one-on-one workshop
A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from Michael after he had seen my gasmask video. Michael is a very international guy. If may forget a few parts of the world but he’s an Australian who lived in Belgium for a while, lives in Hong Kong now and travels all over the world for his job. He’s also a motivated photographer and he asked me if I could give him some kind of a one-on-one workshop during his business stay in Belgium. I really want to explore the teaching thing further, so I immediately said ‘yes’.
Michael wanted to know more about working with small wireless flashes (strobist style) in rather small rooms. This is not a strange request considering that a flat in Hong Kong is about the same price as a small Latin American country. My office became the location of our choice.
Ofcourse we also needed someone to photograph. Erika is a fun friend, a muse and a great model who has been a voluntary victim for many of my photographic experiments. So she seemed like the perfect choice.
After some information about the equipment I use and some basic lighting theory, we started with a simple setup. We used just one flash and a shoot through umbrella on camera right. To retain just a little separation between the dark grey background wall en Erika’s dark hair, we place her pretty close to the wall. That way, the flash lit the wall enough to make it just a bit brighter then the hair.
To get some more separation, we added another flash behind Erika. To keep the light beam tight, we used a gridspot.
We also made a b&w picture with a lot of contrast with that same setup. I like the classic Greta Garbo Hollywood glamour look.
We then moved on to create some very soft shadowless light. To do that we placed a translucent umbrella in front of Erika. We put it just high enough to hold the camera under the umbrella at eye level. To fill the shadows on the neck and the lower part of the face, I held a white reflector under the lens.
Zoomed in, it looks like this:
We also tried to create a sunny atmosphere on a dark, rainy night. We’ve put a flash on my drive way and let the light go in my office trough the blinds. If you want to make the edges of the shadows sharper, put the flash further away from the blinds.
I always keep a few clear plastic bags and rubber bands in my camera bag. They came in really handy this time because putting a high voltage flash in the rain, can be a pretty shocking experience.
I wanted to show Michael that it can often be pretty easy to change from one ‘feel’ to another without changing much. In the picture above, Erika was standing against the wall and both Erika and the background were lit with the same lightsource. If you light model and background separately you can often get nice pics too.
In the next picture, the background light is exactly the same as in the previous photo. But this time we had Erika standing a bit further from the wall and I held a reflector between the flash and Erika to block the light. We added another flash to camera left to light Erika. We used a gridspot to avoid light spilling onto the background.
We wanted the background light to be a bit blueish to imitate a moonlit night. We could have done this by simply adding a blue gel to that flash, but I didn’t feel like going in the rain again. So we just put a CTO (orange) gel on the main light and set the whitebalance for neutral skintones. This makes the white backgound light shift to blue.
I really liked doing this workshop and Michael was so much fun to work with and a very talented student. I’ve been working for a while on a workshop for groups too. If anybody is interested in a private or group workshop, let me know.
By the way: all these images were shot by Michael with a D70s and a Nikon 18-200 VR (why doesn’t Canon make a lens like this??)
Ha you will to travel to Canada for that one on one? lol
My wife actually has an aunt who lives in Canada, so you never know, david
Bert your walk through process is great. I would really enjoy learning from someone like you, but being poor, and spending my money on new equipment (D300) and software (Lightroom & Photoshop CS3), I am unsure if i will be traveling anytime soon! Maybe someday though!
Hey Will, I’m not trying to profile myself as some expensive lighting guru.
I just enjoy teaching and sharing information.
I’m happy to see that you invest in some good gear and legal software. I played around with a D300 last weekend and being a Canon-user, I have to admit that I liked it a lot.
With your talent, I’m sure you will be able to fly me in soon for a workshop over a bottle of 1963 Merlot.
Nice set of explanations. Great pictures too. I need more flashing equipment, it seems.
Hi Bert,
Another very nice post from you. If you teach like you blog I am sure you are making those workshops worth every single penny (or euro).
It’s great to see that our motherland’s “beautiful” weather is not stop you from getting the shot
… It’s not the first time you mention about working around a rainy day … only in Belgium !!!
