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Blizzard Themed Shoot (Cont.)

Lesson 12 from: Commercial Portraiture

Joey L

Blizzard Themed Shoot (Cont.)

Lesson 12 from: Commercial Portraiture

Joey L

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Lesson Info

12. Blizzard Themed Shoot (Cont.)

Lesson Info

Blizzard Themed Shoot (Cont.)

and first one in is from cal from los angeles when you're composing you're shot in this shoot do you leave more negative space in the image for to leave room for the advertising copy yes definitely so negative spaces when we leave an area of the image open right so there's nothing to distracting going on in that area of the image and that's certainly a thought in my mind when I'm composing any photograph particularly for advertisements so a lot of things I do for a magazine cover we need to see the title right at the top we need some space so I am very active in making sure I leave enough room for those kinds of things depending on the ad and depending on what it's going to be great so some technical type questions coming in robby muller was wondering can you explain again how you were able teo tell her to send images both to the laptop and the ipad s o on the ipad there's ah very neat app called capture pilot it's free it's made by the people who make capture one phase one um and esse...

ntially jess he's just making a wifi network with this computer and its uh he opens the app we connected to the computer and anything I shoot can go on the laptop ondas wells the ipad so it's comes in really handy when I'm photographing because I can put something simple like an ipad next to me while I'm shooting we can also have people on set with iphones you know put the app on their phone and be able to sort through the shoot the only warning I have is if you get too many people on the network it clogs it and it can crash so typically on set we tryto have like one or two ipads and a few iphones max great adrian far over and uh england is asking now that you have all of these images to choose from from the last segment there's a lot of images how do you go about picky maybe your top five and even your top favorite piece that you might choose for your portfolio on your website well what I would do is start toward the end of the shoot like I was doing in the first segment and start at the back of the shoot because typically when I've got something I stopped shooting it because there's no sense in like approving upon the same thing over and over again so I'll start at the back of the shoot and worked my way backwards and just make selections anything that kind of catches my eye any performance from the subject that looks in engaging all like star and capture one photo mechanic and I'll go through them starring starring starring and then I'll look at just the stars and then I go through those and make another finer selection and hopefully we can get it down to like one final shot first thing I'm looking for is how the subject looks in the in the in the photo what is the mood overall what's being told later if I get a few choices that are close then I'll start examining things technically so is the light falling perfectly is did I get the focus correct right then I might use that as another uh as another category to narrow things down all right so a lot of folks are just very inspired to go out and try to do their own test shoot creative concept we're wondering how much it's going to cost them so from uh kobe studio spain is wondering on this type of thing what would you guess a budget to be what would somebody need to invest in this type of shoot lighting models etcetera and order in order to create a portfolio grade shoot of this exact setup or any set up well I think they had asked but people had asked both okay well let me do this set up first because I know what it costs so in this set up first of all the models are friends so we won't count that the other thing is if you don't have friends that would be good in a set up whether it's a blizzard or not is you can also contact modeling agencies on a test basis and if your work's good enough they have a benefit from adding it to their portfolio as do you as a photographer so you can usually source things like that for free okay as long as you're going to supply the images and give them something worth their time these are people who are just starting out like you as if it has a photographer right put to put together a shoot like this I don't own this gear right I own the camera but I actually don't own this many lights myself this is all rented so if you want to do a production you don't have to think about investing thousands and thousand dollars at the beginning you khun borrow or rent stuff for a lot cheaper so you can get a lot of contacts that rental house is based on the city where you live maybe pay a couple hundred dollars instead of lots of thousands of dollars right to get this kind of year this background rents for I think a couple hundred dollars each time the snow machine same thing so I think to put together this shoot if you're really savvy about budget would cost maybe like one thousand five hundred dollars on all depending if you had this space tow work in if you're a little scrappy maybe a little lower if you didn't live in a place that has all these tools maybe a little higher to ship it but you know this is still with that said it's an expensive test you don't need that much money to go out and do a test you can convince someone who owns a cool location like a restaurant if I come to you and I give you these images um I'll let you use the photos for your space to help advertise it you can make deals with people right you're giving them a product you're giving them a photograph which can help them as long as you can make it mutually beneficial you can pull a favor now I'm not someone who pulls a favor on every single shoot when I do get a commission job I tend to work with the same people who helped me out in the beginning so that I wasn't just pulling favors forever because what'll happen is there's on ly so many times you been do that and people just get fed up and don't want to work with you so yes I can pull favors but when an actual job comes down the line I'm gonna work with the same crew fantastic and speaking of your crew you have an awesome crew did people are wondering about what qualities you look for people who are approaching to assist you also if you have any advice to give photographers who are looking for assistance and those who are who want to be assistance to other photographers to start their own portfolio so this is not a nine to five job you don't just check in and check out like that today we're doing something like driven by passion so the first thing I'm looking for is a passionate person do they actually care whether or not this shot comes out good do they actually care to be there right his photo shootings on it's not so glamorous most times it's like really hard there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes that we've seen here in creative live it's like just sucks but passionate people don't care about that they'll just work through it and sort of understand that the success they feel after a hard day that's like the fulfillment so first thing I looked for his passionate people other things I looked for workaholics say somebody who doesn't work like on its schedule who can work around the clock sometimes things sail come up last minute got to stay up all night getting stuff done that happens a lot if someone says like I'm really feeling coming in today it's kind of like you're not right for the job right you can't if you can't even assist me then like there's no way that you could ever do this on your