Comments on: Studio lighting 4 ~ pictures and techniques

By: Steve Bulley

Steve Bulley — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:44:17 +0000

I have so many good shots from this workshop that I’m having trouble editing them to get a selection for my blog/portfolio etc.
It was an excellent day and I’m already using the techniques to help me shoot some much more creative studio work.
Looking forward to the urban portraits workshop in June.

By: John

John — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:38:19 +0000

I love the gels on a grey background, that is a real moneysaver vs. buying all the seprate backgrounds – so thankyou!

Keep up the good work with the website and DVDs. I have 4 of your DVDs now, and in March I won a silver in the SWPP monthly bridal portrait competition with a shot similar to the cover of the Winter Weddings DVD. The bride cried (in a good way!) when i showed it to her, which justified the Canon ST-E2 right then and there.

Can i ask you which online store the white cube came from?

thanks again, John

By: damien

damien — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:46:10 +0000

Hi Dave,

Thank you too for your kind words. I agree with you that the shots that have pronounced kick or side lighting work best. Looking at the black and white images. The one of Mark is all shades of grey with no white or black in the original file while the shot of Stina has bleached punchy burnt out skin tones where the kick lights have done their stuff. This is where camera screen exposure assessment is the right way to go for me. It was easy to see the screen in the studio.

I think all the shots taken on the day were at ISO-200 125th second and f/11 or there abouts.

Regards, Damien.

By: damien

damien — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:37:44 +0000

Thanks Conor and Michael for your kind words.

Connor, You need to put yourself first in the creative loop. Get lighting inspiration from the great master painters, from fashion magazines and music videos. Try to deconstruct the light in the image and work out where it is coming from and what size the light source is. This will give you some clues and hopefully some inspiration to try out a few self taught techniques. You will probably be inspired by the simplest images. Remember these three factors listed here in order of importance.

1. The photographer sees the picture, works the light and in some cases creates the moment before capturing it.

2. The lens converts the 3 dimensional scene into a 2 dimensional image.

3. The camera records the image.

So if you are going to make an investment in your photography of time or money then invest it in number 1.

By: DaveBulow

DaveBulow — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:00:24 +0000

Excellent shots Damien, particularly like those with stronger side lighting than front. E.g. The black and white.

Regards
DaveBulow

By: Conor Heffernan

Conor Heffernan — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:47:29 +0000

I’m starting out, although 3 years down the line and have realised it’s not about the camera settings but about learning about light and about how it behaves. I just want to congratulate you on your widely diverse photos and your obvious understanding of light., but also to thank you for sharing your skills with us all.I hope someday to be able to afford to come on one of your workshops, it would be a pleasure to learn from you.Thanks again, from Ireland. Conor.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:05:22 +0000

Hi Damian
Many thanks for another great workshop. I have lots of shots that I like and will be on there way to Marko and his team very shortly.

I agree both Stina and Mark were great.

Catch you again soon

Michael