The Portrait Lighting Challenge: Natural vs Studio with Sue Bryce, Felix Kunze

Very interesting look at natural and strobe/constant light photography. I found it interesting that Felix was able to replicate, using lights, the natural lighting Sue Bryce used. Lessons kept moving, with very few lulls in the lesson plan.

Sue Bryce and Felix Kunze brilliantly create the lighting that is used in natural lighting, then the same light is recreated into studio lighting, for professional use in this course. This class and 28 days with Sue Bryce are a must for working professionals. Thank you Sue, Felix and CreativeLive.

This was a fantastic introduction to studio lighting, and one of the best courses I've watched on Creative Live. I've only ever done natural light photos, but I want to learn more about studio lights because I'm creating a basement studio. I'm already a big fan of Sue's approach to portraiture. Now I'm a fan of Felix's soft lighting approach, too. In this course, he demonstrates how to replicate natural light portraits with a simple lighting setup. With a big scrim, a strobe or constant lamp, and v-flats, you can do so much! I'll be watching this course again.

This is the best lighting class I've done, including several in-person ones. Covers so much, and the contrast between and dialogue about the two styles (natural vs studio) was so helpful. I didn't think there was anything at all negative about how Sue spoke with Felix, which a few reviewers said. Clearly she has great respect for him, which she sincerely says at one point, and explains why. Wonderful to see specifically how they both shape light. So many topics are covered. Loved Felix's clear and specific explanations about studio lighting. This class is worth every penny.

This workshop isn't exactly what I thought it was. I thought Felix was going to teach Sue how to do studio lighting. Instead, he only tries to copy her style into strobes so she can work all hours of the day. Felix seems to not be bothered by how Sue speaks to him. So, I won't comment on that. I wished it was just a lighting workshop on how Felix works with studio lighting, but I did notice that creative live does have one with just Felix that I would love to watch. I didn't know Felix before this but he seems extremely pleasant, positive and down to earth. I feel like he is easy to understand and very good at explaining.

I almost did not buy this class based on the negative reviews of how Sue interacted with Felix. I am so happy that I did purchase the course despite the reviews because I learned so much from them about how to post and light a subject and the importance of using V-Flats and reflectors. I realize this class was Felix replicating Sue's natural light set up, but wished he had done so by using inexpensive soft boxes and speed lights instead of a scrim that costs $300.00. I, too, was disappointed that these two professionals did not know what metering method they were using. Creative Live should have followed up with that question with an answer; maybe they still can. I learned a little about retouching from Sue, but wished she had not rushed through it. She should have taken her time and explained what she was doing (and why).

Best foto knowlegde that i never seen before

I really appreciate this class, thanks a lot!

Sue has become a mood killer and she talks waaaaay too much. She has a lot of valuable information to share but her arrogance got way ahead of her skills. This course offers you a lot of value but you have to fight with yourself to stay focused and not get irritated by Sue's chattering and never ending talking about herself and disrespecting Felix with her smart a... attitude. I used to love Sue - after this course - I started being repelled by her voice and presence.

I liked this class a lot. They encourage you to try things for yourself and they talk about their own struggles and hurdles they had to overcome. They show their lighting set up and have materials to help you remember how to achieve the set up they've created. I can see how Sue can be misunderstood. Her personality is not Disney cookie cutter, but I learned to like her if not love her. Felix and her are friends for goodness sake and she is just being herself. The material to me is what was important and I focused solely on that. I loved them both at the end of the class and the journey they took me through. I'm self taught, driven and very visual, so for me this was a great class at great value as I bought on sale. I just wish there wasn't so much disconnect in between segments. It always makes me wonder: did I miss anything? How did we get here? Did I jump a segment? The disconnect happens with a lot of classes, not just this one. Can we improve on that Creativelive? Sue, you're alright with me.

One of my favorite CL courses and necessary if you want to use or replicate soft, natural light.

