Lessons

Lesson Info

Build on your shots

Yeah I go back up and get her back a little bit goes tall is you can all right and wait wait and then he looked around and grabber grabbing on a face me about the baby I'll do dead unexpected dip I didn't expect that and they'd grab it towards you like facing each other yeah that's good yeah you tall again go tell again yes I love her I love her no wait stay like that wow, they're ok love her that is so much love I can't even bear get uh quick distinction there e I wanted you to notice something cause I think it's really relevant very, very often when we're photographing people we know we don't have it yet we're building everyone shoots his building and you're going to see the naked progression although I don't think it was naked in this but you're going to see the raw progression of what I mean by building we're building towards something what I want to keep in mind is it's really important with family and children photography to constantly know that this may never happen again and I ...

don't mean that mohr on a larger level I mean the shot that you're building towards what you know in your head you want to get to you honestly may never get it like that might be the moment the child meltdown that might be the moment that anything happens like that starts suddenly to rain or the sun drops fast than you thought, or your camera suddenly has no battery for whatever the horrible situation might be s o to get, so click what you're getting and click what you're getting and making sure you're getting markers of a progression and not just wait till you're at the point. We're like, okay, I've nailed it, I've got it now I'm going to click because you may never get to that. And sometimes what you think is three quarters of the way there is the best thing your client ever saw. They're far deeper that's gotta drop to the ground. Good job. Alright, ready? Come here now with a whole new set of children were at a lake. We've got these two boys and the question came in yesterday somebody asked, do you ever have situations where one of you guys would never situations where people aren't complying? This is our situation way yes, we have one and I'm not I'm not sure the whole I hope the all of the footage is on is here for it because basically we had a section where and we're gonna have two sections, this is just focusing on kids, and then this afternoon we're going to be focusing on families. And some of these kids belong to families and vice versa so we'll see the whole of it throughout the course of the day but of these two boys neither one of them were there both genuinely strikingly beautiful children and but neither one of them were like I'm up for a photo shoot in regards to like they have the same design of what you have for the day s o the older brother was more kind of silly but wanting to like either always make faces or get away or just a note you know and the younger brother is more he's got the smile that that stays and he's trying and that's what I always think like what at the at the root of it what are we looking at when I see a child is doing this all the time I'm thinking always trying like he's trying I love that and there's so much beauty in the fact that they're making an effort to give you what they believe you want and that is a gorgeous thing with the older brother it's more like he wants to have fun and he wants to be seen this time and that is also a form of trying which I to me of all the things I think or so endearing it's when people try and so if I'm looking at them through that lens I'm going to be getting better pictures of them just naturally so in this case you've got this little boy and he's just like I don't know what you want to do and I'm just I'm getting him warmed up by clicking in his face and building conviction and I'm trying to get him out of that force to smile look by having him teo your eye situation I've got a better idea coming they're going to gorgeous shoes on and you're gonna be like this ready here I'll take this I'll put it on the camera that's what's that's exactly what's here for uh weird hands in pockets several simple yet foot out a little bit yeah like that and you're gonna be no no you only do one hand pocket well wait a minute I'm gonna throw this because I want you because thank you so much I'm good background shot look at backgrounds moving you have to wait all right go back go back we're shooting at a lake by the way and there's kayakers going back and forth and back and forth so we kept joking how the backgrounds constantly moving um let's see s oh this this is more of this kind of image is more of what I'm getting right now on what I'm working towards just my whole goal here is just to get them together in a frame and you know and that's a huge success and you guys have had those shoots right like they're all in one frame I'm amazing yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You try something. No. Yes. You've got everything there right there. Okay. E o okay, we're going to just yeah, he's gonna come over here and he's gonna pull on you hee hoo everywhere. It must be true already. Oh, I see what you're doing. Okay, this way, then. Okay, it's fine. This is the shot I wanted anyway. Yeah, yeah, michaela is awesome, sport. And we're going to try something here and you boys in a little bit. But the big thing I think with it relates to what we're experiencing with them was