MIxed Light
Jeremy Cowart
Lessons
Lesson Info
MIxed Light
So mix light. I love combining lights, horses. No. Why? One second. There's. One of my favorite kind of shots of dental makes, like mixed like to me, means when you're combining ambient light with strobes. And so I do this all the time where I'll fire my stroke full power. But I will, uh, drag my shutter or do whatever to allow the sunlight to come in as well. We had, you know, just like I was using a minute ago. Huge, um, octo, octo bank here. Then I joined my shutter here real quick. Let's, bring both of you on back there. Uh, any light will do. Any diffuser will do. I'll show an example of this. All right, you ready to be a be a band? What's your band name. No. Oh, wow, all right, what kind of music is that? It's. Weird it's got a twenty it's wang. Thanks. You start out full power on that. Yeah yeah more higher and toppy always said topping my assistants make fun of making a throw words that are not words toppy society more more more hottie more yeah that's good its full power all r...
ight so you have my letter full power which means I probably need to be like and all right so to become porn there's still a celebrity 00:01:58.957 --> 00:02:04. they liked it dutiful of you and wait she's the ghost 00:02:04.31 --> 00:02:08. whisperer yeah that's who it is that's it yeah that's 00:02:08.38 --> 00:02:12. what I need is some somebody I'm a friend dated her 00:02:12.06 --> 00:02:12. for a long time 00:02:14.05 --> 00:02:17. anyway we have one here that's like thank you like 00:02:17.92 --> 00:02:19. literally just sticking straight 00:02:20.22 --> 00:02:25. and it's not going anywhere oh yeah there you go uh 00:02:25.84 --> 00:02:27. it's kind of awesome was leaving 00:02:28.98 --> 00:02:31. that's actually a good lesson like there sometimes 00:02:31.77 --> 00:02:34. on shoots there's a good learning moment where there's 00:02:34.87 --> 00:02:37. a hair sticking straight out and I swear there's like 00:02:37.79 --> 00:02:39. a whole team who are trying to get in here and fix 00:02:39.88 --> 00:02:42. it like I always want to get things in camera so I 00:02:42.76 --> 00:02:44. don't have the photo shopped him but you have to learn 00:02:44.99 --> 00:02:47. to choose your battles because like right now yes 00:02:47.43 --> 00:02:49. we could have somebody come in and fix that one hair 00:02:50.16 --> 00:02:52. has too much works too much destruction them in my 00:02:52.37 --> 00:02:54. mode and do my thing it's a teething of photo shop 00:02:55.0 --> 00:02:58. fix you know like you have to learn is it worth it 00:02:58.49 --> 00:03:01. to fix it now or do we do photo shop and so their 00:03:01.82 --> 00:03:04. symptoms, or I just want the hair makeup. People go 00:03:04.01 --> 00:03:06. away, go away, you just fix it later. But then, other 00:03:06.49 --> 00:03:08. times, but I really don't want to deal with us and 00:03:08.76 --> 00:03:12. voter shop, so please make everything you know, good 00:03:12.69 --> 00:03:15. and cameras. So, anyway, um 00:03:17.82 --> 00:03:22. he's taller. So him behind. And I don't want him blocking 00:03:22.17 --> 00:03:24. the light. So I have to have her on the rest of you 00:03:24.55 --> 00:03:25. over here. 00:03:27.42 --> 00:03:30. And we'll pretend. Like what? The camera camera bananas. 00:03:30.92 --> 00:03:35. I don't want to know what you mean. Let's are here, 00:03:35.82 --> 00:03:39. that's good. And your your shoulders face in that 00:03:39.0 --> 00:03:43. way, let's, get in. Do you just kind of it's? Easier 00:03:43.37 --> 00:03:46. sometimes, just to grab my sub big shoulders and director. 00:03:46.72 --> 00:03:47. The one hair is amazing. 00:03:50.21 --> 00:03:52. Hey, I didn't like it, mom. 00:03:54.02 --> 00:03:54. So, uh, 00:03:57.95 --> 00:04:00. I will say the most helpful thing anybody ever told 00:04:00.94 --> 00:04:01. me of about I mean, done that, says cama bananas that doesn't say came open innocent it with this, um, let's. Just pull off the you actually come forward up to me some and bring the light with him. Some bring them forward. So I so I don't like the background trying to get it off, and then I could even and some with ours even say two point the light away from er subject. Let that kind of fade speed the late and it's a little less direct. Well, try this. I think. Yes, now we don't have on the lips portrait back there. Um, and you also have to really watch how. So this time, you keep looking at me. And you looked that way over there. This is this shot's not going to work like a lot of times. You have to train your subjects like no, you're light. Yeah, I have to literally tell them the light is very here. So your face always has to be towards that because of the look away. Unless you're going for that again. There's no, one way to shoot a portrait. But unless you're going for the mysterious brooding, you know not that you can't see him, but if you want them to be seen. But if you want them to be seen, you have to tell them where the lettuce and were to face. You need to see the light. So that's like full stroh. Full power. You know I'm fully utilising. Now see how even in camp I mean even they could I see how this light up here is lighting the top of his head. Still it's go bottom out like teo too. How? Like this be one life? Because