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Shoot: Overhead on Flower Wall

Lesson 25 from: Fine Art Conceptual Photography from Shoot through Post-Processing

Bella Kotak, Pratik Naik

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Lesson Info

25. Shoot: Overhead on Flower Wall

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

04:47
2

Artistic Vision and Inspiration

17:06
3

Personal Projects

18:59
4

Creative Motivation and Defining Your Story

15:15
5

Organizing Your Inspiration

16:26
6

Building A Character

03:19
7

Creating Wardrobe and Props

33:59
8

Location Scouting

12:55

Lesson Info

Shoot: Overhead on Flower Wall

So, we actually have two setups for this look. So, because I knew that I was gonna take a portrait of this look in this session where she was standing up, I have another setup for you where I wanna try and get a full body shot and show this dress off really beautifully and have her lying down. So, we're gonna change it up right now, really quick, yeah? Perfect. There you go. (crew chattering off mic) Oh, yeah. Tanya, thank you. Madeleine, how you doing? I'm good. Okay. Cool. (crew chattering off mic) Tell us where you you'd like it. So, we're gonna have it over here. Sounds great. Yeah. Is that centered? In the center? Yeah. So, Madeleine, we're actually gonna have you curled up on here. Now you can sleep on the job. Yeah. Actually sleep on the job. And, let me get Tanya to bring extra, she's bringing 'em? Yeah. Exciting! How are you doing, are you feeling okay? Great. Now, I have to move real quick? Oh, yeah, guys, we're gonna come around this side. So ...

