Unlocking the Art of Lighting: Thierry Sourbier Explores Diverse Approaches to Lighting Sets

I’m a French photographer based in Nantes, I started “playing” with my first studio strobes in 2005. Since nothing replaces practice, I remember knocking on my neighbours’ doors to find “models” to experiment with my setups (my kids had only so much patience)… It is only in 2021 that I discovered set.a.light 3D, it has been quite a game changer for me (and my neighbours ahah)!

I’ve since created hundreds of setups (a few can be found in the community: https://community.elixxier.com/mol/portal/user-profile/thierry-sourbier), either to prepare for upcoming photoshoots, practice or learn from others. I tend to have a rather practical view on photography, asking myself before shooting : “what do I want to show through the pictures I’m going to make?” and after shooting “what could have made them better?”. This keeps me on an endless learning journey…

The first set I’d like to share is “kick” set ID 11042235. I made a 3D version of my garage gym studio in SAL (it is a “small” space not very wide < 3m) this helped me position the punching bag (well kicking bag in that case) on my ceiling to get the shots I wanted. I preplanned all the lighting and invited a friend over a few months later to bring the idea to life.

The second set is a little personal challenge: create 50 different pictures of the same subject changing only the light. While 4 of these setups can be found in the community (11040218, 11040217, 11040219, 11040220), I posted the full timeline in the file section of the set.a.light 3D user group on Facebook. Doing such an exercise, shows that with light alone the possibilities are already endless!

set.a.light 3D puts us in a virtual world where lights, space are virtually free and models have an infinite patience to keep the pose… I sometimes use all these super powers to just play and practice as with set 11041251.

While I love using many lights for my studio shoots, sometimes it is not possible… I have to be creative with little gear. In setup 11042337 (and 11042341), I experimented what could be possible with a remote speedlight and … a door which both can act as a reflector and/or a blocker.

I find recreating pictures is an excellent exercise to understand the light. I also often download setups from the community to see how the picture was built with light or try to light the scene a different way. I did so in the set 11041256 which was originally posted by Ailin O’Neall (set ID 11041239), you’ll notice the use of the door as a blocker .

Original Post by Ailin O’Neall:

This was a quick run through of my use of set.a.light in my photography. You’ll find in the community 130+ more setups that I shared… don’t hesitate to light them your way .

You can also find me on Instagram https://instagram.com/tsourbier
set.a.light 3D User Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/set.a.light/permalink/5090336564425820

You don’t know the set.a.light 3D Community yet?

The community is all about empowering creativity and providing you with the possibility of learning new lighting techniques from creatives world wide at your own pace. Browse through a growing archive of lighting setups and get inspired, showcase your work, gather feedback and discuss.

Learn more here or watch the video below to learn how it works.

Introducing the new set.a.light 3D Community | Get inspired & learn new lighting techniques

- Mit Klick auf das Video, wird eine Verbindung zu Youtube aufgebaut, es gelten damit die Datenschutzbestimmungen von Youtube. -

– By clicking on the video, a connection to Youtube is established, the data protection regulations of Youtube apply. –

Visit our website for more information about set.a.light 3D. The software is available for Mac and for Windows.

Want to try out the new features and everything else set.a.light 3D has to offer? Start your Free Trial today!

Website: https://www.elixxier.com/en/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/elixxier
Instagram: www.instagram.com/elixxiersoftware
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/Elixxier

This post is also available in: German