I'm a long time follower of Sue and the "off" reviews here led me to buy this class out of pure curiosity. I wonder how many of the reviews commenting on Sue being "rude" are from America - where for some reason we are super sensitive. lol. Sue is real and raw and if you are familiar with her, you should know she is basically playing "bad cop" to Felix's "good cop". She tells you point blank "I don't know what Felix knows..." "I am uncomfortable with artificial light.." What more do you want? She is not being rude. She is being real. Which is wonderful in a world load of fake.

Sue Bryce is horribly rude, arrogant and insecure. I feel like I was being blocked from learning from Felix because of her jealousy. So glad he was more mature, charming and humble. Please give Felix his own class.

Love learning more in depth lighting from Sue. She is amazing- and a great teacher! Since I have to work in a basement studio- learning how to shoot like her with artificial lighting is an amazing opportunity - so thankful for Felix as well.

Felix is an amazing teacher, It's great to learn how to simulate natural light with strobes. Sue is a good natural portrait photographer, I've learned a lot with her in other courses, however, she was rude to Felix, it's annoying to watch the lesson because of her attitude. Nowadays she uses studio light in her membership always crediting Felix...funny.

This class is full of great lighting setups by Felix and I have learned a lot of new methods that I can't wait to try. Also, it was nice to not have to take any notes during it all (there is no keynote) and I am one who likes to take tons of notes, especially if anything is in a keynote. However, this is all instruction from beginning to end and with the provided lighting diagram PDFs, I didn't need to write anything down, which is good because I could just sit back and enjoy watching and get through the class faster.

It’s been years now and I’ve updated my review. Felix is just brilliant at what he does. He makes it so simple. I use to worry I wasn’t professional enough if I didn’t use all the lingos. He pretty much said it’s ok as long as you know what you’re doing. This is not the Sue Bryce I’m familiar with and how she projected is not what she teaches. This was uncomfortable to watch when I first watched it and it’s a great class but I haven’t watched it again since. Thankfully I’ve had the chance to see Sue in a different light because this stuck with me for awhile. Great class. I loved being able to see the comparisons.

I loved this course! I purchased it as a beginner photographer, unsure of whether to shoot natural or studio light and how to get the best results. After watching the course, I am fully confident in my ability to use both natural and studio lighting in my photography. And most importantly, I feel I have the knowledge base to be able to experiment with lighting in any situation. I am both grateful and inspired by these two amazing teachers sharing their technical knowledge and a personal piece of themselves. It is clear that they genuinely care about making their students better photographers. Thank you, Sue and Felix!!!

Just getting through the 2nd class and I have to agree with the other reviews, Sue can't share the limelight. What a shame. I'm embarrassed for her watching this.

This course is great, Felix is the star - Sue is obnoxious to him, and he keeps being gracious and charming. If you can ignore Sue the class is amazing.

I consider this a fundamental class in my CL photo library. Felix is a master of lighting, and was easily able to meet the "challenge" of creating a studio light version of every natural light scenario Sue set up for him. His easy going manner, grace, and humility, combined with clear, easy-to-replicate instruction, made this class enjoyable to watch. But more importantly, it totally demystified lighting for me and helped eliminate my fear of it; I am much more at home with the different lighting and diffusion options presented, more willing to play and experiment, and so glad to have learned that much of it can be done with very low-cost and low-tech alternatives.

I can barely watch this course, Susan is so rude. I feel so sorry for Felix, he appears to be assisting her and she acts as if he does not exist. This would have been an excellent course due to Felix's brilliant ideas, but Susan just flat out ruins it. Please have Felix do another class without her.

I was apprehensive to purchase this course because I have watched a Sue Bryce one before. I gets very tiring hearing her continually reference how many years she has been shooting, and all the 'Oprah' moments that go with it. The only reason I purchased this one, was because I wanted to see how the two shooting styles went up against each other. But once again, Sue dominated the session, and was quite disrespectful in how she handled Felix. It just takes the fun out of the learning experience when you have regular 'cringe moments'.

maybe... I just started watching... and Sue is so defensive and insecure, I can hardly stand it...truly.....though I enjoy all the technical advice... but very painful to watch...

I know Sue doesn't use studio lighting and that's her style. But she needs to open her mind and respect studio lighting style. I found her very bias opinion getting in the way of me learning from Felix.