Brief, to-the-point photography tutorials are a wonderful thing. No fluff, get in, get out, learn something new to try. Love it. Calgary photographer Nathan Elson has created a lovely video teaching three very attainable set-ups in just over three minutes.

What you’ll see here displayed here is that you can achieve great looks with minimal gear in studio and with natural light. Natural light doesn’t mean no modification, and with just a little you can do wonders. Check it out.

Set-up 1 – Studio

This one is for the studio. A single Einstein strobe is placed in a Profoto Large Deep Umbrella which is feathered so that beautiful edge light is illuminating the model. A piece of white foam core provides fill beneath the model’s face.

Set-up 2 – Natural Light

Here is an indoor natural light technique. Nathan has access to some large windows that have an opaque coating on them which softens the light beautifully – similar to a softbox. An assistant holds a large piece of white cardboard for fill to the model’s right as she sits on an apple box.

[REWIND:] KEEP IT SIMPLE | ONE LIGHT PORTRAIT TUTORIAL WITH JEFF ROJAS

Set-up 3 – Natural Light

An outdoor, natural light shot with a twist. Nathan has taken his model, a large piece of foam core like what a V-Flat is constructed from, some grip equipment, and a large piece of pegboard purchased from Home Depot outdoors. He’s used the foam core as a backdrop, held in place with a super clamp and a C-Stand, faced the model into the sun, and had an assistant hold up the pegboard as a gobo. The resulting image is interesting and different but was very minimal in set-up.

How about that? About a minute per set-up and you now have the information needed to try three new things. You can check out more videos from Nathan Elson on his YouTube channel and view his work on his site and Instagram. Which set-up are you most excited to try?

via Shutterbug