Lighting Setup Overview
Lesson 45 from: Creating Your Reality with Composite PhotographyRenée Robyn
Lighting Setup Overview
Lesson 45 from: Creating Your Reality with Composite PhotographyRenée Robyn
Lessons
Class Introduction
09:16 2Why You Should Sketch Your Composite
03:25 3What to Look for in Your Background
10:51 4Posing Your Model
08:23 5Communicate with Your Team
10:34 6Elements of Compositing
31:36 7Learning from Failure & Criticism
12:27 8On-Location Safety Tips
03:42How to Nail the Right Perspective for Your Composite Photo
07:15 10Gauging Light & Exposure On-Location
03:49 11On-Location Posing
18:37 12Cliff Shoot Location Final Thoughts
12:03 13Tips for Culling Images
09:41 14Culling Images Q&A
11:29 15Preparing Your Image for Composite
07:18 16Composite Image Cleanup
11:01 17Adding Background Image to Composite
17:04 18The Difference Between Flow & Opacity
05:41 19Composite Sky Elements
20:58 20Using Curves to Color Match
05:43 21Adding Atmospheric Depth to Image
17:08 22Using Color Efex Pro to Manipulate Color
07:37 23Using the Liquify Tool
05:15 24Color Theory & Monitor Calibration
10:35 25Adding Smoke Layer to Image
07:55 26Selective Sharpening
05:18 27Crop Your Image
02:29 28Goal Setting for Digital Artists
04:39 29Review of Location Composite
01:57 30Understand Angle & Height for Your Base Plate Image
06:15 31Base Plate Focus Point
04:45 32Base Plate Lighting Tips
06:10 33How to Use a Stand-In for Base Plate Image
03:47 34Capture On-Location Base Plate Image
05:57 35Student Positioning Demo
09:05 36Base Plate Sketching
07:33 37On-Location Sky Capture
01:53 38What to Look for in a Base Plate Model
14:30 39Building Composite Model Lighting
10:03 40Composite Model Test Shots for Angle Matching
19:48 41Composite Model Shoot: The Art of Fabric Throwing
13:34 42Composite Model Shoot: Working with Hair
05:45 43Composite Model Shoot: Posing Techniques
21:26 44Composite Test with Final Shot
06:12 45Lighting Setup Overview
04:52 46Culling Model Shoot Images
03:35 47Adjusting Skintone Colors
04:54 48Merging Background with Model
04:54 49How to Mask Hair
09:49 50Creating a Layer Mask with the Brush Tool
14:23 51Creating Shadow Layers
07:10 52Removing Visual Distractions with Stamp Tool
07:11 53Replacing Sky with Layer Mask
05:15 54Drawing Hair Strands and Atmospheric Depth
10:30 55Creating Contrast in Your Composite
12:23 56Adding Atmospheric Elements
06:43 57Using Particle Shop
11:47 58Selective Color Adjustments
07:58 59Cropping, Sharpening, & Final Touches
10:29 60Closing Thoughts
05:52Lesson Info
Lighting Setup Overview
Do you mind giving us a little tour of your lighting setup, 'cause we really didn't get into that. Just a little quick tour of why you chose to do that, and let us know a little bit about the equipment. These are Profoto B1s which we absolutely love here and also the modifiers, and just give us a little bit of a tour. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So originally what we had planned on doing was having one of the large parabolic umbrellas from the back here creating a fill light, so as what happens when you rent equipment, sometimes not all the pieces show up. So in this case, one of the pieces didn't show up and we weren't able to assemble it properly. So what this means in the world of backup plans, because sometimes things happen and the world is not perfect, I was like okay, we will just use a fill light with a V-flat. And so with a V-flat, these things just basically control light so if we make it really, really narrow we're gonna get a lot of light energy coming out all at onc...
