In my other gig at Lincoln Christian University, I'm working with three students who are doing a photography independent study this semester. They're learning some of the basics of camera handling and photography, including studio lighting.

We recently had three models at the studio so the students could practice lighting and directing people. I set up three lighting stations--two with continuous lights (Alzo Digital Pan-L-Lites) gave the students a WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) approach and one station with a small hotshoe flash with a 43" umbrella. We kept it simple: one light and one modifier so the students could learn how the light placement and changes in exposure affected their photos.

Of course, I made a few pictures too. Hannah, pictured above, was one of our models. She's a delight to work with, cooperative and very easy to direct. This image was lit with one of the Pan-L-Lites, and it offers a lovely quality of light for a headshot. I used the Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera body with the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens, still my current favorite setup for photographing people.

I'll have a couple more images from the session to share soon.

If you're in central Illinois (Springfield, Bloomington/Normal, Decatur, Peoria, Champaign/Urbana) and interested in learning about how I approach business and model portraits (AKA, headshots) in the studio, you'll find descriptions, videos, and testimonials on the Business Portraits page.