Lessons
Class Introduction
12:53 2What Is Low-Key Lighting?
11:11 3Bringing in the Subject
05:01 4Lighting Patterns
19:21 5Lighting Patterns: Broad vs. Short
09:25 6Giving Your Light a Job
12:07 7How to Create Separation
06:58 8Shoot: Putting it All Together
08:34Developing the Raw for Low-Key
12:40 10Enhance with Local Adjustments in Lightroom
12:31 11Creating Different Interpretations in Lightroom
16:19 12Clean Up Image in Photoshop
09:11 13Dodge and Burn in Photoshop
11:00 14Liquify in Photoshop
09:40 15Adjust Color and Contrast in Photoshop
11:17Lesson Info
Shoot: Putting it All Together
We're gonna do a little bit of dramatic portraiture now and go ahead. Go ahead and throw that coat on for me, please. If you don't mind, I'm going to turn this way, way, way down. I I personally am not a huge user of rim lights. This is because I find that I like more painterly sensibilities. And when paintings were made, they didn't have multiple light sources. They generally had windows, so I tend to, like, toe work with something that feels like a singular light source. So even though I'm using many lights, I'm using them together to make something that looks like a singular life. Okay, so do me a favor. Let's turn that back light down. Two stops and there you go. That's great. You just turn a little bit this way for me, please. You don't have to look at me. You can look. There you go. That's great. See what this looks like. And so what I have right now is a nice, dark feeling image, right? And it's pretty dark over on the unlit side of the face, so I'm gonna turn this up until I ha...
ve a little bit more Phil over there. You know, we got looking pretty good. Give me about another kick up of stop on the background, please. All right. And so it's pretty soft, right? If I have him turned to me a little bit. There you go. That's great. Chin down. Just a little. Reaching neck out a little bit. Good. Open off. A little bit. Good. Good. That's great. Right there. So I I'll kind of work the scene a little bit, and I'll move around. I don't necessarily feel like I always have to be in the same spot. Turn your body this way for me, please. In turn a little bit less good and turned the face back a little bit. There you go. And then I straight ahead, kind of like, bring your hand up like you're kind of, you know, like you're kind of like wiping your mouth. Okay. And then look off. Look off this way. Good, good. So I like structured collars and textures. So what I'm gonna what I'm gonna use is, like, these kind of toe kick that up a little bit for May. There you go. And then turn the face a little bit. Church in the face and tilt it back to me. A little there on the NYSE were right. It may you face to me. Good. Now, what I've got so far is a pretty dark, dramatic feel to the image. What I'm going to do now is I'm gonna bring in the flag and I'm gonna create a little bit of a shadow on the face. And the way the flag works is we talked about using it for controlling Congress. You can also use it to make shadows. And so that's how we're gonna do. And the closer it is to him, the harder the shadow is going to be, and the further away it is for the way it is, the softer the shadow is gonna be. So I'm gonna move it in pretty close because I have a pretty soft light as is. And I'm going to switch to this longer lens just so I can get in a little bit closer. This is a 1 20 macro, and what I'm gonna do here, I'm gonna use this. Take this. Uh, what can you bring that all the way down for me, please? Thank you. And then I'm gonna make it so I can kind of cut. Let me have it down a bit, you know? Very little. Yep. And so this is going to create a shadow on the side of his face. It's a little bit tricky to see when you don't have the modeling lights come for for me, please. You go. We go. Try that. So when you have the modeling light, it's usually pretty helpful. No, Let's bring that a little bit closer. Yeah, bring it to me. There we go. I kind of missed it a little bit. There it is. Okay, I'm sorry. Now I got a little bit of light on his face, and now we have something a whole lot moodier than where we were before. You kind of see the difference creates, like, a much harder edge on one side of the face. Bring that a little bit closer to him for me, please. Uh, a little bit more year, you come for a little bit there. That's great. And I know it feels really close because I'm trying to create a harder edge on a softer light. I'm just basically shooting so close that I'm kind of cropping out. Turn your face a little bit more this way. Come for a little bit. Head up a little. There you go. Come forward a little bit more. I'm just trying to basically shoot around that flag to give myself something really beautifully dramatic and that the downside of this is it is tricky. Like it's It's such a finally controlled pocket of light. It's tough to really get Get your subject in it. But when you do, it's really gratifying. There you go. Head up just a tad for me, please. We're almost there. Just gonna shifted a little bit. I got a little bit too much of sculling under the eyes. I just want to get a little bit more like to the eyes. So I brought it down a little bit. Head down a little bit for me, please. Good. That's great. Don't move. That's beautiful. Open mouth. A little bit good. They face a little bit this way for me. Please. Great. Give me, like, clench the jaw. Really intense eyes. Good. Now, just with your eyes. Look off that way. That's great. Good. Don't move. Great. Cool. I'm real happy with that. So I kind of show you those of you that were blocked by the TV. Thank you. What we're able to do is create this really beautifully pocket beautiful pocket, a light right here so that so that we can come in and just use use those flags to really control it. And so that's that's kind of everything put together from start to finish and how you can use these tools in a variety of different ways.
Ratings and Reviews
Brenda Pollock Smith
Thank you Chris Knight and Creative Live for another excellent class. I appreciate both the actual shooting and post instruction. Right before your eyes you will see how simple applications of light, shadow combined with post production can create gorgeous, dark images. Chris has a great relaxed manner, easy to follow while offering a ton of tips and tricks. I can hardly wait to try my hand at producing some hauntingly beautiful images like Chris.
a Creativelive Student
I don't have a ton of time to spare and largely catch segments of courses on short breaks. One of the things i like best about this course Chris's ability to communicate so effectively and efficiently. He covers a lot of ground in not a lot of time, but the course doesn't feel at all rushed. He's just a good speaker/instructor. One of the other reviewers mentioned that this instructor brings no ego to the stage, and I have to agree. He's a confident and competent instructor without being obnoxious. Rock solid course with terrific instruction. I will definitely check out more of Knight's classes.
genie
What a great tutorial and a fantastic teacher! Not too long and full of top information. I'd highly recommended it for any beginner who wants to know how to create and process dramatic portrait, as Chris also explains such things as feathering the light or using the light meter. But also as a intermediate/pro photographer you'll get a lot of it. Thanx for this brilliant course.
Student Work
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Portrait Photography