own right so it's someone who can work around the clock thea other thing I would say is someone who can communicate very effectively to me where if there is a problem if something does go wrong this is life that happens they can tell me and be honest with me right so if we have a disagreement or something comes up we were put in a sort of circumstance the worst thing we could do just to keep your mouth shut the best thing to do is to talk about it this bothered me because or I think this can be improved because I like people who have open communication about everything so that's essentially what I'm more or less those are also looking for a great great points for people for partners out there for people um kind of a follow up question to that is from your name one two three who were the photographers that you assisted when you were younger and are there anybody right now any mentors in the photo world that you look up to right now I have a lot of mentors now and I read a lot of bloggers and follow a lot of great photographers but when I started I didn't assist I was I was experimenting a lot I wish I had the opportunity to assist when I start off but I just I live in a small town there wasn't many local photographers there's a few like great wedding photographers but not quite doing the style that I was shooting so I had a lot of mentors in the sense of like when I started I was going to photography work shots I was part of a lot of web form communities nowadays I look up to a lot of photographers who are my peers and people who are ah lot better than me as a photographer I'm studying very closely what they do but to name one name would be extremely unfair because I don't forget somebody so I'm not gonna do that thank you question from markie know what's the difference between directing models or a cz we have been seen today and celebrities that you shot so what is it I mean or is there a difference there's now there's not much difference I think that what you have to go into is remember the celebrity has a public persona right they're used to being depicted a certain way so that would be the only change is a model you kind of craft to your environment you say this is your job for the day this is who you're going to be you sort of give them an identity where is the celebrity they already have this that comes with um that you're going tohave to capture and emulate and make sure that they keep even their brand as a person I think that's probably the main difference thank you all right uh may allah is asking when you're working with dallas for agencies on personal projects and building your portfolio how do you manage it's the rights to the images when you're trading uh work for the images for the images like if they showcased the images online do you ask for credit credit running yeah I'm pretty easy about that like when I do a shoot and I do a block post about it I'll definitely credit the stylist and everyone who came out to help that day usually they'll return the favor on their websites it doesn't really bother me if they don't but you asked about managing rights as long as you know no one's making money off of it I don't care they can put it wherever they want as long as is the final image that I over oversaw and saw from start to finish if they're leaking things out that I didn't approve that's not so great but I mean if I've sent them something they can do whatever they want with it because remember there there helping out on a test basis they could print it put in the report folio as long as they're not going to sell it it's no problem great thanks good advice so russell photographer I am a semiprofessional photographer who's currently using fairly simple lights a couple of canon e xtra bes couple of shoot through umbrellas some basic modifiers if you are in the situation and you're looking to upgrade to the next level of lighting what would your purchases be say at a thousand dollars budget can you tell me again what what was he using speed lights yeah he already yeah a couple of cannons expedited mean the main thing that he's battling his power okay so speed like just like my flashlight set up the first day could only go so high the thing that we pay for mostly in studio light is the intensity of light so if you have a low budget there are some entry level gear that I started with when I started photographing there's alien bees okay it's extremely cheap to me the light quality is inconsistent doesn't look as good as pro photo or brown color or ellen chrome but it is a good like place to start I know a lot of great photographers who use it that get away with it it just requires a little bit more post after because the lighting is so inconsistent and color temperature that you have to tweak it and feel it out a little more but like those like the price difference between alien beings and pro photo is like ah huge leaps so if you're starting off alien bees that was my first lighting modifiers I still have many shots of my portfolio that were shot with cheapo alien beings that would be the next step in my opinion from from speed lights thie other thing is I think they're cheaper than speed lights actually some of them cheaper than speed like I think so um the other thing is is uh you notice amusing pro photo heads and impacts but some of the modifiers are ellen chrome ellen chrome lights tend to be a little cheaper than pro photo and bron color that's a great entry level uh gear list are what's the word I'm looking for that's a good entry level set up nice great all right question from evander's twentieth kid how did you land your big shoots for television shows such as it's always sunny in philadelphia was that before or after you got an agent it was while I had an agent yeah and I still have an agent now but what built my first portfolio was actually music so it was photographing a bunch of guys in bands that most people had never heard of and that built my first portfolio of work because I wasn't photographing them like a band like five guys in an alleyway I was using them for conceptual shoots so they would get something great because they'd have ah more unique and more creative album cover or mohr unique press photos and I was getting something good that would build my portfolio toward the entertainment and advertising clients uh that I picked up later now how did I approach them I had a website I had a portfolio and that was just a matter of doing meeting sending emails all right getting my agents a set it means you're sheldon my portfolio you could do plenty of meetings maybe hundreds and you get one client so yes I'm a photographer and my shooting yes maybe like five percent of the time the rest is the hustle the rest is the hustle that is for sure joey we want to see you hustle a little bit more what do you say that weight losing our last segment here what's leter rip okay great thank you so much thanks so let's get let's get terra in here all right some of you guys might recognize his terror from wow she's looking a little snow it looks a little different from the first day we face the face the camera here okay so some people might recognise terra from our first day on creative live we're going to do a different kind of portrait using the same setup for her all right so you're looking like you're wearing a slightly more feminine version of the code just have like quite a stick shoulders looking a little like dusty and the eyes a little bit of ice here that makeup artist put on it looks really good for terra I want to try something a little bit different andi I actually want to try something like a little more profile to the camera so you saw that one version that I took with our last subject where I turned in profile on like the