Learning Photography Lighting with Ken Go

When I was invited to attend a photography class on lighting by Ken Go, I immediately grabbed the opportunity to learn from the master himself.

This is actually my very first formal class in photography. When I started getting into the hobby, I was keen on just teaching myself the craft and by experimenting.

However, there are so many other specific skills that are needed in order to be good at this and one of them is knowing the basics of lighting. Of course, access to a professional studio and equipments are essential to properly learning the craft and a hands-on experience helps a lot.

This wasn’t just any other basic photography class you normally encounter out there. Ken Go specializes in photography lighting and I learned a lot from his class. The 4-day seminar is spread in two weeks with around 3 hours per session. The 3rd day, we went to shoot the lighting concepts we wanted with a couple of models. This session is where we practice all the theories, concepts and all that math that was taught to us.

Here are some of the shots I took during our photoshoot:

Too bad I missed the 4th and last day of class (where they discussed strobist and batch post-processing) since I had to go to Malaysia.

All in all, it was a great session and there were a lot concepts I learned that was put to practice. It’s a class I’ve recommended to friends who are into photography, both as a hobby or just to improve their craft or want to go into the business.

My primary motivation in attending this class is actually to help me take better “product shots” of the gadgets I review here on YugaTech. Hopefully, I’d be able to apply what I learned from the class to make my un-boxing photos look more drool-worthy.

If you’re interested, you can check out Ken Go’s workshop schedules here. There’s an upcoming one later this July. Classes are usually held in the evenings (6-10pm) with shoots on week-ends (Saturday). Seminar fee is about Php4,000 for the whole 4 days.

The only drawback here is that after completing the class, I’m now looking into getting a basic lighting set of my own and that’s not gonna be a cheap investment.

Disclosure: I was given a complimentary slot in this photography class.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

16 Comments

Guess the Lighting says:

14 years ago

If you’re interested in seeing how famous photographers light their images, take a peek at GuessTheLighting.com
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CHRYMO says:

14 years ago

Nice intro to lighting, you just need a simple setup for product shots if you are focusing more into that, there are a lot of affordable options now in the market, and you already take good product shots, so why worry too much Abe.. lol!
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Ma. Lynnette Ruiz-Redublo says:

14 years ago

Abe, classmate, thanks for educating me about your cyberworld… super eye-opener ang short talk natin over burgers and fries! And yes, Sir Ken’s class is truly a gem! Hmmm… if you write about it again, say naman how gorgeous and fun we all were in class… Ahahahaha! Congrats and more power classmate!!!
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Abe Olandres says:

14 years ago

@wow – I attended Intel’s SEA Media Workshop. You’d see a number of my posts about it in the home page.
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Wow says:

14 years ago

What did you do on Malaysia?
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Teknisyan says:

14 years ago

wow.. one of the masters… I’m still trying to figure out the basic on apperture, iso and shutter speed.

http://www.teknisyan.net
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sylv3rblade says:

14 years ago

Exactly what I was looking for but I’m afraid that it’s too high a notch (I’m just starting with lighting) for me :(
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Ang Maniniyot says:

14 years ago

Wow. Nice shots Abe. :)
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