Speedlight Portraiture EP4.1– Creating Professional Studio Images with Small Flash Units – GODOX V1

[Music] hey everybody Tim Kelly here welcome once again to Master photo techniques this is going to be episode 4 of our small light series using speed lights for a portable studio and we've had great success testing it thus far today we're gonna have a couple of young ladies model for so we can actually show you good quality results before we introduce her and get going I'm just gonna remind you of what we are using not like you haven't seen the other videos but let's let's take a quick peek this 24 inch square godox collapsible softbox with a godox v1 on it in an s2 bracket now this one is the main light so we have it on a high-quality rolling stand so this is wheeled and I can get it where I needed to be really easily and the support is great so over here we have the number 2 box and again in all my videos you know that the first fill is always referred to as number 2 and that's this box right here which I now know as a 42-inch because I I thought it was a 48 when I got it but then I saw there was no such thing as a 48 so I assumed it was the next one down but now when you take out the measuring tool you find out it actually is 42 inches which is a really good size my normal big studio light is 48 by 72 so this is a lot smaller but of course for a simple subjects one two threes cover it quite easily and it is going to be on the same side as the main light and always pretty much always right off my subjects shoulder so it's hitting them at 90 degrees okay back here we have a extra flash which really is number four the scenario it's just an extra strobe it's a Canon but it has a godox receiver on it so it will play well with all the other gear and it's set to just gently bounce off the ceiling giving us a base illumination or an ambience it's going to help light the background it's gonna help light the top of the head but it's very subtle it's about a stop or two underneath everything else and then finally over here we have another godox v1 this is a c' because we use canons and it's got the grid spot adapter on it which is vital because as you've seen in all my other videos it's a very key ingredient it puts a splash of light on the background not just covering the whole thing but it makes a little bit of a hot spot of gentle hot spot exactly where I want it so depending on the pose and the main lighting on our subject I can easily move this around and get exactly the spot I want and then the final thing in the equation is the stand up reflector the I use the big one I have several this is a soft white fabric on a PVC or a plastic frame which again I prefer these because they don't take up a lot of floor space they're inexpensive and they're childproof so when kids come over and they knock them over and everything nobody gets hurt there's no metal parts so I really love that about these these panels and again I've said in other videos if you have something different you can use it the only thing that I recommend not using in your studio setup is silver a lot of people use silver reflectors they're powerful but they're not flattering and they can do damage to your shadow side of your picture so I teach my students never silver except like outdoors to get a hair light or get a mirror effect but it's just too visible in studio lighting so next we're gonna go and we're gonna meet our model and we're gonna start some test shots so enjoy our first order of business is to do a test on the light and see how close our guesstimation is I know you know that I don't use a flash meter because I grew up and I threw it away and I use Polaroids of course Polaroids don't exist anymore but we have digital so we can read the back of the camera and make the adjustments we need so let's make a first test this is Callie she has come to be our live model and we're not just using her as a mannequin we're actually gonna make some beautiful portraits but we start with just a dead straight test and we're gonna do that now grab my camera see if everybody's awake here yeah yeah we're always tall no matter what in case it's a good one and we're always a leaning forward a little bit good girl and let's just see what the first shot looks like very nice very good first test a little hot on the main I'd say is pull it back and feather harder okay by that of course we mean that we're going to kind of take the light off of her and send it more to the reflector let's see if that looks better close indeed okay Callie what we're gonna do now the next thing we'll change is the spotlight on the background I'm gonna go ahead and move it a little bit see if I can enhance the look a little bit so kurtz let's move spotlight down and right just a tiny bit and that'll just change the dynamics of the shot a little bit this is all throw a tests at the moment yeah that looks good very very nice okay so Callie we're in a place now where it's starting to count you can talk if you guys okay you know it to be a quiet model what I'm gonna say is let's have you throw a leg over cross a limb that's just gonna give you more of a a little table to work with so you can just lean in more easily and I think can I try this hair back on that side can you put all of it back for a minute look at how just because the earring is nice and this is great