lighting was like completely flat it was like completely washed out and I was like let's not do that and I just did something different what I can do is kind of use as a starting place to see how my going to use this set to do something different also when I was photographing jesse can you go to one of the mistakes where the with this front light didn't fire um when I was photographing that last segment there was a few mistakes where our main light just didn't have time to recycle and it just didn't flash at all um is there any other maybe jesse can try to find out why I'm explaining it but basically we had a lot of backlight and no main light and I saw this as a mistake and I was like oh man maybe if I drew off this for the next set up it could be interesting so it's like a happy accident that this didn't flash and I thought look at these back lies how they're shaping the face it's not perfect but perhaps instead if I got my main light and walked it to the back right we could get something more interesting so pull off that test shot that we took of you jesse all right during during the break I was like trying to figure out what I could do and I was trying to think on my toes so then we moved the main light from here tio here alright very simple moves so now it's like coming more from the side so I think I can get something completely different with this set up if I have terror like more profile to to me and we're very careful about what we do with the lights so we might get something more dramatic I think if we haze up this entire area what's gonna happen is the backgrounds beginning become too bright like what we're doing before right will get all those trails and all those shadows so instead I'm going to keep the haze off so we can see the background and we can go from there right so let's see what happens with this jesse can you turn your computer toward me let's get set up just for lighting just for now before we turn the snow machine on anything like that terror let's get yu standing in place here ignore this marker doesn't matter come forward a little bit and can you turn profile to me there I think we're gonna have to take you your hood back not off but maybe like yeah exactly and can you turn okay this is looking nice so I noticed that they put a clip in the back of your head to help pull the hood but we can get rid of that don't worry um because I'm going to see it but yeah put the put the hood on let's see can I see a little bit more of your face okay we'll walk a little bit this way so I'm looking at the modeling light on her face and I'm seeing kind of like house being shaped turn your shoulder slightly took toward me and then your eyes like here somewhere turn ahead a little bit away from me okay like that might be really nice let me take a test shot so we have all the same settings that were established before except the main light has moved the main light even has the same power and intensity is before even those behind our subject I'm still considering it as our main light so let's do a little test and let's see what this looks like as a profile shots okay let's pull this up here okay not bad for the for the first go this looks good so again we've kind of like put the main light away from her we're getting this kind of like edgy kind of gritty look I think it could be better when I look at that it looks a little flat caleb let's raise this up higher so we can get even more depth and even more shadow it also looks like we're hitting her directly with the bank if you remember the quality on our last set up when we like feathered it off her write it looked a lot more painterly right now she's getting like the bulk of the light killed let's like let's like completely screw this up and let's turn it like this way there it is okay let's see what this looks like now with those tweaks terra turn your face is slightly toward me a little too profile oh it's this yeah exactly okay let me see here okay let's see what that looks like now jesse could you compare those two on the screen just so we can see what that subtle little tweak did okay so comparing these two images the one on the left she's getting the bulk of the light on her face yes it has come down an exposure but there's a lot more than that to be said about this quality of light is looking a lot more painterly and feathered I think we can actually do better let's turn it away from her even more toward this wall this is getting like completely like a whack attack now keep on and keep going and also terry take a step this way so like we're not even hitting her with the light I hope we can get a shot like from this way so people can see like this is a mess but but but it looks great okay so what's the okay thanks guys let me have a look at this no okay we're growing in complexity caleb do me a favor and let's turn off this beauty dish as a backlight so that the only light that's influencing her from that angle is just our soft source and let's see if that's doing anything different for us and we can compare the two jesse so that that guy's off yeah perfect okay by the way terror everything you're doing for these tests is looking very nice turn your face a little bit more through army perfect thank you okay one second yeah everyone here this camera ah ha jesse could you pay those compare those last two so it looks like yeah I like that a lot better so the image on the right we turned off the beauty dish um and what happened was we lost that kind of like a rim light which was happening on her jacket I'm going to scrub the mouse oversea like this area here in this area here we turn off that beauty dish and now to me it looks like a lot more subtle it looks a lot better that's nice let's see what happens if we read the history graham is probably looking really really dark but it's a dark image so don't care okay so here we go this looks good let's experiment with a little bit of phil not saying I'm going to use it but let's grab this white card and let's just hold it like right here and let's see if we can fill in a little bit of the shadows on your face I don't want to destroy the mood though so this might be this might be fine let's see here so terror you're all good the same what we're doing with this white card here is just sort of bouncing a little bit of the main light back toward our subject and we're trying to fill in a little bit of that shadow because to me it looks a little bit intense but this this might be thiss might be too much but let's see here what we can get okay nice let's have a look here uh compare those last two for me jesse now let's lose it know it know it bounce it was a good idea but it looks way better without let's go back here okay cool so I'm looking at the background and to me I like that the clouds air so under exposes really like helping her image here what I'm going to do to get a healthy hissed a gram is actually something I didn't count on what we can do it now is look at that history graham uh put your mouth over it so people know all right that's looking little chunky it's a little it's a little scary because what happens if I want it printed a little lighter and there's no detail there what I'm actually going to do it's purposely shoot this a bit over exposed and in capture one preview one stop lower okay so right now we're shooting this at a five point six let me shoot this image out of four and then jessie as one of the custom settings going into the computer I want you to drop it one stop but don't do it yet let's just take the photo first you know tell me real quick what was the last image shot of one hundred fifty okay okay so I'm going to a five point six to a four which is probably going to look a little bit too bright for the preview but it is