| 00:00 | Well, here we are and we are looking at our
shoot from the other day and this is a lot of fun.
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| 00:06 | I love this part, where you get to
really look at your shots and kind of figure
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| 00:10 | out what you did and how it turned out.
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| 00:13 | So, we did four different techniques.
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| 00:16 | We just shot with the regular camera right here.
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| 00:19 | Exposure was set to Program.
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| 00:22 | Metering was set to Evaluative.
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| 00:23 | We didn't do anything fancy and
the camera did a pretty good job.
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| 00:28 | It's amazing how well these
cameras render pictures these days.
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| 00:32 | In the old days using filaments and so
forth, I guarantee that my camera would
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| 00:37 | not have done as well as this Canon 5D
Mark II did on this shoot right here.
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| 00:43 | But there is room for improvement.
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| 00:45 | So that's why we also tried Spot-Metering mode.
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| 00:49 | So, this next set of shots right here, we
used Spot-Metering and there is a difference.
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| 00:54 | At first you might not notice it, but
we're going to take a closer look and
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| 00:57 | I will show there are some real differences
between Evaluative-Metering and Spot-Metering.
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| 01:03 | After we did that, then we tried
using a reflector and that's this next set
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| 01:08 | of shots right here.
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| 01:10 | We had a white photo disc and we were
actually balancing light up into the
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| 01:14 | Denise's face and it gives us another look.
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| 01:18 | There are some pros and cons to this and
I am going to cover those in just a second.
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| 01:22 | Then finally we used Fill-Flash and that
is this bottom row right here, where we
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| 01:27 | forgot about the reflector and
everything else and we mounted a flash on our
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| 01:31 | bracket and we used Fill-Flash to
balance the light between the background and
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| 01:37 | her hair and on her face.
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| 01:40 | So let's take a closer look and let's
see what the subtle and maybe not so
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| 01:45 | subtle differences are among
these four different techniques.
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| 01:49 | So here we are in Evaluative-
Metering mode and again, what the camera is
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| 01:54 | doing is reviewing the entire scene and then
trying to give us the best exposure possible.
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| 02:00 | I think it's done a pretty good job.
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| 02:02 | If we move in closer, let me just go
up to 100% here, we see that we are not
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| 02:07 | dramatically underexposed on the face.
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| 02:10 | The eyes are not as bright as they
could be, but they are also not bad.
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| 02:15 | Now we will notice a real
difference when we use Spot-Metering also.
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| 02:19 | So, let me put that up side by side here.
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| 02:22 | Here we go in Spot-Metering mode and
right away just even at this level here,
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| 02:28 | you notice that the tones here on
the face are a little bit brighter.
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| 02:33 | Now if we move in closer, another
thing you're going to notice is that
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| 02:36 | there's less texture.
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| 02:38 | All right, look at those. Do you see?
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| 02:41 | They actually have less texture.
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| 02:43 | It's more pleasing and the
eyes are definitely brighter.
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| 02:47 | So, we told the camera, look, forget
about everything else and just really
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| 02:52 | expose for the skin tones.
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| 02:53 | It gives us a different look and I
think in all honesty, it gives us a better look
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| 02:59 | than this shooting right
out of the can, as you would say.
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| 03:03 | Now the one thing about Spot-Metering is
that you can vary depending on conditions.
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| 03:09 | So sometimes using Spot-Metering,
we're just going off the skin tones here,
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| 03:14 | the background can get very bright.
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| 03:16 | It can blow out, so it depends, but it's
a good technique to know and definitely
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| 03:22 | a good technique to practice, because
some conditions, this one for example,
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| 03:26 | I thought it was very affective.
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| 03:29 | Okay, now let's see.
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| 03:32 | We have a reflector along with this and
we have some of the holder, which is an
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| 03:36 | important when using a reflector.
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| 03:38 | You need someone to
actually position it for you.
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| 03:41 | In this case, here is a good reflector shot.
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| 03:44 | Let's take a closer look at it.
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| 03:46 | I think that bouncing light off a
reflector gives us a very natural look.
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| 03:53 | It's sort of in between Spot-
Metering and doing nothing at all.
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| 03:59 | I think it's very pleasing.
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| 04:00 | Now I am going to show you
a little tip for right here.
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| 04:02 | We are going to zoom in.
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| 04:05 | One of the things that you can tell
when you are looking at your pictures and
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| 04:09 | trying to figure out what lighting you
may have used, just look in the eyes.
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| 04:13 | You can actually see the reflection of
the reflector right here is off to the
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| 04:18 | right side and there it is right there.
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| 04:21 | Now, you look at the skin tones.
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| 04:22 | They look pretty good, and I
think they look very natural also.
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| 04:27 | Now, let's compare it.
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| 04:28 | For example, let's pull up
here a Spot-Metered shot.
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| 04:35 | She has a similar expression
here, so we will go with this one.
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| 04:38 | All right, so let's take a
look at these side by side.
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| 04:44 | Here is our reflector, right here.
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| 04:46 | There is our spot-meter right here.
