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Shoot: Greenroom Solo

Lesson 9 from: Taking the Fear Out Of Low Light Photography

Jared Polin

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Lesson Info

9. Shoot: Greenroom Solo

Lesson Info

Shoot: Greenroom Solo

I am in the hallway and I have to observe I'm going to put the camera down um oops almost broke something I'm putting this down for the time being because I have to figure out how I want to shoot here before I even get to thinking about my settings the first thing I see is a big ugly exit sign in the background. Well, I'm going to probably use larry's head to block the exit sign or this is where that level thing comes into play, that point of view that we just talked about if I'm down lower goodbye exit sign and if larry gets closer to me, I'm going to direct him away I'm going to direct where I want him, but I have to get rid of that exit sign because I don't want him to have mickey mouse ears with the emergency lights hold on, I gotta get to do this. My hair feels not a lot of poofy and so I got to get it poofy, but so so, larry, I'm just gonna direct you. I like the way that this looks. I like the light looks good. You picked a good place. We've got some reflections off this wall it...

could be good in black and white you look great, awesome, right? Just think of mind craft so fourteen to twenty four in the hallway maybe not so much. I kind of want to compress the background. What are you looking at with that? And you were just pointed in the wrong spot. I could make the camera guy left, maybe don't turn off the camera, got to keep reminding myself. I'm gonna break out the seventy two, two hundred here because I want to compress the background. I want to get rid of that sign. Which means I want to shoot around two point eight rule of thumb usually turn off your camera when you switch lenses and keep it pointed down. I know people are asking earlier, so I worry about dust in my camera. Honestly, I just kept it on and change lenses, so I don't worry too much about it. My goal is to get the photo right on. And if that means that I need the change lenses, I'm not afraid to do that whatsoever in the hallway. It is brighter than in the, uh I almost called it the dark room, but it's the green room. I don't know that I want to get five thousand go to thirty two hundred. If I'm guessing I'm going to be, you know. Let's try one sixteenth of a second but it would also help if I looked at the meter, which is getting thrown off also go to four thousand based off of my meter larry just that's perfect! Just relax I'm going to go into I'm going to stay in single focus and I want to show you something guys while I'm testing this out we have that photo you can see the exit sign I also see a blue light coming in from another another room I think that's from the red bull refrigerator so the exposure isn't tremendous on here we got the tether working correct just so that everybody seeing what I'm looking at yeah, this is not one it's terrible composition because that's what the exit sign looks like the exposure is a little off I'm at three, two and one sixtieth I'm going to go toe let's do sixty four hundred because I don't really want to drop too much slower even with the v r on s o that's one full stop a light and I'm gonna go down the one twenty one one twenty fifth of a second and I just broke the rule that I just talked to you guys about about not changing two things at once but I have a feel for how I want this to happen lower angle on love the way that his shoes look blocking well, he has those those rabbit ears but not rabbit now your ears are fine I didn't mean your ears I meant the take one step towards me. Perfect. I think you know now you look like you have bullets coming out of your ears. No, you stay right there out of your neck like frankenstein, but no, I'm I'm sitting down because that's going to told you this point of view blocked it. What I need you to do is take one more half step towards me because I see a light in the back actually take that half step back because I'm going to take the picture bad so that people can learn from it we have this bright light over his head one of the one of the uh yeah, well, yeah, what? My exposure is good now but that bright light over the top of his head I want to block that and in order to block that I'm going to utilize I'm just gonna have larry move a little closer it's me right there boom perfect boom pop bang the goes the drum or something so you're making larry laugh this looks good and I think I like the halo now that's popping out from the background that's cool, this could be a cool black and white and uh it may not be a terrible color either on I see in one frame that I got a little bit of that doorframe in there and the other I didn't. So that looks cool as well. I love his shoes. I want to go. I may need to get to the twenty four to seventy. So now, moving to get my angles better. I love there's a shadow boom. We got that going. I mean, this is stuff that if you're in with the band now, ignore the wire that's on the floor, because that normally wouldn't be there. But this is a cool little band shot. There's not I mean, not banned. Shot of larry, but it's a cool shot because it's something a little different? Uh, just keep looking this way. Boom. Cross your arms for me. I like the way you look when you do that. Boom. Okay. So instead of asking him to move, I'm moving that your head's fine. I'm just using I'm blocking that light behind you. And I'm going to show you these. But there's, my no cropping thing. I took three pictures. One was wider. One was more medium one was a little tighter. Here, check it out later. I can't go that far because my tether pretty cool, so yeah, and in that halo isn't that bad back there that kind of separates you from the background which is pretty cool so I keep doing that I want to work I want to work a little more with this uh uh see I'm always looking up I'm looking at the ceiling I'm I'm just looking at the environment that I'm in definitely wanted back I'm just going back a couple feet oops too god it sounds good uh yeah well I look I look how tight this looks and by tight I mean it's it's thick the raw files going to be really nice to work with you very shallow depth of field because the hallway doesn't look great but we're really making it look cool so what I'm gonna do it put your back against I'm going to put you back up against the wall you do that well because that what that's going to do perfect now the one thing that I need to keep in mind is I have the door jam the metal thing is coming out but I'm gonna back up a little bit maybe us now do it just go with it should does everybody at home want me to switch to hit thirty three hundred now we could do something about it so I'll leave the gopro here so it can watch me I'll break out of the thirty three hundred and I can still use there's nothing against the rules that says jared don't use the twenty four to seventy two eight because you have it so I'm going to put that lens on here generally speaking, you're not going to find too many people that have a d thirty three hundred with a twenty four to seventy but there's nothing against the rules that says you can't do it uh the exit sign is going to be really strong out here, so I'm at two point eight now when I was a three, two or three four go to