Videos

Mark Wallace shows how to shoot portraits with speedlights inside a mock 12 by 12 foot room with a ceiling. Using a Canon T3i and Nikon D7000, a 580EX II and SB-900, he bounces flash vertically for soft spread, then moves it to a stand triggered by an SU-800.

SLR Lounge's lesson on cast, the first of four Cs, covers light direction with a couple outdoors: overhead sun casts eye shadows while golden hour acts as a giant softbox, so harsh sun is tamed with a 5-in-1 scrim, a silver reflector as main light or white over silver.

Karl Taylor outlines six lighting fundamentals: light source size governs shadow softness, hard versus soft light and the texture each reveals, light position and distance controlling shadow direction and contrast, the inverse square law and fall-off, the colour and spectrum of light, and modifiers like softboxes and reflectors.

Robert Evans, a Sony Artisan with 29 years' experience, argues that simplicity makes images stand out and that photographers must be bold, take risks and shoot largely for themselves. Examples include finding a couple's faces in a car mirror, barn cats on a farm and eye autofocus for sharp eyes.

Jerry Ghionis and Joe McNally compare notes in a Nikon broadcast from WPPI about photographing each other with the NIKKOR Z 85mm in Los Angeles: nerves and admiration, how each imagined representing the other, McNally wearing Ghionis's wardrobe, and Ghionis casting him as a director on a painted-backdrop set.

Jerry Ghionis photographs Journey in his studio in beauty, editorial and 80s glam looks, starting with garage-door daylight bounced off a wall. He explains his five steps, light, location, pose, technique, emotion, cuts light with a Westcott Scrim Jim and poses with shoulders back and elbows off the body.

Lindsay Adler's B&H presentation reframes portraiture as photographing who someone is or wishes to be, through concept development, storytelling, styling and mood boards, citing a fantasy senior portrait and a ballerina. She shoots a stylised demo with a Canon 5D Mark IV and 24-105mm, then retouches and prints it.

Scott Kelby's B&H Depth of Field talk covers ten topics for better portraits: a style guide, connection, light, responsible retouching, colour and skin tone, the eyes, background, lens selection, emotion and expression, and composition, arguing portraiture is one part technical and three parts art, and retouching details stay private.

Jerry Ghionis, at CES 2018, describes pursuing one legacy shot at every wedding and spotting creative triggers, like a groom's reflection in glass beside the bride through the window. He breaks down a rainy backlit couple shot: exposing for dark trees, then flash held six feet high behind them.

Jerry Ghionis's PhotoPlus Expo 2018 talk traces 25 years from a Mamiya RB67 and 18,000-dollar Kodak DCS 760 to the Nikon Z 7, praising focus-point coverage and the FTZ adapter for old lenses. Gear, he argues, brings efficiency rather than talent, and others' Instagram feeds show only their best.