One Light Portraits with Godox

One Light Portraits

If studio flash still feels harder than it should, this workshop is designed to make it feel a lot more straightforward.

You might have bought a light and barely used it, watched a stack of tutorials and still felt unsure what to change when the result looked wrong, or become completely comfortable with natural light but found that the second a flash and trigger come out, everything suddenly feels more technical than it needs to be.

That is exactly what we are going to work through.

One Light Portraits is a practical beginner workshop built around one simple idea: you do not need a complicated studio or a five-light setup to make a strong portrait. You need one light, a good starting point, and enough understanding to know what to change when the image is not quite working.

We’ll demonstrate the setups first, then you’ll photograph models yourself and work through those same decisions with the light in front of you.

This is not a sit-down lighting seminar. A large part of the session is spent shooting.

Start With One Light

We will begin with a simple one-light portrait setup and use that as the foundation for the whole class.

You will see where we place the light, how high it sits, how close it is to the model, and what happens when we begin changing those things. Rather than asking you to memorise a lighting diagram, we will focus on helping you read the photograph and understand what the light is actually doing.

If the image feels too flat, too hard, too dark or too bright, we will show you what to change and why that change works.

Then you’ll get behind the camera and try those changes yourself.

Throughout the workshop we’ll be using Godox lighting, including portable lights from the AD series and studio lights from the QT range.

We’ll explain the practical difference between the two and where each type of light makes sense, but this is not a product catalogue and you do not need to own Godox gear to attend.

The lights are simply the tools we’ll use to teach the fundamentals of creating portraits with one light.

Softbox, Umbrella, Beauty Dish or Reflector?

One of the easiest places to get overwhelmed is modifiers, because there are so many options and they can all sound more complicated than they really are.

During the workshop, we will put some of the most common modifiers side by side on real portrait setups so you can see the difference on the model in front of you.

We’ll work with softboxes, umbrellas, reflectors, beauty dishes and grids, looking at how each changes the softness, contrast and control of the light, and when you might actually choose one over another.

Rather than just being told that one modifier is “softer” or another gives you more contrast, you’ll be able to photograph the difference and compare the results yourself.

What Settings Do I Actually Use?

This is often the part that stops people from using flash confidently.

What shutter speed should you start with? What aperture makes sense? Where should your ISO be? How much flash power do you need, and what should you change first if the photo is too bright or too dark?

We’ll give you a simple starting point and work through those changes in real time, so you can see how the camera settings and flash power work together.

We’re not going to spend the session buried in formulas or lighting maths. The aim is to give you a practical process you can repeat the next time you need to light a portrait yourself.

Then It’s Your Turn to Shoot

Once we’ve covered the basics, we’ll move into the main practical part of the workshop.

We’ll have models and multiple portrait setups ready for you to photograph, giving you the chance to rotate through, work with different modifiers and actually apply what we’ve covered.

You’ll be able to move the light, adjust the power, change your exposure and take another frame immediately to see what changed.

If something is not firing, the exposure feels wrong, or the portrait simply does not look the way you expected, the Georges team will be there to help you work out what is happening and what to change next.

What You’ll Walk Away With

By the end of the workshop, the goal is for you to feel comfortable walking into a room, setting up one light and photographing someone without guessing your way through the process.

You should understand where to put the light, how close it should be, which modifier might suit the portrait you are trying to make, how to get your exposure into the right place and what to change when the photograph is not working.

Most importantly, you’ll have spent time photographing real models and actually making those decisions yourself.

Who Is This For?

This workshop is ideal if you mostly shoot with natural light, have recently bought your first flash, already own lighting that you are not completely confident using, or simply want studio lighting explained in a way that feels practical rather than technical.

You do not need previous studio experience, you do not need to own any lighting equipment, and you do not need to understand complicated lighting maths before you arrive.

Bring your camera and come ready to photograph.

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