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Creating intense colour in a photograph

Lesson 42 from: Masters of Photography

Albert Watson

Creating intense colour in a photograph

Lesson 42 from: Masters of Photography

Albert Watson

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Lesson Info

42. Creating intense colour in a photograph

Albert creates intense colour in an image. Listen to Albert as he takes you through his preparation process, and the techniques he used to construct one of his most well known images, Red Devil.

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Meet your Master

01:26
2

Learn from the journey

15:24
3

Using inspirations

08:43
4

Photography is stopping time

09:27
5

Albert's library of ideas

08:30
6

Tips on preparing for a portrait shoot

12:10
7

Setting up the studio

04:56
8

Understanding studio collaboration

07:35
9

The importance of casting and hair & make-up

08:59
10

Foreground studio set up

08:46
11

Studio session with a model - set up 1

11:23
12

Studio session with a model - set up 2

05:55
13

Studio session with a model - set up 3

08:01
14

Picking the best shot

03:36
15

Working with photoshop

13:14
16

Creating a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock

04:18
17

The gigantic question... Colour or black and white?

07:55
18

One day with Kate Moss

05:06
19

Learn to have your ideas ready

06:14
20

Using Polariods

06:29
21

Creating beautiful photographs of hands

04:45
22

Controlling natural light

05:38
23

Shooting a monkey with a gun

06:27
24

Choosing your format

07:13
25

Composition and lens

04:47
26

Shooting landscapes. The Isle of Skye

15:18
27

Planning and ideas for a landscape shoot

06:32
28

Creating still life images

13:48
29

Photographing the Lost Diary

10:53
30

Shooting album covers

03:09
31

The Strip Search Project

10:28
32

Shooting Las Vegas landscapes

08:24
33

Photographing Breaunna

07:21
34

Balancing daylight, God bless America

03:45
35

Creating the Maroc Project

10:21
36

Creating the Maroc shoot

08:11
37

Photographing sand dunes

04:09
38

Photographing Moroccan children

10:42
39

Advice on making portraits

10:12
40

How to be alert to finding photographs

07:35
41

Making a portrait of Mike Tyson

02:39
42

Creating intense colour in a photograph

03:04
43

Portraits of rap stars and a Golden Boy

08:40
44

Photographing Jack Nicholson

04:20
45

Creating a portrait of David Cronenberg

02:14
46

How to light only using two $10 bulbs

07:29
47

Studio fashion set up 4

10:47
48

Studio session with a model. The geography of a face

13:05
49

Look inside the picture

02:56
50

Creating memorability in an image

02:54
51

Combining nudes and landscapes

04:52
52

A perfect print

07:50
53

The business side of things

06:50
54

Conclusion and farewell

03:55

Lesson Info

Creating intense colour in a photograph

(energetic music) I was working on a project for a German magazine, Stern, and I ended up in Ouarzazate in Morocco, south of the Atlas. I was working with a well know model at the time, Waris, she's from I think, Somalia. She's a beauty, wonderful, good personality, strong model that you can really do something with. I'd had this idea in New York, that kind of, I actually kind of stole a little bit of the idea from a German illustration from the 1920's. I kind of prepared the shot in this way. I was going to do it in color, so I prepared what I was going to do in color. I arrived there with a nice piece of red fabric and I put back lights on my red fabric, with red lights, red filters on the lights. So not only was the fabric red but the light hitting was red. When you do this, you get a rather wonderful neon effect, so the color looks neon, not just red, but neon red. (energetic music) So, then with her skin, we used a very light, kind of matte moisturizer on her skin. So I wanted a...

certain amount of shine but not too much. I also brought from New York, a food dye, and the food dye was in red and I wanted to dye her tongue red for the shot. So I brought it with me from New York. The other thing I brought from New York, was a gold tooth that I found in a souvenir shop in Times Square. So I bought it and you just clip it on. So it's a gold tooth. The other thing that I had brought is some gold paper, which I rolled into horns. So, it was always about the gold tooth, the tongue and the horns and her attitude, of course. The red was just what I chose, I mean it could have been a different color, it could have been gold, pink, something else, but I chose red. I always preferred it when the skin was a little bit desaturated later. It was a strong looking shot and was shot on a Hasselblad, with a 150 millimeter lens. Fairly straightforwardly shot, you know? The front light was actually natural sun light. So I protected the background a little bit, for the strobes, and then went ahead and used the natural sunlight in the front. So that's how that shot was done. (energetic music)

Ratings and Reviews

Richard A. Heckler
 

"Unless you're Mozart"...this course is an invaluable asset. I'm a pro, humanitarian/documentary photographer, & wilderness...and I've learned much from the 40+ sessions here. This is truly a Master Class...next best thing to being with Albert. And although I could watch studio sessions forever, this course offered a very balanced curriculum of technical information, artistic encouragement and guidance, and a open, generous window into the thinking of a gifted artist and photographer, sifted from decades of first class experience. Kudos to all involved. Excellent!

a Creativelive Student
 

I purchased my first CreativeLive class in 2011 and have continued to purchase many classes over the years. I have learned so much from the many great instructors. This one is not a technical class that will tell you to set your camera at f4, 1/60, ISO 400 and you can get this shot. If you are looking for that, there are many other options. If you have a solid working knowledge of photography, this class is so much more. The way it was filmed is like you are there with him in conversation or in the room with him watching him shoot. To see and understand the how and why he does what he does. Not to take anything away from other classes that have helped to give me a strong understanding of photography, this is my favorite CreativeLive class so far.

Student Work

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