Lessons

Lesson Info

Bare Bulbs and V-Flats

So we're going to break some rules now a little bit okay um all right, so if you guys want to tear these down and give me bear balls on everything, we're going bare bombs no modifiers whatsoever. Um bare bulbs are awesome because I can actually make the bare bulbs act like a bunch of lights because what I'm going to try to do is for the back lights I'm gonna have the bare bulbs late the background and kicks to give me room light and that's why I'll actually do that a lot because anna set up if I've gotta have two eights in the background two lights, his room lights light in the front I've got five, six, seven lights and it's very overwhelming, although we're going to do that later but those actually have, like, a very specific purpose while we're doing what we're doing that, eh? So what I'll do is I'll use my bear bald because right now, if you can see on that side of her face the bear balkan late the background and later hair and the bear a bull will build to do the same thing on the ...

other side so it'll be multipurpose right now, the other thing I'm gonna do is use bear bombs we've put that one on from your plug it in and I'm actually going to have you move back because right now, with everything so spaced out people are asking me about the distance is what distance do I have my subject from the background? Well, normally I try to have them really far out so I'm trying to put them on separate planes I'm not trying to have them on separate planes now because I'm trying to get that light to hit her so when it's so spread out, then it doesn't all hear her so I'm actually trying to do the opposite so I'm going to move her back so everything's compressed use the backlit as room lights and as back lights right? So we're going to move you back so lindsey is this predominately for hi kee this's going to be crazy high key okay, so the reflection off the walls is go for it. Reflection on the walls are good in this case only. Well, not this guy's only what? Okay, do you hear time or can I get you a here time? Baxter? Davey harris, I okay, thanks. Steve vecchio is a very time. Thank you. Okay, so what have you got your hair back? Um the reason I'm doing this, I want you to see the kick on the neck you know the highlights is giving me so when I laid my background and laid her yes, please take a look and um something else whenever I'm setting back lights whether it's barn doors whether it's just random kicking bare bulb I trying not to have a main lights set because right now when I'm looking at her as it looks straight on I see a highlight on her nose on either side that I don't want so I need to change angle the lights that it's hitting her john her neck and not her nose what happens is when I add a main light it overpowers them and I don't see them until him retouching so then I'm retouching relies on man I've got a highlight on the nostril I didn't want and then you've got it spend forever retouching or you don't retouch it and then you don't I like it and bothers you forever like I have this one photo my portfolio that I'm not going to tell you all about but if you notice you'll see in this highlight and it kills me you know something like that um so what I'll do is I'll try tio angle it a little bit something that look straight ahead for me sorry so I'm just looking right now right there is ok no highlight on that side and can you turn that one off for me or just the modeling let off would be good okay so now that's good know what I'm gonna make this a little bit on the sign okay good all right, perfect. All right, now um we have these facing this way yep and I'm going to grab fi flats so right now if I take a shot just to show you what it looks like okay let's take a shot I have no I am totally guessing my exposure completely okay, so I'm just going for the back lights right now. Oh, wait but this one's on katie's face it away so it's not and um but can turn one plug it second show them sorry that won't be the real picture because now there's a late and we'll put unplug this one for me, okay? Let's try it without its dio certain down a little bit more and like you had straight onto me okay, so this one you'll see it I'll have in a second to bring lines and a pure white background and I'm probably gonna need to turn it down a little bit because it's so close to her but more or less I'd say this next one is what I was looking for something like that okay, no light on her face right there no line interface but nice room lights and that's from the isle of wight background and room lights from two bare bulbs so I kind of position it like this guys that looks good but I've got a light her face and like you could you grab me the diem the thing's reflector that's what I'm looking for uh so there is a shot on my one dvd designing an image where the one with the tons of blown out highlights and what I did I did something like this and I surrounded her with silver reflectors because all that light on the background balance into the reflectors and then kicked back on her so there was zero main light on her face which means that it is super soft extremely soft light because it's just reflective that's all it is to it so that's what I'm going to do here but I'm going to use instead of the trife lecter which I'm just going toe we might throw that into the mix I'm going to use the