Sarah of SCB Training in her garden personal training studio, West London

This was my third shoot with Sarah at SCB Training, a personal training business with a lovely garden studio in Northfields, Ealing.

For this shoot, we wanted to create a set of images that felt bright, energetic and approachable, while showing Sarah’s personality and the experience of training with her. Rather than everything feeling too posed, we worked with Sarah’s long-standing clients as our models, which made a huge difference. They already knew Sarah and were comfortable in the space, so the images feel natural and genuine.

I used a mix of the available light in the studio with some fill-in flash, keeping the lighting soft and natural while making sure the images retained that light, airy and happy feeling.

The shoot itself took around 1.5–2 hours, giving us plenty of time to capture a good variety of portraits, interactions and training images without making it feel rushed. Midway through the shoot, a little drizzle gave us a natural excuse for a coffee break before getting back to it. Sometimes a pause is exactly what you need to keep the energy going!

After the shoot, Sarah was able to choose her favourite images from a digital proofing gallery. I then retouched her selected images and delivered the final set ready for her to use across her website and marketing.

Keeping the retouching natural

For personal branding shoots like this, retouching isn't about changing how someone looks. It's about polishing what is already there.

I use Capture One to subtly even out skin tones, tidy up any small distractions and make sure the finished images feel consistent as a set, while keeping skin texture and personality intact. The aim is for the images to look like the person on their best day, rather than overly retouched.

It was lovely to work with Sarah again and to create another set of images that feels so true to her business and the way she works with her clients.