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Shoot: Outdoor Location

Lesson 7 from: Location, Posing, Execution

Roberto Valenzuela

Shoot: Outdoor Location

Lesson 7 from: Location, Posing, Execution

Roberto Valenzuela

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Lesson Info

7. Shoot: Outdoor Location

Summary (Generated from Transcript)

The topic of this lesson is outdoor location shooting, specifically focusing on using the surrounding elements creatively and understanding how to work with harsh lighting conditions.

Q&A:

  1. What is the difference between a video light and the ice light?

The ice light is an LED light that has a specific color temperature, while a video light can be any type of light source used for shooting videos.

  1. When should I use a reflector versus the ice light?

A reflector is best used when you want to bounce light off a wall or other surface, while the ice light is better for creating a specific lighting effect or filling in shadows.

  1. What method do you use to achieve accurate focus?

The instructor focuses and recomposes the shot, but normally, they would switch the focusing point to minimize recomposing.

  1. How do you deal with harsh sunlight in outdoor shoots?

By following the shadow line and positioning the subjects in a way that puts the sun directly behind them, you can create a more even and flattering lighting effect.

Lesson Info

Shoot: Outdoor Location

the goal for that inside studio inside library where something that a lot of people have questions about I did a few things I asked my life audience to choose the obvious photograph and then I started removing them from the obvious picture by using composition frame frames contrasts on the different elements that are part of the post in charge that we have that were given away on the dvd so if you do have this posing chart well you used it to create many different types of fields in the same library now that library wasn't very bright it had some light issues on we fixed the issue by either opening up lights on using a reflector or creating contrast so if the weakness was the room was a bit dark you can put the groom like we did with the mat by the window and create a contrast in portrait uh we have beautiful kids here here on dh we used the chair not as a chair device to sit on but we're used it as a way to foreign to sit on the floor and then lean her back against the so the message ...

