Lessons

Lesson Info

Shoot: 50s Housewife

we have now wi I have ordered a stepford wife from the online catalogue of stepford wives christina is going to be our our model for this shoot and when we came into this location we saw this great fifty style kitchen and immediately I'm like we got to like it fifties pinup sipe shot or something like that and just totally camp it up and make this fun silly portrait here so that's what we decided to do and we've got the great model for this we've got a cool little dress we've got her makeup done too fit and again this was something that we had to do a lot of running around to get props and all these little things and have to thank amanda and alicia and my lovely team for helping us assemble these things because it is it's the little details that could make a shot work and it doesn't have to be expensive and a lot of these things are begged borrowed or stolen you know amanda did steal a lot of things from local department stores and unfortunately she's very fast runner and stealthy so s...

he got away with it but uh it doesn't have to cost a whole lot to put these props together all right so now we gotta figure out what we're going to do here so my vision for this shot was her in the front we've got a soda pop of an unnamed brand that she's gonna hold in her hand and uh you know little bendy straw did you guys know these air called bendy straws we've been kind of having a little controversy like what do you call these things they're well they're bendy straws right everybody calls so she's going to open in front and one of those silly little poses like that you know very fifties esque typical of the these posters you'd see for ad campaigns back then and in the background we have this great little kitchen so we need to be able to balance the existing lamplight this warm kitchen light with our own light and in the front if you can see here there's really nothing going on we have a little bit of ambient light from the windows but that's not gonna be enough so I've got to create my own light right here and I'm thinking something like a beauty did because the style of the fifties posters and all that was very crisp and kind of directional like so instead of using just a grid spot which would be a little too chris but beauty day should be perfect that's a little larger it would be a little soft but yet fairly chrisman directional which is kind of what fits this style and that's why I pick certain lighting tools is it fits a mood or a style that I'm trying to create so let's take a look here at our unofficial beauty dish this is the impact uh quick box it's a twenty four inch quick box that I've been uh using an alluding to and these panels right here the circular panel is actually something that's made for my last delight for their easy box and so I just ordered these face material panels here and they fit perfectly right onto this box full this off here that's going to be loud annoying lisa can you come hold this for me and on the inside just hold the pole police doesn't pull over I've taken out the interior baffle so it's just direct a lot of silver reflection here so the flashes going basically just hit this and that's it with a lot of the silver and that's what keeps a crisp and looking much like a beauty dish so beauty dish typically is is either white or silver on the inside and maybe a little baffled over the front to help disperse the light and probably without any diffuser and instead it's just the white or silver casting light forward so the difference is this we have the white or silver we have no internal baffle but we have this face in the front to emulate the shape of the dish but the quality of the light is really very similar to a beauty addition I've used this interview's a beauty dish both and they really are so similar that this is easier to fold flat it's more versatile cleans it for other things so here's our beauty dish all right someone go ahead and stick that back together and we'll start getting our shot ready well we're going to do after I set up my initial shot is I've asked our in house students here to think about if they want to do variations on this shot even alicia's been coming thinking maybe on idea and then we're going to get them involved and kind of create the lights so you'll see how we go through a thought process of let's change this up let's move this let's change the mood of the lighting and what will we do to light that we'll try to recreate a couple of their scenes in addition to this first one before you guys so we'll have this with the speed light okay and it should have ah slightly warm tungsten gel on here so let's put the warm tungsten gel on that really lets go a slightly warm and so we're gonna take our sticky filter and this is great because we can hold that thing just slap it right into the front of the flash just like that stick it right back in there and she's good to go and put this back in so that it's a little closer in that's not even in the box it all been in rio and there are zoom head setting on this will be it but haven't idea would before resumed it to about thirty five millimeters and that will spread it wide into the box defuse it out through the surface well fairly even circle of light coming out the front and we're going to just go manually on the power so that we can control this for the students as well and we'll start off with give me a number a j okay so the night is close to eight so let's say an eighth power right all right that's it we're gonna start today needs to be up put on channel c two which is my standard transmit channel test pop that's all good okay we also will eventually put eh I'm imagining here the beauty dish on her she's gonna come to the front so christian kind of come up in the front right now you can have a seat right there so yeah I'm picturing right put one foot kind of raised up one foot on the step so do we have like a little compact and a lipstick for her too and so one foot's gonna kind of be up like yeah perfect okay so she's