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The Academy with John Gress

Academy Access

THE LATEST

In this Member Exclusive tutorial, I create two distinct looks with Josiah. The first one uses 6 lights with gels to paint a rainbow on the model, and the final look is a fun lifestyle image where he is photographed on white with shaving foam and a razor.
09/14/2022
Exclusive Training Videos

Member Exclusive: Portfolio Building with Josiah Part 2

Have you been using the wrong fill?
09/12/2022
Fundamentals , Lighting Technique

Have you been using the wrong fill?

member exclusive lighting tutprial
09/07/2022
Exclusive Training Videos

Member Exclusive: Portfolio Building with Josiah Part 1

In this week's video I breakdown how I created this moody image using blue gels and two soft boxes. Adding color to your images can change the way viewers experience your work.
09/02/2022
Lighting Technique

Lighting Tutorial: Setting the mood with blue gels

In this week’s video I am going to breakdown how I lit this cinematic portrait using a softbox which I controlled (flagged) with a V-Flat and a cucoloris. To complete the image, I used a Mole Richardson 407 movie light and a strip soft box.
08/22/2022
Lighting Technique

Clamshell Lighting Tutorial

Why you need a Fresnel for Portrait Photography
08/19/2022
Gear , Lighting Technique

Why you need a Fresnel for Portrait Photography

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EXCLUSIVE TRAINING VIDEOS

In this Member Exclusive tutorial, I create two distinct looks with Josiah. The first one uses 6 lights with gels to paint a rainbow on the model, and the final look is a fun lifestyle image where he is photographed on white with shaving foam and a razor.
09/14/2022
Exclusive Training Videos

Member Exclusive: Portfolio Building with Josiah Part 2

member exclusive lighting tutprial
09/07/2022
Exclusive Training Videos

Member Exclusive: Portfolio Building with Josiah Part 1

In this month's member exclusive video, I creat multiple looks with our model Eric, all with only a 100cm Deep Octabox
08/16/2022
Exclusive Training Videos

Member Exclusive: working with one light

In this months member video, follow along as I work with model Haley and my friend Diana Robles.
07/07/2022
Exclusive Training Videos , Lighting Technique

Member Exclusive: Problem Solving On Set with Haley Part 2

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LIVE SESSIONS

In this video we go over strategies for shooting outside and masking in post.
08/10/2022
Live

Live: Q&A and Critique August 6, 2022

In this video we go over strategies for shooting outside and using short lighting to make your subjects look thinner.
07/10/2022
Live

Live: Q&A and Critique July 9, 2022

07/02/2022
Live

Live: Q&A and Critique June 24, 2022

This this critique video we go over refining portrait lighting and I also use the tail of a model air plane to represent a persons nose!
06/06/2022
Live

Live: Q&A and Critique June 4, 2022

In addition to the critique we talked did a deep drive on hair lights, clam shell lighting and more.
05/26/2022
Live

Live: Q&A and Critique May 24, 2022

In this live video we go over several critique images and retouching in photoshop.
05/02/2022
Live

Live: Q&A and Critique April 28, 2022

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GEAR

Why you need a Fresnel for Portrait Photography
08/19/2022
Gear , Lighting Technique

Why you need a Fresnel for Portrait Photography

In today's video I am going to discuss what a Fresnel is, and how it shapes light. Long a staple of the film industry,...

How to create three different types of light with only one soft box
08/14/2022
Gear , Lighting Technique

How to create three different types of light with only one soft box!

In today's video I am going to show you how you can get three distinctive looks out of one softbox - a Elinchrom Rotalux...

Watch as I explore how bright these LED lights are when paired with a Fresnel and a 90cm Parabolic Soft box. I’ll compare them to the Arri Sun 5 andd the M8 / 1.2k HMI, plus I will share light meter photometrics for each light with each modifier.
07/15/2022
Gear

Can the Nanlite Forza 720 blow the 500 out of the water?

Watch as I explore how bright these LED lights are when paired with a Fresnel and a 90cm Parabolic Soft box. I'll compare them...

This simple cover for your soft boxes will help you create dramatic images that look like they were taken with a Maxi Brute, Audience Blinder or Mole Richardson Fay circular continuous lights.
05/26/2022
Gear

Review: Why you should buy Pro Light Mods

This simple cover for your soft boxes will help you create dramatic images that look like they were taken with a Maxi Brute, Audience...

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FUNDAMENTALS

Have you been using the wrong fill?
09/12/2022
Fundamentals , Lighting Technique

Have you been using the wrong fill?

Everyone makes mistakes, weather your a beginner or a seasoned professional. The goal is to practice and to make fewer of them as you advance in your career. In today's video, I go over 7 common portrait composition mistakes.
06/22/2022
Fundamentals

7 Composition Mistakes Every Photographer Makes

In today's video were going to explore if high ISO or under exposure leads to excessive noise in digital photography, specifically when shooting in the photo studio at ISO 100, 200 400 and 800 with the Canon EOS R5 camera. We will also look at how these files look with and without Capture One's default noise processing
04/17/2022
Fundamentals

Does High ISO or Underexposure Cause Noise with the Canon EOS R5?

