Lessons

Lesson Info

Shooting with a Beauty Dish

Let's go back into setting our lights I'm sure things got moved around a little bit so we're gonna go back and change it around make sure everything's set still yeah we're at sixteen three without the reflector sixteen five with the reflector perfect perfect perfect perfect I'm gonna go down one third yes ah yes indeed so are ambient light so that the audience knows let's turn off the reading without strobe and read just the ambient and I deal with this very often when I'm shooting and there is a tv crew shooting very often when I'm sharing celebrities now there's almost always a crew from some tv show shooting behind the scenes and they have lights also when working on top model their lights everywhere so that's ambient light and the ambient light is ply forty five stops lower venoms are strobes who was shooting over it so what is our ambient looks like about a half second at sixteen half second yeah yeah at eleven eight wow well so we're we're definitely not even worried about me rig...

ht now where we have very low ambien so wet one to five what is it uh see about the sixtieth at two five two eight wow so we're about five six stops above the ambience so it's not really concerned and very often when you're shooting for tv you'll have this issue we have tons of lights give you ambient for tv or video and you gotta shoot. So anything when top model is shot this way for a lot of ambien allowed lights around somatic this problem or lights? Then what you're seeing here, but where should get sixteen way above all the ambience? Great question. Thanks for seeing that and thinking about light and the ambiance from the window from the additional lights and affect us here. No it's it's. Not similar at all. You save a punch and it softens the light. But it's different. I like testing my lights and, uh, okay, perfect. So the question was, if you have a civil beauty dish and put the sock over the silver beauty dish, is it very similar to the white be dish? No, no. And you find this only out by doing your testing, and I'll have my assistance. Run through a test right now and show you forty variations. One using this one light, we shoot it first, the white dish with no sock, no grid. Then we do it with the grid. Then we'll do it with the grid and the sock. Then finally, we'll do it with just the sock on lee. Fourteen variations using one light and the different looks it gives you with the grid are background changed dramatically that's a great look it's very concentrated and great on a guy for today's shoot I don't want the grid on I'll show you what it looks like so let's do that right now what do any question before I do it we do we have so many questions you know how we don't have time for questions because I remember being you know young and want to ask questions and having no one to ask but make sure I have tons of questions and give time for that well you're excellent answering the question that we really appreciate it I have a question from maura who would like to know if you could talk about lighting the hair uh so on our santa in this case on this case he is a bandit danna and today our hero for the first shot is all about the face it's all about skin if I was doing hair care today for this shot I would have more lights and additional lights because this is just about beauty our hero today for this shot iss skin I can use one light if I'm doing hair care it's different and then it depends if I'm shooting by who's blonde or brunette or redhead it changes everything the hero then is the hair care and then I added jenna lights so if I'm shooting a job for loreal for pantene who are my clients I'll make sure I have lights for the hair it's a different situation it's also different shooting african american hair reciprocation hair all those variables change everything but once you know light and how it works you do anything and it starts by first mastering one light and learn how light works being cognisant of light in all the many variables you could do with it so let's go through that right now with our one light so the four different looks that right back over there so you notice that john check the meter ring as well so make sure everything's still consistent lean forward and back monika leigh for exactly back here at sixteen one appeared sixteen four so it's a third of a stop difference just by my going back everyone so as you know that and you're aware of the model moving you can make adjustments so we do have like me and more like I guess seems like we're our lights picking up a little bit on the outside waken close those drapes and we conclude cut the overheads want to grab the overhead lights they should affect her seamstress but it doesn't seem like your year of it is that too bad for tv for for light on me? Yeah you're a good man you look good no because a makeup I will make sure she has her her enough light for makeup there so let's take a look here johnny look good man it's our first shot with just the beauty dish at f sixteen is coming up shortly there we are f sixteen nothing but just the beauty dish we want to add now our grid so what? We're adding the green and let's take some questions so many questions bob uk would like to know if you ever use a gold reflector in the studio uh now that I get that question a lot about the gold reflector I don't like adding gold from underneath I don't like adding color in that way supers natural so I liked that phil from that point adding the goal reflector give me a gold filled from underneath, which I don't like if I change my color I do that imposed when we shot the killer chick in the very beginning I want to make sure way r I want to make sure I haven't neutral and then if I want to add any warming like equivalent to anyone a anyone be in the film days, I could do that now through the computer very easily or make it colder later on think you could not do and with film that's a good question about the goal reflected get that a lot another little reflector question from one blue light diem either before or after placing the reflector so again, do you meet her before or after placing? I do both I do both because I want to find out how much is giving me I don't want to be I don't want that reflector to become its own light source is just filled so here's a phil here's a light source I don't want to be too much of a light source where overpowers and looks under lit so it's very gentle it's down here just give me a little phil not a light source here where's give me tons of light as a great question. Thanks for that dean landry had asked to use accustomed camera profile when importing your fall out room. Yes, I do that's why we use the politic of passport to make those profiles but also profile everything I profile my camera, my monitor and my printer that's a good one thank you, and a question from twitter from lens works uk is do you take into account the diffraction limited aperture of the camera body when testing and choosing aperture? I don't I don't I don't we do test all our cameras and our lenses and I know that using my hundred macro it's different for me is my eighty five but once I had those tests done and know each lens that can adjust accordingly, I know what I'm shooting macro with the with the hundred macro that I've gotta get myself a little more time shooting at f sixteen on the eighty five I might open another third for my hundred macro when I'm really close it's not here bill's like using a eight by ten camera, but you have that same