Lessons
Class Introduction
02:54 2Home Studio Space Considerations
15:19 3Recommended Gear
19:06 4Low Budget DIY Studio
06:45 5Camera Settings For Low Light
08:55 6Live Shoot: Low Ceiling
28:28 7Backdrop Considerations for DIY
12:00 8Build a DIY Backdrop Stand
12:42DIY Portrait Lighting
17:30 10Live Shoot; DIY Portraits
28:34 11Build a DIY Light Tent
20:17 12LiveShoot: DIY Product Photography Part 1
18:30 13Live Shoot: DIY Product Photography Part 2
13:45 14Live Shoot: DIY Home Business Photography
04:39 15Build a DIY Macro Lighting Tub
12:09 16Live Shoot: DIY Lighting Tub
10:46 17Live Shoot: Natural Lighting With Modifiers Part 1
21:12 18Live Shoot: Natural Lighting With Modifiers Part 2
09:21 19Build DIY Gobos
04:48 20Live Shoot: the Ultimate in DIY
21:11Lesson Info
Build DIY Gobos
Gobo, G-O-B-O It's a funny sounding word, thank you, and it stands for go between, okay? Gobo, go between. Now, all of those cardboard boxes that I've been using in the class I don't throw any of the cardboard away because I can repurpose it and use it for a variety of reasons or variety of purposes. In this case I cut out some shapes and designs in the cardboard. What's the intent behind these shapes? Well these two, these two here, the idea is that the shape represents like a velour blinds, is that the right word? Yeah, velour, yeah you know. Whatever he said, yeah, blinds. You know, blinds at home. So sunlight is shining through the blinds this then, the light maybe your flash or something like that shines through here and then goes up against the backdrop of your photograph and it looks like light streaming through a window. So this is a gobo, it's about a foot and half wide maybe two feet wide by a foot high, that's great. Whatever lighting equipment you use for the gobo you have ...
to think about this, this is important. Your light source needs to be a single point of light for a gobo to work. In other words, you can't have a bank of light coming through here because you won't get the defined shadows. Let me rephrase it. For example, this little LED here is a single point of light and because it's a single point oh here, let's use this because it's a single point of light you can see on the backdrop I get fairly well defined shadows. That's cool. And look, check this out. As I move this closer, the shadows get bigger, move farther away the shadow gets more defined. So you can really gobos take a lot of skill to use and actually maybe even the right word is just trial and error. That's probably the better term. You're just always trying to figure out where's the position, do I move this in? And you never get the same repeated twice because your subject is moving, your human powered light stand is moving. So gobos sometimes can be difficult to use. I've got this gobo, the strips that I cut in there are about an inch and a half strips sometimes you go with skinnier strips sometimes bigger strips, just experiment. Here's another gobo. This gobo is designed to actually have the entire frame of the gobo in the photo. So let's say for example Jake was standing back here this would imply a picture frame behind him a graphic representation of a picture frame and that whole thing will be in the frame so the image will be like this, Jake will be here out in front and then you got that. Another way that you can work with the gobo is you can actually shine it on the subject so the gobo goes over the body and over the face of the subject, that's kinda cool. Here's another thing to think about with gobos. You don't just have to use just regular continuous unfiltered light you can use gels. So here I've got this nice little gel it's a company called Lee Filters, Lee gels you can find these at most camera supply stores. Now when I put the gobo on the backdrop you can see that it gives it a nice sunset feel. So I don't remember the exact color of this gobo, it doesn't say on it. But like a CTO, maybe you've heard that term before, color temperature orange. Something like an amber, that will work great for that backdrop so that backdrop just has a little bit of color and warmth. So you can see this gobo here I cut it in the shape of a different type of a window frame like maybe a church or something along those lines just to give me a different effect. Alright so that's a gobo. How do I make them? Well it's pretty obvious, you just get some cardboard and I just literally drew a shape with my sharpie pen and then I have a little razor blade, little exacto knife and chopped them out, step by step by step. I got a bunch of gobos. Gobos are awesome, you can use them for portraiture in fact that's what we're gonna do next. We're gonna set up a nice portrait scenario using gobos and using basically everything we've learned today.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Jodz
I was so glad to see Mike! He taught my first DSLR class (Nikon D70 - then Nikon D300). I love his presentation style. It is so clear and he takes care of showing details that get in the way of actually 'doing it'. And I like the way he emphasizes good manners when dealing with a model. Well done Mike!
user-0ee681
I've watched this class a few times when it's been on-air and I realized I really need to just buy it. I find Mike so likable and engaging, and I love how he talks you through the shoot while experimenting. Sometimes the experts show you the perfect way to do it the first time but it leaves you not really able to troubleshoot when you are doing it yourself. I already own a lot of gear that his DIY equipment is emulating, but it's really artistically inspiring to see his creative approaches.
joanna
This course is fantastic! You don't need a lot of money to start a studio or go on location. Mike shows some great easy hacks anyone can use to create a studio and create professional photographs that will earn you the money to then purchase more pro equipment. I got some great ideas I'll be using on my next shoot!
Student Work
Related Classes
Fundamentals