Introducing: Strobist Lighting in Layers DVDs

In May of 2008, this site introduced its first commercial offering, the Strobist Lighting Seminar on DVD. It was a start-from-zero tutorial, complete with a newb discussion, a lighting seminar and a set of bonus shoots which were mostly designed around teaching different basic lighting techniques.
A lot has changed since 2008.The number of photographers using small flashes creatively has exploded, all over the world. And the way photographers share techniques and knowledge has evolved, too.As a result, people’s understanding of lighting has gotten more nuanced. Photographers around the world are pushing their small-flash skills into different outlets and business models. But others are still mired in the technical, searching for outlets for their new-found techniques.Or spending way too much time photographing the cat in their basement studio.To that end, an update to the first series of DVDs is shipping off to the presses for release in early March.Today I am happy to announce Strobist.com’s second DVD installment, “Lighting in Layers”…
An Immersive Ride-AlongOne of the best things that has happened as a result of starting Strobist is that I have had the chance to get to work with an steady group of enthusiastic, crowd-sourced assistants. Alas, my shoots are almost never big-budget affairs. Or, frequently, any budget. So any assistance is much appreciated.
(I’m looking at you, Dave, Erik, Lisa — and lately, John and Sebastian)
In return, my hope is to make those shoots as educational as possible. And this kind of “learning-by-watching-and-doing thing” is very powerful. The regulars have grown more and more intuitive in their own lighting skills. I am very proud of them.That process — and more important, their progression — is the idea behind Lighting in Layers. We started bringing cameras along on the shoots, and just left them rolling. But it’s not just about the lighting. So we also included the peripheral stuff.The thinking out loud, the subject interaction, the post-mortem discussions, the lighting diagrams — all are opportunities to gain understanding about a shoot in particular, and photography in general. So while the video series is very lighting-centric, we left room for a more wide-angled perspective, too.No Scripts These videos are not for everyone, and I want to be clear about that.If you are looking for quick-hit, music video editing, storyboards, scripts, long pants and other baubles and fanciness, keep moving right along. (Although I did wear long pants for one of the shoots, out of a healthy respect for my subject.)
Ditto if you are looking for a paint-by-numbers video about exactly how to reproduce the photos shown. Instead, we try to be more improvisational — to learn how to cook by taste; to play by ear.With the exception of the first shoot, which is more instructional in nature, we wanted to make these as much as possible like being present on a real-world shoot. So we let them breathe. Generally, I am shooting through one eye, trying to keep rapport with the subject through the other and talking over my shoulder to you — all at the same time. Sometimes it gets a little crazy.If you have never synced a flash off-camera before, I think you would find the Strobist Lighting Seminar DVD set to be a more appropriate series. It is a little more al dente than this one, granted, but starts from absolute zero. In it, you will get the technical background to be ready to start to explore your own path.
It is a little dated (again, things have changed since 2008) but it is a fire hose of information for newbs.In Lighting in Layers, we pick it up where the first set leaves off. There is a little remedial stuff early on, but it is mostly real-world, real-time problem solving.It is not “show off” lighting, either. Just dealing with the problems the subjects and locations throw at us. Not so much aiming for the fences every time, rather than learning to hit for average.

