Lessons

Lesson Info

Critiques - Part 2

Uh little guilty guilty right and here's what I want to see we see these chairs we see all of these details I like this umbrella down here I would almost want to take this whole composition and push it up this way put this umbrella more like fully in the shot so that it starts here and leads around to all of this um I feel like it's just sort of ah just a quick grab um that set up is very symmetrical but it's it's not a symmetrical photo but it's not a symmetrical either it's got a bit of a tilt to the horizon but not for any particular reason um and it just kind of screams symmetry with this this is a subject a little guest table and then the chairs and it needs some more care and composition right um had to clean spot I would just until you know now I know that this is how you go water skiing right because you need water on a hill um but uh thing dozens course letting water sledding hundred yeah that'd be a great place to go water sledding but otherwise I'm sitting here going like th...

is the ocean is about to fall on them um and he's getting lost in this greenery back he has dark hair dark background and he's just sort of getting the loss that just dropped down. Just go a little bit lower your viewpoint would have dropped them in this sky, straighten that up and you're there and I'd have them turn their faces a little more out towards the sun uh get eyes like all right, the flattering picture it's not a very flattering she's pulling it it's nice moment which she's laughing but she's pulling her head back and that sickens all of this up. Um, add to that it's just kind of start start it's a busy background. Yeah, and busy background. And then this background back here is so bright. Look how much brighter this is to her. She is the subject. Not that she needs that kind of light on her. That kind of poom if you look at this picture she's just sort of muddy and dark and lost and really at the flowers to the background show up a lot more than that she doesn't have pure white dress muddy, dark and lost since again, um there there's man there's pictures to be looking at this picture like like yeah so it's not helping the composition. They're getting lost in all the greenery back there the light is back behind them, their faces air going dark, their eyes they're going dark, you flip that back around, you stand down near the water's edge and you have them face out to the sun set and you drop low take a knee you're dropping low you put them all up in the sky the skies getting rid of all up in the sky in the sky you get them framed against the sky they're getting hit with full sun that doesn't make them all like this no oh hold on this guy's getting hit with full sun so their exposure in the sky exposure going to equalize pretty closely so you get a nice guy you get them and then you can have them bring their umbrellas up you can do different things with the umbrellas and it's just this clean graphic shot of of the people and the umbrellas nice light and no tilt tilt e and it's awesome and then you've you keep them right there you have them face away from the water you shoot back towards the sunset and you get their silhouettes in those parasol ls and stuff like that because they're backlit by the sun through those parasols and now you need to do is go build a time machine and cold back now well like where did we go here? Um I thought I put them in different sections but but this that's awesome I now now this is getting cool yeah, all right, what is the story going on here? Uh story that's another story hasem glad yes awesome so you mean the black and white ones I hold on hold on hold on no, I'm now are getting really I don't give a damn about your weddings anymore yeah, you know weddings whatever whatever had to clean spot hold on hold on let's get through these ah it's nice light that's fine that's pretty but wow now I uh right okay, because now now see here's the thing okay? I've seen a good billion wedding photos and this that and the other and but now I'm seeing something interesting I'm seeing something personal now I dont ceo this is like all right there's a story here what is the story? This one right here that we're looking at this's a personal project of my field it's a project I started when I went somewhere on scholarship and I started shooting film and he started shooting color okay on and I picked up a hassle glad I don't care about all that what's the story behind the portrait's the story is about how we're how we identify ourselves and how that I can isolate us and these air people in different cities that I've lived in and how they've identified with different groups even though I don't actually identify the group in the photograph all right so here's personal work and it intrigues me and I want to know more about you I want to know more about the story because there he's really interesting characters interesting subjects shot an interesting way don't cut off fingers that's bugging me great shape see how this creates this line and we have almost the negative space we have like a triangle here in the triangle here basically you just kind of blur your eyes you see triangles and then you see his shape um but I stop here, right? And they're different subjects approached from different angles um you have some composition variants you know they're some of its vase dead center um it varies a little bit, but it makes me stop and want to think number one reason why you're shooting the wedding on the beach that's a job and you gotta go do your job this you're putting your own time your own energy, your own money, your own thought process into and you're going and seeking this stuff out you have more personally invested into these photographs you've got you've invested a lot into these photographs personally financially, whatever and you're pushing yourself he went got a hassle glad you shouldn't film issued in color. That and something up about that personal investment I don't academically have the words to say what it is, but it stops me and go thank you cool now this like iggy pop and mick jagger and drag like uh now it's it's all in one spot but you know if you're going to shoot webcam girls there there it is right so what is this this's also another I actually had a job at the venue but this turned into a personal project I went into the ladies room and these airworthy attendance and I started a conversation with them and photograph them over a series of this was eighties night and it's one of the founders of