e, which means our highlight line is going to be quite strong. So the more I open this up, we're creating a larger light source that's just kind of softly wrapping light around her. If she had been wearing an outfit that had a lot more detail to it, we would've seen here, this light here, this Octabox is basically our main light. This is our brightest light on the setup. So this, all of these lights here are for creating my environmental light of what it's gonna look like, and then this is if I brought in a strobe, so I fully intended on this looking like I had brought strobes on location just like the lighting setup that we did yesterday. I took a picture of the natural environment, and then I filled the light because it wasn't quite enough light on her face and it wasn't as flattering. So in this case here, I have a nice little bit of fill light. It's a little bit forward from her, which means that the light is going to wrap nicely around her. It's a nice, soft, large light source. It's taller than she is, so that means that the light is actually gonna wrap from the top down as well. And so I bet you if we zoom in on her face there you actually can see there's a little bit of light touching the top of her head. This light here, I originally wanted this V-flat a little bit closer, but limitations with the equipment in the studio, we couldn't have it as close, so pushing it further back meant that we're gonna have a little bit of a stronger highlight here. So I just opened it up wider to get more spread, which means I'm gonna have a lot more diffusion of the light, so the light's gonna bounce around 'cause light just bounces off everything, right? It's kinda what it does. It's like, you know, squirrels on sugar. So if we had made this more narrow we would've had a stronger highlight but it's also further away so I'm trying to counteract that by making it wider. So the further away it gets, of course, the smaller the light source it becomes. So if I open it up, that means I'm just gonna have to throw more energy at it, gonna have to turn up the powers so that I get still that nice little highlight here. In this case here, this is my lowest light, so all of these guys just sit around. Well, that's set at 8.2 power. This guy here's set at 5. So this is my least amount. The reason for that though is because I don't have to throw, first of all, I didn't want the same highlight on this side of the body. Nature, that doesn't really happen very often, and in this case with the girl on the beach, when we photographed the girl just standing there, she didn't have an even distribution of light on her body, on the rim light. So here I know that with the way this box is designed, incredible amount of power is gonna come out of this. Both of these V-flats, the light is going to go everywhere. It's going up, it's going out, it's going down, it's going forward. There's no light control with this, but with this guy here with the softbox, none of that energy is getting lost at the side or the top. All the energy is coming through here so I can turn this down quite a bit and still get that nice little bit of highlight here but less power, so this is set to about five. So it's almost half, and so that creates this nice balance of light so that these three here, this is gonna wrap around nicely. This is a little bit of highlight here. It's softer, it's smaller. This is bigger, but I had to turn up the power here more than what's here because it's further away, and I'm opening it up because I'm trying to create a larger light source, but I still need the energy to come here and hit her. And the light is still, from where I'm standing, the edge of that V-flat goes to here. You can actually see in the shadow on the floor, right? That light is gonna bounce around and still wrap around her. Even if we have her turned here a little bit, her body's gonna catch that. Is that clear as mud? Yes, question. Is there a reason why that V-flat is gray instead of white? It's just because it's what CreativeLive has here. (laughs) Actually, I didn't even, I don't think it's gray, I think it's white, it's just the way it's lit. Yeah, I think it's just the way that the, there's the multicolored lighting there and it looks gray, so, when there's less light on white things they look gray. (laughs)
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Dino Maez
i have to say, the class was AMAZING! in every way from the tricks and technique's of mastering this art form to the personalized attention given by Renee. through the class you are able to learn information that would normally take the average person years of trial and error. Renee gives you the gift of benefitting from her her experiences and what she has learned THE HARD WAY! Renee is an outstanding instructor full of passion for what she does, and with a strong desire to not only improve the art, but more importantly, pay it forward, by sharing her knowledge with others. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the event in person, truly a once in a lifetime experience for me, the staff at creative live were THE BEST! they are helpful in every way and really made this event something special, i can't say enough about the experience i had and would highly recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to go down for a class, it will be an experience that you will never forget. but the best part of creative live is that wether you are there in person or wether you are watching from the comfort of your own home, you are involved in the class in REAL TIME, you have the ear and attention of the skilled artist giving the instruction, being there myself i can tell you that Renee was regularly given questions and comments from the viewers via the creative live staff and she would respond to them as they came, in that way you are very much apart of the class you are never left without getting that personalized attention of an amazing artist or that specific question you have answered, and even better you have the option to purchase the class and have it as a constant resource in your tool kit that you can refer back to at any point that you need a refresher or want to recall that special technique that was demonstrated. thank you thank you to renee and all the staff at creative live you have a life long member in me. and i would recomend that everyone take advantage of this valuable resource dino maez
stephen lenman
I have completed many creative courses. This is by far the best so far. Quite the most amazing and inspiring presenter with a true passion for their craft. The core information is excellent, but the thing i liked most were her subtle tangents, dropping incredible information completely on the fly. A complete real world honest view of business and practical side of the industry. Especially her advice on how she started to her business. Saving up enough in her day job so she could pay the rent, and do photography for 3-6 months.
Sheldon Carvalho
Awesome class. I've been following Renee for a very long time. I love her work and to finally see her work and get an image done from start to finish was quite something.. I love the way she sees things and the way she treats her work and all fellow creative. I would recommend this to everyone interested in getting into composting. Looking forward to creating and making my own art work. But it now :) Have fun creating. :)