Lessons
Class Introduction
12:46 2The Early Years
24:31 3Entrepreneurial Spirit: Risk & Reward
08:11 4Developing Your Style
12:57 5Creating Your Brand
11:03 6Confidence
11:20 7Personal Work
08:21 8Marketing
12:14Location Lighting Set Ups: Image Review
05:38 10Side Lighting
08:30 11Hollywood Lighting
10:27 12Dancer Lighting
08:50 13Editorial Lighting
09:06 14Tunnel of Light
12:24 15Back Light
06:09 16Image Review
06:03 17Creating a Series: Setting Intention
07:19 18Connection
09:31 19Provoking Reaction
11:11 20Physical Contact with Your Model
15:16 21Raw Series - Image Review
08:57 22Image Critique
1:01:29Lesson Info
Location Lighting Set Ups: Image Review
You should have heard of Toby, 'cause I talk about him all the time. He's been on my show, "Top Photographer." He's gonna be assisting me in what we're about to do next. I really couldn't do half the things I do without him, and also the rest of our team, big shout-out to the whole Creative Live team who've made everything here possible, and we've had a wonderful week. Toby, don't worry, Tobs, I won't force you to speak just now. Ha ha ha. He gets a little nervous once in a while. Kay. All good? All good. We ready to go? Let's do it. Alright. So, before I get into shooting on set, I'm gonna just talk to you about what I've been doing this past week, and here is a photograph from the Creating a Narrative shoot that we did on location, Carkeek Park. It's all about relating to the model, talking to the model, finding emotion, creating a story. I take each picture from, really, its inception as in, very simple, model just steps on set, I've said nothing, she's said nothing,...
I don't know her, to, the whole story building concept. And it's very interesting, kind of, what you can get out of someone. This is an amazing guy I met here in Seattle called Ivan, who I'm basically now in, sort of, in love with this, my new inspiration, watch out Chin twins, this guy which I stepped to him, I said, he's a fighter, he's got, you know, he's a UFC fighter, he has a gym here in the city, called Ivan's gym, and he was just boiling with emotion, and I didn't have to do a lot. Sometimes you get people like that, sometimes you get someone who is nervous, a little bit more nervous, like my model was a little bit more timid, and I worked and coaxed with her. With this gentleman, I said, Okay, we're starting here, now we have to go all the way up there. So, you know, it was so much fun. We did interesting things, in this, for example, in this picture of the model, we actually built a set, a studio location set on the beach in Carkeek Park, and I show you how to do that, how to actually take an element of the scenery and the location and put it into a studio scenario because all so often, when you're shooting for a magazine, you need to do a cover shot and you need negative space, location can be confusing, so I brought in the location so there's an element of it which ties it back to the rest of the story which is shot on location, and simultaneously there was a beautiful story in the picture as the light hits across her face, and we talk about all these different elements and inspiring the model to feel the heat, feel the sun, and of course, Ivan got real dirty. And so did I. By the end of it, we were covered in mud, we were soaking wet, and we had started off, as you saw in that first picture, super-clean, super, you know, clear or what have you, and by the end of it, we're like, how far can we push this? What are we gonna do to take a good picture? Rhonda is the model in this particular shoot, and she will be with us today, I've got her for this shoot, she was so fantastic, I asked if she could come back, and she is. She's gonna be one of our models today, and you'll get an opportunity to see her and I work together, but this is from our shoot all about lighting the scene. And we went to this amazing Georgetown steam factory, is that what it was called? Steam plant, sorry, that's an English thing, I think. The Georgetown Steam Plant, here in Seattle, that has got this amazing machinery, beautiful light coming through. I shot those pictures with it looking very nostalgic, very using ambient natural light, and then we changed it all up. Introduced light, created a different story and told the story that was my story, not necessarily the story that was already there; but I show basically how you can do both. How there is the story you walk in to, and it's always great to capture that moment and to tell that story using the light, using the model, using the clothing, using all the things at your fingertips. But you also, it's really fun as a photographer to tell your story, create the scene. And what we try to do is flip the picture, and go from something that was very, like I said, sort of more like a more current or even nostalgic, could be a 1950's shot, because of all the colors on the walls and the muted tones, and the peeling paint, and all these aspects, it kind of made me feel a little romantic, it was this naturally lit scenario. And then we turned it into like a sci-fi picture, almost a shot out of Blade Runner, and that was the vision. Like what can I tell in this scenario that is completely different, but my story? And then giving them those ideas and concepts to make them feel like super heroes, to inspire them, to create the story with me. So, it was a lot of fun, and as you can see here, this is dramatic lighting, using a whole series of filters as well over the lights, we talk about that, the effect that filters have on the light. Even in this picture where you don't necessarily see the color, they'll see the filter, but there are very specific filters we use to bring out the tones. And we go into that, called lighting the scene. Here's the very same scene, but with daylight. You can see how drastically different the two scenarios are. That's what that whole class is about. Right now, we're gonna show you how to light here.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Michael Spatola
This is one of my favorite Creative Live classes so far. The storytelling and human interaction parts were my favorites! The ability for Nigel to get such amazing expressions in such a brief time shooting was amazing. Everything he demonstrated seemed almost effortless, and all without a shred of ego. Great class!
Margaret Lovell
Nigel is a wonderfully engaging instructor. I like that he walks his students through his photoshoots. The set ups. How to interact with the models. Even though there are a couple of genres I'm most active in, I appreciate that Nigel says that you can have different photographic interests, so long as you brand yourself properly. I like taking photos of lots of things, although my outdoor photos generate the most interest. I highly recommend all of Nigel's classes.
a Creativelive Student
Passion, personal, inspiring! Nigel, thanks for amazing class and a lot of great advices.