Lessons

Lesson Info

Lighting with Gels

Let's, get cem jails on a light. Let's. Get another grid. Greater thinning, maybe red. Yeah, no. Red and a blue no. So you better move myself from shooting mode. Color gels to you guys that's probably old news but you can buy gels are went to am photography store in l a I think samis and about a huge amount of color gels they're just fun to play with no they can have a very good purpose this is a bad purposes early in my career when I just thought it because he is gels and I let this portrait with green jell o didn't really add anything to the shot not not a great idea you know probably too moody for this hardest but here is actually I didn't plan this but this is a very good good a little lesson so unnecessary jelling don't use gels good just because you can doesn't always work I've got a green jell o from the left and a no jail on the right and it just looks weird I don't know I just don't like it but here I love this shot because I did not jail my subject this is just a beaut dish w...

ith a grid purposely uh kind of harder to capture the shadow on the on the wall then I had another bare bulb head right here bering strait is a one of these shadows on the wall so bearable backto hard light while we're discussing earlier hitting these stairwell to create the shadow, then I brought gels in on the route up appearance stairs one like popping straight off the ceiling with a red jail to create all that mood, eh light outside to create that sunlight. Look, it was actually very dark outside, so I'm made sunlight. Then we put another light back here under the stairs with the yellow jell o. Then I dragged my shutter, just like we just did here, to let these lights show up. Um, she had one, two, three for five, six, you know, six different sources. They were using that that's, a very good example of making gels work, because that room was kind of a lot less interesting without it. That's the game. This was another kind of target audience thing very dark rock band just went I had my assistant walk up the hill for the red gel and it made it look like they're on mars you know made it look there somewhere really weird but all we were just like it was ella rivers with all the bridges and you know, this was debatable good use of jails I was trying to create common angelique type blood this is another thing that I that I love talking about sometimes and this is maybe some mia of never another lighting teacher teach but sometimes they'll take all my lights I will purposely point them at things that don't make sense so this room like had a dark ceiling brown walls and sometimes I just like to bounce a light full power off the ground put another one bouncing over off a blue all there want the ceiling just point out randomly scattered them just see what happens, you know, just see what and this is one of those examples where I just pointed, you know, the west I'd have done that before what I just said but this was a lighting setup from this from the set up beforehand, but I left it no and a reposition to example, we just had this right here. Well, I might, you know, bring them way over here and don't not even turn the light and just see what happens with the background lights um, and so that was what I did on that shot. We had already been shooting. But I moved her to a different part of the room, left the lights on the back and just kept shooting and see what happened. And that was the shot we got. Um, but then, other times, with experimenting out, point the lights and just place the don't make sense. It's. A good example of what we're just doing. Kind of a slow shutter speed, just to make it a little more interesting with some green gels. Michela, shoot! I did. Yeah, here we go. So this is what all of these things look like, and one in one shoot. I had, ah, an artist collective come to my studio. They're called ten out of ten, a group of musicians fusing projectors, using hard light, using, ah, slow shutter speeds is going to flip through this. She will quick for you to see all the variety. 00:05:26.51 --> 00:05:27. See the light's changing there. Jail's hardline saw flying projectors slow shutter speeds. Direct, direct flash like we did earlier on that one. But this is what I remember wheelhouse and by wheelhouse. I mean, like, actually just having a blast, forgetting what I'm doing, remembering why love photography to begin with? Because I love all these happy accidents is that kind of take place. Projectors air fun because you just you can get some really weird images. 00:06:13.49 --> 00:06:16. I literally low, just stock images on a hard driving, 00:06:16.96 --> 00:06:19. plug it and just flip through images. And just for 00:06:19.69 --> 00:06:22. each shot, I'll change. I'll change the texture. 00:06:25.59 --> 00:06:27. That's. One of my favorite porters. I don't know why. 00:06:27.87 --> 00:06:28. I just like it. This is all on one. She kind of consecutive, you know, when you see the bulk of it, it looks like a hole portfolio. But it was all in just a couple hours. Um and the problem with this that was like a cz much fun is this is for me, there's, not a massive client need out there for that, you know, so some funds of photographer, you have to do what you need to do. You have to do things to satisfy her on creative needs. On I do that a lot like I can't really go pitch this to my health care clients. My wedding in a keeps them waiting. I don't she weddings, but, like, I mean, there are there are our there are record labels, they love us, but even then, still not a ton, you know, so that's, a very small niche thing that I just I just like to do for my own personal