a little bit more of a safe exposure for later yes so see that like totally kills the mood but it is safe because we can see a lot more detail here in the hood so jesse let's actually drop this negative one now and this will now match the exposure that we're getting before right but we have a little bit of safety now so since we're shooting raw the original image is actually a little bit brighter okay but just for my preview on this monitor this is a nicer healthier history graham k we gave us a stop but I'm going to shoot with the preset negative one all right that means that later on if I have to print this and like oh no I need more detail at least I have it I don't want to go dipping past negative one stop because we're gonna lose quality as we shoot so I'm safe with negative warn jesse can you apply that pre set as I shoot okay so let's see here let's see if everything's ready to rip turning changes slightly more tor me exactly in your eyes less off the wall exactly so when I'm focusing I'm just trying to find it on her eyes pull that hood off just slightly too I'm just trying okay that's good I'm just trying to find the focus very very slightly armed the way she's looking oh my god this camera if I could manual focus good I would be doing that right now but I can't okay here this alright so again look at this the image comes in and capture one were negative one stop in the software but it's just for safety ok this to me of the lighting looks great I think this is like a really really nice starting place to at least try some snow and see what that looks like terra your expression it and everything looking that way just as it is let's do around like that killed you want to get a snow machine fired up jesse goes into hiding uh yeah well just be careful to like pull the head back if I could say one thing less like relax your mouth a little bit just so we look more like in the scene exactly turn ish face is a little more toward me okay nice all right caleb whenever it's ready not ok thanks man okay so just more in the foreground caleb oh that is good oh I like when you squint a little bit terror that's really nice and close your mouth little more this's really nice uh killed your hold on stop uh what's happening is like you're you're blowing it too much by and I'm getting like too much blur if you could point upwards just so it falls down okay let me let me look through those real quick jessie tear if you could just keep your feet in place yeah so caleb if you could point the machine a little bit more upwards I think it looks good but if you can kind of like go up and down so it's like putting on her face like before you go upward let the snow fall and then come back down you know I'm saying so let's look through these images real quick before we do another round of these are great turn them on or toward terror you see yeah these air nice I like how there's a lot toward the camera like grind going out of focus it's very nice oh this expression is nice okay cool alright let's do another round like that you're all good tara all things the same turn the shoulder a little bit more to warn me okay perfect and this arm can you just put it out like this just and your feet a little more in in a pose uh maybe like this maybe just do this it'll feel stupid but it'll look good uh it's back and it's hard forward like just like you're walking right exactly all right let's pull the hood off you a little bit thank you okay yeah shoulders so much better now holden killed let me find the focus okay got it alright let it snow uh close your mouth a little bit terra and look down again the way you were uh bring your eyes up slightly yeah right they're beautiful yeah and you can switch it up each time slightly your move just moving a little bit too much because my focus is really really shallow here go a little bit more profile to me beautiful exactly more snow toward the lens uh bring your face a little bit back toward me ah uh more snow let's blast it how you were like vertically this way now uh chin down a little bit okay let me focus for a second terra move your chin this way okay great okay this is gonna be good move your chin a little bit more okay awesome keep everything the same yo cale let me focus for a second okay thank yu wei go okay all right let's have a snow back terra just stay like that everything's perfect close your mouth a little bit yeah exactly and let's have snow like just blasting right at her face like when we first started think oh yeah alright seriously seriously expression hold on hold on let me find the folk uh ok all right point it point it down all right here we go tara fierce hold on south for a second I'm getting a hair uh battery alright let's kill it all right thanks man way all right so we just need to switch the battery but everything everybody was doing was really really nice I wouldn't change a thing I just think it's really nice when we kind of shoot it across here for this particular set up okay let's pull the hood off a little bit I'm gonna also introduced mr wolfman into this ok there is he's ready but I think you're using the other one before oh broke yeah he was wafting too hard man he was he was just he was just letting a riff all right let's let's have you come like right here and can we free up some hair terror so that maybe some strands from this side blow out this way yeah what I'm trying to do everybody is I'm trying to get these strands to kind of go like this okay so turn profile again and let's see what happens before we have oh yeah this is gonna be good maybe if I can move this like appear I walked away let's see and close your mouth wash harder like you're going oh yeah that's that's gonna be good can you do up your coat a little bit little more yeah no no that's that's gonna be really nice all right let me find my frame here um okay that's nice turn it down a little bit toward me that's very nice one second couldjust eternal while talks for me real quick comes when it suits uh terra bring your eyes let's see no I read their home just hold that for a moment all right show me on the ipad oh yeah this is gonna be perfect ok cool so you ready you did your stretches you did your warm up okay and if you could pull the hood off just a little bit terra yeah just anymore there it is okay all right caleb frieda letter it and seriously expression from you terry that's perfect just like that okay all right here it comes I watched really really hard let's get a lot of wind and tear it from your expression just something like yes exactly very cold looking off I know it's difficult but when your eyes are kind of uh wait when your eyes are going into the wind I know it hurts but actually looks good turn it down a little bit more toward may uh chin up a little bit uh let's look a little bit more cold turn your face away from me slightly beautiful alright walks harder uh shut your mouth a little bit exactly turn urchin toward me and uh so okay keep going don't change anything turn a little bit away from me and look up higher exactly that's nice put your arms out so they're not flat like do one hand in front the other just cause I could see your shoulders like this okay yes that's perfect okay awesome bring the hood on with your hands yeah and let's have you play around with that as we go okay with both hands on the hood goal is to look like very raw here and slightly like weather tourney okay right let's put the hands down and just look that way oh I saw something interesting look back on the floor again uh put your hands down yeah hold that hold that right there and then just bring your eyes upward toward where he's like a walking like a maniac there it is okay hold that right there all right and blow her hair harder take one