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Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 1

Lesson 27 from: Portrait Photography: Creating and Styling your Environment

John Keatley

Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 1

Lesson 27 from: Portrait Photography: Creating and Styling your Environment

John Keatley

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Lesson Info

27. Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 1

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Class Introduction

20:10
2

Creative Photography Path

22:57
3

Importance of Personal Work

15:25
4

Concepts and Inspiration

12:04
5

Choosing Your Environment

05:03
6

Research and Mood Boards

06:58
7

Finding Your Style

09:34
8

Establishing a Team

10:44
9

Jobs on Set

28:38
10

Production Hurdles

13:45
11

Working with an Art Director

07:01
12

Pooling Resources

03:43
13

Casting

17:26
14

Wardrobe

11:24
15

Set Design and Props: Interview with John Lavin

35:06
16

Gear

09:59
17

Lighting

29:10
18

Technical vs. Flexible Lighting

07:56
19

Creating Environment

07:59
20

Gear Essentials vs. DIY Solutions

07:02
21

Lighting for Your Subject

04:10
22

Lighting for Your Environment

05:17
23

Q&A

08:36
24

Directing Your Subject

34:03
25

Tips for Directing Talent

09:58
26

Pre-Lighting and Test Shoots

05:08
27

Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 1

49:55
28

Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 2

20:19
29

Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 3

17:19
30

Set Tour and Lighting Set Up

05:41
31

Shoot: Building Environment & Lighting Adjustments

33:13
32

Shoot: Building Environment Part 1

18:45
33

Shoot: Building Environment Part 2

18:39
34

Photo Critique

26:06
35

Shoot: Row Boat in Fog Set Tour

03:54
36

Shoot: Row Boat in Fog Part 1

42:19
37

Shoot: Row Boat in Fog Part 2

28:34
38

Shoot: Row Boat in Fog Part 3

24:34
39

Shoot: Row Boat in Fog Part 4

04:10
40

Shoot: Scuba in the Hull Part 1

44:27
41

Shoot: Scuba in the Hull Part 2

21:50
42

Shoot: Scuba in the Hull Part 3

16:40
43

Image Selection: Stylized Portrait

30:53
44

Image Selection: Building Environment

10:52
45

Image Selection: Row Boat in Fog

11:53
46

Image Selection: Scuba in the Hull

06:38
47

Next Steps: Create New Work

05:44
48

Next Steps: Share Your Work

12:03
49

Next Steps: Marketing and Branding Consistency

12:52
50

Final Image Reveal - Concept and Casting

13:20
51

Final Image Reveal - Retouching: Communication and Direction

14:13
52

Final Image Reveal - Final Q&A

34:52

Lesson Info

Shoot: Stylized Portrait - Close Up Part 1

So we're gonna start with our first photo shoot, the first of four, and this is going to be the simple, we said, but as all photo shoots go, they're all going to have a level of complexity. We're already working through many little details. Sometimes this is going to be a very tight portrait, kind of head and shoulders, but we're trying to create a concept around it, so sometimes, even though you're in tight, and there's not as much environment, that can be just as difficult for many other reasons as if you're working in a large environment. So we're going to be working through that. I tried to leave some loose ends open so that you could see us working through some of that as well, so you're not just dropping in and everything's set perfectly. There's still very much work that still needs to be done. And if you guys have any questions, please fire away and Ken will jump in. I'm going to do my best to talk through what I'm thinking and what I'm doing, but I do know that I tend to get i...

