This past weekend I attended the a set of portrait and studio lighting workshops in Santa Cruz, CA at the studio of Jeffrey Luhn. These were two seperate one day workshops that Jeff teaches on basic and advanced portraiture. While I have been shooting informal portraitures for years as well as a few formal portraits, it was very useful to attend a formal workshop on the topic and formally reinforce my intuition. After reviewing a number of previous shot portraits, I realized that I had been following most of the 5 basic lighting patterns all along…I just never knew what they were or their names.
Side Blur: Thanks Jeff for educating me on this! And for ruining my ability to enjoy any classic black and white movie… Jeff used examples from the golden age of Hollywood to explain the different lighting patterns. Last night my mother-in-law was watching The Picture of Dorian Grey on cable while we were making dinner. All I kept noticing were the 5 lighting patterns on actors in each and every scene. (FYI: This bio shot of George Sanders uses loop lighting…) Ah, the price we pay for education. It’s the same reason why I can’t read anything without editing in the back of mind…a hold over from my days of Technical Writing education…
(Jeff Luhn, standing in as a model during the class.
Click through to see larger images.)
Jeff is a graduate of the Brooks Institute and his workshops include both lecture and hands on ‘practicing what you learn’; and Jeff does a great job of mixing bits and pieces of his 30 years of photography experience. Jeff’s studio is located only a block from downtown Santa Cruz and is available for rental (if you’re ever in need…).
Photography is an adventure of continual exploration and learning. If your just getting started with photography or been shooting for a while and looking to expand into new areas of photography, a class is one of the best ways to accelerate you skill. If you have a chance to take a workshop with Jeff, I would highly recommend it.