Lessons
Class Introduction
01:36 2Fundamentals of Night Portraiture
04:49 3Gear and Preparation
16:50 4Basic Settings
08:15 5Locations
06:15 6Subjects
04:22 7Safety
02:25 8Beating Adversity
01:28Lesson Info
Locations
When you want to make fantastic night portraits, it's really important that you do your homework first. You gotta get out there and scout. Cuz if something unexpected happens because you didn't check it out first, it's your fault. So I'm going to give you some tips on how to avoid that. Number one, go and visit the place you want to shoot at the same time you're going to be shooting, not just the daytime. Go there at the same time of night where you're going to be shooting, cuz then you're going to know how many people are around, how many street lights are on, are there cops. That kind of stuff. If you're not trying to attract attention of course. Everybody does it above the table you know. Number two, you should pre-visualize. While you're there take photographs of the scene that you want to do and if you have somebody with you have them stand in, so that you can evaluate it better, when you get back. Maybe bring a little gear with you, right? And number three, monitor to see how man...
y people come through during that time. It may or may not be important to what you do, but getting interrupted can break your flow and your creativity so, if you know that that's good and also you can keep an eye out for safety. Very important thing. This is an example when I went out scouting with my wife. This was the first shot when we went out and I'm like, I love these converging angles, I like the sky. I like the fact that it's a construction site. And here is the final image. Started with that ended with that. I'm really happy. The previzualising and the scouting helped. And I was nervous that it was a construction site. Honestly I was. But hanging out there for 20, 30 minutes, while I was scouting, helped ease my mind about it. Here is another one. I really loved how this looked. This is in Long Island City, Gantry park in New York City. I like that. I saw the kids hanging out there and I said, whoa I can put somebody out on that pier. Look at that. And what we did was we watched for a while and when we got there, people were there similarly to the scouting picture. And we had someone go around with a radio and say excuse me, can we borrow this space for 15 minutes, cuz we want to make something. So that's what we did. And those people were like oh sure, and then they asked ask questions about the project and they watched and they took Instagram pictures. It was great. Another one shooting underneath an iconic sign. I had my wife lay down. She wore the mask. I'm like, that's fantastic. And this is how it turned out. So scouting can turn into wonderful things. What makes a good location for me? I'm going to tell you my recipe for a good location. Big Sky. I really like big sky. Why? Because this is night photography. Let's not kid ourselves. We should be shooting what's most important in the night, the sky, right? Number two, water. I'm just enchanted with water. It's so good because it moves. What happens when you do a long exposure with water? It gets softer and softer, The longer you make your exposure. Put those two together, I'm in heaven. I could just stop right there. I don't need anything else. But other things that move, trees, grass, look for things that might move with the wind or with time. Cuz they can give evidence that you're making a long exposure. Four, cars. Cars is great. And five. Gabe and I are both big fans of this. Entropy, the decay of the works of man. If you shoot near those things, where they're just falling apart, it activates something emotional in us, like no we're not permanent. Time has an effect. When you marry those two things together and you're making a long exposure portrait it's sort of involuntarily brings up things inside of people, and they're like. I'm mortal. It's fun to play with that. And number six, if you don't like any of these things, totally okay. If it interest you, and it has some of these characteristics. Fantastic. Use it as an element. Shoot it. Most important. Stay classy. Be smart, be respectful. You just need to obtain permits and permissions, if you don't you're going to cause some people trouble and it's not just you it's the people with you, if you get them in trouble too you're a jerk. So don't do that. Number two, your model and crew's safety always comes first. You're last. They're first. You gotta to watch out for them. It was your idea. They're out there because of you. You take care of them. Number three, whatever you carry in carry it out. Don't leave a mess. That's part of being respectful. Red flags. If you get the hair standing up on the back of your neck, you might want to look around. Just weird feelings, you get hunches for a reason, right? No trespassing signs. Pretty clear sign you shouldn't be there, right? Don't do it. Dangerous wildlife. Like bears or people. I guess bears could be dangerous too. You just need to keep your on a swivel. Make sure it doesn't happen. And if you have no cell service, it's kind of important that you bring more people, bring radios do something. You're in a place where you can't ask for help and you gotta to think about the implications of that. Would you like to be an expert on looking at locations? Yes you do. Check out Chris Nicholson's presentation on scouting and finding good locations. He will blow your mind. I'm still learning from him. To wrap up, it's really important that you check out where you're going ahead of time, follow these steps and you're going to stay on course when you get there and you're ready to make your magic.
Ratings and Reviews
Jan
I learned some techniques in Matt's class, which were helpful, but believe this was for the advanced photographer and i was a little confused at times. i would've liked to know the "how to" with the lights, showing how to program them with more detail. I am just learning how to set my camera for different lighting situations. But a very interesting course and glad i went through it.
Kirk Edwards
Great class! Liked it so much that I booked a trip to Colorado to work with Matt and Lance on one of their National Parks at Night classes. Highly recommend.
Margaret Lovell
While I believe this course is more beneficial for a photographer with better night photography and lighting skills, I learned quite a bit. This class made me think of some interesting ideas, especially using regular light sources such as flashlights or a pixelstick.