the drag movement in new york so what you need to do is you need to like spend more time with these folks like you need to get to know him you need take him out to coffee and I want to see a whole story about the people I want I want to know about this story this is definitely your strong suit yeah and you know there's there's outlets for strong personal stories right um it goes there's fine lines between commercial appeal and editorial appeal for this work like I really I have forgotten all about your wedding photography I've forgotten all about it like seriously like do weddings pay your bills yes they do ok well you need to become a better wedding photographer and I'll show you what I've seen so far um and you here's here's what you hear is the ultimate goal for you take this sort of personal investment that you approach your this personal project with put it in the wedding's approach a wedding like you're approaching this story don't approach it like a wedding photographer approach it like you she no wedding with your hassle blood and you're not going to look at a billion pictures just you're going to approach a wedding in your own way jonathan can bliss is a great guy who shoots weddings all film all medium format um and he approaches weddings like he approaches weddings so I would hire you shoot my wedding based on where this picture's thiss yeah yeah I would hire you shoot my wedding but that's the kind of person tonight right so I like that intrigues him so I want you to come shoot does that make sense but I want you to shoot it like that yeah it's one of my challenges to meld the work that I get paid for in the work that I feel that I'm expressing my vision right it's in the man you're going to be working on that challenge for a long time and I'm still trying to work on my vision we'll talk about that coming that but yeah I see it that stuff stopped me right all right david aah where we want to go now boudoir and seniors yet not together so I because you said you wanted two hundred I said melody quick I need something extra sand right boudoir so you are like a whole another site like a father it's not yeah I had you and I said oh ee swirled that's the other thing melody my wife we shoot is a team so we're both we both shoot at the same time so she's actually there when lets you that's the good work that's fine you won't come to me with boudoir she actually I think I want to do war nobody shooting dude wire right now and I must start with that all right the best today cleans okay I don't I don't know why this is should go down through them so just look at everything and you're seniors yes so far I'm seeing is nice light good exposures um compositionally things look really good yeah things are changing up seeing heads and clean spots whoa, what in the world that whatever that is you stopped in that now clients pay for than just take their money and but don't show it to the world um oh yeah it's almost there what does he look like? Oh, he looks like a home oh, wait, andy um way that iran one time okay? So like alright exposures looking that your light is nice um your compositions are are varied, you know it's it's clean um one thing at one thing it's kind of bugging me a bit is you're not consistent in your post production and that some of these pictures are really brighten contrast e and some are this sort of bluey diana type something and something in a site science types diana types diana type that was site sayin oh type oh sayin oh type o I see science which is more of a blue light I thought you would not cbo that you're going to see if he doesn't I'm seeing a color so dad I love this background I love the light I almost want to see him just scoot down a bit more and just get framed right up in one of those squares and that's just he takes this he just kind of slides down that wall just a bit more just to get him framed in there but love this background loved the texture I love the white shirt popping off of ah the background there um it looks a little tilted just a little something just it just needs to be straightened up a little bit uh I don't care for this one too much it's a very forced kind of smile and he's got some sort of light like going up on him see how this no shadow goes up that he's being under lit by something else saying there's distracting white yeah it's coming out of his head and it's just it's just kind of distracting there and he just looks very forced smile when I see that my client having that for smile I've got to stop him all on you get your five year old smiles relax go serious on just come back and then try to crack jokes you know crack some jokes if you crack a joke and get him really laughing tio grab it kind of thing um like that it's like I feel like she's laughing at something right heading a clean spot uh beautiful shallow depth of field I love this stuff in the foreground going out of focus the light looks nice um there is I like this been yet uh there and uh it's just clean it simple um I could see that is a big print, you know kind of thing uh girl same girl that's fine it's just a no I know what I'm just saying like it's just it's interesting to me the difference and the impression I get from the different shots in this oneness I don't want to interject too much but because we shoot is this team I shoot all off camera pretty much like and my wife shoots ambient mostly so we like better that's your what is your wife watching right now? Yes see awesome. So so far I think well, if we like the available light better, right? Yeah, totally. We picked the wrong person. We should have had her lie right um okay, so uh it's your right as a few minutes ok, just so you know we're going late today, right marlin wrestling me awesome arm wrestling for more time all right so it's nice that one thing I just don't like is this basic all railing it's just up a railing um I want to like this picture here because it's so but I like the son I did but I don't like the treatment ground yeah I like the deer like she's like a tree or a deer and if you could do it in such a way where it seemed very deliberate toe have all of these things coming out of like she was the tree of life or something you know kind of shot but like I like the sunburst the color is kind of interesting like that her hand is cut off the fingers like I want to see all the fingers or I want to see you know forearm cropping so that means her hand kind of comes up to our waist just to get into the shot it is distracting here the light looks nice I like the sunburst the