Hands-on Class: The Manipulation of Light

On February 21, Fotodiox teamed up with Canon at Helix Camera & Video in Itasca, IL to present a hands-on class, The Manipulation of Light, with Milwaukee based photographer Michael Hoeppner. We brought a wide range of lights along to show how different shapes and functions help with adaptability on any shoot.

After a brief intro we jumped right into hands-on shooting as a group. Our model Evelyn Noir was fantastic, making sure to give everyone a great pose and eye contact before moving on. We also had Dylan on hand to be our lighting assistant.

Michael sets his first studio scene with a DaoLite: Prizmo Edition, Prizmo Jupiter 18 to light the backdrop from behind and a PopSpot Ultra 100 Bi-color with our Gobo accessory to project the crescent moon for added interest.

While in the studio we discussed how useful it can be to have an assistant to make quick adjustments or handhold a light source to help get that perfect shot without getting pulled out of the moment to make adjustments, we suggest bribing a friend! However, we know that most of us are shooting on our own, so we do our best to make Fotodiox LED lights easy to use.

Even though Dylan has the DaoLites set to the same in both images we can see how positioning is used very different looks.

1 / 2

2 / 2

After some studio time we took the DaoLites, a Radius Mini and a Radius Pico out to a vintage car in front of the shop to demonstrate different ways to lights can create drama at night.

First we used all of the lights to create scenes with white light creating a dramatic, but more standard scene. In this scenario the lights were used to light our model, but also placed to direct shadows for a more intense effect. Lighting a subject is as much about the shadows that we see as it is about the light we are adding.

1 / 7

2 / 7

3 / 7

4 / 7

5 / 7

6 / 7

7 / 7

Next we added some yellow to add a retro gas station vibe to the scene and opted to keep the reflection of the DaoLite in the shot as if it is the old fluorescent fixture on the side of the building. We then moved on to adding some blue and magenta tones to give a more modern and edgy look.

1 / 9

2 / 9

3 / 9

4 / 9

5 / 9

6 / 9

7 / 9

8 / 9

9 / 9

Take some time to play with light, color and shadow and you might be amazed at how your ideas come to life.