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Lesson Info

Live Shoot: Utilize ProBoard with Natural Light

One of the things that I don't like, and we'll see if the ProBoard hold up in natural light to do this. I'm not of fan of when somebody wears black, I love shooting black on black, like I love it, it's like, I have a whole portfolio that's people on the black ProBoard. I know that everybody's gonna kill me because it's not available any more at the moment, but I'm working on it, so just don't freak out that you can't buy it yet. But, hopefully, it'll come back to life and I'll get it. I'm going to show you a way to do it, with the V-flats, as well. So let's bring in the black ProBoard. And, So bring it, yeah you need my help, John, I'm helping. I didn't know where you want it. Alright, just pull it now. We'll keep this. (inaudible) Pull this one, yeah, this is my last one, so I dropped it and it has this, but it's my last. Yeah, but you gotta spin this a little bit, let me do it. And we gotta go a little lower on this side, alright, perfect. Good, hey, do me a favor, just put you...

r back to that thing. Alright, so this is the deal. When somebody's wearing black, and now I'm gonna have to get back over there, when somebody's wearing black and they're on a black background, a lot of times you can't see the separation between the shirt and the background or the hair and the background, I don't like that, I'm not a fan of that! You know what I'm talking about, you've all dealt with it, I'm gonna use the black ProBoard to show you how to bounce, pull somebody off of it. So what it does is it's matte, it's a specially designed surface that I designed, so that it's very matte. And it draws the person out of it. Let's see how it works with natural light. Alright, John, can you do me a favor and just help me out? Within this department? Let me see, Aden, look here. Yeah it looks good, jam that forehead out, there you go. Stand up straight jam the forehead out, sorry. I know I'm blockin' you guys again. I don't need this, so I can, I don't need this at the moment, let's keep this over here. And hottest spot on this thing is still, it's still kinda over there. But I think it looks fine the way it is. Jam your forehead out. So this is a, can you bring the computer around over here? Yeah! So now I spun him around again, so we should go back to our old settings, right? Again same thing, I'm startin' over, startin' fresh. I'm gonna go back to a guess shot, taking the first shot and then, so I'm gonna go back down to, I'm gonna go back to 400. And where am I goin'? I'm gonna go, wow, we at four? Weren't we at 400 F460 a second? Let's human light meter this. Yep! That's about where we were. That was without the diffusion, let's try, I think we'll be fine. Zoom outta that, you don't have to do that, stop that. Settle down. I don't need to see it again, it's fine. Alright, Aden, right here, stand very straight. Turn to me a little bit. There you go, there you go, good. Stand up like that, jam the forehead out a little bit, chin down a little bit, cross your arms in front of you, let's see what that does. Like this, there you go. Jam that forehead out a little further. There you go. Oh, cool. Alright, I'm at 70 guys. Chin down a little bit, forehead out, jam it out, he practiced his squinch. (laughing) Oh wow. Don't look that miserable though, I'm gonna need a hint of a smile. (laughing) Okay, so look at the difference between the matte ProBoard, now I'm a little hot, I'm a little hot on this. I gotta bring the skin tones in, right? So, but you see how the black pops off the black? That's how it's designed. So what I can do, is I can vary it to make it go whatever black I want, by, let's just go, let's bring it, let's bring it, he's a little blown out, I'm gonna go to 100, I'm gonna go to 100th of a second. Get that chin back out, forehead out, what are you doing? There you go, good. Beautiful, that's amazing. He's good! Both you guys are amazing today. That's good, alright. Slight, you see the eye difference on you? Squint your left eye more than you right. That was a gift guys, that's a gift, that's one of my favorite things. Don't overdo it. We're still hot I think, on his face. Turn your body towards me, keep going, stay right there. Now go nose this way. Keep going, put your hands in, thumbs in the front pockets. Stand up real straight, like this. Nose this way a little bit, jam your forehead out. Hold that, don't move, look right here at my finger, hold that. Watch that, you know which one it is. There you go, look at my finger though, right here. Right here, hold that, jam the forehead out. That's cool, I like that. I'm gonna do this. Stay looking where you are, I like it, it's kinda cool. Hint of a smile for me. There you go, good, hold that. Nose back to me a touch, tilt your head left, follow my hand, follow my hand, like this. Yeah, jam your forehead out. Less smile, less smile, a little bit less. Hold that, that's cool, I like it. Hold that. Did I shut down on this? That's cool. Okay, so I was going for the angle. Look, were you clenching your jaw or your jaw just does that? Yeah, no I was. Stop doing that. (laughing) What are you doing? I like the framing