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How to Shoot in Tight Spaces: Two Studio Strobes

Lesson 8 from: Home Studio Starter Kit

Tony Corbell

How to Shoot in Tight Spaces: Two Studio Strobes

Lesson 8 from: Home Studio Starter Kit

Tony Corbell

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Lesson Info

8. How to Shoot in Tight Spaces: Two Studio Strobes

Lesson Info

How to Shoot in Tight Spaces: Two Studio Strobes

Let's john let me pull her out of there a little bit let's go ahead and grab a second light on her okay and let's uh let's get moving let's let's grab why don't we put this one behind her as an accent coming forward okay and then we'll grab the other soft box and we'll bring that into the scenario here for just a moment I do know this folks I know that there's a lot of things you can do in this central and there are some things as we mentioned that you just can't do I'll pull back and showed full length of what we're doing so you can see but you are going to see the c stands holding up our portable walls and you're going to see some things that we would probably clean up and move out of the way inside the home studio but I'll keep my camera inside the studio so for this for this situation tomorrow I'll show you a such a situation where the opening of the doorway into the bedroom was right in the middle the wall and behind me was a very long hallway and it was great because I was able t...

o use a long lens and back up and go down the hallway and shoot in there and it made a perfect perfect sense for that particular scenario okay, so I'll help you bring that round yes so in this case we'll end up with is in this soft box in the background is going to end up replacing the speed life that we had bouncing off the ceiling so we'll raise the soft box up and will give us a beautiful nice soft highlight on her hair a little bit softer than we were getting earlier uh and I think you'll like what we what we get from it then we can also if we want to we can take that light off the soft box often bounce it up but it's gonna give us the same thing uh for me the beauty of all of this is uh with one piece one person, two people three people I can get away with it it's going to be hard to do this with a lot of people so okay, so exposure wise that's probably gonna be about two point something that's probably about right and uh well here just to save some time on the video I'm just gonna shoot one at come on. That was a two point six of us will go ahead and go up a little bit higher with it. What about their let me just let me just fire one and, uh well, my accent lights right in the shot so we have to back it up a little bit or actually it's just move you over a little bit just a tiny bit and then we're gonna bring in some more people and we're gonna light up a group in here so we'll see what happens. We'll see what trouble I can cause nice that's a beautiful, beautiful let's just check that and we'll just fire and take a quick peek and see how close I am so I'm pretty close on the exposure dead on the exposure but I'm losing my hair light so let's, bring that guy up just a bit uh may just see that fire. Yeah, it did good. So what number is it on? Two, four, three, four I think it's too for four, so just take it just a couple of ten, sir. Three, four tents try that. There you go. That seems to be pretty decent. This is tried that great it's a little too hot now. Sorry I talk, I talk to you wrong. I think it went. I think it wasn't firing the first time. I think we missed it. So it's pretty hot let's, bring it down a little bit further. Just down, down, down let's, try that. Okay, here we go. Good, good, good, good. No, it looks great now, it's good value now do this, john, run, grab, find my little little gel pack if you don't mind so if you can find a good amber john, we're gonna warm up her hair just a little bit on that one highlight side. Uh, so, folks, there's a ratio here that you can work with with highlights two shadows in the high like, you know, all of it's a personal decision, it's all personal taste, but the point here is in this little small space, we can't say it can't be done. It can't be and it's not always easy, but you have to just think, it's not like I remember in one of my favorite movies of all time was apollo thirteen and probably because I lived through that nasa stuff. Uh, but in apollo thirteen, everybody was trying to figure out what to do and how we're gonna fix this issue. And one guy stopped and said, wait a second, everybody, just slow down, think about it and work the problem and that's what I want people to do, new photographers, especially when you step into a small space for the first time, slow down, think it through and work the problem what's the worst problem you have? Well, I don't have but one speed light and it's a small room, okay? What color the walls well they're green okay so then you're gonna have to get something that's white that's kind of larger and put it on one wall think about forty five just slow down take it step by step and kind of work problems okay the answer is not always that clear so you do have to slow down and kind of work the problem a little bit okay, so let's let's just kill the modeling lamp just long enough let me let me lower this guy excuse me one second just kill that modeling lamp and let's get some tape sorry, sorry, sorry we're going to, uh get yep sorry. I thought I thought I had some over here so what I'm gonna do with you guys is just bring in a little roscoe warm color gels little warming jails and it's