Studio: eleven people, one set of lights

Studio

Capture 0212 / 0360

Paris, since 2014

We shoot

faces, cloth

and glass

for brands

Halven is a campaign studio of eleven people in the Marais. We plan the light before the shoot, shoot tethered, and deliver the grade ourselves.

Frame 01 · 85 mm · f/5.6

Studio

Design with intent

What you get when you book us.

Every frame

deserves

the light it

was planned for

From the founder

"I started Halven because I was tired of fixing light in post. Every campaign here is planned on paper before a single strobe is switched on, and I am on set for every one of them."

Inès Varo

Founder · Photographer

HALVEN · STUDIO 2

12 yrs

Campaign practice

Beauty, fashion and lifestyle, lit the same careful way since 2014.

Tethered, always

Every frame lands on a calibrated screen two seconds after it is shot.

Day rates, not mystery quotes

Half day, full day or a whole campaign. Usage is written into every quote.

See day rates →

Clients who come back

Work that holds up leads to more work. Most of our year is repeat bookings.

96%

What we make

Studio 2 · Rue de Saintonge

Every brief gets its own lighting plan.

01Beauty campaigns

02Fashion stills

03Hair and movement

04Fragrance and still life

05Film and motion

06Content systems

Skin that still reads as skin at billboard size.

Deliverables

+Hero key visual

+12 crops per product

+Retail light-box files

Frame 01 / 06 · 100 mm

Beauty

campaigns

PLAN · 1:50

Key22 in beauty dish, 30° above lens

FillWhite V-flat under the chin

RimTwo 1×6 ft strips at 135°

GroundGrey seamless, lit to 18%

Lens100 mm macro · f/8 · 1/200

SCROLL TO RE-RIG THE STUDIO

Process

From thinking to light

Five steps, the same every time.

We don't start

with a moodboard.

We start with

the light.

Brief call

/01

Day 1 · 20 min

Product, date, markets, and what did not work last time.

+We ask where the images will run

+We ask what you have tried before

+You get a yes or no the same day

Treatment and lighting plan

/02

Days 2–4

A one-page treatment, a lighting plan for each set, and a fixed quote.

+References we will actually shoot

+A top-down plan for every set

+Quote with usage included

Recce and test

/03

Week 2

We scout, cast and test the light on a stand-in before anyone is booked.

+Location or studio recce

+Casting from our own shortlist

+A test frame for sign-off

Shoot day

/04

Week 3–4

Tethered on a calibrated screen. You choose selects on set, as we go.

+Call 07:30, wrap 19:00

+Selects tagged live

+No surprises in the edit

Grade and delivery

/05

+48 hours

Selected frames graded, cropped and exported for every placement.

+One grade, every output

+Print proofs on the real paper

+Files named the way you asked

01 / 05

The crew

Eleven people, one studio

Behind the camera.

The people

behind the light

are the ones

doing the work

Studio 2 · shoot day · 11:40

Photography, production, hair, make-up, retouch and grade under one roof. The same people from first call to final file.

Swears by

A 22 in beauty dish, 30° up

Inès Varo

Founder · Photographer

Twelve years lighting faces. Still carries a light meter, still uses it.

Swears by

Call 07:30, wrap 19:00

Theo Bran

Producer

Runs the call sheet, the budget and the clock. Nothing ships late on his watch.

Swears by

Cream products only

Aya Lind

Hair and make-up lead

Makes skin look rested under hard light, without a trace of powder on camera.

Swears by

Skin is the reference

Juno Saar

Retouch and grade

Retouches dust, not people. Proofs every print on the paper it will run on.

WHAT CLIENTS SAY

From the brands on the call sheet

Halven lit our serum launch so the skin looked like skin. It was the first campaign our dermatologists did not ask us to retouch less.

Clara Ondine

Brand director · Oreade Skin

Oreade Skin

No pitch deck. A conversation.

Every shoot starts with a twenty-minute call about the product, the date and the light.

Book a call

HALVEN

Theo Bran

Producer · replies within a day