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My Techniques To Shoot Photos

Lesson 15 from: How to Become a Freelance Photographer

Isaac Johnston

My Techniques To Shoot Photos

Lesson 15 from: How to Become a Freelance Photographer

Isaac Johnston

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Lesson Info

15. My Techniques To Shoot Photos

Join Isaac in the field as he shoots a spec job for motorcycle gloves.

Lesson Info

My Techniques To Shoot Photos

Okay. So we're out in the field now we're just a couple miles from my house and we're gonna go up this mountain. Alex is on the motorcycle, I'm gonna ride in the back of the truck to get some motion shots because we're gonna kind of conserve movement here because we're getting towards the end of the day. So we're gonna shoot these motion shots on the way up to a spot that overlooks the valley. I'm shooting my 24 to 70. We got this idea from the idea asset list in a different episode. And so Alex on a motorcycle and we went to Crane Mountain. Yeah, let's jump in the truck, get these shots. The really exciting shots in this shoot for me are going to be motion. So with that, that's why I'm shooting from a truck. I'm gonna get what's called a tracking shot but this is reverse tracking. So I'm going to shoot Alex as he's moving towards me, I'm on the truck moving. We'll pick a shutter speed that isn't super fast because I don't want everything sharp, but isn't so slow that is gonna make Ale...

x blurry. So I'm not gonna be shooting down in the 50 range that I would. If I was doing a panning shot, a 1/50, I want a little more sharpness than that. So I'm gonna start probably at 1/ and then we'll go from there. If that doesn't work, I'll go faster and we'll get him sharp and the rest of the environment around him blurry because it's moving, that's gonna translate to motion. (funky background music) (loud engine noise) Right, so when the road is bumpy like that I'm waiting for a smooth section of road for me and the car. It can be bumpy for the rider but I want a smooth section of road. So I'm not going up and down here. I'm gonna shoot this at about 50 to 70 at first and then gradually get wider to show the scale and the distance that we have between the truck and all the tall trees. But I wanna get closed in first. (laid back music) (camera click) (loud engine) Okay, so I'm just reviewing some of the images here and realizing that I probably need to go even lower shutter speed because we are going so slow because the road is so bumpy that I probably need to lower my shutter speed probably down to 1/80. We'll try that and then get a couple more images. We're gonna switch after this tracking shot where I'm looking back on Alex. We're gonna try and get a wider spot of road where we can do some wide shots of him being side by side. So kind of a tracing shot. That's next up. (loud engine) So when you're doing motion blur shots put it on high speed continuous. The fastest your camera can shoot as many frames as possible. Because about one out of every is gonna be a sharp shot on your subject with the right amount of motion blur in the background. So you really, yeah, you just really wanna try a lot of frames here. So don't worry about checking or even looking back just shoot a lot of frames. And about every 15 minutes I go, and I check it or whenever I stop, I don't check every shot. (funky music) (loud engine) (camera clicks) (louder engine) (camera clicks) So I think we nailed that shot. We've got probably three to four hundred photos of that and I'm guessing three to four really good ones. What we're gonna do now is move to the next location that has wider vistas. So we can kinda get a full picture of kind of his journey going up into the mountains. We're gonna get him looking over into the valley and then get some tight shots of those gloves. All right. So the change I'm making here on my settings versus in the truck, when I'm trying to drag the shutter to get that motion blur. Is I want everything tack-sharp because this is technically commercial work for this glove. So, as if this was our client, I want to have everything just be nice and sharp. I'm breathing a little bit heavy because I ran up here because we're trying to catch the last light. So I know my hand is gonna be a little bit shaky. So the settings I'm gonna put in here is I'm gonna go, looks like I've got it at 500 ISO. I'm gonna go 1/1000 shutter. Maybe that's overkill, but I'm just gonna make sure, right. Because if we're doing client work I can't go back and redo it. I can't just learn from it. I'll be bummed and the client will get a blurry photo. So I'm gonna make sure that's really sharp. And then I'm just gonna adjust my aperture to make sure that I'm getting enough light. Yeah, actually, why don't you go ahead and just take those off. And then they got that kind of neat feature where they stick together. And then just stick them maybe like here and move a little bit slower than you would normally but don't be like too fakey. See the gloves a little bit better. Yep. I'm just gonna step back here. And this is kind of gonna be basically my establishing shot. And even though we're already well into the project this is like the scene. This is the big scene. So, I'm gonna try and get it as wide as possible. Kinda get some sun flare coming in here. (camera click) So, when I've kind of shot the shots that I really had in my head. Motion blur shot, wide shot, close up shots, the gloves. Once I've nailed those. And I still have a couple other shots that I wanna do. Hopefully when the light, it gets a little bit less bright and we can kind of add some, hopefully we can get this headlights working or maybe shine the car lights on there. While I'm waiting for that, if you're shooting with somebody like Alex or even your friend who shoots photos or even just the rider, I always like to ask them, "Hey, is there any shots that you're thinking that would look cool?" It doesn't matter who they are but two heads are always better than one. So maybe their idea sucks but you shoot it and you don't edit it. But more often than not, the rider has like a cool idea or something they wanna try and they want you to shoot a photo of. So those have been historically some of my favorite photos and yeah, that's what I'm gonna do. Give them real hot chocolate. (camera clicks)

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Workshop PDF
How To Build A Proposal - Pitch Deck Example
Idea Asset List Template
Story Creation Sheet Template

Ratings and Reviews

Ken Neubecker
 

A great course/workshop, one of the best I've seen with CreativeLive. While at 71 I'm not looking at starting a full new carrier in freelance photography or video work, doing the work helps keep me off the street. It has given me inspiration to do a stoty about what I am going through now as a full time caretaker for my wife, who has been suffering the declining pains of Alzheimer's for a few years now. No one with Alzheimer's travels that final journey alone. In a sence it is an adventure, mostly for those close to the one with the disease. While it's not like the travels I did 50 years ago when what today is called "adventure" (canyoneering, something we used to simply call a hike in the desert...). I spent a lot of my life running rivers and working as a wilderness wanderer and guide/instructor. Now my travels are pretty well limited to long walk with the dog and occasional fishing outings with my wife who used to be a guide herself. Maybe thats not all that interesting or exciting as say going over a cliff with a bike and a parachute, but for many older folks it is the new story, the new adventure as their later years unfold. This in itself will be an adventure, at least for me.

Ryan David
 

Practical yet fun Great workshop and worth the time/money. Isaac is an easy to watch presenter and the various modules were each concise and practical. Time well spent!

asieh harati
 

honest advice from an adventure photographer who went through career transition I think a lot of us are mulling over the idea of transitioning to become a photographer. It's not easy. There are lots of fears and hesitations. It's a change that could affect our life. I'm at this decision branch for the second time in my life, and I still fear. Isaac shares with us how he overcame those very same hurdles and fears. He is genuine, practical and proves that you don't need expensive gear to start or even continue to become good enough. The pitch deck example, the starting up a conversation with a prospective client, the way to deal with blockers, all are real. I cannot wait to put them in place and start my first pitch. Thanks Isaac for sharing your journey!

Student Work

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