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Q&A: High Key Lighting

Lesson 9 from: High Impact, Low Fuss Lighting

Lindsay Adler

Q&A: High Key Lighting

Lesson 9 from: High Impact, Low Fuss Lighting

Lindsay Adler

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Lesson Info

9. Q&A: High Key Lighting

Lesson Info

Q&A: High Key Lighting

Lindsay my question is earlier when we were on the black background having a having the beauty dish higher is their ancients you can show what I look like if you were really high with beauty dish got an angle on like if I go high with it and I shoot high or mean just on this photo on this phone yeah um I can definitely do that, okay? And it'll actually really you can really shape or draw line so something like that I want to look I want to look too just where I can barely see catch light so I can still see catch light but just barely and then let's do well try silver and white and try that same look here so you'll see what we'll switch if I know what I'm talking about uh um he said should see a little darker here and a little bit darker under her cheekbones but we could switch to silver if we want to fill it in more for show before great I know the silver underneath a little lower john thank you sir silver so yeah ok good, I wasn't lying ready it's a little bit darker there and a littl...

e bit darker under there but we use silver so let's see what it looks with white white it'll be even darker underneath her cheeks just a little bit more shape not in a bad way yep, just a little bit more definition. So this last one is with the white. Just gives you a little bit more drama enough while we're on that topic. I just want to let you know as well. Something else you could do let's say, for example, you want some shadow on the side of her face? It's real quick, kind of visible. This just rotate charity. So what I can do is I can just rotate this, bring it over to this sign and take one step that way. Highlight a little bit. Okay. Raise it up a tiny bit. And so what I'll have is very minimal highlight on that side of her face, most of it on the left hand side so I could create drama that way. It doesn't have to be flat lit like I did. So now the right hand side of her face will have shadow. Can I have the white phil right there? Perfect. So, yeah, it doesn't have to be flat lit. So now I shall have a little bit more shadow on this side. You can do it like that. Or it could move it as far over there's. Almost no highlight on that side. Let's see, so fernando home was one thing when you use the phone, the phone call to reflect a lot of lights where was your flash your strokes at we couldn't actually apparently they couldn't see that hungry kind of demonstrate how it's pointed into the yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna walk like walk this, okay ready here's the the the front of it here's the side of it and then here is the light. There were equal distance on either side pointed into the background inside the flood was still the same two lights hitting the backdrop that you did see exactly perfect yeah there's zero lights in the front you could like I have maybe this person seen I have taught another version where you can actually have two lights in the background, the flats in the front you can light the v flats and then they become a light source. You can do that as well, but this one will give you even softer like because it's doubly reflected and bounced. But you can't actually, if you don't have any modifiers whatsoever like you literally don't have a single modifier you khun take a white v flat point a light into it, and it's a giant soft box you can also take that approach is, well, wonderful gun studios uk if you had enough room did you like the seamless from behind to make it even even white or even more so this this paper won't like from behind like that. There are you can get gigantic screams so you can get silks that are twelve by twelve foot and light that from behind. And it looks more like a soft box lit from behind. Then just a white seamless. So no that's not common. But I have seen it done with the big scrims lit from behind a couple more. Phil birdy and a few other people were wondering about whether you could do these same techniques with speed, lights and the same types of modifiers. Yeah, so most of it, most of it you could do the same thing. For example, this set up right here. You could easily use one of the, uh, apollo. You could use the apollo mega, which is made by westcott with too. I would do probably two speeds like speed lights in it from behind. And then I would use either the rapid box octo made by what wescott in the front or, uh, there's one made by foe tics, which is called the photo luna, which is like a bt dish, so it would be the same thing I would just probably for this soft box. I would use or whatever soft box you use I would use to speed lights so it would even it out a little bit that's one of the downsides of speed light so they have smaller front element so it doesn't spread out as much wonderful. Um one from l vic medina uh, lindsay q. Please tell us the main differences and uses of a beauty dish versus the soft box. Just you've shown a lot of techniques, but what are some of the general uses of each? Yeah, so right now I have a beautiful fashion model, so it's like screams to me definitely use a bt dish because I have a little bit more shape a little bit more contrast to the shadows they don't, they're not a soft in the shadows. Um I also have more dramatic, like fall off, they get darker down towards the bottom of her body. Um it gives me look for me gives me a little bit more glowing light that gives me a little bit more definition to the jaw and the cheek bones. The soft box is going to give me softer light that wraps more it's a little bit more friendly to rough skin. The closest thing if you do not have a bt dish, the closest thing would be like a small dr box like a three foot octa box and that's why a lot of times for example you might see any liebowitz out you know, in one of the behind the scenes shots she's using octa boxes and not a beauty dish it's not the same but it's closer so their their their similarities there's across the state goes like beauty dish three foot octa then it goes more towards the rectangular three by four foot soft boxes and soft boxes the light groups beauty dishes do not like groups well, maybe final question for this how does this work with much older models say over sixty less like wrinkles and a lot of that sort of thing what what do you think you can do with those sorts of folks I can do an awesome thing and tell you to watch my skin one oh, one class what's that person and that we did definitely that I remember it was a very nice older lady john's mom modeled for me for the last oh my god she was so cute. Um okay, so what I would do for someone who's older I recommend a soft box and knocked a box or a larger soft box you don't want it to be far too the sign or too high up because far to the side cast shadows inside which means shell wrinkles to the side too far up will cast shadows underneath that shows shot of wrinkles underneath instead a larger soft box with phil some colin, I wouldn't use silver silver as contrast, which shows texture. I would use white phil, so it fills in the shadows underneath the wrinkles a little bit more gently. And also, if people have uneven skin tones from being older, a soft box has less contrast, which means that those color differences show up less than using a more contrast the modifier. Unless you're going jeffs route and you want to take an older man made, you want to make him look like cragen and awesome and lots of texture, then maybe a beauty dish with a grid like you can go whatever direction I put this way. Client way, the soft box and fill card way. Fine art, you know, go for drama and texture. All right, well, I think that this is a fun place. Thank you very much for being here. Awesome gum.

Ratings and Reviews

joanne duncan
 

I got so much out of this workshop! so many wow moments. the set up with the light behind the model, was just wow wow wow, and the fun bit at the end just sealed it, thankyou so much!!!

stephen lenman
 

Really fantastic. The thing which i liked most, is how Lindsay gave options on how to do each set up with speed lights, and shoots in smaller home studios. John is also amazing as is his purple bandanna. Hope he gets his own creative live course at some point. I would be interested in what he would teach, and how? He would have to wear the purple bandanna though!!! But not just the purple bandanna? Maybe that would work too.. Maybe we should start a crowd funder "John to teach a creative live course wearing nothing but a purple bandanna" .. It could be the future :)

Patricia Solano
 

This is about the 5th class I've watched of Lindsey. As a teacher myself, I am impressed with how great an instructor she is….she has a way of explaining a concept in a manner that the less techie person can understand. I love how she uses water as an analogy to light. I'm a retired Spanish teacher and one of my favorite stories is Isabel Allende's "La Luz es com el ague" (Light is like water). Bravo, Lindsey! Looking forward to watching even more of your videos.

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