color looks kind of good it's like it's it almost seems like if she was here in this dark area right? So she was framed within this black hole over here and the sun was off over here and giving that rim light and if you got chain saw and cut that down yes might well what I was going to say is it's so easy for us to sit here like what we were saying before where you were picking apart this pictures you're probably thinking you know how hard it was for me to get this picture a lot about a lot uh had she moved over there that light of her wouldn't be the same what it I could have moved it I think that the sun no it's uh yeah off camera so I can remember there's an app for that, I guess it's just easier for us to say, well, if you just darkness regardless and done this and it would be great what I want to say is despite all those things I love that picture what it's it's definitely got some visual problems going on it's just sort of busy and it's it's like it's it's like the puzzle pieces laid out on the table and I can see what the picture is going to be but all the pieces aren't quite connected in yet, so should he not show this picture on that honest that's? The the big question I've had two is because I really like it, but at the same time I'm like it's not has an awful together in that shot but it still has a well factor to me maybe that's it right? Well, not quite like that but cropped so we we could go in there just simply take this one antler out of her head yeah, right. We still get that kind of cool sunburst we're not chopping her off uncomfortably at the fingers were changing up the composition of it we still have the nice rim light we lost the call cool blue of the sky but that's all right? And then we have this negative space over here that seems to make a little more sense and you could drop in a logo there if you needed tio or are you know, whatever I could I could see like that to me cleans that picture up is a crop you're so smart and I think just a simple crop on it and it helps the photo a lot. All right. Um all right it's a nice sunburst there I mean, for, you know, a basketball player in high school and he's got his letter jacket that's the most important shot in the world for him, you know, um yeah, he has a holy harm. I think when people say stuff like that, then all you're going to see from now on is the holy arms. Oh, now we're going to call it the holy armpit shot um it's like it's like the poop in the grass shot all right, I love this shot um yeah, it's nice guy looks great, the red is a blue what? What? What what what can leave? I mean, what are you I mean usually not a whole lot that we could say work other than we're almost there just get rid all those trees, find a different angle there, just write a striking change song with you cannot when they understood very upset with me. I want a chainsaw and say cut that tree on nice. Yeah, this is oh, abilities go. I just stepped in that disgusting. Oh, uh, see what I'm saying? Like, see that? See that expression it yeah, I e helping. Yeah. Guilty guilty putin shot uh, this one. Your flash is too close to this wall. Yeah, we've got a big bright spot two hands just and that's if especially about his drums. I wish I could see the drums. Yeah. Used to be a little little more, but overall, ian, you guys do great work. Yeah, and then here's the post process that needs to be like that. That post processing, that acid bleach stuffed like it. It doesn't help that at all. And that's kind of the it's almost a poop in the grass shot on and, um and is tilting that doesn't need to all right, but clean, clean um, I didn't get into your weddings a doll, but um but that's that's clean and if you guys are working as a team you're working really well together as a team the ambient light stuff and the lit stuff is definitely different but it's not so absolute lead night they different that it seems like you're distracting different no, it wasn't distracting it all. It seemed like one photographer knowing when to turn the light on and when to turn it off and doing it correctly so you and your wife were working together? Well, let's go all right, great. Are you last one, ray? All right. Best for last night. All right. Um how did we get the wrong folder of images from you? Okay, so, um so, uh it's a fountain um at like an apartment complex that's what? I'm guessing um all right, so let's go through these so last we're still breaking at one, right? Our one thirty one thirty five lunch. Okay, okay, so I'm seeing a lot of like people and I see music like that. I see a lot of that that I'm seeing like, some apartment fountain pictures. Um, that air kind of dark. So, uh and then an aquarium is this all right? So is this your portfolio are it's just what you shot, right, so first things are like this kind of stuff like you know we're seeing a road back I see like are you attracted to the sunburst that this is so dark over here I don't have a lot going on and this seems like just a very plain municipal kind of fountain and then it's like there's a school and a playing it there's not a whole lot of drawing my interest in other than the sun bursting but the sun is bursting through ah pretty boring environment kind of thing right so that these don't have much value to me um if you flick your fish in an aquarium you'll see a billion of that spray paint right taken fire yes you guys could do like a spider fish yes, I know what you're doing right ah, little bit of a tilt like I feel like oh you're probably kind of drawn to the these lines and the shapes here there's something kind of gone on that but the mountains air sliding um all right so on camera flash right o all right, unless you're terry richardson you can't pull that off right um on lee he's like terry rich since this started for new york and he shoots everything like on camera flash pop up disposable cameras that oh, now now we don't know him personally but but he gets you know, the cover of justin timberlake's album like that's kind of jobs he gets you know, but there's only one terry richardson s so you know um the you know just pop up flashes um yeah there's ajob mcnally quote about that I won't get into um uh but it's you know that you see how ok here it is here's what it is you see how she's all lit underneath here from her cheek to her neck it's just one slab of flesh without any break and does that sound the slab of flesh sound appealing at all and that's why I want to drop that in when you say oh my gosh that's a slab of flesh it doesn't really sound