here is used the objects around you creatively don't just use them for what they were meant to be because those those objects can have ah lot of different types of users and I think you guys gonna get that right the difference got I mean we used a picture with a both painting way use the glass to frame it as a reflection that has a reflection device right we used the ice lights to create all kinds of different looks and feels we used the bookshelves to create a pattern off horizontal lines behind matt on so we used a little outdoor section to create some framing and also the little part with a little bushes the little green bushes in the back to create that repetition and patterns part of the charge so hope you guys got a lot out of it I don't know we're going to step outside where is obviously the different situation altogether quite opposite now we're gonna have straight up harsh light now we're going to make it look beautiful we're gonna work with it so before we do that let's ask you a couple questions about the last time if you don't mind no ok there were quite a few questions about the ice light so I'm just gonna read a few of them off okay um jean hall from medford oregon said what is the difference between a video light and the ice light in ic says what's the difference between using flash and using a hand light like the ice light and nubia said any suggestions on when to use the ice light versus a reflector the eyes light is a tool you can use an led light you khun by multiple aliases put him together I used the ice light because I like the color temperature that he comes with but you can for sure by another type off light and put some sort of filter uh is not quite the same but it's close enough to get the job done okay the ever seen when do you use ice light and reflector and flash they give you totally different fields if you want to create the sense that there's a son behind the couple or behind model or whatever the flash would be your best bet for a son if you are trying to if you're trying to bounce light that's reflecting off the wall you can use the reflector so this will be a good time tio do a reflector for per se I'm not such a good time for the ice like the ice light works really well maur indoors off course you can use the island outdoors but it's not going to have the same pool that's him push the flash is such a powerful life you can create so many different fields like the sun behind them you can reign like your models you can do whatever you want um so I used the tools in the library that I needed to create a feeling of the foot I wanted to create I used all three I use flashes I use reflectors on I used the ice light and as you saw in the videos they were broadcasting it you saw the variety of photos that we got out of them you have to use the right tool for the job perfect so one more question before we keep going so folks we're asking while watching you shoot about how you focus so light catcher said can you please say a few words on the method that you used to achieve accurate focus I noticed that you focus and recompose there is a way and focusing on decomposing so much right now is because I'm giving the cameras to my students right on because they don't know cannon there they're used to nightgown or vice versa I don't want to be messing around with focusing points and moving them around normally I would switch the focusing point so I would have a minimal re composing going on so if you're taking a photo where the groom is on the right side I would put the focus on point in the right that way I can just focus right in his eye and not have to recompose so much if you don't do that you have to put the focus and put in the middle and then recomposed to get that negative space to show up so right now I'm just doing that because of the class setting but otherwise I pretty much used all my cross points focussing points I used my camera like crazy without white balance is all custom right now I'm not trying to complicate things too much I'm going to focus on their locations so I don't want to get too bogged down with with problems with that kind of thing so I'm just gonna stick with a middle focusing point perfect thank you for clarifying and back over to you okay okay location outside let's rocket so many of you are in a situation where you have to shoot your your senior portrait your child your bread and groom you're super fashion model doesn't matter and you have this living situation and you have a beautiful parking lot behind you behind us you can you have a look at this location take a look around because we're gonna we're gonna use this location to create a variety of looks on my students are going to basically get what they learned how they're going to start implementing it and we're gonna phoenix the post we're going to create beautiful photos so uh let's go ahead and get started uh would like to probably start with the first photo just to kind of get the ball rolling and then we'll move on from there as I stand here I looked around the bushes the grass the building in the background on that little tree on in front of me right there I wouldn't think I notice this here you go one thing I know is this there's a little gap right here do you see that that little gap is that exact excuse to give me a blurry frame right remember we talked about that you don't want the friend to distract you want the frame to draw your eye in so this tree may be a tree but he turned turned out to be a perfectly good frame see what I mean so if you were to photograph here if you look at the back you have the building and you have some bushes behind the little empty spot of the bush okay I'm obviously not going to choose the building to be in the background because it introduces a color that ruins the mood of my photo I'm going to take a step to the left like I just did and now I have that green bush in the background on that green bush is in the same color family as this leaves over here so it's nature with nature nothing crazy concrete going by the frame now that's may sound really anal to people but that's what he thinks that's what you got to do uh so let's go ahead and do a fun shot on we can also keep improving the photograph so we'll do it like a step by step it up type of deal so matt and kiss your police come over and make your way to the main floor and stand behind the cool little bush farther back farther back farther back now take a step this way right there stop ok the sun is coming from this direction so automatically that tells me how to oppose the bride and the groom here's why if I posed them this way they're goingto have light on shadow all over their face so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna I'm gonna feature feature kiss kiss yeah okay so I'm gonna put her face towards the sun I'm chained up to feel all those shadows in her face so she's going to be bright but she'll be late perfectly beautifully all the way through no dark shadows in her face in between sunspots none of that stuff the groom would just be more like an accessory here so he's just going to be kind of like they're on we don't really care we care about you right now no offense it's ok tell good way we love you man okay I need my camera so we'll see you now I'm gonna build his photo little by little I'm gonna purposely take crap photo right away I'm gonna take a bad photo sorry uh bad for coming up okay in this photo you see the tree it's using as a frame but it's a terrible photo because you're introducing all the stuff on the left the windows are showing off the brake is showing up all of the stuff that's remember what I said eliminate things that are not helping you if the frame is what you want on the colors and the repetition of the bush is what you want keep the frame just around that spot okay go ahead and give a care when I go ahead and post them teo teo teo come this way come around bring your face this way I can see your face no soaping your shoulder over here cause you bring your face over here put your face that way that way and I miss your face you're gonna see what I'm saying you're gonna be all the way on this side more more you go on in the sense that way so you're going to basically do your chin up and you're going to uh when I tell you you're gonna do one hand higher than the other when I tell you you're going to squeeze in real tight okay but without your fingers just on your arms okay uh let me check something out real quick back up a little bit like separate a little bit second seymour your face turn your nose that towards her during your chin this way come this way chin up a little bit now turn your face towards us we're like smelling inherit anything all the way more to your left ok now separate again so do it separated a you go there you go okay we have a problem with that wind no way this is not helping me right now okay there you go so we may have to do something like that but now we're into this son so okay face the sun okay wait turn like a turntable towards me a little bit more yeah like that now face the sun go ahead and pull your hair back if you can smile while you do it good give me a quick sec ok breathe in one two three chin up on breathing went to three good job for you chin up again and squeeze and breathe in one two three good bring your nose more towards her so you're like yeah yeah there you go river magnetized heads towards each other put your body weight on one of your feet so shoot shift your body weight and get real close to her on a case you go ahead and breathe in when I tell you want to breathe and go not more and squeeze ready to go last one if you go can you pull your hair out so it's not in the way there you go on now go close your eyes and squeeze really go okay last one go can you just can you fix that hair a little bit again I'm sorry the win's not helping when it's not helping but you are alright given when I squeeze close your eyes okay thank you yeah so let me explain this photo real quick the last one I just took basically we created depth of field we have a four grand a middle ground in a back around that's what I just did I layered this is called just straight up layering photography ok when the trees are the foreground the first lonely tree here the middle ground is the bride and groom and the background is the other bush the whole photo makes sense because there's nothing distraction distracting about it there is a way I had her face pointed towards the sun it's like I said to fill the shadows and not to have any kind of funny light with a note you know how when the sun hits the nose it creates like a funny shadow like I can see it on you right now and so forth you don't want to do that you want to basically fill the entire face with just shower it with beautiful sunlight unexposed for the brightest part of the face so let me repeat that you got exposed to the bread is part of the face this last photo turned out quite nice because using the layering on the color element so go ahead and take a look you probably wonder why I said to breathe in right um okay can you come here for a second stand right over here what do we do when we uh when we swim we in hell what do we do when we tried to shut off part of our census we close our eyes so we can concentrate on smell right smells like an intimate feeling right look if you if you're smelling someone you feel like you want to smell them right it's romantic if you don't smell if you don't breathe thin you have you run the risk of your stomach slouching when you breathe in your muscles tighten up it looks more attractive right away and he also takes another thing when you breathe in it creates a really sense that she's really into that moment because she's trying to like feel him right go ahead and like close your eyes uh squeeze an invisible person in front of you and breathe in you see that expression just turns romantic right away now forget the whole breathing stuff squeeze the men right there close your eyes just doesn't look right sometimes people say like why do you achieve this looks that are so like in the in the zone on you have to study this breathing and how do you respond to them if you if if you smell a tomato you close your eyes to inhale all right look at people look how they behave and you will start to become like a fine tuned oiled machine about creating the feel you want okay um let me teach you another really important concept and then I want you guys to apply it we're in the middle of harsh son so any of you guys watching out there same thing I want you to gusto look down if you point the camera at the floor and take a look at the shadows that kiss is making right there you see that shadow right there okay if you were in a situation with an open area like this on you have awful son just look at the shadow that she's making and stand in that direction and photograph towards the shadow and what would that do do you think it will it will put the sun exactly perfectly behind them fleming sense it doesn't if you put the sun slightly to the left you're going to get a burn spot on the face if you do it the other way same thing but if you stand on that shadow you're going to get the most beautiful room light because the son is now directly behind her head okay so just to show you an example not that there's stuff in the background that's ok so doesn't really matter what we do um I'm gonna mess this up first and then let's take a good one okay so if you don't pay attention to this go ahead and turn your body okay stop right there okay so now we have a pretty bad photo and you can already see it but you can tell that there's light and shadow spots all over her face okay and trust me I see that in photography all the time because people are like well it's open you know I don't have a few sir what do I do well follow that shadow line just walked to it take a step this way take another step I'm doing that so that we don't have the tree in the back coming out of her head now turn your shoulders remember I said that turn the shoulder thing I told the cops turn yur color bones that way just a tad more go a beautiful remembering your face back you go on one more time good bring your shoulder this way a little bit I mean your head tilted this way there you go and squeeze yourself a little tighter okay this last photo I took is the the one that looks right okay this photo here the last photo I just took you can't even see it anymore here we go ok you guys basically you have two types of things going on the first photo that I want to show you is the one with a crazy light going on so I'm talking about this one with all the lights and shadows over her face do you see the problem okay simply put the sun behind them by following the shadow line and you end up with something more along the lines off this one when you have a totally clear skin in the face

