Small Sets, Big Feeling with Meg Loeks

This demo is centered on creating simple, story-driven portraits with a strong emphasis on color. We’ll focus on how light and color become part of the narrative, not just illumination. Through subtle direction, intentional palettes, and restrained use of gels, we’ll build portraits that feel cinematic, emotional, and quietly charged.

Rather than complex setups, this session is about learning how to see light and color together. How a single rim can suggest tension. How a wash of color can shift mood. How background, wardrobe, and expression become part of the story when light is used with purpose.

We’ll walk through:

• Building depth and atmosphere with 1–4 lights
• Using color and gels to create emotional tone, not novelty
• Creating narrative portraits with minimal gear
• Translating concept into visual language

Please Note: This is a don't miss in-person event that is also livestreamed on the Adorama Events YouTube channel.

Meg Loeks is an international award-winning portrait photographer based in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where she lives on a hobby farm with her family. Her work is rooted in cinematic Americana and everyday home life, embracing the humor, beauty, and contradictions of domesticity. Through the use of color, nostalgia, and narrative, she explores the tension between tradition and individuality, often reflecting the influence of motherhood and rural living.

A Sigma Ambassador, Profoto Legend of Light, Imagen Ambassador, and former Lightroom Ambassador, Meg teaches workshops throughout the U.S. and internationally. She also volunteers with The Gold Hope Project, offering portraits to families facing pediatric cancer.

All photos are property of Meg Loeks

Instagram: @meg_nlo

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