it doesn't. Everything doesn't have to be that last shot one bending over and saying that's, what I want to get anyway, everything doesn't have to be working towards a shoot and I would say over the course of a two hour shoot, a good thirty five minutes are just doing what they want and clicking what they want and things that I will never deliver unless we get some magical moment that I hadn't planned for which happens sometimes, but for the most part of you look at the back of my camera are my raw and it should be like why did you spend twenty minutes photographing their toes? You know, it's because I was getting interaction with them and I was getting a response from them, and I even have to tell that when we have people in our studio backing up all our work, wait up anything look, just so you know, you're about to see forty images and rode me circling their head with the camera it's gonna look really down, but just a heads up it's part of the process of interaction and building relationships, please don't feel like I don't think she knows no one's in the frame. All right? So here we've got their seventeen year old sister who was really game for getting in a lake, and it was a nice temperature day, but it was called like s so she gets in the lake and I want to show you this is a perfect example of where I am going for something that I see in my head that I want to get a shot. I want to get thie entire exercise is for me to get this one shot, and I'm getting two or three that really love, but this one shot that I really want, and you'll see the whole process of how we build to that. Have a shot of her almost waist deep and me shooting with eighty five one four kind of skimming across the water, getting just different types of portrait we may not go waste e we might find that the best shop that shot is like heidi, but we're going to go in and see what we get all right into the water. I think this is like a book or a poem. You still up for it? All right, so we're gonna, um, do me a favor and turn. Yeah, how do you feel about lighting her from there? Now I'm gonna do that again. I'm going for here. I like the shadows and the contours. I just want catch light and I feel like with the water and the light, I still have that which is great, right? Are you freezing it? Just a note on that. That little discussion about lighting was pretty relevant because as she moves farther and farther back into the water, to the ability to use a reflector or continuous light and all that stuff starts edging, we could put a flash fash on the situation. But we've got so much reflection coming back from the water that's actually pretty important and all I'm thinking about here is I don't need it to be a perfectly modeled shot in terms of the lighting because I just need to get a good enough one where I've got the look I want I've got enough contrast and I'm gonna build towards that and then in post I can create what I want for here I like the shadows and the contours I just want to catch light and I feel like with the water and the light I still have that which is great all right? Are you freezing it? Yeah you will I'm just testing my shot I'm going to switch the white balance because it's switching up again um add a little more blue to the scene because I'm shooting everything an auto white balance so everything's out of balance and then I'm just making sure I pop it and adjust it based on what I'm seeing and so what I put what I start getting initially is a lot of kind of a blue green which is not unusual in this situation and I need to start fixing it green and yellow here green and yellow and then drop my eyes because you got remember earlier when I talked about how when they were backlit that was deeper and shade than you thought but behind them is brighter she's now in that brighter part so I'm dropping my s o back down all right? I'm just gonna get my shot tested before I make you you know, to come to the pain is that rock being start in your general direction? Yeah that her brother is starting a rock over. All right, good. So you're gonna there's a kayak coming we're gonna ignore it and then go ahead back up a little bit right there and then pull your dress out. Yeah, good, really good. Now look down at your dress a little bit there you go and pull the dress out again. Good. Stay like that. Like this light better right there. I'm switching my majoring because I'm now completely backlit, so check changing the angle changes the lighting a lot good and then try the dress thing again. Excellent. So go back even more and then we're also because I don't think he's made it into the film were also getting the shots that I'm going for here, which are these guys uh, this is as she's looking down we're getting this and this is with in terms of our as I'm moving down as long a justin contract as I'm fixing the shot. Andi, this is uh we're getting kind of more of this look, but I have to kind of if you notice behind her and you have to constantly looking at back background it's got some really bright, bright spot, so I need to be able to properly this point I think she just went under your hands out of the water just skim the top of the water like very very just think full delicate like a little bit of a break in your wrist yeah and then just kind of do this a little bit yeah dallas you're s yeah smiling that's good very tony is changing too stay there beautiful look at me look so pretty I met a