Light Your Subjects

Have you ever had trouble using flash to light your subjects?

John Gress will teach you to light for impact and precision. He has just launched his first US workshop tour, starting with these nine cities: Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, El Paso, Dallas.

Who Is John Gress?

John Gress got his start in photography in Portland, Oregon. Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago is now home. Initially a photojournalist, John now considers himself a commercial and editorial photographer. He is also actively involved in directing videos now.

Recently, John spoke at ImagingUSA, in Atlanta, Georgia and will soon be presenting at the CTPPA convention, February 15-18th.

From his website:

Gress arrived in Chicago in 2003 after having worked as a Portland, Oregon-based freelance photojournalist since 2001, regularly handling assignments for Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and People magazine.

From 2000-2001, he was a staff photographer for The Topeka Capital-Journal, where his subjects included the University of Kansas basketball team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and state government figures.

Previously, from 1996-2000, he was a freelance photojournalist for the Associated Press, covering the Portland Trail Blazers, the USA Track and Field Championships, the 1998 World Cup, and various natural disasters across the Pacific Northwest.

Interview With John Gress

Give this a quick listen now:

Lighting Scenarios

Lighting Workshops

Learn more about John Gress' lighting workshops here. Use the code or mention: SESHU, to save $50 on your workshop registration.

Remember there are only 15 spots in all of these workshops and most of them are more than half full already. So, jump to it people!

Looking for other resources on lighting your subjects? Try this one about Zack Arias' OneLight 2.0 video course and this one about Joseph Victor Stefanchik's speedlighting workshop

Learning Flash Photography

I recall my first attempts to learn flash photography and I failed miserably. I had one of those speedlights that pointed only in one direction and so my photographs were, let's just say, interesting and not very flattering.

It wasn't until I encountered a Nikon SB900 that I realized that a) the head could swivel and b) it could be placed off of the camera. This was all pretty exciting, but the flash was set on manual and I didn't have any structure to take the first steps into this (for me) new genre of photography.

So, I languished for a while before thankfully being rescued by Zack Arias. His simple, no-nonsense One Light Workshop set me afloat in a new and exciting direction. It's a resource I still recommend beginners.

Light It Up!

If you are going to go in all the way with flash photography, you might as well go all in. That's where the Belgian photographer Piet Van den Eynde comes in.

Piet (pronounced as ‘Pete') just released an updated and expanded second edition of his book, Light It Up! Techniques for Dramatic Off-Camera Flash [aff].

It's a 185-page behemoth of all kinds of great information about flash photography. He doesn't gloss over anything in the 12 chapters of this ebook.

You'll see below why I recommend Piet's book, Light It Up, as a must-have and must-read for photographers learning the new skill off-camera flash photography.

What's In The Ebook

In Piet's own words:

In the first two chapters, I cover some slightly boring yet incredibly important theory about light in general and flash light in particular. With all the hype regarding off-camera flash, you’d almost forget that there was a time when ashes were mainly used on-camera. That's why Chapter 3 is all about “on-camera ash,” where I show you some of the advantages and inconveniences before diving into the heart of this eBook: working with remote flashes.

Chapter 4 covers the basic techniques of working with one one off-camera flash. I start with a simple scenario of one flash and a couple of cheap accessories, such as an umbrella or a small soft box. In Chapter 5, I show you how to quickly set up a Nikon or Canon to wirelessly trigger an external flash. If like me, you’re working with another camera brand, the procedure is comparable. Chapter 6 provides a fail-safe walk-through on how to put the theory into practice.

Chapter 7 outlines some practical case studies, including images that were shot during a one-year bicycle trip where I only had access to limited gear. The photos show that with only one light, your creative options soar. Chapter 8 discusses the more advanced techniques of working with multiple ashes that can be bundled into a more powerful light source to compete with the sun, or set up in different parts of your scene to create a portable on-location studio.

Gear-wise, Chapter 9 continues where Chapter 4 left off with an introduction to some lighting accessories to complement the basic gear set up. Chapter 10 has more cases where I also show you how to work with portable studio flashes on location. This type of flash has become much more affordable in recent years, with the cheapest third-party portable studio flashes often costing less than the high-end brand name hot shoe flashes, all while offering 6 to 10 times more light output. Their higher output allows you to use them in situations where a single speedlight wouldn’t suffice.

Finally, Chapter 11 addresses flash photography and image editing. Like any other photo, flash photos often benefit from corrective or creative post-processing. In this final chapter, I walk you through a couple of examples.

Pretty comprehensive, right?

What You'll Learn In Light It Up!

