Skip to main content

Shoot: DIY Scrim and Hair Light

Lesson 9 from: Lightweight Location Lighting

Kevin Kubota

Shoot: DIY Scrim and Hair Light

Lesson 9 from: Lightweight Location Lighting

Kevin Kubota

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

9. Shoot: DIY Scrim and Hair Light

Next Lesson: End of Day Q&A

Lesson Info

Shoot: DIY Scrim and Hair Light

so what we're going to do now to kind of finish it up we're going to start playing with mohr flash we start off simple flashlights natural light and we're going to start introducing mohr flash now because tomorrow we're going to really start using mohr off camera lighting flash equipment um to do a variety of scenes so one of things that we want to talk about it let's bring up country and come up to start with us for here is remember earlier we talked about the existing light could be your fill light right so good have a seat kendra on the blue chair and we look at we have some fairly decent just window light coming in right now and it's pretty flat if we're looking directly at you kind of turn your legs that way there we go and get just rape her shawl of your leg uh if we look at her face come looked right towards me kendra can you see this on that camera there so the light is just pretty flat its a nice soft yeah okay light but safety lighting were telling earlier as I could shoot th...

is as it is and it be it be okay you know if I basically just want to get just her face in there and we'll go ahead and sue this at I'll say one point four so they can really soften up my background and we're going teo there's the thing in the back that's kicking it let's do this for fun we're gonna have something coming out the top of her head and so they're not existing light is fine um that could work we totally have nice existing light but it's it is sort of flat but the great thing is is in safety lighting if my flash didn't go off and I was stuck with this baby all right be fine so if you're not used to using off camera flash then this is a great way to start adding it in until you come real comfortable with it and then you can depend on one hundred percent mean jellybeans okay so uh that's our base image this is we're going to turn this into that being the fill light when we add some flash so we're going dark and down our exposure about a stop all right so this feel like a little lower and then add in a flash here and then I'm thinking we probably need a little kicker or on the edge of the top of her head and we may add that in with road grid after that so we'll start with that and at least we can let that down from it and come here and turn this one on and moving around from if you would please all right someone had turned on my flash and I'ma using again the uh pocket laser this is the flex tt won tt five combination and this allows me to control the power of that light from right here on camera and I'm going to start with it dialed down quite a bit drop it down about a stop all right so from what I had before I'm gonna drop it down one stop my ambient and then I'm gonna balance it out by throwing enough flash so right now I just sent my flash too uh down about think we're about six stops now and from full power right and I'm gonna start with that to see what we get and then we'll adjust from there all right here we go nice little smile there keep looking back that flash go off I forgot even check to test fire hole we did go off we got to do a little desperate there bring it down okay that's it that's on channel right okay so let's a little test ke pull that back just a little bit and we can dial that just a little bit there all right old old hoping my flash actually went down okay they're going down so what we're trying to do now is to get to a point where that flash takes over adds a nice directional light and blends in with the background and the backgrounds looking about where I want it now so I've got f um I'm on f one point four my background is down about a stop from a normal exposure right some wanted to be kind of dark and kind of moody this is a little bit brighter than I wants lycan just by either changing the exposure here on my controller or let's move it back a little bit further someone actually go here and change one little sitting on that make sure the right channel and I'm gonna adjust this flash manually because the thing with the flex it only goes down six stops my flash actually can I just further than that when it's in manual mode someone switch it to manual lenny a lot less power did actually uh sixty four right pull back closer test fire it working triggered not quite as close least just a little bit for the back all right here we go dollar looking beautiful and turn your chin towards this light looking up what that thing is a little bit let's see before you going too far larry gill just right nice kind of lean onto your elbow give me kinda little sassy like so this one and the one before is a nice illustration of adding that light how we now have some shaping to the light on her face you can see here we have a normal transition is about a three to one ratio now on her face the shadows nice but not too dark that shaping um I'm gonna actually have you turn your face more towards the light so keep your body that way face that way beautiful and now you can just smile it like like it's the cute guy ever did saw right there beautiful great smile okay beautiful smile looks good I've got some nice shaping going on okay so what we did was basically just buy one little flash and this is that very minimum power one twenty eight that were set out alicia one one twenty eight power barely need anything here to kick it in to match with what's going on there and change that flat lighting to something with some nice dimension to it and some real sparkle to it and more of a mood by being with a dark