flats so these air not really flat caesar our makeshift ones and she won't be a little high to actually use it but we'll see okay so what I need it is two more bare bulbs to more bare bulbs that I am going to bounce from either side of her into a v flat because what it does is when it bounces into the v flat that b flat becomes a gigantic white reflector and so then it kicks all that light ford and it is super soft like very very very soft like so I'm going to turn down my back life try that and I'll give you readings as well and we get it all set up cool perfect so let's see what kind of and do we have a lower chair that we can use for her cut can we grab a one back there maybe okay cool because right now I don't have the tall the funds so if I light below it's going to be bottomley again so I need to get her a little bit lower thank you have a perfect switch you can just get that I'm gonna give it to you like I want to go on and get it she isn't how it'd be something here you go thank you so nice lower perfect good sonny's lower my back leads to match good perfect same here before it was when the lights are a pyre now it was giving her hair light instead of a light on the other side of her face so that's why I'm lowering them good all right so now you guys are going to see like nothing because we're basically boxing her in okay so bring these crazy close keep coming keep coming keep coming little box here perfect I tend to like to like put my people in little traps apparently is that a thing okay we put that one in for me yes I'm trapping you in here and I'll try to be ableto everyone have a view of this you know if you guys since bill to stand up in a sec what okay wanting this one on for me this uh oh, it's perfect. Okay couldn't do there. All right? Awesome. And like stripper and lean forward for me. Good let's. Test this. And what are my main lights set at you tell me what they say and we'll take a little reading here. Seven seven. What about that window? This is on the main light. Would you put it at six o on? Becky? Can you put that at six? So and I don't really I'm going to show you how do you know what that means? I was goingto I'm just guessing at the starting point and then I'll build from there. I'll take a meter reading figured out. Okay. Let's tastic and head straight onto me. Good is a total test. No idea yet. Something not plugged in, right? I heard it. That's that means something's up like tonight. I got it, I think it's just this one. Okay, school good. And I want these lights to be pointed higher up in the v flats. Let's, put a little bit higher this one's a little short for what I would want but it's okay, let's, try this again. Okay. Let's, do this. You should be better and I want them pointed a little bit more cunning, more towards the front, so right now what I'm looking at it I can see in her eyes that is a little bit across light because we haven't pointed into the corners the v flats but that means it bounces in from the corners so I needed to kick straight ahead with both of those lights so that it bounces straight from straight in front of her instead of from the side which would give me a cross like so bouncing it into the front of this instead of the sides alright so it seems that the same on this one we're good ok and lean forward look right at me and chin down a little so it's a test all right I won't open up a little it's getting better we'll see then sloping slowly and now can you turn the power of my back to lace lung? Go and turn the back lights up now so turn him up tio um no, the backlight turned up to five o he's the top one is the power so this right here that says five o and backing each in the back that up to five okay, take a look here good. See if it's enough yet getting better by turning off a little bit more and so the major thing that's bothering me basically that's still really low light there's not much you can do without a higher b flat so what I would have to do is just rig it vertically, okay? So that should be pretty good. Um I still would like a higher light source but it is what it is okay in this way a little bit right there there you go that's looking pretty good. So try something like this in a second, ok? So something like that so she gets those nice room lights from behind and a white background and then, like really flat glowing light if I could have it come from a higher angle I probably would but it's not terrible and I do know that I would get rid of this one curl if one crazy girl okay gonna fix that one crazy girl we good? All right? And let me see if I can put these like, a little higher see if I can try to fix my problems little a little bit higher attempt that. Okay, perfect. Just like that street on good, perfect. And then if you want to make it a little more artistic, I'm going to add lens flare on purpose. Okay, so let's make it artistic. Okay, so now I'm going to move this laden so I can see it so back you're gonna have you man that's light or one man has light and bring in a little bit more going just physically moved the light to the centre centre keep going oh no center and then back right there and tilt it towards me like rotated there you go good all right so I'm going to go see this light in my picture and we're going to see what kind of lens where I could give myself in camera and can you put it more behind her I don't think that