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

RobertoValenzuela_LPE_Charts.pdf
Roberto Valenzuela creativeLIVE Keynote Slides.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

Im a freelancer and have studied photo school several years ago and also been working as an assistant for a few years. I think you always have things to learn and keep you from getting stagnant in photography, and i find creative live is a great source for that. Been taking some of Lindseys classes and watched several others from Sue Bryce as well as other classes for equipment and about shooting people in general. I always read what others have said before to avoid any classes that are not informative etc or have a teacher that leave out too much, i was drawn to what people said about Roberto walking the students through the shoots and that he had this great system you could use and take with you when you go forward. I actually never heard of Roberto before but were mainly interested cause of what he was teaching here. I have now watched almost the whole course and first of all let me say i do recommend it a lot. Its a great system to use in my opinion, and i have learned some great stuff to think about that will enhance my own photography, and its a great reference to go back to when you need it. Roberto as a teacher is relaxed, intelligent and has great humor that i can relate to. So you you are not "bored" which is also very important, he keeps it interesting. Some things that i did not like about his way of teaching was that he was a little too impatient at times when the students tried shooting themselves , he reminded me of other photographers i have worked with in past. They were also very impatient sometimes when people around them were moving to slow for the shot to get done etc. I understand during the course the students had limited time to get every shoot done. But many times i was frustrated with that Roberto almost always stepped in too early to "help" them out but instead kind of took over telling them what angle would work best or what light that should be used. It was almost as he wanted his system to show up as flawless and felt as he was scared letting the students try it out on their own because that would somehow show a flaw in his system. I would rather have had him let them try first and later he could come in and suggest the different angles and light. But now many times he would take over and also take his own picture and pointed to the strengths of that picture and why it worked. Still, you learn because he explains at the same time, and walk you through everything. I just find that you would learn even more letting the students fail first or do it right on their own. Also sometimes he would choose a location and say: You can use this wall and these props etc, then when the student would start he would suddenly limit them and instead tell them what to use and how they should crop so that the location itself would not make much difference. Otherwise though, great course. I think i would buy another course from Roberto as well if it was something i needed from it.

a Creativelive Student
 

I have seen many of the creative live workshops, and attended many great workshops by photographers, including Jerry Ghionis. It was Jerry's wife - Meliisa Ghionis who suggested that Roberto's course on creative live should be a must see. This course was by far the best on creative live for improving your photography of couples, it is just brilliant and has improved my photography in leaps and bounds. There are many great photographers, but most do not know how to pass on their knowledge to others - Roberto is the exception I would consider this course a must see for any wedding photographer, no matter what your experience.

user-334342
 

Love Love Love this class!! The way Roberto integrates class participation into his teaching is such an amazing teaching technique! CreativeLIVE has some amazing teachers, I have learned so much from many of them, but Roberto's "hands-on" approach put's the on-line audience in the moment. Very captivating teacher! By far I would say this is one of the, if not the best photography class I have watched!! Thank you!!

Student Work

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