here's, another really crazy one that it did this way just had a blast shooting a projector stuff. Basically, I love unpredictability, digit with digital photography. You know, all these camera, ran's, preach, consistency, reliability, you know, with the lights is going to look the same. Every time we fired digital, the quality is gonna be the same. Well, it's, like, I don't want that. I like the unpredictability, and so any time I can create scenarios where things were gonna keep changing, that's going to get really happy and same slow shutter speeds saying thing with them. Walking around each other, like every shot is going to be different, and it makes photography so much more fun. So we have red on here and now, actually, no that's, just what happens. So another example. She just misunderstood me, but I'm going to take the happy mistake and see what happens. That's red and um great let's. Pretend over here. I'm sure it's purring that one didn't. Fire isn't on the scene. Maybe g o five deliver blind here assistance. When they're looking right at the light, you just pop it blind. L have done, yeah, yeah, that sounds good. So you look at me again. You cama, but an issue, but might be the worst band name of all time. But it wins on humor. So what is that? When we had no, I had my settings from before dublin. Think that's a shot from before. Sometimes you have to wait, catch one pro back up to make it a porky and but when it works, it's amazing and I do together in the light room as well it just depends again. This is actually perfect target audience. So I used capture one that of my image is when I want cleaner, more pro looking more for marshall when I want arts here and grittier and more weird I had in my room one of the strange things I don't know why that's just what I've realized over time is that the looks I get out of capture one pro, um and just like better for commercial advertising purposes. But the looks I get out of light room that's when I that's what I'm trying to impress my friends that do the weird weird and I have certain precepts that I've created that I say, when I go to those, we capture one better for pro let room better for weird. My we have a working camera that's good, too. Smile. I think I think, it's working. This is the part. We start losing losing viewers. I hear you when things are working. Now we have working on it, okay, well, then you look amazing. Done. But it's. Not for that. All right, so I'm gonna crank this one. Front yells at you! Help later. These b one. Nice food for you. They're so fun. Syria again no clue what this is gonna look like it's probably gonna look terrible yeah and it has my processing from the image before so it's like red and blue and so even with this it's like crap is that looks I still sometimes love to take that in the light room into my pre existing presets and just look at it just apply a couple things and just see what happens this is honest affiliates things like that that amane my career work a long term because I take all the things that people say you would never do don't do that don't don't aim alike this low I mean it's aimed at his waist for crying out loud like usually want lights up in high amore or flattering that I love to just try things you know just try red and blue light and then take it into my later on preset that's brown and green and then see what happens you know then see how it looks and if I know this is the type of artist or client that can get away with that then you never know and so I just never go into it has to be a pier has fever here I just like doing things like this I find that my favorite images of all time or you know, weird happy accidents in fact I was gonna sure a couple examples of the kinds of stories 00:12:52.0 --> 00:12:52. oi! 00:12:53.69 --> 00:12:54. None! 00:12:58.93 --> 00:13:00. Extreme. 00:13:03.8 --> 00:13:07. Well, I had a add some, michelle, but it disappeared. 00:13:08.6 --> 00:13:12. Oh, here you. So this is mae testing speed, like over 00:13:12.28 --> 00:13:14. exposed my subject like that's. Awesome. 00:13:16.9 --> 00:13:19. Sorry I can't see you at all your faces gone but I 00:13:19.55 --> 00:13:22. ended up loving that image and it was me not knowing 00:13:22.22 --> 00:13:24. how to use the speed light you know but I think it 00:13:24.97 --> 00:13:27. even I've been using this is like a 00:13:28.4 --> 00:13:31. pr image you know just not pr but in his packaging 00:13:32.1 --> 00:13:34. um by the way I saw an image similar to this here 00:13:34.83 --> 00:13:36. the night that really blew my mind I spoke it photo 00:13:36.96 --> 00:13:39. plus expo and there was a photographer there and he 00:13:39.8 --> 00:13:41. was showing his work and he was talking about how 00:13:41.68 --> 00:13:44. you have to learn to see things differently which 00:13:44.24 --> 00:13:47. sounds so cliche but the image he had was a perfect 00:13:47.33 --> 00:13:50. example it was imagine them a modeling runway with 00:13:50.91 --> 00:13:53. models walking down the big run wave with their flowing 00:13:53.41 --> 00:13:56. dress there's a huge crown all the photographers that 00:13:56.59 --> 00:13:58. end the runway shooting forward to get that money 00:13:58.7 --> 00:14:02. shot of her walking he goes and sits on the side of 00:14:02.11 --> 00:14:05. a runaway over here and so you have model walking this way and crowd just all crowd so he gets here and he exposes for the audience the audience that faces they're lit in them and so what that means is with all the lights on the model she was way over exposed and she looked like that she's just literally a white ghost walking through the sea of people has the most brilliant