Lessons
Day 1
1Class Introduction
10:08 2Why Light Matters
35:34 3What Makes Good Light?
18:32 4Equipment Q&A
13:04 5Subject Centric Lighting: Bowling Balls
10:51 6Wizwow's Rope Meter
17:44 7Softbox vs. Shower Curtain (Claudine)
26:05Technical Q&A
33:07 9Light Modifiers
13:37 10Light Modifiers Shoot: Alyssa & Claudine
47:40 11Light Modifiers Q&A
23:25 12Subject Centric Lighting
25:14 13Subject Centric Lighting Q&A
03:35 14Shoot: What We've Covered
22:45Day 2
15Lesson 16 - 29 Introduction
08:41 16Reviewing Previous Images
20:21 17Placing Exposure
31:22 18Placing Exposure Q&A
11:43 19Emotional Lighting
17:58 20Shoot: Window Light (Brie and Alyssa)
42:11 21Working with Models
09:41 22Shoot: Window Light with Reflectors
06:20 23Shoot: Headshot with Hot Lights (Brie)
22:51 24Shoot: Headshot with Hot Lights (Alyssa)
13:09 25Shoot Q&A
11:15 26Shoot: Beach Lighting
27:47 27Shoot: Clam Shell Lighting
26:15 28Shoot: Beauty Dish
20:23 29Reviewing Today's Images
31:23Day 3
30Owning Your Own Light
13:57 31Telling Stories
09:43 32Shoot: Dramatic Single Light (John)
20:08 33Shoot: Beauty Setup (Natalie)
28:50 34Student Shoot: Tracy
13:18 35Student Shoot: Kimberly
15:18 36Student Shoot: Ian
16:53 37Student Shoot: Lori
16:13 38Student Shoot: Moe
05:54 39Shoot: Building the Ambient (Isabel)
53:48 40Shoot: Two Subjects (Briana and Natalie)
16:23 41Student Image Review
13:46 42Life as a Photographer
51:09Lesson Info
Placing Exposure Q&A
when using a reflector on the face d'you meet her with or without the reflector to determine the correct exposure using a reflector on face you're getting like a bounce card reflector right you meet her with with the reflector absolutely that is your meat oring the shot you're going to take yes so get it his closest you possibly can toe where it looks to you to your eye good if you're using stroke of course you can't see that but I think you can see the effect if you're doing natural light work any kind of bounce card work for something like that you better be able to sit does that look right to you break then you met then you place your exposure and sometimes that exposure that you've placed is gonna be a little bit different on your on your capture than your real life is and we can't see over exposed we can't see underexposed right we just see what we see way do that through the camera so I tend to over but there are times who liked to go under there are photographers who liked it am...
ore deeper skin tones that want deeper shadows and that kind of thing that's all cool to absolutely question was from goto how much attention does do you pay how much attention do you pay to make up in exposure calculations which attention pay makeup exposure calculates well in the case of the one that I showed a brie that was very overexposed that was very deliberate we had to we knew we were going to overexpose by full stop and so knowing that we know we're going to blow out some makeup so we had to put the makeup on doubly heavy at least you know in our minds a stop mohr darker because we're gonna kill a stop with our exposure and we tested going in we would we would actually you know bring bree out center down do a test up maybe have that a little more and we'll go back in some very very aware I'm in the shots of rio by the way she has no makeup on bree has bree has very little makeup on this really has no makeup on and this shot of the uh there's no make up on a lady she's a surfer girl she don't wear makeup she may now she's only fifteen in the shot she may now but at the time natural girl don't maybe a similar question to the makeup question how about if someone's wearing a hat like you have on and their eyes are all in shadow and it's not makeup that's going to be lighting right gonna have to deal with lighting where would you expose then in the rim the shadow onto your eye or shaker well let's let's talk about it for second if you expose for my eyes to bring my eyes up what happens my chin and cheeks it's gonna go up they're gonna go bright yeah if you expose for my chin and cheeks goes happens to my eyes they go dark yes that's the tradeoff how do we get if if you had no bounce cards or no other light you're gonna have to make a decision what would I do I'd probably shoot it to the light and bring the skin down in photo shop burn it down in the dark room so to speak because I couldn't do that I just can't bring the eyes up there is no information there so I would expose a little bit brighter and then burn it down in photo shop you're a white card underneath now if you bring a white card underneath then you're going to change everything now you're changing your gold globally there changing your entire shot to fit what you need and those of the wonderful tradeoffs and choices and that's why I say there's no rules what you want to do is what you wanna do and if that works for you anything now this is great that's exactly right that's why I'm not a single kind of lighting guy I'm not you know I only use strobes or I only use big strokes or I only used natural light owned a those things everything that we do is a choice we do it all I think of photographer is if you have to speed lights of three speed lights great the next thing to do by an einstein or pro photo or something just one heads you've got one of those make sure you've got a bunch of bounce cards and that you do everything to create the photographs that she wants other side of the coin is william coupon made a on entire career shooting one soft box if made with coin coupons he's president stuff too great that brownish background and that one light with the normal lens I mean pretty much every shot was that shot so you know you could do it that way too yes don can you please explain again the exposure in the bride's dress and that's forty no okay exposure in the bride's dress when you put your camera meter the one in the camera not this one okay one of the camera on a white dress it's going to tell you two under expose it to stops to take that white dress to middle grade that when you zero out your meter in your camera if you take that picture it's not going to be a white dress is gonna be a great dress if you put the meter on the tuxedo it's not gonna be a black tuxedo is gonna be a great tuxedo okay the point is the white dress is eight uh what we say eleven eleven don't we said a eight five six four tuxedo would be to two point eight four any point you're gonna get to four right because the tuxedos going to stops under according your shot according to what the meter said and the dress to stops over what happens if I use this what do I get if I use this for it's gonna say four because this doesn't care what the subject wears that's why I use this mohr than the other one I know how to use the other one very well very well and you should as well for there's times when there when you can use it we'll do a hypothetical I love hypothetically love