thing happening. One of the age old questions about photography john would like to know if you can talk a little about a little bit about catch lights in the eyes? Uh, yes, yes, people often ask about catch lights and should you take them out in post production? Or adm or I don't like doing that like it looking natural, so I have my son here and a small filled, which is natural I don't have it like having three, four and five kitsch lights in and and I don't like taking out pitch lights in postproduction but that's personal for me question from melissa blue ward on twitter is there another modifier that mimics the beauty dish such as a collapsed umbrella? Oh, does it mimic a beauty dish? No, no, no, no so what you learned by testing and when I first, uh, started shooting and even before that when I was assisting, we would test everything we test umbrellas and beauty dishes and everything else up to heavy with grid in there to go straight out uh it's I don't like that angle change different head we could try another head because that changes the angle of light so um that quinn was again that last question don't answer fully I want to show you back to that yeah, it was can you mimic a beauty dish? Right is so important to retest the light you can't guess it this you make sure if you shoot a an umbrella and all the different ways you should umbrella and then should you be dish they're very different sources they look very different so you first to your tests and line always tests up together and looked them side by side in light room you'll see that beautician the umbrella, the magnum, the grid on the silver dish the grid won the white beauty dish you'll see they look all very different you must test those lights they don't look alike at all. I'm not a fan of using umbrellas. Er smallville is is a main light. I will use the big para umbrellas which are gigantic it's a different light source absolutely absolutely. Matthew a lot of questions about lenses. You know, um I know you talked yesterday about using one hundred and eighty five and corey and would like to know when do you choose the hundred over the eighty five what influences that len choice between those two so I wanna make sure I'm getting coverage. Yes, they we talked about getting coverage some he was eighty five to be in this tight when I want to get other coverage get other shots in this very inn this shot get variations I'm putting my hundred macro lens and I'm going tighter and come in just there or just there or getting section to the face I'm using both lenders make sure I get coverage to tell my story I don't know what my client would like. My client might like this cover with everything showing or they might like it tighter and tighter. Well, more fool back I had the option by using those two lenses to get all the coverage I want that is a great question about the limbs is all right? Uh, dj photo decay did you photo? Did you photo it would like to know uh, won't the grid kind of negate the use of a reflector? I suspect little light will actually hit the reflector now, uh that's a very good question the grid does and I don't use it that often. I used the grid for men more than women and it does take it out little bit. You'd only see it at all. Um but I'm using this for the white one and you'll see the difference right away that's very good they so caught that very true, okay, go ahead and look through the lens questions keep coming bring him on okay um let's see the kevin says would like to know what about the people using crop sensors? Oh yes, yes absolutely. So if you're using a fifty and you've a crop sensor you're more like a like a seventy five linds in that in that ballpark I know they're a lot of people who were using buys that aren't full frame, so your lens that's an eighty five is now like a ninety it's ah it's a little more if you're using a body that's not full frame your your limbs is not a true eighty five not a two hundred so you'll be aware of that I like using full frame bodies and their advantage to using both for sure, but I'm came from the film bodies and she's a shooting full frame all the time actually love full frame I want my eighty five to be in eighty five hundred to be a true hundred question from girlie girl thirty six is a beauty dish appropriate for fulling shots as well? Or is it strictly for close up beauty shop? You'll get a lot of fall off doing full body off a beauty dish you can pull back and light, but it will fall off their times when it's appropriate if you want the image to fall off and be lit that way I don't like using a beautician for full body that's again me personally and also in the audience, don't be shy about question guys, the tithe. I have a question from our m k killed warrior, I can't pronounce his name sorry, can you talk about using a beauty dish? Uh, for photos with more than one person? Uh, yes, I have used to be dish for one on one person, but I had them tight is a matter of fact, I've done a lot of covers with a beautician using two people, and when you're doing a cover for magazine and I've had many meetings with clients about this and john use you for a second, I'm still your seat for a second just to show this, john, have a seat right there. So I'm doing a cover for magazine and they're two people, two actors in the shot when I'm here, this space in reality looks small in a magazine it's that much space. So our magazine close. Hopefully I'll be a girl here versus the guy, but that space is very minimal, so that light is hitting both of them because they're close. I'm always aware of space that negative space in a shot on a cover space can kill, so I went in close that's a great question, and thanks for that question, we love questions like that. That one? How do you deal with the light fall off if they're both similar complexion it's funny because nobody's ever really similar reflection is mad fact ever seen here? Are you the same similar but not the same? I had my light hitting him first and have you going having fallen off on you and be perfect. Put your head against hiss that's my cover close no space in there that's what I want light would hit him first and follow here naturally and the perfect if she was darker, she had a tan, I'd have it the other way around that simple. There were quite a few questions about auto white balance, and I'm not sure if you're using custom calvin setting or I'm not here because I haven't tested this is the first time shooting in this studio, so I'm using ordo white balance and that's fine. Also, if you have your color checker but you're you're shooting in a place where you're shooting all the time and, you know all the variables you've tested in this space before then it makes sense if you haven't what why balance is the best thing to do? So when you have in your in your own studio, in your own studio? Absolutely, then if they make sense, but few know brand new space and you haven't tested everything around it use order white balance, because your tests means nothing, you know, brand new space because the walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything will affect that color. Yes. So, basically, what you're saying is, you stay on a white balance because it basically doesn't matter. My color checkers, long game for color check, and then you do a white balance off of that and post later and then exact film. Make it neutral, right? Because I just copied it over. I'm making it neutral, and then I can add color. We'll make a cooler, a warmer, based on what I want for that shoot.