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Lesson Info

In the Field: Canon USA Shoot

(ambient nature) (crow calls in the distance) (crackles) (wind chime music) (determined singsong) Swing arm city. We've made it as far as we could. We are pretty close to getting stuck here. So we just decided to stop And walk the last 10 minutes to the spot. We can see the top of the Spire actually there, I was super excited. So Wiley's with us. We've just done his costume. He's all outfitted now. Looking good. Yeah. I'm gonna go for red and white for his clothing, because as you can see this mud is like pretty dark right now. The other, you know the other thing to consider is that it hasn't it's not gonna be really dusty for the photos I wanted. I wanted some dust flying in the air but this is fall in the desert. So it's been raining and this is super muddy. So we'll see how ratable it is. That's another unknown, lots of unknowns today. But either way we have a good team and we're pumped. (sunshiny music) What's really exciting is that if we get a sunset the sun is gonna align with...

the Spire naturally. So I might be able to get into the shadow of the Spire and Chris and cool effect. If we get a sunset and if he can write this, there's only two if's. It's pretty good. My name's Wiley Copas. I'm a professional-ish mountain biker. I am twenty-five and met Alex through a friend, Joey Schussler. Who's a filmmaker and I'm also a filmmaker in my off time. But yeah, just so to be out here and trying to put together some cool pictures with Alex Just a waiting game. Now I think I'm gonna go scout Where the Spire looks the biggest, you know because we're on a high point now. So we're making the Spire look smaller. I think I'm gonna go a little lower of the wide angle and play around at some angles. So I was just talking with Wiley, who is our talent? So Wiley is a mountain bike racer, right? He's an expert. And the reason I like to work with talented talent is that they know this stuff way more than I do, right? So I like to mountain bike for sure. That's why I love to shoot mountain bikes but he's the freaking expert here. He's the boss. So I'm like Wiley, where can I take photos of you? You know, where are you gonna look the best on the terrain? And he showed me three spots and it's this hump, the, this hump, and then the one before. So I can pretty much take photos of Wiley anywhere as long as I keep the Spire in the back, cause that's like my almost like a second subject is my, what brings strength to the image. I would just encourage you to always hire talent or work with people that know their shit, right? Like experts. Don't just get somebody that you've heard from somebody else. That's a good mountain biker. It's like, just go with the best you can't afford because the, you know these guys know how to get photographs and how to ride for photos, which is gonna be what we're doing today because the terrain is pretty dicey. It's just really muddy. And then it's packing into his tires. It's gonna look dope though. So we have about two hours to wait now until sunset and then fire. So it's just like, the dirt is super sticky. Like, it's like the stuff you'd kind of have in like middle school, ceramics class. And so just like sticks to your tires and like the bike doesn't move. So what we're trying to do now is just like pack it a little so I can actually like carry speed through it and not look ridiculous. So yeah, just try to like dry it up the best we can but it's like the sun's making it dry pretty fast. So I don't know, gets better the longer we wait. Cool. So I think since that'll be dialed Back in the trail today could be worse. (concerning echoes and whispers) So we've been doing some test shots with Wiley and this looks really cool. The white t-shirts pop in really well and the trail's actually kind of working. He loses a bit of speed here but the more he rides it, the better it'll get. Now photo wise, I've been trying to shoot from three locations just here, up there. And I think I like it here because I can see the two rock features and it's an all hump for Wiley to get some air. So we're gonna keep working on the hump that's right here for him to get air. And, like the goal is that he's separated from the horizon land behind and he, you know he stands out against the clouds. That's what we're trying to do now, you know for now solve test shots, but it's looking pretty cool. (muffled) So Specializing, you know what I mean? Yeah. So I like the angle better because the trail winds to the right, which feels just more natural to the eye versus the other side. So again, I'd just like to try, I went there did a test shot, went here, did a test shot and we have a winner. So now it's good to have Wiley here because he's a pro. So he's been doing maybe 25 rounds just in a row over and over. And he's always, always, always asking me if I wanna do more, et cetera. So he is really nice sometimes though you might have to you might just be dealing with time. That's a bit less experience, you know? So just be mindful of how they're feeling. Like if, if you see the start to look tired, et cetera we have a lot of time right now to play around, you know until the sun gets what we want it to be. And while he's down to place, it's kind of up to you to feel the situation and know if it's okay or not to do that. We're in good shape now though. Yep. He's dropping (crackling) Noise. So working with your talent, and Wiley had a pretty cool idea. He's like, oh dude, check this out. I made a turn there, come see it. So we just walked there. We take our time and I discovered that the