And sometimes, how to hit a curve ball, too.
Our Format The complete set features six full shoots, spanning nearly nine hours over 6 DVDs. The first shoot was originally designed to be a teaching vehicle. Something process-oriented, to bring the newbs up to speed pretty quickly. But it ended up morphing into an exploration of a white room full of windows and Ramona, a young businesswoman with a mind to explore local modeling.Ordinarily, that’s not my normal cup of tea. But it allowed us to work through the day in teaching mode without slighting the subject of a more traditional shoot. The remaining five shoots are more real-world, and a accurate cross section of my chosen focus of community-oriented photography.There are shoots for local organizations — a dancer for the Howard County Arts Council, three young goalkeepers (including one knucklehead) for a local soccer club and a blacksmith, shot for the Howard County Conservancy.Speaking of the Conservancy, we included a behind-the-scenes feature on the recent meet-up/group shoot 15 local photographers did for that organization in November. This is something I very much hope will replicate itself all around the world — it’s immensely fun and rewarding.There are also editorial shoots, all done for HoCo360, a local visual journal which I am nurturing into a standalone business for my next 20 years as a photographer. We photographed a local beekeeper for a piece on the various encroachments they face, and also spent an evening with an epic group of fencers tucked away in a local industrial park.All of the photos on this page were produced using only speedlights during the shooting of the DVDs. You can see a fuller set, bigger, here.
A 360-Degree Approach And speaking of building a business, we spend some time talking about that, too. The business of photography is in a state of flux, what with the decline of traditional print and the rise of zero-cost publishing online. I have spent more time thinking about my particular place in that new photo food chain than nearly anything else over the last few years.The truth is, it is a very scary time to be an editorial photographer — which is what I consider myself to be, if an atypical one. But it is also a fantastic time to be a photographer, with low-cost digital technology available to both create and publish your photos.So I have developed an approach to my shooting that draws on 20+ years’ experience as a community photojournalist — and another five as a caffeine-laced blogger. That separate discussion weaves throughout the whole series. And, as with the lighting, I try to be as open and honest about the business side as possible.My primary goal is to try to be happy and fulfilled as a photographer, to create work that is of value to others and to do so in a way that is economically sustainable. Period.Is my roadmap the exact same one you would use? Almost certainly not. But the point is to open up new lines of thought in your own head when you’re plotting your own photographic path.So in the end, we try to tie it all together with a full, detailed look at the business ecosystem I have developed for my own shooting. For me, this obviously includes this website as a component. But there is a lot more.

And for those of you who are accountants, real estate agents, students — whatever — my hope is that this walk-thru will help you to examine your own potential as a photographer.
Eat In, or Take Out For those of you who decide to purchase the set, your support makes it possible for this site to continue to thrive. And for that, I am very grateful.So we worked long and hard to include a high density level of information in this series — both the discussion kind and the kind that you get by just hanging out watching things happen. My hope is that you will find value in the experience.And for those of you who want to be able to take it with you — either while shooting or during your mass-transit commute or whatever — it could not be easier. There is a seventh DVD included. It is a DVD-ROM which includes a duplicate copy of all of the video, compressed and formatted to be dropped into your iOS or Android device via iTunes or other media managers. Just don’t pop this disc into your DVD player. Because unlike the other six DVDs it won’t work there.Discuss Amongst YourselvesAs with the first set of DVDs, there will be a Flickr thread set up in which to ask questions, compare notes and get answers once the DVDs start shipping in early March. This is much better than doing the questions 1-on-1 via Twitter or email (ahem, especially via email) as other people will learn from the process, too.
If you are not a member of Flickr it is free and easy to join. And if you live in “one of those” countries, use Firefox and the latest Flickr unblock workaround. We’ll be waiting for you when you get there.How to Get Them The Lighting in Layers 6+1 DVD set is $159.95, and will be available for pre-order at Midwest Photo Exchange and Adorama starting this Monday morning. (Links to both site pages will be inserted here on Monday morning.)
During the pre-order period, there are also a couple special offers in play.The DVDs are being released concurrent to the Flash Bus Tour. So if you are going to be joining us for that little hootenanny, your best bet is to purchase them through the tour signup page on that site (via Adorama) where there are bundling discounts for combining a seminar and this DVD set. (And maybe even something else, yet to be announced.) It’s a no-brainer if you getting a DVD set and attending the tour.
Not to be outdone, Midwest Photo Exchange is offering free shipping (including international) and has offered to fly me all the way out to Columbus, OH (coach, natch) to sign the first 100 pre-orders when the DVD sets first arrive in early March.
You’ll be able to choose on Monday (it’s now live) at the MPEX product page whether you want yours signed or not. I certainly do not want to foist my chicken scratchings on anyone.
One Last ThingNo, not some Steve Jobsian “one last thing,” wherein the new platinum-plated iPhone is announced right at the end. It is an apology, of sorts.The time frame for the Flash Bus tour tightened our schedule. (My wife and kids have been so patient over the last months of long-hour days, too.) One thing that we were not able to get into the first printing was subtitles in English. This was something we did in the first DVD set in 2008, and it was the right thing to do.
Please be aware that the fact that some of you are hearing impaired (or otherwise read English better that you can understand it audibly) matters to me. The English subtitles will be addressed in the first printing that happens after the tour. There were just not enough hours in the day.Please accept my apologies, and thanks for your patience and your support. We’ll fix it, I promise.