Thank you for the great video tutorial compliment Simeon!

At first I was only going to write a reply, but after looking at the length of it, I realized that it was becoming more of a post than a reply, lol. Valters Preimanis of Photologs.net also had a question about the panels.

I first learned of the DIY Panel System after watching a Dean Collins video back in the winter semester of Brooks Institute of Photography in 1988. I constructed 4 panels and my lighting improved 1000% overnight. I still fondly recall my teachers and classmates looks of astonishment during Fashion Class critique. The all asked “how the hell did you light the model, the light, the shadows, and the skintones look amazing”.  My teacher Harry Liles, a 30 year LA advertising photography veteran, was especially amused by my simple and inexpensive lighting setup. That single image earned me early access to the expensive Comet strobes that were only available to the upper classman at the school.

In those days, lower division classmen were only allowed to light with Mole-Richardson tungsten lights for the first 1.5 years. I hated those lights with a passion. Imagine yourself photographing people with a 4×5 view camera, tungsten lights, a 1/30th of a second shutter speed, changing 4×5 film holders and cocking the shutter, directing and posing models…..all while wearing heavy Kevlar gloves because the Tungsten lights were so damn hot. Sweat just dripped off my forehead because of the heat. AND all this time I was nervous as hell shooting agency models because I had no idea how to pose or direct. The models probably thought I was a Guy-With-Camera and horny, LOL.

Photographer/Instructor Extrodinare Harry Liles by Chris Orwig

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