three five but sixty four hundred s so I don't have the are in this lens, but it's now front heavy really front heavy let's see how those settings look a little a little hot so I can drop my eyes so if I want I can bump my shutter speed up, I'm not going to be able to really blow out of focus the exit sign, but it looks like because it's a little over exposed we're getting rid of it I'm going to actually what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna drop my I s o two thirty, two hundred so one full stop there and I think I can get away with going to an eightieth of a second and still get some cool shots and I'm keeping my level straight I almost leaned against the wall, but I didn't like it see, I don't like that composition on my part, but I'm going to come back over here so this is how I'm getting rid of the exit sign locking in re composing, focusing in on the closest I'd to me and then and then getting it I'll show the camera that time we had a blinking mk blinker seuin that worked out so now that the setting is basically right, I can focus in here on shooting on for anybody wondering what the settings were I could just spit him out again one eightieth of a second it have three point five thirty two hundred s o so any camera out there on the market today you're gonna have no problem doing that and I met three five so the kit lens is going to be there three, five and eighteen also, I should show you right it's all right, it's not the greatest shot, but we're going to feel it out so keep doing that arms crossed and I love this actually, I love that you stood on this wall. The color that we're getting from this door is a great separation industry right here you've got the green, the brown, the green yes oh, that that's cool, nice separation yeah that's good, lean your head back just a little bit ago contemplating oh, you like smiling well, smiling is a good thing and I missed that but uh thinking put your head back you're looking basically straight across your this is the contemplated why am I in the hallway? Why did the ben put me out here? Uh I'm gonna I think I'm gonna work with the lights that air here because if these are the lights that I have I like that it creates a natural line leaving lines and the exit sign is what it is is part of this scene so I really I'm feeling an ultra wide angle here of larry right here I'm going back up this way just a little bit oh yeah there we go yeah right here they'll do that don't move what you just had straight against the wall you were looking at the wall again now you're looking straight ahead there you go this is cool it is a little johnny cash esque if I might say so myself you know so it's not terrible it's not too far off the same thing the way that I can compress the background even more do you mind? I'm news can get right here I'm just gonna zoom out a little more with this because you're going to compress the background a lot more the further out you go on the zoom range and that exit signs sucks but it is they're so yeah that and then here's the results I'm gonna make you do something really weird. Now, if that's okay, put your hands against the wall. But one on each side because yes, star was you're holding up the compactor? Uh, aereo all cool on blocking his head right here on I love the shadow on the ground a little on the dark side oh, my god. Did anybody catch that one? It's a little on the dark side that's, right? We're just talking about star wars. So because it's on the dark side, I'm going to go to fiftieth of a second from eightieth. And this is nice, actually, like what's going on behind his head there. And as you can hear, I'm zooming in a bunch of different ways. And because he's spread out like that with his hands, I'm using that light up there to block it. Boom. Coming in tighter, making sure I don't cut off his fingers and then that's the result, larry, go ahead, take a break. You look good. Look at this. D thirty three hundred. Right it's about the glass. Glass, class, class, class, class where you won't see it. There you go. Russ. Come. Hit me with some questions, please. Well, you want to go back into the room? Yeah, let's, go back in the room. Just a couple of minor final questions here. Then we have photo new? Do you also include details? Sharp shots is part of telling a story about the backstage. Are you taking pictures of instruments? If they're lying around? Absolutely drinks anything that helps tell the story it? For example, if we had a guitar sitting here on the on the table and you focused on the guitar and the guitar, so happen to be sitting in the background? Well, your focus, maybe a two point eight is on the guitar, and you're blowing out the guitarist in the background out of focus. Well, that right there is a great detailed shot because it's, like, hey that's that's their guitar and they're out of focus in the background if there's I love when the guitar picture on the table or there's passes on the table where there's somebody's wallet with money and that just adds to a scene. So absolutely, I'm always looking for the scenes, the static shots of of what's going on around there, not just the people, and also I don't forget about the crew, a good way to get in with a band is knowing the crew, um just don't trade passes for certain things with certain band members and the crew members because they're always looking for the wrong thing, but not always. Sometimes I have a lot of crew friends, but it's just run through the one run through your mind. What is the photo story? What did the things that present themselves that I can capture in here? We have the candids of the band, we have this stuff in the hallway, we don't have much gear sitting around here, so there's not a lot of detailed shots and we can get, but there could have been sound check that we could have photographed there's the load in during the day if you get there early, well band is loading in, maybe they'll let you walk in the back door with them if you're going to take some photos and that's that's all possibilities, but this is all low light situation that that translates whether you have a birthday party with a kid indoors on dh, you just have the candles were kind of in a candle like the environment right now, that is very similar to a kid blowing out a birthday cake, so all of this stuff translates e know we're sitting here talking about music and they know we're sitting here shooting the stage stuff, but it doesn't it it translates to everything else in photography. So if you understand it here, you just take it and you understand it there. And I think that actually is a perfect sentiment to kind of end this day on because that's, exactly what it's all about. We taught you a lot of segment or a lot of techniques here, a lot of things to keep in mind and approaches to take and it's not just applicable to bands. It's not just applicable to concerts there. Many situations where light is changing rapidly and you have to go deal with that, their situations where the subject might be jumping around and might not, and you need to be ready for that. Talk about a kid's birthday party, you know, basically, they couldn't get up there, and we have ah, toddler coming in for one of the chutes in a nursery scene. It's not the normal thing that I do, but when I when you shoot candid, they all become the same, whether it's, a musician or a mother and a child.

