IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 | I am Derrick Story, and welcome
to Photo Assignment: Group Shots.
| | 00:08 | This is a situation we find ourselves in
all the time where we have a group of people,
| | 00:12 | they want a photograph, and you're
the person that's going to take it.
| | 00:15 | So why not get the best shot possible?
| | 00:18 | I'm going to show you how to use
flashes and modifiers so that technically
| | 00:23 | the shot looks good.
| | 00:24 | I am also going to show you how to
position the subjects of your shot so that
| | 00:28 | you have a nice composition.
| | 00:31 | Also, we have a Flickr public group
set up so that when you practice your
| | 00:35 | shots, you can share them with other
people and you can see the work that other
| | 00:39 | folks are doing also.
| | 00:41 | I'm really looking forward to showing
you some of the things that I've learned
| | 00:44 | over the years in this photo assignment, group shots.
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1. Gearing Up Understanding the flash| 00:01 | I'm going to talk about flash for a
moment because flash is very helpful when
| | 00:04 | you're taking group shots.
| | 00:05 | A lot of people think of this little
flash here is the end-all to their flash
| | 00:09 | world, but actually, I like bigger flashes.
| | 00:11 | I like these detachable flashes,
and there are a couple reasons why.
| | 00:15 | One is you can modify the light
with a simple modifier such as this Rogue
| | 00:19 | Lightbender here or this Gary Fong Lightsphere.
| | 00:24 | I can move the flash around, so I
can position it in different places.
| | 00:28 | I can have it on the camera, or I can
put it on a light stand here and use the
| | 00:33 | modifiers like this.
| | 00:35 | Here we have a professional umbrella.
| | 00:37 | Now, a lot of people think that you
have to have all sorts of expensive
| | 00:41 | equipment to do these
types of shots; you don't.
| | 00:44 | I'm going to show you how to use
just regular little flashes and little
| | 00:48 | modifiers to get professional results
without a ton of professional equipment.
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| Modifying the flash| 00:01 | I'm going to talk about light modifiers for
a moment, and there is a very good reason.
| | 00:05 | When we shoot with direct flash, you
notice here that this area is very small.
| | 00:09 | Now, the problem is when you have
light coming out of a small area like this,
| | 00:13 | it's harsh, and that's not the most flattering
light for any type of portrait or group shot.
| | 00:19 | So what we want to do is make that
light bigger, and the best way to do that is
| | 00:22 | use some type of modifier.
| | 00:24 | Now, I have a couple here
that I want to show you.
| | 00:27 | This first one here, this is a
Rogue Lightbender. It's kind of fun.
| | 00:31 | It just attaches to flash.
| | 00:33 | It will work on just about any
type of flash. It uses Velcro.
| | 00:36 | I won't rip it for you, but you get the
idea. And you can shape the direction of
| | 00:41 | the light with this bendable
white surface here. Works very good.
| | 00:46 | Now, when you're in a big hurry it
might not be the best choice, because
| | 00:50 | sometimes you want to fiddle with
it to get that light just right.
| | 00:53 | So when you want to work quickly, a
fun tool is this Gary Fong Lightsphere.
| | 00:57 | Now, it throws light everywhere, but
the good news is that it's very soft.
| | 01:02 | So you get a flattering
light and you can work quickly.
| | 01:05 | We also have an umbrella here and
these are tried-and-true methods of
| | 01:10 | portraits and group shots.
| | 01:11 | The thing about the umbrella is that these
are sort of large and unwieldy to carry around,
| | 01:16 | so instead we can use these smaller modifiers.
| | 01:20 | They come in a variety of sizes.
| | 01:23 | And in our photo shoot I'm going to
show you how to use all of them, so you can
| | 01:26 | decide which is the right one for you.
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| Using a bracket for handheld shots| 00:01 | You may be wondering what this
medieval-looking device is here on my camera.
| | 00:05 | This is actually a flash bracket, and there
are some cases where it comes in very handy.
| | 00:11 | A lot of times when people use
direct flash they have the flash mounted
| | 00:14 | right on the camera here.
| | 00:16 | Now, after I have done all this
wonderful talk about modifiers, you may be
| | 00:19 | wondering why I am talking about direct flash.
| | 00:22 | Well, there are times when you need all
the power that your flash can give you.
| | 00:27 | For instance, when you put a modifier on,
it does a great job of softening the
| | 00:30 | light, but it also uses some of the light.
| | 00:33 | So if I am outdoor shooting an outdoor
portrait and I am using flash as a fill
| | 00:37 | light, or I am trying to
cover a big area indoors,
| | 00:40 | I want all the power that
I can get with the flash.
| | 00:43 | Now, when you have the flash on the
camera, that creates a couple of problems.
| | 00:48 | One is, in a darkened room it will
produce red-eye, because people's eyes
| | 00:52 | dilate a little bit and the light bounces off
the inside of the eye and right into the lens.
| | 00:58 | By moving the flash up off the camera,
that moves that reflection down and the
| | 01:02 | camera doesn't pick it up, so you'll
never get red-eye with a flash bracket.
| | 01:06 | The other thing that it does is
that it moves the shadows down.
| | 01:09 | When the flash is close to the lens,
you're going to get that outlined shadow
| | 01:13 | when a person is up against the wall.