n the zone, and so sometimes because doing a photo shoot live is not something that I'm used to, I may forget at times. So by all means, if you're wondering about anything, fire away and hopefully this can be as informative as possible. So with that being said, here's our model, Erin, who is incredibly patient for sitting so long, and we'll get started. All right, here we go. Oh, thanks. Thank you. All right, so, yeah, let's just put it on the main one. Cool, thank you. All right, so we're just going to do a few to start with, I'm still kind of finessing the light, so you don't have to worry about expression or emotion or anything like that. If you could lean, yeah, a little towards me just like that, that's perfect. Okay, right there. Chin up a little bit, and then slightly swivel your head a little bit to the side, there we go, that's perfect. Good, good, good. All right. Okay, that's looking really nice. Ken, did you change the key at all, or is that-- I did not. You didn't, okay. Um, I'm hesitant to move it 'cause I like everything, but that shadow is still a little prolonged. Let's let it ride for a second, but I think we're going to eventually need to eventually drop it down like, how much do we have? We have that much. Okay. All right, let's see here. So, I'm gonna have you just slightly bring your shoulders, yeah, right there, perfect. There we go, good, good, good. All right. So I think... Yeah, you know what, let's do it, Ken. Let's drop it down, drop it down like, a couple inches, do we have, is that, is that the only light that's hitting her right now? I guess so. Come down a little bit more. Okay, I think we're swinging, yeah, try, let me get a test, I think you swing a little too much to the right. No, that's great, that's good. All right, I like that a lot better. Let's hold it right there. Yeah, that's perfect. Um, J-Pop, can we get, I have, there's like a little bit of shine on the bridge of her nose. And then a little bit below her lip on her chin, too, if we could flatten that out a bit. If you wanna look here, I think the larger screen is probably a little too punchy. It's just this is where we're at. So just, I was thinking like that and then that. Maybe even actually camera right, below her eye a little bit. Cool. Focus looks good. Cool, thanks. These hairs right here feel a little more pronounced than the rest of them. I don't mind the length, but I feel like because they're clumped together they feel a little heavier. I kind of feel like. I can pull them back? Just chop them off. (laughter) (off mic and muffled) Um, that's maybe better, as long as we don't see that little loop in the, right, those guys? Yeah. Um, here, let me show, come over here, and then it's in the back of her hair, you can see like on her jaw line, there we go. Perfect. And then there's, those are a little long, yeah. Oops, there we go. This one too? So as you can tell, Erin doesn't have a lot of patience, so, it makes it difficult when you have a model that's like, gets really angry and feisty. We have to give her lots of snacks, or she'll start screaming. You know, we learned that in pre-light. All right, that's looking good. Sorry, last thing is just those hairs on her neck, it's under her chin, yeah, there you go. And I don't know if I explained it, but the idea here is we're trying to do a portrait and create a character based on this nautical theme where it's kind of adventure ship, ship of adventurers, and it's an all-female crew, and so we're going to be seeing more environment as the shoot progresses, but for the first one, since I love portraits, we're going to just start with the character portrait that hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the characters that we'll be creating as we move on. All right, that looks good. Hold it right there. Great. Cool, that looks really nice, I like this. All right, that's a wrap! No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding! Not supposed to say that's a wrap, it's not really. Oh, that looks great, okay. Awesome. Did you add more, you added more dirt, right? Just on her shoulder? Or her clavicle? Okay, yeah, yeah, that's good. All right, so slightly swivel your shoulders, right there, that's perfect. Just like that, and look right at me, right there, don't change a thing. Hold it right there. All right, cool. So, here we go. So what I want for this first one, I want like a real intense intensity, like a focus, so really push your eyes towards camera. And I want as much as, I'll kind of tell you, I want your body kind of coming towards me, and you can even kind of stick your head out a little bit, but I want just a real intense look for this one. Maybe a slight sense of weight or tiredness a little bit, but we'll start right there, and so. There we go, let's get a little move. I'm gonna swivel your head a little bit more, right there, that's good, just like that. Try your lips apart a little bit more, there we go, yeah. Hold it right there, that's good. Without moving your body, just turn your eyes towards the