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Lesson Info

Shoot: Lighting for Double Exposure

I'm just gonna bring your hair around a little more just so it sets flat and doesn't stick up in your face. And like the last shoot, I'm a bit fussy with when it comes to getting hair perfect. Okay. Yes please can we get the house lights down. So are you comfortable there? Yes, perfect. Okay, so what I want you to do is kinda lean forward and bring, let me see what it looks like when you bring this hand up to your face, other hand. Yeah, and then looking back over this way for me. Yeah, so this is kind of the look that I'm gonna go for here but what I want you to do is just turn your body more towards that camera, that way, yep, perfect. And it's gonna be, I'm not going to necessarily have the same connection that I'm looking for in the other portrait if that makes sense, so I'll show it to you. What I want to do before I do my double exposure, I just want to get an exposure so you don't have to look at me just yet. And we've got that light set on... F4. I've got my iso on 100 and ...

I'm shooting this at 3.2, just because I don't want to let much light in, I want to keep this really kind of moody. Do you know what I actually want? Can I get another apple box, just to put under Raymond's feet so I can bring that knee up to bring his chin up a little higher, if that's possible. But I'm just gonna check my light, you can close your eyes if you don't want to strip bursting into you. (camera clicks) You can take it in. Yeah, just even on that front leg. Perfect, yeah, see the difference that makes and makes him a little bit more comfortable. So, this is not gonna be a double exposure. But what I'm doing is you can see here on the back of my camera, I want to leave enough space over here for the other portrait. So, gotta make sure I position him in the frame there, exactly where I want him to be. (camera clicks) And let's just get an exposure shoot, and that actually looks pretty good. So we've got that light absolutely perfect there. Yeah I like that. You ready to rock and roll? (light laughter) Okay, I've never done this on camera before, filmed. (laughter) So what I'm gonna do here is go through, my manual menu, sorry, down to my multiple exposure setting. So at the moment it's set to disable so I'm gonna click on that and click again on disable and now I'm gonna go down to on function control, and click on that. So down here I've got it set on average, so you can change it to additive, bright, or dark. Let's change it to additive. And then we've got two exposures, if I wanted to change the number of exposures I was gonna do I would change it that way. So pretty simple right? Sounds simple. (laughter) Okay so I'm gonna pop it back on live view. Okay just looking exactly where you are, that is perfect. And I'm looking at the placement of where he is in my frame. (camera clicks) Yeah that is pretty cool. Okay so now I'm ready to take my next shot but you're gonna get changed really quickly for me so I can keep talking about this. So you can kinda see on the back of my camera here, it's very very dark, it's going to look very different in the final image, but now when I go to take that next shot what I can do is I can see the first image, which is called a base plate, I will be able to see that on the back of my live view, so I can line up the next shot exactly where I want it to be which is very exciting, Alright, so Raymond shouldn't take too long there to get changed now I'm not too concerned about where I was standing to take that shot, because it's all about moving the camera to frame it so that I can get him in the perfect spot to be able to get that amazing exposure. But while he's getting changed, Kenna, do we have any questions? Let's start with the studio audience and see... Yes, go ahead. So to do the double exposure do you have to use live view? You don't have to no, you can use it that way. Using live view here today just means that everyone can see what I'm doing and I can demonstrate that, because I can't be tethered. So you don't have to but when you're doing this additive, I think it's actually a really great way to get it perfect because you can look at the back of your camera and you can see where that base plate is to line it up perfectly. So yeah, it's a lot of fun. You had mentioned several different settings including additive, what are the other ones, like what are the differences between those settings and your camera? Okay so if I was shooting a woman back-lit and I'm overexposing the white, if I selected white, then basically the next shot that I do is gonna fill that white space. If I choose black, and for example I'm wearing black, if you had a really dark exposure of me and another image then you could basically overlay me onto that image and it would replace all of the black that I'm wearing. So really really fun to play with. And gosh. You know the very first time I started doing this, I was basically going outside shooting clouds and then I would come in and shoot my grandfather. And because we were just playing he thought it was brilliant that you could do that with a digital camera, coming from a film background. So we had lots of fun with it and created some really different effects, but there's so many amazing double exposure photos out there. One of my good friends Ryan Schembri, who is another instructor. He is the absolute master at this so I've learned my techniques through him and when I look at his double exposures, they absolutely blow my mind. So I'm really excited to be able to do this for Raymond, and create something that's unique and different and it's one shot, well, it's two, considered as one shot. (laughs) in terms of a raw file. Yeah... While Raymond is still getting changed question that had come in I know you've talked about this, but some of these people that you photograph you have met them in person before and some of them you haven't, and so the question was how, is there an amount of time that usually it takes for you to think about the person's story or in between when you meet them and when you come up with the concept? Yeah, do you know, when I'm shooting family members I can sometimes have a concept, an idea in my head for months before I actually execute it. When I, and that's for me they're more my personal projects, they're more getting my children involved in the process of photographing them and you know getting them to create those story boards, but when I am photographing someone that I've never met before if I'm commissioned for a shoot, it's usually a two to three week process. So, I'll meet them we'll go through what it is, why they've asked me to photograph them, and I'll get to the bottom of that story and in terms of telling it and sharing it which I really think is really unique but it depends on what it is, also I talked earlier when I did the newborn section of this and when I created that beautiful surrogacy symbol, you know, I was contacted prior to the birth to photograph the birth and then that concept then