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Live Shoot: V Flats

very sharp like it. Okay, We're a little. I think she switched. Teoh 39 took us back. So how you feeling about this? Look, I like it. Relax. Let's try, uh, just shooting you again. A white B flat. I'm just rolling with it the same way I do and shoots. So people, you know, some people think that that's they really need to have it laid out for them and have that list. That's that's their jam. Totally fine. It's not mine. I really I don't like to work that way. I do sometimes have a list of things I would like to refer back to, or we'll put photos on the wall to remind me of a mood or oppose or something that I liked, uh, looking really nice. What's the ambient? Yeah, what's the Ambien in here? So just to confirm my suspicions about 1 25 So he just checked the light for me, which I wanted him to do with an act with a light meter. But I was also meet a ring it in my camera and wanted to make sure that we were at the same point. So he came over to me and said that were at 1 25 at F 56 and ...

I s 0 400 So let's see how that looks. Maybe take great. You want strong? Not not yet. Well, started out stuff were firing. That one. Firing could be awesome. Happy accidents. Yeah. Hello. It's definitely a look, but I'm gonna turn that off. See how that reads? I mean, that's super clean. Very sharp eye towards me. Very good. We're going fix Your tie looks really good, but I want you may be out here both hands. I think, you know, kind of a little cheeky. Ugo, get all right. Go and sit down for me. So we have this Phil here so that the lights coming in from this side and bouncing into it to give me some fill, right? The same one thing I want to know is I may not have said this earlier that the way you know, and I have set up, these lights were mimicking the way the light is in the room, right? I walk into a room and the first thing I want to dio is mimics the daylight because the sun is awesome on it. It's I don't think there's necessarily sense and reinventing the wheel. And if I was to put those other lights on this side of you know, those two key lights and we have them on that side, I would have been fighting this the whole time, right? So instead, I work with it, not against it as much as possible. This looks get going and lean forward. Yeah. Let's go. I'm gonna go more, uh, much my motion. Thank you. Give me best focus. Your focus. Your focus is in fantastic. I don't lean forward for me. I want it to be some kind of taking. Yeah, I love that. The hand up there's really nice gonna grab a pelican to sit on, Which is I've said this many, many times, but my pelican is my best friend. I travel with it. It's my camera case. I can stand on it when I need you to get height. I could sit on it. So if I'm I was just in Paris, just in the streets of Paris, and I need to sit on something. I have something and you don't have to lug around an extra apple box. They're holding stool. You also have a place to put your stickers. I have a place for my stickers. Exactly. So let's watch the highlight on his hand. Um, it's a little hot right here. Can we flag his hand first? Okay. And then an edge light would be great. So, no. And I have already at the beginning of this you talked about all the things that I want to accomplish, and then he remembers them because I forget them. Or of course, you can write them down if you're working on your own. And, Hey, I had said earlier that I thought it would be really nice if we did hands where we have the light straight board. And then we just add an edge. Like, because again, it just can elevate an image. Can you see from there? Uh, now you're good. Perfect turn. Maybe put both feet up again. Yeah. I just want to see where you settle. That's nice. Good. Maybe. Yeah, when you have this. Very good. Really? What happens if you put your hands? Um, your head in your hands somehow There. Like, there we go. Yeah, that's nice. Really nice. When your hand up and put it back down again for me. Yeah, go ahead. So put it back up for me. I see the edge coming through the You see he can you guys see that? He's Yes. Absolutely. So he's using sending light through this little crack. That's great. Perfect. So arm up again. Maybe both hands. So sometimes what I like And I think you see And my editing is the in between moment. That's again. Another reason why I have them do hand up hand down and up and down So it's not Let's get to see where he settled something. Go ahead, put hand down I don't want to get stuck because then it starts to feel that force Deer in headlights look really nice. Beautiful. I sports me. All right. How close can you go? Beautiful. All right. I really like this. Now let's change the light. So we've got options. We could do a a black V flat, right? We just We have the black on the side. We could also use daylight a different way. Let me bring you. Let me