This moves it down and a little bit out of frame.
| | 01:19 | Now, this is a neat bracket in that it
is a flip bracket, and the thing that I
| | 01:23 | like about it is that when I am
shooting horizontally, the flash is above the
| | 01:27 | lens. And then when I go vertically, I
just flip the bracket like this, and it's
| | 01:32 | still above the lens.
| | 01:34 | And then when I come back,
there we go, just like that.
| | 01:38 | So as I said before, I am not a huge
fan of direct flash. Sometimes I have to
| | 01:43 | use it, so I carry a bracket and a
dedicated cord for those times when I need
| | 01:49 | to use direct flash.
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| Using a light stand and bracket for bigger groups| 00:00 | I've invited our aluminum assistant
to help us on this next shoot here.
| | 00:05 | This is a light stand, and I
have the flash mounted on that.
| | 00:10 | Now, there are a couple of instances
when I like using the light stand, mainly
| | 00:13 | when I'm going to be at an event--for
instance, a wedding or a birthday party,
| | 00:18 | something like that where I am in one location.
| | 00:20 | It's literally like an extra set of hands.
| | 00:23 | For a couples shot, for example, I can
have the couple here and I can move the
| | 00:28 | light off to the sides.
It's very flattering.
| | 00:31 | A group shot, I may want to move the
stand closer to me and raise it up a bit,
| | 00:36 | like this, and then that way I can get the
light coming down on the group. Again, very handy.
| | 00:43 | It would be very hard to
hold the camera up and do that.
| | 00:46 | Speaking of the camera,
let's pop this open right now.
| | 00:49 | This is a Canon 60D.
| | 00:51 | It has the ability to control this
flash from right here, this little guy here.
| | 00:56 | So they can wirelessly
communicate with one another,
| | 00:59 | so all I have to have is the camera
and this flash here on a light stand.
| | 01:04 | Now, I can use this little light here as
a fill light to put a little twinkle in
| | 01:09 | the eyes as we say, a little additional light.
| | 01:11 | It's not the main light.
| | 01:12 | This is doing the heavy lifting
here, but this gives me a little
| | 01:16 | extra illumination.
| | 01:18 | Now, if I want to, if I need a little
bit more power, I can push this down and I
| | 01:24 | can actually put a shoe mount flash on here.
| | 01:27 | A number of shoe mount flashes allow me to
control the off-camera flash and this flash both.
| | 01:34 | So now even though I only have one set
of hands, I am controlling two lights.
| | 01:38 | So you can see that having a light
stand like this literally is an extra set of
| | 01:44 | hands when you are on location.
| | 01:45 | We're going to put it to good
use when we do our group shots.
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2. Taking the PicturesShooting couples indoors| 00:01 | One of the most common group shots you'll
ever have to take are what we call couple shots.
| | 00:05 | Now they don't have to be an actual couple;
| | 00:07 | they can be any two people.
| | 00:09 | In this case, we have a real couple.
| | 00:12 | How are you guys doing today? Doing great?
| | 00:14 | And I'm going to be thinking about a few
things before I ever lift the camera up to my eye.
| | 00:20 | I am going to be thinking about background.
| | 00:22 | I am going to be thinking
about position and lighting.
| | 00:26 | Now this is very important to actually
look at your shot before you take a photo.
| | 00:31 | Now as I am looking at the shot, one of
the things that I'm noticing are those
| | 00:35 | distracting hats in the background.
| | 00:38 | So I'm going to take a shot of that
right now, so you can see and be as annoyed
| | 00:42 | as me with this background element.
| | 00:45 | Then we will remove them, and then
you can see what improvement it makes.
| | 00:49 | Now something else that I'm
noticing as I look at our couple here,
| | 00:52 | they're a little nervous, right?
| | 00:54 | They're kind of standing straight.
| | 00:56 | They're wondering what I
am going to do with them.
| | 00:58 | Well, I am going to do a couple of things.
| | 01:00 | One of them, I am going to move them
together, and then I am going to angle them a bit.
| | 01:04 | That will make for a better composition.
| | 01:06 | So I am coming over.
| | 01:09 | Now the one thing I want to do is
I want to angle Tom just a bit like
| | 01:13 | this, angle his shoulder.
| | 01:14 | I usually don't like when people are
parallel to the camera, and just yeah, move
| | 01:18 | your feet, good, like that.
| | 01:20 | And Sally, how are you doing?
| | 01:21 | I am going to move you close right here,
excellent, and then have you both look
| | 01:26 | at the camera, good.
| | 01:27 | Now, I want to tighten up the space here.
| | 01:29 | This negative space really is
accentuated in the photograph, so we want to have as
| | 01:33 | little of this as possible.
| | 01:35 | Just get people to mush together.
| | 01:37 | Let's take a look at this. Yes, much nicer.
| | 01:41 | So I am going to take a photograph now.
| | 01:43 | We're going to leave the
distracting background element in there.
| | 01:46 | Good, just like that, nice.
