Capture!PhotoCon 2018

When shooting fashion or portraits, it about well lighting the subject. A little shadow for depth is a good thing. Edge lighting is focusing light on only a part of the subject. Conveying your message and emotion through use of harsh shadows rather than soft light.

Have you ever felt limited in lighting portraits, just because you only had a pair of speedlites? In this eye opening master class, we will take a journey on the huge potential you have in creating portraits with impact and depth, and all your gear fits in just one camera bag. We are not limited by our gear, but in our knowledge and a little bit of creativity you maximize our gear.
This workshop will help you expand your vision and options in using one two or three speedlites, as well as incorporating the sun to your environmental portraits.

In this class I'll be sharing the basic guidelines for creating classic beauty-portrait images. Too often setups can seem complicated or difficult, and I want to show you how simple it can be to create a standout image without frustration or unflattering lighting. You can expect to learn or get a refresher on light patterns, my thought process on lighting an image, and you'll also see a demo of me building several simple setups from scratch. I'm a hands-on/visual learner myself, so it's important to me to share my thought process from start to finish. That said, don't expect ratios and histogram readings because I am going to show you how I light by building and fine tuning. I look forward to sharing a little bit of the knowledge I've gained throughout the years.

The human face carries the marks of life, is a roadmap to who we are, and helps identify us as an individual. Quite often though, we find our subjects hidden behind a "mask” of fear or insecurity. This can apply to a high school senior, a seasoned model, a businessman or even a celebrity. Take a journey as we explore the physical and psychological study on pulling back the multi-facet layers that are involved in identifying "markers" that will reveal your subject and help you create the most honest and accurate portraits of your subjects. We will review techniques beyond posing to help you further your skills as a photographer including non-verbal communication and behavioral profiling which can range from how your subject sits to how they hold their hands. This is the starting point of any great portrait. Also covered will be the study of your subject’s facial structure, identifying anatomical flaws and solving with corrective approaches for the ultimate portrait. Live demonstrations focus on the different qualities of light (including soft light, hard light, diffused light and subtractive light), that are instrumental in creating portraits specific to your subject’s needs.

The first step to your own style is lighting. Either natural or studio or both, how you light your subject is the beginning of how your images will look. Like a great stew, it takes a lot of wonderful ingredients to make it great. Lighting would be the meat. Getting that first step down is important. The magic come with getting it down YOUR way, for your style.
Since there isn’t a right way, but your way, how do you know what to do?
Learn how to reverse engineer lighting.
Reconfigure your imagination to think ‘lighting’.
Learn how to picture the image and then light it to match that image.