Lessons

Lesson Info

Home Tour

tony what's really really cool is that there is only so much that we can teach here we teach a lot just only so much we can teach in a studio itself and as we're talking about putting together your home studio what we decided we needed to dio was to take tony and go into a home a real home he had never been to before as well as had never been a photo studio before has all kinds of rooms garage has a lead on the living room is the bedrooms and you figured out how to turn that by the end of the day we'll see how you turn that into a home photo studio I think it's I think it's a matter of walking around your environment and looking at the possibilities and looking at a room and scratching your head and going it's kind of a small weird looking room but there's a great window in it or this is room with no light at all but it's whip allows life to come in or whatever this but it's just a it's a way to walk through the house and have a good look and think it through you know and I always tell...

students you have to think like a photographer did a house to put it just think photo and can you pull this off and answer is usually yeah I think I could pull this off yeah I think I think like the camera and I think what's really exciting I would ask people to keep in mind as we head into watching this very first video where you are giving a home tour and you're going in there is to think about doing this I think for yourself a cz well if you're looking to create a home studio for yourself think about it from the perspective of a of a client coming in and like you said as that camera and just kind of walk in as if you had never been there before so it's for many people that become your home becomes your place of business and it needs to be warm and inviting as your home would be but it also needs to be you know conducive to doing this kind of work and you've got you know as we've talked about it for over and over now we've got a set hours you've got to take care of it as a business but at the same time it's really gonna feel great when people show up that's right and and you've got safety concerns but you've got to make sure that it's that it does what it's supposed to do so that's what this is video in this whole day's all about what's right so what we're going to do everyone's we're gonna watch a video and then we're going to come back and tony is going to take questions going to talk about what we saw there so we're going to just kick it off with our very first video which is the home tour we're looking all over for walking all through the home that's right all right let's roll it you know any time you come into somebody's house like this and you're going to try to figure out where you're going to shoot there's there's two or three things that I'm obviously looking for the ceiling height is going to be hugely important obviously and this way have no trouble here but this is not typical and we're going to be spoiled on you gotta have some whip and in this case we've got some area toe work here s o this is gonna be a really ideal place to do it to do a shoot in this family this family room in this living room uh you know what I think when you when you go into this huh when you're going to shoot in a home studio you've got to determine are we setting up a place that's gonna be a permanent place to work or just going to be just a temporary place where we can set up and tear down real quick this makes sense uh as the temporary place and you can't obviously set up a permit studio here but this room is so great and I think this is going to be the optimum room just got length so we can step back and get a good focal length and get good compression with and with the high quick and razorback ground up and we can shoot a studio portrait in this living room and make it look like it was done in the studio so I think this room is going to be really great that's the width is also really really important here so I think this is gonna work great for our first for first shoot and uh moving forward this is the kind of room that's just going to be ideal when you start thinking about lighting for a room like this I think we have to consider that we don't have white walls because the walls aren't wife that means it eliminates some of the bouncing that we could do uh so we're not going to do a lot of bouncing walls bouncing light in here that also means that ambient light's going to have a little bit of a warm tone to it as well so I think we've got to bring in lights to built in eighty one a filter isn't anyone it's when a filter but I think we have to put strobes and here we have to light it so again the thing about the with it gives me the ability to have plenty of with to bring in a fairly reasonable size source so we're probably going to like this family with two lights maybe three lights but I think that's what we're gonna have to do in order to kill any any ambient tone ality and plus give us full control of our lives we have big windows also the signs and the windows air good for some things at certain times a day but they are gonna limit how you can work in here and the beauty about working a home studio is it if you do this right and set this up right and understand all that the techniques right you can work twenty four seven just about as long as you know what you're doing and pay attention and like qualities but this is a good room for for its footprint but I do think we're going to light it separately so this is this is another one of situations where we've got a really great spot toe work um especially if you're working in somebody's home and you're invited in to shoot them in their home uh the patio like this a deck like this well we've got is the house works as a as a psa tractor of light on one side and then we got these very large pine trees which are great because they'll knock off light in other areas so that means that I've got a little pocket of light right there there's another pocket of light right up there there's another one behind this over here although that works is individual life sources so this is true we talk about color temperature and dealing with the