How Matthew Jordan Smith Shot a Portrait of Tyra Banks That Will Never Go Out of Style [RF Video of the Week]

A prolific celebrity beauty photographer, Matthew Jordan Smith has shot hoards of stunning images in his years in the industry, but one that some would say sticks out the most in his portfolio is the simple beauty portrait of Tyra Banks.

It’s no mystery to Smith as to why people have been so drawn to this portrait over the years: it’s timeless, and as he remembers and explains in the video below, this was all thanks to a perfect collaboration between the photographer and subject.

As it were, Banks was actually the one who came up with the concept for this shot — a simple, clean portrait with no frills, no updos, no fashion statements. It is the lack of “decade identifiers” that prevents this shot from ever looking dated, Smith explains, even though it’s about 10 years old.

On his part, the photographer sat Banks against a black background, and set up dual black fill cards 2 feet away on either side of her to block the light from bouncing around. Then he shot with only one light source, a ring light about 5 feet away from Banks. “When I’m shooting someone with a ring light,” Smith says, “I’m making sure I’m giving them tons of breaks because that ring going off can leave you seeing rings when you finish, so it’s a delicate dance.” Smith counteracted that by pausing briefly between each shot, talking to her and “giving her time to adjust,” he says.

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