on this and I like the angle of his face. I don't like the clenched jaw, but I like it a lot. I still think I want the black matte ProBoard to go a little darker. So John, let's move it back from him. Come forward a step for me. And let's, let's move both sides back. Might have to raise it, 'cause I'm movin' it back. And let's stop it right, stop it right there, and I'll shadow it a little bit. Let me see, do you see how it's got a little, little bit of, let me see how this looks. Step this way. Not that, yeah, right there. I want you to do this. (clattering) I want you to spread your-- John, what are you doing? (laughing) Spread your feet like this. I did a video it's called spread 'em, go spread 'em to look better in picture, that's it. That helps me, 'cause the ProBoard went back, I went down. Let's bring this side of the ProBoard, yeah, we could raise it, but it's gonna be harder. Let's not raise it, 'cause this side's gonna be harder to raise, 'cause it's not on a stand that moves up and down. I don't have time for that so we'll just move it forward. I just wanna get less light on it. But do you see how it lights up? Look when I move it. You see how the light changes on it? That's sensitivity to light, you better see that. (laughing) You see it? Don't fool around, while we're workin'. Alright let's see if we can get that darker. I'll go horizontal, there we go. Get that chin out and down. There you go, hold that right there. Good, hold that. Stand up a little bit, no, yeah, stand up, I'm gonna wanna go, that's good, hold that right there. Good. Come forward a step to me. Looks good. See how it's gettin' darker over there, 'cause I got less light on it? Give me a negative fill, just put it over there. Hold on. I actually like it. Where you going? Step this way, there you go. Spread the feet a little bit. Yeah, right, right, there. That's it, good. Spread the feet a little bit more. I gotta get that curve outta the, chin down a little bit. I'm gonna crop you, I'm gonna just crop the top of it off. I can always fix this. That's it, okay. So sometimes, when you, did I just kick my-- I just lost my connection. Now look at it. So I'm going darker in this, but I still have the separation. I have a highlight on the shoulder and I have the separation between the two. The dark hair separation. I want you to look at your work when you're shootin' a black background, and I want you to look at the separation between the hair in the background and the clothes in the background. If you don't get that separation, then you gotta light that black background better, or you gotta not put them in black. They can't wear black. That's why I designed this product. And I love it and I use it all the time. I'm shootin' it almost every day, 'cause I have a whole portfolio on it. And he can handle the black because it goes along well with his look, it's really cool. Very cool. Alright, let's go to, let's do the same thing with the white matte ProBoard. So we'll go from the black matte to the white matte. Hold on. Let me move this outta the way. I'm gonna just take that out. So the reason why I developed ProBoard is because I can roll it up and take it with me, it goes into a bag that rolls. And then I go to clients and I can shoot it, but then, now, with the matte white. We're gonna show this with the continuous light as well, and show you some big moves with this. But look how beautiful this board looks. Like instead of, you can't bring those V-Flats on location yet, right? I'm working on fixing the problem, just, it's okay, I'm gonna try. (laughing) But look at this thing, look how gorgeous that is. This is another surface that I developed for us. I've developed because I have a glossy surface, that's the ProBoard that's available, these two, everybody loved them and they are all gone. But we're gonna make more. But the point is, is that see how matte it is? It's really beautiful. It's really hard to get a surface like this. So for me, what it allows me to do which I love, is I like this to fall off to a gray when I'm shooting. So we'll use the inverse square law, you guys aware of that? We're gonna get into that a little bit and we're gonna show the fall off to gray. So, alright, let's try the same thing. He's a little, he's tall, he's taller than the average male. How tall, you're taller than me! What you got, six-two, six-three? Six-two, around there. Alright, there we go, good. Stand in there, let's do it. Let me just get these wheels to stop. Alright, and you don't wanna go anywhere without that. See that? That's awesome, I love it. Wow. It's just beautiful, hold that, don't move a muscle. How can you beat that? Now, he's tall, I'm up here. Again, if I had more time, what would I be doing with him? Setting up one thing and having him move a gazillion times and doing a gazillion things, but we got a bunch of lighting to learn, so I don't wanna spend all day, you know, even though I like what we're doing, let's do this again, come step forward a little bit. Right there, hold that. Jam that forehead out, go for the thumbs in the pockets. I'm just lookin' at his shoulders. When he was like this, the shoulders were forward, there's all sorts of little things that people do that you gotta