Cinematic Studio Lighting Workshop - Online
We hear the term ‘Cinematic’ used a lot to describe images, but what does that really mean? In this workshop I break down some of the most iconic cinematographers scenes and look at how they achieve some of the incredible images that defines much of their work. This workshop aims to teach you how shoot with that cinematic look in mind by breaking your images down with depth, shape and form, motivation and atmosphere. If we can learn to control all of these aspects, we can elevate our images from plain portraits to far more engaging character pieces that say a lot more than simply recording the look of a subject.
Topics Covered
I’ve included the contents page from the Cinematic Studio Lighting PDF that comes with this workshop and here you can get an idea of just how much detail we go into with this course.
I start off by breaking down what the ‘cinematic’ look actually means and then go into some examples of how some the greatest cinematographers and directors have achieved it with their own unique style. From here I dig into several unifying aspects of the cinematic look and provide examples of how I take inspiration from that and apply them to my own work.
With some of the theory out of the way, I go over some practical techniques that many cinematographers use to achieve their looks. It’s here that I provide photographic solutions to many of these techniques and you’ll quickly see just how effective these can be and why they are so popular on set.
I think it’s easy to think of movies with seemingly infinite budgets and vast sets purpose built for every occasion, but many projects don’t have those resources and they are often required to work in smaller locations very similar to how many of us photographers work. So how do they achieve that cinematic look in smaller spaces and with smaller budgets? This is where I’ll show you many of those ingenious solutions t common problems and it’s still staggering to me that so few photographers utilise these techniques.
Setups Taught
During this workshop I’ll share several setups that cover all of the lighting techniques discussed throughout and they focus on dealing with cinematic colour and how to use natural orange and blues from the Kelvin range to enhance your imagery. Other aspects include blending hard and soft light to simulate depth in an image as well as tips and tricks on how to make your own inexpensive sets and props.
Setup 1: Hotel Room
I’ll start off with a simple and very easy setup to show how to combine both contrasting colours as well as contrasting lights like hard and soft. The beauty of this set is that its very inexpensive and can also be set up anywhere very quickly.
Setup 2: Neon Street
The story behind this set was to create a colour contrast between a stylised outside neon green and an interior warm red glow. As bold as this look is, it does a great job of demonstrating multiple lights all working together. This set does ramp up the difficulty, but with every light having a clear and specific role, this setup is easier to accomplish that you may think.
Setup 3: Dressing Room
The story behind this set was to add a sense of movement by including a slightly slower shutter as I use tungsten lights behind as well as flash from the front. This is also a great way to demonstrate how we can use dramatic natural colours thanks to the warm tungsten tones against the colder blue hues of flash. I also cover you can achieve this same look with only flash heads via the use of colour temperature gels.
Setup 4: City at Night
For our last set I bring much of what we’ve learned together into one image. The story behind this look was of a young lady returning home late to her high-rise apartment. I wanted the warm tones from within beautifully contrasted against the classic cool tones of the cinematic midnight blue from outside. I share tricks on modifiers to use when using motivated light like this as well as how to bring the exterior shots into the studio via this cityscape background, all captured in-camera.
Included with this lighting workshop…
Comprehensive 60+ page PDF of workshop notes
Studio lighting kit list
All 3D lighting diagrams for setups
16 Lightroom Presets specifically for the lighting setups taught in this workshop