And we're doing pretty good.
| | 01:54 | Now lighting is the third element.
| | 01:56 | I'm going to talk about that in a
second after I get rid of those hats.
| | 02:00 | All right, the hats must go. So here we go.
| | 02:06 | So I am just getting rid of the hat.
| | 02:10 | Now sometimes you can't move the
background, so then you have to move the people.
| | 02:14 | So, either you move the subjects or
move the background element, but something
| | 02:18 | has got to give so that you have
as clean a background as possible.
| | 02:21 | We're going to take another
shot here without the hats.
| | 02:26 | Okay, here we go, just like this. Smile, nice!
| | 02:31 | Look right into the camera, very good.
| | 02:34 | You may notice that I'm taking more
than one shot and that's because I have
| | 02:38 | more than one person.
| | 02:40 | Sally may blink on one shot,
Tom may blink on another.
| | 02:43 | I want to make sure that I have a
photograph where both are looking good.
| | 02:48 | Now let's get to the lighting part.
| | 02:50 | I have a FlashBender on a
light stand here like this.
| | 02:55 | If I have time, I like to
have the lighting off camera.
| | 02:59 | That allows me to control it a little
bit better, kind of create a little bit of
| | 03:03 | depth to the shot. And then
I have my Pop-Up Flash here.
| | 03:09 | This is serving as a fill light.
| | 03:10 | Now this is a Canon 60D and it has the
ability to control this flash from here.
| | 03:17 | So I actually have a two-light set up,
even though I only have one external flash.
| | 03:22 | This is the main light, this is the fill light,
and the effect is actually quite pleasing.
| | 03:30 | Now if you don't have time to set
something up like this, or you don't
| | 03:34 | happen to have a light stand
available, then I am going to show you an
| | 03:38 | on-camera solution.
| | 03:41 | Now you may have noticed that I
said time. Time is important.
| | 03:45 | You need to prepare a little
bit in order to get a good shot.
| | 03:49 | Last-minute photos are usually only last
minute because you wait until the last
| | 03:53 | minute to take the shot.
| | 03:54 | Spend 5 or 10 minutes to get
ready before you take the photo.
| | 03:58 | That's why I have all the
stuff ready to go here. Okay.
| | 04:02 | So now we're going to use on-camera flash.
| | 04:07 | This is a Gary Fong Lightsphere.
| | 04:09 | It diffuses the light.
| | 04:11 | The thing that you don't want to do if
you're doing on-camera flash is point the
| | 04:16 | flash right at them with no diffusion.
| | 04:18 | It's a very harsh light
and it's not very flattering.
| | 04:21 | So what I'm doing instead is
I am pointing the flash up.
| | 04:24 | I have some diffusion.
| | 04:25 | It's a nice soft light. Fabulous!
| | 04:34 | So the thing to remember: look at the
background, look at the lighting, look at
| | 04:39 | their position, try to prepare a few
minutes ahead of time so it's not a
| | 04:44 | last-minute shot, and then go
with the equipment that you have.
| | 04:48 | In any case, try to modify the light,
so it's more flattering on the skin, and
| | 04:52 | you'll end up with a fantastic couples shot.
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| Shooting groups indoors| 00:00 | Now we are going to do a larger group
shot, and when you have more people, you
| | 00:04 | have more variables and
more things to think about.
| | 00:07 | Our basics remain the same, though.
| | 00:09 | We are going to look at background,
we're going to look at position, and we're
| | 00:12 | going to look at lighting.
| | 00:13 | I am going to start with position on
this because on a large group shot it's
| | 00:17 | the first thing that jumps out at you.
| | 00:19 | You tell everyone, "Okay, everyone over there.
| | 00:21 | We're going to take a group shot," and
they kind of go over there and they sort of
| | 00:24 | stand all stiff and awkward, and
they're waiting for me to do something.
| | 00:28 | So I am going to go over there and I
am going to do something right now.
| | 00:33 | So we have Tom here on the edge, and I
am going to move him in a little bit,
| | 00:39 | because he is the tallest of the
group and I don't want to have sort of the
| | 00:43 | slant going up like this.
I want to create a little composition.
| | 00:46 | So I am going to move Tom in over here
like this, and that changes the dynamic
| | 00:51 | of the shot right there.
And then the rest of you,
| | 00:53 | I'd like you to tighten up a little bit.
Tom, go ahead and move close, and we are
| | 00:58 | going to have Veronica sort of be in
front of him here. And it's okay to have
| | 01:01 | a little bit of depth to the shot,
especially when you have a very large
| | 01:04 | group, you may need to;
| | 01:06 | you don't want that frame to get too wide.
| | 01:08 | So I am going to take a look and see how we
did here. And already we've improved the shot.
| | 01:16 | We've tightened it up.
| | 01:17 | You guys are already feeling
more comfortable. I can tell, yes.
| | 01:20 | Let me take a look at how this looks through
the viewfinder here, in terms of position.
| | 01:27 | Okay, I think we have solved problem one.
| | 01:30 | Now I am going to start thinking about
more technical things, and one of the
| | 01:34 | things about thinking technically is
that sometimes you will miss little
| | 01:39 | nuances, such as stray
hairs and things like that.
| | 01:42 | It's really helpful to have a
helper, and I actually have one here.
| | 01:47 | Ash has kindly volunteered to help us out.
| | 01:52 | Now, Ash, what I want you to do is I
want you to look for stray hairs, buttons,
| | 01:57 | things like that. Keep an eye on
people's eyes, in case they start to wander
| | 02:02 | off. I want them looking into the camera.
| | 02:05 | Derrick: Feel free to jump in at anytime, okay?