like it just like I have chills I was like that is so amazing. And so he purposely did that where he made the model crystal. Just a sheet of white. You can see our hair strands. They were bright white because all the lights were hitting her on the audiences in the dark, but he exposed for the dark. So then he gets a great white model, is really cool. No. But I love looking, looking for those happy accidents. This is a perfect example of, you know. One time I was out in the sunlight, harsh sun hitting one subject, and I use the soft box just like this, and I covered. You know purposely let it cover half the subject's face so that line going right through there is the edge of myself box but I knew that target audience you know you could get away with that and ended up being one of my favorite portrait then I went to post and did all this crazy stuff you want to hear how that was done imposed it's an old trick s o I that was a resounding yes um so I took the image and foot and all my monitor and I re shot it with the macro lens through old waist level viv funder cameras like those reshot the same image through different cameras, old cameras and then I combine them all imposed one same image on top you should just shot with every cameras and that's where it ended up. So um again that's where my mind goes like what happened what heaven of photograph mom monitor guarantee no photo teachers ever told people well go on reese future like you know I get set up a camera right here and blow the sub larger and just re shoot it with a digital camera through an old film camera shoot the monitor and you probably get something really interesting so you give a whole nother level of you know I love stuff like that I love thinking through like what? Getting what could take this to the next weird level hey I think these I'm a very first creative life class. This was twirling the big rope, like, you know, just somebody behind spinning a replay and then using lasers and some ball way, bought it a toy store or something. Same thing they're using. I was five years ago. I was creative left, third class, yeah, that was a, I think, think they're class, and this is, ah, back to the iphone, things, so putting my camera on a tripod, there's like cheap little flashlight. Epstein, get on your iphone and they make your screen flash, like red, green, blue, yellow, whatever, and you can manually it's. I'll put my camera on a tripod and just wave my iphone like this in front of the lens, and it does that. Creases kind of weird looks and get. I don't know the commercial purpose of this, but it's just where my mind goes and the kind of things. And then I had massive bridge, hold a laser pen, a white one, and he kinda wave that into the camera. While I was doing the iphone, you get weird results another iphone lit image there. Using jails. This is what I call extreme light when I just go extreme dark or super moody. But I'm really drawn, oh, that's, 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:06. really funny. I'm a very happy the person with them 00:18:06.62 --> 00:18:11. so drawn to dark start, the more cinematic and dark, 00:18:11.24 --> 00:18:12. the better. Love. 00:18:15.34 --> 00:18:17. Just for kicks, we hand me one of those cameras. 00:18:19.04 --> 00:18:21. Yeah, the one on the right. Yeah. 00:18:24.04 --> 00:18:25. So where did I put the one on the where's, one of 00:18:25.81 --> 00:18:27. the jails, let's, bring that back on. 00:18:28.64 --> 00:18:29. That's. Ah, 00:18:30.64 --> 00:18:33. let's, put that on right in front of me. Actions are 00:18:33.05 --> 00:18:34. right next to me tomorrow, 00:18:35.74 --> 00:18:38. so this camera isn't even a macro lens, but I'm just 00:18:38.19 --> 00:18:39. going to try this anyway. 00:18:40.54 --> 00:18:41. Actually, yeah, 00:18:43.04 --> 00:18:43. sure. 00:18:45.54 --> 00:18:47. No. Yeah, and kill that one. 00:18:49.94 --> 00:18:50. Blind area. 00:18:55.04 --> 00:18:56. Be. I just want teo. 00:19:02.24 --> 00:19:04. I have no idea. That's gonna be a 00:19:06.64 --> 00:19:09. oh, it's, it's. Get the crop freed out in. So let 00:19:09.71 --> 00:19:10. me undo that. Yet another thing to think about. Pretty rough start. But, you know, so usually always. Actually, they're pretty properly exposed kindly in there. No, but with fifty mega pixels. It's. Nice because you can still crop in and kind of do you know, even even that becomes starts to become this interesting little moments like, what are we? What exactly we looking at? Um, and l a, you know, love seeing the edges of the camera. So one time I did a shoot where had there was doing this. And then I put a I had the artist write their name, and I put a piece of paper on the lens with each artist name and there's, a christmas album. So put red and silver glitter on the lens. And then I had somebody shot a red laser pen into this lens. And then I have maestro with long shutter speed. And, you know, there was weird colors is just combining all these things in the wind, but as he were fun. But that was creating the unpredictability, creating things that you can't. You can't make up let's, try one more you'll give me, a more layered you behind her. And more shoulders that went and scared a little that way. Yeah. And the clothing about this these time here. Like with these cameras, the more I mean, the slightest fraction of an inch of turning makes the image look completely different. No, which goes back to my whole and predictability thing. I love creating scenarios where you can't as tricky taken spirit there. They're completely out of focus. They're they're in focus. Again, I can could give on all day tangent on shooting this stuff.