Master Lighting outdoor portraits in any type of light.
Class Materials
In this class you’ll learn to master your outdoor location lighting. Mark Wallace shows you how to use diffusion, reflectors, speedlights and studio strobes in an outdoor location setting. Learn how to light for portrait photography outside and in open shade. Mark demonstrates his lighting techniques by shooting several portrait scenarios.
Beginner to Intermediate portrait photographers
Photographers with a basic understanding of studio lighting
Students who have completed Mark’s Essential Training lighting classes
LESSONS
Click to see a summary of each lesson. To go to a specific lesson, click the playlist button on the top right-hand side of the video player, and select the lesson you’d like to watch.
Mark gives an overview of the class and the topics we’ll cover. We meet our model and the production team.
Mark explains the main issue that we need to solve when shooting outside: dynamic range. Understanding this concept will make a huge difference to your on-location sessions.
When shooting on-location with a flash the shutter is used to control the ambient light. Understanding how the shutter works with different flashes is a key to success.
We use the exposure triangle to get a proper exposure with ambient light and a different exposure triangle for flash exposure. We combine these two exposures using the exposure diamond. Once you understand this, you’ll be able to shoot anywhere.
It’s time to put all the principles we’ve learned into practice. Mark walks through the exposure diamond to demonstrate the different ways we can balance ambient light with our flash and solve dynamic range issues.
We begin our portrait demonstrations in the shade. Mark creates an editorial portrait of our model using several different methods.
There are times when it’s simpler, faster, and better to shoot with available light. Mark uses diffusion panels and reflectors to create a beautiful portrait in hard light.
We continue to build our skills by applying the lessons learned from the first two portrait sessions. First, we control the ambient light, then we add a flash to balance the light. We finish by shaping the light for a beautiful environmental portrait.
We explore the ways composition and depth of field have an impact on our location photos. Mark photographs our model next to a beautiful pool for the glamour lighting session.
We review the photographs that we created during this class. Mark gives his final thoughts and shares some additional learning resources.