Improving Your Photography and Portraits with Lighting Modifiers

Course details

Are you looking for ways to improve your portrait photography? If so, this course can help by providing tips and techniques for adding style and interest to your portraits—and it all starts with lighting modifiers. In this course, instructor Robert Vanelli shares techniques for adding, removing, and shaping light using modifiers. He discusses the technical and artistic benefits of lighting modifiers, and covers lighting with umbrellas—explaining how to use umbrellas to achieve both softer and harsher looks. He also goes over lighting portraits with softboxes, working with specialty lighting modifiers such as beauty dishes and diffusers, and modifying speedlights.

Learning objectives
What is a lighting modifier?
Technical and artistic benefits of lighting modifiers
Using an umbrella to bounce light
Lighting portraits with an umbrella
Lighting a portrait with a softbox
Shooting with a beauty dish
Softening light with diffusers
Adjusting color temperature using gels
Lighting a portrait with a speedlight

Concepts

Welcome

01 - Introduction
02 - What you should know before watching this course

1. Why Use Lighting Modifiers

03 - What is a lighting modifier
04 - The technical benefits of lighting modifiers
05 - The artistic benefits of lighting modifiers

2. Lighting with Umbrellas

06 - What is an umbrella
07 - Using an umbrella to bounce light
08 - Diffusing light through an umbrella
09 - Lighting a portrait with an umbrella

3. Lighting with Softboxes

10 - What is a softbox
11 - Changing the shape of the softbox
12 - Modifying a softbox with a grid
13 - Lighting a portrait with a softbox

4. Specialty Lighting Modifiers

14 - Shooting with a beauty dish
15 - Using Blackwrap or Cinefoil to control the light
16 - Using flags to block the light
17 - Using diffusers to soften light
18 - Using gels to adjust color temperature

5. Modifying a Speedlight

19 - When to use speedlights
20 - Using speedlight adapters
21 - Using gels with speedlights
22 - Using a flash bender to modify a flash
23 - Using a snoot to modify a flash
24 - Lighting a portrait with a speedlight

Conclusion

25 - Next steps

Improving Your Photography and Portraits with Lighting Modifiers

Authors

Robert Vanelli