There’s something raw and powerful about high-contrast, gritty portraits. They capture depth, emotion, and character in a way that softer, more polished images just can’t. The whole tumblr aesthetic has me in a chokehold.. The style is all about emphasizing texture, playing with dramatic lighting, and creating a mood that makes people stop and look. Here’s how I do it.

1. Use the Right Lighting

Lighting is everything when it comes to high-contrast portraits. Hard light creates those deep shadows and crisp highlights that make an image feel dramatic and intense. Here are some ways to achieve it:

• Natural Light: Shoot in harsh daylight or you could use window light with strong directional shadows.
• Artificial Light: A single strobe, I personally love to use the Godox AD200 pro, you could also use a hard LED light placed at an angle can create deep contrast.
• Backlighting: Use a strong backlight and expose for the highlights, letting the shadows fall into darkness.

2. Set Your Camera for Maximum Depth

• Shoot in RAW to retain as much detail as possible. Helps a shit load when shooting in low light situations as well!
• Use a Low ISO to keep the image clean while still maintaining deep blacks.
• Underexpose Slightly to preserve details in the highlights and enhance contrast in post.
• Use a Fast Shutter Speed to keep details sharp and avoid motion blur. Unless that the obvious vibe you’re going for

3. Focus on Texture

Gritty portraits are all about texture, skin details, hair, fabric, and even the background.
To enhance this:

• Use a crispy prime lens (like the nifty 50mm or 85mm) to bring out the minor details.
• Get close to your subject to emphasise pores, wrinkles, and imperfections. Obviously if you’re not going for this look and want a clean no blemish kinda look, use a light diffuser or find a less intense light source. You can also blow out blemishes using a reflector to bounce light up into the face.
• Use directional lighting to create shadows that accentuate texture.

4. Edit for Maximum Impact

Post processing is where high contrast portraits really come to life. Here’s my go to approach:

• Boost Contrast and Clarity to deepen shadows and sharpen details.
• Adjust the Tone Curve to crush the blacks while keeping highlights crisp.
• Desaturate Colors slightly for a moody, timeless feel.
• Add Grain to enhance the gritty, film-like effect. Or a texture overlay I have in my shop ;)
• Dodge and Burn to selectively darken and lighten areas, bringing out facial structure.

5. Direct Your Subject for Authentic Emotion

The best gritty portraits aren’t just about lighting and editing.. they also tell a story and to capture authentic emotion:

• Encourage your subject to express raw, intense emotions rather than posing traditionally. 
• Use minimal background distractions to keep the focus on their face.
• Let them move naturally and interact with the environment/ props. Let them do there thing and take the floor, thats how you get the realness.

My final thoughts -

High contrast, gritty portraits aren’t only about technical settings they’re a mood, storytelling, and raw emotion. Experiment with lighting, lean into imperfections and quirks, embrace the shadows. The goal isn’t perfection its impact and capturing authenticity.