Harness Flash: From Fearful to Fearless in One Week

John Gress
Track: Lighting & Camera Skills

At a Glance

• How to recognize and create classic lighting patterns that flatter your subject and elevate your portraits instantly.
• The truth about modifiers — how size, and distance affect softness, contrast, and overall feel.
• How to balance flash with ambient light using shutter speed, gels, and HSS — so you can shoot confidently indoors or out.
• How to control and shape light for depth, drama, or subtlety using angle, texture, and the inverse square law.

Class Description

If flash feels frustrating, confusing, or like it’s holding your work back — this class is for you.

We’ll break down lighting: lmodifoers, ighting patterns, soft verses hard light, color correction gels, TTL, HSS, and the inverse square law.

You’ll learn how to control your light instead of letting it control you — and more importantly, how to use it with purpose.

This class is built for photographers who understand the exposure triangle, sync speed, and the difference between flash and continuous light. If you’ve experimented with off-camera flash but aren’t confident yet, you’re in the perfect spot.

Throughout the week, you’ll shoot daily, reinforce key concepts through practice, and walk away with the tools and mindset to create bold, beautiful images — in any environment.

Whether your goal is artistic growth, better client work, or just finally feeling confident with your gear, this class will shift your skills and mindset for good.

Bring: • Your camera, lenses • A laptop if you want to review images as we go • An open mind and the willingness to try things that might scare you now — but won’t by the end of the week

• CLASS INTENSITY: Blue
• CLASS BREAKDOWN
  Classroom instruction & demos: 60%
  Hands-on: 40%
  Post-production: 0%
• PREREQUISITES:
  Lighting 2: I kill it with available light. 
  Lighting 3: Confident with additive light and OCF.

What do these mean? Learn More