step this way all right blow this bit right right right there okay perfect okay and just hold that expression looking up with the eyes but the chains down uh need more win there okay good all right that was good let's let's let's give ourselves a little break that was awesome I could see it like going in your eyes all right can you turn the modern toward me I think we got that let's see here let's review tara oh yeah this is a very nice variation of the same said it were doing before so it looks like we're missing a little bit of light in the eyes it's not quite as fine tuned is when we started I think if we were to do another round everything you're doing is great terra ah it's just a matter of me like shifting the light slightly or walking you back a step I think is better so let's get that figured out before but mean everything there is like awesome guys like you can check this out looks like really really nice we just are missing a little bit of life in the eyes of people who are watching might have noticed I started with a vertical composition and then switch to a more horizontal version the reason for that is I saw a little bit of her hair being blown sideways so I kind of like oriented my camera to see that better and I think it helped the composition a little more I'm being like very messy with my frame on purpose so things like aren't so great so it looks like as a viewer we're kind of lost in the blizzard with her but I think we can do this little better just in terms of light but it's far if you guys everything's the same where were you standing before terrorist something like here okay so I think we're going to get light in your eyes if you mind this hair here can you push that back against your face exactly and look that way for me to join you turn the light just slightly more on her just or not so like wacky with a feather there it is okay I think we got it let's just stay there for one second um look forward okay I'm gonna have to hear let's have you stand here turn your chin more that would come back to me let's uh open the hood up a little bit and look that way for me ah ha there it isthe one second show me that jesse what I'm trying to do here is get light in her eyes also I don't think we have the uh the appreciate on you just turn that computers oh it was just the ipad is slow to just stay right there teri okay there is the light in your eyes is everybody see the catch light now let's drop this lower in height by like half a foot okay keep going ok look that way again and let's take this off just slightly it's going to be so good there it is right walk this way for me back a little more uh huh uh huh uh huh perfect okay this is good uh blow her hair for me just just for a quick test turner chin back toward me okay uh go a little more profile to me when I'm gonna see her idol okay let me lock in the focus turn urchins toward me slightly okay right there this one unfortunately has to be pretty locked down guys to get it right raise your chin up a little bit second let me see if this is getting away stay right there don't move anything and there it is okay good all right so this is going to be a little crazy terror all all direct you if you should move but if you could please just stay still unless I say otherwise just cause like the focus is so it's so tricky here okay caleb you ready to let that thing rip okay so stayed just like that that's perfect all right let's turn on the snow machine okay awesome I walked it like crazy let's get that hair blowing awesome terror bring your chin up a little bit and I know it's hard let's try to keep the eyes open amazing all right let's put the hood back on uh this looks incredible alright bring your chin up a little bit amazing and shit up a little bit yet oh so good okay let's stop you got a phony face so good I think I think we might have gotten it then that was that was really nice let's let's get on the computer you want to come take a look I think I think we got it that time let's let's work backwards too much now too much now oh that's not bad yes killed what's let's turn down the amount of snow looking at this there's just like it's like way too crazy over this stuff's nice cool all right let's let's let's go again real quick so everything is going to be the same just finer particles smaller um and less of it okay how are you doing you need a break or water anything okay I'm just asking because with people watching this really wouldn't care yeah I'm just I'm just trying to make myself look like a good guy really so looking again uh blow blow blow the hair you're going to turn your shoulder slightly here take one step this way turn your face to know shoulder toward me and face that way ok blow her hair a little bit uh chin a little bit more toward me let's take one step this way okay thanks rest your arms just let me see that uh do we have a catch like they're just nice uh john can we just turn this a little bit that way let's feather it off her slightly yeah you got it all right same thing can we do a test where we blow air okay great stop thank you okay nice all right let's let's let's do another round everything the same like before you guys were all perfect it was more of a snow issue there is ok perfect right let's watched and terry just a fierce expression looking that way into the great white north there is a beautiful beautiful turn your face a little bit more toward me okay great take a step this way back okay again okay lost like crazy let's blow her hair can you take your hood off slightly just so we can see turn it down a little bit more toward me now uh I was wrong away yeah there it is okay walk more snow close your mouth less okay good way got it then for sure let's let's let's make sure of it though jessie turned the computer toward me I think I saw one in particular in that round before the snow got too intense flipped back that way for me wow he's looked really nice toe come on people there it is yeah there's so much stuff a little welcome back school made you look a little gritty hope you don't mind nice so I think this is at a place where I would be happy to stop now all right I got a slightly different variation which was different from our first set up just by tweaking the main white okay so we got a completely different vibe right which is not so bright and washed it's more like of a punchy epic light but it'll still fit in the same siri's so yeah that's where I met with that I'm not sure if we want to take a little questions I'm happy with these pictures there's like a lot to choose from the main thing for me was in making those adjustments what I was thinking in my head bouncing back and forth was I could see the preview of the modeling light in her eye on and I was being really careful like not tto lose it because she would turn incheon just enough it would be perfect and then one slight movement we would lose it so that's why everything was so stoic and that particular setting just can you flip through those as we're talking about that's what I was actually just going to ask you if there was any way that you could kind of pick your top five or go through that process for us quickly since we d'oh d'oh actually times I would love to I think the audience at home would love to see what you choose and why well given your top five I'm not going to say that I could make my top five right now because it's something that can take time but I'll tell you what I'm gravitating more and more toward so we have a feat of the monitor right okay great so looking through these first of all this is like way too much snow this is like a really nice amount so the first thing I'm thinking about is yes the lighting but I'm also thinking like what is just too much snow and what