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Live Shoot: Continuous Three Light Set-Up for Men

Lesson 13 from: Build your Lighting Knowledge

Peter Hurley

Live Shoot: Continuous Three Light Set-Up for Men

Lesson 13 from: Build your Lighting Knowledge

Peter Hurley

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Lesson Info

13. Live Shoot: Continuous Three Light Set-Up for Men

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

10:34
2

Natural Light Overview

30:31
3

Live Shoot: Maximizing Window Light

15:51
4

Live Shoot: Use Reflector to Enhance Natural Light

22:12
5

Live Shoot: Back Light Your Subject

19:59
6

Live Shoot: Back Lit Subject with V Flats

19:26
7

Live Shoot: Utilize ProBoard with Natural Light

23:27
8

Continuous Lighting Overview

21:45

Lesson Info

Live Shoot: Continuous Three Light Set-Up for Men

So we're going through this process that I went through in changing my idea of the way I shot women and men. So for years I plopped my butt on the windowsill and I shot men and women exactly the same. I got into the studio and I figured out this set up and I shot men and women the same. And one day I just went, wait a minute, the only reason why I'm blasting, really the main reason why I'm blasting women with light is because I want to fill everything in their face so that they it's beauty like. I want it to be full of light. And with guys I like them to look a little more rugged. Rough around the edges, I like to accentuate jaw lines, I like to get that. And Aiden, man, that jaw line is phenomenal. And the cheekbones, the whole operation you're running is perfect. Can you come up here? So I'm going to shoot Aiden, but what I'm going to do since I started out shooting him, I mean shooting men and women in the same light, I'm going to go back to my standard women setup and I'm going to ...