going to place it in the box right in front of the flash tube. I just wanted just color a little bit of warmth in her hair just a bit andi and the value of this this doesn't stop very much light it's a pretty thin gel so I think we're probably going to be okay just give me two little squares and I'll just hang it right over the the top so I'm gonna take this and I'm just gonna just to save time I'm just going to take this inside the box just like that and let gravity hold it flat right in front of flax tube I'm turning off the modeling light and I'm not gonna let it touch smiling light so I just let gravity is holding on just take it on the top of the box about three or four inches away from the modeling lamp yeah does that make sense? Okay, so exposure wise is gonna be fine I'm not gonna have any acute all of exposure by putting it inside the box over the flash tube everything that comes out is going to be warm if you take the gel and try to put it on the front of the panel you're going to get a mixture of white light and warm light so you want to make sure that you're getting a full color whatever the color that you choose toe do I'm not saying this is exactly what I would always do I'm just saying this is an option that you can do pretty quick and easy and uh some of the people that tune didn't miss the whole color thing from yesterday so that's why we're doing this okay, there you go there you go up a little higher you just raised the gun bump it right up against the top there you go here you go great let's take another look kiddo, you look awesome you're awesome you look fun here we go there we go now we've got this beautiful warm like that kind of mixes and merges right into the purple of her hair color hey just warmed everything up just a little bit and now we're gonna cheat that just a little bit more to john's left so just pivot that a little bit more to the left right about like that now so if you can reach it now powered up another three or four tenths to compensate for what we just lost on the hair I'm gonna power it up but now I'm gonna get a little bit more warmth on the background not a lot but a little bit okay? And to keep this from blasting out the background completely I'm just gonna pivot that a little bit and I'm gonna move it in about like that and I think we're gonna see something that mean maybe we'll like maybe we won't I don't know it's let's just take a picture of it great, good, good good it's a little hot john bring it back sorry I got you. I got you all fired up about turning up it's just too bright but anyway you guys get the idea there's just options there and sometimes when you start in the small area you you have to kind of play with it and test a little bit with it but that's the good news in the days of film every time we hit the button it was two dollars and a date days of digital every time get the button it's ah free so so the other day I was cleaning out the desk and in my desk drawer I found a cf card are you ready for this? It was a sixteen card sixteen meg not gig meg I could not take one frame of that camera and suit to that one card that's insane spin it toward me just a tiny bit john sorry just a bit that's the ticket that's it that's it that's it good one mackenzie now turned right on square on to me this way little bit more even yeah just fold your arms yeah just get kind of cocky there yeah necessity turned that way just a little bit more yeah now bring your head just a tiny bit right there nice oh I like a little loop on your hair don't touch it some people would automatically go up there to see that little loop on her hair some people going to say well let me fix that little that little loop uh like that little bring your head this way a little bit more right there that's fun I'm gonna scoot down just a little bit nice john power that one down just a little bit now take it down take it down one full stop actually, no, I just pivot toward me a little bit more. Sorry, let's, just pivot away from the wall further, and I'm gonna be happier, I think. There you go now, let's, go back up a little, but that's it, that's it, that's it right there. Here we go, mackenzie. We're looking good, good one more of those. Okay, good. Nobody moves. Who? Let's do that again with a little bit brighter expression, shall we? There we go. Good. You're right. Your eyes here. Yeah, excellent. Got one more. We're going to one more of those good one. Great. Okay, relax for just a second. This I could sell this one. Take a look this. I've got nice, warm ambience in the in the room. Good expression, she's, fun, she's, lively, she's, comfortable looking, and we did it in a very small area.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Essential Home Studio Gear Guide.pdf
Bonus Materials with Purchase

Ratings and Reviews

Heiko Kanzler
 

This was my very first course at all, and it was a great one from the beginning. I never thought I could gain so much fun from my limited small space at home. Thanks, Tony! (And thanks to folks of Creative Live)

joanne duncan
 

Havent used my studio gear for a little while, and last time i did, i just shot too flat with no shadows, this was a really great refresher, love the attitude and the language used, worth it! a must if you are new to studio lighting, including sppedlights, got some good info for when i use a speedlight outdoors in sunlight. thankyou.

CawfeeJunkie
 

I've been lucky enough to see Tony present in person and enjoy his CL courses. Love his courses!

Student Work

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