first idea before changing anything.
Then I narrowed the opening in the blinds, letting more of the scene fall into shadow. The outfit and background stayed the same, while the photographs gradually took on a different mood. A smaller patch of sunlight gave us stronger contrast and a more defined shape to work with.
That’s one of the things I enjoy about a room like this: there’s plenty to explore before moving to another corner. Here, the blinds let me change how much light reached Dana and the wall behind her. Opening everything was only one option.
The two white-outfit series came from that same starting point. Looking at them together, you can see how much the light contributes to the feeling of a photograph, even when the clothes and setting barely change.
A jacket, a dress and a new direction
The yellow-orange jacket wasn’t part of the plan. We decided to try it for a few photographs, and its warm colour brought another contrast to the teal wall. By this point, we were following the possibilities in the room as much as the idea we’d arrived with.
After the jacket, we changed the setup more completely. Dana put on a white dress, and we dampened her hair a little. Those small changes gave us a different look to work with.
For this series, I used the sunlight as backlight and experimented with reflected light to bring some illumination back into the shadows. It’s a useful balance to watch: the light behind someone can look beautiful, but I still want to decide how much detail remains in their face. The backlight gave this part of the session a lighter feeling after the stronger contrast against the wall.
Sunlight and a quieter corner
Next came jeans and a pink lingerie set. We stayed near the same window for a few more sunlit photographs, with a relaxed, everyday feeling. A change of clothes was enough to take the scene somewhere else without rebuilding it.
Then we moved into a shadier corner. Away from the direct sun, the room’s softer window light became the main part of the picture. The change is visible across this series: brighter, more contrasty frames give way to a gentler light and a different atmosphere.
I like having both within one session. If you’re photographing with natural light, it’s worth looking beyond the brightest spot in the studio. A nearby patch of shade can give you another direction without changing locations.
A few more photographs before we finished
The last two photographs came at Dana’s request: she wanted a few in regular clothes as well. We used the yellow couch, with a blue shirt and jeans, and finished with a more casual pair of portraits.
It was a fitting way to end a shoot that had kept finding room for another idea. We’d started with a particular wall and a white outfit; the jacket, the backlit dress and the move into the shade had developed along the way.
What I like about the finished set is that you can follow those changes through the photographs. Some stay close to what we planned, while others came from noticing what the light was doing and giving it a try. The sunshine helped, of course. Having blinds we could adjust helped just as much.
We also recorded a short behind-the-scenes video of the session, included above, if you’d like to see more of the space and how we worked in it.
This is a past session at Wade Studio. If you’re choosing a space for your own shoot, my Toronto photo studio guide covers current options. You can also explore my portrait and lifestyle photoshoots to see how we could plan a session around the photographs you’d like to make.