ground a little bit, like look down, there we go. And then eyes right back at camera. Perfect. Swivel your head a little bit the side, there we go. Perfect. Hold it right there. That's good. And then eyes off, eyes off camera right about here. There we go, drop your right shoulder, yeah right, there we go, that's perfect, hold it just like that. Good, good, good. Keep your body where it is, but just turn your eyes towards me. There we go, good, good, good, just like that. And lips together. Perfect. And, all right. I'm gonna have you sit up real, real straight, like, almost like you're proper and trying to act regal, so it's kind of like forced importance. I'm gonna have you swivel your body a little, yeah, right, a little bit more, right there, that's good, and drop the shoulder down slightly. Push your left shoulder back a little bit, actually, there we go, like that. There we go, good, good, good. Let me see, actually, keep your shoulders right there but just turn your head right there, hold it right there, and just with your eyes, look right at the camera. Lean towards me a little, there we go, yep, yep, good. Hold it right there. Drop your right shoulder a little, there we go. Actually, bring it back up. Drop your left shoulder, there we go. That's good, that looks good. Swivel your head a little bit, and then tilt the top of your head, there we go, perfect. Good, good, good. Hold it right there. Perfect. Just look down right about, See, follow your hand with your eyes. Actually first, tilt your head down a little bit. Head out a little bit. And then with your eyes, right there. And then eyes right at the camera, perfect. Lips, yeah, lips apart a little bit, I like that. Deep breath, perfect. Good, good, good. Okay, great. So I'm gonna have you square up straight on towards me. I'm gonna try to make this one like very balanced and symmetrical, and I think like, again, kind of keeping like a very, imagine you, imagine, you have to sit for 10 minutes. It's like an old camera, and you have to just sit and you can't move. So I want that kind of rigidness. Lean towards me a little bit, drop the shoulder down slightly. Perfect, just like that. Swivel your head just, right there, perfect. Good, good, good. That looks great. Lean towards me a little bit more, your waist, there we go, chin down slightly. Perfect, hold it right there. Drop your left shoulder just a little, there we go. Good, hold it right there, that looks great. That's really nice. Perfect. Yeah, these are great, I love this, that's good. Just like that again. Drop your left shoulder again a little bit. Perfect. Lips, I like lips apart just a little bit. Hold it right there. Same thing. Can I get a pancake? All right, right there. Drop your right shoulder a little bit. Perfect. That's a, no, I need to come up like an inch, maybe Um. Let's see. Josh, can you go back for me? I feel like we got a little brighter at some point. I need to figure out if I pulled her too far forward, or something. It changes a little bit as she got close to you. Do you have any leeway, like just to go back that far? Lean back, do you want me to just to-- Yeah, not, not, probably not even that much. Yeah, right there. Let me see where we're at now. Yeah, come back towards me. Try to... Okay. Can I see this in two back? Can you talk us a little bit through sort of the spacing that's going on here, the lighting, sort of you're going back to your choice of this particular lens, and what it is that you're using? Basically, what we have here is I'm using an 80 millimeter lens on a Hasselblad, which is a medium-format digital camera. And the 80 is, it's more like a 50 on 35 millimeter. That could work. It's more like a 50 on 35 millimeter, but I just, I love this lens for portraits. This is pretty much the only lens I use unless I'm shooting something more environmental, and I'll use a 50, which is more like a 35. So anyway, I'm using the 80 because I'm doing a portrait, so for me that's pretty much a constant. It gives me a lot of depth on the subject, but it also gives me a sense of space and environment. I really like to see space around my subject, I know a lot of times around portraits people will put the head closer to the top of the frame. For me, I like to leave a lot of negative space 'cause I feel like it allows me to kind of imagine. I could also get into some deep themes and thoughts on space and all that kind of stuff, and how that affects me, but that's the way that I like to see people and that I like to work with faces. So, basically the distance between me and the subject is whatever that distance needs to be to give me the framing that I want. And then we have her separated quite a bit from the background, which currently is white, it's just a piece of white foam core. We were originally gonna do a blue painted wall, and then through our test shots we discovered that the blue painted wall out of focus in the background felt like just kind of a cheesy 80s school picture background. We weren't getting any of the beautiful texture, which