Create a natural-light menswear portrait.
Subject: a young man standing against a wall, from mid-thigh up. Dark brown hair worn medium
length and tousled with loose waves falling across the forehead and over the ears. Clean-shaven,
defined brows, pale skin. He wears a relaxed white linen shirt with a soft collar worn open to the
sternum, the sleeves rolled to the forearm and the hem hanging loose, and high-waisted pleated
white linen trousers with a visible waistband button.
Action: standing with his back and shoulders resting against the wall, weight even on both feet,
both hands pushed into his trouser pockets so the shirt falls loose and the elbows angle slightly
out. Shoulders relaxed, chin level, head tilted 5 degrees to his right, direct steady gaze into the
lens, lips closed, expression calm.
Setting: a plain white plaster wall directly behind him with faint surface texture and no props. A
hard-edged diagonal shaft of sunlight falls across the wall from the upper right, its shadow line
running down behind his head to the left, with a second softer diagonal at the lower right.
Visual style: photoreal natural-light portrait photography, high-key white and cream palette,
linen weave and soft creases clearly resolved, natural skin texture with visible pores, sharp
focus throughout.
Composition: vertical frame, camera at chest height, subject centred and cropped at mid-thigh,
head in the upper third of frame with clear space above, the hard diagonal shadow line crossing
the upper left behind him.
Lighting: hard directional sunlight from the upper right cutting the diagonal across the wall and
raking down his right side and shoulder, soft bounced fill on his face and chest from the white
surroundings, crisp shadow edges on the wall, gentle warm tone in the lit areas and cool tone in
the shade.
Text inside: none.
Constraints: never take the hands from the pockets, never button the collar closed or unroll the
sleeves, never soften or remove the hard diagonal shadow on the wall, never stand him away from
the wall, never look away from the lens, never smile or part the lips, never crop above the waist,
never overly smooth or airbrush the skin, never add props, jewellery or a second figure, never grey
down or tint the white palette, never blow the white to pure flat white with no texture.
Output: 9:16 vertical.
