Lessons

Lesson Info

Shoot: First Dance 2 Flashs

I want to kind of review a little bit we're coming to the and I want to kind of review before we get into this last segment mainly over the light placement and we talked about it and it kind of showed it but it was very difficult up there there's no question again it felt like I was back in the film days I couldn't see anything on the back of my lcd and so I really was relying a lot of my experience on just the settings and what I've done in bright sun before the tile are the shingles on that on the roof reminded me of shooting on a beach with white sand coming up so it was really, really hard I enjoyed it because it's a challenge but it was very, very difficult to do, but this is the foundation of what I did right out there this little drawing kind of summarizes exactly what I did because I basically had the son of course in this case the sum was on the other side of their head but it was from the back and that's what I tried to do all the time and it wasn't much behind them it was a ...

little above them but it was still right around here and so with the sun is over here I reverse didn't put the flash on this side, so this is my go to no matter what I do, this is the first thing I go to in any lighting situation when I'm outside this is the foundation if I can't hide from the sun this is what I've tried to do, so if I can't if I can't hide from the sinai have multiple options so if I like the sun it's a sunrise sunset the golden hour where it's nice and beautiful I love the light in the front because it is you just can't be beautiful beautiful golden hour light and you guys here in seattle father up north so you're going to have a lot more time with that golden hour where me I have more like a goal in ten minutes farther south to get towards the equator it really disappears fast, so when I went toe photograph and teaching sweden they had like a golden for five hours and it was just this amazing amazing like to photograph in the whole time, so but this is what I like to do I'd love to put the light on their face love to let it wrap around if possible if the ratio is there if that's the case, I'll actually use option one so I have the son all the way around their face, beautiful light all in ice and even and then I've gotta have that hair lights will have option two and give me that hairline if the sun is beautiful but I don't have quite enough, I can't get it all the way around where I like it, it's too late on one side too dark on the other, I'll do option one as well and put that light that feel like coming in on their face and then reality, what I ended up doing out there is I did both option one and two and had the son is the background, but then had a man in a field or another hair light on back side to give two strong room lights and then use that main light if you noticed I had a really, really front, almost a flat light in a sense, but turned her head still into it to get the short light, but because I didn't have that second flash, I need to kind of feel in those shadows because if I had it off to the side too far, it really would have been a strong ratio on her face that makes sense, so I like this outside. I wish on a sense almost had a third light, so I had the sun back here hairline and I would have two up front and you would actually had four lights going so to stream lights into a mane and a field to control the ratio on her face. That's kind of how we shoot in our studio lots of times we have those multiple flashes, we always have two strong room lights. We have the sweet light. We have the five foot strips in the back there about this tall, about this wide anywhere between fourteen by forty eight generally maybe up to sixty, depending on which which strips we use, but at least going to be four foot five foot strips in the back. And it just gives that beautiful room light in our studio and that's what I try to emulate with our strip light. I mean, our our speed lights obviously you're not going to get that hole ranged all the way down, but I will try to at least light up their hair on both sides get that separation than I can it's the same concept, you're just getting a little bit different result because I don't have the huge modifier and then you do the field. I remain most of time in our studio, we don't use a feel we just use a reflector is a fuel we use a feel it's a reflector, but we don't use a light. Is that is a field, so it kind of softened it up, it gives a nice, darker ratio again, I said shadows or good so I want those shadows. I don't mind shadows, I just want to be able to control him course up there on top of the roof. It was tough because I couldn't even see my lcd tv to see the shadows, much less control. So this is kind of what we try to do sometimes this is actually daylight. You can actually see the sun back here. This is maura clock, probably four o'clock in the afternoon. Someone said about seven, but I mean in controlled environment, this is way have an acre and I have a lot that our studios on, and this is just right off to the side that's obviously not touched and there's a couple of big giant live oak trees, and we use this a little grove like this all the time when we have hunters. Imagine that in texas, right? And this is one of our seniors from last year, maybe the year before, I can't remember I'm actually making me feel old. I actually photographed her daycare photos when she was about this big that's when you know you're starting to get the old is a photographer when these girls coming and she let you remember me and I'm like I don't have a clue who you are because you photographed me when I was three and I'm like how in the world I'm not going to know who you are but beautiful young lady love the