was the whole point in the first place. So then I was kind of thinking about using a seamless with no texture that was the same color, but it was feeling off. And so then we switched to white, and the reason that white is actually looking gray here is because we don't have any background lights on at the moment. Basically the only light that's hitting the background is whatever falls, probably not much from this. It's just mostly fill from the five foot octa that's happening behind me. So, if we were to turn on these background lights, which we have, and we probably will at some point, you'll see that the background will become much brighter. So right now, this look could also be achieved if we put a piece of gray seamless back there and we could light the background independently, but in this case we talked yesterday about environment, creating environment even in the studio setting. And I really like, actually, the fall off for this picture of the fill light in the background because it adds a little bit of, like, shadow and heaviness behind her shoulders. And it just kind of looks like slightly dappled light as opposed to just a very flat background color, and so I really like the mood that that adds to this particular portrait. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, of course, of course. That's actually for me, so I just need to raise up my stool like probably that much. Why don't you put it on top and sit on it? Oh, I could do that too (mumbles). That works. Yeah, that's why I have smart people surrounding me. All right, perfect, and it's cushier. All right. (off mic and muffled) Yes, please. All right. Good. Okay, let's see, where were we? Okay, awesome. Sorry, I don't remember where I was. Okay, so it was a little hot, I feel like we found, okay good, the lights. So we've moved her back a little bit so the light's perfect. So let's see, swivel a little bit there. Actually, no, like come right back towards me. And then push that shoulder back away from me, there we go, yep, good, good, good. Okay, perfect. Lean towards me just a touch, there we go, good. Chin up a little bit, great. Hold it right there. Eyebrows up a little bit, there we go, that's great. Kind of in like disbelief, almost like a little bit of judgment and disbelief. There we go, there we go. Perfect, hold it right there. Good, good, good. Don't really judge me, all right, I feel, I'm feeling vulnerable enough as it is! That was really nice actually, there we go. That's perfect. Good, good, good, good. That's awesome, hold it right there. Okay, I like these a lot. These are really cool. Let's see. Hey, Ken, could we get a white card that we could float in on camera left a little bit? So this is an image that I really love, I could see myself coming back to this. But I think that's also some of the build-off that we can explore a little bit more as well. So I just wanna try to slightly fill in primarily her cheek, her neck. If we could affect the neck as little as possible, and just hit the cheek, that would be awesome. So, hold it right there. Josh, could you check focus for me? The lenses. Okay. There we go, that's perfect, okay, thanks. Was kind of getting jumpy. There we go, that's good, that's good. Erin, slightly, yeah, twist right there, there we go, just like that, hold it right there, perfect. Good, good, good, good, good. Oh, these are awesome, I like the eyebrow, that's perfect. Just like that. Good, same thing again. Great, great, great. Drop your left shoulder just a touch, there we go, that side, that's perfect. Chin up a little bit. Good. Can you give me a before and after? I think that's actually perfect. You might wanna set that up on a c-stand 'cause it might live there for a while. Could be just in my head, I felt like it was adding a little something. Yeah. On the left is the new photo. Gives it a little bit of more fill on her right side. I can't see with the reflection. Are you seeing it, though? Yeah, it's a little different. Okay, let's put it back in there. It's also, it might be putting a little light into her face? That's good, let me test this a little bit, there we go. Oh, I see. Yeah, I like it, that's perfect, okay. All right, we'll wait til you get set back up. Hey, J-Pop? Can we just, it still feels a little shiny on camera right under her eye a little bit, there's like a little crease. So, Josh, will you mark that one that I mentioned? Which one, the last one that we shot? Yeah, I don't know, I should have told you. Just take it off compare, and then I'll. I think they're all pretty much the same, but I wanna come back to that if we get too far. Now there, that really changed there. I think the camera in the back maybe was hidden. Do you see that? Oh, yeah. All right, we'll mark that. So what I like to do sometimes is go through the images and just look for anything that does stand out to me, like whether it's shoulders to one side, a certain head position, and I like to come back to it, and then when I get to the point where it's like okay, I feel like I'm