When I mention lighting, most people assume big lighting setup or studio environment. Well I’ve been putting lights in all sorts of places, including a church recently. Yes, got a nod from the Father. All I did was ask. As photographers we like to moan. “Oh, the location suck.” “There is too much light.” “There isn’t enough light.” “I don’t have enough gear.” “I have too much to carry to a shoot.” Well, someone told me that there is no boring subject to shoot, just boring ways of looking at a subject. I must agree with that. Light, makes a world a difference.

The amount of gear I check in at the airport has increased considerably. It will increase again as I incorporate the Elinchrom Quadra to my wedding shoot. These are super light strobes that gives me 400 watt-second power (about four times that of a SB900). Isn’t that too much gear, Louis? I hope by using a wider set of equipment it will broaden my scope of work.

I hate flat light. While available light can be amazing, there are times it just ain’t good enough. As we can see at Judy & Jagjeet’s wedding at a chapel. There isn’t enough light and it is too flat. Direct flash on the hotshoe is just too boring.

So I clamp a single SB800 with a Manfrotto clamp on the side wall of the church. By bouncing the light off the wall, I get a broad directional light. It’s triggered with a master SB900. Radiopoppers on both flash units. Switch the flash to silent mode so that the remote flash does not chime every time it goes off. Respect the sanctity of the ceremony.

The next three images show you the kind of mood and impact this directional light introduce to the scene. A lot of people tell me that lighting makes pictures look less natural. I think poor use of light does that, while great use of light enriches the story. What do you think?

Then photographed some family portraits for Judy & Jagjeet, at ahem, 2pm because it was the only time everyone was free. Nice challenge as the sun was almost above our heads here in the tropics. Here’s what we come away with, straight from the camera. Studio lights? Big softbox? Nada!

This was our simple setup:
The Lastolite 6′3″ square panel was supported by two C-Stands. My God, I love these stands! Gonna get two more for my upcoming workshops. The panel came with two kinds of reflective materials. Placed the white one on the ground as a reflector, and put my camera bags on it so it wouldn’t fly away.

The panel achieves two things. First, it diffuses the strong sunlight and transform it to a quality similar to that of a huge softbox. Secondly, it gets rid of the patchy light that we all get shooting under trees. See, we rarely get perfect shade under trees. Light cuts through the foliage and creates patchy hotspots on faces which cannot be fixed with fill light. The hotspots just gets hotter!

I am introducing my first two-day lighting workshop, Guerrilla Lighting: Fast & Furious. You will master the use of small TTL flash. It will be the best equipped TTL lighting workshop in this region. We’ll have C-Stands, backdrops, lightstands, tons of reflectors, lighting panels, flash units, gels, snoots, grids, softboxes of various sizes. You name it, we’ll have it…we want you to play, experiment and take risk. The workshop has only one goal: mastery of TTL flash. You’ll learn how to manage light from morning to night, indoor and outdoor. Here is the program of the workshop:

Day 1: We’ll start in an Introduction so we all get to know one another followed by photo critique where I bring my international judging experience to give you an idea how your work can be improved. Then we’ll jump right into the workings of TTL flash with a series of live demonstrations. I’ll lead you through a series of shoot. After lunch, we’ll head out for location shoots. Be prepared for a massive hauling of equipment. You will be assigned to a small group of photographers, a model and the equipment of your choice. Here’s your chance to take risk, try out equipment you’ve never touched.

Day 2: We will go through the images we shot yesterday and discuss their strengths and areas for improvement. More demonstrations will follow. Again, you’ll be shooting in small groups after lunch. You’ll be given a surprise assignment. I’ll pressure you to break away from your comfort zone. We’ll wrap up the day with a final round of photo review. If you can still stand after the workshop, we can head out for some great food and perhaps a cold beer

Date: December 4 & 5
Class size: 15 participants only
Venue: Shriro Malaysia Studio
Normal Fee: RM1500
Now: RM1195 (save RM305)
REGISTER NOW
Model fees & tea breaks included

Some of examples of guerrilla lighting:

from here…

to this. Grey rainy sky as the perfect clean background. Model lit with a Lastolite triflash, through a Skylite panel

Inside a elevator, flash behind Priscilla with half cut CTB gel (color temperature blue), and full cut CTO gel on key light with HONL honeycomb. Nailed this under 10 minutes

From here…

To here…Two SB800 with red gels at 1/2 power about 70 feet away. The gloss paint and floor surface is wonderful for light to skip over. Key light a SB800 at 24mm, TTL.

I got this mail from Amos who attended my workshop in Singapore last year. I wanna share it here:

It’s almost a year since I attended your workshop in Singapore. I had wanted to drop you a note earlier but was contemplating if I should since there there would be tons of mails for you to clear. I am finally going to say a big thank you to you. It’s not just the technical aspect that I have gained from the workshop but the soft skills in engaging your subject matter (must be human for sure) that enable us to capture that critical moment for just that shot you need. The only sad part was that I had to leave earlier to catch my flight. It has been a valuable lesson for me and because of that new found confidence, I started Scintilla Studio. That has changed my life a bit…hahaha…you have been awesome…see you at creative asia which I will definitely free myself to attend even if I have to quite my job (lol…joking!)…keep the spirit of sharing and inspiring alive, You are just the few good photographers around!

Thank you Amos for writing. It makes a big difference that you took the effort, courage and time to do so. I am encouraged & reinvigorated to continue to teach, share and inspire. You may not know it, but being a leader/teacher can be terrifying & discouraging. We stick our necks out and often we get vilified, humiliated & slandered. Your mail reminded me to write to three persons who have supported, educated and inspired me. You’ve also encouraged me to soldier on, working on causes that burn in my heart.

To my faithful readers, can I encourage you to do the same to at least three persons today? Pick up the phone, or a piece of paper or write an email to thank our mentors and leaders.

Don’t remember shooting a wedding that’s required two separate posts. Well, have to make an exception with Judy & Jagjeet’s wedding. It’s every wedding photographer’s dream when the couple is absolutely crazy about having you at their wedding. Very few couple managed to convince me to join them at the dance floor or have a drink. Let’s just say drinking and dancing is a bad combination for me.

Back to the wedding, I’ve photographed quite a few pairs of doctors but Judy and Jag are the craziest of them all. They know how to party. Not even a torrential rain can stop them. (Pictures on this in the second post). Check out Judy’s shoes and the trouble she went through to say “I do”. Well, she in case she passed out under Jag’s charm, her soles can still say “I do!”. Behind their fun personalities is a firm dedication for each other. You can tell from the glances they exchanged throughout the day.

Thanks Judy & Jag. I am blessed and honored to be entrusted to photograph your wedding. Thank you for your amazing hospitality. I feel like a family…more than anything else. Thanks for the rice wine…it’s quite something. In the next post, I’ll put up the party pictures

p/s To all my faithful readers, thank you for the gentle nudges reminding me to update my blog. I am well and alive. It’s been a whirlwind year for us at the studio. We have the photography, albums and shoots all under control. It’s the new adventures of organizing Creative Asia conference, Canon Creative Asia Photography Competition & Joe McNally’s Asia Tour that’s pushed us way outside of our comfort zone. It sure beats being same old, same old.