• How light behaves the way it does and how you can use the physics of light to your advantage

• Why using flash is not always a matter of increasing the quantity of light but rather changing its quality

• Why the brighter the sun shines, the more you’re in need of a flash

• How to save money when shopping for a flash system: the advice in this eBook will save you its purchase price many times over. You really don’t need the most expensive flash or softbox. Most images in the book were made with gear that costs less than half of what the big flash brands charge

• How you can get started with off-camera flash by using the built-in flash of your camera as a commander for an external flash

• Why modifiers are more important than the actual lights you use

• Why you should plan ahead when you start buying into a flash system

• How you can create super rich light on a budget by combining lighting techniques with some basic Photoshop skills

Early Bird Offer + Bonuses!

Piet just let me know that if you buy Light It Up now using this link, you’ll receive a 10% discount (use code: seshu10), on the Standard Edition (ebook only, $24.95) or the Deluxe Edition ($34.95, for the ebok, 3 videos and 5 Lightroom presets).

What Are In The Videos?

Piet explains even more about his flash workflow in the set of three bonus videos totaling 45 minutes. In the first video, ‘For The Birds’ you see him creating an iconic image of an Indian Sadhu on the Ganges, from capture to final edit in Photoshop. In the second video, ‘Layering Lights’, he builds upon the concepts that he explains in the post-processing chapter of the eBook. Finally, in the last bonus video, ‘Creating Light’, he takes you through a number of his images and explains his reasoning and lighting setup.

Buy Light It Up! today.

A Quick Review

My favorite saying and I act on it is this: The learning never stops! And to that end, finding credible teachers who happen to be active photographers is one of my missions, for your sake and mine. I've followed Piet's work for a number of years through and have been impressed with his energy and enthusiasm for traveling in what I would consider challenging parts of the world.

Add flash photography to his travel agenda and you have the makings of a teacher (pardon the pun) going the distance to show you what you are capable of doing with the right information and acquired skills. His ebooks (and I have several of them through Craft & Vision) are thorough, with the right examples, and more importantly, the right explanations. Too often, ebooks are nothing more than portfolio pieces. But Piet's ebooks double as that and as resources you will dive into whenever you have a question about flash photography.

One other thing really attracts me to Piet's work and it's his transition to Fujifilm mirrorless cameras. Like him, I am moving away from my Nikon DSLR's for the day-to-day work of family portraits, business portraits or events. Just yesterday, I photographed at a local dental clinic in Avon, Connecticut, photographing eight employees for their new website. I used Piet's advice from the book to set up my speedlights; one through a softbox and one hair-light modified by a MagMod diffuser.

Light It Up is a resource you will return to again and again in the future. I guarantee it!

Chris Knight is a photographer based in New York City. We sat down to talk about his upcoming book, The Dramatic Portrait.

He combines his unconditional love of art history with his conditional love of technology, topping it off with a flare for the cinematic and an uncompromising eye for detail.

Chris also has a full blown workshop via RGGEDU.com called Dramatic Portraiture & Lighting With Chris Knight.

Use the code: TIFFINBOX (to get 15% off for a very limited time)

The Interview

The questions I asked Chris:

1) I love reading biographies on photographer's websites and yours stands out a bit.

Speaking of yourself you say: “He combines his unconditional love of art history with his conditional love of technology, topping it off with a flare for the cinematic and an uncompromising eye for detail.”

Where did you acquire that kind of discipline?

2) Your photographs remind me of paintings that one would see in a museum. Is that your end goal?

3) Why is drama so important to you in portraits?

4) You give light and shadow almost equal value in telling a story. Most of your photographs don't draw attention to the use of artificial light. Is that a skill that was taught to you or is it something that you have honed yourself?

5) Let's talk about your book, The Dramatic Portrait: The Art of Crafting Light and Shadow. What prompted you to write this book and who is it for?

6) Most photography books about portraits jump right into loop lighting or Rembrandt lighting. You spend nearly 40 pages describing the history of portraiture? Why do you believe this is important?

7) You say: “The hows and whys are inextricably entangled in a successful photograph, and hitting both of those points shows mastery of the technical medium.” Can you explain that briefly?

8) What does it mean to you to have a published book? Does it open more doors for you to teach?

9) What can we expect from you next?

10) How can people find you and your work online?

The Dramatic Portrait

Buy Chris Knight's book now or buy the PROEDU.com tutorial today. For a limited time, PROEDU.com is including the book with the purchase of the tutorial.

Do you prefer to buy The Dramatic Portrait on Amazon?

