Learning To Light With Other Photographers
Light it.
shoot it.
Repeat.
Recent Mentor Session with Roots Revival Photography
The portrait photography community in Sheboygan, WI is full of talented individuals, but there is one issue… None of us collaborate with each other enough or at all for that matter. I believe in “community over competition” when it comes to sharing what I know with other creatives/artists. I have had plenty of people help and inspire me over the years and I love to pay if forward when I can. There is a ton of information out there on photography and lighting and it’s not hard to find. I recommend ProEDU if you really want to up your game. The most important thing you need to do is get out there and practice, and when you are done practicing… Beat it into the ground until you’ve perfected it and then keep practicing.
Brandi from Roots Revival reached out asking to learn how to use off camera flash with her work. Her asking me made me feel flattered and also grateful. I’ve been working extremely hard on my lighting for years and to have another photographer reach out and ask if I could help them is a compliment. Brandi is launching a new line of products on her website and wanted to learn how she could use off camera flash to give her products a premium feel.
Brandi’s style is warm and rustic. She has an amazing eye for passion, love and emotion. The way she places her subjects into the environments she chooses is breath taking. You can tell by looking at her work that she is able to connect with her clients and capture the moments they hired her for. Simply put, clients are seeking Brandi out for her style and kudos to her for creating a signature look with her photos. When she showed up to the studio, she bought her friend Annie Van Zeland along to model who is a local tattoo artist at Greenseed Studios in Sheboygan, WI. Annie absolutely crushed it in front of the camera and would love to work with her again.
Working with Brandi was awesome! When given the chance to lead and inspire someone, I jump at the opportunity. Seeing her be inspired and elevate her level of confidence to execute a skill that she thought was complex fills me with joy. She listened and asked questions and dove right in.
Here are topics that we covered in a 3 hour period:
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT
Flashpoint Speedlights
AD200 Flash Unit
AD600 Pro Flash Unit
Remote Trigger
LIGHT MODIFIERS
HIGH SPEED SYNC
What is it?
Benefits
Disadvantages
Prior to Brandi coming over with Anna, we scheduled a virtual meeting to discuss the lighting style she wanted to learn. I wanted to keep the light setup simple with Brandi. I recommended we use a one light setup using the 53” Rotalux octobox by Elinchrom. The light that modifier creates is magical! Brandi wanted to learn some soft lighting techniques and we did just that. I showed her how I like to feather the light to create a nice soft Rembrandt style of lighting.
After we spent a good amount of time using the one light approach, I then felt that we should add in a second light. The next setup was to add a base layer of light (fill light) behind Brandi using the 53” octobox by Elinchrom to fill in the shadows and then we added the amazing 39” deep parabolic by Elinchrom pointed at the subject as our main light. The 39” deep parabolic was used similarly as we did with just one light where it was placed camera right and feathered for nice soft light. We were also using a black VFlat for negative fill to add more shadows and drama.
One of the largest changes to the capture process for Brandi was using CaptureOne with her Canon EOS R. Shooting tethered into a computer during a session is way better than looking at the back of your camera. Being able to see your captures instantly on a larger screen is game changing.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Brandi and loved seeing her get inspired and gain confidence with using off camera flash. I look forward to seeing what she does with her new sills.
Jon Erlien is the Creative Design Manager at Mercury Marine and Freelance Portrait & Commercial photographer based out of Sheboygan, WI. You can follow his work on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn & Pinterest.