watch. I like your angle of your face over there. Go back the other way, go back this way. No, that's a disaster, go-- (laughing) So what did I do? I did that on purpose, right? You guys are gettin' some of my direction here too, so I did it on purpose. But you know, oh we're not, we're not, we weren't even tethered. Yep, you should be. Oh my gosh, no it's on the back. His eyes are closed anyway. Let me see, we weren't tethered, let me see. So I lost my connection, let me bring it back, is it back in? Yeah. Alright, let me see, we're back, okay. We should be good. Alright, let's try this again. That's it. Now you got a one shot deal when you make people laugh, like it's quick. I gotta say somethin' funny again if I want laughter out of him, or he's got, but you're going like this when you laugh, right? Get that jawline out. There you go, stand up real straight. Bring your jawline out, I want you to do this angle. I wanna catch, he's got really cool cheekbones. So I wanna catch that far side of his face, eyes here, eyes here, jam that forehead out. That's it, good. Hold that right there, that's really nice. Good, good. Let's look at it. Yeah. I mean, how can you beat this light? And look at that white, you can't beat it. You guys wanna not screw up your pictures? Start here, right? Like don't too much. I mean, look at that! Look back at the camera on that angle of your face. See the jawline? See how I was going for that cheekbone? You gotta work with what people got. Right? That's it, go back to me, Aden, over here. Nose a little, yep, there you go, chin down, forehead out a little further. Hold that right there, that's perfect. Don't change a thing, you got it, you're with me. Tilt the head a little bit this way, hold that. Hold that, I like it, I like where we're going with this. Jam that forehead out a little bit more. Really good. Guys, look how clean that background, and how simple that is. Piece of cake, piece of cake. So, I think that what I'm gonna do, is when we get into continuous light, I'm gonna show you my setup. When I go, like I do a lot of corporate head shots. I do a lot of them. And I'm working, you know, it's a pretty big core of my business right now. So I have a kit that I go to these places with, like I know exactly what I'm bringing. So I have my setup done, and it's, it's using this. So we're gonna be setting that up when we get into the continuous stuff. Let's just do one more, real quick, unless, can I answer some questions? Do we have questions? Yeah, we do. Should we, I'm happy to answer questions-- or I'm happy to-- Yeah! Keep playin' around. Let's do some! I wanna mimic the window light in this studio on a white seamless, could I backlight the white seamless on the left and right sides of the seamless and then use V-Flats in the same way that you were? So like, recreating-- So she wants to put-- This window light we have. A seamless here? Yeah, and then backlight it. And backlight the seamless? Yeah. I've seen it done before. Like if you had a studio without windows. Like is it necess-- Oh, a studio without windows. I think that's what he's getting at. What I would do, is I would not backlight the seamless, I would get one of these. Okay. Why would you get seamless if you could just put up a sheet? Yeah, well one more. Does Peter's spot focus on the eyes, especially shooting open? Yeah I do, and I do the front eye. Okay. So what would be the front eye? So Aden, if he's here, face that camera. Just face like, straight. Is there a front eye? No. So it doesn't matter which eye you focus on. Cool. Turn this way, which eye are you focusing on now? Left eye. There you go, now which eye are you focusing on? The right eye. (laughing) Alright, no, left! His left eye, the front eye! Focus on the front eye guys, please. Front eye, shallow depth of field, you're gonna get the back eye goin' out of focus, so you don't wanna do it the opposite way, it doesn't look good, it's not pretty. Is there a lighting approach to minimize nose size? Is there any tricks? Yeah, there are some tricks to minimize nose size. One of the things that you have to do, is that you have to suss out the persons nose. So some people, it's really crazy, and maybe somebody in the audience, maybe if you have this affliction or-- (laughing) Of having an enormous nose! No, I'm kidding, hey, I call it perceived flaws. I think that we're human, I think that that stuff, it's amazing that that stuff, like I had a girl, Leann, you know how you have that line that goes down your cheek? Do you like that? Where it like, your cheeks are really cut like that? Yeah, sure, sure. I love it, I had a girl that had it, and I was freaking out, and she was like, that's the very thing that I've hated all my life. And she's like, you just, and I'm saying no. And she was an actress and I was like, and I said, I was shooting her, and I starting shooting her, I got excited, and I said, you know, directors are gonna love you. She's like, why? I said because you're so, your features are so square. You've got really square features, and this line. If you look at Leann and I'll show, well I'll bring it up, I'll show you. Aden you can go, I'm good, thanks. For now, let's just. Can I take the backdrop out