long will we have an archery club down there and a lot of the kids shoot longbow and I just absolutely love photographing the longbow because it's such a beautiful, beautiful weapon and so we actually just put her off into the woods, and if you kind of what I did on the on the on the roof, take a photograph, it would be really, really light within we under exposed with their exposure compensation, extremely a lot we really underexposed brought it way down, and so not only could you see all the greenery, then you could see a little bit of the sky we knocked out almost the sky, you see a little bit here and then we put that flash in there, tio I left it in so you can see the actual mono pod or easy stand that we have coming in like like we didn't the hairline example early on, and so you're literally controlling your own environment. You literally control that background where you want the human eye is an amazing tool, a kn instrument you would actually the human eye sees a lot more light than this and so we're actually taking away that light but under exposing that wasn't as bright as it was today here because we're in that covered area already, so it allowed us a lot more versatility and range and so I could actually under expose mohr taking away a lot of that light and then allowing the lights toe to jump in there does that make sense? So with one thing you can do, we're still navy here, but what I want to do in just a second is I want to explain how we can do that inside with the first dance with multiple lights, controlling lights from different angles, different directions off camera and on camera at the same time coming in the first dance situation and you guys were going to be the guests of the wedding, so we're going to get you guys up in just a second, we're gonna kind of surround this area, we're gonna have our models, which have been so great this hold hold day day and a half to come up and do the simple, cheesy first dance that most first dance are because they just do like you're in seventh grade little box dance and they don't do much else, but the point is is I want to show how you can set up these lights kind of what we just already did, but how I can actually make this room, which is bright, you're seeing me, I'm gonna knock it down, just show these lights back here and in spotlight our couple with light and not only be able to do that that also take you guys out of it or add you in it as I want to buy controlling my exposure and controlling the light placement. So is a single photographer, and this is the key to this is one single photographer you can place your lights before the wedding starts, the reception starts set him on the proper channels, which I'm going to explain everything and not have to move because sometimes you're in a tight venue, you can't run around on the dance floor if you are you're in front of people, you're having to school all the time and this way, you could find one location and be able to get multiple lights in multiple ways without having to move. So that's, what we want to kinda do so you guys can come on up, I want you to kind of roam around over here, I'm gonna get our lights ready. Yeah, I'm not behind me, but I just want you to kind of maybe over here and over here a little bit because I'm going to shoot this way we'll move some of you behind me just a second but so what I want you to do is just think about it, I don't need you to do much, you're just gonna sit there if you want to sing kumbayah whatever you're more welcome to I don't care you need some drinks and it's of alcohol that that would actually be nice after being on the roof. That would be good, so I want you just kind of sit there, um, let me get my lights in and I'm gonna kind of explain what we're doing to do with our lights to you guys and then I'll explain it to the crew, so basically here's a light and this is exactly what I use on on live I would actually have to battery packs just like this actually see how this drops down. I usually raise this up and I'll mount this above this top section, so that way didn't drop down below that section. And that way I can raise this light up really, really high, and I don't have to worry about it falling off it's kind of gotten beat up since we've been running around, so I'm gonna get my radio poppers in just a minute this way already has one on and I'm actually going to not use this flash I want to use another flash actually you know what let's just use this one will do the right we'll do radio papa and we'll do a lot of sight because I like kind of do mix and makes him and match to show people that you can do that all right so here's the key to this set up we're gonna put one light over here we're going put one light over here I'm gonna put this light on channel one I'm gonna put this light on channel two and it's going to be in t t l e t t l although we're gonna be in teo so let me change the channel here then let me get this back into t t l mode all right, so let me move this over here what shall stand like right here because I don't want you in that in that way once you stand right over here yeah right there will be great have that there and I'm gonna have this over here this is the corner of the dance floor raise them up high just like we talked about normally I would put sandbags on their cause I don't want them to fall down get our bride and groom the happy couple that just got married perfect so the concept is here I just want you guys to kind of just dance right here I'll dance with you just dance kind of just kind of go in circles and just kind of go back and forth there won't be any music you have to just imagine that you're dancing and I don't know if you've probably been to a wedding jar tells age nothing fancy just kind of go back