Jeffro600
December 12th, 2009, 01:22 PM
Just wanted to post a quick summary review of Zach Arias's "OneLight Photography Workshop" DVD set. Zach is a pretty popular guy over on The Strobist and does some really phenomenal work with the most basic of gear.
Zach first off starts in the first DVD by explaining the basics and it runs almost 2 hours in length. How light, both ambient and flash are affected by 5 things; Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, Inverse Square Law and Flash distance to subject. He does a fantastic job of beating the basics into your head, often repeating the same line, over and over. What he is trying to do is make you think about light in a way that becomes second nature just as trying your shoes, putting clothes on or brushing your teeth can all be done without any real thought. Inverse Square law was something that I was aware existed but never really understood it or how it worked but he does a fantastic job of breaking it down into understandable chunks and will make your results more consistent, especially when shooting large groups.
He then goes into required gear, which i must say, is shockingly basic. Most of the work he does is with a single strobe and a very simple modifier. He uses inexpensive flashes; older Vivitars, Sunpacks, Nikons which are all available for well under 100 dollars each. He does use an AlienBee 1600 and a Vagabond when he needs substantially more power, which are a little pricey but there again, in the grand scheme of things, they are cheap compared to some of the other alternatives out there that can cost several thousands of dollars. The modifiers he uses are basic; a convertible umbrella, 2 soft boxes(one large, one small) and grids of a few different degrees. All very basic, very affordable and the results he obtains with them are very nice. Zach also briefly touches on ways to fire your flash off camera but for the purposes of the video, to minimize cords and clutter, he uses Pocked Wizards for the entire video.
Zach then takes us to a very basic, no frills studio which is reminiscent of something you would see in someones basement, garage or spare room. Again, very basic, very plain but delivers outstanding results with it. He does a few on camera shots to show how flat, unnatural and plain they look and then proceeds to show you how to add more of a dramatic look to your photos by moving the flash off camera. He goes through each of the modifiers and how they affect the light while the entire time, he is still pounding those basic laws of light into your head. Another key element he stresses in his video is composition. He says multiple times through the video "If you say to yourself, i can fix that in Photoshop, slap yourself as hard as you can". He helps to teach you to look for unsightly objects in your photo and how to shoot in the most basic or cluttered of settings and still get photos that will make you say "wow"! His thinking is that you need to become a better Photographer, not a better Post Processor; the closer you get it in camera, the less time your going to spend in PP(something i REALLY need work on!).
The second DVD is filled with him on location at several different photo shoots. This part of the DVD collection is more oriented to how he acts, performs and does his job day to day. He is a professional in every sense of the word but he does have a good sense of humor and will keep you entertained along the way. The cops even get involved in a couple scenes... :eek: lol Take things seriously but not so seriously that you bore your clients was the message i took from this DVD. He touches very briefly on how he post processes his images using Lightroom and Photoshop, which I was a bit surprised, is shockingly close to how i do my post processing.
Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend this DVD set for any serious portrait photographer or for anyone looking to add a more dramatic flair to your photography. The music in the DVD does get very repetitive as its the same intro tune, over and over when the scene changes but that is a minor flaw IMO. The video camera is good, the audio is clear and overall, its a very well put together package and I would highly recommend it to anyone! :thumbsup:
Zach first off starts in the first DVD by explaining the basics and it runs almost 2 hours in length. How light, both ambient and flash are affected by 5 things; Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO, Inverse Square Law and Flash distance to subject. He does a fantastic job of beating the basics into your head, often repeating the same line, over and over. What he is trying to do is make you think about light in a way that becomes second nature just as trying your shoes, putting clothes on or brushing your teeth can all be done without any real thought. Inverse Square law was something that I was aware existed but never really understood it or how it worked but he does a fantastic job of breaking it down into understandable chunks and will make your results more consistent, especially when shooting large groups.
He then goes into required gear, which i must say, is shockingly basic. Most of the work he does is with a single strobe and a very simple modifier. He uses inexpensive flashes; older Vivitars, Sunpacks, Nikons which are all available for well under 100 dollars each. He does use an AlienBee 1600 and a Vagabond when he needs substantially more power, which are a little pricey but there again, in the grand scheme of things, they are cheap compared to some of the other alternatives out there that can cost several thousands of dollars. The modifiers he uses are basic; a convertible umbrella, 2 soft boxes(one large, one small) and grids of a few different degrees. All very basic, very affordable and the results he obtains with them are very nice. Zach also briefly touches on ways to fire your flash off camera but for the purposes of the video, to minimize cords and clutter, he uses Pocked Wizards for the entire video.
Zach then takes us to a very basic, no frills studio which is reminiscent of something you would see in someones basement, garage or spare room. Again, very basic, very plain but delivers outstanding results with it. He does a few on camera shots to show how flat, unnatural and plain they look and then proceeds to show you how to add more of a dramatic look to your photos by moving the flash off camera. He goes through each of the modifiers and how they affect the light while the entire time, he is still pounding those basic laws of light into your head. Another key element he stresses in his video is composition. He says multiple times through the video "If you say to yourself, i can fix that in Photoshop, slap yourself as hard as you can". He helps to teach you to look for unsightly objects in your photo and how to shoot in the most basic or cluttered of settings and still get photos that will make you say "wow"! His thinking is that you need to become a better Photographer, not a better Post Processor; the closer you get it in camera, the less time your going to spend in PP(something i REALLY need work on!).
The second DVD is filled with him on location at several different photo shoots. This part of the DVD collection is more oriented to how he acts, performs and does his job day to day. He is a professional in every sense of the word but he does have a good sense of humor and will keep you entertained along the way. The cops even get involved in a couple scenes... :eek: lol Take things seriously but not so seriously that you bore your clients was the message i took from this DVD. He touches very briefly on how he post processes his images using Lightroom and Photoshop, which I was a bit surprised, is shockingly close to how i do my post processing.
Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend this DVD set for any serious portrait photographer or for anyone looking to add a more dramatic flair to your photography. The music in the DVD does get very repetitive as its the same intro tune, over and over when the scene changes but that is a minor flaw IMO. The video camera is good, the audio is clear and overall, its a very well put together package and I would highly recommend it to anyone! :thumbsup: