Award Photographer Shares FREE Tips Studio Lighting Workflow

Gears are important to my work while most photographers argue it is the creative work not the tools but again we can debate this sensitive topic forever; again the tools I used during the school family portrait session.

Key light with the four feet octagon softbox with grid power by Profoto compact 600 Studio light

Fill light 18″ reflect umbrella using two Canon 600 EX RT Speedlite

Backlight with Profoto compact 600 on Profoto beauty dish.

Canon 5D Mark III Camera with Canon 85mm F1.2 L

Four Pocket Wizard Plus II

Light Stands, Superboom, Tripod, cable release

Sekonic L-558 Light meter

X-rite Colorchecker Passport

My approach is keeping the best quality of the portrait by shooting F8 using my favorite Canon 85mm F1.2L II lenses, using my Sekonic L-558 to trigger and test all the lights hooked with the Pocket Wizard Plus II. The camera is straight forward, manual setting, Aperture F8, ISO100, shutter 1/200th, all lights are manual setting no TTL. Camera is set to biggest Raw file allows me for cropping. The back light is an stop over the Key light while the Fill light is two third of a stop below the Key light. The three points lighting are important to create the three dimensional portrait where painter has used many years before photography.

X-rite Colorchecker Passport is held in front of the sitting session for a reference point and white balance. Once it is taken it is ready to photograph, remember if you need to change the power of the light you will need to reshoot a photo with the Colorchecker again. The image taken with the Colorchecker is loaded into Lightroom or Adobe Bridge to get the camera profile set up. This ensure the color matches the set; also improve printing process or Photo lab. There are a lot of steps to ensure color accuracy and I do use the Colorchecker during a wedding photography for photography and 4K UHD video workflow in venue or outdoor. More of Vancouver School Family Photography gallery link. Hope this help, you can comments as I love to hear from you

Are you looking something different for your family, wedding or personal project? I do offer film in Medium Format or 4X5 Large format and digital photography. I do offer special studio print using Metallic Print. Wayne Lam modern Vancouver photographer contact email or by phone 604 430 9888