and forth thinking some cheesy songs being played and just kind of go back and forth and I want you to dance and so I want to show you don't have to do it yet, but that's what I want so I kind of just back up just a little bit perfect right there so what I would do now, I'm talking to the class into the creative live people is I'm gonna turn my flash off just like outside it's no different, just like outside it's no different, so I'm going to sit here so it's getting ready, the deejay comes over, the wedding coordinator comes over and says, hey, we're fixing start the first dance first dance gonna be five minutes I've already put out my life it's where I need him to be before the reception started, so they're pretty much hanging out I do want to check real quick if my lights are going off that one's going off and then I can switch it over to channel two and that one's going off so I know they're both changing they're both going off so now I'm gonna turn it off and no, my communications working one is optical one is a radio popper so no, I have they're all good now I don't care about couples actually not here they're going to be coming on they're getting get ready to dance all that good stuff so I'm down here I'm in manual mode of my camera why would I be in manual mode? I'm endorse low light very good. Yea she wins the prize so I'm gonna get down where I want to sit so like, this is my spot there would be other people all around I want you to come for a little bit yeah right there no you sit over there I just want you to be on the dance floor or be a part of the crowd don't be yeah they'll be sitting off in the corner so here and I'm going to just kind of get used to what the ambient light iss I can actually you can actually switch it over if you want I keep forgetting tethering so we have that now those are really, really warm I mean really, really cold so I can actually I wanted to I could actually maybe warm it up some it's not warming up that much but actually kind of like that little better thought so we're here so now let's actually it's actually pretty nice and anything to try to make it nice right off the bat. So I'm aiken overexpose it and it kind of takes away it's actually not bad, but you get to see everything. I don't want to see that light up top so let's say I want to try going a little bit lower so I'm gonna just mess with my exposure until I get what I want for the ambient light just like outside the inside is no different the is just his outside it all works the same but to me that's not moody enough. I want something a little more moody. Plus, my shutter speed is too slow now what we could do is of course, we could slow way down where the backgrounds gonna be blurry and it might not be because I hold the camera so yeah, I hold the camera so still from my old law enforcement days there that'll be blurry way we could do a drag to shutter just like we showed earlier on the first day, but without the flash. But then when you turn the flash on, they're going to be frozen. But I suggest, don't try to do that on the first danes. At least it first because this is an important part of the wedding and as I talked about dragging the shutters like playing golf it's very easy to do but very hard to be good at so if you get a couple great shots then you can go into the dragon's shutter I had a facebook message today from someone who's watching the creative live who enjoyed it yesterday which made me feel happy she says I've got a senior session today I'm gonna go out and try to avian teo for the first time and I went well whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa I love the enthusiasm but let's back it down make sure you get exactly what you always need to get first shoot the way you always a shock is that's a paid client then start experimenting so don't don't jump right into it because then I'm going to get easier nasty emails saying that I forced them to try t t l a navy and they failed and they get paid in the clients madam so I love the enthusiasm but don't ever in a paid situation like this rush into something and not get what you're paid to do first because your experiment don't experiment on your client experiment on your family spearmint on your kids that you're mad at that's the best part don't experiment on on your family so I'm going to adjust and again this is where I like a fast shutter speed in a sense where if I'm using twenty four to seventy I want at least one hundred one twenty five something I know that a handshakes not going to really affect me if you have problems with handshake you just seem to be blurry all the time raise it up so you set your shutter speed you set your f stop toe where you want it to be and then you'll take the photograph and then from there adjust the I s o to allow you to see the ambient light where you want it to where you're happy again that's nice but I actually wanted a little darker I was that I saw a hundred so I'm gonna lower it down to five hundred and that's kind of nice I want kind of all y'all to kind of move over here you guys are fine I want you guys to kind of come over here okay so I will get exactly where I want and now what I want to show you is if I raise my shutter speed even you guys will slowly start to disappear you probably want to much because we have stage lighting but you're slowly starting to disappear now here's the problem if I keep going up and now I'm gonna raise up to four hundred almost everything is going away including the lights in the background and that's not really good that's not what we want so what I want to try to do is find a happy medium with my exposure compensation right now for the lights in the background, if that's my background, I don't care about what you guys look like, I don't care