It’s amazing what you can do with just one flash, but there will come a time when you’re thinking about adding a second flash. In this session, Scott will not only answer when it’s time to add that second flash but how to set up and use that 2nd flash (and tips to make sure you’re a success when working with multiple flashes), all done with a live shoot during the class so you see it all as it unfolds.

Each light shaper produces a unique feel and look, sometimes subtly different from another shaper, sometimes dramatically so. Choosing the appropriate source, distance, and shape of the light is crucial to every portrait session. In this session, light shapers will be parsed out, singly, and in combination, to show the powerful effect different sources of light bring to a portrait session. Lively and fast-paced, this session will show in real-time how different light shapers inform good, storytelling portraiture.

This class can open up a whole new world for you, both practically and creativity, by simply adding color gels to your flash set-up. You’ll be surprised at how much these thin little sheets of gel can bring to your flash work.

Like landscapes, the terrain of the human face responds in beautiful, eloquent fashion to light, as long as it’s the right light. All faces are not the same in the presence of light! Some faces need to be caressed and gently expressed with the softest of sources. Others need a slam dunk of hard light. Any solution brought to bear has one mission; emphasize the character, beauty or distinctiveness of the face at hand. With two very different subjects available to us in the studio, we explore which path to take and how to achieve a powerful “look” that will elevate your portraiture to a noteworthy level.

While flash is hugely popular for shooting portraits, we also use flash to light everything from products to food and much more. In this session, Scott will show you how to take the flash skills you’ve already learned so far, and use them for shooting in a variety of different scenarios.

Explore the darkness of shadows and the powerful nature of color! In this class, we leave behind the school of pictures and portraits where the hand of the photographer is unseen, and the results appear natural and effortless. We dive into the realm of the photographer’s imagination, and what looks cool, vibrant, and unique. Control of light is paramount here, as the photographer needs to create "zones" of color that do not compete or destroy each other. Likewise, shadows emphasize character and mystery. The old saying that is often true about lighting: "If you want something to look interesting, don't light all of it."

Scott wraps up the conference by sharing some of his favorite flash-recipes — a list of ingredients you can put together to create some of the most popular looks you see today using flash. Think of it like a lighting cookbook — you want this look? Follow these directions; use these ingredients, and you’ll nail the look every time.

Lighting tools have evolved to a place where even small, hot shoe style flashes can be brought to bear in complex ways to create an entire scene that has nuance, color, depth, and dimension. Environmental portraiture and the idea of lighting an entire place was often regarded as the province of big flash. Not so anymore. In this session, our unique studio (formerly a bank) is transformed via small flash into a complex dramatic location photograph.

Every person or situation that presents itself in front of the lens to photographers is unique and demands equally unique solutions and reactions at the camera. But often in the tumult of an actual assignment, there is no time to parse out the exact look of an umbrella, a softbox, or a beauty dish, or how all these can work together in concert. In this fast-paced session, we'll take light shaping tools, and work with the same face, in the same environment, and observe.