Dean Collins is a grand master at photography. Although most of his work are shot by 4×5 or 8×10 negatives (Ancient History), the techniques are all still very usable nowadays. There is no better way than to learn from his educational DVD set. He shows you example after example of how seemingly impossible lighting challenges can be broken down into a series of small, solvable problems.

In the two examples shown in this post (Thank you to Software Cinema for posting one of the twenty shoots on the ‘best of’ DVDs to YouTube in its entirety).

First is a 20 minutes long video that shows how Collins lit a motocycle perfectly. He handles problems such as creating the illusion of speed where none exists, getting highlights on the dull, black tires and creating absolutely perfect specular highlights before Photoshop.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The second example is quick 5-mins-shoot with the CEO and CFO of an airline. He placed “look-a-like” to set up the scenario and lit the scene with spectacular backlight. He tackles problems such as controlling light spill, creating long sunset shadows with only an orange gel, and balancing background light vs subject light.

And, IMO, the best things about these types of shoots is not that they teach you how to solve a specific set of problems. It is that they make you realize that you can learn to light anything.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The entire DVD set filled with tutorials can be purchased here:
The Best of Dean Collins on Lighting