light goes any lower does it okay more behind or keep going keep going keep going like in center no yeah this one we'll try that a little bit more behind her way have a floor stand you know source sends it all can you hold it back no I just need it right at her shoulder level basically okay so let me break down what I'm looking at I'm trying to add lens flare but the lights above her head so it's driving me crazy because I need it to be like right even with the shoulder so it wrapped around her face normally I have floor stands and that's what it would do because these were all kind of the high stands so right they're perfect and move in just a little bit picky richter sure that that's a little bit and we switch is the black knight took look the movement behind her a little bit more there we go should I like something I still try something like that will say and in every way, shape and form it's breaking in town of rules that's okay, because pretty soon the second it was just like soft lens, but you should see a little more lines for in the next one. I want to put it right behind ahead. We'll do one more right there, right in the crook of her neck a little bit lower right there do that no more good. We'll try that one. So it's gonna look very dreamy and lots and lots of lens flare and low contrast what I'm blind after shooting incident like well, see if his ring them it's like super soft and very glowy and something like that yeah, it's definitely like breaking every rule and you can hate it or you can like it that's ok, so they like it over here said school I don't know what that is. Okay, so let's see what type of questions you guys have? I'm going to get meter readings from them so I can give you an idea, but ideally you'd have full v flats point into the flats and then the light is coming completely from in front when you're not trying to create lens flare um, not not so bad because I have the lights off to the side it's a soon as they're in my frame that it becomes a problem so it's not too much of a problem there if you have a small space and you're shooting bare bulbs and yet you might if you have a small spaces like instead of shooting nine foot seamless maybe you're shooting six then you've got a little less to work with for space you look cute or not that's what you want here but you did look you okay? Alright coming get okay can we get a reading and then we'll break let's just get some readings so I could give them to people here um all right so the diagram would look like this from overhead ready she's sitting in the middle to bear bowl was behind her back forty five pointed at the background but also anglicized you catch the side of her face then the two lights in the front are pointed straight ahead into large white reflectors of some sort ideally you want them higher up than her and raised the lights higher up than her so that it's not bottom light like we kind of have a little bit here. Oh, by the way, whoever some on the computer could you zoom in on the eyes and show people real quick with the catch lights look like so just like it looks almost kind of like natural light because it's uneven um and you get multiple planes there so yeah, so we're going to take a reading okay he's taking a reading in the corner of the v flat contestant oh please it's resetting woman could twenty f twenty but when it bounces back on her face it significantly less but that's the power just fourteen on the background anyone get this one over here from me which it should be quite similar hat says this one I'm hitting it we need a new battery is probably good okay doesn't he said that when I was twenty five so I would say you have your main lines when the power at twenty five ish but it ends up being on her face about eleven f fourteen because its reflected light and it's got to travel to the v flat then it spreads out and get soft and then it bounces back on her face and has traveled back to her so the time it gets to her instead of being of twenty or twenty five it's more like half eleven and the light on the backgrounds of each one of those you would have it about half eleven or of fourteen to give you those those room lights if they're getting blown out too much you turned them down but if you want the background to stay white you need to make sure you move everything like a little closer a little closer that way this is kind of ah not necessarily specific toe teo lighting but out well it is alex lake photo from los angeles when doing a fashion shoot for a magazine, do you generally have some direction from the magazine on the lighting for the shoot, or do you have creative control? It depends on who's paying if a magazine usually editorials when I shoot for zinka what everyone's like creative or an editorial for relapse, where it's my idea what I do is I pitch them the idea first, they don't come to me, usually with the idea they say, okay, our theme is whatever we're trying to show swimsuit story, whatever. And so then I pitched the idea, and so my lighting is built into that pitch, so I'm showing them what I'm thinking, and then I just shoot whatever, whereas if it's a portrait and they're hiring me to shoot a portrait, they'll say, we want something like this and still me. I still do my tweaks, but it has to fit their publication. So it's, it's, who's paying or who is in charge of it, which is always me getting.