Studio Lighting workshop with Natalia ~ Pictures

November 12th, 2010

1. Vogue, Vogue, Vogue ... Lit with a Lupo 800 HMI (150W)

Here are 24 of the pictures from my first ever studio shoot with Natalia. The shoot was a Lighting Workshop for three delegates. This small intimate group is perfect for a sensational learning experience. Make-up was provided by our house stylist, the very talented Vicky Waghorn. Enjoy the pictures…

2. Single light portraits like this are so simple to create with the right know how. I used one Bowens Gemini Pro R 750Ws.

3. Another simple single light shot with the Bowens.

4. The result of a creative tangent lit with three Bowens Geminis.

5. I'm loving flare. Same lighting as above.

6. A classic three light set up.

7. A four light set up using a Lovegrove studio collection gel.

8. As above but with a different gel.

9. These next few pictures were inspired by some head shots taken by Vincent Peters.

10. As above

11. As above but in colour and utilising another Lovegrove gel.

12. Back to simplicity with a single Lupo 800 HMI light.

12. Back to simplicity with a single Lupo 800 HMI (150W) light.

13. I popped the Lupo through my Venitian blind for this striking shot.

13. I popped the Lupo 800 HMI (150W) through my Venetian blind for this striking shot.

14. With continuous light is is really easy to get creative.

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16. I love this shot but I don't know why.

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nat020

21. One Lupo, one magic water sheet and one gorgeous Natalia.

21. One Lupo 1200 HMI (250W), one magic water sheet and one gorgeous Natalia.

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We have places available on our next Studio Lighting Workshops. More information is here. You can also browse our range of upcoming photography training courses here.

Please feel free to comment on the pictures below.

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26 Comments Add your own

1. Thorsten | November 12th, 2010 at 5:15 pm

Beautiful images Damien. And very inspirational too. I need to start shooting horizontally instead of always vertically – it can work so very well as demonstrated above.
2. Ian Hamilton | November 12th, 2010 at 6:42 pm

Lovely images as usual Damien.
3. Dave Packer | November 12th, 2010 at 9:14 pm

Hi Damien, would you say that a set of 750 bowens is the kind of power needed for the average studio. I realise this may be a how long is the piece of string question. ( size of studio)

Many thanks as ever

Dave
4. David Causon | November 13th, 2010 at 9:36 am

Cracking pictures Damien, what dvd are you bringing out for Christmas this year, and when?
5. Chris Hanley | November 14th, 2010 at 12:11 am

inspiring.
Natalia is beautiful. Sophia Loren comes to mind.
6. Kesia | November 14th, 2010 at 9:57 am

Perfect – the model, make up, light and effects… 10.000 out of 10.000. Can I say more? =)
7. David Mackenzie | November 14th, 2010 at 2:39 pm

Love the water sheet effect – how do you do that? Magic?
8. damien | November 15th, 2010 at 12:11 am

Thanks Thorsten and Ian.
9. damien | November 15th, 2010 at 12:15 am

Hi Dave,

I have 2x 1000ws Bowens Prolites, 3x 750ws Bowens Gemini Pro Rs, 2x Bowens 500ws Prolites and a super powerful 1200ws Broncolour Mobil. I don’t believe there is such a thing as an average studio. Most people start out with a couple of 500ws heads then add more powerful ones as their needs require. I hope this helps in some way.

Cheers, Damien.
10. damien | November 15th, 2010 at 12:20 am

Thank you David,

There won’t be a DVD this year because of the piracy issues I’ve had. Over 12,000 downloads on bit torrent has scuppered sales and made the process not worth while And that’s with very expensive copy protection software by Sony. So I decided to increase the number of workshop places this year instead, My big project this winter is my first art book. At least that can’t be ripped off. Sorry to disappoint.

Kindest regards, Damien.

Damien.
11. damien | November 15th, 2010 at 12:23 am

Thanks Chris. I know what you mean by Sophia Loren. See you very soon, D )
12. damien | November 15th, 2010 at 12:24 am

Thank you Kesia. You make me smile. Damien.
13. damien | November 15th, 2010 at 12:25 am

Hi David,

Yes, it’s a kind of magic that I capture in camera. Come on a workshop and all will be revealed Haha. Cheers, Damien.
14. Wedding Photographer Leeds | November 15th, 2010 at 5:05 pm

Stunning model, great images!
15. Wedding Photographer Leeds | November 15th, 2010 at 5:08 pm

Ps Forget DVD’s, pay per view via the web is the future. The early Canon 5D film pay for view online workshops made Vincent Laforet a very rich(er) man.
16. Nick | November 16th, 2010 at 12:16 am

Another shoot with this lovely model, great shots and I really love the effects shown here!!

Nick
17. damien | November 26th, 2010 at 9:24 am

Hi Wedding Photographer from Leeds,

Thanks for your tips and compliments, Damien.
18. damien | November 26th, 2010 at 9:30 am

Thanks Nick.
19. mark lovelock | December 5th, 2010 at 10:13 am

Hello Damien,
I think your images are fantastic, the way you control or work with the available light is superb.One question, you have a B&W image on photonut where you have highlighted the man sitting on a railway line, you have done this by,”The spotlight look was created in Photoshop by holding back the highlights from everywhere else but the key subject” could you explain a little more how you created this effect.
20. jmayel el-haj | December 15th, 2010 at 4:55 pm

The easiest way to hold back highlights is to create a levels adjustment layer mask and boost the highlights and shadow values, then create a circle selection around the subject, select the mask and fill it with a black paint bucket to remove the effect from the rest of the image. Then select filter and gaussian blur the layer by about 50px. Now you should have a subject with adjusted highlights and shadows, and the rest of the image unaffected.

But the most accurate way to get the effect you want is to manually burn the shadows with the burn tool, and dodge the highlights with the dodge tool.

http://www.edenexposed.com
21. martin | December 16th, 2010 at 8:58 pm

Oh my goodness, comment at #20 is bad advice in so many ways I don’t know where to start.
22. Mark | December 17th, 2010 at 6:09 pm

Hi Martin,
Please explain why bad advice and how you would create effect
23. damien | December 18th, 2010 at 9:23 pm

Hi Mark

I selected the man (250 pxl radius) then inverted the selection. I then used curves and dragged the right hand point town to 75% or so. This is a gross simplification but you get the picture.

Cheers, Damien.
24. damien | December 18th, 2010 at 10:03 pm

Hi Jimayel,

Easiest? I understand your system and I thank you for your contribution but I don’t think this is the easiest. We do the same without layer masks etc. It can be easily done in Lightroom within seconds and without the need for layers etc.

Regards, Damien.
25. martin | December 20th, 2010 at 11:25 pm

Hi Mark

To get the desired effect I’d recommend neither levels nor the dodge and burn tool. Curves will give much more finesse than levels. And the photoshop dodge and burn tools are best avoided at all costs. They are crude, lack finesse and can’t be used on layers so you have to work destructively. Which doesn’t bother many people including the illustrious author of this blog:-)

If you’re interested, a non destructive workflow would be: highlight the area to be ‘left alone’ with the lasso tool. Invert the selection (cmd-shift-i). Create a curves adjustment layer to adjust the tonality of the surrounding area. Feather the mask using the mask tab available from CS4 onwards.

Non destructive dodge and burn: create a new layer setting the blending mode to soft light and click the fill with neutral grey option. Paint black on the layer with a soft brush at say 5% flow to darken the image or white to lighten.

You can do a lot if not all of this in Lightroom if you prefer.

HTH

Martin
26. Mark Lovelock | December 21st, 2010 at 6:36 pm

Thanks martin, will experiment in photoshop over the next few days.