it made us stupid. Simple. There is yet one through ten. You can't mess it up, you know. Well, that was she could turn up to eleven. Because that would be crazy coming. Well, that movie, anybody, another reference, uh, spinal tap, yes. So now she's bottomed out. I'm going to drag my shutter, and I'm just going to mix like I know most of you guys probably know this. But I'm showing this for anybody watching. It doesn't know that now. I've gone from onley, using the light to now mixing in a lot above it and it's, just changing some camera settings if I wanted, and this is just a guess, I didn't then meter haven't do anything to figure out what this is going to look like. Yeah, there was a minute, some perfect, but you do see the light on their hair now. Um, so full power, strom, just mixing in that ambient light so I could even open up a little more. We'll just make this quick, do a couple more. Uh, I usually like to keep my shutter one twenty fifth of anybody's, curious, because I have very shaky hands. And even right, there were a hundred sixtieth, so have to be really careful. If I'm going to sixtieth there, especially fortieth the thirtieth, then it's, really start getting blur some of the best advice have heard. When you're shooting, a slut is just like personal, but your elbows against test and literally, hold your breath. See, try notto, you know, shake your camera, but I'm now at a fortieth of a second, so we'll see how you do. Should be a little better exposed. So if we're going back to the hey, let's, let's, take a look real quick. They're here. They're here made it. It isthe just want to get this thing is pretty awesome mommy this is kind of a good thing this show because obviously this is way brighter and this would be a good thing to show the client hey, I can either before the shoot out a lot of times I'll do this until the client I was like, hey, we're on a black background I can give you this or we can go that because sometimes they don't know what they want until they see it mommy and that's obviously a lot more flat it flattering and all I'm doing is dragging my shutter to allow all these lights they come into play but with this light with the b one at full power ten it's just it's all be one it's one light we're here we really have ten lights were using in one room that's really nice and soft and still I just did a, uh shoot a couple weeks ago for a thirty year old billionaire it doesn't depress you, does it? No, but I did this exact same thing I just, you know, shouting the same background and gave them three or four different looks with one light just moving around and it was interesting to see how they how they responded to the different to the different looks but I mean I'm pretty sure the camel bananas like all these looks if I'm not mistaken um well, then, guys there's that. And then, if I'm shooting a band a few weeks, good to the banshee, where my favorite things to start doing bond. This is one among the shoot, and I get really bored and feeling very. Have it on my guy. Wanna trust him else? So then I go, teo. I will say fourth. And, um, this time I do this thing with bands than and multiple groups were called mosey around each other. You know feel free to still this trick but the men you're there okay so use their boat quick so we're literally just going to move on into the shoulders like this is your coming around but just keep glancing camera like this and keep moving yeah and then I want to switch when you go this way and bond with each other what happens is specially to get a band doing that his bands like dude they're so insecure they get in they try toe you know tell these stupid looks that just don't work whatsoever so fun that with guys if you get them doing something if you get them moving you get these little moments that we just have never happened otherwise like there's no way I could oppose them into that expression the turkey is giving them not to laugh because once they start you know moving around and show they start laughing but if you get them to stay serious you know and I always like wait til the lead singer comes around I'll just make sure he's in focus and then the other guys will fall into place and you get these moments that I could have never posed and so I tell people to mosey and circles and then you also to make sure that your life is going to kind of hit everybody he was somebody's blocking the person it's hard but the the one they have learned about client she's says they're only going to end up using a couple of men just anyway. I mean, maybe five to ten at the most. But even that still that's from old day of multiple setups on a thing like this, I know that probably ninety nine percent of those images were gonna be crap. But I'm just looking for that one, seeking for that one moment. So real quick, I'll let you hollis, you mosey. Seo. Looking down your looking around here, you're glancing at different directions to stay real tight. Like your your shoulders are kind of touching the whole time. Yeah. And hunter. Ok, let me at least see where my settings are, because I it slowed my shutter way down. Yeah, that's. Obviously, I got a d d and I was trying to different things the same time, so we'll go back to one, twenty fifth, um, and then go right, let's, try that again. I'm guessing my