How I Shoot Portraits With Studio Lighting on the Street on Mardi Gras Day

Every Mardi Gras Day, I carry my Profoto portable studio lighting into the New Orleans streets to photograph people in costume. With the sun behind them and a little light from the front, I make portraits that give their work and imagination the attention they deserve.

Every Mardi Gras Day, I head into the New Orleans streets with a camera and a light. There is nothing lightweight about carrying extra equipment through a crowd all day, but I keep doing it because of the portraits. People put so much thought, time and humor into their costumes. I want to photograph those details clearly, along with the person who thought to wear them.

My current setup is a Profoto B10 with a Magnum reflector. I position myself so the sun is behind the people I’m photographing, then use the flash to light them from the front. The sun gives me backlighting, catching the edges of hats, wigs, feathers and shoulders. The B10 puts light back onto faces that would otherwise fall into shadow.

I’ve used this same basic lighting approach on Mardi Gras Day for 23 years. Before the Profoto B10 was available, I worked with other lights, including a pair of Nikon SB-900s. The equipment has changed, but the idea hasn’t: use the sunlight rather than fight it, and bring enough light to make the person stand out within the street scene.

Without flash, exposing for a bright street can leave a backlit face too dark. Exposing for the face instead can wash out the surroundings. Adding light lets me bring those two parts of the photograph closer together. That pop of flash gives the portrait a crisp look, with clear faces, good color and visible costume details. It doesn’t replace careful focus or a suitable shutter speed, but it makes a big difference in how the finished image feels.

The Magnum reflector helps direct the light and gives it a punchier quality than a broad, soft source would. That suits the costumes and the daylight. I’m not trying to make the street look like an indoor studio. I want the portrait to feel like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, with the color and activity still there, but with deliberate lighting on the people.

For individuals, I pay attention to the face first, then to whatever makes the costume work. Sometimes that means leaving room for a tall headpiece or including something carried in the hands. With groups, the challenge is keeping everyone visible and getting the light across the whole arrangement. A small adjustment in where people stand can matter more than another adjustment on the camera. I also watch for one person’s hat throwing a shadow across someone else’s face.

The street sets the pace. In the French Quarter and the Marigny, narrow sidewalks, changing crowds and patches of sun can make a promising spot impractical very quickly. Good light isn’t enough if stopping there blocks a doorway or forces people into traffic. My advice to anyone trying this is to keep the setup manageable, pay attention to the people moving around you and be ready to move on. No portrait is worth making the street harder for everyone else to use.

There is also a balance between making a photograph carefully and interrupting someone’s day. People are out celebrating, not arriving for a scheduled portrait session. I try to keep the direction straightforward and the encounter comfortable by ALWAYS asking permission if I can make their portrait BEFORE shooting the image. The cleverest costumes often have something worth asking about, and understanding the idea helps me decide what needs to be in the frame.

After more than 23 years photographing in New Orleans (and 9 more, shooting in Chicago), this remains something I look forward to each year. People really seem to love the portraits they receive from that particular day, and I understand why. The costume, the company and the celebration all belong to that moment. Carrying the light through crowded streets is a lot of work, but giving those moments a little extra care makes it worthwhile.