This weekend I had Jackie over at the the studio for a 121 training session to work on portraits and lighting on location.

Jackie wanted to improve here portrait and location lighting, so we set to work to get that done. The model for the day was my friend Marita from Lotus Fitness Academy. Thank you Marita.

We started with natural light looking at what light was around on the day be that direct sun or shade.  Just because the sun is out to play and high in the sky does not mean you automatically get bad light.

After seeing what the natural light was doing and using the buildings as gobo’s we moved on to off camera flash with the humble speedlite and 60” umbrella.

Whenever anyone asks me what kit to buy when starting out with off camera flash, I always say a speedlite, triggers, stand and 60” convertible umbrella. You can do a lot with that kit.

We got F7.1 in a 60” umbrella at ISO 100 from a Pixapro 580 speedlite (Affiliate). Granted it was on pretty much full power and the light is close but like I said they are capable little lights.

It was then time to move up towards the Parks which are close by the studio. Marita and Jackie decided it was time to make hand shadows before we got back to shooting and learning.

After the impromptu hand shadow show we worked with some more natural light including open shade.

Of course after a great 121 training session you have to grab some shot of everyone whilst you still have the 50” Softbox and Speedlite setup. Thanks to Marita for grabbing a shot of me and Jackie..

Update: I contacted Jackie and she sent over some images that she made on the day.  Thank you Jackie.

Thanks for reading.
Rick