This image came out of a shoot with Sakara last year, I did a series of shots lit only from above and from the floor on one side. The shots were so good I wanted to take one a bit further that just a plain studio shot against black. I came up with the set as a justification for the lighting , a dungeon with a skylight and a brazier as the only sources of light. The new elements of the miniature set (brazier with built in lighting, pillars and ceiling) were built and combined with a stock wall and floor, they were then photographed one light at a time: left, front, right, light shaft and brazier. The light shaft was created using a small focussed profile spotlight (from Ikea!) and a disco hazer which also added atmosphere to the light from the brazier. The only disadvantage to this method is that if the camera or set is knocked during the shoot you have to start again or the shots won’t line up! The layering of the image in Photoshop tested my aging computer to its limits, I ended up working on the set and figure separately, flattening the results and then combining them and doing the final tweaks. Photograph copyright Paul Holroyd

This image came out of a shoot with Sakara last year, I did a series of shots lit only from above and from the floor on one side. The shots were so good I wanted to take one a bit further that just a plain studio shot against black. I came up with the set as a justification for the lighting , a dungeon with a skylight and a brazier as the only sources of light. The new elements of the miniature set (brazier with built in lighting, pillars and ceiling) were built and combined with a stock wall and floor, they were then photographed one light at a time: left, front, right, light shaft and brazier. The light shaft was created using a small focussed profile spotlight (from Ikea!) and a disco hazer which also added atmosphere to the light from the brazier. The only disadvantage to this method is that if the camera or set is knocked during the shoot you have to start again or the shots won’t line up! The layering of the image in Photoshop tested my aging computer to its limits, I ended up working on the set and figure separately, flattening the results and then combining them and doing the final tweaks. Photograph copyright Paul Holroyd