in that background down to stop who created something more moody but now we want to build and we want to add a little bit of hollywood to it so we're gonna need we need a little glow right along this edge here right here with an edge light that's gonna help a lot so we have our second speed light on a row grid and we put a sticky filter in there is that right alicia what going to be put in their warm put a warm tungsten sticky filter to make that look like the lamb plate that's already there that warm light in the background on it emulate that and make it look like that's just kind of glowing on her around her head let's see to channel c c to try to see what's the power setting on that uh we're at we're on tl did you want to split it should put on manual and go to eight power so we're gonna eyeball that light a power see where it's at maybe just right maybe we got to take a little bit is that pointed at the back your head that that that's gotta go up what grade do you have in there two of the white ones angle angle it up it's gonna be too too tight of grid but that's the strike yeah that that's good all right you go very nice police you go to school just a wee little bit out of the shot they're beautiful and I may even what you looking towards the light we'll see here who there we go gorgeous okay so here's our nice little kicker light right on the edge makes her pop out uh even looking straight on we got beautiful shaping shadows when we have a directional light coming in there so I didn't take a whole lot to change the hollywood feel the nice feel of that even mortgage glamorous by just adding that warm amber light on the top of hair it also brings out the color in her hair a lot more so let's have ah have you kind of looking that way again and then something leading their little thing don't push too far on your face that's great and little smiles you look up toward the light little chin to the right just a little bit kind of tilt your head back and look up like they're cute that's good good mor here last one coming in all right beautiful uh love the little edge light there I think it's not burning out neither highlights so that one eighth of one eight power where one eighth power is actually just about right but if you look at that and say if this was burning out then we just drop it down to stop drop down stop and a half what we need to do and you've got going on so right there I think we'll work a few more variations of that oppose but that would be all set the power of the light the power of the light not powerless like yep so the where it's aiming is just about right sitting there there on the hair a little bit following her arms just like what I wanted and bring on the power if that if that highlight under hair words kind of golden was blown out there's no detail I'd bring it down but as it is now I think it's just about right for what I'm looking for okay so let's just play with the poses come the angles kind of come this city would try some um that way oops I called you sidney you're not sitting there we go that's great and try toe swivel your hips that way in the chair and then kind of bring your chin up over your shoulder it's kind of sassy there like that yeah I want to come in right over here and you can look right at me for this one right here beautiful okay all right let's work this in for a couple of close up ones and er again this shift you around a little bit on that chair gonna move and kind of lean towards this elbow is a little bit we're going to go kind of really close in turning chin slightly this way they're beautiful chin up just have a little bit good beautiful double shot a lot of control that way they can't hear the roosters it's only in my head number okay beautiful all right so we got great shaping light come from here shadow side of her face slightly but three two one ish ratio the highlights not browned out and the shapes and the out of focus background is what I really love be able to shoot at one for keeping her eyes razor sharp but everything else nice and shallow and that really means that you can shoot anywhere no matter what you've got in the background can become a perfect background it's just a matter of shapes and shadows and colors okay so let's ah let's switch this up a little bit right now and put a different light source so we can grab that down alicia and we're gonna switch so why don't we have sydney come in too far because we probably will bring you back in a little bit okay let's go panel here yeah waller's yes so uh watson you're under are you changing the aperture or using the exposure compensation I mean changing the shutter speed and because I'm shooting manual you want to just send amusing flash I'm going to manual mode but change the aperture that would affect both my flash power as well as the ambient but I only want affect the ambience so the shutter speed is what controls the ambient light here so once I've got that kind of figured out if I wanted lighter or darker without affecting the flash would only change the shutter speed leaving the aperture locked in because that's that's the look the aperture helps control there's a depth here and the softness so shutter speed controls your ambient light thank you all right so we'll put a little panel on here with speed light and this is a photo flex panel that we talked about earlier but well it kind of just with this together and kind of get you guys to see how this all works they're instant window light on we're gonna have that somewhere is over here put a speed light on this and soon be ready to roll you know we could do with the ship there's adjust those flash shoes you can screw right into here flash you what do you mean oh yeah I shouldn't even do that discriminated here okay screw it on there okay all right so what we're going to do now is to switch it up and