about any of that. I just want my background to be said exactly where I want, so I think it right around to fifty. So is exactly what I want. It gives me nice lighting and everything else. So, guys, class, I'll tell you what, once you'll come over here for right now and some of you over there actually come over here where we're not in a camp camera angle, I want to be able to see the background first for right now and then I'm gonna get you in in just a second, so I'm happy with that, you can act like you're gonna start dancing and this is what I would do. I turn my flash on and the beautiful thing about kanan yeah, I know you feel stupid. The beautiful thing about cannon is the last thing I changed member on that zoom feature, nikon can do the same thing but member on the zoom feature, how on the five eighties five anyone's, whatever the last eight controls four islands. It controls the zoom it controls the ratio he controls the channels and the controls if I want to turn this to master I mean where the master actually exposes or doesn't expose so it turns into a wireless transmitter. The last thing that I change of those four will be the first thing that pops back up so that's on channel one this is on channel two and so as they turn you could just kind of start dancing and just kind of just kind of do a little box stepping in circles I can literally turn my flash on now I'm actually adjusting for the flash it's a little too strong but it's actually cool could you see some of the reflecting you just keep going now adjusting for the flat don't look at me you look at your wife you love your wife look at your wife so I'm gonna get a couple lights from this side and as they slowly start turning I'm going to hit my zoom turn it over to two and actually there in the one zone so I'm gonna hit one again one's coming from over here and then as they come into two zone and just keep turn don't look at me look at him yeah I'm not here I'm not here you love him, you got married to the man of your dreams you'll be divorced in a year so and so, as they keep turning, I keep switching back to each corner, so I'm getting light from both sides and then if there just right here in the center, I can actually turn off my master mode. So where is just a flash? And then as they switch over in front of me, we still get here in a minute, look at each other, keep dancing your dad, I know we need to have some kind of music first love, last love and you can just do flash on camera, but look at the difference between off camera lighting and flash on camera one buck for one button, okay, giving you ideas? Yeah, something is one button gets loaded, so, yes, that's the beauty. So what I'm doing is I have that on channel one this on channel two, and so the problem is, if you don't have this, you're like, you're trying to chase him to get him in the right light, and you're going back and forth and you're tripping over people and then by this time, because some uncle got drunk at the wedding and showed up and now he's already mad because he hit the kegger before the first dance and all this other stuff, and so you get out of the way. You find your spot people together around you if you need to and you can get light coming from multiple specht and you could have four lights if you want because you have four channels you could easily go all the way around you don't need wireless radio poppers if you don't need to because you're in a controlled environment but now in bigger events I've literally had lights mounted in different areas and now will need radio poppers for that but this is something that is so so simple to do but yet I hardly see anyone ever do it they don't think about that they'd rather run around in circles I always had to have one I want a nice wait for them to get well but the problem with one is they'll do this I'm gonna get out the way I will take your wife so they will be here and there almost there almost here then they get to go yeah and so you're you stand there going holy but they were going to get to my lines I think never going to get there and so this solves all the problem it solves everything and to me this is the easiest thing the easiest way to get beautiful I can you actually go back to two to of those and just show wilmore that's flat light and that's off camera line and to me that's a huge difference however give them both because the right left side is more of an artistic vision. The right side is more of a flat but standard and I'm not trying to be rude on age, but grandma might like the right side. The kids might like the left side and so is a client. You see, please their clients more is a photographer. You've done your job and so this is the way I liketo photograph. I like to control my lighting used the wireless flash and you know what? I'm not meter and anything this is all tio I didn't do anything. I just put the light on and fired. I didn't have to control meat or anything. The only thing I did was expose me control my exposure compensation so if I wanted to kind of like a dance to get us if I want to get really dark oh, it hang on just a second if I want to get really dark don't look at me look at your wife now I'm gonna keep under exposing mohr mohr until it's just them it till it's almost just them where you see hardly anything now use it right here because it'll be better with the backlight and when I do this, I all that's gonna be great actually put the flash in the image into a shot like this I under exposed so much then I put the flash in the image and I'll get the spotlight on them you can stop dancing but now the problem is I took out the ami it's in the background you see those globes but I under exposed so much I took the ambient light of those out if these little lights were