now? You can take the, if I shoot her straight on. Yeah, you can take the backdrop out John, thanks. Sorry I'm not paying a-- See this line? See how this, oh jeez, that's really up there, isn't it? That's really big, sorry Leann. She's like, I don't need to see myself that close. (laughing) But see how that line goes from here to here? And the jawline? Like it creates a triangle? It's very. That was it. And I told the girl, and I was like, that is the very thing that directors will love. I mean, I'm flipping out. And she's like, that's the thing I've hated on my face all my life, I can't believe you just said that. Well, it's the moment that you, that somebody, that you have the moment. Photographers can talk to people like no other, you guys should be telling people where their beauty lies and where, you know, I tell them, you know, things about themselves that I think they need to change, like I hate brow plucking. Like I'm big on natural brows. I shot Sofia Vergara, she's got like a uni brow, there's no plucking going on. And people come into my studio and they're like, they like over plucked 'em, I've had people just rip their eyebrows out and tattoo 'em back on. And like I've had that. And so when somebody has a beautiful face and they've over plucked their brows, right now it's very, if you look at all the celebrities, they all have really bushy brows. The cover of vogue, what's her name? What's the one that's out there right now? I love her brows. She's in that movie, oh I'm gonna think of it. Emma? I don't know. What? (inaudible) No, I don't know, anyway. Look at all the advertising and all the stuff. I actually have on my phone, 'cause I go around and take picture of wherever I see these big bushy brows. So I'll tell somebody, you have a beautiful face, your brows are throwing me off. You know, stuff like that. How many of you, anybody have a gap in the tooth? This is not lighting stuff, I told you I love gap, right? Did I tell you. Yeah, I didn't like it before, but you've took some photos of me that were really great, and now it's like, yeah, it's there. I love tooth gaps. My daughter had one, and it grew in as she got older, and I was upset! (laughing) Like it's stuff like that, like I'll call out things, and a lot of times, when I call something like that out or something that's physical I call it a perceived flaw, the person is told by others, hey, you gotta fix your teeth, you know? Their whole life, or maybe they just don't think it's attractive, and then I'm telling them, look, I do this everyday, this is my job to pull out somebodies beauty, and that to me, is beautiful. You know, like with this girl, she got emotional, because I said that, and I was like, but that's where your beauty is, you shouldn't be, you know, it's our job as photographers, to make somebody feel the best that they can about themselves. My job is to take the best picture I can of them at that moment in their lives. I need to find their beauty. It's always there. I don't care how you guys feel about yourselves, I did a Ted X talk on this called Bridging Your Self Acceptance Gap. Go check it out. But it gets me fired up because, or emotional, because I really, I wanna care about these people and I wanna give them more than just a picture, I wanna maybe make them feel better about themselves, maybe something that bothered them, you know, shouldn't be bothering them at all. So I always call out the good stuff, and I'll mention stuff that I'm like, you know, like the brows, or something that they can. Like one of the other things is if you don't tell the person that you're shooting that they're, like I shoot actors, like I know that if their teeth are really yellow, that it's gonna hurt them auditioning. Now I could retouch it in the picture, right? So I tell them! I don't know that anybody else will tell them, but it's very easy for me to tell them. And if they go out and buy this stuff and, how are they gonna feel on their next audition? All you gotta do is jam a tray in your teeth and sleep on it or something, and then you look better! Like, this is your business, when I was acting and modeling, this is your business. And for anybody, like this is our business too. We've been given this body, and we walk around in it, and why not look our best? And you should feel good about the way you look. And your beauty is there. It's there. And our job is to find it as photographers. It's always there. A lot of times photographers, the bar, they think it's set so high they have to take this ridiculously beautiful picture of a person, when you just have to take the best picture of the person that that person's ever had, that's my bar. If you know what you're doing, and let's go back to light. Just lighting it well, is already better than most pictures then anybody has in their life. I know, that when somebody walks into my studio, that they are gonna get the best lit picture of their life, or one that's as good as any picture that was lit, lighting-wise. And if they get in front of my camera and then I direct their expression a little bit, I've got a really good picture of them. Get your base down, it all goes back to the base. You're gonna make people feel better if your lighting's better.