I’ve been doing these training videos on location light for my buddy Scott Kelby. They’ve been a ton of fun to do and, at first glance, I’m even mildly coherent. Click here to preview the lessons and site. If you can get past my visual appearance (hump, twitch in the left eye, constant drooling), there’s a fair amount of ground we cover about lighting both in the studio and on location, and using both large strobes and small, hot shoe flashes.
First one is up, and I take a look at light shaping tools from umbrellas (shoot through, reflected), to large and small softboxes, direction of light, methods of softening the light to achieve a good portrait look, to using a second strobe to provide fill and a bit of glamour. We chew through a bunch of stuff in the studio, some times being successful, and sometimes not, making adjustments, trying different stuff, even a quick ring light set, and then at the end of the day, real time, chasing the fading sunset, we do a seat of the pants strobe set on the beach with Jennifer Concepcion, a truly magnificent ballerina.
All in all, just another day on location, which is the whole point. The video camera is right there at my shoulder as I knock about, pursuing ideas, making points and mistakes, correcting them, finding solutions, and just pushing the envelope in much the same fashion I do when on a location portrait job, say, for Sports Illustrated. You see everything I do, real time, and are introduced to some of the voices in my head (make them stop!), the uncertainty and problem solving process of location photography, and speaking with light.
Upcoming lessons include basic hot shoe flash photography (SB-800 units) and SB-800-The Next Step, a full-blown location application of small strobes, as well as The Executive Portrait.
We have fun, too, the essence of location photography. In a later lesson I shoot Mike, a model/body builder, using one overhead SB-800 while he does his stage persona, competition bodybuilding expression. Not to be outdone, I had my assistants spray me down and put me out there in the same light. (I kept my shirt on, cause you don’t wanna intimidate the talent, know what I’m sayin’?)
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So take a look. There’s a ton of great shooters and Photoshop instructors up there on the site, from Scott to Moose Peterson to Matt Kloskowski, to David Ziser.
Mentioned in this post:
– Nikon SB-800
Thanks so much for the sessions on studio flash, Joe. I thoroughly enjoyed each of them. The sunset beach shoot was great, too!
Joe, I already wrote of your teaching prowess in another thread on your site, but I can’t say enough on the lessons.
I’ve watched them all twice, so far… I picked up tons on the second go through… the way you worked with the model and your assistant.. it just flowed so well.
The one thing I really noticed: Great model, hundreds an hour, great equipment, thousands of dollars. The look on Joe’s face at the begining of each lesson segment…. PRICELESS!
hana ho.. hana ho…
Joe, I watched your whole series of lessons in one sitting…You did a fabulous job!
I was captivated by your style, sense of humor, interaction with Debbie, and, most of all, the content of the lessons. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your instruction on the Kelby site, it’s a GREAT thing that you joined his team of outstanding teachers.
Thank your for sharing some of your techniques with us!
Joe,
You are such a huge inspiration to me. I started really diving more into photography after seeing some of the images you produced with just the SB-800’s. Ever since, I can’t seem to get away from them. They do become an addiction once you start purchasing more than one… or two, or three, or four… LOL
Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see what this blog blossoms into.
I hope this online course eventually makes it onto its own DVD. I’m not a fan of watching things on my computer, but would certainly buy any DVD you made!
Dear Joe!
I’ve imported “The Speed of Light” to Germany for my personal use. The things you’re showing on this DVD are interesting. But you’re not explaining, _why_ you do these things.
So I’m interested in these new videos. But – there’s no spoiler, trailer or something similar to get an idear, what’s gonna happen in these videos.
Or am I blind?
Thx for answering.
Greetings from Germany
Dennis Kielhorn
PS: Sorry about my ‘rusty’ english. “If you don’t use it, you’ll loose it.” 🙁
beautiful image of the dancer. I like your pose too. haha
Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so! really nice post.
Joe, I have a wedding on May 31st in NC at Sunset Beach….it’s at high noon…. see my problem. I’m using a D3, with a D700 backup…..I have one lastolite tri-grip, and 2 other lastolite reflectors gold/white, and silver/white……I also have have 3 SB-800s, and an SB-900. I know I can’t beat the sun with this, as the beach runs north- south. I plan on shooting them with the sun at their backs using it as an over the shoulder light…..How can I get enough light on the Bride and Groom during the actual wedding with out being tooo obvious/in the way.
Arthur…….Help
SPECULAR HIGHLIGHTS FROM CLS TRIGGER FLASH
Joe: Bought the Hands-on Guide to CL — loved it. Great help in making use of Nikon’s CLS. Question. When shooting people with glasses, the pre-flash on the D300 that sends the signal to the other lights, is causing tiny, specular, highlights on the eyeglasses and rims. No light on the glasses from the lighting array, just from the pop-up flash on the D300. When I gobo’d the pop-up with my hand, the highlights disappeared from the glasses and frames, but then if I wasn’t careful, that prevented some of the flashes from firing as well. I re-shot the same lighting set-up using PocketWizards instead, and there were NO specular highlights on the glasses or rims either. So, what’s up with shooting people with glasses using CLS triggered by on-camera pop-up? Being clear here: I broad lit so there are no highligts being caused by the lighting set-up — just the trigger flash. Thanks in advance — GB
good good…this post merits nothing 🙁 …lol just joking 😛 …nice post 😛
I usually do not comment on blog posts but I found this quite interesting, so here goes. Thanks! Regards, P.
Hello webmaster I like your post .
Hi Joe, I have a shoot in an old but small theatre coming up for a hair/fashion show. As you can guess the light is going to be terrible. I am allowed to use flash so I was hoping you could give me some tips on how to get the best photos I can in this situation.
I am using Canon 40D with a Sigma 24-70mm 2.8 lens.
Thanks in advance
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three years of training is not enough to build muscle like that.lol
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