OneLight 2.0

Band: Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun © Zack Arias

Zack Arias' "OneLight 2.0" is a pretty cool video workshop. Zack doesn't play favourites with tech, using many cameras and a few different methods of connecting to his one light.

As photographers I think we overthink our setups sometimes and one thing OneLight shows us is that you can do great things with the one light and a few different modifiers. And they don't have to be expensive modifiers.

People have explained the Inverse Square Law many times and I'm always like "yep, got ya" but I never really did until watching this video. The first couple of hours of the video is the bit that Zack describes as the "boring part" where he talks about the mechanics of a photography, the gear you'll need (the cheap stuff), the math and the computations you need to be able to do in your head as you go along, emphasising that in time they will become automatic.

Then into the shoots. Zack takes us through several setups with several different locations and types of people to shoot. While this video is built around the idea of how to use one light for your shoots, in these setups we also get to see Zack's method of directing his shoot and his models. An invaluable lesson for me is to see how different photographers talk to their subjects and get them to do what you want them to do. In this instance, happy to find Zack's methods are pretty well the same as mine... makes me feel better about it. :P

Finally we see Zack go through the photos taken and he runs through his basic edits and also metaphorically kicks himself for little "mistakes" made during the shoots, like forgetting to more something in the background to save on time in post production.

With over 7 hours of video, "OneLight 2.0" gives you so much more than you'd get going to your average flash workshop. I got mine as part of the 5-Day Deal where there was a bunch of photography info for just $89. But you can  get it now for $75 from DEDPXL.

I've found this to be a great tutorial. I knew a bunch of this stuff already but you pick up little tips and tricks on the way through and it's always good to hear a professional tell you he does the same things you do on a shoot.

I'd recommend this video to anyone wanting to see quick and easy ways to use their one light and modifiers.

My favourite things: Inverse Square Law explained perfectly, using your light modifier to feather the light, using the edge of your light to capture your shot, but not over-light your foreground.