appealing very much so you don't want to photograph it right as soon as that light breaks off camera and gets up taller than her then that drops a shadow here which creates a shape and a jaw line highlight shadow that way work in two dimensions we're trying to create shape and form in two dimensions so it's highlights and shadows right uh when it's all lit it's one dimension so one dimension from neck to here without a break all right um all right so people and that's what I'm going to critique best is people why? Because that's what a sheep right? I'm not going to take my portrait photography and try to get a bunch of product photographers to critique because that's not what they do um and if I'm going to shoot products than I need product photographers to critique it if I am shooting portrait I want portrait people to critique my work because that's what they do as well they speak the language so that's where I want to you know, talk to know this is kind of cool like now I'm like oh ok I kind of think this picture um it's it's interesting light uh it's interesting play on this kind of very warm light on her and very cool light in the back I love the reflection in the glass is there seems to be this attitude wide angle right sheet this wide angle it's kind of distorted but this sort of works this way um her hand is huge the perspective is diminishing um it's interesting shooting right up her nose, which is typically a rule like don't do that but this is an interesting shot what makes it for me is her hand I love the gesture of her hand love that gesture um really drawn to that shot it's very bold. Uh, no, you're doing the whole like sunburns likes embers that's what the thing I feel like all right, you gotta get it out of your system. Uh, now this feels to me just the snapshot all right, now you are a photographer do you do snapshots? Are you very deliberate in the photographs you make you just go off stamp or are you deliberate like I'm I'm finding my shot finding my angle finding my lin's finding my viewpoint to the world finding my light and being very deliberate about the photographs of making or you just go on oh crab grab grab right this feels like just very much a crap shot this feels very much like ok, I'm working with the subject and I'm being delivered about the portrait right um probably a little on the wide angle side um which is pulling her face maybe a little too much. Um you'd probably want to go a little more on the telephoto side to compress her in a little bit because it's stretching her forehead and it's stretching that forearm a little more it feels wide angle because these lines are diminishing pretty quickly for armor it's not her bicep her upper arm sorry. All right. Um ok, it was like kind of behind the scenes it is behind the scenes I want to see him not get like, split in half by the microphone so that so that is I thought he had like a god head on face mask on cyborg like yes, I gotta love the microphone on the camera it's like what character is he? Birds birds cute feel snapshot okay music. Hardest place to shoot concerts are outdoor music festivals in the afternoon, right? Um just just like it was successful in the afternoon right. So when I'm looking at your live music photography I want to be looking for peak moments peak absolute moments from that that performer all right um the hand is kind of cut off kind of ah, you know, fairly benign composition um and I'm not getting like peak moment out of her right and the light's not all that great the background is a big you know, kinko's banner with all the sponsors if you're hired by this uh festival toe cheap photographs they probably put this out because you could start to see you know, corporate sponsors in the background and stuff um all right um that cielo no so she's really bright he's dark there's a relationship between the two but the light is so different on them that the relationship is getting lost and really her shirt in front down here are the brightest part of the photograph and the eye keeps getting drawn down here it's just it's what happens? Technically, honey, should I start walking around with flashlights and the creative life quote just happened uh I should walk around flashlights on my boots on ly so uh it's almost and this is one of those small club kind of things where I'd walk in there and go this like stakes this light right here stinks that is horrible lights to be shooting it and that's where you need a flash somewhere off camera to equalize the lighting on that stage it still looks like a stage lighting because it's coming from a pie off camera somewhere where a stage light would come from so it has still keeps the look of stage lighting but now it's equalized so I've got a white girl and a black guy both singing and they're in the same kind of light together what do you want to shoot that's a good question thank you I really love music as a musician I love nature so you know I want to shoot both can I don't know when you wanted to do you want to shoot live music with your hands in nature? Uh live I love life as a musician so if you know when you're when you're looking at your work, should we focus more on the live music stuff for you? I'm forgetting about your nature work and your apartment um complex first sunburst photos here your apartment complex, your summers we have a complex about apartments um um so yeah, I'm going to be drawn to your music work, right? Like I've already forgotten all your bird pictures, right? Like I don't see you as a bird talk just not and so people continue special people uh this is all about a shirt that is all of this all black shirt if you really love that sleeve that is an awesome sleeve right there because that's what it's all about I barely see his face I see a microphone here and then here's the stage it's really then it's about this one particular girl here is having like the peak emotion they're checking a text message over here on their totally not engaged there's this dude looks like that girl back there you see it like she's like talking about that or she's plugged three years yeah uh this really bad show right now it's this guy with a sleep right so when you're looking at this picture what is this picture about a sleeve and then one or two people really engaged and then everyone else kind of like doing something else and if I'm that musician I'm gonna be like man I like my shirt and man about half the people did not like my music right right go deep into your photographs look att everything about it and think