Workshopping the workshop
So I’m developing the first of what will be a series of workshops and thought I’d do a post to give you a sneak peak on what I’ve been working on.
The first workshop I’ve been developing is about portrait photography using natural light. It seemed like the best place to start, because if you don’t understand natural light you’ve got little hope of getting a great shot using it.
As I was planning the workshop, I really wanted to keep it simple and highlight just how much can be created if you take the time to understand the fundamentals of light.
In a nutshell, this is what you want to be thinking about when using natural light:
ITS DIRECTION
Question for the light: where the hell are you coming from?
Question for yourself: Where do I WANT it to be coming from?
ITS QUALITY
Question for the light: Are you hard light or diffused?
Question for yourself: What do I WANT it to be?
Believe it or not, the lights answers are right before your eyes if you just think to ask the questions.
Your answers based on these questions will dictate the mood of your shot. So all you need to do is think about your subject, decide what will work for who they are/what they do and then you have your answers. Easy right?
I stood in one room for an hour and a half and watched the light coming through the window change. As it changed, I worked with it to create a bunch of different shots.
How many different moods / images do you think you can create from the window light in one room?
Here’s two of my favourites.