Ratings and Reviews

Rusty Shinault
 

I'm a huge fan of Jared Polin; love his humorous and relaxed style of teaching. I love that he's passionate about photography, and that he is willing to share his experiences, opinions, and knowledge. I really enjoy Creative Live classes, and really enjoyed watching Jared teach in front of a live class. Hope to see more of Jared teaching on your platform.

user cf5d2d
 

Jared did not disappoint! He shared his knowledge of composition, exposure, and capturing the moment - all while engaging his audience and keeping things light and fun. I absolutely LOVE when how he sets up his equipment so that we can see each snapshot he takes, and then tells us why it's a good shot or why it's not a keeper. It's so easy to learn that way. I'm a second grade teacher (a.k.a. an educator) who, thanks to Jared can call myself a photographer. Jared is a photographer who is also a great educator!

a Creativelive Student
 

I've seen a few CreativeLive sessions and this was one of the best. It was very unique and engaging I liked the onsite shooting and review and critique. I have done teaching and I know how hard it is to teach WHILE you are doing and I think Jared did a great job of balancing that. I'm quite familiar with his FroKnowsPhoto podcast and website so I knew what to expect and both HE and CreativeLive EXCEEDED my expectations. Thanks much also for letting him use use studio for Raw Talk on the Road (my suggested name for it), I could see a real opportunity for CL to provide access to their facilities for others wanting to record training, etc.

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