green trees and the brown house in the blue sky yeah yeah you might want to get your little uh your killer check her out and use that uh your your passport for that because I do think this is one of those situations where if you're not lighting with augmenting the light that's here you are going to get a little bit of trouble with color balance uh but we've got it's beautifully appointed out here it's facing the right direction because late in the day the front of house faces west so late in the day the sun's gonna be behind the house all this is going to be in cool light and it's going to be even and smooth and it's going to be none non speculum meanings only soft really pretty light but could still be directional because of these trees so I think these trees weren't great as subtract er's for me and that's what I look for is some way of subtracting a lot away from the primary subjects we can create some depth so I think it's beautiful spot looking forward to it the dining room it's always a good place to work this is this is unique because this dining room does have a window and not all do and smaller homes especially but because of the window it does give us some opportunities to do some things but it's still a darker room than the other ones it is hard work different options here and that makes that's what that's what we love about the technology now because now with hirai esos weaken boost up up up up and keep going and get shots where we couldn't before but I think I think there's some things that we can do obviously we can use the table we can still laugh in fact will do that in a little bit later on we'll do some still live commercial tabletop kind of work here uh but we've also got this great window we can do someone delight portrait uh thinking in terms of that being a backdrop going that direction or this being a backdrop going this direction this wall back here as long as it's good and clean could be the backdrop behind a portrait so I see one two three four different things we can do in this room and it's you know it's not that big a cigar to do it it's not nearly as challenging I do think people have to learn toe to take their time and see and walk through their homes I think there's a lot that you might miss if you don't try and work through their home at different times of day well that's it you see where the light's gonna point yeah the afternoon that den over there that we'll talk about that den doesn't work in the afternoon but in the morning that light in there is really nice so yeah I think I think it does require that we have to walk and think about it puts um you know make some notes if you're gonna work in your home make some notes on what works and what doesn't work so this room I think is a really good room and again we're blessed with having great ceiling heights in here so that helps a lot you know any cream any problems that you see any big trouble areas in this room now that's a great table and the table is big we can get a lot of product onto and can shoot from different angles on it and it looks like the leaf comes out so if it is too big for us when we needed it yeah but can shorten it down okay good looking good all right so here in the den this room is this is the stand room everybody's got this yeah it's a regular height ceiling in here because that's a little different challenge there's some challenges and really needs to deal with it's a it's a smallish square room it's a great room it's a beautiful room big windows the big windows the thing that's the real saving grace here because there's not a lot of room in here to shoot with lights but that big window offers you know certain times a day really offers from nice light look a highlight on the back of the sofa that's always a good indicator when I'm walking around the house trying to figure out where to shoot from looking at ambient light I'm always looking the backs of chairs and the tops of sofas because that tells me and gives me a big indicator of what's happening in the room but in this room yeah we we're going we're limited that area to shoot some means we're gonna be over in that corner shooting across or in that corner shooting across but either way there's just not a lot of room but it's still a good room to work and you don't want to not work in and someone's dead if they this is a portrait that they want in this room so good this is it this is it that we're in the garage and this is the last place most photographers would want to take pictures for me this is the first place I looked I think this there's a lot that can be done here people set studios up with studio lighting of course right but even with the big doors here big doors we're gonna become our light I think that's what the source and I want to go through your head shots I want to go through a couple of different ways of using this open light uh I've got a nonstop northlight facing studio basically with this kind of with this kind of like quality but it's not it's not simple it's not a given there's some things that we have to do to control a little bit but I do think that this is gonna work out for us and one of the segments that we're going to do um I think we're going to some pretty remarkable pictures and the beauty of it this is especially the way this house is positioned the doors air facing to the west that means that this great soft life it's lighting you and I right now we've got all day long until you know two three four pm yeah and then we've got to deal with that and but that's easy to deal with us well but the beauty here is this is a two car garage with the stuff it and everybody's garage has but don't discount is a a za place that you wouldn't want to work right backgrounds just gonna go so dark we don't even really have to we're even now the backgrounds gonna beanies and plus we're going to put a background out here we'll throw background up and make it look like it was a studio shot one of the other things that we need to keep in mind just like working in that hallway we've got the ability to back up and we can back up across the street I could shoot in here with a three hundred millimeter lens and get away with