Did a seminar today

I was asked to do a seminar for D L Kirpatricks , the photographic wholesalers annual show in Armagh, Co. Armagh.

It was very well attended and the reaction to my talk was very good. But I have found that there are an awful lot of people who do not understand the basic idea of how to light a subject. I suppose this is a case of me having spent a long time working with portrait lighting that I had forgotten how steep a learning curve it can be.

I normally would work with 4 lights in the Studio, 2 on the white background, to keep it as white as possible, and 2 on the subject. I have 2 softboxes for the main lights and if I am wanting to capture fast moving children then an overall general lighting will give me that freedom.

Also if I move in close for my special style of "Pencil Portraits" then the same 2 lights close in, almost forming a tent slightly to the front of the subject with a silver reflector underneath at about chest height. This will create a wonderful wrap around light and gives me the desired light for my portraits.

It is also very easy to move to a Low Key" style of lighting by turning out the 2 background lights or using one of them with a snoot or Honeycomb modifier to give a splash of light onto a black background. Then just use one of the main front lights to light the face, and if positioned correctly it can give the classical look of the Rembrandt light, which is one side lit and the light comes round the face to give a triangle of light on the shadow side of the face. A reflector underneath is not used but it can be placed on the shadow side just to give a slight lift to the shadows.

I am soon going to do some very special talks and also arrange week long Photo breaks away in Spain taking photographs and producing prints without traditional negatives and printing without an enlarger. This will probably not be until next year sometime but if anyone is interested email me and I will keep you posted.
Gerry

I welcome your feedback so please leave a comment or email me .
gerryATgerrycoe.co.uk Replace AT with @