HANDS-ON Flash Photography Course
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
You made the decision a while ago to start learning and using flash. So you snagged a speedlight or two and a couple of modifiers. You’ve watched some YouTube videos, maybe a CreativeLive flash photography course, and read through countless blog articles about flash. So, you know some about the theory, but when you show up to a session, you freeze.
- Your images keep coming out flat like you’re using a point-and-shoot camera
- You can’t figure out the proper balance of ambient light to flash
- Your images always look “flashed”
- No matter where you move your lights, it just doesn’t look right
- YouTube and CreativeLive isn’t helping because you need to try it yourself to learn
- You always nod off or don’t complete online classes you purchase to learn flash
- You don’t have time to practice and learn all the flash tricks on your own
- You’re only opportunity to try new flash techniques is with paying clients
How do you learn what modifier to use and where to put it when you’re not face-to-face with a paying client where you can’t afford to screw up?
How do you go from setting up a flash and hoping it works vs. walking into a shoot and using your flash to create gorgeous, dramatic, unique images regardless of crappy ambient light?
As a professional photographer, you don’t have loads of time to spend on weeks long, drip release web-based courses where life and business always get in the way of finishing.
You need hands-on, effective, and efficient class time so you can absorb, learn, practice, and implement what you’re learning – fast.
Hey gang, I’m teaching a flash photography course because I’m a lighting nerd. As a former theater kid, I’m all about that dramatic lighting. I love how color, composition, and framing work together to tell a story. My time on stage inspired my flash photography journey, where I’ve spent countless hours learning how to go from this:
To this:
Why I Created This Flash Photography Course
Natural light is fantastic, but it’s not always convenient. Sometimes, you have to create unique images even when the natural light sucks. Or if you’re like me, you want to take ordinary scenes and make them into something different, mind-blowing, and creative.
I remember how hard it was to figure out how to create images that the top photographers and creators were producing. Hours spent on my computer, paying for online courses, browsing YouTube, reading articles, all in hopes of cracking the lighting nut. It wasn’t until I started bugging my friends for favors to be models and moving my lights inch by inch, modifier by modifier for hours until I learned what works, what doesn’t, and when to use the right light and modifiers for the right look.
Looking back, I wish there was a lighting course that was designed for me – someone who knew how a flash worked but couldn’t connect the dots to start creating dynamic, stunning images with flash regardless of the ambient lighting and environment. A course that answered the “why” as much as the “how.”
Now that I’ve learned how to do it myself, I wanted to create a flash photography course for others like me.
Who is this flash course for?
This flash photography course is for photographers who own a flash already and want to make colorful, dramatic, and creative images with that WOW factor.
If you’re already a boss at flash, this isn’t the course for you. Instead, I’m looking to teach photographers who still scratch their heads a lot during a shoot and want to develop the skill set to see a situation and be able to say, “I know what modifier I want to use and where to get a certain look,” and be right.
This next course will be in person and happen on a date yet to be determined.
This two-day course will start with a short lecture to talk through flash theory, the physics of light, and some flash basics. Inverse Square Law? Yeah, we’re going to learn that.
From there, we’ll walk through 8 different scenarios. Each scenario will start with a single flash with a simple concept. From there, we’ll slowly build in complexity, adding more lights, more modifiers, and maybe a reflector or two.
Scenarios and Concepts Covered In This Flash Photography Course:
Lecture
Gotta start with the basics: Inverse Square Law, the properties of light, and controlling light via settings, power, & zoom. This should be a refresher but we’ll cover it to lay the foundation for the rest of the course.
1. Position Of Light
I’ll show how changing the flash position relative to the subject, camera, and background affects the quality and direction of light.
2. Model Portrait
We’ll walk through the versatility of one light and the quirks of bouncing flash
3. Outdoor Portrait
We’ll talk about the versatility of sunlight, how to use natural light reflectors, balancing flash with ambient light, cross lighting, high-speed sync, and how to get three light sources with just one flash
4. Event Photography Tricks
How to shoot group shots with a single flash, group composites, gelling to match your ambient light, and how to shoot a black-hole reception venue.
5. Classic Sports Portrait
We’ll define a key light vs an accent light, use grids to control the direction and spill of light, and learn how to use gels to make your backgrounds pop.
6. Sunset/Evening Portrait
This scenario is all about gels. We’ll play with gel colors and kelvin white balance to get creative colors in your portraits – even a purple or green sky intentionally.
7. Vanity Fair Portrait
We’ll add fill light to your repertoire, learn how to stack light modifiers, and how to use practical lights to add to your shot.
8. Colorful Madness
My favorite kind of hero shot is where we pull out all the stops: multiple gelled flashes and modifiers, grids, practical lights, reflectors, bounced light; the works.
9. Bonus
We’ll do some fun tricks with light painting and stacking gelled flashes for a rainbow effect if we have time!
The flash photography course Will Be $450 and limited to 12 people.
What’s included:
- Two 8 hour days of hands-on learning
- Donuts & lunch provided both days
- Copies of all course materials and presentations to take home
- Access to all kinds of flash equipment
- Stellar models to photograph
- Model Releases so you can keep and use any images taken during the course.
- Three payment options to attend the course
What you’ll need to bring:
- Your camera! I’ll have flash triggers for Sony, Canon, and Nikon available.
- A notebook or some way of writing down information
- Water bottle
- Clothes that can get a little dirty
What’s not included:
- Transportation or travel accommodations
- Dinner
This isn’t a course where you’ll be seated and writing in a notepad the entire time, just watching the instructor do everything. Instead, there will be continual opportunities where you’ll be moving and adjusting the lights, working with the models, and getting feedback in real-time to learn how to improve your flash photography skills.
Course Structure And Details
We’ll be shooting at a Marietta-based automotive collision shop. Studios are simple, and the lighting is predictable. We’re going to work with annoying fluorescent lights, columns that get in the way, mixed-colored walls and ceilings, and pretty cars that reflect everything. Sound challenging? Good – it should be!
My goal for this class is to present situations for you to experiment and learn. I’ll go over how things work and then say, “let’s try it!” every time you ask, “what happens if we do this?”
I always learned best by doing something, by practicing and experimenting with what I was taught. It’s difficult to simply listen to a lecture and immediately be a rockstar at the course material. I have to try it myself, screw up, learn from my mistakes, try it again, fail again but not as severely, and continue that cycle until I nail it.
We’re going to shorten the painful learning process that I went through to master these concepts but still employ the “doing” aspect of learning so you can lock it in yourself.
If this course sounds like what you’ve been looking for, click the button below to sign up and lock in your spot!
If you have any questions, please email them to me at mike@mikeglatzerphotos.com