Ash: Okay!
| | 02:07 | Derrick: Okay. All right, great.
| | 02:08 | So let's continue the shoot.
| | 02:09 | Now, I am free to think about the
technical stuff, and I am just going to
| | 02:14 | take some shots here.
| | 02:15 | I am really paying attention to my
lighting, making sure that everyone is
| | 02:19 | evenly illuminated.
| | 02:20 | Ash: Can I stop you right there?
Derrick: Oh, actually yes. Yeah, yeah.
| | 02:23 | Ash: Could I get you to take that
pen out of your pocket sir?
| | 02:28 | And do you mind just brushing your
bangs back a little bit? Thank you so much.
| | 02:33 | Derrick: Fabulous! This is exactly
what I am talking about.
| | 02:35 | I am so immersed in the lighting and
composition stuff that like the oddest thing
| | 02:42 | that I will completely miss, but you
know what, I will see it in the after
| | 02:46 | shots, and then I will
be very upset with myself.
| | 02:48 | So having a helper catch those things
now saves me a lot of headache, and the
| | 02:52 | person that's in the shot is
going to appreciate it too.
| | 02:55 | So let me take another shot.
| | 02:57 | Now that Ashley has caught that for me,
there are movements there. Okay, well
| | 03:02 | Derrick: that shot is no good.
Ash: Don't forget to
| | 03:04 | Ash: Look in the camera everybody.
Derrick: That's right.
| | 03:06 | Derrick: Right into the camera. You want them looking
right into the lens of the camera. Excellent!
| | 03:12 | Okay, I think we're
moving along pretty well now.
| | 03:15 | So I want to get into finer aspects of
lighting here, and I know some--actually,
| | 03:21 | my batteries are down a bit.
| | 03:22 | Would you mind grabbing
some batteries for me?
| | 03:24 | Ash: Sure!
Derrick: Thanks! Helpers are good that way too.
| | 03:28 | Derrick: Okay, so here we go.
| | 03:30 | Now, I have a couple of
different options with the lighting.
| | 03:33 | A lot of people will use just
the pop-up flash. Oh, thank you.
| | 03:37 | A lot of people will use just the
pop-up flash, and that doesn't produce really
| | 03:42 | enough light for a large group
shot, and plus it's pretty harsh light.
| | 03:46 | So what I like to do is put a shoe
mount flash on here and then have something
| | 03:51 | to broaden the light a little bit.
| | 03:52 | Here we have a flash bender.
It works very nice and it gives me nice
| | 03:57 | coverage on the group shot.
| | 04:00 | However, the more light the better--at
least that's the way I feel about this.
| | 04:04 | So I like to have a second light
if possible, and I do have one here.
| | 04:08 | I have it on the light stand.
| | 04:09 | You don't have to get crazy and
have all sorts of stands everywhere;
| | 04:14 | really just another
supplemental light will help you a lot.
| | 04:17 | And this light also has a flash
bender on it, and it's coming down a little
| | 04:22 | bit more on the group.
| | 04:23 | I have it off to one side.
| | 04:25 | Now, if one side starts to get a little
hot, especially the side that the flash
| | 04:30 | is on--and what I mean by hot, a little
overexposed--you don't have to move the
| | 04:35 | light all the way over. All you have to
do is just angle the stand a little bit
| | 04:38 | and point the light to
the other side of the group.
| | 04:41 | That will move the light a little bit,
but yet there will still be enough
| | 04:45 | spill on the hot side.
| | 04:46 | It will cool it off a little bit.
| | 04:48 | You still get a good exposure,
but it won't be overexposed.
| | 04:52 | So you could do this very quickly, and
that's the key to when you're shooting
| | 04:55 | group shots, because they don't want to
be standing there for half an hour, and
| | 04:59 | this is especially true if
you're at a wedding or something.
| | 05:01 | So I have made a little
lighting adjustment there.
| | 05:03 | I am going to take this shot right here. Oh!
| | 05:07 | We're in great shape now.
| | 05:09 | So remember, if you want a great group
shot, think about background, think about
| | 05:15 | position, think about lighting.
| | 05:18 | If you have a helper, that's great.
| | 05:19 | That may save you some headache later on.
| | 05:22 | Take lots of shots, because remember,
just one person blinking ruins that frame.
| | 05:26 | So make sure you take enough frames, so
that you have a good one at the end, and
| | 05:30 | I am sure you'll end up with
something that you really like.