done, I just wanna go through and make sure I'm remembering all the little notes and I've kind of covered my bases. A cool thing about a shot like this is that a lot of times lately I've been shooting series, and so you're doing a bunch of images that are supposed to look the same. And so the first time you set the lighting you can't really change it. You have to lock it in. And so it's fun here because this doesn't have to match anything. So we can change stuff all day long and kind of be surprised, and make mistakes and things like that. And that's one thing I'm excited about with this particular shoot is just kind of tweaking things as we go. Whereas, again in a series, it's like you do the best you can and then no changes allowed. This last one actually is like one of my favorite ones so far. Good judgment, it really comes through. Can we take this off? It's kind of... Did you have it coming from the back like that? Well, right now I just had Josh take the mounting plate off the camera 'cause it was feeling kind of bulky, but basically we're putting in a little white bounce card on camera left, on her right, and what that's doing is just catching a little bit of any light from here or even the fill light, and it's just slightly filling in the light on her cheek. 'Cause I really like the light on her neck, it's in shadow, but there's a lot of detail still there, and her cheek was just feeling a little darker than I wanted it to. Part of that was the light, and then I think also part of it is because we have some dirt painted on her cheek. So that was just accentuating the shadow a little bit. So I'm just trying to slightly bring that up and bring a little bit more detail into that area. And the other thing is, you can do that with a light, but sometimes just putting in a white surface, which is reflective, it bounces light, that's gonna do a better job sometimes than bringing in a whole new light which will affect other areas and things like that. Let's see, so I think lean towards me a little bit, there we go. Where were we at? Can you compare again, sorry. Are we still hitting it? Cool, all right. Yeah, there's still a little fill light. All right, feeling good? All right, thanks for being patient. So, slightly lean towards me again, and then chin down a little bit, that's good. Hold it right there. All right, take that shoulder back away from me, there we go, good, good, good. And head up towards me a little bit, good, that's perfect, hold it right there. Swivel your head a little bit more, yeah, coming right at me, there we go. Lips together. Good just like that, same thing. Look just like right about here, there we go. Lips together a little, yeah, there we go. Chin up a little. Like you're so mad at me you just can't look at me kind of thing, like you just, kind of jerked your head to the side, there we go. Yeah, that's perfect, just like that. Good. And eyes right back to the camera. Swivel your head even more away this time, there we go, and then eyes off again. Perfect. That's great, I like that a lot. So that's, I'm gonna go in that direction more, so keep your head right about there. Hold it right there. Yeah, just really relax for this one, just hold it like that. Chin down a little bit, there we go. Perfect, lips together a little bit more, there we go. And just make a very contemplative look, like deep in thought. There we go, yeah, like that, that's good, that's good. Chin down a little bit more. Kind of pinch your eyebrows a little bit more. Almost like you're trying to focus on something when you're thinking, it's like, I don't know if you do that, but like, if you're kind of, yeah, there we go, that's good. Perfect. That's good, I like that. No, sorry, I was just curious about. Hey, Jennifer? What do you think? Could we, do you see that, could we get, could we try to, I don't really want to affect the dirt too much, but I want to try to, I'm worried a little bit about some of these little spots in there. Can we tone that down? Yeah. And then maybe even the bridge of her nose again, if we can. Okay. Thank you. A question about, that's coming in from SFX. He's curious about the choice of the red lipstick with the dirt on the face seeming kind of contradictory. Could you speak a little bit about to the aesthetic of the concept? Sure, sure. Well, it's my photo shoot, so I can do what I want. (laughter) That's kind of what, no, I mean, so we spent a lot of time, Jennifer and I and John Lavin, looking at what this character was gonna look like and how we were gonna create this kind of character which there's not really a reference for. We're trying to kind of create history in a certain sense too. And for my work, personally, I am not really concerned at all about reality. You know, if someone says, that's not what a sailor would wear. I don't really care. I'm more concerned with creating my own look. And the same way that if someone were to watch Star Wars and say that's not how astronauts or pilots dress, well, it's not. It's an alternate world kind of thing. So in