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Difficult Lighting Situations

Lesson 37 from: Portrait Photography Fundamentals

Scott Robert Lim

Difficult Lighting Situations

Lesson 37 from: Portrait Photography Fundamentals

Scott Robert Lim

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Lesson Info

37. Difficult Lighting Situations

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

04:10
2

5 Shots That WOW

14:08
3

Four Fundamentals of Photography

08:05
4

Create a Visual Impact with Composition

07:04
5

Importance of Foreground and Background

08:30
6

Create Depth in Landscape Images

18:09
7

Photos Don't Always Follow the Rules

02:11
8

Composition Practice Exercise

10:41
9

Composition Critique of Student Images

05:28
10

Keys to Posing

05:37
11

Shoot: Classic Elegance Female Pose

14:46
12

Shoot: Modern Female Pose

09:04
13

Shoot: Rollover Female Pose

08:10
14

Female Hands & Arms Poses Overview

19:52
15

Shoot: Hands and Arms Poses for Female

08:58
16

Seven Posing Guidelines

04:18
17

Headshots Poses with Male Model

14:59
18

Shoot: Headshot for Male Model

06:45
19

Shoot: Sitting Poses for Male Model

10:03
20

Shoot: Leaning Poses for Male Model

06:43
21

Shoot: Standing Poses for Male Model

03:32
22

Keys to Couples Posing

10:31
23

Shoot: Couples Posing

06:17
24

Couples Transitional Posing Overview

14:28
25

Shoot: Transitional Posing

15:25
26

Keys to Group Posing

07:12
27

Accordion Technique with Groups

07:46
28

Shoot: Accordion Technique

04:11
29

Shoot: Best Buds Pose

04:54
30

Shoot: Talk with Your Hands Pose

02:33
31

Shoot: Lock Arms and Hold Hands Pose

04:34
32

Run at the Camera and Dance in Your Seat Poses

04:13
33

Shoot: Pod Method Pose

17:58
34

Posing Critique of Student Images

09:32
35

Introduction to Lighting

05:38
36

Soft vs Hard Light

17:10
37

Difficult Lighting Situations

05:52
38

Bright Light Techniques

18:16
39

Overcast Light Techniques

10:34
40

Low Light Techniques

10:27
41

Lighting Techniques Q&A

14:58
42

Drama Queen Lighting

06:26
43

Laundry Basket Lighting

09:44
44

Make it Rain Lighting

03:48
45

Smart Phone Painting with Light

07:53
46

Mini LED Bokeh Lighting

08:22
47

Choose the Right Lighting System

13:30
48

Hybrid Flash System

06:42
49

Innovative Accessories

05:35
50

Gear Overview

06:19
51

Theatrical Post-Processing

06:07
52

Ten Keys to Post-Processing

08:37
53

Essential Skills to Post-Processing

08:25
54

Headshot Post-Processing

24:53
55

Bright Light Post-Processing

09:45
56

Flat Light Post-Processing

14:46
57

Low Light Post-Processing

08:24
58

Introduction to Fine Art Post-Processing

09:06
59

Light & Airy Fine Art Post-Processing

27:34
60

Dark & Moody Fine Art Post-Processing

13:36
61

Post-Processing Critique of Student Images

36:56

Lesson Info

Difficult Lighting Situations

Let's talk about shooting in difficult lighting situations, okay? So how do you shoot in the most difficult lighting situations? If I was given an hour, like you said: "Hey Scott I got one hour, let's have some coffee. Can you tell me how to shoot in like, all the lighting situations in the world?" (audience member laughs) I would go hmm, lemme just show you how to conquer the most difficult ones. Because the easy ones you probably could figure out, kay? So that's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna show you the most difficult ones, and so let's going with that. One is, here's a typical situation I've talked about before. Bright light, right? And so I showed that picture before, is like, if I expose the background then the subject's gonna be dark, so I've got a choice there. Whether to expose the background correctly and get a blue sky or get a dark subject. Or get a light subject and get no sky behind me, right? So what your situation is, let's talk about the problems first. One is: High sun...

