That cryptic title means “Animated GIF at the Granite Club”. Which is where I was teaching portrait photography last night.
I cannot image a more fun way to spend an evening: some of the most committed, fun, outspoken, and friendly people I have had the pleasure of teaching.
So let’s start with how I set up. Click below to see it as an animated GIF. The time elapsed here was over an hour:
Studio Photography Lesson Setup, by Michael Willems
Last night was a lightning-fast lesson in portrait photography basics, from lights to pocketwizards to positioning techniques.
The interesting thing, I think, is that while for full control, the more “stuff” you have the better, you can often keep it remarkably simple.
A shot with “the standard four lights” might be this:
Portrait at The Granite
That uses a key light (softbox), a fill light (umbrella), a hair light (Honl snoot), and a background light (Honl Grid).
But you can also keep it simpler. For a lady with light hair, I would not light up the background. We would also not really need the hair light. So now indeed it is simpler:
Robbin at The Granite
Beautiful, no?
But the real surprise is the simple setup on the left: you can just see it. A TTL flash through an umbrella. A reflector to provide fill light. And a background light to add a bit of brightness to the available background. Now all we are using, then, is two flashes and some affordable stands and a reflector.
That gives us:
Matt at The Granite
You see: you can often keep a studio setup simple. Why use a light when a reflector will do just as well?
Studio photography is incredibly rewarding. If you think so too, I strongly recommend you take a course or private coaching and learn how to do it.