going to be kind of like this we'll have our beauty this year she's going to turn and look towards the beauty dish which will be coming down here scheming across her and in the background is where we will probably put a another light shooting again a backlight rim light at a little more hollywood blow to the back of her and I've also going to put a warm gel on the back light as well so we go ahead and put this tungsten gel sticky filter on the back light and before I turn this on though I will go ahead and we'll do a test shots he could see where we're where we're starting and I'm gonna zoom this head as well all the way out to two hundred millimeters so here's another good tip for you guys to scoot back where you can see what's going on in a situation where you don't have a grid and you need something fairly narrow but not as narrow as a grid in this situation I just want this light coming to come up this way but not really hit much of the sides of that stuff I consume the head here two hundred millimeters on this particular light dsp nine ten which will then of course bring it in tighter the beam pattern comes in tighter and I may not even need agreed on it because it'll just be beaming that way like that it tends to spread too much and we'll see when we test it out then I'll put the road grid to kind of contain that light a little bit more you switch back and forth from the copper you start with just the pop and then we'll add some sick and such turn this flash off first and then we'll see where we're at so let me give you guys a guy's an idea of the base exposure that we're working with I'm gonna shoot this with a twenty four millimeter lens a wide angle and I want to shoot it close toe white open f one six goes to one four but I'm going to shoot it in one six because I want to give myself a little more slack to be off of my focus and still enough to slightly soften that background that's a really nice look that one that I like a lot so the white angle is going to cover me from almost there too they're completely so let's set our base exposure for the room so we're not going to worry about what she looks like just yet as faras exposure goes I just want to get the kitchen in there and I want to try about a stop under exposed some at one hundred shutter speed one point six f stop s o four hundred for starter what flash went off let's do that again in my flash was on that's close enough okay so here's our base exposure for the kitchen with no flash on her and that's looking pretty good pretty moody in the background uh got enough of it without showing any extra there and now we just need to work on her her light on her she'll come from our beauty dish and probably don't need to turn down the kitchen much at all okay so let's start off with the main light will turn that on test fire okay good you're gonna turn your shoulders towards towards us a little bit yeah just like that look up towards that light and hold that straw near your mouth like you're going to take a sip on it they're just it was like that okay turn your face even mohr there and that need you bend the knee rather there you go yeah we need that and this is the this is prop very uncomfortable for you and uh can I lift this up just a little bit okay that mei can you put that one like this yes it's like that looking over your shoulder there we go let's go about a stop down okay so we want to do is you wanna relax your right shoulder let that fall down there you go chin up just a little bit twitching you just look directly into that lies where your eyes are gonna go okay and they're going to raise that need back up there for you yeah and big silly smile ah lovely huh coke and a smile all right so we're gonna roll we're gonna play with the pose a little bit but our lighting's getting dialed in there so where we wanted to go so our main lights pretty close uh can you go down one third more on the main so I'll take a one more third stop down on the main and it's looking like nice and then I didn't put my back light on and see where that's going to be and then we ready to play with our pose so let's go ahead and get that back light turned on you can rotate actually towards me a little bit more even though we won't see that at all you just keep your elbow over that ok that we can see more of your dress and everything and those shoes we gotta get the shoes in there too you somehow if you if you could pull this knee up so that that so is pointing in the right one like that when I get that perfect just like that is that hard for you to hold that okay I get it work out ok that's great remember we're talking camp you hear we like camp ok good looking and smile and they're awesome the back light go off anybody see it okay we got a little bit of glow going on her hurt probably need to be kicked up a little bit so why don't you stay here so you don't move and can I get one of my other helpers to come a j do you know he's an icon maybe he used nikon nikon shooter come on waken dial that up one stop on that backlight there hey why don't you hold the main then here and then we'll change that okay so we're getting close uh again we're going to play it the pose you can see now there's a little bit that rim we got a little glow in her hair coming in from the back light the flash that's on the table a little maura want a little more chris from that edge light come in here and then we set all right um no your tummy stuff okay so pull the straw it down just a little bit christina says not quite to your face you gotta hold on to the straw there okay now you're gonna turn your body towards me more hell body there and just like that it's a great sea that flashes at the back yeah we're gonna keep you turn on the light now that the rim lights looking about right I've got the edge on her hair there's enough of a glow coming off of that thing it doesn't look like it's flaring onto anything else in the back so we just need to play with our pose and keep her face looking at the light they were falling her nose so with a beauty dish