brighter, they showed up but they're not going to cause I little took everything out but what I love about tl no matter what expos jher how much light have taken it? I just shot that it won five thousands of a second guys inside with high speed sync no matter what I sent my shutter speed to my exposure compensation t t l will do that meeting that we talked about and give me the proper mad aligning you look confused we're in a low life situation that we're not using that were in manual, but now your manual is a great thing manual on my camera, not on my flash I'm in manual mode on my camera that dial here is in manual okay my flashes in t t o e t deal or okay, so all's I have to do in manual mode on my camera is again very similar to what we're doing instead of the skyline that I didn't in the last segment on the roof, those lights or my skyline so I'm without the brian groom there I'm sitting here and no flashes on and I'm literally controlling exactly how much because if I wanted it to be even exposure, this is even exposure and go ahead and give me a date just act like you're dancing you can just have a standard that's fine and so this is the same hopes ok? You're in zone two guy kenny means ome on look at each other don't look at me all right from that not even remotely nice it's so blown out because it's so too much berlin too much life, so too much line so it's just so much light in just in there so I don't turn on the flash under exposed to get the ambient exactly where I want it where I want it not where you want it, not where anyone wants where I feel my art is going to show up the best if that's what you like that's great, but now I'm not going to change anything. I'm going to leave that same exposure sixteen hundred and now I'm just going to add the flash little dark because I'm three stops under because the camera thought it was proper and then I lowered it so I'm going to raise it back teo even exposure I think that's a little bright because I think that is that zoomed in it's no big deal I'll just we've adjusted it so much look right here or look at each other there it looks like it zoomed in because look the spotlight on that's exactly why I was getting so much power out of it and you see how I could tell because I was like there's no way yeah it so let me put it back to twenty four because that was from the roof when I was doing examples so now at the same power negative one now you'll see it spread and it's got more like see it hits address now but it doesn't interface is much that's still a little dark but I'm in negative ones so I'm still lower so I will expose for the background where I want it as something that's a little too much because I want to see a little more light and then just adjust my flash but most the time inside especially in low light tl is gonna be almost spot on every time especially white dress black tux it's gonna balance out you're gonna be good to go is it possible to get rid of the shadowing behind the ball? Well in this situation yes, but you would probably I would put the light yeah put the light more right here just fine and then now you're shooting across and sow the shadows would be there but they're not going you're not hitting that wall and I want to see you so you see the shadows again but there will be a lot longer because it's still bouncing off that wall so you would either angle it needs to be right where the tv is but I mean come on I mean we're doing what we yeah way so that's that's makes it is so I basically we just go back and forth channel one channel too and I'm just hitting is there there I'm going to channel one now it's gonna come from that light you put the grid you do anything jails anything yet absolutely so if you wanted a line in the back just have one white light have that and then have one channel has one flash that has a blue grade on it put that and so you're going to get normal photos you're going to get jail photos and when they come around you turn off your master and just have a flash online on your camera on camera and have on camera flash we're using on camera flash in addition this is only sending the signal okay so because if I did same shot here haven't changed anything let me turn let me turn that on sure you could turn your on camera for good but let me show you what's gonna happen if I keep keep passing it up let me show you what's gonna happen to that if I do that you're goingto lose all the drama, the shadows in the ratio. Not bad because that was brighter way. Raise it up a little bit, but also what's gonna happen one more time. Our couple chief change. I was looking at herself like that. But that's not bad, but it takes away some of the drama so you can easily do that too. But what the problem is you notice that this lie to start toe, um, overpower the little led globes that we have in the back. So you don't it's just like a studio. You don't want direct line on that t get a great backdrop. You don't put direct light on it. Sometimes you have to have lights get scoot across the back to the by the side of it and that's the same concept we're doing here where I don't want light directly on here. So, that's, why I originally put the lights where I did. They're both kind of going across that, and I can use that as my background. So when I would go to the venue, if there's a stage where the cake is or there's a beautiful halls or if you're an ugly casey hall it's been there since nineteen forties. And they always come in we're going to turn the lights on for the first dance for everybody with the point shoot can get a photograph you couldjust under exposure exposure compensation all the way down to take out every bit of light and then the tt l will still keep up now here's one thing I want to show I'm shooting it to eight