about what people are saying ok so we're starting to get some emotion it almost looks like off camera lighting it almost looks like a little bit of flash was probably little spotlight up here on him that's a motion that was beans oh here yuki sorry he's a saxophone player look larry I got a little ufl going on here this is a pure black background turn your swatch your backgrounds watched the black grab your racer tool and and it's gone and that little distracting element is now out of your shot um it's just we don't need to see this this does not add anything to the picture on that probably look better black and white it's too dark the brightest thing in here is this microphone again pure black background a racer and those microphones are gone right? And they're out of the shot so easily it's not like you're gonna spend an hour rebuilding anything it's a pure black background just take him out completely. All right, all right, now we've talked about this earlier like I'm digging this shot here because I love this kid right here and I love like that's an intensity there's something about it like when he's playing those drums right and that's what I'm drawn into we have this microphone stand that is totally distracting and needs to get out of the shot you is a working photographer, you either have to have a different telephoto on this is one of those situations where telephoto I'm not thinking perspective I'm thinking that drummers ex distance far away from me, I need this frame of him right there and I need a linds that will reach to that if I don't have a lindsay, it will reach to that I'm gonna have to probably crop to that or I've got to get closer to him or I've got to get on stage but that kid has an intensity about him that I really like he's too dark he's underexposed loved to see a light pop but then that's getting into off camera lighting that's getting to the club early that's getting your lights set up that's taking test shots during sound check that is you know that's not showing up you know fifteen minutes before the band gets on stage and just trying to grab some shots that is you get there early and you're lighting the stage and that's more equipment that's pocket wizards and all of that um what camera body here you shooting right now I'd be five thousand thirty five thousand okay um how do you feel have you done like I esso testing on it like how do you feel it does in low light uh not really good at all yeah if you're like I want to shoot live music and I mean look clubs like this all the time you're going to be thinking camera body absolutely you know I'm you need go d seven hundred something like that um for aya so performance right david you're shooting seniors and you're lighting everything I also performance doesn't matter at all for you you're thinking lights here's your thinking you know other things until we get to the weddings until we get to the weddings right? You shoot a whole ton of weddings now you're thinking that right? All right but I love that and probably black and white you take that black and white anything I've found that's under like red and tungsten stage lighting like can make some really beautiful black and white conversions um and that's probably where I would take that get rid of that microphone stand it's looking good uh it's just dark dark dark, dark, dark, dark dark um it's flat what I see here come around to the front of that keyboard grid spot right overhead now the problem is he's a musician against a brick wall rock n roll confidential dot com go spend an hour and a half there sitting on the holidays bag right? So you've got to avoid musicians against brick walls at all costs but man, I see this guy playing I like his style I like his look and then you pop a little grid spot on him um and it's just let's see all this stuff here in the background I don't need to see all of that he is my subject. This stuff over here is not the subject. What is the subject of your photograph and you are going to compose a picture so that you see that that make a square crop right there shooting with the house blend I didn't uh all right cute, but but it's very symmetrical but you're cutting off the hand and kind of cutting off the arm and but this starts to feel more deliberate than snapshot the other kid on the playground was very snapshot this starts toe have you see these leading lines and repetitive shape and form and there seems to be a reason that you you're taking time and being deliberate about this photograph um there's nice light on her and it just we just need to not cut off her her hand over here or cut you know crop at the same point of her arm she's run around going crazy and you can now put your hand up on that if she just moved her hand a little further up be more symmetrical thiss pictures all about symmetry for me very snapshot kind of feel um really cute kid but your shot is somewhere in here or something yeah these this is a dead area here is very distracting this area back here is very distracting the depth of field is too too deep on this I want all of this background to go out of focus so take this shot this setting go two hundred millimeter back up two hundred millimeter all of this stuff in the background compresses into a solid background you're shooting it wide open and it goes soft so there's this night you get the feel of all the trees of all the green of all the leaves but it's soft out of focus solid and she's sharp off of that and pops off of it the light looks good she's a really cute kid like this is one of those the puzzle pieces aired on the table but they're far more separated I see the picture there but I got to get these puzzle pieces closer in and clicked in together and telephoto lens would really help out in this situation you feeling that absolutely telephone is gonna work I'm feeling like he's either he's my subject um but I'm too far away from him he's very predominant in the photo but he's just very dark and this is where a flash and you're tall did you could have a flash in your hand and if you're shooting that picture um that exposure of ambient looks good but he's too dark so you need just a little bit of light like one twenty eighth of power or sixty fourth power handheld and just just pop a little light on him from a high position so it feels like a stage light okay not from camera because then it feels like on camera flash the year told did you have a good reach? You could hold that up high just just a little bit of light on him light him up because the ambient light back here