sun now is between these two Spires. See like I'm in, not in the sun, I'm in the sun. So I think we can have Wiley turn right here follow his idea and I could improve it with composition. So I can have this view, like this and the sun semi blocked by this, almost like a flare. So it might work, might not work out. But I just wanna point out that you should work with your time because especially when you have a pro like I have an idea, come check it out for sure. I want to, so I don't wanna get stuck in my initial idea, which is shoot like there. I probably shoot that anyways, but I still wanna explore cause this might be better. (joyous crescendo) So this really honors the wide angle, right? We're shooting this fifteen-thirty five. So this type of composition really, you know was the rock is so big. This lens comes really in handy. Oh yeah. It's cool. Now I have two options. Either get more of the upper part, or more of the lower part. I'm trying more of the lower part when he's detached against this guy. So I've done so many options now that I'm trying to go back through all of them. I think my favorite is probably from here when he is up in the air and the sun is just in the right place for that. So we're gonna do that now, while he's scrapping up the bottom of his shoes, they tend to get quite muddy here, which makes riding a bit tricky. Yay. And he hits the second move. He's passionate. You see, he hit the second move too. No cameras. Still standing. (lively song) Oh, wow. I like this a lot. It's fun shooting this whole thing. Just with one lens kind of reduces decisions. Right? I'm gonna try to wonder what lens I gotta use. I got my mutation fifteen-thirty five. Feels quite good. Its quite relaxing. Just one lens. Cause now it be like, I wanna put the fifty on this and that, but no I can't. So I gotta get a little closer to him. Shoot him. But there's quite a bit of contrast for the camera. This is really pushing the art to the limit cause this is so dark, black-dark and this is extreme bright. So I'm trying to seek the best angle. So the sun is just the right amount of sun without blowing up the whole scene. It's tricky. But what I have him, what I have now is him against the sky. Just flying. That's what I came for. Pumped. (upbeat continues, louder) Whoa Haha! Dope. That was sick. Okay. I just got, I missed the light both times. Cause it of the sun. Oh yeah. Fuck. It was cool. Yeah. It was nice. It's noise. The light. What do you think? I think that this is good. We got this now. So I was thinking about going slowly, going up as the sun drops, you know, go in higher and higher. Yeah. Yeah. So we've changed plans now we've come up back to the top. The sunset side is done. I think for now, till it becomes pink but looking at the other side, it looks really cool. It's like blue and just looks really awesome. So instead of trying to force that composition which I've shot about a thousand times today and Wiley has ridden forty times, I think we're switching it up now and just trapping down here and just kind of going with the flow, following the light. (motivational chanting and song) (murmurs drowned out by song) Okay, so we're pretty much done for now. I might wait for blue hour as we write down, but for now we're gonna pack up and start getting a move on and I'm gonna keep an eye for any blue hour opportunities. I'm really glad I got this shot there. That's what I came for. I just wanna recap on everything we've talked about today. First being like researching new locations before and then planning out where you're gonna scout. Then leaving some time to scout the whole thing in person. Online scout and then real life scout. It's completely different but you can get really ahead with the online scout. So today we had three hours to play around and that was solid. Second thing is working with your models. So making sure that first off they're safe nobody wants them to get hurt. And then that you just treat them the best you can. Right? Sometimes you hire models. Sometimes you work with your friends, but with whoever you work with you just wanna make sure they're well taken care of. And when you work with pros, the benefit is that Wiley is being, pushing us to get different angles. So he's really the driving force of this and this way I love he's like, oh how about this? How about that? We're trying to leave and he wants to keep going, right? So this is the best situation. And that's what happens when you work with pros. So just treat your talent really well. And number three is you know, how we've been shooting this assignment for Cannon with the fifteen-thirty five. It's actually good that I used, only this lens. It was refreshing out to have to think about, you know what lens I'm gonna use. And in that way I must have, you know I might have missed some shots if I was thinking about that. I really like this constraint of using one lens. and then obviously using the wide angle to my advantage. This is the reason we came here is because it's wide angle territory. It's like, we're so close to this thing. And this goes so high in the air and the wide angle makes everything even more dramatic. So that's it for today. He's going again. Should we do it again? One more time. (crashes) You good? Yeah. Going hard tonight. Yeah. I just can't see now. Yeah. Wiley for the win. It's kind of dorky. All good. Thanks, yeah. Thank you. Thinking? The which claw, what do you think? Which claw? Which claw or needle of the missing drone? Ooh. Needle of the missing drone. How about DGI needles? DGI needles. A DGI needle. All right. DGI needle. (laughs) (camera shutters, silence)