ShootSmarter Simple, Quick and Profitable Portait Lightening
eLearning | 1.02 GB

Simple, Quick & Profitable
PORTRAIT Lighting, Shooting and More!
with Will Crockett
World-class photographer Will Crockett takes you inside real shooting sessions to explore his premium quality yet super-speedy methods. Twelve different real-client photo shoots are documented by the ShootSmarter video crew in this over 2 hour DVD to show every detail of Will's famous "Kill It and Bill It" photography techniques.
As the marketplace changes, we need to adapt our lighting and shooting abilities to meet our clients needs and tastes. This video shows you how Will has added fresh new lighting and techniques for shooting faster and "cleaner" while still commanding the premium dollars he always has for his photographic services. Known as a leading expert in maximum image quality, watch Will as he shoots both indoors and out - with amazing control, precision and confidence to produce prints that glow off the paper with very little if ANY Photoshop or file repair at all.
Enjoy a detailed and "real life" look at Will's new "OneLight" setups that are as powerful and client-pleasing as they are easy to use that range from a single flash head bounced off of a wall or ceiling blended with the available roomlight, to his methods of using a Beauty Dish and RingFlash.
It's your chance to see how a top pro uses clean, simple, and profitable lighting to produce "bulletproof" files that print like a dream at a lab, on a high-end inkjet or on the pages of a magazine.
"Today's cameras produce files that are nothing short of amazing if you take the setup time to tell them what you want to do. I want to use simple and solid lighting techniques to satisfy the "new breed" of nextgen clients I am encountering, but the economic times now dictate that we become as efficient as possible.
Minimum time, maximum profits, ULTRA customer connections.
I simply don't want to adjust files in Photoshop or Lightroom any more than I have to because that costs me money. Getting it "right" in the camera even when I shoot RAW saves time, boosts quality, allows me the freedom to shoot more creatively and makes me more money too. My staff jokes that I am allergic to Photoshop!"
Let's grow our lighting style, smoothen out our shooting methods, and enjoy making money in professional photography. I'll show you how I do it. - Will Crockett

Here's what's in store for you in this terrific new DVD:
Section ONE:
SAN FRANCISCO LOCATION SHOOTS
Chapter ONE: Getting Started
On location in The Palace of Fine Arts park in San Francisco Will describes his outdoor portrait / portfolio shoot setup in detail covering his camera setup, shooting tethered to a laptop, shooting RAW or JPEG or both. You also get a great overview of Will's all-battery powered lighting system and wireless strobe triggering too. You see a cool segment on how Will and his staff pack up their gear for transport on airplanes and what goes with them on location shoots.
Next Will introduces you to his Hair and MakeUp tech and illustrates how the models will change their look and clothes professionally in a public park. Once Will gets rolling on the first model shoot you see lighting and posing as each shot he fires off popping up on screen to share the progression of each image.
Chapter TWO: USING THE BEAUTY DISH
Outdoor shooting by blending some smooth shade, some streaky sunshine, and a punchy beauty dish for some added sparkle is a great way to make contemporary portraits with a fresh new look.
Watch as Will meters, pulls a custom white balance, then fine tunes his lighting for a first-class model portfolio shoot.

Chapter THREE: USING A LARGE SOFTBOX OUTDOORS
Will's choice for portable large soft light is the Elinchrom Quadra and he spends time demonstrating the setup, posing, and shooting our second model portfolio shoot.
Light positioning, careful metering for exposure, blending strobe with the available light, posing the model and autofocus technique are key points.
Watch as each image he shoots of model Kayla pops up on screen as Will guides the model into feeling more comfortable in front of the camera.

Chapter FOUR: USING A RINGFLASH OUTDOORS
Wow! Wait until you see this!
Will sets up his battery-powered ringflash and zooms in and out to shoot a series of 1/2 length and full length model portfolio images that rock - check out the expression in this example image from the shoot!
Using the VIVID color saturation function in the camera menu adds just a little more dazzle to this client-pleasing session and proves to be SO much faster than doing it in post-production.
Watching and listening to Will coach the lovely model (and her Mom who was on set because she is a minor) in this shoot is some of the best content on this DVD.
The ringflash is actually overpowering the available light to make this fashion-y look that is gaining popularity amongst senior portrait shooters.
What a great lighting look that is easy to shoot and to sell.