anything that's crisp if she's not looking right towards that light we're going to get a lot of shadows so that's one thing I want you to keep you conscious of christina and then you can make sure that we come just a little bit more here so that she has a little room and basically been keeping your nose towards this light okay for the most part and your eyes just kind of centre and looking maybe die down here okay that's good turn your shoulders towards me just a little bit and drop you right sure that's cute all of that there turn your face towards that light to face right towards a life good I'm going to play a little bit of your hair right there nice like a little flare over their course shoulder too that's great okay so same thing like top your head that way now here looking right there your big smiles like yeah I love this working in the kitchen but I'm not working in the kitchen can turn your chin to the right good even more to the right yeah right there and a big cities of I ah good so you can raise your knee up and kick your toe out just a little bit there yeah that's awesome perfect beautiful wilmore that just like that ah cool right there and mohr we want to pull this one off to keep the straw away from your mouth so its not looks like it's poking you in the nose that's good I'm gonna turn your whole body towards me even though we may have a little dress issue I think your elbows will hide it I'm thinking if you're straight towards me and then you kind of lift one knee like this guy chris rossi yeah just like that just like that perfect good then you're that's it okay chin this way just a bit right there directly good and hold it that's awesome nice huh okay let's do that again and pull at me up so that it's ah they're good lower this there were the soda just a little bit there yeah nice chin to your left just a little more firing off the ship okay relax way ugo was cute just make you happy it just makes me happy all right so now we've got a nice little single let's do one or two mohr to get this single shot and I've got another idea so that exact same body position same tilt the top you're just kind of over that way yeah and then chin towards the light yeah so looking more this way yeah there we go bring it up just a little bit and a big happy smile here we go again good took the top of your head straighter su chin is just literally stretching up towards that light there okay good perfect perfect right there nice and they left the need just a little bit good eyes and now we're going to this big smile without opening the mouth just there's a little bit of smile there's koi that's beautiful like that and a little bit open smile good good good lower your eyes is a little bit right there now big smile wherever your eyes are the lure hey you feel like you so silly right now okay good this is what you do every night I'm sure your nice one lord is like that that was good hold that spot right there hey okay relax she blanked you that's it so this someone do want you to have your hand over the middle of the bottle just one hand cover that tape up that looks kind of wild right over there and let's have this hand on the straw pinkies out I'm pretty good this will pinky out my wife says I do that when I drink tea okay and same thing these up chin just like there I'm just like a gentle big smile right at this light your hands a little lower the bottle that's perfect but you were smiling is awesome okay lower your eyes just a bit yeah there you go let's go knee up and hey they're cute well more upset miss fire there okay okay that was no misfire uh they were in all right so our lot the other shot that I want to do with this is to actually have a guy in the back washing dishes so I think that would be a really good tale to tell so many volunteers any volunteers any volunteers out there mike thank you for raising your hand come on come on up to have an apron for mike to wear something like that ah we're gonna put an apron on emma I have decided and not subject them into so much torture this is that there's a vory very non fifties set up here but I think that's why it makes even funnier going time a police secure the apron I mean all right my guess a do dishes back here frying pan for you you're gonna be over here scrubbing away hi you're making right yeah be squirting or something that's going ok here you go that's all you baby now what else we could have another pot in there are these my shot anyway those are in the shot right giving a couple extra work it's not like you're gonna be juggling more than you're like amazing dishwasher duty washing everything at once okay there you are describing is one hand washing dishes and you're going to be peeking over this side over here just kind of kind of like this looking like honey and look I'm doing the dishes honey and just washington thing and you scoot over just a little more this way yeah okay and she's over there where's my camera good husband uh you like loving it ah in this wonderful me up just a little bit more than christina there few cute cute cute looking right at that light their eyes down little lower it a little too high right there yeah barefoot scenario socks good for yeah did I focused I am focused on him for right there I love it okay now you're gonna have that just instead of a big huge smoking like a satisfied huh this is the life baby okay here we go one more looking good mike that's awesome chin to the right just little christine on the leg up there yeah and isa little lower your head there they're nice perfect awesome great okay all right let's do a couple are much too dio instead of leaning in like that you're just doing dishes okay they just kind of doing your thing looking your way or not looking you know I think just looking yeah looking over your shoulder towards her and the gig you know there you go and her little smile there good one more on the smile awesome all right so what I'm looking for just having the just the right expression combination of ah where she's looking and the light and his