, you get some raccoon eyes. What are raccoon eyes? Is the sun's so high and our eyes are inset, that a shadow is created and we get these shadows right where the eyes are, and that's called raccoon eyes, right? That's not good. Sharp shadows, which can be good or bad. But if the sharp shadows are on your subject in a way that you don't like, or covers up, it's too dark in the areas that you want, that could be a problem. Subject will squint when facing the sun. So if you put your subject in the sun, right? Let's say the sun is coming this way and you're there shooting right at me and it's super bright, I'm gonna be like hi, that's not gonna be good. Overexposed backgrounds, right? We talked about that before, right? And so here's a high, here is a bright light situation. If I had no flash, I had no lighting, right? You would get something like this. High sun, look at the shadows right under her. So you know the sun is high, it's about like, 110 degrees too, it's super high. So what am I gonna do there? Well, here's what I do before, and so I can get that, okay? And so what am I doing before and after? I'm gonna make it real, that's straight outta camera there. And then that's post processed. So that's straight out of camera. So it's not like it magically looks like that there. Because you gotta do a little post processing to, that's straight outta camera and that's post processed. So anyways here's again hard light, right. The sun is, look at, I'm at a 16, hard light. I get that but I add a little light, boom. That's what you get afterwards. So I'm just showing you what this technique's gonna do for you, you can produce stuff like this. Okay so that's before, that's after. That's straight outta camera, right, that's post processed. We'll get into that later, kay, but I wanna show, okay here's a typical flat light situation, right. There's hardly any definition, there's hardly any you know, shadows, it's even lighting. But ugh, you just kinda got nothing there, right? So what are the problems of overcast lighting? Flat light, it's boring, there's really no drama to this picture, no dynamic range, right? And so here's the same situation. I'm shooting in a flat light situation, okay? So what do I do? Ah looks okay. I get a little bit of light coming in, why don't I just do this with a flash? Add some flash, and if I add flash and create highlight and shadow on him, then I could create, I could drop in a background that has highlight and shadow that is much more interesting. And so now that looks believable, okay? But I had to add the flash in order for that to work, okay? And so, there's straight outta camera. See how I add that flash in? And then post processing I add that, it's a big difference. But! Because of my lighting I can do that and make it look believable, okay. So, here's a typical photo when there's no light. That's kind of a joke, you can't see anything, right? I'm gonna explain all these situations and then I'm gonna show you how to solve them, okay? So, what's the low light problems, there's no light! (laughs) You have to create your own, and so that's why people don't like, especially if you're a natural light shooter and then you have been forced to shoot at night time, you're like "Ahhh, now I seriously have to create my own light because there is no light, I'm scared." Right? And so that's, that's a problem for some people. They get scared. Extreme camera settings, "Oh no I gotta turn my ISO up to 3200, I don't know, I've never done that before." Too much grain, right, "Oh man my camera just can't handle that, blah blah blah." So what's your solutions? Okay well. Here we go let's say we're in Paris now. And that's kind of a typical low light situation. You got no light, you're just trying to get some light off of a lamp post or whatever, (laughs) that's what you're gonna get, nothing, right? But you add a video light and boom. You can get something like that, of course with a little post processing there. But that's straight outta camera with your light, you have to add light.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

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Ratings and Reviews

Vitor Rademaker
 

This course is amazing! Scott is extremely straightforward. He goes directly to practical problems, tips and etc. He explains every thing very clearly, and he is also very funny and charismatic, making you laugh as you learn. He shows that you don't need a lot of expensive gear to make very nice pictures. So I have saved some money as well, cause I was about to buy some gear that I wouldn't need right now. It is for sure one of the best photography courses I have ever attended to! I highly recommend! Thanks a lot Scott! You are the best!

user-9994d2
 

I have purchased a number of classes, this being one of them. The quality of the information was good and the level at which Scott spoke was appropriate for me. Having a course sylibus would add greatly to the value, which usually is not part of the programs I've purchased including this one, unless I've missed it. I believe the speaker should be required to provide one. After watching the videos, much of material can be recaptured by seeing it in writing. I would like to hear back from Creativelive their thoughts. In sum, good topic, good speaker, good technical audio and video quality by Creativelive

user-b48fe5
 

Another fantastic class with Scott Robert Lim! The combination of his knowledge, willingness to share, passion & entertaining personality makes him a top choice for photography education. Learning not only the "what", but the "why" & "how" can transform one's entire approach towards MAKING pictures. A constant inspiration to get better & better through practice.

Student Work

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