Studio Lighting Essentials for Portrait Photography

"Studio Lighting Essentials for Portrait Photography" by Mark Wallace is a collection of understandable and simple tutorials on studio lighting, starting with what is available and what is needed. This presentation only covers studio lighting equipment, not speed-lights (get the Nikon DVD for speed-lights). Mark Wallace presents material clearly and simply, explaining the why and how of each action, and generally alludes to the fact that there are many combinations of equipment setup and that creativity is up to you, i.e. Mark is not holding your hand for every lighting setup, he is merely pointing you in the right direction. Of course it's impossible to cover everything, but this is a start. One of the things not covered, and rightly so, is matching the quality of lighting and lighting setup to the personality of your subject. That's a topic on its own. How good is this DVD? Well, that depends on your expertise and understanding of why different people do things maybe differently to you. I think it's a little overpriced, but it's good material certainly for the beginner and a good refresher for the experienced. While Mark only seems to use one brand, Profoto, the same principles apply to other brands. Actually, the other brands of lighting do need to include the main features of Profoto otherwise if its a pain to use then the desired effect will be more difficult to achieve.

This is the best video for studio lighting that I have yet to find. The coverage of the basics is complete and easy to understand. The animated illustrations explaining the details were very helpful. Added insights such as meter placement and correct usage were very helpful as well. I have been attempting studio lighting for about 2 years now. If I had had this dvd, I would have saved an enormous amount of money and a lot of frustration.It is concise, precise, thoughtful and well written. Simplification of details with animated illustrations make this an excellent resource. It should be on all beginners lists for studio lighting.After you are done with this DVD.. Go get the 2 DVD sets from Scott Kelby! You will be ready to start lighting in the studio.

I downloaded this video through Amazon instead of purchasing the DVD and even though it doesn't come with the bonus features that are on the DVD I still love it. Mark's teaching style is easy to follow and he gives a lot of great information in this video. If you are already a fan on Mark's video's on Adorama TV this one is for you, this video goes much more indepth then anything you would see from his Digital Photography 1 on 1 series. My favorite part about this video was how Mark shows the viewer the limitless possibilities of setting up and positioning lights weather you are using just one or a half dozen lights.

I rated this high because I thought it provided a great overall look at the hardware available for the studio and provided a light technical overview. I have looked at other programs, such as the Dean Collins series, which was highly technical but didn't offer information about hardware availability. Hope this helps you.

This DVD fealt like more of a long infomercial for Profoto then an instructional course,at times. Then I laughed at the end of the DVD, when the creditsrolled by, and all the gear was provided by them. Most average pro level photographers cant afford all the gear that was advertised here, butthe DVD was beneficial none the less.

This video is very detailed and very complete, and I wish that it had been available when I was trying to learn studio lighting. Mark Wallace has done an outstanding job, and I highly recommend it. If you want to learn to light with studio strobes, get this.

The media could not be loaded.  This is an overview from the creator of the DVD, Mark Wallace