Lighting DVD's . . .

[BayAreaPhotog]

I was recently looking for dvd's on lighting techniques and ran across an interesting service. . . Since purchasing specialty dvd's on photographic lighting is pretty expensive due to the low demand and finding ones to rent at your local blockbuster is next to impossible, I was growing more frustrated until I ran across a new service called
Smart Flix . . . A Net Flix type of service that specializes in How-to dvd's . . . http://smartflix.com/store/video/3352/The-Best-of-Dean-Collins-on-Lighting

As luck would have it, they had the 4 part series by the late Dean Collins. The service is kind of expensive at about $9 per dvd for a week, but considering how expensive the Dean Collins series is to buy at about $180 or more, I was thrilled. I was able to rent the 4 dvd's for $33. I enjoyed the series. My only complaint is that they only had 3 of the 4 dvd's in stock at the time I requested. They sent the 3 and then a few days later they sent the 4th . . . unfortunately, the 4th was the one on basics which I would have liked to have viewed first. . .

[RichNY]

Thanks for the heads up. I'd been thinking about purchasing this for a while and decided to rent it today.

[divinemethod]

this dean collins vid is a must see IMHO --- i jst got it a few days ago and was watching it

Watch disc 4 first --- and then go for the others...

I fully wish he was around for the digital age...

[RichNY]

I just received my package from Smartflix today. They only sent the first 3 DVDs- #4 is missing.

I watched the first DVD tonight and had mixed feelings about it. The content was great but the pace was fast. I mean extremely fast. For someone who doesn't have much experience with studio lighting expect to have to watch, stop, and take notes multiple times before the concepts sink in.

The content (at least on the first DVD) is worth the effort though.

[scottbergerphoto]

Check out www.lightingmagic.com. The material is on old fashioned paper (books), but it tells you what you need to know.

[RichNY]

I've purchased and read Scott's studio lighting books several times- it provides a good introduction to how to do portrait work using 1-4 lights or substituting reflectors.

The approach used by both Dean Collins and Scott Smith are very similar- use diffusion panels and move the light source closer/further rather than using expensive lightboxes/umbrellas, etc. Both make their diffusion panels out of PVC pipe and ripstop nylon.

Scott's book is a small subset of what is contained in the DVDs but a better place for a beginner to start. I would have been totally lost being new to lighting if I had not read Scott's book first. (No prior experience required)

Both share the same strengths in approach and suffer from the same weakness of being 'outdated'. However 'outdated' the laws of physics governing light have not changed in the past 20 years permitting both to serve as excellent learning aids.

[TMR Design]

Hi Rich,

I agree with everything you're saying except for the part about Scott's book being outdated. Principles and concepts are the same. Light is the same. Modifying light is the same. Like most educated professionals he makes reference to film to demonstrate the differences and advances in technology. The principles of good portrait lighting are explained in a very clear way, making sense out of things that are so often overcomplicated by others.

[RichNY]

Robert- I think we are pretty much in agreement- my last sentence and your thoughts are the same.

I just pulled my copy of the book to post some examples of where I thought the book was a bit 'outdated' and I couldn't find what gave me that impression- perhaps it was the reference to picking a film's ISO that I was remembering. In any case I recommend Scott's book as it really does a great job of simplying lighting