How I Developed my Lighting Style

About 30 years ago, a photographer from the Bay area named Gage White conducted a workshop at a local studio in Honolulu.  I was probably using umbrellas at that time for my light modifiers.  Gage was using a Beauty Dish.  Never saw that until he showed up with it.  In due time at least two of my colleagues purchased a pair.  After a few years, one of them offered his pair to me for free.  I took them and they sat on my porch for years.  They eventually ended up in my garage. In 2014, I noticed a lot of photographers using a variation of the Beauty Dish so I wondered if I still had the reflectors.  I went into the garage, found them, cleaned one of them up and discovered it fit my primary lighting setup - SCORE!  Brought it to the studio space where I had my stuff, attached it, and decided I liked the light it produced.  That, along with my 5x7 silver reflector became the reflector of choice for the next 4 years.   Beauty Dish, Fill light (into wall), large reflect

I am always looking for ways to improve or upgrade my photography so in 2014 I saw an advertisement for a "Omega" reflector.  The samples were great so I ordered one.  Once I got it, it was a major learning curve.  Discovered it really helped if one had an assistant to hold the darn thing.  In the studio, I had to use two light stands since the opening was in the middle and a single light stand would block the hole. Outdoors, it was useless if I didn't have the assistant. The reflector is placed in front of the subject and the photo is taken through the hole on the reflector.  The flash that provided the main light reflected off the reflector surface and illuminated the subject.  The main light skimmed the head and provided a hair light.   If I added a kicker light on the opposite side, it added a bit more depth  But if I changed the light source from a soft one to a smaller one (in this case a Canon 540EX), I had a more contrastier light and more dy

I recently had to photograph the contestants of a local ethnic pageant.  We always to it on location and usually at the same location.  At least this time I could specify what time I wanted to start.  First year was in the AM, last year it was at high noon (wonderful... NOT!).  This year we targeted 1:30 pm.  Not ideal but workable.  There was a strong breeze and I went walking around the area scouting for a spot to do the photographs.  Thought I found a spot until the director finally showed up and said she wanted a RED background (how about telling me that ahead of time?).  Found a spot that was acceptable to her. Next step is to "find the light."  We had two big sources - the sky from two different angles.   Subject position is where the girl in the white is standing.  Big source of light to her right.   Second source of light.  Photographer's position is where the paparazzi is standing.  Big overhang above to block the light coming from the sky above. I

All the years I was working on my photographic skills, the one thing I did on location was "look for the background."  I knew what would be a good background and how to position the subjects.  But for some reason, when I found a spot and got a great photo, when I went back with another client, it didn't look the same for one reason or another. Fast forward to the early 90's.  A up and coming colleague was assisting me on a wedding.  We had some down time so we were talking shop.  I asked where would we set up the formal portraits at this particular location and what was his thought process.  He said he would look for the background first and use that as long as the light was decent.  It was probably at this moment that I realized that my way of finding locations all these years was the reason why my images had different looks under different lighting conditions.  The light went on in my head.  If I wanted better & more consistennt, the background should not be t

At some point, the system I was using, (Strobosol Mono Light with my Larson Starfish) was working well until my Strobosol died.  I had to find another light source that would hopefully take it's place.  At that time, Larson was still in business so if I picked up a different monolight, surely they would have a the correct bracket for it.  Got one, was happy until I left another studio I was working for and started my own business.  Then I didn't have space so used different types of light modifiers (umbrellas, reverse umbrellas, soft boxes, etc) for the time being. Since my time was my own, I started experimenting with different types of light (primarily tungsten).  I purchased a set of Photogenic Mini Spots (we called them Indy Dinks) which ran me about $150 each.  They are now over $300 on Amazon. I also used it with barn doors so I could control the direction & target the light on particular parts of the face or body.  This allowed me to target parts of the body

I had been attending the West Coast School of Professional Photography for several years now.  It was a one week intensive instructional period with a featured instructor and their specialty.  Every year, the school sponsors evening classes from other instructors and opens it to the entire school to attend.  That's where I got to see Dean Collins.  He was the most influential instructor of all the others I had learned from because he knew his lighting techniques backwards, forwards, upside down, right side up.  When he offered a one week class the following year, I signed up for it right away..  Best $$$ I spent. The one mantra that I got from him was two fold.  1 - the larger your light source, the softer your light will be.  and 2 - the closer your light source, the softer your light will be.  His main light at that time was a Larson 52" Starfish.  It was generally positioned just out of camera view (very close to the subject).  They were not cheap but I purchased one know