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Shoot: Elaborate Set-up using a Sail

Lesson 19 from: Fine Art Portraits

Brooke Shaden

Shoot: Elaborate Set-up using a Sail

Lesson 19 from: Fine Art Portraits

Brooke Shaden

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Lesson Info

19. Shoot: Elaborate Set-up using a Sail

Lesson Info

Shoot: Elaborate Set-up using a Sail

So we've got the oars, which I really, really liked haven't even played with them yet. Oh, they're nice and light so that's good, so I'm just going to set them up here actually, just one most likely and I am just setting it right there on the boat and I'm going to move this one just aside for right now, okay? And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have the sale moving back in the image so that's just going to be billowing behind probably even going to go off frame and that's fine, I wanted to be this really nice big sale and I'm going to have the model posing with the sale so she's going to be hanging on and draping and arching her back. And the idea is that she sort of bending in billowing with the sale and that's why we have an amazing dress that she's wearing which is beijing lightened airy so let's, go ahead and bring you out here again. So this is the dress by designer michelle a bear that she let me borrow for this shoot so lying turn around so I love this detail of the ruffles on th...

e back of the dress so is very excited about that because I want this to be a very, very dreamy shot, okay, so what to get you in place? So what were you planning on doing more of the smoke machine we're not going to mess with the scope machine did have ah someone online had a suggestion about the smoke machine what is the suggestion in the suggestion is from daddy and maryland who said if you have a fan on the opposite side of the farm machine that is in reverse it'll pull the fog all the way over let's try it well I have to try it fared much way have a fan why not? We'll try one shot like that and now for this image we're going to have two conflicting elements so we're going to have the fog on the ground and I'm going to try to capture that first and then we're actually going to use the fan to billow the fabric and I'm basically going to show you why I would never do that so first things first we're going tio I'll get the fog machine set how long you think that'll take oh it's all right now oh my god can somebody click my shutter oh wait I have to look over my shoulder okay I'm going to take a look see how this looks wow it looks really cool I'm very excited about this uh no um but I will be very very shortly I'm just getting my focal point again I don't want to make sure that I don't miss that just focusing on the subject and I have to work with opposing the model before I get all these elements going because I haven't even really told her what she's doing. So if I could have you reach your hands above your head, grab on to that pole perfect, and then I'm going to go ahead and just make sure that this is draped behind. Now this is the kind of thing if there weren't smoke on the ground, I'd be standing here doing this, but I'm not going to do that yet, so I'm just going to leave that right there now, as much as you can push your hips forward perfect exactly, and I'm gonna have your face this way great! And now I'm just going to take a look see how that looks and I'm trying to create a dramatic pose here and it is very dramatic. I am just making sure now that I can see the tips of her fingers in my picture because she's very tall, okay, this is fantastic, so I am on manual focus, I'm just taking a test shot real quick here, it looks amazing, so we're going to go ahead with that smoke machine and I'm going to stand here and work my camera is it being sucked over? I think so, yeah, it is wow gives so much thanks right internet well done I'm just getting a few different shots about I'm locked down on my focus so I can move that camera around if I want to. No. Okay, so I've taken a bunch of shots there and those are my safety shots just to make sure that I got the fog moving how I wanted it, tio oh, my gosh. It's so cool. Moving through the fan so, yeah, we've got definitely a lot of shots in there now. I didn't like it when it looked like it was really thick, but once it started coming up over the boat that's when I started to really, really like it once it thinned out a little bit. Those air really cool shots that we got you, khun see that I am also tilting the camera up and down and I am doing that so then I can expand my frame now if you think about it, if you think about what essentially we have here we have something moving in the image that we cannot replicate. So as much as I can move that camera up and down and catch all of the atmosphere as it's happening as that fog is moving through, that is what I want to achieve here oh, man, that was really great, you can relax, thank you those fantastic so now that we've got the fog, I know that that's in place I'm not moving my camera, I'd still locked down on my focus and I am just going to reframe here and I'm going to have her in the same pose but instead of having a fog machine going, we're going to try to use the fan hold it up and just see how that billows her dress so john, if I could get you to describe the fan and aim it at her we're going to see what that looks like now fans are very unpredictable and that's why I don't like to use them not to mention they're not only unpredictable but you can't really take them out in nature everywhere you're going so you can see this is doing something actually that looks pretty cool but you don't have control over where the fabric is going so I've taken a shot looks great thank you but I want that dress to billow even more and I want to have full control over what the sale is doing so I am going tio have julie again cook my camera, they go and I am going to grab her dress and these are my safety shots so I'm grabbing the dress and I am just going to waive that dress and go ahead and click that thank you and now I'm going teo move the sail and I'm gonna move that exactly how I wanted I'm going to even bring it a little bit off camera here, and you can go ahead and click that perfect awesome! So now we have the dress really moving it's not just pressed against her body but is moving out behind her, and then we have a shot of that