have you stand up and stand right here and just turn towards me. Yeah. Let me see how that like, So I'm gonna put for one second. I'm gonna put a V flat behind him and take a few frames so you'll see the pictures come up here. Beautiful love. You guys be right back here. Let me see if I give him a little preview way. Go. Really nice. Very just Let's go. Very sort of neutral. Look. Yeah, almost very good. So now we'll get maybe that hand up there again. I like the way your body moves when you do that. Great traffic. And I need a little heights. I'm gonna grab the pelican. Can you just kind of see a little bit? I'm just going to do a couple more, and then I already so that's all right. Can you? I'm gonna get the 50 50 mil out of here, Do you? Do I give it to, you know, right there. I'm gonna litter my lens on the back. Okay. Flag. Yeah. Let's do that. All right. So what I'm gonna do is get closer. So I change lenses going back to that rule that I, uh but I don't know about, but I don't know if you can see why I'm doing this. The natural light right here is stunning. So I'm not going, Teoh, Ignore it. I've got to get it. So here's something beautiful. Hands down for me, Dave. Can you turn towards me like you? Yeah, we're all just come Tickets. So good. Okay, One thing I'd like to dio I'm gonna show you something. Um, a lot of photographers dio also, when you're super stuck, people shoot through, um prisms or plastic cups I should through my fingers. So let me show you It doesn't work on every lens. There's only certain lenses. You can do it with that camera. You can kind of see it right this because I went on the run standing there, turning heads down a little great. And I was right to me a little head straight and good waken See it? Because what it might that's more of an extreme example. Can you see it on the monitor? We can move this now Let's bring it all back. I'll move him to the side for the next one. So high thing scrambling is totally normal. Totally the way the way it is. We're just making magic. You would relax for one second. So can you go back, Teoh? Because here's a little much of my finger, right? But I've made this like natural vignette and I've warmed up the image Jeff from. I think this is the first time you executed the finger maneuver with you finger maneuver, and I got it from somebody else. I was watching people backstage and literally picking up the water bottle. I think it works with a team like shooting like this. And I was like, What's happening? So I started trying things like that. I mean, it's it's really soften. You thinking really soften in it? An image, um, last thing I want to show you. Can you also point out in here where we added the fill or that we added the negative film or what it was that the very last friends compare the very last Look how good this light look. She's gonna want to shoot it before I even do this. So I'm gonna have him just put up the last one and then maybe one of the 1st 1 because what no had done was brought in that negative film that black to sort of intensify the shadows and give a little bit more shape so you can see it right here. It's much darker. Whereas this is more open. I can also do another example of that. Um, how about I shoot it will bring in Well, won't I won't want I don't want to block them. So let's just I'll shoot it into you guys. But just to sort of show you the example she let's bring in a little bit into this. Okay? That sounds good to me. Hi. Good. Um, let's do black and then bring in that negative, Phil. Yeah, great. So, even just rotating, we'll look even a little bit. That's great. Actually, the black looks, black background looks blacker now because of first, I don't think we're shooting into it as much. Can we bring that? Put that on. Yeah, that's fine. Go ahead. Hey, guys, I'll be back, So I'm gonna come in and take two frames. Let's bring it even closer. Yeah, just sort of on the NYSE right here. Looks great, you guys. So now that was as an example of just how much, um, how much you can change your images. So these four because they're going in my portfolio. So now let's move this out of the way. Let me take some questions. I feel like there's some out there in the world the way we could get a mic, and then we'll Yeah, one question from people online while we get that Mike is how are you focusing so quickly? Since you are always directing your models and having them move, what kind of focusing techniques do you have? Auto focus. Naturally, I would not be doing that if I was using, say, Zeiss lenses that you can put on cannons or manual focus. So what, I dio you wanna have a seat? Yeah. You can hang out if you want. Or just don't go far. Just in case. Just in case you sit down in some pretty area and then I'm gonna walk over there and then I'm going to shoot it. So what I dio is, um, something called back button Focus. So you can pick any of these buttons on