it as long as the cars are going what is long that's right but it's a garage and so it's a perfect place to store your gear you can have a shelf I'm sure you're your spouse or significant other will give you give you a shelf area to store your gear uh but it does make a great place the light source is terrific the space is good uh and you've got lots and lots of room to work even if it's a single car garage but but the main thing is we can back up a long way and shoot with the long lines with a narrow field of you with the big feet with the narrow view and uh and the and the beauty is uh when you're using this kind of ambient source for your lights the recycle time is really fast that's what it is now that son recycle is what we're going to be shooting in here later in the afternoon I think you'll die strokes I think you'll like what we do okay yeah we fund this room is perfect this is this is typical in it square small it's a ceiling it's a bedroom that they've converted to an office and what's great about this room ah everybody's got this room I mean this is the this is the kind of room that everybody has to deal with and work within there's some challenges but there were really easy to overcome it's the only room in this home that has slow ceilings that are also white yes that's great because that means I can bounce light up and around I can I confined angles that I can use that ceiling to my benefit playing days coming that's exactly right the full plane days you gotta bounce just like a pool table uh one of the great things about this is because the nature of the room we've got this little area over here on the right side on my right and then we got this little corner here because the doors in the middle of the room instead of the door being like left or right what that means is it gives me the ability to I can hide a light here maybe a smaller source there but I could put like a big soft box right here and hide it it's hidden from my camera view if you were about flair and I could just put a backdrop right across there and I can just go right down the hallway in fact we could go down here and shoot just straight into the room I could even go to I could probably use like seventy two hundred and probably shoot from back here and right where you are in fact back up another foot or two's on right in there right there's gonna be a great place suppose you in position you I couldn't even do if I could do a family of two or three right there easily you know and right over on that side we could probably the big box yep and they will feel from this side yeah we can do that okay and we could just put a bag drop flat across there and I could even maybe try to light it from kind of a hairline accent like shoulder accent light from that corner bouncing something straight up into the ceiling let it fall down on your shoulders sounds good so I think this is gonna be a pretty workable space and everybody's got this room that's what it's very typical I think you know if this was if this was going to be the room the permanent ruminant room set up a lot of people have to set aside a small bedroom as their studio carry in their home this room would work pretty well for a couple reasons obviously we talked about the white ceiling I would take care of getting everything off the walls get all the furniture out uh this area over here where the closet door ia's is a beautiful area because I've got a place to hide gear and all the photo equipment but it's also white reflector it's its own reflector I think one of the things that I would do to save space instead of bringing a light standing with a reflector and using it in here a lot I think every place that you see a wall hanging I would have a white piece of matt border foam core attacks to the wall then I can bounce right into my walls and change without having to repaint the room and for backdrops auto coles yeah so it's more portable so the voter polls you just one foot straight up there's no there's no tripod coming in to save some space in here and those air spring loaded you can just you can crank him down and fit whatever size height you need and that gives us the ability to turn about angles to pretty easily I think I think it's typical but I think it's a real workable space it doesn't appear to be more than you know twelve by twelve at the most right I mean it may be limited if her you have a family five or six might between you need to go back to the family two or three or for still lifes I mean you could do a lot of really great work and he's in here all day I think great the floor I think one thing about the carpeted floor uh carpets really good for everything except the most seamless paper then there's a problem and so if you're going to do that and if you have to roll out and dropouts um seamless you gotta put a piece of plywood or particleboard or something underneath it just so so high heels don't poke holes through the paper but uh pretty usable risk it's good okay let's go start let's go back to living room and well okay let's go for a shooting you know the fun part about this is you have to as you all know when you do any kind of work in somebody's space you have to think on your feet and you know you never let them see you sweat and if the clients walking with you looking over your shoulder on everything that you're doing you have to walk and talk exactly as if you know what you're doing so you really do have to pre visualize problems the pre visualizing the stuff that works that's the easy part the tough part is the problems when you finally find the spot it's perfect this is great and then you look ranga wait there's no plugged in this room or here the breakers flipped or whatever it might be so you have to kind of learn anto trouble shoot a little bit uh and for us when john and I made this walk through obviously but this is a beautiful home and we found some great great places to shoot but we also found a normal garage they did have some high ceilings but that doesn't really affect what I would want to do and then we also found this very small bedroom and we're going to shoot in that very small bedroom so we will see that shortly