settings, my, my assistant, still prefer these light meters from my guests doing, but I just shed a couple frames and see how it looks. Let me take one more. You know, I would like to just guess and see where things land. All right. That's, a good that's, a good, brooding, dark look. So here we go. Same thing. Grille. Closer, state cider. It means stay one on friday. This her savile goofy, huh? There is good and you feel it like when you get one, you just know like, oh, no, you're smelling oh, no, that was embassy. She she was in the darkness, but still like I could work if he was the lead singer and she was the the loan if she was the support, you know, the backup singer or the wife, I mean that's, an interesting frame and the beauty about fifty mega pixels is, you know, if I cropped this go and crop this into an album cover, then I can crop the arms out and, you know, there's something suddenly interesting there, you know, like it had I sat here and tried to pose them. I don't think it would have gotten, but because they're moving and doing these, we're emotions and your notice we still have all the ambient light coming in because I met three twenty s o two point eight, never a light bottom down some. I'm kind of making use of all this surrounding way, but that's really nice. I think I think the commando banana, I have a pretty I guess they're well having no, I mean, I'm just I mean, I'm just seeing so many bananas above your head and it's just incredible. Um, yeah, that's, moseying that, and so to take that one step further, we will do it a little more more times. But off. Slow my shutter this time. You ready? You sit brooding. Sorry, kim mikula. Yeah, get in there yet. So I'm still shooting. You mean stay closer, joe, move! Okay, take a look at some of this. Do you feel that the only sometimes the only thing you're actually doing is moving the little red dots around for bogus? You know what I mean? Because my eyes aren't good enough to maintain focus. Marjorie laying a lot of ferguson thicken constant, moving those red dots around. So I purposely drag my shutter a little bit again. Target audience, like I wouldn't do that for certain types of plants. But I'm not afraid of things being a little softer and a little more out of focus, especially if one person stood again except aa. You're the lead singer again. And you're moving around them. But you're staying dead still. And I have done this very same thing that I'm about to, dio said. Just look right in the camera. When you pass in frame looking camera, look at me. Let's, have you be the lead you're walking around? Yeah, it's. Funny, because you're trying to compose. Even in that moment, see that I like the last time was cool. Yeah, and then, if she was the lead singer of a band, and you had three guys doing that, it'd be really, really interesting. One of the best secrets is shooting. Ah, band. If the guys are unattractive, just blur them. Sixty percent of the time it works every day, huh? Yeah no, I'm serious. I can't tell you how many times of like you know I could tell the band wasn't that a tractor then maybe it getting older and let's do this blur thing like yeah, yeah good idea, huh? Labels like a good idea it's the it's a said true, but in a lot of times they're worse they get the family terms of slowed my shutter to to hide aging too high because you know I mean even tell with her with her moving a little bit motion we don't see the pores on your skin you don't see the it's your gear literally losing all detail so it works tio this one's nice too. I love the capture one now has a you know, some green you can add to the photos if I go in close here see that nice green it doesnt like us get up here but it looks amazing on monitor um but that actually, you know, could pass as being shot a very long time ago even again with fifty megapixels you can really zoom in and click straight out of the seventies or something like and get away yeah and then always left to go in here and mess with my compositions and it goes back to being a designer so, yeah, cama. Bananas for days, man. No. Yeah, this is, uh, this is really how we're doing. Actual shoot. I'm getting to initiate infect. I need to get back to teaching.
Ratings and Reviews
Abel Riojas
Watch for a lot of gems in this one. A few take aways was working with the band and how to take the shot (even if they've aged) and loved the "Mosey" technique...i think thats going to be cool to shoot with some friends. What i really took away was stop stressing about the settings and enjoy the shoot. it comes out in the work and and the end you'll be happy and the client will be elated. Give it a spin, he starts off mentioning that he's not sue bryce (in so many words) and work with people in their natural environment.
Randy Boback
I've taken a similar class in a photography school, more focused on editorial portraits however. They both rank at the top of my list for seeing the world differently. The lighting and composition in portrait work, lets the photographer have a broad say in what the results look like, we rarely notice how the lighting affects not only the feel of the photo but your impression of the subject as well. This is a chance to see how much control the photographer can actualy have.
a Creativelive Student
excellent! thank you for featuring Jeremy