show you how to start with that and then it looks just perfectly fine. Now you can see we put a white background back there. Alright we put a white seamless, so I'm going to shoot him on that. When I'm in the studio I have a Cyc wall, yeah you can go to our settings. I have a Cyc wall in my studio, so and I don't take seamless with me anywhere, I don't even use seamless anymore because of the pro board, so I use that. Aiden come up here. You know what, I'm also, I already shot the black tee shirt and I'm sick of Drew and I looking so similar, so I'm gonna, I just think I need to take this off and I want to give you a layer. So do you mind wearing my shirt for this segment? I do not. Alright, here we go. We're about the same size, right? Yeah. I mean we just showed up this day and I had this one and he had that and I said we're rolling with it. We just met yesterday, people. Look at that, that's a beauty, too. There we go. Look at that sucker. Looks good. I like it. I like that. Yeah. Alright so let's just, let's shoot this and go into capture one and then I'm gonna before we start shooting some other stuff, let's see if we can get this, fire up our trusty Mark IV. And get it active in, actually plugging it in would help. We've got our tether boost sucker going? There we go. Alright, we're in. So our settings, we're going to keep them the same. Our settings on him are the same. He looks pretty good. Scootch forward a smidge, little bit this way, little bit that way, yeah. Stand up real straight. There you go, stay right there. Jam that forehead out. Is that you? You're as big as me, that's shirt's fine. Come here, I've gotta primp you a little, but I like collars to go straight up, guys. Scoot back a smidge. Plus it's my shirt so it's gotta look really good. Alright. There we go. Alright. Jam that forehead out a little bit. There you go, that's perfect, hold that right there. There we go, fantastic, piece of cake. There we go, so, chin down, now don't you over squint the eye didn't ya? Settle that down, you can get that, jam that forehead out a little bit more and stop clenching the jaw. You with me? Yeah. Alright, what color's that background? It's gray. Why is it gray, how did it get gray? It's not. You have no idea. This is a way to freak out your clients. They have no clue how that got gray, ever. And they're always like, I put it, I have the white wall, and they look behind them and they're like how did it get gray. And I usually we start off with the strobes on it, so I'm like I have Gremlins back there that instantly, boom, put down a gray backdrop. Alright, so we got it, we got gray because of the inverse square law, right? Which everybody knows is, what is it? I'm not that technical so, I had to teach it, I did a DVD called Illuminating The Face, and I had to teach this thing, and the F-stoppers guys, luckily they were helping me out, because I am technically challenged with that kind of stuff. Best way to describe it, closer the light is to your subject, the darker the background is. Well that's the key, but it's also creates the, I mean I know, it's-- Right, but that's the way I describe it, the closer the light to the subject, the darker the background, you don't have to know the math behind it then. There we go, so guys, for those that aren't that technical closer the light to the subject-- Closer the light to the subject, the darker the background. Darker the background, alright there you go. Now if we want to lighten up that background, how we gonna do it? We're just going to simply move the lights closer to the background. Alright, so I'll decide on the density of gray that I want. I actually in my studio, I mix light, so I have windows and over the course of the day, the gray will change. And sometimes I'll have to match the gray that I had when it was brighter outside than the darker gray, and I'll have to do that with strobes and to compensate it and move the lights back and forth. So, you can do that. But this light works perfectly well on guys as it does on women. So that's what I was doing for years. People always people ask me, there like well do I have to shadow guys? I'm like you're the artist, like you're the photographer, not me. I, this is just my thing that I like. I just happen to like this. If you want to do it, I'm going to show you how. And I'm going to show you a couple different techniques to just amp it up a little bit. But you see how he gets a little bit fall, because of the inverse square law, he's also getting a little fall off on the cheek, too. So the light falls off a lot quicker the closer it is to the subject. That's why I keep my lights so close to the subject, right. And also the bigger the source, the softer the light. Remember, I like what? Soft light. I like soft light, that's my thing. So I need em close so I get the fall off of the light and I get the light to do exactly what I want it to do. And I get it soft, so it's soft, but it goes the transition to the shadows is very quick because I get the light so close. So you're going to see when I set up for the mens which is a little different, they're going to be close, and they're going to be in frame, and I don't wanna hear it. Alright, so, Aiden, jam your chin down a little bit, let's go, let's go body this way a little bit. There you go. Drop your front shoulder slightly towards me. Is that the, that is, is that the side that falls apart? Go back the other way. Let me see. Oh yeah, I like that side a little bit better. You're still good looking on both sides, let me see the other side. So, that's not bad. Scoot that way, we'll test and we'll see. Come forward a little, drop your front shoulder a little bit and turn your body a little bit less. Actually that's good, right there, hold that right there. I like that shot. Good. Keep it tame, don't go nuts in there, settle down. Jam that forehead out when you laugh. Hold that, don't forget that. Work your nose this way a little bit, hold that right here. Look here. Good, nice shot, nice shot. Guys, look at that. We haven't sha-banged many shots. Wouldn't that be a sha-bang. Yeah! Is that a sha-bang, can we sha-bang it? And you guys better be loud! You ready? Three, two, one, sha-bang! Sha-bang! Why aren't we having more sha-bangs today? Good job, a sha-bang, you got a sha-bang out of it. We'll do it again. We better be sha-banging tomorrow. We can sha-bang, I can sha-bang with the best of em. Alright, so I really like that angle, I like exactly what they got. Now I like the light, however, look at his face. Look at the bone structure. I can wrap that, I can wrap those bones with light. Isn't that cool? Good, alright, here we go. You like that? I'm going to wrap the bones with light, you like that. Alright, cool, so let me show you, a Aiden get out of there because I'm going to go to the slideshow for a second and I don't want you in jammed within the lights, okay. I'm going to show you guys a little situation that we have. So, here's the setup. So what I did was i took away the bottom light because I wasn't concerned about filling guys, right? And as much, right, so I went to two lights and then I added a third behind. So here is, some of you may know Jason from the WPPI crowd, he helps with them. And I shot him. And this is the two light setup. Now you can see the glare in the glasses a little bit. I actually like a little bit of glare in glasses because I want to see that the glass is in there. I used to have people pop lenses out, and try that but then I think it looks too clean. I'm like I want to see a, I want to see little bit of something. So this doesn't actually bother me much at all. I could go in there and clean it up a little bit, which I never did, so it never bothered me enough to do that, but I could.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with RSVP

Gear List
7 Peter Hurley Discount Codes

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Setting for Peter Hurley Westcott Flex Kit

Ratings and Reviews

Hannah Walker
 

I truly enjoyed this amazing lighting class. Peter Hurley shows you how he achieves his signature look using all forms of light shaping tools from natural light, to speelites and high end strobes. Seeing first hand how the placement of the subject to the light source and your lightning set up is so important to avoiding the hazards of flat light and haze. He teaches you his unique methods and secrets on how to make eyes pop and get the best color contrast without harsh shadows. You will leave this class energized to hone your own creative vision with light and shadows using the methods taught by Peter. It was a privilege to learn from a master like Peter Hurley. Thank you Creative Live for another amazing class!

pete hopkins
 

Peter Hurley is the real deal. Not only does he know and share a ton of really practical knowledge of studio lighting for headshots and fashion, but he cuts through the crap and tells it like it is. He is very encouraging and serious at the same time. He had our attention from Day 1. and never lost it. *Bonus Gold - You've got to check out his Hurely-isms. They are priceless! Aside from the new bag of industry tools to work from, Peter gave me a real, sober perspective on what it takes to be PROFESSIONAL fashion photographer! And CreativeLive provided the perfect setting as well. The whole CL staff were warm and inviting and the food was great! I highly recommend CL and P. Hurley to anyone who wants to learn from the best of the best! I can't wait to start shooting with my new skill set. Sign up for CreativeLive! Take advantage of all that they have to offer! Build a foundation, own your light, and Shebang!!! You'll be at the top of your game in no time!

Student Work

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