In December I was invited by John Ricard, a great hiphop photographer, to a lighting work shop in his studio in Manhattan. A lot of the information from the work shop I already knew from attend Hallmark and from assisting, but there was a a couple of great tips I learned, as well as getting to use some of John's awesome equipment.
One of the points that John said that stuck with me was that for what ever portrait you are hired to do your subject wants to look good, that is your job as a photographer is to make that person look their best. So before trying to make a crazy image, just try to make your subject look their best. From reading about sport photography they always talk about having a safe shot, that is the shot that is not over the top but you're sure that what you good is good, then you can go and experiment with something more wild. On all my shoots I have always tried to have a minimum of three set ups but they were just any three, now I have made sure one of the set ups is 100% about making my subject look great above everything else.
The second tip that has helped me a ton was when bring in you lights closer to you subject there's less fall of on you back ground. But the subject can't move as much or the f-stop on them will change on them. This has help me working in my studio that I have set up in my garage, it's a small space and I was having problems with my lights spilling on my background and not getting a pure black. On the other hand having you lights farther away form you subjects gives your subject more room to move, like for kids or action shots.
It was also awesome being able to shoot with John's Profoto Magnum Reflector and the PML by White Lighting, I've set these up assisting on shoots but I have never been about to shoot with them. I really loved the PML and planing on getting one soon. These are my two favor shots and if you would like to see what John had posted on his blog about the workshop click here.
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