Lessons

Lesson Info

Hard Light

The first type of light and the most obvious is just dealing with a hard life the best way to explain hard light is you know when you walk out on a bright sunny day the sun really is like when tiny light up in the sky and nobody looks good and I like like nobody unless you have this isn't gonna model this is just my friend kalen she's the founder of the giving keys if you'll know that organization but there are only certain people and certain angles that hard light works where the bear son is just beaming down on somebody and I rarely shoot in harsh hearts online but I do occasionally like this this girl is a model and you know you just you really have to watch your shadows but then saw flight is an overcast cloudy day where you know everything's nice and defused you don't have those nasty shadows I mean I remember somebody in the very beginning explaining that very basic difference to me hard and soft light and that just really really helped honey and so the equivalent would be let's ...

go and have ah one of our lovely models come on out remind me of y'all's names one more time countess daniel amy right okay so another lesson while I met it is learned your subjects names I get teo I've literally been on some of the biggest celebrity shoots and I can't remember their names to save my life it is so embarrassing like I'll look at the person and try to like say their name right after this and I still forget like I know you just played a concert last night of forty thousand people but tell me your name one more time and sometimes they get really offended I'm like sorry I just I can't I can't keep so I am I have both light room and capture one pro open I'm going to tether super quick into capture one pro and if anyone is curious I'm shooting with the cannon yeah we don't have light I might need a light huh? One bear bowl coming right up so the equivalent to two sunlight is just using one bear ball no diffusion on it no you know modern lighting modifiers and ah again I do use that but it all comes back to you with this class is about is target audience that's the main now we're getting to the core message of what this class is about no so why not lighted portrait? I don't think about how don't make this look cool. The first question I asked when I get hard for job is who is the target audience? You know, if it's if it's a wedding I know that that bride is most likely going to want to look nice soft, natural um and we'll get into this in a minute. This is a wedding, a shot just a few weeks ago from my friend alexis, and I just understand, understand weddings and assumes business pretty simple. Get a little more complicated later, but women of every kind, ofjust learned, went to be flattered and look it, even even on some of the light, darker album covers, up shot over the years, where the it may be a girl band, and they're like all hard core, their music starker. They still want to look, gets their ways, toe to flatter them, but still make it art. You will get into that a little bit later, but now that we have a lead up, make sure it's fine. So a minute ago I was talking about how lights air getting easier these air the new pro photo be one lights and they are seriously the greatest things ever I'm not just saying that because I'm teaching but when I heard the these had come out call pro photos like I have to test these lights please let me have these lights they're great because there's no batteries or cables attached I mean for years now been on all kinds of shoots and all kind of sets where you get the light you've got this weak batter and you get these annoying annoying cables that everybody's tripping over and it just so now we just have the light and nothing attached to it is amazing first use of slider went toe iceland with an artist named image in heat and so we're like out there and like you know ten minus ten degree weather and I saw it on top of mountains just using a freezing freezing cold in the light was consistent they lasted all day it's just amazing like my assistant is standing out there on top of lava with just holding a soft bucks no cables attach no batteries a dutch it's like the best thing ever and so this is my go to lie I literally is the bi ones on I think everything I do know I own four of them and uh and so I had creative lives like can I get the one light. So, anyway, that those are the lights I'm using and why I'm using it. And I have not. Metered. We have not tested this. This is literally just kind of the first first shot of the day here. Let's, go back to capture one pro. And so, for all of you experienced photographers, this is very basic stuff here I'm talking about. But like this, looks like, you know, harsh sunlight right here, doesn't it? That's whoops, did mean to zoom in that forest, her about that. No, yeah, I mean, that that's, what sunlight does to you, and I rarely really what it would ever really shoot that way. Unless there's a specific reason. Okay, back to the whole target audience, you know, thing. If he there, you know what? There is a good application for this light, so sometimes I do want to mimic the the high fashion what's against