Joel Grimes – The Craft

Become an expert at the craft of photography. From understanding how optics work to working in High Speed Sync while strobing in full sunlight.

What You’ll Learn

To be an Artist, you have to master your craft. I love learning techniques that help me get to my end result. Here at the Joel Grimes Academy I want you to go beyond the basics and become an expert at the craft of photography. From understanding how optics work, to working in High Speed Sync while strobing in full sunlight.

Lessons: Part I

• Lenses – Part 1
  If you want to be Architectural photographer or you want to achieve ultra shallow depth of field portraits, you have to understand the basics of optics.
• Lenses – Part 2
  Understanding Aberration, detraction, the sweet spot of your lenses and much more.
• Lenses – Part 3
  Tilt Shift Lenses, how the work and thinking outside the box to create a look and perspective that does not exist on the planet in a fixed lens design.
• Lenses – Part 4
  Looking at the different between the APS (crop sensor), Full Frame sensor, and medium format sensors.
• Lenses – Part 5
  How to get the best performance from your lenses. Joel will show you how to get ultra sharp images.
• Architectural Shoot with a Tilt Shift Lens
  Joel creates an architectural interior shot using his Tilt-Shift Lens.
• Working with The CamRanger
  Follow Joel as he explains how to use a CamRanger with strobes to bracket both the ambient and the strobe lights to create HDR portraits and more.

Lessons: Part II

• Master The Light – Part 1
  This is one of Joel’s favorite topics; Lighting. Master the light and you can rock the world.
• Master The Light – Part 2
  Learn what the most flattering light on the planet is.
• Master The Light – Part 3
  Learn where to place your lights and how to choose the right modifier.
• Master The Light – Part 4
  Learn Joel’s three light edgy portrait technique that he uses in for his dramatic portraits. Also, Joel covers what he calls the most beautiful light on the planet; Rembrandt/Cross Light.
• Master The Light – Part 5
  Joel shows you images of the different lighting techniques he uses and talks about his approach with each photo.
• Master The Light – Part 6
  Joel shows more images and talks about his three light approach.
• Understanding How Strobes Work
  Joel talks about compositor strobes verses thyristor technology. This is important for those who want to freeze their subjects in motion without any blur.

Lessons: Part III

• How to Create Amazing HDR Images – Part 1
  Joel explains the true meaning of HDR and how to achieve amazing detail in both the shadows and the highlights.
• How to Create Amazing HDR Images – Part 2
  Joel wants to make you a believer in why HDR is so important to know how to do correctly. He also explains the basics about Bit Depth.
• How to Create Amazing HDR Images – Part 3
  Follow Joel has he explains how to do a HDR using strobes. This can be used for not only objects like cars, motorcycles, etc… but also portraits.
• Scrim Jim Silk Diffuser at High Noon
  Learn how to create soft light without the use of strobes in a harsh desert, high noon scenario.
• Strobing a Subject in Harsh Arizona Desert Light
  Follow Joel as he takes a model into harsh desert lighting conditions using strobes to overpower the sun.
• Light Portrait – Part 1
  Joel reveals how he created his Harley-Davidson Portraits using one light and a 50% gray background.
• Light Portrait – Part 2
  The retouch part of how Joel created his Harley-Davidson Portraits using one light and a 50% gray background.

Lessons: Part IV

• Portrait Series Using a Table
  Joel shows the set up on how he shot his portrait series using only a table and a gray backdrop.
• Ultra Soft Cross Light Portrait
  Joel experiments with gradating his light source to feather the Rembrandt Triangle to achieve a ultra soft effect.
• Beauty Lifestyle Portrait – Part 1
  Joel shows how to combine both strobe and nature light along with a shallow depth of field to create a soft beauty portrait but keeping the background value darker.
• Beauty Lifestyle Portrait – Part 2
  In this scenario Joel goes for a more Lifestyle approach allowing the background to blow out a bit giving it a more heavenly angelic feel.
• Fine Art Beauty Shoot in a Pool
  Joel takes Leah and puts her in a pool, creating a beauty shoot scenario using one strobe light hanging over the pool.
• Ultra Shallow Depth of Field Portrait – Part 1
  Once again, Joel thinks outside the box and takes a Tilt Shift lens uses it to change the focus plane, resulting in a very extreme shallow Depth of Field.
• Ultra Shallow Depth of Field Portrait – Part 2
  Same approach as in the studio but now you can see how soft the background gets using this titling technique.

Lessons: Part V

• Fine Art Portrait Using Black Netting
  Joel take one piece of black Tule (Netting) and experiments with it. Just having fun and letting the creative juices flow.
• Lifestyle Portrait Using High Speed Sync
  Joel goes into the field to overpower the sun using Hight Speed Sync. He also creates a similar look using Neutral Density Filters.
• Direct Sunlight on White
  Watch Joel has he photographs Bryce in full sunlight on a white backdrop without strobes.
• Ultra Soft Light with a Hard Light Source
  Sounds like a oxymoron? Joel demonstrates how to take a really hard light with would produce a very harsh light on a subject, but by using very large sheets of white foam core you can achieve a ver…
• Cross Light in the Field with Bryce
  Watch Joel as he photographs Bryce in late light creating beautiful soft cross light using one strobe in a 36×48 soft box.
• Speedlites Vs Studio Strobes
  Joel talks about the pros and cons of using both Speedlites and Studio Strobes. Joel also covers High Speed Sync, Flash Duration, and how to freeze athletes in motion.
• Overpowering The Sun: The Sunny 16 Rule
  If you take your strobes into the field and have to overpower the sun, you need to understand the Sunny 16 Rule concept. This rule is useful as a photographer to better understand lighting.

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