Lessons
Class Introduction
03:47 2Flash & Exposure Review
11:36 3Demo: Flashes Overview
11:54 4Demo: Manual Flash
12:16 5Triggering Methods Overview
15:39 6Demo: Mixing Brands of Triggers
17:45 7Demo: Defining Lights Overview
14:45 8What Modifier to Use with Multiple Flashes?
05:48Demo: Umbrellas
20:31 10Demo: Soft Boxes
12:57 11Demo: Octas
10:58 12Demo: Reflectors
05:47 13Demo: Beauty Dish
05:01 14Snoots & Grids Overview
04:15 15Demo: How to Setup Multiple Lights in the Studio
13:12 16Demo: Key & Hair/Rim Light Setup
04:59 17Demo: Key & Background Light Setup
07:53 18Demo: Clamshell Two Light Setup
14:39 19Demo: Key, Fill & Background Light Setup
17:42 20Demo: Side Lights & Background Light Setup
10:21 21Demo: Clamshell & Rim Light Setup
06:16 22Demo: Rembrandt, Fill & Hair Light Setup
07:13 23Demo: Rembrandt, Fill, Hair & Background Lights
20:40 24Demo: Clamshell, Rim, One Background Light
09:40 25Demo: How to Produce a Pure White Background
28:26 26Demo: Full-Length Portraits with Multiple Lights
07:28 27Demo: Still Life Example with Multiple Lights
10:22Lesson Info
Demo: Beauty Dish
A lot of people think about wanting to buy a beauty dish. I know I do, because I see all of the famous photographers. They're all using beauty dishes, so I gotta have a beauty dish. So I went out and bought beauty dishes. And then I started using them and I'm like, hmm, how come my photos don't look like so and so's photos? The reason why is beauty dishes take a lot of skill to use well. Remember earlier I talked about size? Size matters with your light diffusers. Bigger is better. Well guess what? Beauty dishes are pretty small. Let me show you. So I've got two beauty dishes here today. One of them is a collapsible beauty dish, again, made by my favorite company, Pro Photo. So this is a beauty dish. It's called the OCF Beauty Dish and it's collapsible in that the whole things folds down really small, okay? Let me show you this other beauty dish that I have that is not collapsible. Here. Okay. So this is basically how a beauty dish works. The flash comes in through the back, it reflect...
s off of this reflection panel here, that sends the light backwards to the beauty dish itself, which then goes on to the subject. Look at the size of a beauty dish. You know, the size is what? 20 inches? Yeah, 24 inches. So these are 24 inch diameter. And earlier we were talking about five foot diameter, six foot diameter, the smallest so far is like a three foot diameter. So the deal with these is they're going to give you a very, kind of, a contrasty look. Almost a much harsher, harder look. You've got to position them just so, just exactly the right height. If you get them too high, you get hard shadows underneath the eyes. Position it too low, well you've lost the effect. So, let me just show you a quick shot with a beauty dish. A lot of people using beauty dishes like putting them on a boom arm, and so that's what I have here. It's on this boom arm, just like that. And that allows me to position it just perfectly, just so. This specific light stand, it's called the C stand. Super useful in the studio when you have five, six lights, because you can stack C stands right next to each other because of the varying height of the legs. Love C stands, but they are heavy, heavy, heavy. Okay, so I'm going to position this. Oops, wrong dial. And I'm just going to go about like that, slightly above her head. And this is a little bit of an iteration. You know, I'm going to iterate. I'm going to take a picture, look at it, and go, oop, too high, too low. So I get right in front. Okay, I think that's about right. We'll throw my flash on there. Oh, Houston, we have a problem. So, the beauty dish has a smaller opening and it's closer to the hot shoe mount, so it's like ahhhhhh. My flash won't actually physically fit in there. How is that going to work? So, what are my options? Well, tape. Tape is always a good option. I could just hang it there. That's not real safe. I could get a different flash, which is a little bit different height. Some of the flashes we buy are actually shorter. So for this one, we should tape it. Oh! No. I have a better solution, because time is of the essence. A human powered beauty dish light holder. Would you hold this for me? I'm just going to have him just literally hold this in there, just for the sake of time. Just hold it right like that. Cool. Okay, here we go. One, two (click). You were smiling so well, I didn't even get to three. (laughing) Love it. [Man] So we see here in this image, So we probably need to do a little bit of makeup work, because beauty dishes, like I say, they can be very contrasty. And so a lot of times, you have to use a flattening type of makeup. I'm not a makeup person. You can tell, I don't even know what term to use. A powdah. We'll use a powdah. A lot of times you get this shine on the cheek. I'm not saying it's terrible, but you've just got to be careful. Look at the definition underneath her cheek, underneath her nose. The beauty dish just causes a lot more contrast, so we have to be very careful with the beauty dish. And I'm not going to fine tune it right now. I just want you guys to get a feel for what that beauty dish looks like. Thank you.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with RSVP
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Marty Walker
This is really a fantastic class and at an even fantastic-er price. Well worth the money, and is a great help. The instructor does a very good job explaining the methods, light shapers, and effects they create. One of my favorite videos!
Jeph DeLorme
Mike Hagen does a great job of presenting what could be a complicated process in a way that makes it easy to understand and implement. Not only does he make it easy to follow along, he presents alternative solutions that don't break the budget. I have viewed several instructors and various classes at Creative Live and this would definitely be one of my favorites. I have to say, this class would be a bargain at 10x the price!
Tim Stapenhurst
What can I say about this class? Mike is great- not only does he give a thorough break down of all the equipment one could need but he also includes wide variety of price options for those just getting started. Aside from his thorough knowledge of gear, Mike provides an excellent and easy to follow bread down of how to build up the light for your subject. His lesson plan is super easy to follow and very concise as he slowly builds up from using 2 lights to 5 lights. He also demonstrate what I think is a much needed trait in a photographer and that is being cool under pressure, dealing with issues and not getting rattled and simply going back to the basics. Creative Live Nailed it with this class