A Virtual Lighting Tutorial and Remote Environmental Portrait Shoot From 6,680 Miles Away

What can you learn by simply watching how a photographer and his friend do a remote portrait shoot?

In this video from wedding photographer Jiggie Alejandrino, he arranged to do a remote shoot with his friend, Albert Mallari, in London. This came about as a challenge from Albert after watching a previous video where Alejandrino photographed his wife in their garage. 

The brief video started with the two talking about what gear they had available to use, specifically what camera, lens, and various lighting equipment were on hand for Alejandrino to be able to plan out the shot. The Idea was to come up with a nice environmental portrait for Albert's son, Rhys, who practices playing the keyboard at home. 

Throughout the video, it is interesting to watch how Alejandrino would direct his friend to set up the location (though actually changed very minimally), frame the actual shot, pose the model, and most importantly, to use the available lighting equipment to give the cluttered garage some depth and allow it to complement the subject. It was quite informative for the reason that as Alejandrino was directing the father on where to place the camera, where to put the lights, and what settings to have them on, he was also basically demonstrating how to achieve the effect he intended and how it helps the overall visual design of the shot. 

Nicco Valenzuela's picture

Nicco Valenzuela is a photographer from Quezon City, Philippines. Nicco shoots skyscrapers and cityscapes professionally as an architectural photographer and Landscape and travel photographs as a hobby.

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1 Comment

That was great, well done on both sides of the world. Really enjoyed that!