Chapter FIVE: OVERPOWERING THE SUN WITH A BIG SOFTBOX OUTDOORS.
Switching to a wide 20mm lens, low camera angle, and a single large softbox with no diffusion, Will shoots a snappy full length shot with rich blue saturated skies in this gorgeous park.
Then after changing models, Will moves the large softbox above and behind the camera for another amazing model portfolio shot all with perfect exposures and exact color balance so that he can shoot in JPEG mode and have zero, yep zero corrections in Photoshop.
This is a prime example of how Will "gets it right in the camera" to minimize time and maximize profits in what turned out to be a $3500 day. ; )

Section TWO:
SCOUTING AND SHOOTING IN NEW ORLEANS
Will's years of shooting advertising and commercial photos across the country allows him to make easy work of picking locations for portraits. Catch a few pointers in this mini-segment on getting and staying organized and creatively inspired.
Chapter ONE: FIFI MAHONEYS SHOOT WITH A PINK DRAG QUEEN
In the entrancing French Quarter, Will and the team kick off a 2 day big budget ad shoot for a catalogue with a fun and talented wig designer, Brian Petersen for a colorful portrait session. Detailed setup including camera setup, lens choices, shooting tethered, careful metering of the delicate balance between available roomlight and the added strobe, and plenty of autofocus tips for never missing a shot in a fast paced session. The shoot begins with blending a beauty dish with the available light, then ending with bouncing a single strobe head off of a light purple wall - then correcting the light color with a quick custom white balance sets absolutely perfect skin tones that needs no retouching. In fact, Bogen Imaging uses a print from this shoot in their trade show booth that has been printed directly from the cameras JPEG file - no corrections needed to make Bogens' print. Amazing huh?
Chapter TWO: IMPROMPTU RINGFLASH PORTRAIT WITH ARTIST AMZIE ADAMS!
What a lucky break!
Will catches up with world-famous artist Amzie Adams in his French Quarter studio and punches out a quick 20 minute shoot using only a ringflash that is nothing short of spectacular.
Wedged into a green corner of his gallery, right next to an open window in midday sun, will meters, lights and shoots this shot you see on the left in JPEG mode. The image you see here has no post-processing at all other than reducing the resolution to fit on this page - this is the quality that pops right out of most pro DSLRs.

Chapter THREE: PRIESTESS MERIAM AT NIGHT IN THE CEMETERY.
What do you get when you mix an above-ground New Orleans cemetery, a colorful dusky sunset, and a real voodoo priestess? One heck of a shot!
See how Will scouts the location, sets up a big softbox over the camera, carefully under exposes the background to add a deeper effect, assembles the props, then shoots a kinda spooky one-light shot - then gets the heck out of this creepy place. : )

Chapter FOUR: OUTDOOR PORTRAIT AT NIGHT
Working in a really cool "back alley" parking lot, Will uses a beauty dish covered with a diffusion sock to make a gritty shot of a "goth" guy using the corner of a brick building as a background.
Super simple lighting yet gripping images are created with speed and ease.
This type of shooting opens up discussion on why Will prefers non-zoom lenses for low light shooting and pulls out an 85mm f 1.4 prime lens that will actually autofocus by the light of the streetlights for dead-on focusing accuracy.

Chapter FIVE: VAMPIRE LIGHTING
No kidding, we hired a vampire to photograph in the alley against a wonderful patched up concrete wall using a ringflash for some edgy images of a handsome vampire - fangs and all.
Autofocusing issues caused by shooting in the middle of the night are solved by the use of a simple flashlight. Once again, Will coaches the subject into some intriguing poses.

Chapter SIX: OUTDOOR GROUP SHOTS WITH CHANGING SUN CONDITIONS
A traveling group of fun Hippies stumble onto the shooting teams path rather unexpectedly and agree to a photo session that turns out to produce one of Will's all-time best photographs. Watch as Will shoots individuals, pairs and a group shot using only his battery powered gear of course.
Constant metering and careful exposure of the blend of changing sun / cloud lighting and Wills' strobe is shown in real-time.

Chapter SEVEN: BOUNCING ONE STROBE TO BLEND WITH DAYLIGHT
New Orleans folk artist Dr. Bob has a funk indoor / outdoor studio with plenty of open windowlight that we enhance by bouncing one single strobe head off the wall to give us some smooth light so we can shoot fast to attempt to capture the "wandering" eclectic and unpredictable Dr. Bob as he just chit chats through the entire session.
The final lighting is 60% flash and 40% roomlight shot with an aperture setting under f4 for shallow depth of field.

Chapter EIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHING THE BONEMAN
Setup inside a dark night club, Will uses a large softbox to photograph legendary Mardi Gras character "the Boneman" in his costume. What a cool shoot!
Next, Will changes to a beauty dish to light up the Boneman's face while he drags the shutter to show the stage lights from the night club behind with a wide lens.
At the end of the shoot, Will wraps up his thoughts and discusses shooting at 1/2 second indoors with the flash and adding a little camera movement on purpose.