on him is fun he doesn't need a flash you just need to equalize their exposure or you need that shot there and figure out some different picture for him like like that's kind of like peak saxophone playing it's very clean it's simple. I know I go right to my subject and and he's in that a moment on that note yeah simple done finished no, no thiss starts to get interesting if I had a little more detail down here um now what's funny though is this is your best lighting conditions you've been in so far that I've seen heading a clean spot um it's clean background all of that but it's just kind of classic plot looks like a nail does nothing there's probably a shot here but I need to see him connecting ryan's connect you with this microphone. It looks like he's having a moment with it. Yeah, who interesting that's interesting. I love I don't know what's going on here looks like a pillow or purse or something. Your shot is here somewhere just him just his face. Now what do you think about about cropping? Like where should I crop that? What dimensions should I have? Um well, I like to keep all of my crops the same dimension that same aspect ratio of my chip okay same aspect ratio of my chip unless I'm specifically going to square right for I should it's everything's rectangular at the aspect ratio of whatever chip I'm shooting so everything stays consistent I'm not just gonna just willy nilly like just pull some weird crop out because I don't know what that is right? I don't know what that is I will do square and then I will do the aspect ratio of my chip ok, not just that or unless you're doing like myspace banner you know or some myspace anyone remember that miss the spatula um but I love this light I love the subject I love the character does he kind of had a big afro going on yes, like daphne right now I like your hair that you keep in canada so I see a bit of that and I want to see more of that like do you have access to this guy? You know, this dude like man he will be an awesome portrait so imagine a little hot shoe flash up here in the corner with a grid all right? Tight little grid just throws a little bit of light onto his hair so he's being lit by this desk lamp or whatever and got a damask fabric going on in the background um and then this is a little bit of light from behind just giving you rim light around the afro um giving the shape but you see this thing down here like, what is that e d j you need, you know, so just something give yourself some negative space to work with just I don't I don't want tohave toe my goals of photographers not to have to shoot pictures and then crop into the shop I want to see the shot and go shoot that shot where that gets me in trouble is when I then have to crop it later like here's my shot oh well to fit the crop it's got to be this like she don't want to re crop it right so I get in trouble with that um so especially on magazine assignments if you go on magazine assignments you don't know what size of area your photographs going to drop into and your, uh photo editors all the time just say shoot a little loose for me because I want to need room to crop right because you don't know the aspect ratio is dropping into whatever the you know magazine designers doing um but I don't like to go shoot a bunch of pictures than have to crop them in and find them sometimes that's to a fault all right sometimes it is um but sometimes there are times that you think you have the idea and you shoot it and you find the shot later in the crop right um but you say to yourself I should have seen that a camera right uh um do have just a few more to go through then what I want to do right after we're done here uh with um with ray's critique is talk about moss I'm stumped um snapshots snap shot just kind of a snapshot birds uh snapshot okay, look at that I've been wonder where that thing wass oh I pushed this pedal it makes this noise right uh like oh there's some moment happening here but your lights not there right uh oh what does that says after we finished this I want to take questions click and clack all right, I want take questions right after this and then we're going into a lunch break which is about six minutes yeah, maybe one question you know southern minutes. Ok. All right. We got so many questions for you that people are loving this okay um yeah ok, so oh there's our deejay again and there's the light that was lighting him before right um but it's all about the light in his notebook up here and be part of this arm yeah, I mean maybe lips come on now may be the shot you knows the hands right there you have a shot so I didn't get it. Yeah that's the tough part the tough part is editing. We're going to get into that after lunch is editing your work you you shot ten pictures of him what's the one finding it or putting things together things like that okay, um yeah, so my takeaway for you is you need to become a more deliberate photographer the pictures that you're going to create you have to think about it all right if you love live music photography and small clubs the clubs that you're currently hanging around and have horrible light so you have to do one of two things get some little inexpensive hot she flashes and learn howto light the stage all right or or start to work on ice so performance but I let me get this through everybody's head all right, what camera on my own where's where's metallic here I am I s o performance better I esso performance does not equal better light because some of the situations that you're you're working in its keep the tattoos on some of the situations that you are working in are is still bad light so you could get better I esso performance and shoot better, you know have better pictures of bad light you know what I'm saying? Like the white girl in the black dude there just standing in horrible light and you could have the best eso performance in the world and it's still bad light you just have a cleaner shot of bad light, right? So that's one of those situations where I'd rather light that so if you want a small club music photography uh you're going to start working on off camera lighting for it start simple single light on a light stand somewhere and just don't let it be over your head because then it looks like on camera flash keep it off to an angle all right um s o performance is going to be important to you some point that like the kid the drummer the deejay you're shooting in those kind of situations it's you want to d seven hundred you want t three you want I have one for sale um you get