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SAFFRON - SESHU'S DOCUMENTARY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY & PORTRAITS BLOG
20 Giants Of Off-Camera Photographic Lighting |
05.04.09 |
Photographers Who Care & Share Their Use Of Great Light |
| Light is the anchor to any photograph. While much of photography is subjective, one instinctively knows what separates great images from mediocre ones. It's usually the quality, the quantity, the direction of light and light's relationship with your subject that often defines the image. Photographers who appreciate and understand this fine balance are aplenty. But from my experience being in this business for over 10 years, there are very few who can explain the use of light. Those who can and do so well are who I call the Giants of Photographic Lighting. These are the people I look to learn and retool my skill set as a documentary wedding photographer.
I have chosen 20 photographers/educators below whose counsel I seek either directly or indirectly. This does not mean that this is a comprehensive list. There is a good chance I have missed people who should be included. If you can think of someone I should check out, please mention her or his name and website link in the comments section below. Do remember though, that whomever you recommend must not only be a photographer, but also a teacher. By teacher, I mean someone who not only practices what she/he preaches, but also preaches what he/she practices. They either have a blog which they use to disseminate information, conduct workshops on a regular basis, or hold a position at a photography institution that is open to all. It is open to interpretation, so don't let my definition hold you back from commenting. Neal Turner is a British photographer with a legacy of describing his off-flash techniques. His old site is where I got my first inklings of flash photography. His short explanations were just the prescription for me to go out and try what he had described. David Hobby is the Strobist. If you are just starting to get into flash photography there is really no better place than Hobby's website. Lighting 101 and Lighting 102 are online primers for flash newbies. If you want a little more hand-holding, Hobby offers the Strobist Lighting Seminar in the form of a DVD. And Hobby's site has spawned photographer meet-ups across the country where you can practice what you have learned with other photographers in your region. Makes for a great networking event as well. Zack Arias is one of the top workshop instructors I know. His OneLight Workshops are legendary and are quickly filled. I am also a big fan of his say-it-like-it-is video about lighting. It's worth every red cent and I urge you to buy it. @zarias Julia Dean's photography workshops are truly amazing experiences. She is a passionate teacher and her studio plays host to a number of industry leading photographers, in Los Angeles. I remember one of the first workshops with Dean, was using flash outside on the beach, in broad daylight. It blew my mind to know what one could achieve if you simply knew what your camera's aperture, shutter speed and ISO controlled. TriCoast Photography is a Texas-based studio made up of Mike Fulton, Cody Clinton and Jordan Chan. These guys constantly push the envelope when it comes to off-camera lighting and their videos and workshops are quickly gaining a large following. Their no-nonsense approach to reviewing gear on their blog is something I have always appreciated. @tricoast Mark Wallace in a Phoenix, Arizona based photographer who runs Snapfactor. His free video tutorials, complete with lighting setup diagrams, are a joy to watch. He also conducts workshops @jmarkwallace Joe McNally is a living legend. Period. His work has appeared in a number of National Geographic and Life magazine issues. Apart from his blog, McNally has two amazing must-have books on photographing lighting: The Moment It Clicks  & The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes . They came in quick succession of each other and I suspect there may be more down the pipe. What's great about Joe's style of teaching, and I haven't attended his workshops yet, is his down-to-earth delivery. Read his books and you will immediately get a sense of who he is how passionate (or crazy) he is about lighting. Yes, to an extent you are expected to know or learn the lingo, but he makes it fun to do so. If you are inclined to take his workshop, you couldn't be in better luck right now. McNally is offering a workshop in St. Lucia.
Bill Crawford publishes StudioLighting.net. He and Ed Hidden are behind the studio photography podcast called LightSource. @studiolighting Drew Gardner is a British photographer known for his whimsical portraits. Location Lighting with Drew Garner is recent DVD from Gardner (I haven't had a chance to see it) that's causing quite a few heads to turn and take notice. For more information about Drew and his latest projects please visit his blog. David X. Tejada is a Denver, Colorado based corporate photographer whose blog, The F-Stops Here" I have followed for quite some time. He offers his Small Strobes: Big Results workshops for a select number of photographers. Joseph Victor Stefanchik and his wife, Anne, both come from the photojournalism world. Take a look at their work and you will discover that they have pushed well past the limitations of on-camera bounced flash (which still works, by the way). Their use of strobes and post-production skills have set them apart. And yes, they offer 2-day lighting workshops (which I missed this year). Their blog is, no surprise, called Off Camera Flash. Bert Stephani is a Belgian photographer. His YouTube videos showing him work with just one or two strobes were first seen on the Strobist. Since then, he has helped launch a collaborative blog called Squeeze The Lime, for photographers to learn more about lighting. Stephani's own blog, Confessions Of A Photographer, is a great read as well. @bertstephani Dave Black, a sports photographer, teaches a variety of flash techniques through his site: Workshop At The Ranch. For his non-virtual workshops, check his schedule here. Syl Arena is someone I just came across. But seeing his site linked and cross-linked by Joe McNally and David Hobby got me drilling down into his site. Arena discusses a variety of subjects, but his articles about flash & strobe photography needs to be bookmarked. You may also be interested in his ongoing series called: Lessons I Did Not Learn In Photo School @Syl_Arena Bruce H. Dorn is a Canon Explorer of Light and a member of the Director's Guild of America. I came across Dorn through the Digital Wedding Forum where he has inspired hundreds of photographers to create and post images using off-camera flash techniques. His musings there on his own site are informed by a lengthy relationship with the movie industry. He offers instructional DVD's and workshops. Dorn is one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial photographers. Over the years, he has fashioned custom solutions for his own lighting needs and parlayed his inventions into a vibrant store front for those of us who enjoy flash photography. I have several of his products, like Strobe Slippers, and they are top quality. Don't say I didn't warn you, but the store is capable of sucking you in and making you cough up some cash. @BruceHDorn Neil van Niekerk is a South African photographer who now lives in New Jersey. His greatly anticipated book On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography  is the result of a great many speaking engagements, articles about flash photography and workshops across the US and beyond. Planet Neil - Tangents, is van Niekerk's popular blog where he often discusses his flash techniques. Don Giannatti is one of those lighting workshop gurus who I know I will encounter soon. Just look at his Lighting Essentials blog and Lighting Essentials Workshops website! An amazing array of articles and tips about using strobes. @wizwow Bobbi Lane is also someone whose workshop I took years ago in Los Angeles. If you are looking for a good foundation in location lighting, Lane's workshops are a great option. I just came to know that she now lives in my back yard; Westport, Connecticut. FlashFlavor is Matt Adcock and his wife Sol Tamargo. Being destination wedding photographers who shoot over 100 weddings a year, they know what they are doing. Recently recognized by American Photo for being among the top wedding photographers, the duo gives back by dispensing a good lot of flash photography information through their blog. I wholly recommend bookmarking them and visiting often. Kirk Tuck is a Austin, Texas-based photographer who works in the world of advertising. His old blog and new blog, The Visual Science Lab are great introspective reads. He is also the author of two books, Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography  and Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Studio Photography . The operative word is "minimalist". For those who think using a flash is going to cost a pretty penny, Tuck shows you how to do it inexpensively. Great reads! @kirktuck
While I have peppered this post with links to some amazing books, another book really worth buying is Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting  .
Tell me what you think about this post below. Thank you for reading! |
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| category: News tags: Lighting, Strobes, Off-camera, Teaching, Resources |
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