The Latest

The Academy with John Gress

The Latest

In this week's video I am going to breakdown how I lit this cinematic portrait of Dyren. I'll cover everything from light placement, to ratios, to fill, to flagging, and freezing action in this lighting tutorial.
06/19/2022
Lighting Technique

Lighting Tutorial: Cinematic Hard Light Portraiture using hard reflectors, a beauty dish & a softbox

In this week's video I am going to breakdown how I lit this cinematic portrait of Dyren. I'll cover everything from light placement, to...

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Part of making a refined image in the studio is separating your subject from the background. In today’s video, I will teach you the three secrets to using a edge light, including why you would use one, where you should place it and how bright it needs to be.
06/10/2022
Lighting Technique

Kicker 101 – The 3 Secrets You Need to Know!

Part of making a refined image in the studio is separating your subject from the background. In today’s video, I will teach you the...

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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

This this critique video we go over refining portrait lighting and I also use the tail of a model air plane to represent a...

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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

Why I switched from Drobo to Synology. Protecting our data is one of the most important things that we do as photographers, videographers and...

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Member Exclusive Product & portrait photography in one shot
05/29/2022
Exclusive Training Videos

Member Exclusive: Product & portrait photography in one shot

In this month member exclusive video, i create two stunning looks for my friend Paulo featuring gear for his FPV drone. The first one...

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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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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 addition to the critique, we did a deep drive on hair lights, clam shell lighting and more.

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In today's video I am going to share the 10 worst photo and video purchases I have made over the course of my 20 plus year career.
05/21/2022
Gear

The 10 worst purchases I have ever made!

In today's video I am going to share the 10 worst photo and video purchases I have made over the course of my 20...

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8 common portrait lighting mistakes
05/18/2022
Lighting Technique

8 common portrait lighting mistakes that every new photographer makes

Everyone makes mistakes, weather your a beginner or a seasoned professional. The goal is to practice and to make fewer of them as you...

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In today's video I breakdown a TTL HHS outdoor hard light portrait and a soft light Rembrandt setup in the studio.
05/14/2022
Lighting Technique

Lighting Handbook Tutorial – Breaking down a hard light outdoor portrait & a soft light studio setup

In today's video I breakdown a TTL HHS outdoor hard light portrait and a soft light Rembrandt setup in the studio.

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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

In this live video we go over several critique images and retouching in photoshop.

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After I bought the Canon EOS R5, I switched over almost all of my lenses from the EF mount to the RF mount. But now I am unsure which lens is he best lens in different situations. So in today's video, I am going to test if the RF70-200 f4 at 70mm outperforms the RF 28-70mm f/2.0 at 70mm in the studio at f4, 5.6 and f8.
05/02/2022
Exclusive Training Videos , Gear

Member Exclusive Review: Is the Canon EOS RF 70-200mm f4 or RF 28-70mm f2 a better choice at 70mm for R5 studio photographers?

After I bought the Canon EOS R5, I switched over almost all of my lenses from the EF mount to the RF mount. But...

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