How to Setup, Light, & Shoot Great Looking Interviews
(using a light kit that costs under $1500)
Training DVD 60 minutes Retail: $40.00 vortexmedia.com Reviewed by: Kevin Johnson (August 2006)

You can't teach an old dog new tricks... or so they say.

Even though career wise, I'm not an "old dog" (more like a mid-life crisis dog), I've been doing this enough that I feel like I have my bag of tricks filled just fine.

So when Doug Jensen of Vortex Media sent me a copy of his DVD, "How to Setup, Light, & Shoot Great Looking Interviews (using a light kit that costs under $1500)," I'll admit I was a little skeptical. My interview lighting is adequate, gets the job done, and looks OK... why should I sit at home after a long day at work and watch someone tell me how to do my job.

The DVD sat next to the TV for a week or so until, I needed to kill time waiting for a plumber to arrive. I popped the disc in, and much to my surprise, I LEARNED NEW TRICKS!

"How to Setup" takes you through the process of lighting an interview from start to finish. Broken down in smart chapters, the video follows a typical production crew setting up an interview. Everything from picking the proper location in a subjects house - to the placement of the camera - to positioning the interviewer and subject - and then finally what lights to pull out and where to place them.

A full day long lighting seminar crammed in a 60 minute DVD, this is the perfect video for a photographer just starting out in the business of television. Even if you don't have the $1500 light kit described in the title, you can still learn a lot about placement, composition and depth of field.

But don't think this leaves the experienced photog out of the loop. Even after 14 years in the business, I found a lot of nuggets that I can use in my daily shoots.

Check out a preview of the video here.

For a limited time, b-roll readers save 30% of the purchase of How to Setup, Light, & Shoot Great Looking Interviews (using a light kit that costs under $1500)."

More info at: http://vortexmedia.com