change to our window light and see how that changes the effect of things that I'm looking at this now going what if she was actually sitting on the ground instead of on the chair it's kind of odd but let's try well if you sat right in front just kind of criss cross kind of kick your feet some like that yeah I'll hold on to that neither yeah tall is good we got cool shoes right there and let's play with something like like that's we got lots of blue we got shiny stuff around you've got some bling on that's good and I want to bring you forward like half a foot forward that's good right there so hey can you guys see what's going on back there all right so we're bringing our window here and essentially again we're going to use the existing as our fill light kick in a little bit of our own and this is better for we could even do a full length of her right here if I get further enough back but we should be able to get a nice pretty even light I'm gonna change my zoom on this which is ok it's already set to twenty eight millimeters and what will dio is check that it's covering the back of this frame here before I go too far by doing a little test shot where we did earlier by shooting the back of the frame so if you're ever not sure how much you need to see how much you are seeing a test shot will do it for you of just the back of the script so I'm gonna just shoot the back way don't need the hair light yet at least and see how much of that scream we're covering with that all right okay I see the light fall off their it's pretty even a little bit of fall of towards the edges if I went a little bit wider because this thing's a little closer can you see the light pattern on that scream so I'm gonna go just one step wider with my zoom so that we can cover a little more now we're perfect alright already a shoot down on the floor we go so my base exposure is the same as it was before haven't changed it was two hundred millimeter I mean to hundreds of a second at one four I'm at s o three twenty that's what my basic exposure was before for the background and switch back mother linds she with an eighty five millimeter f one point four at one point four two blow up my background as much as possible autofocus check during school look he's already to smile for me it's awesome news and we'll test it here okay so I don't even know where the flash is that we're going to just do a test shot and find out hey any much change is that oh you had that great I don't even know you had the great on perfect well that's just pretty darn close already okay good job all right okay so you kind of look your chin that way again just kind of playful on what your kind of laugh of that scream like oh jeez there's still crazy this photographer so silly and like throw your head back and laugh now look back at the scrim a boyfriend this is a scream out of this okay there you go beautiful like that on the hair light looks pretty good back on looks good nice they've got beautiful skin tone she's got girl any time you want to trade yeah you know gorgeous okay and let's try this now we got that we've got the lighting rundown let's try something do you mind laying on the ground and actually looking right towards me like on your tummy lean forward but I know it seems kind of weird with all this stuff going on here but I think you do it we can scoot back I'm gonna kick your heels up that way we can you know we need something teo put in front of her I need some flour lest you guys have one of those little pillow orange pillows yeah she just told her you put even squeeze that kind of fear yeah more cozy I'll get down real low so looking upwards into the stuff of colors and we're gonna bring the scream a little forward clear if you could towards me more so it's more wrapping come this way back that right about there gil and this your little feet you can kick him up and kind of swing over that way just a little bit yes your heel in the back something kind of looked right up towards this panel look turn your chin to the right just a bit looking right about that and give it a big old smile there good even turn more to the right your face good and let your feet fall back behind you perfect just like that cute ok oh here we go everybody laying on your side so we could see the picture cool I love the shapes in the background the colors that all the different layers of color and everything else the highlight in the hair minor fixes gorgeous and uh gorgeous mom so just keep looking up that way in this pork on that a little more they're good we've got a nice little person in the background that's pretty they're beautiful good chin to the right just a little bit there awesome sauce love it love it love it good and in the eyes right over here now is right here in chin straight down there looking straight at me just like that beautiful one more thank you blink there yeah half link there she goes cute all right so look at that that window light there it's a little different than the octo it's a little more overall even and what we can do is to finish up with maybe a fooling shot to see how that window works for full length or even with the two girls together in a shot like girlfriends shot uh this is kind of nice on the floor can do the rest of my workshop like this okay um so there's a window light which never really played with yet love the quality of this it's very even we can cover amore area with it and still keep something nice so let's try we'll let you stand up and let's see what we can get without changing things around here into a longer shot I'm gonna switch it up I would just like throw your hands up hey one quick time look right look that way to these people because you can put your hands in your jeans here come a little bit closer to this thing see right there I need to change my lands is here we're gonna go a little