In this LIVE photography workshop, now available to watch as a replay, Karl answers a question posed by many of our members over the years: how do I take effective portraits of people wearing glasses? The primary challenge is, of course, how to achieve satisfactory illumination of the subject’s face while avoiding distracting reflections from the lenses. In this workshop, Karl shows you how. He begins by introducing the key laws of physics that dictate how light works. He also addresses common solutions to the problem (including removing the lenses and using a polarising filter) and explains why they are not the best approaches. You’ll see Karl demonstrate a simple three-light setup. He experiments with softboxes and a beauty dish, and shows you how to use a triflector to ease shadows under the chin. Most importantly, he demonstrates the importance of understanding angles of incidence and reflection, and how the position and intensity of your key light source makes all the difference. The result is a series of high-quality, business-style portraits of subjects wearing glasses, with no glaring reflections in the lenses.