sale, which is also being really, really drawn out, so the fan isn't really powerful enough to move this kind of heavy piece of fabric way up in the air where we want it, so I thought that looked really cool let's get one more shot of this sale just because I don't really like the dip in it here, how I had it slack a little bit, so we're just going to do one more shot here, go ahead, perfect, so I just brought that out a little bit more so than there was a little bit more motion to it, and I'm just going to see how that looks see if we need to change anything that looks really cool. All right, so let's, do one more pose while we're here while we have her here so you can go ahead and let go of that turn around, face that and go ahead and grab on to that wooden thing, then take it with the other hand as well. And hold it up a little bit higher and now I still want to create dramatic shapes and what I'm doing, so I'm gonna have her just lean back at the hips perfect just like that and don't fall over that looks awesome now I'm going to go ahead again, but the back of this dress and I'm going to be moving that all around and I'm also going to get a hair shot, so I'm going to go ahead and flick her heras well, but there's going to be two separate shots because I need to focus on what I'm doing one at a time, so go ahead and click that great and click one more time for that one great and now the hair so when you see it, click it perfect that sounded about right, and now I'm just going to get this sail one more time now, I don't even really need to do the sail again because I haven't moved my camera at all, but if I wanted to, we'll just get one more. So go ahead and click that fantastic thank you so you can relax, thank you, you're perfect and that looked really, really great to me, so I really loved all of the elements that we have going on in this shoot now I like her being arched back like that. Because that is having tension in the image. If she were standing six straight, she would look like a model who simply got placed on the set. But now she's interacting with the set she's holding on to it, she's moving with it. And this is creating a really interesting shape. Um, so now it's not only all the fabric moving this way, but moving in opposite directions. So recreating some cemetery in this picture, which I find really, really interesting. Thank you. That was awesome. So, like I said, I thought that I just would not be able to leave the set without doing a self portrait. And I happened to be wearing this little black dress today, which I thought would be just fine for the shot. So I'm going to go out into a self portrait. Andi, I want to get a little bit of feedback on what kind of opposed everybody thinks that I should d'oh so I'm gonna ask an internet right now if you have any posing suggestions, let me know and we're going to give that a second to come in. And of course, if the students have anything, please shouted out and let me know, because the thing about this set is that you can do whatever you want with it. You know, it does not have to be representative of dreams it doesn't have to be what I had in my head to begin with there are so many things that this could represent so if I wanted to I could sit in the boat and be, you know, rowing with the hors that's one thing that I could do I could lay down on this boat and shoot it from a different angle if I wanted teo there were just a million different things that I could do if I wanted to do it okay, so do the students have any ideas? Ok, julie has an idea let's pass that remote remote the microphone over there what if you laid in the boat? Oh say like you're out in the ocean, your boat died you're totally I mean, I get found a motor you're totally deserted your lain in the boat no one has come to rescue you and you're just like, you know I can do that yes okay let's let it but it would have to come I think the angle would help can't come down awesome suggestion from online transformation photo services says one arm and one leg listen lee hanging over the side as of trailing fingers in the water yes which goes along with what you're saying as well ignore that yes perfect so let's get the sail out of the boat yes, thank you, brooke somebody else said that you should pose as if you're seeing a whale that would be that's tommy nikon rule did not appreciate that yeah, maybe I'll try that but maybe now we'll see how theatrical I feel like being in this picture which I'm going to tell you right now is not very theatrical okay, so if it can I get you to raise this tripod I am especially weak, so I'm not gonna even it's a really heavy tripod just for the record so I'm gonna go practice my pose a while and I think I think definitely shoes off I'm not allowed to have my shoes off on this set and I'm doing it this's like the highlight of my day okay, so I am going to sit down in my boat I've got a position myself here I'm gonna move the or for right now something like this that maybe with your foot more dragging in the water in your hand your fingers as if your fingers kind of dragging for the water I could do that perfect. So this is the kind of thing that I would try if I was doing a self portrait you know, I would lay down do the pose that I thought of hope that it looked the same in the camera and then if it did I would run with it so I am going to run with it. I definitely want to cover my face a little bit, so I am going to hop up here. Well, this is fine. Okay, so I'm claiming my ladder was great. Hope can see it. Oh, why've you I always forget that I have a live view function on here. Okay, thank you. Awesome. Okay, so yeah, let's get the wider lens on here. We're going to try a wider lens for this angle because I want to make sure that I get my whole body in the shot. Now, if I were doing, you know, a shot of a model in this position, then I wouldn't worry about getting a different lens on here to see more of the scene because I know that I can work my camera meaning that I can then take extra pictures of her body all around, but this is a self portrait. So instead of worrying about having too move the camera all around, having to get up, move the camera, lay back down in the exact same position, I'm just going to put a different lens on this camera and try it that way, so it looks like we've got the lens on and I'm going to go ahead and see how this looks