wider that's okay just give me some sassy pose we're gonna actually gonna get it's going to be like the studio shall we got everything going on the background behind you got lights we got stuff going across it so you gonna put your weight on one hip there we go yeah come some sass that's good I look right over here when you do that and give that thing they all smile here nice hold it you have a behind the scenes mixed up shot so look the main thing is looking at the light on her the full length from that panel lights or head to toe really nicely this little room light here actually kind of dig that being in the shot shining it looks more like a stew shot cast little shadow in the front so that little kicker light is really a pretty important part of of anything we're gonna light let's throw that in there okay we're going right over this panel again feeling sassy that we're all this is really silly so you can go and think we're we're silly stuff but not too hands on your hips give me really sad supposed good that was out just living mohr good good good sweet cool light there alright love the flare coming in again nice even she could do a lot of different moving around in here without us having teo change the light source too much um what do we do a final shot let's get the two of you guys together so come on bring bring us back in here together this is shooting with the twenty four millimeter at f one point four and this is another lens that I really love because you don't typically see white angle with a blurred out background unless you have a twenty four one four so to shoot this with a super wide and still have stuff blurred out in the background requires that f one point four which is again pretty pretty fun to use so let's say the two of you guys together so how about you have a seat since you're so much taller and much come on over here we're going to lean you over on this side here kind of kicking back into her a little bit and that's good a leash have to aim it up in this way so my rim light hair light alicia move now so that she's not just right over there she's more directly behind the two girls here okay and you're gonna kind of turn little more sideways and lean back in skate right back there yeah perfect power a little bit because I got further back into you all right one thing we're going to talk about tomorrow is ah feathering of our light in order to cover several people with one light source excuse me while I dig in my bag here for the other lens that I want okay so when we talk about feathering our light and uh what have you turned so your back's kind of her to her just a little bit to just turn your hips a little bit and turn your shoulders back this way yeah you got a lead into her little more okay sassy girls uh we feather our light we're going to do like some little small groups tomorrow is having its skim across so that if I had this right over here should be illuminated beautifully but then the fall off she's gonna lose about a stop or so if I really feather this across them aiming it at the furthest person then we can keep it even across even though we're closer to her all right she's a dull darker skin tone so she's naturally going to be a little darker but the light exposure wise is fairly even across when we feather across that way ok we'll do that again saucy girl it's what your chin this way just towards her but yeah nice beautiful ladies wanna moss okay relax okay you know big scream when you have more than one person we could actually through a three a third person in there maybe even a fourth and the scream would cover them pretty nicely if I wanted if I had form or I would turn this horizontal and I've got a nice even soft light across the entire group so perfect little tool that the only thing I didn't cover which I think will cover tomorrow is to take two more panels and enclose this so we have a totally enclosed box no spill like very controlled soft window light right here which is similar to we have now but you'd have less spill which would be important if you're shooting a wider shot that included mohr of the room and we didn't want to see a little bit of slight spilling on the ground off the edges right now it doesn't matter because I'm cropping out the ground but if that was the case we box it in with our scream and be good to go

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Kubota - Lightweight Location Lighting.pdf
creativeLIVE Kevin Kubota Lighting Diagrams.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Karen Witter
 

I LOVED this class and I don't hesitate to recommend it! Kevin did a great job explaining how to incorporate additional lighting for on-location shoots and what those items would be. Then he illustrated those ideas for the class in various types of shoots. I loved the gear he recommended and especially his DIY suggestions. He has a great sense of humor and I felt like I was right there in the class. I would highly recommend this class to anyone who shoots on location and wants to make sure they're not only using the best lighting options but also the best lightweight lighting options.

Renata
 

I am enjoying this course so much!!! I am 100% happy with it. I just became a big fan of Kevin ! Great personality! Makes the use of flash a breeze. I just want to go outside with my gear and have fun now! thank you.

Maxx Walske
 

This workshop is fantastic! Kevin goes over every little detail you need to know for Lightweight Location Lighting. He shoots during the workshop, instantly shows the image and talks through how to see the light and make the proper adjustments for a fantastic image. He includes details about all his gear and post-processing tips, too! Kevin is incredibly inspiring! The course is easy to follow, fun and worth every penny!

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES