Studio Portrait Photography with Artificial Light 

Studio Portrait Photography with Artificial Light 

How can light be used to individually portray people, stage them effectively, and express ones character? 

In the one-day workshop “Studio Portrait Photography with Artificial Light,” photographer Paulina Hildesheim teaches the fundamentals of working with artificial lighting in a portrait studio. Her award-winning projects have been exhibited internationally. She studied photography at the Lette Verein Berlin and works with strong narrative ambition and great curiosity on editorial and commercial commissions as well as on personal projects. Her clients include DIE ZEIT, SZ Magazin, FAZ Quarterly, Stern, and many others. She is also a member of the laif agency and the Female Photoclub. 

The workshop offers hands-on instruction on how to use lighting in the studio to create specific visual statements: warm or cool, minimal or complex, harmonious or full of tension – which approach suits the situation best? Participants will learn to work with light modifiers to intentionally portrait people. Once the handling of lighting equipment is confident, photographers have more capacity to focus fully on the model. 

During the workshop, participants take turns modeling for one another and thus experience both sides of a portrait session—an important shift in perspective that enhances sensitivity to communication and staging. The day concludes with a group image review. 

The workshop takes place in the professionally equipped studio of p: berlin in Berlin-Schöneweide. The 90 m² studio features a high-quality HENSEL flash system, as well as additional equipment from NOVOFLEX and Hedler. 

Paulina Hildesheim (born 1995 in Wiesbaden) lives and works as a photographer in Berlin. After graduating from the Lette Verein Berlin in 2019, she has been part of the master class at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie since 2024, under the mentorship of Linn Schröder and Ingo Taubhorn. 

Her photographic work is regularly published in leading national and international newspapers and magazines, including DIE ZEIT, FAZ Quarterly, DER SPIEGEL, and ZEIT Magazin. In her personal projects, she engages with social and socio-political fields of tension, such as demographic change and the challenges posed by climate change. 

Her work has received multiple awards and has been widely exhibited. She has been a finalist for the German Photo Book Award, the Portraits Hellerau Photography Award, and the BFF Förderpreis. Since 2021, she has been a member of the photo agency laif and the Female Photoclub, where she advocates for greater visibility of women in photography.