it for classic century way works at mt those are going to be important things to you right lenses will be next and I keep it simple you know fifty millimeter one eight start with you're going to be shooting it probably f two two two eight that's going faster than a kit linds um that will help you out a little bit but it's still you need you need three force five stops better kind of stuff going on um focus on the people like the bird photography the sunburst stuff you can do that with flicker you can put it on instagram you can don't worry about that don't show that to the world don't go out there and say I'm ray I'm a photographer look at this bird right and it's a bird that I've seen a billion pictures of that bird my seems to be a painter think yes and put it in the middle of ah hot make animal can she fighter well um any questions right now from you guys here in the six danger let me ask you this so so you said I need better eyes so performance if I'm gonna be doing that stuff so what if the money is an issue then I was like I would worry more about the light I'd find a cheap flash like a two eighty five because um um we'll be breaking here in about ten they saw me wants to sell me he saw me he wants daddy so when I was shooting with most of my small concert club stuff was a d one hundred on d seventy which was horrible I also performance so it was all lit so get yourself in an expensive flash start looking for like a like a nikon sb twenty eight or a vivid tart to eighty five for some pac three thirty three three eighty three years some like that uh the loom a pro lp one sixties a nice one and that's a new flash all right um you're going to need a radio trigger and if money is an issue go with the alien be cyber sync system it's half the price of pocket wizards pocket wizards air the goal to get to like um there there the industry standard for a reason but when budget is of concern you start off with what you can afford don't go with the cheap ebay fifty dollars triggers because you're going to be sitting in the club and they're not working alien be cyber sinks work and to go with that and so if you're not going to upgrade your camera body, upgrade your lighting, ok? And you can usually upgrade lighting on the cheap much better than upgrading camera body everybody's gonna cost you a lot more money kind of thing on and we'll talk about in the business side this afternoon, specifically the music industry. I'll tell my story about I shoot I was shooting bands shows on lee is an introduction to shoot their promo stuff. Other questions caroline on you guys mentioned a lot that I need teo, you get, like the tunnel vision going figure out what I'm going to d'oh but was there anything I need to pay attention to it like composition and lighting? I think I think, uh, exposure and compositions were you know, there were things like the water bottles, like meg pointed out like there was this beautiful shop then there these land old water bottles like y what are those doing there? Right? So I would like tiu ni, maybe later on I'd like to go through your pictures again, okay, I would like to see them again, I bet meg would have an interesting perspective on it because I'm looking at it going are you going to make money doing that well there's also like landscapes that's what I started out doing michael and I'm still how you make money doing that I'm just such a poor but mag would probably have a much better point guys thinking that she's separated from it yeah yeah I'll be friends hang out don't go to that place that you like to go ahead and why are they called pocket wizards every time I'm sitting back and thinking I'm gonna go by myself a little miniature gandalf for the rain sticking in the pocket that it was not a wizard in your pocket has happened any other questions? I want to take about three or four questions from the internet like massive like the main questions coming out of them and then we've got we've got a break for lunch so let's go toe internet questions real quick and we can spend more time after lunch plans get questions sounds good? Well first I just want to say zack and bag this people in the chat rooms and on twitter just loving this first of all thank you to the student on behalf of the internet because they just felt you know the stress, the pain but people found it so help fall tio here you pretty in these students work so I think it was great so first question from mama mama mia is so what's the minimum number of photos before creating a port folio general rule of thumb when we talk about gathering work to put in a port, probably on a site, I would say ten, but they gotta be ten, huh? Huh? Whoa! Wow! Oh, like your portrait siri's the square portrait siri's ten solid ones and you call it personal something portrait's and their ten really solid, really consistent like no crap, no fluff done right, it's like senior portrait ce weddings. I'd say you've got to get up to the fifteen. Fifteen pictures I'd say when you start getting fifty pictures in the gallery it's, you're ok, you're gone too much. Thirty thirty for me, like I hit thirty and a gallery and I'm just going what doing that's just too many, right? I would say no more than, like personally, when I'm looking at something. By that time I had, like, twenty pictures of something in a gallery. Yeah, and you got an idea of who that person is, you know, right now what I'm struggling with with my own galleries is I've split him all up. I got dudes and bands like girls I got solo portrait I got hip hop I got this I got that and I'm sitting here guests you know read gassing why my all my gallery's air not yet finished on my news site is because I'm living with it thinking about it I go through him every day and go do I want to just break that down to maybe one gallery but I want to keep it separated um and I'm not here you have your twenty and get it right I am keeping a like here if you're a photo editor and you just want to say twenty pictures that's kind of ah a culmination of all of this stuff has gotto twenty image and it clicked through twenty pictures don't worry about the rest I'm still trying to figure it out myself all right? Another question ok next question is from if only my goatee was epic zac's regarding bios um the question is on the photographers website what general advice can you give regards to running them and what to include or to exclude uh writing bios do not put a portrait of you holding the camera right? Why I'm zach I'm a photographer here I am holding a camera you get