leading line to the face so and right now we're just doing a head shot you know maybe here occasionally that and body positions good I'm always going to be your mirror so I'm here well you know I'll lean this way you lean that way we're just gonna turn the head slightly this way good right there's great we're gonna do a color check this is to make sure we have your skin tone perfect when we make your photographs and it looks marvelous okay look great based on the first test they looking really nice I'm gonna bring in some additional reflector to soften the shadow because it is a nice soft medium tone medium medium shot and then I think I'll also put another glamourizing reflector underneath because she doesn't have glasses or anything so we can easily use it this is going a little tighter and it is a hands up Max crop then we're gonna bring another reflector in right won't do a whole lot wait a minute we're not gonna try to make it be seen as one of those glamour things it just helps like under the chin under the eyes a little bit and the other thing I look at then you guys can look too is that the angle of this light you might go we'll go with the wider view but where the bulb is actually point is important and we don't ever want it pointed right at her face right now it's pointed here which is good and the feathering means soft light is coming this way I was just making sure we weren't too low because the other ingredient is the pitch or the angle from the flash tube through the box and down it's below her shoulder so I'm gonna move it a little higher I'd rather have more light under your hair and your face you know then your shoulders so I'm just gonna move it up a little more with that back in place one more test I usually tell my even my dating subjects these don't count until I tell you because we're just tuning it's looking marvelous let's get that face this way more yeah beautiful very good yeah nice results can't leave very good I'm gonna say like a software quality so Curtis let's do gonna move this light in a little bit we're gonna move both the lights in just a half a foot or something make him softer and off of her with that number two she's got plenty and this one's a little closer so to be softer and I'm gonna turn him down from here by remote like we always want to emphasize this part you know so we're always gonna be leaning to the sunshine a little bit so you're gonna be going towards if you're leaning it all it's towards the light and then we're also gonna keep our face turned a little bit that way good now let's get a quick test and see where we are looking good looking very good yeah see now you're really getting in the zone very pretty I'm gonna put some reflectors back in because I like it love it you don't want more frontal fill right there well so yeah Curtis let's move the main down and closer a little bit I want a little more frontal longer that's just it knows that way my dear turn turn turn beautiful good there you are now you're sitting in the pocket good girl yeah that's nice good yes you got teeth too why did you bring with you okay let's make sure we get some of those as well very pretty great cute cute all right and one with no smile go ahead and stay there nice stay right there any other extreme closeup on that one cuz I like it well that that's pretty angry looking actually I don't think I want it quite angry okay that's pretty always keeping the eyes nice and open yes good nose that way a little more that's where the light is okay stay right there and set it right to her you're still in the same seat but you're going across the arms and go on to the chair a lot yes it because my cutoff point and this one this is pants pretty this one can kind of hang down kind of almost point to the ground or something yeah that's pretty good kind of move this goodness to close down I think that would be great okay now we're moving from headshot to portrait which I like pretty much very good very good let's get the head Square ooh thank you it's okay everybody has their default position you know thank you soo cute let's close but still Pleasant okay thank you nice stay right there good girl I'm real happy with that hey let's take a second and talk about the pose that works oh very well in his photo and what I was looking for was a way to give more lines and more more Bend more angles angles are our friends and portraits so somebody's straight up and down it's not interesting it's always try to manipulate so we get some some angles and what we did cally if we go ahead and do that pose again on this chair perfect and why do I choose a chair like this well we're in a neutral key right here we're using grays and blacks and this becomes largely invisible in the photo it is there but it won't distract you or attract your eye so this helps us to make a pose that's a little more dynamic so that one we had to move the light back a little because we became too close but I'm always looking for about the same distance all the time and we're gonna next break this down flip the lighting to the opposite side so we'll be main lighting here from this side and testing it and if we like it then we will shoot a few poses there in this outfit we've flipped our lighting setup so let's take a quick look the values are not going to change just the directions changing so what we've done is move the