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| Shooting groups outdoors| 00:00 | Okay, here we are outdoors for
another group shot, a large group shot, and
| | 00:04 | I tell you, the outdoor
setting can be very challenging for the
| | 00:07 | photographer, because you have this
beautiful light, but you also have all the
| | 00:12 | things you don't want, such as air
blowing around, distractions, they are
| | 00:17 | going to be looking off.
| | 00:17 | So we are going to take care of
all that stuff best that we can.
| | 00:20 | So the first thing you have to do is
think about position, right, because we have
| | 00:24 | position, we have lighting, we have background.
| | 00:27 | Background is not bad.
| | 00:29 | Lighting, nature is taking care of that.
| | 00:31 | Position, oh my gosh,
we've got to fix this here.
| | 00:34 | So I am going to come over.
| | 00:35 | The first thing we have, so we've
got the big guy in front here.
| | 00:39 | Big guys like to do this, just to
see how long it's going to take the
| | 00:41 | photographer to move them to the back.
| | 00:44 | Come on back here, come on
right up here. All right!
| | 00:47 | Now, you want to create openings
so that everyone can see the camera.
| | 00:50 | For instance, Tom, can you see the
camera where you are right now? Now, you can.
| | 00:54 | All right! I want you to move into this spot right
here. Create a little opening for him. Same thing here.
| | 00:59 | Now, again, we are
losing this person right here.
| | 01:02 | So let's create a little
space right here. Good!
| | 01:05 | A little bit more space maybe. And then
maybe you can angle just a little bit like that.
| | 01:10 | Good! All right, let's see how this looks here.
| | 01:12 | Yeah, so we have
definitely improved the shot here.
| | 01:18 | I am going to take a little look right here.
| | 01:22 | So now our positioning is much improved.
| | 01:24 | I have Ash with me again, and Ash is
going to keep an eye on blowing hair,
| | 01:28 | because we have a breezy situation here.
| | 01:31 | So if you see anything at all,
just go ahead and interrupt me.
| | 01:34 | Ash: In fact, would you tuck your
hair behind your ear? There we go.
| | 01:40 | And maybe, sir, if you don't
mind taking off your sunglasses.
| | 01:42 | Derrick: Yeah, I was wondering about the shades.
| | 01:44 | I think we need to lose the
shades there. Yeah, thank you.
| | 01:47 | Shades in the pocket. Great!
| | 01:49 | Those are the little things that
will just drive you crazy when you see
| | 01:52 | the shots afterwards.
| | 01:54 | Now, I have a fill light on here.
| | 01:57 | Nature is taking care of the
bulk of the lighting for us.
| | 02:00 | What I want to do is add a little fill
light just to put some twinkle on the eye.
| | 02:04 | Now, I have another light up there if
I need it, but I think we have enough
| | 02:09 | light that this light right here
on the camera should do the work.
| | 02:12 | So I have it flashing.
| | 02:14 | Again, it's not the main light;
| | 02:16 | it's just the fill light. Get that right there.
| | 02:19 | Now, when I use a fill light, one of
the things that I like to do is use the
| | 02:23 | Flash Exposure Compensation setting.
| | 02:26 | I am going to show you how to do
that when we are in the studio, when we are
| | 02:29 | reviewing the shots I'll
show you how to set that.
| | 02:32 | But basically what it does is it
takes the flash and it draws it down.
| | 02:36 | It draws down the power.
| | 02:37 | We are going to set it to about -1, -1.5,
because what I don't want is full flash here.
| | 02:44 | I want more of a natural effect and
I do that by using the Flash Exposure
| | 02:48 | Compensation to go the negative direction.
| | 02:51 | So just a little fill light here,
just a little twinkle in the eyes.
| | 02:54 | Everyone smile. Good! Excellent!
| | 02:57 | Oh my gosh!
| | 02:59 | That's the money shot.
| | 03:00 | That is the shot that we want to keep.
| | 03:02 | So remember, when you are
outdoors, it's the same as indoors.
| | 03:05 | Background, important here,
we've got a great background.
| | 03:09 | Lighting, nature is doing most of the work;
| | 03:11 | we are just going to add a
little bit of fill light.
| | 03:13 | Positioning, you are always
going to have to do positioning.
| | 03:15 | People don't naturally go in the right spots.
| | 03:18 | If you can get a helper to watch for blowing
hair and so forth, that's a really good idea.
| | 03:23 | And then remember, take enough frames
so that you have a good shot of everyone.
| | 03:28 | Do those things and you are going to
come away with a great group portrait.
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| Shooting couples outdoors| 00:00 | I am outdoors now. The light is going down.
| | 00:03 | This is beautiful, beautiful portrait light.
| | 00:06 | We are going to do just another
couples shot, this time outdoors here.
| | 00:09 | I want to make sure I don't get any
distracting shadows projected against the wall.
| | 00:14 | If I was using the flash right on the
camera, there is a chance of getting that
| | 00:17 | ugly outline shadow.
| | 00:19 | So what I'm doing is I am getting the
flash up here, and then I'm actually
| | 00:23 | putting some diffusion on it.
| | 00:24 | I want a very natural light.
| | 00:27 | Okay, so that is our technical side.
| | 00:30 | Our backdrop, fabulous.