expression in the back that was going too cute to the left it's great I think we're good all right so we got that one down now let's do something different so what other moods can weaken great in here where's alicia right here all right right here students you guys what do you guys want to do we have ah this is a bright in crispy little kind of thing we could do something moody could do by herself send up on the stove up on the counter we could take these lights real don't lou and have kind of a moody kind of a thing I thought you understood I think we should take the lights down low and do one from maybe a longer shot from right here you put some stuff in the foreground but with that light up there and then maybe spotlight her huh really really moody and shadowy and just do like a portrait maybe you know hips up or something and just a little you want her like sitting on the counter kind of standing lean against the counter what you thinking wait that fridge doesn't push back at all does it not uh well sue a couple different things but I was kind of picturing her just like just standing right here right under this light right there okay so let's go and see heavy stand and see we get to start with the post will put the soda down so whenever building a scene member we start with just build build your composition get your pose and then we'll start working the lights so we know she's gonna want some sort of a spotty light someone get a grid or something ready why she's playing with her posing composition so for a spot like I always use a rogue grid attachment on the speed light I'm gonna step out and get well alicia's working so I'll treat you you were just yeah so looking for my road grid looking for moreau green I've got one here all right so do ro grid speed light for the main we're probably not going to use that box so switch that up you guys that you know what what way got kind of crazy creepy makeup way got some head wait find like like stepford well that way I like it so maybe one nice pretty one and then we'll just get all get the weird stuff yeah okay okay so we'll have a grid and let's see are you gonna want to use this uh this box to tick that just says no I want to go like really really drama drama yeah so we'll take this off here you have a minute we have a bunch of ideas coming in from the okay to farm off yeah go ahead tell me while I'm doing this like an answer that all right cool so let's see there was having the refrigerator open with light coming out from the fridge huh like that idea that was that that's great because that we actually thought about doing that we did a shoot like that for one of our projects where we had a family in a kitchen baby's on a counter eating strawberries and the frigid open and when the mom's opening the fridge halfway looking way put a speed light in the fridge beaming out on her face so that that's ah that's fun to do too so we could we could definitely play with that they're getting a little scary they're talking we're talking about a kitchen knife flogging something evil but also light coming out of the oven in two and they're saying that he should be doing the dishes while she flirts with the bartender at the bar uh who wants to be the bartender of the bar let's get flirted with I could be the bartender I make a mean bloody mary by the way now people like low speed sync says he likes this red light that is coming down onto the bar right outside the kitchen this red one look here right here okay yeah something right here someone in the foreground with her in the back maybe all right so let's start with her main main light and I'm gonna drop this dunks for pregnant pretty close to her gotta warm jill everywhere you want yeah I'm gonna shoot it uh your tether so tell me where you want that light I want to switch do you think it a long lens here yeah uh I see my camera bag grab me the seventy two hundred other please if we could have some stuff we could put in the foreground um get some of these glasses on the bar because everyone has a maybe um kev actually if you shoot it right get the realism of those shadows from the glasses like at an angle a little bit or something I don't know just whatever he yeah I think that yeah we're just kind of staggering that was going to make a little more random here and where do you want her I yeah I want her it is she lined up with that backlight and kind of like evenly in between these if you want it back like she needs to step forward otherwise you're going to be competing at that light that shadows on her face if it stopped down enough my uh uh we were talking and I said what were you saying we should first I go for it I was just thinking maybe it was saying if that light appear goes we turned that on that might cast some light it's gonna be kind of a down light may not hit her face but that if you turn this one on it's going to turn all of these on to so we could try the it's the furthest most light switch over there but we could try either way and just see what kind of effect we get I have no idea what it's gonna look like I just wanted to try it so why don't you step for the bit kristina so that that things more on your hair good so it's off your face one more step forward maybe like one hand on the freezer door there ugo and kind of turn your face up towards this light that lisa's pointing out you'll always be looking in here maybe not quite so high just like right below it may be but your chin up yeah good that fire yet much power on that thing on quite seem to work well light looks pretty good it just needs to come up a little bit okay so we need to kick that up uh stop and firing is this probably light up the glass is a little bit okay so little little blue gel in the glasses yeah thinking so let's get our main life dialed and then we'll start adding in the texture lights here so looking up where you were as great kristina before and I'm not gonna bring my shutter speed tell me how you want that background wanted well it's getting pretty close to what I was thinking yeah