main light to the opposite side pretty easy same working distance same angle on our subject it's going to have to be adjusted after we do a test or two but we can usually hit it a good guess right off the bat if you're used to doing that back here we have the fill light first phil has two jobs and if you watch my other pulling videos the our Long's you'll know that this has two jobs it hits the background sum and it also kisses the subject some so it's a it's kind of an overall support system for left or right lighting wherever you are so that's there we have put our grid spot which spotlights our background right here on the opposite side now you could because it's a grid you could come in from the same side if you wanted but I find it much easier to now have it out in the open we're not fighting with other light sources to get to it I can place this wherever I want it on that background you can see that clearly with the modeling lamp on it's locked in it's ready for a test and we're going to use our reflectors as closely as we can to make the lighting as soft and pretty as we can see once the boxes your light sources are smaller they become more specular which isn't as pretty as ginormous boxes so you have to be even more careful with him so we're gonna go ahead and move our reflectors in a couple of quick tests okay let's have you lean to this like we did before we're gonna kind of emulate the same shot but lit the other way and well know which one we love better stay right there I'm just gonna move a hair for you out of your earring there we go good I do a lot of this okay very nice and your nose will be going more that way and eyes will be on the camera keeping this just as close as we can without getting in the shot beautiful and this would be as close as we can which the cameraman hate but it's got to be there so alright let's do our first real shot lit from the right good and wake up everybody very very nice I'm gonna say Cali for the image itself your right hand let's hide that hand that's your left hand yeah there you go yeah that's good yeah we just just fall in good yeah it's very nice and I like that one with the wrist bent yeah you did a couple of different ways you can go a pill with the hand a little bit like that with the wrist bed the more you articulate the joints generally the prettier it is it's a mannequin type of posing but it doesn't really work so let's do a couple of shots weird out there and yeah looks really pretty on ya zoom in a little bit okay that's real good first let's lower the main just a little tiny bit so we get we don't want to have anything even close to a raccoon eye at all beautiful beautiful now you promised some smiles now that you're done without fit number one she's gonna try something different let's try moving this hand way up like towards the shoulder you can put your elbow down or whatever that would hang just want a different line those over there good girl even more I think I want to see an earring so more this way but the eyes will cut to me all right good and the other hands good all right all right let's slide it down relax it a little bit more make it more normalized uh good right here throw the hair back on that side the other one other side I like it all on that side now generally has a rule the neck that's facing the light we like to have open or available so we see the neck and then the hair frames is on the other side so go ahead and do the little pose we'll put a lot of hair on this side see what it looks like you know it's just a variable so notice goes that way and I think it's cute beautiful stay there it's very nice you still he means convey though for some reason let's do this let's lighten it up a little bit tell you what forget the arms for a minute just go ahead put your elbows down so you can almost do one of these for us good soften it this way yes beautiful turn the notes of the light a little bit more to the light or to the light good girl see the natural poses you do work really well person with this spot light down now with this pose behind her back so just tip it down we're gonna get rid of the glow over there and do this beautiful that's pretty yes very good stay there you can give me tease for occasionally there you go all right so sweet take the other hand to put on your forearm let's that's good I'll do that one right there for a close-up I like that okay that's pretty now same kind of thing just take the hand and just kind of bring it on your shoulder or chest whatever there there you go like that in the shade beautiful tall fall everything towards the lighting that way yeah I'm gonna fall over try and do this get hit right there beautiful and serious one lovely so pretty love it okay you'll be done with this one yay okay very nice alright we are going to tackle yet another little head shot and portrait session this is Maddie we're gonna start with hers and do simple head shots study to find her good side as you know from the previous scene we were lit from the right hand side and it worked out well so we're just gonna go backwards on Maddie and start with lighting from the right and switch it to the left and then we'll know which is your good side unless you could have already told me that I don't know but we're gonna go in and sit down in here and with the lights on this side we're generally gonna face