Dark, Mirrored and Cluttered: How I Photograph Cycling Instructors
A cycling studio gives you clutter, mirrors and darkness. Here's how I solve each one for lululemon ambassador portraits.
I've had the pleasure of working with lululemon for almost seven years, and it's been one of the most fulfilling parts of my career. Every shoot brings a new challenge to solve and turn into something creative. The ambassadors are an inspirational extension of the brand, and their personalities exude sweat, joy and motivation. My job is to capture that personality so it lives on the walls of the stores they represent.
Of all the personalities and fitness pros I've photographed, none have been harder than cycling instructors. So that's what this post is about.
The room
If you've never been in a cycling studio, it's built for you to focus on nothing but the music, the bike under you and the person pushing you to pedal as hard as you can for as long as you can. So it's dark, there are mirrors, usually behind the instructor, and it's packed wall to wall with bikes. In camera, that means dark, reflective and cluttered.
I don't know about y'all, but when I think "great photograph," I don't think "dark, reflections and clutter." So the first job is figuring out how to use the room to your advantage.
Obstacle one: clutter
The obvious first step is removing the clutter. I clean up the stage as much as possible. There's usually equipment up there for the instructor to control the lights, music and whatever other digital extras that studio has. I also start planning a frame that shows as little as possible beyond the instructor and any riders I've placed on bikes to make the class look full.
Obstacle two: mirrors
Since the mirrors sit directly behind the instructor 99% of the time, my first composition is about 45 degrees off center, so there's no reflection in the background. My second is one where I can see the instructor and their reflection together, which makes a cool graphic. Finally, I look for a head-on angle where the instructor blocks any reflection of me, the lights or anything else distracting.
Obstacle three: darkness
Some studios have RGB lights that can glow any color and give you nice ambient light. Others are the darkest caves you can imagine. I prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
My starting setup is two lights: a main with a 3' octabox or a beauty dish (with or without a grid), and a second light I may use as a kicker or a fill. As a kicker for separation, I boom it over the instructor as high as possible to keep it out of frame. As a fill to bring up the room's overall light, I put a large umbrella or octabox on it and set it back and up high to light the room as evenly as possible.
Let the mirror work for you
Here's the beauty of it. Setting the main light directly across from the instructor creates a nice beauty light and a spotlight that adds depth, and it also acts as its own separation light. Because it faces a highly reflective surface, the light bounces back and creates a second source automatically. And because it hits the mirror at a 90-degree angle, you have a fairly wide range of compositions where the light won't show up in the reflection.
That frees your second light to be either a top-down kicker or a fill. I prefer the top-down kicker because it looks like the studio's own lighting is the source. A fill can look like someone opened a door to the outside and let light in. It opens the shadows, but to anyone who has spent time in these studios, the top-down light looks the most like what you see in a class.
Getting something genuine
The final piece, and often the hardest, is getting something genuine. Most instructors have big personalities that get even bigger with a class in front of them. Good instructors feed off their riders, so an empty room can be a real downer if you don't manage it.
I like to bring in a few people and place them strategically around the room. Then I can tell the instructor who to point to or interact with. That gives them someone to motivate, helps their comfort level, and gets their face up into a position with great light. Win, win, win.
Like any shoot, a cycling studio has its challenges, but if you break the problems down and take them on one at a time, you'll find setups and compositions that make great photos. The behind-the-scenes film is below.
The film
Watch the behind-the-scenes film
Originally published on the Ruddock Visuals blog, August 2020. Lightly edited in 2026.