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Shoot: Heirloom Portait

Lesson 23 from: Introduction to Flash for Children and Family Images

Mike Hagen

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Lesson Info

23. Shoot: Heirloom Portait

Lesson Info

Shoot: Heirloom Portait

Now the challenge for me is to get it so I can view a full length portrait. So I get the actual backdrop, but she's far enough forward so I'm like, not blowing up the background. So, this is a little bit of dance between positioning the light and positioning her. So, you're my test subject, and you're very patient so we may have to take a couple of shots today. You're okay with that though. Big old umbrella! And we might bring in a reflector. Just depends on the final look that we get. I think we'll be fine without a sandbag on this one. So we'll start right there! Now we're gonna go to... Lightroom, and we are still tethered, fantastic. We're at F-8, we're at I-S-O 200, and at 2/50th of a second, and I need to go full, fully body so from low to high. I just realized, I think something changed here on my aspect ratio, I'm not gonna worry about it right now. My camera changed to crop sensor mode somehow. I must of pushed some button earlier. I'll live with it. Nice, alright so we'll sta...

rt with a smile but then we're gonna go serious. We'll go serious in just a minute. I'm gonna look at that photo on the screen. F, ah-hah! Already, it's looking pretty good. You can see we're getting closer to the path. I'm not liking how bright the background is though. So, we're gonna have you step forward, and do you see that little speck of dust right there? Mm-hmm. I want you to put your foot right on that. So, we'll try it one more time. Nice. And you can see my height. The height of my camera is about splitting her body from foot to head. That gives a nice overall perspective. Okay we're a little bit bright, a little bit hot overall. So I'm gonna reduce the power. Bring that down, I'll just reduce the power on the flash itself, because I like F-8. So, we are at a quarter-ish, I'm gonna go down to a quarter minus 2/3rds. Actually, a quarter minus a third. Perfect. And now, I already know what I need to do. I need to bring in a reflector on the other side, 'cause it's looking a little bit too, stark. So we'll bring in a nice, big reflector. Where did I put that, the big white one? Does anyone see it? Yeah. Yeah, where did I put it? The really big one, oh you know what I did? Is I dropped it, I collapsed it. I'm gonna block off the view from so many of you. Okay, nice tall reflector, stand back so it doesn't hit me in the face! And once we get this dialed in, then the other kids will be pretty quick over all. Yeah, gotta lower this down 'cause I want to reflect all the way down from feet to head. ♪ Wonderful ♪ ♪ Marvelous ♪ I used to sing in high school. All of my old show tune songs are coming back. So now you all know a lot about me. You know about my cheekies (cheeks popping), and my show tune life (laughing). Alright, we should be pretty close to the final exposure. Yeah, okay that added in quite a bit of brightness there. Maybe too much, yeah, it's a fine tuning. So, I'm just gonna pull this back a few inches and now we're gonna take a series of photos. And what I would like you to do, is we're gonna start with that one there. And then we're gonna have you turn, kind of straight towards me, and then turn towards this light. And then we'll, remember that one we did earlier with you looking back over your shoulder? We'll do that one also, okay? Mm-hmm. So this one is for real. All the other ones were just messing around. Cool, one, two, three (camera clicks). Great, now one straight towards me. Straight on, I like that a lot! It's a real simple portrait. Good, and one towards the big light. And move your hands over, yeah and down. Little bit farther down, great. Nice, and then we'll do one more with you turned even more, yeah. And go ahead and drop your left hand straight down. Your left hand just like, yeah like that. And your right hand you can drop down too. And turn a little more for me. Yes, would you pull your hair off your shoulder? This one here? Yeah put it back behind you. Perfect! Okay, you're done! Okay. Next! Who wants to go next? Why don't you come up? Well, or you can come up. Come on, we'll do this together. Did you see how your sister was posing? Yeah? So we'll have you stand here. Right there, see that little speck of dust? Mm-hmm Yup, we're gonna have you stand on that. And then we're gonna take our first picture, and you're gonna be pointed there. Our second picture, you're gonna turn your body, look right at me. Third picture, towards this one. And then the fourth one, over the shoulder. Very nice! Let me make sure that it came out okay. I'll check here on the computer screen. Pretty good, yeah pretty good. What I'm gonna have you do, is can you pull your dress down just a tiny bit, right there, around your tummy? Yeah, and then maybe what I'll do is bring your hands up, yeah they look better down. So, I'm fine with that previous photo. Go ahead and look right at me now. Turn your, perfect! And then one more towards the big light! Drop your hands down a little more. Great! And then one over the shoulder. Oh yeah, pull that hair back for me. You've done that before, little wisps. Turn a little more for me, nice job! Your mom and dad deserve a lot of credit. You guys are great, great kids! Thank you, we got your photos. You can come over this way, and then, are you ready now? We'll do the same thing. Can I hold your hand, or you got it? [Youngest Daughter] I've got it. Okay, she says, "I got it!" and we're gonna do the same thing again for you. Oh you have the sandals, those are really pretty. So go ahead and see that speck of dust right there? Go ahead and step on that, nice! That will be picture number one. And then picture two, I'm gonna have you face straight towards me with your whole body. Very nice! You get one smile, 'cause I know you like to smile. But then we're gonna do one kind of serious. Cool! Alright, now same pose. Go back to the same pose that you just did. Yup, hands on your side. Put your hands together, here I'll show ya. In this one I'm gonna have you, yeah you got it! And then this one I'm gonna have you be serious, okay? No smile in this one. Super! Okay, take a deep breath for me. (single large, loud breath) Yeah, perfect. Mm-hmm, and now look right, turn your body right towards me. Straight on and keep your hands together in the middle. Perfect! And then this one turn your body towards the big flash. A little bit less. Yeah, I'm gonna pose you one more, oh you did it! And then move your hands towards that front leg. The other front leg. Yeah, nice! And then, I'm gonna have you look over your shoulder towards me. 'Kay look right at the camera. Can you see me? 'Kay, let me take one more. Nice job! Give me five! (loud slapping) Whoa, yes thank you girls! You guys, if you want, you can cruise to the back, to the seats over there in the back of the studio if you guys would like. Might be a little more, well they're like, "oh, the couch is comfy!" well, there we go. Created some heirloom portraits.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Children & Family Images Lighting Diagrams
Gear List for $100 Budget
Gear List for $250 Budget
Gear List for $1000 Budget

Ratings and Reviews

user-182390
 

Great course really love the way Mike teaches so informative with very useful tips and tricks to use in photography

Dortohy Lyner
 

Loved this class. Great basic essential information. Mike filled in many gaps concerning my knowledge of studio photography.

Martin
 

Love the natural way Mike has to explain and to work on the studio. Plenty of tips and clear knowledge transfer for me that I manage quite well natural light but that I still mess with the on-camera flash.

Student Work

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