is a good amount this is too much this is good next thing is like I'm looking at terrorist face and I'm looking at her I so let me zoom in here so we can see what I mean by catch light so look at that nice sharp focus right from the digital back that's only sixty seven percent there it is there's one hundred see this little catch light here that to me brings a lot of life out of her eyes because we have really dark kind of like moody light going on if that was their her entire expression would be lost so I'm looking for that one of making selections this one stands out to me just because of like the hair going this way that's pretty cool might take that little happy accident that I was not in control of her stance looks better as we went on look how her shoulders are here versus here okay this this siri's that we did in the end is looking really nice take that one already that's a nice one too much snow let's take a step back to some of the other set ups that's pretty funny alfalfa way too much now yeah I think my favorite selection uh that I've seen away these air good hold on these were good but we're missing a little life in the eyes I think my favorite selection that I've seen thus far has to be from the last setup that we did and the reason for that is just because of the structure of the shoulder she looks like way more intense way more epic I think that's actually one of my favorite just looking through this really quickly this selection here is probably one of my favorites just because there's elements that we can control and there's elements that we cannot control in this particular image both were working in our favor that's why it's my favorite well thank you so much I might change my mind don't you are allowed to change your mind I put you on the spot there thank you for letting us see or your process you'll bring process going through that so are we I think are we done with terror yeah I think she did a great job we should get around so joey over the last break we happened to walk by this little this little box that way you picked you picked it up brought it over here because we're staying there ourselves wow this is where we started on on one day and we're wondering maybe if you could we could go back and talk a little bit about the past three days and how we got from this teo to where we are right now so maybe it's kind of the story of my life yeah I started with this stuff right making d I y modifiers right uh still making the most out of the materials obviously now I'm using a lot of gear a lot of expensive gear but to me what is more important is being able to notice the quality of light and what exactly is happening even if we're just natural light all the same things that I was talking about like main light backlight could be happening right so for example if we have a sunset and you're standing in front of a white door right you would have a main light and still a fill light this thing's these light patterns happen in nature right it happens in normal lighting without buying anything so I think as long as you can dissect light and be able to understand it yes good tools help I'm not one to say that they don't like you does it matter like I don't do that but more importantly is knowing how to dissect light and how to look at it and again like I said before if you can understand one main light you can understand millions so although this setup looks complex right now if you go back to where we were day one we still had terror same subject but we sort of like added things one step at a time to get here understand one could understand a million lights awesome there are so many questions for you but something in particular I've noticed over the last three days that a lot of people have been asking but we weren't on that subject where the nuts and bolts of commercial photography from a business aspect like all the things you know like contracts and the entire preproduction experience and meetings and to the final product delivery to the client what that entails and I feel like we have enough questions to keep you here for an entire day wears a ll that an entire three for three more days talking about this kind of stuff ok but every day workshop on the business side of commercial photography exactly I think like if uh if if that's something that you are interested in please let creative live no tweet that out yeah I think me and me and chase you know we talked in depth about it but even still with all the stuff we're saying it's just kind of like scratching the surface there's so many things that go on behind the scenes so money different things to think about when running a photography business is like taking photos is ah is a large part of it but marketing yourself showing your work getting it out there is a completely that's just yeah today I mean day one we talked about the most important principle which is the portfolio which is the outlet that you use show your work and share your work if there's one thing that I could say that is the most important thing is you can take all these photos but if you don't know how to show them and you don't know how to display them no one's going to see it so that to me is probably one of the most important things coming from the business and sharing and I think I mean I think just to go back to that question that we got from a ce sth motion today was to start as a commercial photographer how many photos do we need to show a future client agent at least how many shoots how many photos and so if you could again kind of go back teo since that's what we have been writing about this is a one this is the big misconception that like there's this great daunting task of having to have hundreds of images to show actually what I recommend for first portfolios between forty and sixty pictures like I said before it doesn't mean that you can't have maurin different gallery sorted in a different way but your main base highlights the best of the best can be like forty to sixty pictures and I mean you look here okay what we photographed today and this one set up we got a version of our first subject right with the beard uh I was forgetting his name what is it horrible brett okay got one set up with brett got a different set up with terror that's like two shots for portfolio in one day right so if we keep thinking about that we set up a whole shoot that lasts a whole day again I've said this before but if we get four shots for one shoot it really only means you need to do like ten shoots to get a portfolio body of work so even photographers who are stuck in a rut who look at their work and like want to throw it away that's fine just set up multiple tests set up a lot of different shoots to kind of like get experience and draw from it and that khun build your first portfolio which is a great launching pad right to doing things in the future once you have that body of work your job is not done you have to actively go out and add to it push away old crap add new fresh things in any photographers doing this there's not one level where like that's my portfolio I'm going to let that ride my whole career no we're always adding in fresh content right right uh there's a question from our in studio audience um I noticed a little bit with terra on dh even more with bread thing you know things not you always going to plan more like tweaking and several times with bread I noticed you're like you know you know let's see what your hands look like on the goggles no that doesn't work okay try this try this they handled it totally in stride but do you ever have subjects who get really really flustered by that and how do you handle it and still keep a good you know get getting good expressions from them without that throwing them