right? So I'm actually going to change this up and I'm going to raise it upto f twenty two and I'm gonna shoot wide open so I'm gonna shoot around one forty five seconds so when I only make sure I get my right exposure I want to show you what happens that looks nice there's not much difference I'm it now f eighteen so everything's going to be unfocused it set one go and dance guys I do this look at the light now you're starting to get that star effect in f twenty two where if I shot it two point eight it's blurrier it's just a soft ball of light you get a little bit but if you zoomed in you'll get more this land's doesn't do a good that's a function of my limbs my sixteen to twenty sixteen thirty five is awesome at it my fish eyes also met it the new twenty four to seventy part two is awesome at it but this is this one's the worst at it but what I want to explain you can even get creative with the actual flash coming back through the lens even being just a blurry ball of light or really strong bands of light coming off of it. So it's two point eight, you're gonna have the blurriness at f twenty two you're gonna have a really strong bands of light. So not only are you getting like from multiple directions, not only am I getting life off camera flat, not only can I do off camera with feel not only can I do jails, I can also control what the actual flare is like in my limbs all without moving a lot of stuff from right here. And you, khun khun, just knock everything down that's what I like because I know it might know it's probably the most political rip politically correct thing, but I always say when we were ugly casey hall it's not not everything the old saying when it's ugly turn off the light is really holds true, so turn off all the lights as much as you can because you don't want to see it and create your own life, so just get rid of it and create your own so when they say I'm gonna turn the lights of the first photo, I say, I really wish you wouldn't I really wish you'd leave him off and as long as you have enough that your auto focus assist that we talked about in part one of yesterday when we went over, the flash parts can actually pick up your client, your golden, because the darker it is for you, the better is for you and the worst for all the people with pointing shoots in the wedding and you're gonna make your money, you're gonna make your money so them from what I do is I'll actually kind of go ahead dance now that we got the shot, I'll even literally sit like this don't look at me, look at him, you're married to him, you're not married to me, and I'll literally get creative. I know this is the lights and everything else, so forgive me, but I'll start getting creative like this, or I'll do wide angle, go ahead and shoot, I mean, dance, I'll actually try to get some some dance floor, let me turn my flash off him, so I forgot I didn't turn my flash off because see, now you see the yellow and so go ahead and dance, and I'll just get shots like this, I'll get shot straight on huge tails, little tilt a little, be rolling around, just kind of doing this and people like, what is this guy doing? He isn't idiot and I'm like yeah I am an idiot but I'm still getting good shots so that's all that matters and getting paid so yeah who's the eighty exactly yes but oftentimes when I'm doing this kind of thing I get worried about the fact that I'm gonna drop the camera and I was just noticing one of the major thing that I subscribed to that there was just like a little strap henson haven't I just wanna have you ever dropped your camera I mean you get tired and I have not but a hand strap is really good I do have a hand strap usually on some of my cameras I like hand straps in this situation I use a black rapid strap from my regular camera I'm not doing it today because I have a microphone right here on my chest and it goes across it they're actually out of here out of seattle too so you are using I have the black rapid and that's great you know great trap use that I use black wrap it or I use they don't make them anymore I'll think but the black rabbit has a double black rabbit but it's too much for me because it's so hot where I am and I sweat and so there's an old one called camera slinger that I like it's a double one and it really I know it kind of sounds super reminds me when I was in law enforcement having the gun under one arm and the magazines on the other. So it's very familiar for me to have that that double strap and I'll carry usually all carrying my seventy, two hundred on this side, and I'll carry like a twenty for seven years, our sixteen thirty five on two cameras, so that way I just pull out whichever one I want. But if it's just one black rapid and shoes of the twenty four, seventy, I mean twenty four, seventy, two hundred that's my overall go to land if I could only have one that's my lens but if I'm shooting portrait for someone outside I love the one thirty five two the one thirty five I sold that lends years ago. Like I was telling her about our host that's, the one lens that I always regretted selling, because to me it's great compression and I still get that two point oh and it's just sharp, sharp, sharp, but for wedding I like the zoom lenses. Some weddings are photographers die by primes. They love him some of my resume I'm assume both try coz my life and I are definitely zoom photographers because I'm going to old resume my feet when I was young brackets on my feet but I don't like changing lenses all the time for the focal lengths that I that I need. And so I usually go in with a twenty four, seventy, seventy, two hundred or sixteen, thirty five, seventy, two hundred. Well, my two cameras, and I'll have a couple other glass. But that's, that's, my go to stuff in my camera bag.