two two gorgeous reflection uh that's lovely all right stay right there. What the kayak pass can you grab me the three hundred four so this is three hundred meter for oh maybe for a lamp with that like maybe go on the end of the yeah I'm not sure that that's doing anything there that's the highest you have right? All right, I'm just gonna boost the so can you see how the lighting is changing on the water? This is this is what happens when you're outdoors when you're outdoors shooting in manual mode you are adjusting a shot nearly hipper shot certainly every little setup but every cloud that passes by when we first went out there this this was a much brighter scene and you can even see it in the video it's just dropping and so I'm adjusting my ass so we're trying to add some additive light I'm changing the angle I'm shooting from much farther back because I'm on a three hundred millimeter for oh but it's going to change the look of it now I don't know can you go out in style her no no okay all right and tilt more towards me a hit there good I'm shooting and so that I've got your full reflection shouldn't hair towards me green blue is going to end this way that this way a bit no uh your head yeah pure chance that like that way yeah, we're good and slowly tell them back toward me a little bit more good chin up a bit lovely day keep staying with me. Ignore the background one was that beautiful profession guard uh all right. And then let me show you what I would deliver really quick uh that last shot this is how I would deliver it if you can see that kennedy had a question I wasn't absolutely in the studio audience that we know if you guys have any questions so a question that had come in was about you mentioned this is from c c eight to six you say to change your meat oring due to the backlighting what did you change it to be? We had been shooting at the booth the idea that everything was well exposed a suze I got into a situation where I had changed my angle and now that it was backlit I switched to a spot metering which which is kind of the ideal wanted to use for a back light situation s so this is what I would end up delivering to the client. This is the way I like it. I like that I would I certainly do some of the color adjustments and then does it as well, but this would be the image that I would want to present that I am happy with and that I felt like I was building towards, um, okay, any other questions on that? Yes, well, we have have a question, I think we'll see this, but has a lot of votes on it already. You're talking about the color casts? Yeah, and carolina had asked, I usually get green green cast on my client's skin every time I do a photo shoot in a grassy area. Yes, how do you prevent something like that? I'd love to do it correctly in camera instead of correcting them later in light room. Perfect, yeah, so I think that's really common, you're going to get especially get eso one of the situations were going to get the most color. Caste and color caste is different, of course, than color balance right here. This was color balance that we were working through because every time the light was shifting and choosing father back and I was moving farther back, we're getting different shades of color, which is not terribly unusual on dh needing to adjust accordingly because of her situation where she was I was not going to stop and change the color balance while the kayaks killed her, you know? So it's again call it when you can when you've got time to set it up and adjusted in camera absolutely every time do that, but the color casting is a different thing that has to do with being near something like grass or plastic or socially like a red plastic on a slide, for instance, are those situations where the glare from that is really sharp? I see that a lot when people take photographs their kids in your kiddie pools, the sun coming off a bright colored plastic pool is has a heck of a cast and the correction for that is as a couple things about the easiest thing in the world is making black and white but even easier than that is to simply move away from the the object that has the color cast on it or block it. Somehow we talked about using a flag you would use a flag to be able to block light from hitting your subject, but you can also use it to block a color cast so the kids in the grass it's a really cute shot on dh you don't necessarily need to show the grass you could actually put something there that would block the reflection from the sun hitting the color and bouncing it back up. That is something that I have done a lot of that's, a nice way to handle it. You can also recognize that you're going to have significantly more color casting when you've got a bright, shiny objects and grass in the sun that has just been newly rained on is that kind of that is going to be something that's going to have a lot more bounce on it, then committee softer, lusher grass with a cloud cover, for instance, you're not going to have this much color casting issues, so being able to read those situations and make those choices accordingly can be really helpful as well. And lastly, of course, you can go into post andi. I actually show this a lot during my work shops. We'll have a whole section in post production where we talk about selecting certain sections and adjusting the color just for those to manage color casting if you weren't able do all that at at the time of the shoot.