John Rankin is a British photographer well known for his work with various celebrities. He specializes in portrait, fashion photography and some work in directing. in 2011 he started Rankin Film in order to direct and produce his own directorial and commercial work. Many consider his work to be rather vain with there being little meaning behind his images as he focuses on composing the most aesthetically pleasing image.

Much of his work uses soft single point lighting however he has experimented with various lighting techniques in the past. he consistently uses soft lighting however to best compliment the subject of his photography, since harsh lighting could produce unwanted shadows on someones face. since he focuses on ‘glamour’ photography it is important that he portrays his subjects at their very best and so soft lighting is used.

Since he often uses single point lighting he will frequently use a reflector in order to cast soft lighting to soften any harsh shadows and create a light glow on parts of the face which aren’t direct lit. this allows him to use other techniques such as combining a low ISO with a long shutter time in order to create high contrast/vibrancy images without the risk of harsh shadows across the face.

Much of the ‘visuals’ of Rankin’s photography is achieved by experimenting with lighting however retouching is still used.

An example of Rankin’s editing, focused on achieving a conventionally ‘beautiful’ piece