thinking through this idea of what would these people or sailors, or whatever, what would they look like? I think the easy route, and I even went there if I'm being honest with myself, was to make them masculine or men. Like, we have this male reference, let's just fit them into that. But I mean, if the idea is really to accentuate the fact that these are women, how do we maintain that? And by no means am I saying lipstick is what maintains femininity or anything like that, but also from a pure visual standpoint, we're looking for something that is gonna create a concept, create a feeling, or we say, like, it's a thing. That feels like a thing. So for us, I like the idea of tattoos, and I like the contrast of having tattoos on someone who, again, normally would be like, oh, that face should be like in a beauty shoot, or something like that, I wanted to create that contrast. So we're trying to use a beanie to facilitate the idea of this nautical life, the tattoos are also supposed to reference that. We're trying to use lipstick, first and foremost, because I think it's just kind of visually striking, and I like the contrast of that, and also because it's not what you would expect. And that's something that I always take joy in, is doing something that people don't expect. Whether it's like, if I'm directing, most of my work tends to be you're going down this road and then something happens and it goes in a completely different direction. And I try to do that visually with my photography as well. So, just really it's creating contrast, and creating a mood. And finally, I guess it goes back to how it feels. We talked a lot about trusting your gut and going off of a feeling, and we tried different colored hats, and different makeup, and jewelry, and tattoos, and it was just kind of getting into a place where it felt like this feels believable and exciting to me, and that's basically why. And I thought that was, you know, I got a little sneak peek into what that process was, and it's real time. These conversations about trying the different hats and the different styles of hair, I see you actually doing that in real time. It's not like everything is all laid out in advance, so that was really cool to see you guys all work together on that. And I don't, maybe some people could just know what they want and that works, but I'm clearly visual in one sense, but I'm visual in like the entire sense, like I don't know, really, until I see it. And so that's why I have to surround myself with options and just keep switching things in and out until something starts to click. Thank you. Where were we, what did we do, oh, we did makeup touch ups. All right, so. Hold it right there, don't move, that's perfect. That's good, that's good, that's good. Stay right there. Awesome. Don't move a thing but just kind of give me like slight... There we go. Perfect. Swivel your head this way. A little bit more, there we go. Good, good, good. Bring your head quite a bit more over, like 45, there we go, keep going, yeah. Let me see. Try bringing your shoulders this way, keep going a little bit more, yeah, ah, not quite that much, yeah, right there. And then bring your head kind of opposite, there we go, yeah. Lean towards me a little your ways. Tilt the top of your head, there we go, yeah. Again, and chin down slightly. There we go. Lips together. Bring your head back this way a little bit more, perfect. Look at this creeper back there, can you believe this guy? All right. Just had everyone what I'm dealing with here. There we go, perfect. All right, good. That's good, perfect. Drop, let's see. Drop your left shoulder a little bit like, there we go, yeah. There we go, good, good, good. So that's good, hold it right there, don't move, don't move. I like that expression. Just look past me, though. Look maybe a little bit closer to the camera, right there, that's good. Lips apart just a little bit, like you're trying to figure out what's out there. There we go. Is that his real hair? There we go, perfect. There we go, good, good, good, good, good. And then swivel your head back right there. I like that. Let's try... Not quite, I need to figure out, I need like a different balance, and I don't know what it is yet, so let me try to figure out. I think we're onto something, I just don't know. Maybe bring your shoulders a little bit more this way, right there, that's good, just like that. Great. Slightly with your right arm, just push it out a little bit, there we go, like right about there, that's great. Good, and look just past me, like right at my hand there. Great. Good, good. Yeah, I like that, that's nice, that's nice. Mouth open even a little more, like a little more concern. Kind of bite the inside of the corner of lip, yeah, there you go, hold it right there, just like that. Hold it right there, good, good, good. Okay, good. Oh, I like that. Let me have you actually keep shifting even further to that side, right there like that. And then hold it right there. We lost connection, yeah? Oh there we go, okay, excellent. All