your body out of the light which is like towards me now right that's gonna be your default you know I can give you this box and you're always gonna be as tall as you can and leaning forward gives you a nice chin shadow and your nose will just gently be more towards that angle over there and we're gonna do some tests which will not count so you have no cause to be nervous or anything because they're all throwaways until I tell you we're there we're in the pocket we're ready to go and that is usually takes longer to get there than it does to do that shot I like the general lighting we'll be turning the nose again this way almost towards that camera a little bit the nose goes there good and forward you can put your hands forward on your knees whatever it takes to keep you there knows more their eyes to me gorgeous very nice we just need cars more frontal light on her it's too close and more underneath the reflector please good what we're doing is making the lighting softer and killing some shadows this is really for the headshot and it's looking really pretty so no change too much I love it there you go gorgeous love it oh my gosh you're done no I'm just kidding it's really pretty though we got it we got it there's your color checker make sure we get your skin tone just right eyes to me beautiful good nicely done nose over there again and eyes are nice and open be refreshed and bright beautiful and then with teeth too as well very good sweetness very very nice okay boy I like that a lot now to do a little quick variant on this because it already looks good I'm gonna try turning number two box a little bit off the background a little bit into her back to make a kick light so let's try and do that because we got the head shot straight on this side we're gonna make a little hair lighting effect it's just a tiny bit on you there see how that looks we're gonna have you to be a little more deliberate you're gonna turn your shoulder away from towards me really actually what you're gonna fall harder ball harder but then you gotta get your head Square again look over that camera for a minute you can see he can't see it but that's good that's very nice this is tenting this is when you're covered with lights beautiful look super pretty cheating a little higher I think for you nice eyes to me always excellent super pretty very very nice like that we're still getting a lot of spa are a lot of background light for her black and black I think make the spotlight go lower like behind her waist I want dark in the background it's what I want to do and you may have to turn number two off the background a little bit it might be good adding some light to that I don't want or skimmed you're gonna get my shot just keep turning it that way you turn further it's gonna be more over the shoulder kind good almost let's see how far you can turn your head okay good that works I will have to do a quick test I wanna make sure we hit you all right good just a quick throwaway test until we're there good that's pretty that's good chin higher though beautiful yes mmm that was a little more to me now keep coming mm-hmm okay Manny what we're gonna do next is light you from the other side you just stay there because it only takes us a moment to change okay guys let's flip the lighting around we throw this reflector underneath beautiful all right let's say huh beautiful good cute yes for my angle Curtis spot like and go just a tiny bit higher it's good left to right though all right okay beautiful right here nice we're really there it's very pretty okay all right super that's really good this is a good angle for you I think is the right angle of course let's stay handy so we can make micro adjustments mains just gonna go a little bit lower and we're gonna keep this reflector very close to her high light side right there I think after this I'm going to just change the background real quick for her so she has a nice commercial background that's gorgeous you are like in the pocket lady there you go okay breathe it's really pretty I'm gonna show you the starting tests there see we're gonna change it back that's good great paper for her so what we decided to do was go to the grey paper to give a commercial style headshot look and we've still on the light from the left but we've decided to use number to our normal fill which we don't need on this super close-up as a potential kick from the other side because of the dark hair be a better separator so we're gonna test it first correct it or refine it and then get her final head shot version right sweetheart let's see that is good yeah we're it's all good beautiful what we'll do Curtis get on the main don't movie yet I'm gonna lean her into it what's gonna happen so this is you want to soften this front this front shoulder a lot good you can be a little broader because you're in black you disappear and then you're just gonna fall a tiniest bit and then your nose goes up there beautiful let's see if we're not over blowing her just a little bit on that main she's cute a feather to the right more if we are there yeah it's gonna tip a little this way okay okay what we'll do is pull the arm back shoot your elbow comes out more yeah better base for you there good girl nice okay super pretty nose to me just to hear more this way good and with teeth you got it good girl alright lastly curse do a manual