An Easy and Effective On-Location Lighting Setup

When you are working in the studio, it is not a big deal to create complex, multi-light setups, since all your gear is there and doing so only requires moving it a minimal distance. On the other hand, when it comes to working on location, unless you have an entire crew with you, efficiency is the name of the game. This helpful video tutorial will show you a quick, simple, and effective lighting setup for on-location portraits. 

Coming to you from Omar Gonzalez Photography, this great video tutorial will show you the effectiveness of umbrellas for on-location shooting. Umbrellas can be great modifiers for softening light, but the reason a lot of photographers avoid them is that they tend to throw light everywhere and make it difficult to control the spill. That often is not as big an issue when working outdoors, however, and as such, they make for affordable and portable modifiers for such work. Of course, just a normal umbrella, they tend to catch a lot of wind, so be sure to check the weather before you head out to shoot and bring sandbags for your light stands! Check out the video above for the full rundown from Gonzalez.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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4 Comments

Thanks, that was an enjoyable video. I've found the simple shoot-thru umbrella is often the nicest light outdoors.
I do envy the 6 foot tall "human light stand" though....I've lost a couple of umbrellas to falling stands.

dis a good idea.

Nice! I use my Three legged thing travel tripod as a light stand sometimes too XD