A practical introduction to studio flash photography

You don’t need five lights, complicated diagrams or a studio full of expensive equipment to make a good portrait.

You need one light, somewhere sensible to put it, and enough understanding to know what to change when the photograph doesn’t look right.

One Light Portraits is a beginner-friendly Georges Cameras workshop for photographers who want to start using flash without getting buried in lighting theory.

If you’ve mostly photographed with natural light, recently bought your first flash, or have studio gear sitting at home that you’re still not completely confident using, this is a good place to start.

We’ll keep the maths light, explain everything in plain English and spend a large part of the session actually shooting.

Welcome to Godox Lighting

We’ll begin with a simple look at the Godox lighting we’ll be using during the class.

That includes lights from the portable AD series and the more powerful QT studio range, which gives us plenty of output and short flash durations for photographing people.

We’ll explain the practical differences between them, where each type of light makes sense and what you actually need to start creating portraits.

You do not need to own Godox equipment to attend.

The point is to understand the basics of studio flash, not to memorise a product catalogue.

Softboxes, Umbrellas, Reflectors + Beauty Dishes

Then we’ll put some of the most common lighting modifiers side by side.

We’ll look at:

softboxes
umbrellas
reflectors
beauty dishes
grids and basic light control

You’ll see how each changes the portrait and where you might choose one over another.

What makes the light softer?

Why does one modifier give you more contrast?

Why does moving the same softbox closer suddenly make the portrait look completely different?

We’ll demonstrate those changes rather than just talking about them.

Placement + Exposure Basics

Next, we’ll get everyone ready to shoot.

We’ll cover the practical basics of:

where to put your light
how high to place it
how close it should be
getting your camera connected to the trigger
setting a starting exposure
adjusting flash power
what shutter speed, aperture and ISO are doing
what to change if the image is too bright or too dark

This is a beginner class.

We’re not going to spend half the session working through formulas or lighting physics.

The goal is to give you enough understanding to make decisions confidently and start shooting.

Then You’ll Photograph

Once everyone is set up, we’ll move into the practical part of the workshop.

There will be multiple portrait setups and talent available so you can put what we’ve covered into practice.

You’ll rotate through the setups, take turns shooting and experiment with different modifiers and light positions.

The Georges Cameras team will be there throughout to help if something isn’t firing, your exposure looks wrong or you simply want another opinion on what you’re seeing.

This is where studio flash usually starts making much more sense.

Moving a light and immediately seeing the result is very different to watching someone do it in a YouTube video.

What You’ll Walk Away Knowing

By the end of the workshop, you should feel comfortable:

setting up a basic studio flash
connecting your camera to a trigger
choosing a simple modifier
positioning one light for a portrait
adjusting flash power and exposure
recognising when the light is too hard, too flat or simply in the wrong place
making small corrections rather than guessing
recreating a simple one-light portrait setup yourself

You don’t need previous studio experience.

You don’t need to own lighting equipment.

You don’t need to understand complicated lighting maths.

Bring your camera, come ready to shoot, and we’ll work through the rest together.

Who Is This For?

This workshop is ideal if:

you mostly photograph using natural light
you’ve recently bought your first flash
you own lighting but aren’t confident using it
you want to start photographing portraits indoors
studio lighting still feels more complicated than it should
you want a practical starting point before moving into more advanced lighting

If you already regularly work with multiple strobes, flags, ratios and advanced studio lighting techniques, this class will probably be too introductory for you.

Contact the host of One Light Portraits with Godox