them, she told the white bag around. Now, the crazy guys in new york. Terry richardson, yes, so there are some times where, you know, I kind of want to mimic it. Terry richardson. Look, I had a client recently specifically request this, and so, instead of getting a camera with him with an on camera flash, I'll just take a b one, but a right above camera. In fact, let me get a light room, and I'll show you a client that requested this. See if I can find this. She real quick. You're seeing, like my full full library. Oh, here we go. So this was a real world shoot for this company called the franklin juice company it's, like, really amazing juices. And but they they wanted that simple look. And so instead of getting a camera with an on camera flash, I just did exactly this. I put the the strobe right over my head and and it's used on a white background. You can barely move it. So I decided to get. You know, they were shooting on black right now. We'll see that shadow right here, just behind his head. To give me think, you're screaming in the camera, hands in the frame. Yeah, yeah, it isthe fairness. And then, of course, you know my go in and change is a black away at a bunch of contrast. And, you know, we're kind of getting into that world of whatever you call it. I don't know there's a name for it, but I just think of harsh, harsh flesh and because it's coming at, you know, dead center right in its face, it's it's more flattering because you don't have this crazy, no shadow being thrown off, but like I occasionally you know again, they have target audience of fees than a a rock band where this is his style of music and the screaming the mike. Actually, I would d'oh. I'd probably go even mohr toppy. I don't have an arm right now, but I probably extended light up over his head and come or straight down and that's the thing about letting like even with just one light there's, hundreds, if not thousands, like each different place, she put the light I can use hand, hold this real quick. I shall take different places. Toe position. My assistants always laugh. If you want to try deal it's myself, who is this? This one is not area, so you're going tio, you know, come here, can you come here? I'm just going to shoot several, so they can is wildly different, so being halloween, you know, and that this is really for the beginners, but if you put it right under him and she was straight up, I mean, you're obviously going to get very, very halloween looking. A, uh on, you know, like, we just completely changed the image by just moving the light mountain that's. What I mean, when you can't say here's, hey, lighter portrait, there's. So many different ways, like, if this was his, what would you call this album, huh? Yeah, I mean, that's, a whole different vibe, and this might be something he wants. And you know, if that's my client, not me, then if we, we already started with thes straight on, much more flattering, very nice. You go like ahead level, like stepping this idea. And then, ah, this is where you get into, like, start using grids to direct your light. Like, obviously, I don't love the light on the bag. Drop. You see the paper and all. We have a quick grid. We could throw in there. Is when you start getting a lot of lighting modifiers. I want to direct that light. I don't want it hitting the background, just one at lighting the set of his face. Oh, and that almost starts to look more. Ah, especially, his expression starts to look more a singer, songwriter, singer songwriter ary. Just make up that word right now. But there's, three very different looks right there in there with just three shots. Keep keeping your eye on your toes, what's that, yeah, one of those, uh, any size for now. So these honey honey come grids. If, if you all are beginners, beginners out there, it's, super symbol it, just direct your light way more it's, a creating narrow beam, like without without a grid. Your light is doing this. He put a grilling it's like this there's, different degrees, there's ten twenty thirty, you know, goes on out the same thing directly from the sun. So now it's. Not on the background at all. So we just we just really narrowed. And our little being there. So that that is a varying, you know, I don't know. That's bringing up like old school. Bruce springsteen. I kind of iconic beatles type of whatever, lighting's, the nice and simple from ones, but it's still a very harsh, direct light, so I would, you know, men, men are more forgiving, you know we can, we can get away with harder light. Hey, some women candidate, it just depends on again. It depends on what it is, but I would never do this on a wedding unless the bride very specifically, like requests, that I want something dark and edgy and weird. And and there are a lot of broads like that. Thankfully. Yeah, and so and so, then, obviously, but with light right above him, you're going to get a another whole different look, and anywhere, anywhere, the more you move the light. I mean, you can take one light of your home watching. Just take one light. She didn't picture camera tripod and just keep moving it all around and just look. Watch the different ways the light reacts.