Back to your article, eventhough it was a one on one workshop, you have to realize that you just gave a whole lot more people a great lighting lesson on here.
Thanks and Groetjes
Jacques
Hey Bert,
great stuff – as always … Looking forward to more, especially videos
You wanna teach some more? Have a look at this discussion: http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobist/discuss/72157603365873502/ We lack a person in the know at the moment
Nice entry and great pictures; I enjoy reading/watching how you set up your lights. BTW, sign me up for that Canadian visit too, I’m in Toronto. Cheers!
thanks guys
@Mike and David: If you guys can find another 20-30 Canadians for the workshop, I’m on my way!
@Jacques: There’s not too much to photograph these dark days in Belgium if you don’t know how to use flash. One of the reasons I got into using flashes was because I didn’t like to be held hostage by the Belgian weather all the time.
@Mariano: I’ll check into it as promised on the phone.
Thanks Bert for sharing this. Great pictures with little lighting stuff. I love them. I’m interested in attending a workshop. Preferable a workshop where the participants really can work (= shooting) instead of only listening, thinking and watching.
If you ever want to take pics at sea then I’ll be happy to invite you to Zeebrugge.
Lovely, congratulations!
thanks Paul & Marco
I’ll join the call for a trip to Canada, although I’m in Winnipeg.
Thanks for the tutorial Bert. It’s really encouraging to see what a little imagination and know how can achieve. One question – could you expand briefly on how to “set the white balance for neutral skintones”. (I know I’m gonna say “Duh!!!” to myself when you post the answer).
Thanks Bert
Phil, I think Michael set the white balance to tungsten.
When I’m shooting myself I usually don’t bother to set the white balance. Most of the time I leave it on auto and adjust it in the RAW conversion. When you put the white balance eyedropper on the white part of the eye, you’ll be pretty close to neutral.
another Canadian here, and yes, I’m interested in a workshop. Preferably at a starving student price! lol
but, would you HATE me if I shot with an Oly!?
Bert, Thanks for your reply and clearing that up. I thought I was missing something, but no – your explanation is in line with what I was thinking.
Great blog! I shall be a regular from here on in!
Have a great Christmas.
@pete: My rates are always starving studentproof. Never shot with an Oly, would like to try it.
@phil: thanks and have great holidays too!
Wow! The article is wonderful!I like this blog.Thanks.
推荐一家专业的翻译公司在上海，这家上海翻译公司提供多种翻译服务：论文翻译（包括专业、严谨的会议论文翻译，毕业论文翻译，发表论文翻译及教学案例翻译等）、图书翻译（包括出版级的图书、教材翻译，学术专著翻译和名著翻译等）、同声传译（包括会议口译、交替传译、同声传译、陪同翻译等服务）、资料精译（包括各种商务、科技类技术资料精译，科技成果翻译，专利翻译，招股说明书和公文翻译等），上海翻译公司还提供其他的诸如文书撰写（专业的外文商业计划书、商务推广书、市场调查报告、管理咨询报告、财务分析报告、审计报告等商务文书的翻译，同时提供外文法律文书、出国留学/移民文书的撰写翻译服务）以及其他行业翻译、特色翻译等，总共囊括50多个语种的精心翻译。
另外，上海翻译公司旗下的妙文上海会展公司还提供多种会展服务如展台设计、展台搭建等。
Bert your work is truly amazing. I am glad I found this blog. Granted I am just getting started but I feel like I’m learning a lot just by reading through your entries. Thanks a million!
You’re welcome Jeff
Bert, you are an inspiration to me. If ever you run a workshop down here in Australia – count me in!
I’ve really got a lot out of your video series and today I have discovered your blog. .. I’ll be sure to check back here regularily from now on.
Thank you for your generosity in sharing your magic with us.
Simon, Australia is in my personal top 3 of countries I want to visit before I die. Maybe I should try to combine a family trip with a few workshops someday. So start getting some people together for a workshop
These girls are really beautiful.
Bert,
I realize this is an old post.
Digging back in your old blod posts, one can find a lot of hidden gems! Thank you for what you do here and on LIME.
Funny now that Canon listened to you and made an 18-200 IS lens