Isn't this a wonderful backdrop?
| | 00:33 | And our couple, they look ready to go.
| | 00:36 | So as you can see, the light is pretty nice.
| | 00:38 | The only reason why I am going to add
a little bit of fill light is, again, I
| | 00:42 | want to light up those faces,
a little twinkle on the eye.
| | 00:44 | All right, so now let's think about position.
| | 00:47 | All right, I want you just a
little closer together. Good!
| | 00:52 | Now really look out for
things in the background here.
| | 00:55 | For instance, if I had them a little
bit more this way, the Stage Door type
| | 01:00 | would be going into the side of his head.
| | 01:02 | That's not a good thing.
| | 01:03 | So we want to make sure that it is clean
behind both of their heads, yet we want
| | 01:07 | the background to contribute to the shot,
just not distract from it. Okay, here we go.
| | 01:11 | Now I am going to have you look
right into the camera, just like that.
| | 01:15 | I am going to get some of
that neat backdrop stuff.
| | 01:19 | So I am going to shoot just a little bit wider.
| | 01:22 | Good, right to the camera.
| | 01:23 | I didn't have the flash go off on that.
| | 01:26 | That's something we have to keep an eye out for.
| | 01:28 | It's using a lot of power
to do the fill light here.
| | 01:31 | So if the flash doesn't go
off, don't worry about it;
| | 01:34 | just know that frame is
probably not really going to count.
| | 01:37 | Let her recharge for a
second or change the batteries.
| | 01:40 | So let's get one with the flash this time.
| | 01:46 | Now one thing you'll notice that when
you see these shots when we go back to the
| | 01:49 | studio, I actually have the
couple off to the side a little bit.
| | 01:52 | Remember, you don't always have to put the
subjects right in the middle of the frame.
| | 01:55 | Do a little dynamic composition.
| | 01:58 | So work with them off to
the side in the setting.
| | 02:01 | Let the background carry the rest of the shot.
| | 02:03 | We have something that works together very well.
| | 02:05 | Let's do another one here and
that's very good. That's good.
| | 02:12 | Excellent!
| | 02:13 | And maybe hands out of your
little thing there. Good!
| | 02:18 | Just put them around each other's back.
| | 02:19 | One of the nice things is when you do
that that draws them closer together.
| | 02:24 | If they have their hands in their pockets,
they are creating space between them.
| | 02:28 | Get the arms around each other and
this is fine for friends, brothers, and
| | 02:32 | sisters, all those sort of
things. Get them tighter.
| | 02:35 | So suddenly now, they are a
lot closer together. Very good!
| | 02:39 | I like that.
That looks really good.
| | 02:41 | I am really excited about this.
| | 02:42 | I love this setting. Let's take a look.
| | 02:45 | Outstanding! Outstanding!
| | 02:48 | Again, background, we've
got a home run on this one.
| | 02:52 | Position, couple looks great;
| | 02:54 | I just had to help them
get a little closer together.
| | 02:57 | Lighting, nature is doing a lot of the
work, just a little fill light to make
| | 03:01 | sure that they have twinkle in the
eyes. And then take some frames, because
| | 03:05 | remember, you want the best shot possible.
| | 03:08 | It's going to take a few frames to do that.
| | 03:10 | I think we have a dynamite shot here.
| | 03:12 | Do those things and you'll end up with one too.
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3. Reviewing the ImagesLooking at couples| 00:00 | I have a couples shot up on
the screen here, and we're going
| | 00:04 | to look at both indoor lighting
and outdoor lighting down here.
| | 00:10 | We'll start with the indoor.
| | 00:12 | Now, I shot this two different ways,
| | 00:14 | one with a Lightsphere
| | 00:17 | that's on a flash, and the flash is on the
camera, and that is this shot right here.
| | 00:23 | By the way, all of these shots will
be on our Flickr public group, Group
| | 00:28 | Shots Photo Assignment.
| | 00:30 | So you can download them and look at them
and play with them to your heart's content.
| | 00:35 | And we'll talk about that in the upcoming movie.
| | 00:38 | So the Lightsphere is a softer light,
and you can really see that when you
| | 00:42 | compare it to the light that's on the stand.
| | 00:45 | The light on the stand is
coming from this side here.
| | 00:48 | There's a little bit of
fill light coming in this way.
| | 00:51 | But you can see how the
shadows are more pronounced.
| | 00:55 | There's a little bit more definition
in the shot when you use the directional
| | 01:00 | light as compared to the
softer light of the Lightsphere.
| | 01:05 | See how the shadows are far less pronounced.
| | 01:09 | There is less texture.
| | 01:10 | Lighting coming from the front.
| | 01:12 | That's softened, is softened on the
skin, and then lighting that comes from an
| | 01:18 | angle produces more detail
and more relief, more texture.
| | 01:24 | So the main point here is that if
you have the option, think about your
| | 01:28 | subjects, think about how you like to
render them, and then either use a softer
| | 01:34 | funnel light or use a
more directional sidelight.
| | 01:38 | If you use a directional sidelight,
make sure you do that a little bit of
| | 01:41 | fill, unless you really want harsh shadows
over on the opposite side, on the weak side.
| | 01:49 | Now, let's move outdoors.
| | 01:50 | A lot of times people think when they
are working outdoors they don't need
| | 01:55 | any fill light at all.
| | 01:56 | I disagree most of the
time, and I'll show you why.
| | 02:00 | This was late in the day.
| | 02:01 | The light was soft, but I
still used the fill light.
| | 02:05 | We had a Lightsphere that
was on a bracketed flash.
