Creatively Simple Lighting Workshop - Online
My new Creatively Simple Lighting Workshop was born from a desire to try and debunk a common misconception about creative lighting. Great images are not beholden to the idea that you need loads of lights and tons of gear. Sure, you can get some fantastic images with a lot of shiny new photo gear, but all that kit far from a prerequisite to capturing eye-catching and engaging imagery that will hold your viewers attention.
This worksop will show you how to take phenomenally creative photographs that revolve around having a lot lighting skill, not a lot of lighting gear.
Three common barriers that you think is holding your creativity back…
One of the key reasons I was moved to write this workshop, was because I was continually being asked these same three questions;
1. “I don't own big studio flashes, can that setup you've shown us be achieved with smaller lights?”
2. “I only have two flashes, can that technique be achieved with only a two lights?”
3. “I don't have access to a studio, is it possible to achieve that lighting in a small space like my home?”
Everything I teach on this course will be achievable with smaller lights and I’ll explain versions of the setups that make them possible with only two flashes, plus they’ll all be achievable in a small space like your home!
So, not only will I be providing you with the skills to master lighting with limited gear, but I'll also be providing ideas on how to think creatively with the lighting gear you own too. I'll offer DIY alternatives to modifiers and light shapers that are available on any budget so there really is no excuse to not see an immediate and marked improvement in your lighting.
What We’ll be Learning in this Lighting Workshop
Understanding Creative Lighting: This may seem obvious to some, but what does creative lighting mean to you? What makes an image stand out and what makes an image hold your viewers attention?
Understanding Simple Lighting: Does creative lighting need to be complicated? Can we really be creative with limited gear and space?
Lighting Characteristics: You’ll hear many people talk about ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ lighting, but many of my lighting techniques revolve around learning to manipulate a very important third lighting characteristic.
Hierarchy of Light: My hierarchy of light principle is one of the most important lighting theories I teach and I cannot underestimate just how fundamental this knowledge is when it comes to controlling all forms of light, but especially with coloured light. This technique enables me to effectively mix multiple coloured lights on the body and background and is the key to many of my more complicated lighting setups. It’s this technique alone that sees me recommending this workshop as one of the first ones you should take after the Gelled Lighting one.
-As with all of my online workshops, all the information and notes taught during this course are provided via an extensive PDF.
Lighting Setups Taught
Setup 1: Simple One Light
The first setup sees us utilising one of the most compact, simple and yet very eye-catching setups I’ve ever taught. In fact, I’m not exaggerating when I say this lighting setup could be achieved in a corridor if you needed to and it’s all achieved with a SINGLE light!
Setup 2: Pastel Glow
In an evolution of the first setup, we now increase the visual engagement by adding some subtle colours to our lighting. This not only helps the shot stand out, but it also gives our subject this beautiful warm glow.
This setup also gives us the opportunity to introduce those subtle flare effects into the foreground of our shot and I’ll discuss numerous ways we can achieve this.
Plus, this setup can be achieved in almost any sized space. In fact, smaller spaces actually benefit this particular look. It’ll make more sense when we cover it.
Setup 3: Colour Wash
We now move away from our headshot setups as we instead focus on our 3/4 length body shots. This first setup of these is again, remarkably simple, yet extremely effective.
It’s with this setup that we really start to open up those coloured shadows and see a huge amount of detail in the darker areas of the image. In fact, it’s because of the incredible amount of detail we’re able to capture in the shadows that this is now becoming my more favoured way to shoot gels.
Setup 4: Pastel Wash
It’s this setup that sees us cranking up the difficulty a little as we iterate on the previous technique. Before, we had those two beautiful washes of colour, and now we see ourselves adding some layers and depth to that look with background separation and specific model lighting. This setup is fast becoming one of my more popular setups and is ofter affectionately referred to simply as ‘the pastel wash setup’.
If you want to know how to bathe your subject in utterly beautifully soft, coloured light, and you want to be able to do it with limited kit and in a small space like a home studio, this is the setup for you.
Setup 5: Coloured Shadows
As we move into the last couple of setups, we crank up the stylised lighting a little and get into our 2 final setups that revolve around coloured shadows.
When I share shots like this, people often assume the coloured shadows are achieved in post-production, Thankfully though, no, these are actually pretty simple to achieve in-camera and once again, yes these can even be achieved in a home-studio and with pretty basic kit too!
Setup 6: Rainbow Shadows
For our final lighting technique of the day, we add even more colour to our coloured shadows, and although adding two colours involves a completely different lighting technique, I think the extra effort is worth it.
The beautiful colour gradients you can add to the subjects shadows give a very distinctive look, plus they can add a lot interest via colour that doesn’t necessarily affect the rest of the shot. This is certainly a useful trick to know.
Included with this lighting workshop…
Comprehensive PDF of workshop notes
Studio lighting kit-list including instructions on DIY modifiers
All 3D lighting diagrams for lighting setups
12 Lightroom Presets specifically for the lighting setups taught in this workshop