oh, yeah, so much better okay, so I'm just going to reframe ever so slightly here and what is interesting about self portrait is that sometimes you just don't have anybody that you can ask to help you out so I'm going to pretend like I'm alone and I'm gonna see what I would do to try to get in the shot now my remote will auto focus so if I consent the focal point then it will auto focus on me and I can see here that my very bottom focal point is going to be exactly where I am lying so I'm going to leave that as my focal point and I am just going teo set my remote setting I can't see it but I kind of know should be on now yeah no no not like you okay so I'm gonna get in my pose I'm gonna move this or out of the way because that doesn't really make sense and I'm going to get back in my pose and feel free to direct me all right? Okay this is really fun I just get to play with everybody I like the arm above the head I'm going for it she's like I'm getting there all right did I make it? Did everyone see how she did that with the remote that was that's pretty pretty quick all right, yes, I can see it I love it so we've got something going there and I almost like it, but I don't like this leg how it's just sort of laying there, so I'm gonna try to angle it in a way where it looks a little bit more awkward. That's really funny because it's weird to think of, opposes you wanting it to be awkward, but I want to create interest in something really, really dynamic in this shot, so I'm going to go ahead and lay back down, try to drape the stress a little bit more over the boat, and I'm going to try to cover my neck also a little bit with my hair, so I'm trying to show the underside of my foot a little bit there, okay? So so how is that looking for us? All right, so I like that a lot more. I'm extending my leg more, which is creating a better line for me. Andi, I like the curl going over my necas well, because it was just too much skin here, too bright of a spot in the image that I didn't really like, and I do like that I would leave that at that most likely I don't like that you can't see my other foot. I do suppose so let me just do one more that's gonna lay back down, get comfy here, okay? So we'll see if I like the foot better but either way we've got something definitely definitely workable as long as I'm in focus I'm hoping that I'm in focus but my remote does auto focus the no I definitely liked it better down the other way, all right? Awesome do we have anybody else dying for a self portrait here that is in a different poet? Was anyone else dying for a self portrait for me? I'm not going to force anybody else into the boat somebody online actually just asked what you would do if if you just jumped in there well, do you want to show us? Yeah is that you do so I haven't even considered this so but not out there I don't have a plan, but if I were tio, my problem is my outfit I would change my outfit that said ignoring that portion I would probably sit here aside from staring at it for about an hour I would sit here and I would grab that or can you pay me or know that I'm comfortable in my boat? Thank you and I would be very, very tempted to try a really quiet pose where I might sit down I have my hair off to the side a very, very dramatic pose very frail now my hair fell in front of my face that time I'm trying to keep it off but I want to show the muscles in my back a little bit, hunched over a cz, much as I can sort of like that. So I like that you can see the neck there, that's, what I'm looking for and there's the next one. So there you can see all of those muscles moving through my neck and my back and that's. What I like. I like how soft the hands are. Yet, how powerful at the same time. So it's, sort of like somebody who is in the process of giving up, so that would probably what it be, what I be inclined to dio with the shot, but I would definitely have to play with it a little bit more since I wouldn't just jump in a boat and start taking pictures.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Brooke_Shaden_Bonus_Pictures_textures.zip
Brooke_Shaden_Composite_Booklet.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Thank you Brooke for an amazing experience. I appreciate your ability to transmit your passion for your art and fantastic ability as a teacher. Even though I was watching online you kept me as fully engaged as if I had been in the studio with you. This is one of the most outstanding courses I have taken. It is rare to find someone who is so genuine and engaging. Fine Art Photography is a difficult subject to teach in a logical and comprehensive manner. Really learned a lot from watching you do the studio shoots and how your technique resulted in easier post-shoot editing. Your presentations were logical and easy to follow, your talent amazing. Thank you for sharing yourself and your art with us. You are a unique and extremely talented artist as well as a gifted and inspiring teacher. wacarr@icloud.com

a Creativelive Student
 

Brook's work is fantastic and I can't wait for her class to begin. This is going to be another class I will be adding to my CreativeLive courses. What a great deal, 3 days for just $99.00. We are so spoiled here at CreativeLive to be given such fantastic Photographers to learn from for such a pittance. Where else could you find prices like these, and get it for free as well! What a Gem CreativeLive is, we must remember to thank them over and over again so that they will keep providing us with such opportunities! We can do this by spreading the word on Facebook, Tweeting it and Pinning it and posting it to Google Plus! Please remember to share the love people, they provide us with the best education on the Internet! So lets pay it forward for CreativeLIve!!!!!

Gallagher Green
 

I started photography nearly three years ago, and came across Brooke's work a little over a year ago, and loved it. I have been leaning more into Fine Art ever since. I was gifted this course by a friend, and it is outstanding in everyway! Not only does Brooke do a great job in this in every way. But the Creating Live crew does a wonderful job, and the filming is done very well! Even though this was a gift, I am so impressed that I will definitely buy more Creating Live courses in the future, they are worth every cent!!!

Student Work

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