right, and then give me concern again for this one. Yeah, there we go, just like that, real subtle, I like that. And then eyes right at the camera, don't move the rest of your body. There we go, good, good, good, good. Same thing. Perfect. Push your, try not to move just your shoulder on your right side, push it back a little bit more. There we go, yep. Nice. That's perfect, I like that. Same thing, same thing. Hey, J-Pop. I feel like now that we're seeing her... Do you want a little dirt on the side of her cheek? Yeah. Hold on real quick, though. Is that? I want to, 'cause I am gonna go back, let me make sure if that's going to change things. Maybe that should be what we do at the end. (off mic and muffled) outside of her cheekbones, we wouldn't see it. Oh no, sorry, I wasn't talking about her cheek. I was actually talking about her shoulder. Well, I guess you're right, her cheek too, huh? Let's do that last, 'cause I actually wanna go back to the other side and it's perfect for that, so. So leave it? Let's leave it for now. So I'm gonna mark this and come back to it. There we go. All right, cool. Let's bring your shoulders back kind of a little bit back and to the side. J-Pop, could we, there's just like a couple little hairs that need some taming. Erin, you're outta control! Calm yourself! On the outside? Yeah. All right, yeah, really just those three right there. Focus is good. On the end of her nose, it's starting to get a little bit too hot coming from that. When she's leaning to the side? Yeah, exactly. Still like 248. So it's not blown out, but it's-- Not blown out yet. It's just getting-- Is there detail everywhere? Just needs to be watched. Okay. So, while we're waiting, can you grab the ones and, let's see, can you scroll through those for me? Oh, thank you. Okay, unmark that one. Unmark this one. Yeah, all right, cool, I like that one. Thank you, Ken. All right. Let's do a couple more here, then I'm gonna spend some more some more time straight on after this. So, look, I wanna try to get, get like a, like you've stared off into space kind of pose, so you're just kind of like wide eyes staring straight ahead and try to like, lose yourself in that position, probably looking right about here. There we go. And you can start me with your lips apart a little bit, just like totally in the zone. Out of curiosity, keeping your shoulders there, just totally swivel your head this direction for me. Hold it right there like that. Do we need to do something with the nose? Oh, we are good? Okay, okay. Just, like a centimeter can you slide back? Yeah, there we go, thanks. Good, good, good. Okay, cool, cool, cool. Tilt your head a little to your left, there we go, good. Lips together, eyes right at me. And try tilting your head back all the way, and then look off camera again. Not quite that far, head back a little bit. Or tilt your head down, and then tilt your head a little back more this way. There we go. Chin down a little bit. Right there. And then lips apart a little bit. There we go, spaced out, perfect. Eyes wide, a little wider. There we go, that's good, that's good. And let me see that judgment again. There we go, that famous judgment look. Good, good, good. All right, cool. All right, I'm gonna go back and just spend a little more time just like really stoic, square up towards me. Lean a little bit, yeah, there we go, and then head out slightly. There we go, perfect. All right. Right there. Let's see. Okay, perfect. Slightly swivel your head a little bit, there we go, good, good, good. And really push, can you try and push one eyebrow? There we go. And lips apart a little bit. There we go. That's good, hold it right there. And then kind of like bite the inside of your lip like, there we go, perfect, just like that. Yeah, there we go, good, good, good. Same thing, just like that. Try to push eyes wide, or a little wider, there we go. Can you try that, can you keep your lip like that, but try more anger in this shot? There we go. Might be hard to pull of, there we go. Stick your head out a little bit more towards me, swivel your head a little bit this way. All right, you can let go, you don't have to bite your lip for this one. Just, yeah, mouth open, perfect. Good, good, good. All right, I'm gonna reset. For this one, same composition, same thing, but I just want very skeptical kind of, a little more weight to it in terms of, yeah, there we go. Chin up a little. Swivel your head a little bit more. Maybe sitting up a little straighter. I feel like I wouldn't want to have you hunched over, it doesn't feel quite as strong. So I need to, think we need to keep that regal, stoic. But when you lean forward a little bit, kind of coming towards me helps a lot. So even a little bit more. There we go. Good, same thing, just like that. Perfect. Give me a little eyebrow business. Good, are you for real, very good. There we go, good, good, good, good. Perfect, chin up a little bit. There we go, good. Slightly tilt your head to the, there we go, nice, just like that. Lips apart a little bit, I like that. Even more, like you're about to say something. There we go, perfect. Are we about done with this photo shoot? There we go, head just like that. Perfect. Are we getting hot on the face now? Yeah, absolutely on her nose. So we should have her, I think we're having you lean forward too much, so maybe slide back a little to compensate again, and then we can now try leaning forward. Fix it and post, right? So. Did we come forward that much? 