let's get out the way. So nice of you to move. Yes. Oh, thank God. Clear. (crew chattering off mic) 'Kay, let me get that ladder as well, yeah. Okay, so we're gonna set you up-- This way. On this scene. So, I don't know, would you be okay to try and step on that? Yeah. Yeah, don't hurt yourself though. So, just be really careful. Madeline, give me one second, we're actually gonna hook this up. Oh, okay, he's gonna set it up. I think just here, actually, yeah. I'm not gonna break it, am I? No. Well, we kinda made it to be for you to lie in it, so. Oh, okay. 'Kay, Tanya is it okay if we get her in here? Yeah, go for it. Great. Is this good for you? That's perfect, actually, yeah. So, we're gonna have you here. Alright. (Madeleine softly talks off mic) Yeah, you wanna kind of actually be lying down, so let me grab your hair. Let's have it looked at, like, let's have it looked at. I'm sorry if it's not too pretty. Slide all the way down? Yes, that's beautiful. (crew members softly whispering) Okay. Does it matter what color? We're gonna have to pin that for you. Beige? Okay. Tanya? Yeah? You can leave that here. Is there any more foliage I can use to wrap this for her head? Oh, yes, let's... We're gonna lift your head up a little bit. Okay, we're gonna stick that underneath. Make it smaller? Tuck it, make it smaller, yeah. Okay, don't worry, don't worry. Too small, too big? No, no, it's perfect. So then your hair is just gonna go on there, yeah. A bit better? Oh, yeah. Yeah? A bit softer as well. Fantastic. Yeah. Grab whatever you can over there. And we're also gonna... There we go. Get a big leaf on. Not exactly. Oh, I don't know. Okay. Maybe not this one 'cause it's too big, I think. Want some more flowers maybe? It's okay, actually, I'm just gonna... Tweak it as much as I can. Okay. Alright, brilliant, oh. We actually need to bring your hair from this side, you're gonna have to lift up again. Yep. Okay, great, and now you can lie down. Great. You wanna loose one? If that's okay, if you've got one. 'Cause something from here that I can just shove in here. Great, thank you. (crew whispering off mic) Not bad. Okay, I'm just gonna shove that underneath as much as I can. Sorry. Let's add some more of these. Fabulous! Alright. (crew members laughing) Casey, not now, please. Ah! (crew members chattering) We were supposed to use that when she was standing. Oh. (laughing) Yeah. Great, okay. Yeah, whatever you can put up there will save me adding later in post. A ghost in the fog machine. Okay. And we're gonna... (sequins rustling) Have this kinda falling away, I suppose. But let's have this shape as well, and her body... Come in a bit, actually, do what you were doing before. Oh. Yeah, yeah, you were perfect. Oh. In fact, have on leg longer than the other. Yeah, whatever you can manage, let's see your feet, really? And the other one? Perfect, and actually, have them out a bit more this way. Okay, and bring one in front of the other and the other one in a bit. So, make one straight, this one. Okay. Oh, let, actually, no, maybe not. Yeah, that'll do, that'll do. Okay. Actually, I quite liked it when I couldn't see them, so you can just straighten them out or something, yeah, there you go. I like them when I can't see them too. (laughing) Okay, and turn your body the way you did before 'cause I didn't, it looks better from the angle. Turn it to the side again. Yes, much better. And if you wanted to curl your legs in, there we go. That's it. Okay. Okay, yeah, if you wanted to get some more foliage, Tanya, do we have any more? Great. Some flowers. Alright. I'm gonna use up all that we have because you've brought it with you, so we might as well. So, we're gonna actually have them just curl up, like across her, as if she's being... Enveloped a little bit. We'll bring that over there. So, I love the textures you picked as well. I'm bringing this around, okay, great. Here. Yes, please, I'll take a couple, thank you. Okay, we'll put one here, like here, or something, I'll let you do that and we'll, yeah, but one there, great. And we'll have it so that it's like here, on her. Okay. Yeah, whatever you can manage to make her perfect, perfect. Alright. So, I think, Ken, this needs to come a bit more this way. So, I'm gonna, should I move the dress? Yeah, actually, you're fine. Fantastic. Okay. Alright. So, what I wanna do is I'm gonna take a photo of her in the shot, in the frame and in this scene, and we're gonna try and get this shot, and then I'll take a photo when she's out of the scene. And then I've got an empty picture to work from in case, and I'm sure I will, want to extend this frame over here. So, she doesn't fit perfectly into it, but do you know what? That's okay, I've shot in worse conditions, and those pictures, they surprise you when they're edited. I love the color of this, I wanna show that off a bit more. Bring this out a bit. Okay. Alright. Let's do that. Okay, so, how close can we go with that? As close as we want? The fog machine? Yeah. Yeah. We can get as close as we want. Basically, I want it to kind of look as if it's coming from the foliage. (crew member talks off mic) Sorry, sorry. Okay. You okay? Yeah. Let me hold the camera. There you