| | 02:10 | And the reason why I put the flash up
on the bracket and had the Lightsphere is
| | 02:15 | that we were close to the wall here,
and I wanted to make sure that we didn't
| | 02:18 | have that shadow outline I talked about
| | 02:21 | when I was shooting the shots. You notice
there is a shadow here, but it has moved down.
| | 02:26 | See how it's down? You don't even think about it.
| | 02:29 | Whereas if I had the flash directly on
the camera, that shadow would be showing
| | 02:34 | up here too, and that's very distracting.
| | 02:36 | So we are able to move that shadow
down by raising the flash up and getting
| | 02:40 | it away from the lens.
| | 02:43 | Now, here's the difference.
| | 02:45 | Take a look at this shot here.
| | 02:47 | There is no flash on this shot, and
look at the difference in the eyes.
| | 02:51 | And I'll do the side-by-side comparison here.
| | 02:54 | See, with no fill light the
eye areas can become much darker.
| | 03:01 | And then when you do have a fill
light, it opens up and it puts a little
| | 03:06 | twinkle in the eye too.
| | 03:09 | Same for her, see how the little twinkle
opens up the eye area compared to no fill flash.
| | 03:17 | Once you really start looking at it,
I think it's quite a difference.
| | 03:23 | Now, one other thing.
| | 03:24 | Let's do another comparison here.
| | 03:26 | I want to compare this shot
to let's say this shot here.
| | 03:33 | We have got something else I want to compare.
| | 03:35 | And this is about position.
| | 03:36 | Remember, we're talking about background.
| | 03:38 | We talk about position, we talk about
lighting, we talk about position right now
| | 03:43 | and background together.
| | 03:44 | See how her head is over in
this part of the background here?
| | 03:48 | Now, we have the railing start here,
but it's sort of off to the side.
| | 03:53 | Now, either I changed position or they
changed position and the railing in this
| | 03:58 | shot is more down, almost
down the center of her head.
| | 04:03 | Now, it's not as bad as having a pole
stick out of her head, because we have all
| | 04:08 | this wrought-iron work here.
| | 04:09 | So you don't think about
it in quite the same way.
| | 04:12 | But given a choice, I like it better when
the head is off to the side a little bit.
| | 04:17 | And along with your lighting, this
position and background is something that you
| | 04:21 | want to try to keep in the back of your
mind while you're shooting and just get
| | 04:26 | the best position aligned
with the background as possible.
| | 04:30 | So keep these few things in mind
while you're shooting your portraits, both
| | 04:35 | indoors and out, and I think you'll
really come away with better shots than you
| | 04:40 | would have if you were just shooting
without considering some of these elements.
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| Looking at groups| 00:00 | Let's take a look at some of our group shots.
| | 00:02 | We have indoor and outdoor shots here.
| | 00:05 | Now, by the way, all of these shots will
be available on our Flickr public group,
| | 00:11 | and I'm going to talk more about that
in a movie that is coming up. But for
| | 00:15 | right now just know that everything
that you see here will be available online.
| | 00:19 | You will be able to grab it and play with it
and analyze it even beyond what we discussed here.
| | 00:25 | So we're starting out indoors, and
here is a group shot that is kind of the
| | 00:29 | finished product in the sense
that I like how everything is working.
| | 00:34 | We have a light on this side here, an
upper light, and then I have a little bit
| | 00:39 | of fill light coming in right here.
| | 00:42 | Now one thing about the light, you
might argue that she's a bit too bright,
| | 00:48 | and that's an easy fix.
| | 00:49 | All you have to do is angle the light.
| | 00:51 | You don't have to change the position;
just angle that light that's on the side.
| | 00:55 | More over here. It will brighten up this area
here, and it will bring this down a hair.
| | 01:01 | So there is a little lighting
trick for you right out of the gate.
| | 01:05 | Now in terms of position, there are a
couple of things that I want to point out here.
| | 01:10 | Remember how I mentioned while we were
shooting, little things can drive you crazy.
| | 01:15 | This hair just drives me crazy.
| | 01:17 | And if you don't catch that stuff
while you're shooting, you're just going to
| | 01:21 | die afterwards when you look at your shots.
| | 01:24 | So this is where your helper can be
invaluable. Or if you don't have a helper,
| | 01:28 | try to keep an eye on everyone's
condition as we say because they will change
| | 01:33 | even over the course of a short shoot.
| | 01:35 | And here is another example, where one
of the people are looking off. And again,
| | 01:41 | just a simple thing.
| | 01:42 | It does happened for a few seconds.
