Lessons
Chapter 1 Introduction
01:26 2Why Just One On-Camera Flash
04:22 35 Reasons to Use Flash
10:37 4Common Flash Myths
06:51 5What Makes Flash Challenging?
04:56 6Chapter 2 Introduction
01:36 7Flash-Strobe vs. Ambient-Constant Light
08:19 8Flash vs. Ambient Light Exposure
03:07Flash vs. Ambient Demo
06:42 10Flash and Ambient Balancing for Natural Effect
07:11 11Flash and Ambient Balancing for Dramatic Effect
04:19 12Flash and Ambient Balancing for Creative Effect
07:10 13Understanding Flash Duration
08:37 14Chapter 3 Introduction
01:34 155 Common Key Light Patterns
08:38 165 Common Key Light Patterns w/ Diffusion & Fill
07:42 175 Common Secondary Light Patterns
08:28 183 Primary Subject Patterns
05:27 19Light Qualities
09:56 20The Inverse Square Law
07:50 21Inverse Square Law in Practice
08:21 22Corrective White Balance
10:02 23Creative White Balance
05:47 24Chapter 4 Introduction
01:58 25On Board vs. Hot Shoe Flash
05:57 26Full Feature vs. Manual Flashes
08:59 27TTL vs. Manual Control
08:12 28TTL vs. Manual Recycle Times
04:43 29Flash Power & Zoom
09:18 30HHS vs. ND Filters
12:29 31FCS vs. RCS
07:11 32Chapter 5 Introduction
01:38 334 Tips When You Must Use Direct Flash
06:00 34Bare Bulbing Done Right
11:42 35Grid Snoot + Direct Flash
06:43 36Mini Beauty + Direct Flash
06:08 37Ring + Direct Flash
07:52 38Understanding Modifiers
09:24 39Direct Flash + Shutter Flash
09:07 40Chapter 6 Introduction
01:55 41Ambient vs. Direct Flash vs. Bounce Flash
14:27 42Silver Bounce
14:27 43More Light Silver
11:02 44Soft White Bounce
15:41 45Overhead Bounce
11:39 46Overhead Bounce + Fill
09:42 47Event Bounce
12:42 48Chapter 7 Introduction
01:38 49Natural vs. Dramatic Light
17:43 50Filling and Refining Existing Light
08:44 51Coloring Light for Corrective Effect
13:33 52Coloring Light for Creative Effect
10:27 53Chapter 8 Introduction
00:43 54Case Study 1 - Dramatic Sunset
09:45 55Case Study 2 - Desert Sunset
10:04 56Case Study 3 - Sinister Headshot
09:40 57Case Study 4 - Family Portrait
08:21 58Case Study 5 - Athlete Portraits
11:19 59Case Study 6 - Working Angles
07:22 60Case Study 7 - Drag + Composite
08:09 61Case Study 8 - Less is More
07:16 62The Good Karma Jar
01:41 63Favorite Feature Flashes
05:52 64Favorite Manual Flashes
21:35 65Favorite On Camera Flash Modifiers
21:21Lesson Info
Case Study 8 - Less is More
Case study number eight our final case study is less is more and hopefully this kind of strikes a chord with you all because we've been focusing so much, especially in the last two chapters on refining, refining, refining stoeltje and seeing those small things that make big differences in your images less is more and oftentimes lessons remember that you want to work within the existing light and simply modify as you need this is one of those cases where our existing light is absolutely beautiful. We got yoko into these scenes in these trees it looked fantastic, we have a whole sequence of shots and these scenes that look absolutely beautiful the start and basically how we get the shots is simple. I decide on what I want to go for, okay, so I want a more natural look to the image I want this flare coming through I want all that look in this kind of rich dark wood in the tree behind her and the nice, beautiful branches. So what do we do? We simply set up for that we expose for that, okay...