go. Make sure you get all set up first. How are you feeling? Yeah, you good? Okay. Thank you. Alright. Is there enough reach for you? Yeah, there is for you too? You're good? I'm very good. Okay, so when you guys see the photo on the screen, like, the only thing you really wanna be noticing at that point, or only I'm noticing at that point, is whether the light is great, whether the model looks great in her pose, whether the expression is great, all of those things. The final photo will have, you know, the space that you're going to see in this picture, filled. So, those are the pieces I'll take later at the end. Right now, it's all about getting the intention of that picture, and then I'll make it better in post production. Aw, you look fantastic! Thank you, so do you. Oh, thanks! (chuckles) Okay. Right, shall we? Okay. (fog machine humming) (camera clicking) Oh, wow! Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. Yeah, hang on, hang on, hang on. We need to test the lights. I know, I know, I know, I know. Can we raise the power up on the-- It was a good gust of fog there though. Is there any way we can make that fog out... Less that that? So, can we just have... Yeah, a bit like (laughs) Yeah, a bit like that. Alright. Take another test shot real quick. Okay. Just see what the lights like. Okay. That's actually quite an interesting looking photo. (camera clicking) Ooh! Okay, so, we actually did this setup with the light yesterday, we prepped it. I wanna go closer into the picture. So right now, I'm not quite happy with the settings. It's coming out a bit too dark for me, so. I can adjust. Hang on, we're gonna make it F9 again. (crew member chattering) Yeah, let's-- I'm making it F9. Yeah. Okay. And let's see how we go from there. So right now, as you can see, you can see the floor and you can see the edge of the ladder, but I'm not too worried about that. I'm really just focusing on the lighting and it's really taking things one moment at a time. So, don't worry about the fog just yet. Thank you. (camera clicking) Beautiful. Great, so, I'm gonna have you turn your body a bit more this way. Yeah, that's it. And have your arms curled, have one arm over the other a little bit, I suppose. Undo, oh, yeah, that's it, something like that. In fact, you can bring that arm a little bit lower if you wanted to, whatever feels natural, 'cause if it feels natural, it will look more natural as well. Okay. So, let's try that, in fact, if you wanted to, bring this arm up and that arm down a little bit. So, bring that arm down, and that other arm up. Yeah, so your left arm, bring it higher. And bring your... Actually, that's not too bad, that's quite pretty. And turn more to the side. There we go. Okay. Alright. One, two, three, I'm just gonna take a picture. (camera clicking) And actually, turn your face towards me, like head up, yeah, that's lovely. Actually, if you wanted to, you can drop that shoulder. Yeah, let's see, I'm trying to figure it out, what I can see and how I can communicate it. So, let's have you turn a bit more, go to your back a bit more. There we go. Yeah, okay, and let's bring this arm, your left arm, down a bit. Just elongate it a bit more down, there we go. And let's have, see where your right arm is, bring your right arm down as well. Yeah, lovely. Your left fingers are hiding, so let's have them out a bit, like this. Yeah, something like that, yes, that's really pretty. Okay. So, one, two... And actually, could I get Christina to just sort her hair out here? 'Cause it's hiding a little bit. Yeah. Just a little bit, just bring it, pull it up. Actually, Madeleine, just turn, turn to your side a bit more again. Yeah, there you go, that's it, that's a bit pretty, okay. Fantastic, alright, so, one, two, three, you can close your eyes and turn your head away, actually. Christina, do you mind sorting out her unicorn horn? (crew lightly laughing) Okay. Alright, and you can keep your eyes closed for this one, Madeleine, my love, great. Alright. And Christina, there's a little bit of foliage just by her eye, on that side, so we're gonna just get rid of that so we don't have to do it later. Oh, you can just, yeah, it's just to hide the... You can tuck it under her hair. Yes, there you go. It's just to hide the towel. (lights laughs) Yeah, there's a towel. Okay, beautiful, so, one, two, three. (camera clicking) Lovely. Okay. I'm happy with the light there. Do you wanna turn it around? Let's have a look. Yeah. How's the... Yeah? Everything is good. Fantastic, do we have an extra bit of foliage, Tanya? Where would you like it? Just in my hand. Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, something, you can just grab it off the end over there, great. Grab that, yeah, yeah, anything. Oh, sure, I have a little bit of it, actually. Great, okay. Givin' myself some options. Alright, so we're gonna set up the fog machine. So, one, two, three, whenever you're ready. (camera clicking) Lovely. Can we do F11, or is it not worth it? And you can have your eyes closed as well. Yeah, ooh! Hang on. Ooh, very mysterious, so, one, two, three. (camera clicking) Fantastic! So, what I might do in post as well is make it foggy around her. So, that could be another way that I could disguise the floor as well if I wanted to. So, we're gonna have that fog machine come at it from different angles. (fog machine humming) Ooh! (camera clicking) That's better. Yeah, great. Go for it. (camera clicking) Great. And then we'll have you come on this side, Casey. Yeah, perfect. (crew member talks off mic) Or we can just keep on trying shooting the same smoke, and then flip it again-- And then I will reflect it over. Yeah. Let's do that, okay? Right. (quickly mumbles) Yeah. Yeah. Okay. One, two, three. (camera clicking) (fog machine humming) Beautiful, I'm just gonna keep shooting because, Madeleine, you can change your hands a little bit now as well. So, you can bring them in closer to you and just really curl up, yes, that's beautiful! I love that. I think so, yeah. Yeah, we've got enough smoke now. Wonderful! Oh, that's beautiful. Isn't that beautiful? It is. Okay. That's amazing. Yeah, so do you see how-- I love the hair. So, this is a seven-foot Octa, and we're actually shooting at it with, like, as if it was the sun, essentially. That's how I like to think of it anyway. 'Cause the light is super duper soft, and when it's hitting her, there's not much contrast on her face, just on the side over here, actually, and everything just looks right soft and really natural, as if I was shooting it outside in the shade somewhere. The other thing I did though is I quickly changed it to F 'cause I wanted the sharpness all the way from the bottom of the dress, all the way to the top of the eye as well. Yeah. And I increased my shutter speed to 400 because I didn't want any motion as much as possible without getting to carried away. Yeah. But I think it's looking great, and technically-- I'm gonna just see what it looks like when I do this. Actually, do you know what? No, I really like that smoke. Okay, whew! Yeah. I was like, "Please, don't," okay. (laughing) Hey, really? Don't hand-hold, I'm scared. Oh, okay. Yeah. You can though, you should try it. I wanna get this out of the way a bit. Do you know, could you-- Yeah. Actually, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, go over it. Okay. Ready? I can hold it here. What I wanted you to do is if you take that-- Yeah? And hand it to me on this side. Okay. Then the wire is on this side. Alright. Here you go. There you go, Ken, you can just give it to me here. You good? Got it. Okay. This girl scares me sometimes. (crew chuckling) You don't know. Okay, you look fantastic, okay? So, I loved what you were doing earlier, you were giving me some emotion, and you were giving me some movement in your body which I really liked as well, just in shapes, and essentially, what I really want is like, something very emotive, like you're like longing, you're wistful, you're dreaming. I love it when eyebrows go up a little bit, like, just some expression in your face and your body language. With my eyes closed now? Yeah, you can have them open, you can have them closed, I feel like you're doing a really wonderful job anyway. So, you're making my job a bit too easy, actually. But yeah, I'm gonna let you do your thing for a little while, and let's see what happens, okay? If you wanna move, you are welcome to move as well. But let's get this shot first. Okay. One, two, three, and, yeah, I'm gonna grab that. And one, two, three, Casey, you can go. Yeah, you can open your eyes. (camera clicking) That's lovely. Lovely. Lovely, and yeah, you can move your arms a bit. Beautiful, and you can tuck your head in as well if you wanted to. (camera clicking) And close your eyes, one second, I can't actually see you. (laughs) That's actually cool though. Okay, close your eyes. (camera clicking) And one more time. Waiting for the smoke. (camera clicking) And close your eyes, and tuck your head in a bit more. (camera clicking) That's it.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Practice PSD File - Sleeping Beauty
Pratik Naik Retouching Actions
The Royal Collection - Fine Art Actions
Practice PSD File - Location Shoot (~700mb)
Practice PSD File - In Studio Shoot (~1.3gb)

Ratings and Reviews

Kathleen
 

Great class and great instructors. Genuine and informative. Practical tips to create stunning images. Seeing them work through the process from shoot to finished image was great and I loved that they shared the thought processes behind the creative decisions. Definitely recommended!

RoxSpiegel
 

Truly a remarkable duo. Bella is so down-to-earth and humble for a photographer with such a strong beautiful and ethereal voice. Her explanations of her process really inspired me--I was sketching concepts throughout the class. Pratik's process really opened my eyes to "smart" retouching--understanding what can be done in fewer brush strokes and slimmer PS files. All in all a really unique and inspiring class that makes me excited to realize my next conceptual shoot. They're also adorable together!

Mai Her
 

I've gained sooooo much from this I can't even contain my appreciation and excitement! So much inspiration and so much generous advice and tips to help me! Thank you so much Bella and Pratik and Creative Live!

Student Work

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