hypotheticals you're standing on the golden gate bridge and you look out towards the city and it just looks gorgeous it's just lit up just so pretty and you're in the sun and the golden gate bridge is in the sun and the cities in the sun you can take this meter and stick it up right behind your head and push the button and take a reading can't you you're in the same sun cities in right here take the take the reading now the fog comes over and you're no longer in the sun and san francisco's got a little bit of cloud thing happening on it this is now useful because you're not in the same light as they are right now you've got to get your camera meter out because now you have to reach out and meter it meter the reflective so you have to be able to think in both terms both terms by the way you want you're a hallmark of photographer who hasn't thought things through god's going to follow me on this let's say I'm standing here and the light's on me and I'm I'm shooting no lights on my word right standing out in the parking lot right I'm shooting mo and I put my camera down and then I walk over to mold and I do this and I walked back to my camera cast great could I just done this what the hell changed in six feet were standing in the sun I just go yeah yeah same same like where you go and take the shot I'll have to walk over to moe there's nothing happening between here and mode change that exposure that's a photographer who hasn't thought things through same white take the shot that's why use this meter by the way reflected an incident like meter sometimes they're called ambient light calm incidents light hits the dome tells me the reading the newer ones retract they retract so that you can do am uh ratios so a question from jamie hard won yesterday when you were saying to get the reading from the meter and then change it I'm sorry right now you're saying to get the reading from the meter and then change it to compensate for exposure when yesterday you used the exact reading you've got on the meter I was usually where this meter if you're using a an ambient meter you can use the meter reading that you get because it doesn't matter what the subjects fluminense's this says this is the exposure for middle gray whether there's middle gray in the shot or not this would give you f four on the bride and the groom together where the camera meter would be different we're talking about reflected lights and luminous is difference two different types of meters okay great yeah yesterday I did not use my camera meter at all right and that was with with the external lighting a swell so that kind of rodney bed souls question hi rodney um is when using when you're using strobes than how do you use the cameras meter to get your exposure without firing the lights this is it absolutely easy question didn't have to go any further you don't you can't grate camera meters are not made for stroke they cannot read strobe lights meters in your camera are reflected light continuous like you want a stroll meter you have to buy a meter that is reactive to that pop you cannot do it mr hobbs you know what works for strobes up the string available on my website for thirty nine ninety five fashion tv is wondering what your views are on using nd filters outdoor to manage exposure um yeah we were we talked about that yesterday I don't you know I don't have a neutral density filter um I used to and I haven't replaced it but it's something I'm going to think about we were talking about your pro photos being too powerful in the studio and the first thing I thought it was you know baffling off your strobes and I think ian said we'll use a neutral density forward well yeah in the studio absolutely that would make so much sense I'm the same problem my pro photos six hundreds when they I turn him all the way down to do a headshot in a six foot umbrella where I like to put my umbrella in close that's f eleven that's all the way down I don't have a shortage of power I have abundance of power so I actually have some things to take the power down from stroll outside to use neutral density filters are really great remember their global so they're not going to make your stroke is more powerful everything comes down strobes and ambien everything comes down so yeah they worked very well and I love those ones you can dial sing grey ones you can dial I like four six stops or something they're great they're expensive but they're very very good filters
Class Materials
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bonus material with enrollment
Ratings and Reviews
Cheryl
I just finished watching this course, and with teary eyes can say, without reserve, this class has been fantastic! Don's last session would be great to watch in the beginning and the end because it helps to understand his thoughts on being a photographer. The rest of the class is full of great information on lighting and Don is able to explain his thoughts and his processes with ease. I hope I will always think ahead and plan how I want my final results and how I want my subject to reflect light. Learning this was one of my "aha" moments during this class. I own over 30 Creative Live photography courses and this class is one of the top classes I own. I already plan on rewatching the whole class. Well worth the investment! I feel it is not a beginner course, but a intermediate to advanced one. Don has set a high standard in lighting...a goal to reach for...a goal that is possible for each person willing to take the time to learn and practice. Thanks Don and thanks CreativeLive!
Ryan Redmond
I am so glad I took this course. I'll be honest, it took a few lessons for me to warm up to this series but I'm glad I stuck with it. I have had a couple cheap speedlights, softboxes/umbrellas, and reflectors for many months now and was too intimidated to start using them. After going through this I am not only downright excited to use them, and confident that I can have spectacular outcomes, I'm also confident about shooting in natural light indoors and outdoors. It's also given me the tools and confidence to start shooting in manual vs aperture priority and to nail the general calculations in my head. I appreciate that Don used mostly budget or unorthodox equipment like speedlights, foam core, work lights, curtains, etc. because that's what I can afford and have been using to try to replicate expensive gear. Other classes use thousands of dollars in lighting and Don proves you don't need that for excellent shots. I also appreciate his advice for directing your "models" and insights into his overall process. This class was invaluable to me as a novice. Thank you!
Joanna
I thank very much CL that I could see the wonderful material on the light in photography, in fact everything became clearer, Don you are the great teacher, great stuff, very interesting and fantastic lecture, very helpful ! Thank you one more time !!!