no I mean most people are looking for a direction right most people feel comfortable with me telling them although that's what most people want they want to just be told what to do especially a model there sort of like like like a claymation figure you have to tell them what to do and given direction however just like I think yesterday is a better example is like when you kind of show them more or less what to do you can shut your mouth and let them do their thing so are their subjects that want to be directed let's absolutely I would just use my discretion what I was putting on and what I wasn't so this is a rare scenario because we have so many variables going on we have the snow machine we have the haze we have the very a really specific light so that's why I have to be so engaged and so on top of everything how the hands look on the fingers look sometimes the lighting's little more clean and easier like yesterday where they can actually move around feel more natural be themselves so again it's dependent on the situation yes another one in the front I just had a question that we've talked a lot about you know when you're working on a commission piece you know you always try to bring something extra to the table and I'm just curious if you've ever had an idea that you've been like super excited about but hasn't made the final cut for a campaign first off is there an example and then secondly are you still able to use those pieces for your portfolio or do you find that because they decided it didn't align with their brand or whatever that you couldn't actually show those pieces yeah for those kind of images that aren't approved I'm goingto have to get approval to show them my portfolio but typically as long as there's nothing distracting or nothing like the like the subject doesn't look bad or it's not it's depicting them in a good way typically those things could be approved as long as I get the right contact for it so I might do a celebrity shoot and the client chooses the different image that than me and that's their approved select but I might just say just for my portfolio just throwing my website can I like do this variation of this set up instead usually it's not a problem unless they've changed directions right unless they don't want those images leaking out we'll be very careful not to put it out until there's approval but there's been tons of times where I have a different set up or there's a setup that just never sees the light of day but that's like part of the job that's like you're hired for a commission and you actually sometimes land a contract that you like you won't put those things online so you there's a little give and take there because you're being hired for a job all right joey a question that I really liked came in as we kind of as we wrap down and you give some kind of final parting words of advice here after three days of many many words of advice one shot says joey what's your golden line when approaching new clients so my golden lyre golden line see this whole thing of like golden rule like five easy steps to be like it just this doesn't exist there's no like if there's one thing to be said is that everything is case by case gonna treat like someone I'm going to say certain words to somebody as not like okay let me give you a thing like that if I went out okay and I had a nice night with my friends I tell this story to my grandmother and then I tell the story to another friend it's going to be the same story but there's going to be certain things said and not said for each person okay there is no secret there's no easy trick if you could write a book everyone would be doing it what I think is like you've gotta be more of a chameleon and be ableto like adapt to the situation the same way like sometimes things don't go so right sometimes you have to like tweak and change things not everything goes so smoothly there's not a rule book we're human beings everyone's different we have different experiences that have shaped us to get here right now so if there's anything to be said is to be adaptive so you can change to the situation I'm the same person I'm not changing my personality but I'm approaching things in different manner in the same way if I'm photographing someone who does it needs a little bit less direction I'm going to shut my mouth right if someone needs a little bit more direction I'm going to help them out and tell them what to do to make them feel comfortable being adaptive based on the situation is is key in many careers photography is also one of them thank you all right how long were you in business for as a photographer until you knew that you were going to be successful at commercial portrait photography it's difficult for me to say because I got started so young right so I've been photographing since I was seven years old with a digital camera like messing around with drastic park toys and being a complete murdered right but I got professional meaning when I say professional I was making a living at it like my main source of income was photography when I was sixteen so I guess you could count the years between seventeen sixteen but I wasn't really trying like when I was sixteen I was lucky because I had a lot of friends that were in bands they needed press kits and that gave me the opportunity to have someone to test with right someone to get work off so it doesn't mean I was making much money means I was making peanuts but I really have been a professional photographer since I was sixteen years old so it's like it's hard for me because I've had you youth you think about that and young people can take a lot of risks right I didn't need a job at the time and I think that's what really help me is like I could always have something to fall back on but I mean even living here like in north america like what's the worst that could ever happen to me if like all all I lost everything like oh no they're going to take my camera they're going to take my part like ever I'm still gonna live I'm just still can eat so I'm thinking about that like you can take all the risk you want it's fine the other countries little different but being from canada is like the worst thing that will ever happen to me is I'm gonna have to live on welfare or get a regular job I think it's just such a great attitude to have joey about what's the worst that can happen because so many of us hold back from fear of doing things because we're afraid it might mend not end up being perfect or afraid of what might happen if everyone just going for and it's so clear to me that you did not do not have that attitude because of all of the work and the travels and everything that you have been able to accomplish I'm not saying I don't I don't have fear true but I just I'm not afraid of failure that's all right you have to I have to go if you get nervous of some situations is what it is to be human being but the end of the day if I fail just pick up where I left off stock shelves for a bit save up to buy camera try again right whatever right well maybe maybe one final question then from stephen ireland who said joe you're only twenty three in what way would you like to see your photography career develop over the future so so what is it that you see where do you see yourself in one year or what is it you have so much to do what what do you see way interested in film and direction of video so I think it's an obvious path for me to transit s'more to a filmmaker and a director and I'll never stop with photography this is something I always be doing but right now in photographs a movie posters so hopefully one day I can photograph the movie poster for my own film will you be starring in it as well no I don't know behind the camera listen there's no way