the back of your canon or Nikon. There were Sony of anything, and you can assign it to be a focus. I because of my finger lank. I guess just comfort level. Pick the star. And so I focus with the star and I have the camera on a I servo. So that's continuous focus. The other reason that I do this is because my husband is a photojournalist and I mentioned this from time to time, and he used to shoot differently. He, uh, he had the a f on button, so that was his for his thumb. So we borrow cameras and we would be pushing the wrong buttons. So we had to in marriage make a decision way we're going to emerge bank accounts and merge the way we shoot, which we did and we picked the star. And so while ai focus means that it's tracking my focus, So I'm right now. It's just going through you and, you know, with the longer lens, you can hear it going right, finding the focus. And then when I hear the see the picture, I want, I just shoot. My finger is always on the button, guy. I should see where my focus point is. Here we go. There we go. There we go. So you can see my focus points here. Where? Where I moved it from went to their I moved it over. So that's the other thing that I'm doing. Second nature is just moving my focus point, but that's it. Ask if there is an expression that you want to get out of your talent. Isn't always models that you're working with? So what kind of tips do you have? Or tricks for someone to laugh or to look thoughtful, whatever the question. So it's really important to be a human being when you're on set course were photographers to and what comes first, right? Sometimes, if you have 55 minutes and I really want to talk to George Clooney, I have to just like zip it and be a photographer first. But, um, in though in cases where you have the opportunity to be, you know, to be present, you're talking to the person, and I'm always interested in things about them. But I can't just sit here and ask, ask, ask, ask what? What do you do for fun? What are you doing this weekend? What do you because that's starts to feel like an interrogation. So I tell something about myself. Oh, I have ah, 1.5 year old little boy. Do you have Children? Oh, you don't Good move. You know, just things like that. And it's not, Um, it's an honest banter. I don't I don't look up information about celebrities or really too much about anybody before they come onto set, because I want to be able to ask where you from and genuinely be present listening to the answer because I found myself being nervous and in situations. And I'm like where your friend wear. Do you have kids Wait where you from? And it's obvious that I'm not listening. So I have to sort of slow down and be, um, and engage in the conversation. And it's really just about being a human being and, you know, bringing what you have to offer. And you are from Cyprus. That's fascinating. The person sitting over there was, You know, if you're shooting here wants to know all about it, you can tell the others. That's how I navigated. And if you're trying to get it's a lot easier to get something more thoughtful. Let's say Okay, let's just slow this down to make it a little bit more thoughtful. If you're trying to you know, if it's a more serious moment, Laughs are hard to dio. There's organic laughs when working with models will tell them to play the game best time ever. Which means on the count of three, we're all gonna laugh like we're having the best time ever, and sometimes it works. And sometimes it doesn't. Can we see sort of Liam? Of those images that were Oh, and we've done I mean way just put up a bunch of sort of, ah, grip around that. Will something really nice for my really like that Daylight studios are at daylight, period, but if you're in a daylight studio, it's great. They're all those times when you walk into a beautiful day like studio. But the concept you're going for is doesn't allow it, and you have to pull the shades on everything. It's always a sad moment. That's nice, just showing the variety I like. I like that highlight down at the bottom of shirt. Some people might hate it. That's the beauty of photography. They don't have to like it, and I'm giving them the option, you know, I think it adds sort of a depth, or I can crop it out. So I'm gonna make a quick select Yeah, great. Will be fun to see Just, um, around sometimes on commercial sets, clients making selects as you go. And then there is a someone doing the retouching and then even printing it and mocking it up and a magazine cover, I mean that how many people could be onset can range from just me to, you know, upwards of 40 people. I mean, it could be hair makeup, styling, styling assistance. It can get really extensive, but the bottom line is you're in charge. You have to be, you know, the voice of reason. You're the energy, and you are sort of driving that train, so you just have to remember that and not get lost in it.