Member Exclusive: Everything you need to know to get started with one light
03/18/2022
Exclusive Training Videos , Fundamentals

Member Exclusive: Everything you need to know to get started with one light

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BEFORE THE SHOOT

Have you been using the wrong fill?
09/12/2022
Fundamentals , Lighting Technique

Have you been using the wrong fill?

Everyone makes mistakes, weather your a beginner or a seasoned professional. The goal is to practice and to make fewer of them as you advance in your career. In today's video, I go over 7 common portrait composition mistakes.
06/22/2022
Fundamentals

7 Composition Mistakes Every Photographer Makes

In today's video were going to explore if high ISO or under exposure leads to excessive noise in digital photography, specifically when shooting in the photo studio at ISO 100, 200 400 and 800 with the Canon EOS R5 camera. We will also look at how these files look with and without Capture One's default noise processing
04/17/2022
Fundamentals

Does High ISO or Underexposure Cause Noise with the Canon EOS R5?

Member Exclusive: Everything you need to know to get started with one light
03/18/2022
Exclusive Training Videos , Fundamentals

Member Exclusive: Everything you need to know to get started with one light

READ MORE

BUSINESS

6 Ways You Can Improve Your Business in Only 1 Hour
08/08/2022
Business

6 Ways You Can Improve Your Business in Only 1 Hour

Photographers love to tag their work before posting them online. However, they will come back to haunt you and bite you in the ass! Unless of course the watermark is on a proof.
01/17/2022
Business

Why watermarking your images for social media is a bad idea

In today's video I wanted to share with you 3 key strategies for building a successful photography business. While I am coming at this from the perspective of a commercial photographer, I think the advice will ring true regardless of your genre.
01/10/2022
Business

3 Tips For How to be a Successful Professional Photographer

Studio Tour: John Gress's New Chicago Portait Photogray Studio
09/30/2021
Business

Studio Tour: John Gress’s New Chicago Portait Photogray Studio

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LIGHTING TECHNIQUES

Have you been using the wrong fill?
09/12/2022
Fundamentals , Lighting Technique

Have you been using the wrong fill?

In this week's video I breakdown how I created this moody image using blue gels and two soft boxes. Adding color to your images can change the way viewers experience your work.
09/02/2022
Lighting Technique

Lighting Tutorial: Setting the mood with blue gels

In this week’s video I am going to breakdown how I lit this cinematic portrait using a softbox which I controlled (flagged) with a V-Flat and a cucoloris. To complete the image, I used a Mole Richardson 407 movie light and a strip soft box.
08/22/2022
Lighting Technique

Clamshell Lighting Tutorial

Why you need a Fresnel for Portrait Photography
08/19/2022
Gear , Lighting Technique

Why you need a Fresnel for Portrait Photography

READ MORE

POSING & MORE

In today's video I set out to critique five portraits and headshots. After pointing out the positives I share my advice on how the images could be improved. So basically, this video is full of portrait and lighting tips and tricks!
03/28/2022
Exclusive Training Videos , Lighting Technique , Posing

Member Exclusive: Portrait Photography & Lighting Photo Critique

readylightmendia vs. johngressmedia photo critique studio lighting
09/23/2021
Exclusive Training Videos , Fundamentals , Lighting Technique , Posing

ReadyLightMedia va. JohnGressMedia Photo Critique: Fashion & portrait photography tips

There are two ways photographers can grow and improve -- practice and critique. But the feedback we get online is often all positive and unqualified or destructive and also unqualified. So in today's video, James Quantz Jr. and I will go over 6 images, submitted by their makers, and give suggestions on how the photos could be improved.
05/29/2021
Lighting Technique , Posing

Photo critique with James Quantz Jr.

photo critique with gary hughes
03/27/2021
Lighting Technique , Posing

Photo Critique with Gary Hughes

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AFTER THE SHOOT

Infinite tools plugins skin retouch photoshop tutorial
07/23/2022
Post-Production

Beauty Retouching Tutorial With Infinite Skin & Infinite Retouch Photoshop Plugins

Why I switched from Drobo to Synology. Protecting our data is one of the most important things that we do as photographers, videographers and content creator. In addition, being able to access that video quickly while editing is paramount. The 10GB Ethernet equipped Synology 1821+ paired with my new Mac Studio gets it done!
06/05/2022
Post-Production

Review: The Synology 1821+ is the perfect partner for the Mac Studio

Step-by-step Black & White retouching using Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and Neural Filters for Skin Smoothing. I also mask out the backgrounds and replace them.
11/06/2021
Exclusive Training Videos , Post-Production

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Lightroom and Photoshop B&W Tutorial

Capture One 21 Photoshop Black & white B&W retouching tutorial
06/26/2021
Exclusive Training Videos , Post-Production

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Capture One and Photoshop BW Tutorial

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