Photographing Shadow and Light: Inside the Dramatic Lighting Techniques and Creative Vision of Portrait Photographer Joey L.

by Joey L., David Hobby (Foreword)

Aspiring photographers are always looking for that edge, that fresh point of view to add drama to their images. Photographer Joey L. found his vision early, drawing critical acclaim as a brilliant commercial photographer with a distinctive technical expertise for lighting.             In Photographing Shadow and Light, Joey lifts the curtain on his dramatic, creatively fearless approach to portraiture, sharing his personal philosophy and a behind-the-scenes look at 15 striking photo sessions—from personal projects shot in Africa, India, and Brooklyn to commercial shoots for 50 Cent, the Jonas Brothers, and Project Runway All Stars. Joey provides readers with a step-by-step description of how he visualized each shoot, formed meaningful connections with his subjects, and “built” his signature dramatic lighting effects—one light at a time.            Featuring more than 85 stunning portraits, detailed lighting diagrams, and a foreword from industry icon David Hobby (aka Strobist), Photographing Shadow and Light shares the creative process behind one of today’s most exciting photography talents, providing serious amateurs and professionals a fresh perspective on creating compelling, professional quality portraits. “Joey Lawrence is . . . the future of photography. Get used to it.” —David Hobby (Strobist) Get inside the images of commercial and fine art portrait photographer Joey L. with this behind-the-lens guide to his fearless approach, creative vision, and signature lighting techniques.Also available as an ebook

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art and Photography

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2012

About the author

Joey L. is a Canadian-born photographer and director based in Brooklyn, New York. Since the age of 18, Joey’s work has been consistently sought out by a number of prominent advertising clients, including Lavazza for their 2016 calendar, National Geographic Channel, U.S. Army, Canon, Jose Cuervo, Summit Entertainment, History Channel, The Government of Abu Dhabi, and many others. He has photographed a number of recognizable faces including Robert De Niro, Danny DeVito, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, John Legend, Dylan McDermott, Karlie Kloss, Author John Green, and two-time Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas to name a few. His work is regularly seen in magazines, subway advertisements, and billboards.

Source: https://joeyl.com/about/bio

Reviews

[Philippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This rather quirky hybrid between a coffee table book and a hands-on photographic manual offered me a small revelation. Up to this point in my photographic practice I had never shown any interest in artificial lighting, assuming it was all far too complicated and there are plenty of creative possibilities with natural light anyway. But marveling at the quality of the portraits on display in Joey L's Photographing Shadow and Light and the simplicity of the tools used to create these results, I decided to give it a go.


Image: From the Holy Men of Varanasi, Joey L.

I mimicked his simple trademark setup - relying on a single, large softbox - in the studio and the results were beyond expectations. Certainly, I didn't come close to the finesse of the maestro himself, but for me no doubt this first effort was a good step forward in emulating an 'old masters' style that marries graphic simplicity and dramatic clair obscur without a wholesale sacrifice of tonal delicacy. I will certainly try to polish this approach and I look forward to taking this setup outside of the studio, as Joey L. does.


Image: Emma, 2016, PV

[Naseef Gafoor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best tutorial for studio strobe.

[Ryan Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been an admirer of Joey L’s work since I first got started in photography. L’s work ranges from bands and commercial portraits to fine art personal work of rarely seen peoples and cultures. Similar to Gregory Heisler’s 50 Portraits, Joe McNally’s The Moment It Clicks, and Joe McNally’s The Hotshoe Diaries L’s book is part coffee table book and part photography how to book. Unlike McNally and Heisler L’s photographic style is more simplistic making the how to portions repetitive. Techniques discussed include: lighting and posing inspired by both Dutch master paintings and contemporary cinema, using neutral density filters for shallow depth of field with flash, and creating panoramas using longer lenses for distortion free wide angle images. Recommended.

[Albert Yee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joey L has basically turned photography on it's head over the last few years. He came out of nowhere, with no "experience" and while still going through puberty. But his portfolio speaks for itself. He brings the goods to every client and self-financed project he's ever done.

In this book, he takes us through dozens of shoots with simple lighting diagrams, descriptions of prep and post, as well as vignettes about what it's like to deal with big projects.

A great read for a novice or pro. Beautiful pictures, great writeups.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful lighting techniques. He uses a pro light set up but you could apply it to speedlights.

In his portraits he uses a 3 stop ND filter so he can use a wide open aperture, underexposes slightly, and then puts in off camera flash with a huge octabox

[Dafydd Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do like his photography,have been a fan for a while.
Although the text narrating the images is interesting - I found it to be very repetitive: Profoto light,Octabox,45° - repeated over and over. Only a few variations.
In comparison Joe McNally books are far more engaging.
So a 3*

[Marcus Neto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read. I was looking for less of a tutorial and more of a mindset. If you are looking for a how-to kind of book there are better ones out there. Joey is an amazing photographer.

[Nicoal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most photos in the book have lighting diagrams. I appreciate the photographer's insight about working with people from all over the world.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The photographs were fantastic. Inspired images. Loved the lighting and the look. The text was a but repetitive an poorly written, but done great information in there.

[Charukeshan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holistic approach towards making images

He lays out his entire approach, philosophy and technique of capturing and making the final image in an easy to understand format.