'Cause it still feels really hot. Can you compare that to the one, one star? So this is kind of an example of we talked about technical light versus, this is kind of what I'm talking about where little tiny movements, you kind of have to balance, like you lose kind of that flow when you do this. In this particular case, I'm willing to do it 'cause I have the time and it's one person, and I don't have to achieve like five different looks, so I'm willing to take the time and work through it, but certainly it would be easier if we had a bigger light that was more forgiving, and we wouldn't have to stop this many times. And we will use light like that in some of the other sets, but those would also give a different look, and so I wanted a lot more drama in this shot, so that's why I decided to use these lights. But you get a lot of this kind of finicking around when you do that. Okay, so we're not actually too far off. All right, let's do a couple more. I feel like we're almost there. I really like, is that the most recent one we did? Yeah, this is probably the most recent. Okay, cool, I like that too. Can you pull up the ones one more time? I just, I really like, the first one, but I wanna make sure that, there we go. Oh that's, okay. I still love this one, so, okay. So right there, try to, I want to try to accentuate your collarbones a little bit, so I think, how do we do that? Shoulders, oh, there we go, yeah, maybe pull them back a little bit more, right there, there we go, perfect. Good, good, good. And just real relaxed for this one, and we'll build back into it. I wanna get a simple one. Yeah, you can maybe pull back a little bit more. Or less collarbone I guess, I don't, I've never actually asked for more collarbone. It's like more cow bell. Ah, there we go, that's good, just like that. Perfect. So now bring your head a little bit this way, there we go. Drop your right shoulder, just, there we go, perfect. Lean towards me just an inch, there we go, good, good, good. And give me a real judgmental look here. There we go. Good, good, good. There we go. All right, now judge Ken. There we go, perfect. (laughs) Just kidding. (off mic and muffled) Ken, come on, man. Don't ruin this, Ken. I like to throw crew members under the bus as much as possible. There we go. That's perfect, that's good, that's good. Yeah, that's great, hold it right there, I like this a lot. Good, good, good, good, good. Push it even more, like 10% more judgmental. Now with 10% more judgment! There we go. Swivel your head a little bit more right there, just like that, that's good. Perfect, hold it right there. Lips together. All right, I'm gonna try to, I want that same kind of attitude, but I want to try to keep it very structured, so sitting up again, head as high as possible, out a little bit towards me, chin down, there we go, that's good. Swivel your head a little, there we go, good. Perfect. Lips apart a little bit. There, just like that. Can you do one eyebrow up a little higher? There we go, great. Perfect, these are great, I love that. Good, good, good, good, good.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

Keatley Keynote Presentation
Casting for Nautical Shoot Video

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

What an amazing show. I'm so happy that I could be a part of it. It was so great to see John at work and in his element. I learned so much from watching his process from beginning to ending. So many questions have been answered. I feel more confident, to get myself out there and create and make work that comes out from my imagination. I will definitely be keeping a journal/notebook with me at all times. I would also like to suggest that we have another course for John Cornicello, home studio. I'm curious to see what John is working on in his studio.

Doppio Studio
 

It's amazing to watch and understand how this great creative professional work. There's a lot to learn about with his production process. For me, that lives in Brazil, is a major opportunity to enjoy this class.

Vitamin Dee
 

Wow! There's just so much great information in this class. If you've ever wondered what it takes to produce an environmental portrait, this is the class for you! John did a superb job of taking us step-by-step through his process. From model casting to set building, lighting setups to culling; it's all here. He even wraps up the class with next steps and how to put it all together. He gives the knowledge so you can take it to a place you can create your own magic!

Student Work

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