What I learnt from the Master of Lighting - Peter Coulson

Earlier this year I did a Portrait Lighting Workshop with the incredible and uber talented Peter Coulson, a Melbourne based fashion photographer. Watching this master of lighting in action was amazing! He happily shared his wealth of knowledge and experience in the industry. His passion for photography is contagious.

We were lucky enough to be taken through about 10 different lighting setups - some examples were clamshell lighting, extensive 6-lighting setup, high-key lighting, and natural light through doorways. Plus we had 6 professional models at our disposal. Being surrounded by so many creative, talented people was awesome!

This workshop was a breakaway from my usual natural lighting photography, but was so good to up-skill and learn some very new and different techniques. Just for the record, I am an absolute beginner when it comes to studio lighting, I’d never worked with any studio lighting of any kind before, so to say I was a little overwhelmed would be a very accurate description! :-) So many different styles, types of lights, angles etc - but my goodness, to see what you can achieve with these different lighting styles is so amazing. It definitely was a reminder to me how important lighting is in photography - whether using natural or studio lighting - to capture breathtaking images.

Another thing i learnt, was how incredibly important it is to make the person in front of your camera feel comfortable. It doesn’t matter if they are professional models or a client doing headshots or a family shoot, if you don’t have a rapport with them, it will show in the photos. Peter taught us how important it is to take the time to chat to your clients, ask questions, get to know them.

Here are some of my favourite pics from the day.

Enjoy xx