that reflector pull it off if you want me try a super-tight headshot on her really tight tight tight good so we're falling into it darling good chin higher almost looking up this way and then had tips this way good and lovely lovely and with a couple teeth shots and very very nice we got it okay come on in and just have a seat we're going to see how you look in here now which way did we say it we liked you better which one was it okay because it is a headshot for this one the grey paper behind you strictly commercial shot so you're gonna lean forward a little and nose will go that way because that's where your main light is and we'll do a test and see if we're in the sweet spot we're gonna be using a reflector underneath because this should be tuned and ready you just see how much can she needs from the dark here you're in a good spot so we're gonna shoot it hang on good girl love it love it all right stay there nice little smile no slightly that way and keep going keep going keep going nice all right beautiful all right and how about no smile but eyes nice and open please intentional big eyes open good all right okay couple smiles and I'll move I'm going to change the lighting around big smile with the teeth come on there it is okay all right tell you what gonna do that was really pretty alright we're gonna flip the lights back because I think that's gonna be your better sinus in fact come over here I'll show you something I'll show these guys something it's a really great posing trick for everybody and it's not an issue with you but I know most of the times people want their bottoms to look smaller okay so you don't sit flat yeah what you do is you just roll on one little piece of cheek like that if you lock your legs like this you kind of balance and it's really a natural natural way to get much smaller you don't have that problem but that's but by doing this you're automatically in a great leaning position yeah so just do that for me you won't need the box or anything good just hook it and that's good and you lean a little forward good feels okay right okay let's just get your bodies great and we're not even seeing it but from there I want to get the head more out of the body kind of like push off like you're trying to get a suntan on that one cheek alright yeah that looks really good hey Kurt's going to the main light please and let's pull away a little bit if you go a little lower for her because I'm not getting enough under the chin and then get that reflector higher I think we got it the background looks beautiful honor values are great once again we got to coax a smile but other than that beautiful and that's pretty good it's like yeah we talked about before your head naturally goes against we're gonna go forward it that way and actually keep its old square or kind of in the middle and with it go into the light that way keep going yes stay there let me see how I like that gorgeous okay there's a little less fill on the reflector side yeah right side the left side sorry her other side beautiful that's better great great okay we got a beautiful balance let's turn the nose more that way thank you and Freddie and Sabre were there let's go shorter with her mane I'll do a little quick experiment everything else stays the same you're gonna just follow that light with your face turn turn more and more more almost looking up at it for a minute good then cut the eyes to me right there you go please don't a feather it Curtis I think that's good pretty pretty pretty talk chin just a little list good all right nice good relax this is your good side so let's just finish up with a standing shot we're just gonna be right where this chair was and we're not gonna be doing full-length so don't worry about your feeder anything it's 3/4 still but you'll be in the same place good and half a step closer good all right so all we got to do and the reason is sometimes gravity's just better and easier to work with you know to get the shot I want it we'll even if it was just your head it would still look different because you're standing up okay very pretty good leave this here that there now let's put your weight on one leg always get some hip action going good yeah and let's hide well your hands good no I like that one gone and this one up it's good right where yours perfect let me get a shot and then we'll judge it and we'll fix it that's great that's great of course I would like to back on a darker so I think is it mostly the little box that little guy that's doing it so just pull it away and point it lower or something I just want a little more of a gradient and a may to the same low spot right in the middle behind her and I'll test it out good I know I can turn it down for me here a little more to the right and lower still gotta exaggerate it tiny bit good beautiful nice yeah that's kind of what I'm looking for gorgeous okay Cal yeah see beautiful now that perfect that's the way it's supposed to happen good girl right there and got it okay come on out what we're gonna do is you're gonna stay in that for the fancy background [Music]

Channel: Tim Kelly's Master Photo Techniques

Views: 93,716

Keywords: Godox, Portrait Lighting, Portrait posing, timkellyphotog, studio lighting, setting up a studio

Id: NF9Y4xgOhcE

Length: 32min 52sec (1972 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 05 2020