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| 04:49 | So, let's zoom in and see
what the differences are.
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| 04:53 | Here's our reflection and you can
see that right there in the eyes.
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| 04:57 | Here's our spot-meter, so we don't
really have anything reflecting in the eyes.
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| 05:01 | You can see that the tones from the
reflector are a little bit more natural,
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| 05:06 | not quite as bright.
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| 05:07 | Remember one of the things that I talked
about out in the field is that when you
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| 05:14 | use Spot-Metering, sometimes it will
make the skin tones a little too bright, or
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| 05:19 | depending on the model maybe a little too dark.
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| 05:22 | So, it's something that you want to try
and even sometimes you have to play with.
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| 05:27 | Remember when I talked about
Exposure Compensation when using the
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| 05:30 | Spot-Meter, where you might want to
go +1 to make things brighter or -1 to
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| 05:35 | make things a little bit darker.
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| 05:37 | So, you have to kind of keep that in mind.
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| 05:39 | Sometimes you have to play with Spot
-Metering, whereas I think with the
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| 05:42 | reflector, out of the can I think you
just get sort of a more natural look.
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| 05:47 | It's something that I think is very
nice, but it has some down sides too.
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| 05:51 | Let's talk about those for a second.
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| 05:53 | Let's just focus on this shot
right here, this reflector shot.
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| 05:57 | We will bring it up.
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| 05:58 | Reflector shots require usually someone
to hold the reflector, so that's another
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| 06:04 | person that you may or may not have with you.
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| 06:07 | Now, you can use the ground or
other surfaces, but then that's
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| 06:12 | different positioning.
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| 06:14 | So, normally when you say reflector, you
need an assistant to help you with that.
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| 06:18 | The other thing is that light that's
coming off the reflector is bright.
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| 06:23 | It's really bright.
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| 06:24 | You will notice that you can
start to see that in the model's eyes.
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| 06:27 | If the model is sensitive to bright light,
they may start to squint a little bit
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| 06:33 | and sometimes they will even tear up.
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| 06:34 | So, it's not as comfortable for the
model as some of the other techniques that
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| 06:39 | we have talked about.
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| 06:40 | Now let's compare that let's say to
Fill-Flash which we have right down here.
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| 06:46 | So here's a Fill-Flash shot right here
and we will just take a quick look at that.
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| 06:53 | Now, look at the Fill-Flash and look how
her eyes are open. Her face seems more relaxed.
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| 07:00 | If we zoom in, we can
actually see the difference.
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| 07:02 | See how Fill-Flash gives us a different
look right there in the eyes and we get
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| 07:07 | the pinpoint from the flash.
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| 07:09 | But you will also see that Fill-Flash
causes more reflection on the face here.
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| 07:14 | So we have sort of these spectral
highlights right here, a little bit on the forehead.
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| 07:19 | Those may not bother you.
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| 07:21 | Some people will want to touch them up.
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| 07:24 | It's sort of up to you, but it is
definitely a look that comes with Fill-Flash.
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| 07:29 | Now if we compare her eyes here to
let's say right here where we used the
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| 07:34 | reflector, you will see that
they are definitely more open.
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| 07:38 | Here she is closing them down a
little bit, because that light is bright.
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| 07:42 | So the advantages of Fill-Flash of
course are that you don't need an assistant
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| 07:48 | and that it is easier on the model.
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| 07:51 | The disadvantage I think is
that it's not quite as natural.
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| 07:55 | Remember even here, I dialed it back to
-1 right on the flash exposure to render
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| 08:04 | a more natural look and you can
still tell that it's Fill-Flash.
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| 08:08 | It's not a bad look, but it's a different look.
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| 08:11 | So we have all of these options to
consider when we are thinking about these shots.
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| 08:17 | Again, right here is our reflector shot.
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| 08:19 | Here is our Fill-Flash shot.
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| 08:22 | So the four techniques that we have
available to us when we are out working in
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| 08:27 | this bright exciting light is of
course just let the camera go its own way as
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| 08:33 | we have right here.
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| 08:34 | Those shots are pretty good.
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| 08:37 | Then we have Spot-Metering where we just
go ahead and measure right off the skin
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| 08:42 | and sometimes you have to play
with Spot-Metering a little bit.
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| 08:45 | Then we have a reflector and I think
reflector renders very nice shots, but
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| 08:49 | you need an assistant and it can
be hard on your model's eyes.
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| 08:54 | Then of course we have a Fill-Flash,
which allows you to work very quickly.
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| 08:58 | That's why event photographers love
Fill-Flash because they can work by
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| 09:02 | themselves and they can work fast and
it's not very irritating to the model's eyes.
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| 09:08 | I would like it if you
practice all four techniques.
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| 09:12 | You might want to start with just the
metering right out of the can, take a
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| 09:16 | look at the LCD, and then try these
other techniques, adjust with the lighting,
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| 09:21 | adjust with the model and see what you
come up with and I'm actually positive
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| 09:26 | you are going to come up with some
beautiful shots that I hope that you will
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| 09:29 | share with all of us.
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