, so that exposure is set too one, one hundred second we're on the fifty millimeter this's actually twenty seven but we're on a fifty millimeter one point two l won one hundred second I'm shooting this actually at one point two cc's I want to get as much blur in the back and it's possible I love the tree, and I love the way that that looks I think it adds a lot of interest to the image, so at one point to isil one hundred again our magical five stop that's the magic number when you're shooting the middle today and you need to get your sink speed down to one, two hundred or lower it's a five stop nd so we have a single five stop on this is the explosion that we get right there, and it looks fantastic. And, you know, a lot of photographers would shoot this. They'd shoot it, maybe one to one and a half stops brighter and just exposed for a skin, and they call it good and that's fine that's a technique in and of itself making it look brighter and more airy and kind of that look is totally fine, but I wanted to have a little more richness to it. So with that, all we do is I have a silver and the bounce is actually quite far okay, so the silver bounces placed probably ten to fifteen feet from where the model is in ten, fifteen feet from me, some right at the edge of what is kind of reasonable for on camera flash bounce with my bounce. Again, using a grid to control where the light's going for this, when I believe it was far enough away that I wasn't getting any spill anywhere and I wasn't getting enough light, so actually just took off the grid t shoot the shot, but if you are getting spill towards the model, then by all means, you can take it. Put the grid on, but if you're not, then you might as well keep the grid, take the grin off and get as much light as possible when you need to bounce this farmer distance or use a snoot two kind of controlling throw that light all the way, but it was difficult. Why? Because again, when we're outdoors like this, using this little test button in an outdoor situation, really, you don't see anything, you're not seeing a bright enough light until you fire the shot, so I took a couple of test shots and once I got the light in the right position, once I get everything working, I started working with yoko, imposing her and moving in a different positions notice that we get this beautiful light coming through, it kind of kicks and we get these highlights to go between the legs around the arms. And I'm working with her form and her body so that we can kind of see the shape of her body through this dress. And we get these images that looks surreal and look fantastic and almost like otherworldly. It looks absolutely beautiful. And the difference between this shot and this shot is such a small change. Okay, but it's work so nicely in this shot. We have this beautiful kiss of light that just adds a little bit of contrast and a little extra polish and punch to this image over here on the right. Where's, this one kind of falls just a little bit flat. Everything is kind of equally lit in this shot, which means that there's not attention. If everything is equally lit, then our attention doesn't go to any one particular area with her being kind the brightest point in this shot. With the exception of that flare right there, our eyes are drawn into her. We kind of see the sun coming down in the angle hitting her, and we kind of see this bright area in our eyes. Go right to that. The lines of the trees. Look how we place in how we framed the shot. We frame it so that these lines lead directly into where our model is. All these things are intentionally done to bring our eyes into the photograph. And the difference mean with him without flash is huge in this case and it's on ly a small kiss of flash. Now we use these same techniques in basically every position that we put yoko, and we expose for how we want to see the look first, and we shot hurt a whole variety of similar scenes using the same bounced techniques to get this beautiful light on tour, the images look fantastic now the great part about this is what we're able to do this with on camera flashing while works fantastically well, if that's all you have been great, you know these techniques from here going in the lighting to one, and in delighting three oh one we can now take these techniques he's like modification knowledge, the knowledge that to get to a more dramatic image, I'm simply under exposing the background and adding more light. And to get to a more natural image, I'm simply well keeping the background brighter in the ambient light, brighter and losing less flash power. How to modify it, to get a soft versus a hard light to get to fuse versus speculum light. We take all this knowledge on what works great within certain scenes in certain subjects and our knowledge of flash into lying to one where we get the flashes off the camera. And what you're gonna find is that a lot of these types of shots becoming even easier because we can move the flash now into positions where we weren't really able to do with balance, we can get further away. We get up higher, we can do things that become much more simple and more consistent. And now from here on out in lighting to one in line three one well, we already know the lighting techniques it's going to be maybe learning a couple of extra pieces of gear, how to use that gear and that's that's really, yet we're going to modify that gear to appropriate scene, but everything else is going to stay the same. You now have a foundation. And in that foundation, I want you to always remember that whole lighting diagram of going to the dramatic side versus going the natural side, choosing the kind of light that's appropriate for the subjects that were talking about modifying that light as appropriate. Remembering that les is mohr and that you always start with the scene. Look at what that scene gives you in terms of lighting. Take your first shot without any light whatsoever analyze it. Look at the back light, look at the phil, look at the kicker, look at everything in that shop, then you add your own key light. If you decide after you add your key light, you need more. Then you add another phil, or you add a kicker on your own, or you add whatever additional what you need. But you start with the basics. You work with one light. You work in a to get your post, get everything, build into these final shots, and you'll find that you're going to get absolutely amazing photographs, regardless of the gear that you're using. Hopefully, you all enjoy this video and this entire workshop, and, well, I'll see you on the next video.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Sid
The best class for understanding light and lighting there is bar none. Pye is an excellent teacher and the quality of the material provides for a rich and very informative experience. Pye breaks down the fundamentals in easy to digest packets and then elaborates as needed. If there is one class that you watch this is it! Worth purchasing and saving for future use. I would also HIGHLY recommend downloading the saving the PDF of slides that accompany the videos. Again, and can't say it enough, this is THE BEST video to lighting on Creative Live. A must watch for the novice and the expert.
Petra
Great course, I highly recommend it if you want to become a more confident flash user. Pye is a wonderful instructor and just such a nice guy, it's a pleasure to listen to him
Simon Metselaar
This is the best thing that happened to me since I've been into photography. What a lifesaver. Unfortunately I already payed for some courses that are not Pye, but Pye just nails it. Amazing, and kind of a life hack. Thanks again :)
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