To be a successful portrait, event or fashion photographer, mastery of location light is essential for shooting a wide range of subjects. Your ability to shooting and modifying natural light becomes essential and may define success or failure as a professional photographer.

As much as we may love shooting under existing/natural light and on occasion pushing the ISO, there are times when the ambient light simply doesn’t cut it, and it may be time to reach for a speedlight or strobe. My preference is for small speedlights/Flash units, simply determined by ease of transportation and light weight. When bringing speedlights on location, I have specific goals and end results I am seeking.

Typically, the objective is to achieve the following:

• Improve the direction of light on the subject (Direction)
• Improve the quality of light on the subject (specular or soft)
• Control the intensity or amount of light in the scene (Brightness value)
• Get the appropriate lighting ration between the model and the scene (Balance of existing and artificial light)

Often, light on a subject’s face is not ideal, and by adding a speedlight one can help give the image and subject better light to help them stand out in the scene. Other times, the ambient light is simply unflattering to the subject because of its direction or quality. Using a speedlight to help change the principal direction and quality of light on the face can produce far more pleasing results. Finally, sometimes the background is simply too dark compared to the subject, and utilizing speedlights/combined with varying shutter speeds, we can balance the scene and light on the subject according to our desired look.

At Digital Photo Academy, we believe that hands-on, in-person training is the fastest and most effective way to master photography. This immersive 5 hours, day/night workshop will take you from hesitant to confident, giving you the skills to create well-lit images anywhere, anytime.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to balance flash with natural light for seamless, beautiful results
• Techniques for using off-camera flash to create dramatic and professional-looking portraits, both indoors and outdoors.
• How to use different light modifiers to shape and soften flash.
• Effective use of reflectors.
• Practical shooting scenarios to help you cement your skills in real-world conditions.
• Posing and how to better direct your subject for the most pleasing image and composition.

What You Need for the workshop:

• A good understanding of the use of camera in total manual mode.
• Camera and a choice of your favourite lens.
• Charged camera battery
• If you happen to own a flash or multiple flashes, bring these along
• Any triggers for your flash unit would be an asset
• Light shapers if you have any.

PS: We will be providing a few flashes and modifiers for the workshop along with remote triggers. If you do not have any flash units, not to worry as we will have enough.

Sony users may wish to bring along their own triggers and receivers as Sony’s can be very particular.