started to come to life. Once they brought their baby home from hospital I still I wasn't, it wasn't until that moment was I confident that I could actually pull this off and create something. So it was when she came home from hospital and she contacted me to say 'hey we're home from hospital' that's when I was able to, you know, talk to her about this idea that I had, you know, a few days before the shoot, not necessarily a few weeks, but I'd had that time and even though I'd created it for her she loved the idea, the concept, you know, growing through that process of creating something for her was a little different. So each situation can be different but if this is something that you really want to make a business out of creating these incredible story telling portraits. Which is what, I mean if I could do this all day, everyday in my studio, I would, because it's fun right? I mean, we get to do what we love every single day. I would but I would make a business out of it, a business model in terms of, you know, right this is the plan, and Kenna mentioned that bonus material of that mind map it takes you through that process from the first point of contact, all of the questions that you ask, right through to creating the scene, how you're going to source everything you need and then create it, right through to the actual capture. And then you've got the delivery how do people want their photographs, you know, delivered to them? So I personally offer, you know, gorgeous big framed images, I do museum grade glass and then, what we do is we choose a frame with my framer that's gonna suit that photograph. or I can do large canvases. It's entirely up to the person and we can have those canvases framed as well. Some people like the framed canvas because it reminds them of, you know, having a painting done of themselves. So that's kind of unique. But it all depends on the shoot and what it is I'm personally doing right now but I would say allow yourself two to three weeks to come up with, from that initial point of contact right through to capturing that image. Look at this. Looking spiffy. Okay so we're gonna get these lights turned off again Come and stand on this side for me. That's it, perfect. I'm just gonna look at where this light's falling on you, yeah, so what I want you to do now is turn towards this light, that's it, and I would like you to put your hands in your pockets, so we can kind of make it a bit more relaxed. That's it, perfect. Let's get rid of that crease, yeah that's good. so with this frame I'm gonna get Raymond to look at me and I want him to look really strong like yeah, get into a position that you're comfortable in. That's it. And you can see that light so I want you to turn your shoulders towards that wall a little more, keep going, and turn your feet, so you're nice and comfy. Yeah, and now face back at me. see that stance that's kind of powerful and that light coming across his face is just perfect so now with my live view here I can see exactly where I want Raymond to positioned there in the frame and now I'm going to move forward hang on two seconds, there we go, okay, pushing my camera's capabilities here and I'm just making sure I line him up perfectly. Okay, one two three. (camera clicking) Yeah. (laughs) You know that feeling when you look at the back of your camera and you're like, it worked. (laughter) That is pretty cool. And I'm gonna show him first. Wow that's amazing. Two different people right? Yeah I love it. So you can, you do that. I know it was so quick but so cool. No thank you. The thought process that goes into a photograph like that is what takes time. the building the concept, the idea, and planning it out, and being prepared, because, I mean, if you don't put the time into all of those elements you're not gonna be able to execute it the way that you want. So, like, I've had this in the back of my mind, I've been thinking about it, over and over, how am I gonna get it perfect, how do I want to light this, and you'll see when we bring the image up on the screen. I Love it You like that? Yeah, I love it. Look at you. Very cool. It's two different people. Shall we get rid of this light? Because you poor ladies can't see. (light laughter) Can you see now? Alright. I think, to date, that's probably one of my proudest images, as simple as it is. I'm really proud of it because it tells a unique story and it's something I've never done live before. (laughter) But yeah, I am super excited about that, and I'm absolutely pumped thank you so much again. Thank you so much. I appreciate it thank you You were great, thank you so much Raymond. Thank you, thank you. (audience applauds) So if I was to be asked what would be my favorite age to photograph, I would toss up between an adult and a child, I mean a newborn. I do photograph my own children a lot, but I love newborns and I love just that different kind of creativity that I can bring to those sessions. But when it comes to photographing an adult, and being completely inspired by their story, that just blows my mind. And I know, how proud he is of the changes he's made and I want him to love that photograph and I know how much it's gonna mean to him and that's pretty cool right? and I, just the difference in him, so my all my plan for that particular shot is in Photoshop, I'm mean I really don't have to do too much to it at all, but on the hand down here I am going to remove the tattoos and on the eye up there I'm also gonna remove those. So that it looks like, you know, it is completely different whatsoever. I'm gonna add a little bit of a little bit of highlights and shadows down there to bring out some more of those tattoos, especially around the cheek there. And that's pretty much all I'm gonna do the background looks incredible. I've got a little bit of a crossover there where the jacket meets the things so I'm just gonna get rid of that, I'm gonna clone that out. But in terms of composition I'm really happy with it. I love how he is closer to the camera in that second capture and it makes him appear larger like, and stronger and more dominating in this image, you know, that's the past, you can tell it's further in the background and that's the future coming forward with that new path. So in terms of that story telling for me, yeah, kind of can't get better than that. I kind of got that little bit of excited-ness, going on right here now. As you should Kelly, just to thank you again to Raymond for being part of this course. And thank you Kelly, what a beautiful story to be able to share, people at online were very appreciative. We had so many people apply to be models for this class and it was Raymond's story that really really stood out for me because I was just blown away at what he's doing for other people and how much he gives. And you know he's got a beautiful family and when you read his story and how important family is to him, that was what really resonated with me, because family, to me, is number one. And I just really wanted to help him tell his story, and I think that that's extremely powerful .