It has a big impact on the photo itself.
| | 01:48 | Now let's take a look at background also.
| | 01:51 | Here the camera angle is up a little
bit, and you'll notice how all these
| | 01:56 | background elements suddenly appear.
| | 01:59 | When the camera angle is lower,
you can hide that sort of stuff.
| | 02:03 | So lower camera angle. The camera is
actually right about probably this height
| | 02:08 | here, and then a higher camera angle
where I raised it up a couple of feet.
| | 02:12 | Completely different shot.
| | 02:14 | Not only does it show more of the
distracting background elements, it changes
| | 02:18 | the angle of the people.
| | 02:19 | So again, keeping in mind that you're
looking at background, you're looking at
| | 02:24 | position, and you're looking at lighting.
| | 02:26 | So background and position often work together.
| | 02:29 | So if you can't change the background
and you can't really move the people
| | 02:34 | around, then you can change
the position of your camera.
| | 02:37 | There is another example right here.
| | 02:41 | Now once you sort of have things set
up the way that you want, then have
| | 02:45 | a little bit of fun.
| | 02:47 | Also, get the straight shot, get it in the
can, and then see how they'll work with you.
| | 02:52 | And in this case, I like the front shot
actually more than the shot that we set
| | 02:57 | out to take, which is the shot right here.
| | 03:00 | People usually want both.
| | 03:02 | A couple technical things before we go outdoors.
| | 03:05 | We have some theater lighting here,
and you can see that it's influencing
| | 03:10 | the color of the shot.
| | 03:12 | We have flash lighting
mixing with theater lighting.
| | 03:15 | If you like that, then keep the exposure--
the shutter speed--down around a 30th or
| | 03:22 | a 60th of the second, and that will let
the ambient light influence the shot.
| | 03:27 | If you decide you want light just from
the flash, then raise the shutter speed
| | 03:32 | up to around 1 to 100th, 1 to 50th of a
second, and that will make the exposure
| | 03:39 | depend mainly on your flash lighting and
hardly have any light influence at all.
| | 03:44 | And then, one little trick if you
forget, your lighting setup, just magnify
| | 03:50 | the pupil of the eyes.
| | 03:52 | We're working in Adobe Bridge here.
That has a good magnify tool, but this works
| | 03:57 | in practically any photo imaging
application. You can see the two lights.
| | 04:01 | So here is the top light, and here is
a fill light. Same thing right here.
| | 04:07 | You can see both lights in the eye,
so that you can remember, did I use one
| | 04:10 | light, did I use two
lights, did I use no lights?
| | 04:13 | All right, let's go outdoors.
| | 04:16 | Now when we first walked
outdoors, it was late in the day.
| | 04:19 | This is what my eyes saw and I took a
frame, and this is what my camera saw.
| | 04:25 | Two different things.
| | 04:26 | Actually I was a little shocked.
But sometimes cameras see the world a
| | 04:31 | little differently than we do, especially in
very dark conditions or very bright conditions.
| | 04:36 | The way I fixed it was I moved my
exposure compensation for the environment to
| | 04:43 | -1. That darkened the scene a little bit.
| | 04:47 | And then we're using the fill flash on
the camera, and I moved that to -1.5,
| | 04:53 | reducing the output from the flash.
| | 04:56 | By doing those two things, I was able to
quickly move from this type of exposure
| | 05:02 | to this exposure here.
| | 05:04 | And again, as with the indoor group
shots, once you get the shot that you want,
| | 05:08 | play around a little bit,
have a little bit of fun.
| | 05:11 | And don't forget to play with the
background. Again, remember, we're thinking
| | 05:15 | about background, position, and lighting.
| | 05:17 | And in this case I moved back a little
bit to light a little bit more of the
| | 05:22 | theater come into play.
| | 05:24 | I think these people are probably
going to want all three of these shots.
| | 05:27 | They tell three different stories, and
they are a lot of fun, so include a variety
| | 05:32 | of position and background in your
group shots if you have time and if your
| | 05:37 | subjects are open to that.
| | 05:39 | So keep these simple rules in mind and
they will help improve your group shots
| | 05:42 | when you're working out in the field.
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ConclusionNext steps: Sharing your pictures| 00:00 | We've looked at our equipment, we've
taken the photos, and we've reviewed our
| | 00:04 | shots, so what's next?
| | 00:06 | It's time for you to take some photos
and share them with me and all sorts of
| | 00:11 | other folks on our Group Shots
Photo Assignment public group on Flickr.
| | 00:17 | Now this is our fifth public group.
| | 00:19 | We also have them for the Natural Light,
Off Camera Flash, Backlit Portrait, and
| | 00:25 | Fill-Flash Portrait photo assignments.
| | 00:28 | So there is lots of shots, and if you
haven't been over to those, take a look at them.
| | 00:32 | There's lots of good stuff going on
there, lots of contributions from people
| | 00:36 | just like you who are learning these
techniques and practicing and sharing them with others.
| | 00:41 | Now we've added the shots
that we've used in our review,
| | 00:44 | so you can take a closer look at him.
| | 00:46 | You can even download them if you want.
| | 00:50 | And then there is a Discussion area, so
if you have questions about things that
| | 00:54 | you've seen in the training, I keep
it eye on this and I will do my best to
| | 00:58 | answer your question as quickly as possible.
| | 01:01 | And to get the ball rolling, I even
posted the equipment list for some of the
| | 01:06 | items that you've seen in the training,
| | 01:09 | in case you want to find out more about
the FlashBender or the Lightsphere, or
| | 01:14 | some of the other goodies that we used.
| | 01:15 | So it's all here on Flickr.com, and all
you have to do is search for the Group
| | 01:23 | Shots Photo Assignment.
| | 01:24 | It will come right up.
| | 01:26 | Watch the movie again, practice your
stuff, post them here, and then I look
| | 01:31 | forward to seeing your shots right
here on the lynda.com Photo Assignment
| | 01:35 | Flickr public group.
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