Ratings and Reviews

mc
 

Are you keen to learn about creating painterly portraits - as much in-camera as possible? Then you likely get how important lighting is. What you may not realise is how little a role photoshop plays in creating such effects: what such JoeyL like portraits seems to mean is: - thinking about portraits - what they are - how light creates them - how therefore to see and manage light "if you can use one light you can use many" - how to tune the image to create the output in your vision. Within this there are thoughts about photography as a business, workflows and data management. It's all remarkably accessible, too. Joey's teaching approach is calm and effective: he has mastered the art of the recap to make sure everyone is on the same page " first we did this; then we did.. then we did..." THe pragmatics of the course - the lighting/shooting sessions - are sensible progressions from one light (including using a flashlight and a foil lined cardboard box) to a multi-light set up. Intrigingly the lenses are limited no. of primes in the dlsr sections; the medium format is well motivated too, and clearly not a limiting factor for creating the desired image look. This course should get bonus marks for going above and beyond expectations on two counts: the portfolio section for people looking for work is v.well done in that a) it exists at all and b) Joey is not just highlighting his own work, but showing the work of others to allow him to explore options in presentation. Fantastic. The discussions of workflow- including data back up strategies - and image processing including print and web - are also sufficiently detailed and rational to be able to test out quickly. Delighted to see this work being done in PS v6 for those who haven't leapt to CC versions yet. It's also rewarding and inspiring to hear Joey say "i don't have a studio" Likewise, though Joey does work with a crew, it's clear they're working as a team and for very specfici purposes - all of which get costed into a budget. There's a lot of questions about the experience of shooting for a client - about the air of calm one has to maintain even if freaking out - to get through these points. It's all very real. WHile joey is clearly very confident about what he does, he's not arrogant, and the confidence is earned and reassuring. IT's clear he's an alpha kinda guy, a little competetive, and working for him (preferring folks who don't sleep - oh dear) may be different than attending a class - but this IS a class and his manner and way of teaching/organising/presenting work extremely well. Because the course is so complete, going not just from a to z but -z to +z it seems, these next bits are small beer: There's a rather surprising section with CL founder Chass Jarvis - but many CL courses have guest teachers bring in guests to add perspective. Here the section mainly demonstrates how gracious Joey is as an interviewer. And because all the other bases are covered it's no loss to have this business discussion of de-bunkings about how to get into this game. In other sections we see Joey as a patient guy too - answering quesitons it seems several times that had been answered previously in the course - while not everyone has tuned in for the whole thing, it's undrestandable why live questions weren't better filtered to highlight new questions - but Joey calmly will indicate as discussed before...and then give the answer. Never get the sense he's irritated by the repetition. While we hear his father as a strong critique his folks must be well pleased with how Joey's doing. This course has no extra materials - and that's ok: the links to the portfolios and software used are all in the discussions. Joey's blog also goes through a lot of discussions about gear lists. So head to his blog for supplementary detail. Overall it's hard to find a more complete course in CL on a complete portrait photography workflow. Scott Robert Lim's somewhat more frenetic but incredibly detailed 10k wedding photography and Joel Grimes Strobe workshops are also v.good in this end to end regard. But this one goes a bit beyond these perhaps in terms of vibe/cohesion (that may be unfair - it's just a feel thing between the three). Some folks label courses as "something for everyone" - i don't know if that's the case or if this case largely appeals to keen beginners who are exploring lighting and thinking about business thoughts, or if more experienced/pro photographers will be gripped by each moment, but my suspicion is that even for experienced portrait'ists it will be engaging at the very least to see how a fellow pro manages a shoot. Excellent excellent offer. With the guarentee, this is a no risk, slam dunk if commercial portrait photography (or painterly /cinematic and maybe earthy portraits) are for you. Thanks CL for bringing this together.

duane hodge
 

This guy is amazing, so easy to listen to, great personality and style; very engaging, worth every penny and more. Joey L. sparked my creativity and tied up some lose ends and misunderstandings I had concerning lighting. Creative live has some great courses but this is one of my favorites, thank you Joey I hope you continue on in your success and I love the end of the class when you said what is the worst thing that could happen if you fail. Great point of view, very encouraging, AWESOME ATTITUDE!!!

Vinh Huynh
 

I think this is a great class. You can definitely tell Joey L is a master of his craft because of his simple explanations. He's concise in the way he teaches, demonstrates, etc. The most important thing is his workflow or process he uses while setting up the shot, how he builds, etc - it's essentially a "checklist" of how he likes to do things. Something newer photographers need to know. He did forget a couple of the models' name here n' there, but I'm sure he met them shortly before filming for the day started, lol. This is something you should not do, but he apologizes and openly admits. There are times a couple questions are asked and he has no shame in admitting that he's just "openly thinking of what would happen," but does not know for sure because he shoots in a specific style. For someone his age (younger) who has penetrated this tough industry, you can definitely tell why he's successful - very mature with a great knowledge base. You can definitely tell he sees lighting differently from how an advanced amateur or even semi-professional photographer does... even in the introduction he talks about how important lighting and the quality of that light is. For those who are more advance, there might not be as many nuggets and pearls. There isn't any information on how he got into the industry, how he grew his business etc - with exception to how he feels you should display your portfolio in both web and print format. Overall, I think someone who's looking to get into commercial photography would benefit from this workshop. However, someone who's already getting paid and just looking to advance his or her own career probably already has the skillset that Joey L teaches and is best spending time just studying light. A little about me... I'm primarily a natural light portrait photographer specializing with families, kids, pets, etc. I'd consider myself an advanced amateur and I found this workshop beneficial. I hope that helps!!

Student Work

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