Hi guys, I hope you're all doing well especially at this difficult time. I
thought I'd come to you today with a bit of a rant to entertain you - why not
indeed! Unfortunately, it's that time again to
put a plug hole in the idol experts and the naysayers. Over the years I've lost
count of the amount of times I've heard a small minority say that I can only
take the pictures that I shoot because I use a Hasselblad all because I've got
thousands of dollars of lights - and in some cases they're actually correct. If
we look at my website here there are actually photos that I need to take
using a dozen lights and high-tech equipment this one of this KTM
motorcycle is a great example. I think I used between 10 and 12 lights to
photograph this wonderful beast and what you see on screen was arrived at with
little retouching at all - other than having to remove some of the lighting
stands and bits and pieces around the motorbike but that's how many lights
were required to light that motorbike effectively. In this shot for MSA fire
safety equipment, again I think it was 12 lights I needed to use it was one of the
shoots where I think I've used the most lights simultaneously, those lights were
needed to illuminate the logo, little patches of detail, the background, the
blue light down the mask, many little factors and facets of the product
actually required me to use that amount of lights, but what I'm going to show you
today is all of the photos that I can also take with just one light, even one
Speedlite if I had to, and in a small space. Photos that have nothing to do
with equipment but have everything to do with knowledge. But
let's jump back to the naysayers and cynics for a moment. What I've learned is
that ultimately it seems that it is laziness that is actually their primary
problem. Laziness and maybe angry embarrassment about the quality of their
work or possibly even jealousy over the work that many professionals produce
that ultimately leads these naysayers to continually cite
equipment as their primary reason for their failures when in fact is not now.
To set an example and try and bring truth and balance to this argument a few
years ago in response to the continuous babble and nonsense I responded with
this video and showing how I could make a credible photo using just 3 IKEA
desk lamps as my lighting and some homemade diffusers and a cardboard
modifier. It was the perfect excuse eliminator because what I demonstrated
was that it was knowledge that makes the difference and not necessarily the
equipment and a lot of people were grateful for that video it made them
realize that maybe they should stop making excuses start learning and start
doing. More recently I made another video that was very popular on social media
where I questioned many people's continuous desire to upgrade, and upgrade,
and upgrade their equipment before they'd even invested in their own
ability. I explained that unfortunately people were so obsessed with upgrading
that they were often doing this before they were even capable of doing the best
work they could with the gear that they already had and whilst I've got no
objection to people spending thousands of dollars on the latest gadgets I felt
it important to point out that maybe they should invest in themselves first
before upgrading their equipment if they wanted to see real improvements in their
work. But regardless of this, all the same old excuses keep resurfacing they keep
coming back... and you know what? I'm quite glad because it allows me to do this,
it allows me to keep demonstrating that if you know what you're doing and you're
willing to invest in yourself, then you can produce images like this. All of
these images were shot with just one light. Let's take a look at a couple of
examples: this particular image with the Chanel lipsticks lying in this liquid
was shot with just one light and the key thing is knowing where to position a
light how to control the light and which modifier to use. I'd like to point
out that it was a very basic modifier that was used to capture this shot. In
this image of the liquid splash in motion, again only one light was needed
and used, and no retouching. In this shot, no retouching other than just a little
bit of color correction work but only one light was required to capture the
shot. This highly detailed image of this watch was captured with just one light,
yes it used some post-production in focus stacking to build the image
together but I demonstrated very clearly how it was possible to capture this
highly credible polished looking image with just one light and in a small space.
This food shot of the feta cheese was also captured with one simple light and
one basic modifier. This shot of our model, the fashion shot of her lying in
this pool of water down at the coast was also captured with just one light.
This image was shot with one light and a piece of cardboard. This shot was shot
with one light and another piece of cardboard, this shot where we have rim
lighting around our model and this beautiful soft lighting I created and
captured with just one very large softbox using one studio light. This
image for an advertising campaign again was one light and this location shot was
one light and one silver umbrella. So the very basic, most basic of equipment. Now
of course you need a light, or at least a
speedlight to do this, so if you haven't got one or intend to get one then it's
pointless you watching this video. But much of the criticism from the naysayers
are comments that argue that this sort of photography can only be done because
I've got a studio full of kit and it's just not true. These images that I've
just shown you can only be done because I've got a head full of knowledge and a
desire to try, to test, to retry, and a willingness to fail in order to succeed.
Let me show you another example in some more detail. This shot was taken with six
studio lights, you can see the catch light on the edge of the lipstick here.
That has a sort of warm gold glow to it that's because I gelled that particular
light with a warm-up gel. You can see another catch light on this side of the
lipstick which was from another light. You can see the light on the background
makes three lights, this additional stripe of light down the column of the
metal makes for this gradation light on the side makes five, and this patch of
light on the front makes six and this is a retouched finished product image using
six lights. But check this out this shot is just using one light and if we
compare the two, (the six light version and the one light version)
we can see that the one light version doesn't
look that different to the six light version. Now how was it achieved? How was
I able to capture the one light version and create almost the same atmosphere as
the six light version? Well it was achieved through knowledge - it's through
understanding light and understanding the physics and the principles of
lighting that allow me to use different methods, and different tricks, to kind of
cheat lighting in the studio. Now, of course, if I was shooting this shot for
L'oréal or Chanel then I'm not going to want to do that, I'm not going to want to
shoot it with just one light or a torch that would just be silly -
which is exactly why myself and many professional photographers use a
multitude of lighting and equipment because it's our profession, it allows us
to do our work more efficiently and effectively but it doesn't mean that we
can't do it without this level of equipment - so hearing from the naysayers
all the time, that it's only down to having all of
this lighting, and all of this equipment that allows us to shoot these pictures
is complete nonsense and I hope that today has provided you with some
evidence and realization that that is the case. Now having seen all of these
different one light shots that I've demonstrated and also considering we
have a blog post here on our website showing one light verse six light
product sheet that you can see here and we have another great blog post:
"10 Photography ideas that you can do with one light". Now with all of that
information, you can see that excuses are just that, and I don't deal in excuses, I
deal in nearly 30 years of professional photography and 12 years in delivering
the very best photography education for all. And you too can choose, you can
choose to invest in yourself rather than your gear and that will allow you to see
the greatest advancement of all. Thanks very much for listening.
Get my completely free photography course with no signup required you can
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