Illuminating Portraits Workshop

Master lighting sophisticated interior portraits with just speedlights and natural light

This in-depth training day will guide you through the various different ways to handle available light and speedlights indoors leaving you with the knowledge and confidence to master light in any location or venue. We will be working with a model wearing a range of evening dresses and perhaps even a wedding dress.

You will start with the basics from one off camera flash and work up to multiple speedlight set-ups. You will also learn how to balance speedlights with avaiable light and make the most of various different diffusers and light modifiers such as grids, softboxes and gels.

Please bear in mind that you may also work with available light only at times as not every situation calls for speedlights so why ruin naturally beautiful light? The aim is to understand when, where and how speedlights should be used.

If the weather is suitable you may also do a very small session shooting outside the venue using speedlights.

Because this workshop will include both Canon and Nikon the speedlights will be triggered using a pocket wizard standard, non TTL system. This means that both Canon and Nikon cameras can trigger each others speedlights. If you have your own Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 please do a factory reset, set it to the latest firmware and bring it with you. If you don't have a Pocket Wizard TT1 Damien will provide one.

Everything that you learn will be repeatable with cheap Ebay transmitters so you won't feel the need to go an buy an expensive flash trigger system. Damien will be using a speedlight to Elinchrom bracket (purchased on Ebay) to enable him to use Elinchrom beauty dish and softboxes. Speedlight adapters are available for most makes of studio lighting equipment. Amongst the other equipment that Damien will be using is a Lovegrove Boom Arm, Lowel Grand Stand some Honl Grids, straps and various gels.

The images in the panel above were all taken at Maunsel House using speedlights.
To see more of these take a look at this blog post here.

If the weather is suitable you may also do a very small session shooting outside the venue using speedlights.

Timetable

09.00 - Tea & Coffee on arrival
09:30 - Shooting session 1
11.15 - Tea/Coffee break
11:45 - Shooting session 2
13.30 - Lunch
14.30 - Shooting session 3
15.45 - Tea/Coffee break
16.00 - Shooting session 4
17:00 - Workshop ends

Recommended kit list:

We have no hard and fast rules on what you can and can't bring, but we do highly recommend having at least the following.

1. A DSLR camera
2. Two or three professional lenses covering approx. 20mm to 200mm.
3. One Speedlight. (Nikon users, an SB-800 or SB-900 is ideal. Canon users a 580EX or 580EX11 is ideal.
4. STE2 for Canon users.  SU-800 for Nikon users or Nikon camera with pop up flash/built in commander.
5. A monopod with a ball & socket head and a quick release plate. Buy a Gitzo Carbon Monopod here and a Manfrotto Ball Head here.

If you don't own one of the items mentioned don't feel the need to rush out and buy one just for the workshop. Get in touch with us and we may be able to lend you a bit of kit for the day.

Testimonials

Lee said: It was a fantastic day, I am still buzzing!
It was my second course with Damien so I knew it would be good.
The level of detail was spot on, plus you can fire off questions all day which is worth the price alone.

Mark said : I absolutely loved it.  It was so good to at last see the light so to speak?  Sounds a bit corny really, but Damien is such a great teacher and so inspirational. 
Going back to basics with the speed lights and balancing this with the available light was so effective. It really makes you want to go out and start being creative with lighting, rather than just lighting…

Violet was fab too, putting up with us boys all day.
The venue was amazing, to have so much freedom in a venue like that was awesome.  Excellent food with lots of tea and biscuits…
Please pass on my thanks to Damien and I hope to come on another course soon.

Andrew said :
For me - Damien is at his best delivering this style of workshop. I've attended most of the workshops on offer and they are always inspiring, always jam-packed with content and always well managed (ie great venues, good lunch, directions all spot on - all the "boring" bits, but the bits you tend to remember if they go wrong!).

One aspect of Damien's training that is always impressive is that if there is any spare time (we were running slightly ahead of schedule at one point) Damien tries to squeeze in another set up or explanation, rather than extending the lunch or finishing early - it really gives the impression that he cares and isn't just working to a script - its hard not to be inspired by that level of enthusiasm.

I'm struggling to think of anything I would have preferred to have been different.
Do thank Damien for a fab day!

Paul said : As my third Lovegrove training session, Illuminating Portraits maintained the excellent standard I have come to expect.

Damien provided the perfect mix of inspiration & practical advice.  Violet our model was very professional & ideally suited the setting of Maunsel House.
Looking forward to the next time & will be keeping up with the blog until then.

Top Tip

Once you are happy with your shot take a step back, put on a wide lens and take a picture of the lighting set-up before Damien moves on. This will help to refresh your memory after the workshop.

The lighting of each set-up is unique and will vary according to the weather and conditions at the time. Therefore it is impossible for Damien to produce lighting diagrams / handouts before the shoot. On the plus side this gives you and Damien the chance to be creative and reactive.

Booking your place

To secure your place on this workshop, scroll to the bottom of the page and add it to your basket.

Cancellation Policy

As our costs for each workshop remain the same no matter how many delegates attend, please note that just like any pre-booked tickets for the theatre, concert, flights etc, we are unable to give any refund in the event of non-attendance, regardless of the circumstances. The exception to this is if we have prior notice and are able to put a cancellation place back online AND your place is resold.  In this event we will of course make a full refund or credit to you. We also reserve the right to cancel any workshop if there is insufficient demand, especially if it means that our costs would be higher than our income.  Please therefore do not leave it until the last few weeks if you are interested in a particular date, as you may find that it has been removed!

All photography ©Copyright Damien Lovegrove. All rights reserved.