You can also catch Chris Knight teaching at CreativeLive in these online workshops:

Exploring Low Key Portraiture

Creating Advanced Masks

How To Work Faster In Adobe Photoshop CC

Feel free to use this affiliate link for CreativeLive when you browse through Chris Knight's courses.

The Portrait Portfolio

Here's a small sample of Chris' portrait photography. I urge you to visit his website and bookmark it. It's absolutely stunning work!

It's unusual for me to be up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday. But there I was stirring my cup of hot tea before anyone else was up at home. I knew that by 6.30 in the morning my kids and wife would be down for their breakfast, but I made a quick left turn out of my driveway and onto New Haven at 5.30 that morning. It wasn't a particularly cold morning, but I still clung onto my NorthFace jacket as I boarded the Metro North train to New York City.

The reason for the hustle and bustle? I was heading to the Big Apple to learn a fresh new approach to creating business portraits.

Making It To New York City

Dylan Patrick, was in town to walk a small group of us through his Cinematic Headshots approach. A few months ago, when I saw the crew at FStoppers promote their then new tutorial, I knew I wanted in. The headshots looked and felt different. I mean, go ahead and take a quick look for yourself.

Unlike the stodgy portraits against a maroon backdrop that we have all seen and perhaps avoided doing, Dylan Patrick's Cinematic Headshots offer something truly fresh and new. So, I had to make the three-hour one way trip into the city to explore and learn from him.

When I walked in to the studio Dylan and his wife, Sass, had secured for the day I was greeted warmly and we got down to business right away. Dylan set the tone of the workshop by making it clear that successful headshots were about three important things – your subject's expression, the quality of the light and body language. He walked us through with examples, talked about the gear and quickly jumped into showing the subtle differences between good headshots and great ones.

Dylan Patrick's The Cinematic Headshot Workshop

Dylan patiently worked with each of us, photographing us by turn so that we could each watch and listen to the way he photographed his subjects. I enjoyed how he prompted a change in posture or an expression by simply engaging with his subjects in a positive and jovial manner. Keeping it light and almost funny is his way of relaxing his subjects. Your approach may be different.

After a quick lunch, which was included in the price of the workshop, we jumped back into the two shooting bays to photograph each other. I have got to say that I really appreciated this opportunity to not only photograph my peers but also be photographed by them because it gave me a good idea of how my potential clients often feel on the other side of the camera. As soon as we were done photographing each other, we were introduced to Michelle and Ian, our models for the day.

Borrowing Dylan's Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII lens I photographed them both. Below are my favorites from this short session:

The Required Gear

The shoot requires essentially two strobes filtered through modifiers. Dylan used both Lastolite and Elinchrom octaboxes. A reflector below the subject was used as a fill light. The lights we used were Nikon SB900‘s and Nikon SB700‘s. Because I use a Nikon system, I wasn't totally paying attention to what my colleagues with Canon gear were using but they were also set up to create incredible portraits that day thanks to the Canon strobes loaned from B&H Photo Video.

Also a critical part of the set up were Dylan's PocketWizard MiniTT1 and Pocketwizard FlexTT5‘s. Allowing us to control both the flashes from the camera was a PocketWizard AC3 Zone Controller. A few test shots to get within range for your exposure and you are off to making some truly great portraits for your subjects!

The Interview

I was so thrilled with my experience at the workshop that I had to get Dylan Patrick on TiffinboxTV. Here is our conversation about The Cinematic Headshot:

The Cinematic Headshot Tutorial on FStoppers

Now, Dylan isn't on the workshop circuit and so catching him in New York City was a bit of a blessing. While he will be back in May, you can buy the tutorial download now.

The Cinematic Headshot by Dylan Patrick and FStoppers is sold for $199. But use this code: TIFFINBOXFS to receive a $40 discount through October 31st, 2015. Yes, I like to hook you all up! How does that sound to you?

Want to know more about The Cinematic Headshot? Just watch this video by FStoppers video :

Other Photographers Who Rock The Cinematic Headshot

Still not convinced? Other than Dylan Patrick, here are some other photographers who are rocking the cinematic headshot:

Christian Webb (New York, USA)
Linus Petterson (Sweden)
Bruno Kongawoin (Australia)
Michael Schacht (Chicago, USA)
Michael Moon (Houston, USA)
Josh Rottman (Baltimore, USA)

If you can, look these two guys up on Facebook:

Dean Webb (United Kingdom)
Rafa Móyer (Spain)

If you can't make it to one of Dylan's workshops, the alternative is to learn from him through the tutorial. Get the digital download for just $159 now through the FStoppers store. Remember, you have to use TIFFINBOXFS when you check out to get the discount for a limited time!