that right? Um it's just they're so funny like me and my camera so don't put that picture up there just it needs to be about you it's like it's like what's what's the client I like what I like but carolina did with her is this is very like there's like eight pages there quick some rains of how she got where she is I don't I don't like it when people like I I'm his honor because I love to capture the moments in life ready just everyone says that and I assume you want to capture those moments for me or you went into doing this so you don't need to tell me again please be you know yourself and please be original and don't tell me anymore about light and capturing anything and texture and special allows in a special moments between your special day seriously like yeah but I love this it's personal it's it's you right how are you going to relate yourself too the kind of clients that you want right I want the kind of clients who get me so I want to try to put me and I'm not going to try to make it all academic and hi I'm zach have been a photographer since nineteen seventies such such I went to this school and I and don't put fear a photographer don't put and I shoot all with cannon five d mark twos and l glass and because no one gives a damn because me go I don't even know what that means right good and the other thing is don't say I'm a natural light photographer okay, what? No one cares? No, I don't go. I'm a strobe photographer. No, I was going to say thinking about well, if you are, when she does, she, like I lived with the special moments kind of prison lights and peep booth holding him that that's who you are than those of the kinds of clients you're going to get, and then that's, you know, adam that's fine. That's fine. I told you, I think when I was going to say is is what I see. A lot of what I go through and look at this stuff is I think people see oh, I like their bio on their website, so I'm going to try to do the same thing on mind about me by oh, no it's like they kind of copy and paste and drop it and just change out the names or something. And ah, lot of dodgersstarting put these like video bios on which I think in some case, there's a really kind of cool really lets you see who this person is and how they work. But what I see is someone's done that and done a really good one, and it's made it through the forums, and I had enough photographers websites where it's like you just copied like jay shipley's video you're saying the same I love texture I love line I love color I love art and you go to some other photographer I love line and color and art in shape I'm drawn to the I'm drawn to the texture and then this is what I was saying I'm drawn to the texture, another photography and I'm drawn to the texture like, oh damn it all somebody say I hate texture I hate texture, light socks and you're also did it really I like this person I get it right? Yeah they're making fun of it or something like if you see something that's that's you know successful unpopular find out why it's successful unpopular it's probably because it says some about who that one individual is and then you have to say, well, how do I do it about me and just don't go rip it office a mother photographer you're a photographer for goodness sakes you have to find originality somewhere something please something that's your own original thought just try yes, one more question then we got a break. Ok, one more question till later uh the question is and make what was their opinion on the whole website versus blawg idea should we have both or one what is the value of each and so sort of earlier when you're when we were talking about not having a lot of the personal work on the professional website and you're talking about a flicker group but don't be on your block so I guess one of the distinguishing factors of each um I think the website is your gallery it's your it's your digital portfolio here just look at my pictures find out about me a bit it's also like I put things in terms of music it's your cd it's, the collection of songs that you've worked hard to put together to give to people and then you're blogging or or whatever is the ideas you're trying out friends on my block its panel houses have done this but I threw out something I recorded it's just you know, on the rue out using on microphone on my laptop but I don't put that on my main website that's just something that's an idea and sharing so that's a line that's the way I look at it when I am coming to your website you were showing me the very best of what you worked very hard to do for me to hear or see right how I see it right? And then I I look at it from the start of the standpoint of here's your gallery here's your stuff here's what you see what are you doing right now what's kind of what what you've been working on recently because if you're busy where he's talking for your galleries probably aren't updated johnny on the spot but you're putting stuff on your block yeah and I want to hear I want to see your recent shoot I want to hear a little story about it and and how you you know like man my light fell in the water and we had to keep going through the shooting here's some of the pictures and and uh and all the crew is starting to come in when they get the pitch forks out that's what? We have to stop. Okay um so you're blogged is your recent stuff I think of it like this in that music metaphor that's a perfect metaphor so the cd is here's what I put together and here's a collection and here it is finished package website I'm working on my next cd and here's one of the songs that's going to be on that here's one of the songs is going to be on that it's not a completed cd yet, but here's what I'm working on for my next one because eventually after, you know, a couple months of blogging you go and you finally get around your gallery and you updated do things like that and then put your block is always constantly bringing more stuff in and if I'm if I was just getting started today, I'd start with a blogger and make myself be doing one shoot a week so I've got something on the blogged, freshening it up. So when someone comes to my block, they at least have three, four pages to go through. And then I'd be looking for some sort of gallery plug in. So here's, my blogged. And if you would like to see a gallery, it's, just a simple, like wordpress. Plug in to go through a gallery of images, and I want fifteen to twenty really strong images and one cat, a portrait. And just be done with it, portrait's, and then block. All right.