If there's one skill that sets professional photographers apart, it's lighting. You can have the best camera, but I can beat you with a BlackBerry camera with the right lighting. OK, not really, but you know what I mean.
Not just knowing how to turn a light on, but understanding how to read light. In this video, I'm showing how I like to reverse-engineer it—how to look at any photo and decode how it was made. I developed a five-step system early in my career to do just that, and I still use it today on everything from magazine covers to music videos.
Here’s how it started: No one taught me lighting. I had to teach myself. That meant breaking into photo shoots (yes, literally), sneaking onto movie sets pretending to be a PA, and studying every photo I could get my hands on. I built a recipe journal. I took notes. I printed my best shots and documented what worked, what didn’t. And it changed everything.
I didn’t have access to mentors or lighting courses, so I taught myself by studying the greats like Steven Meisel, Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, and Mario Testino. I’d flip through magazines, tear out the pages, grab a magnifying glass, and try to decode every photo like it was a puzzle.
Over time, I developed a personal system. It was a five-step method that I still use to this day. It’s not about copying; it’s about reverse-engineering. If you’ve ever looked at a photograph and thought, How did they light that?, this process will train your eye to recognize the answer.
I start by analyzing the catchlights in the eyes, comparing highlights and shadows, and mapping out the angle and quality of the light. Each detail offers a clue—like the shape of a softbox, the placement of a fill, whether a reflector was used or not. The final step? Making your best educated guess, and then remixing it into your own work.
I’m not giving away every step here. That’s what the video is for, but if you’re serious about understanding light, this approach will change how you see everything. Whether it’s a billboard, a magazine cover, or a cinematic scene, you’ll begin to see the invisible language of lighting. To this day, I run a couple of these exercises just to stay on top of lighting.
Watch the video, grab your notebook, and start breaking down the images that move you. Your style isn’t going to emerge by accident.
