The Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

10 de mayo de 2025 · transcripción

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In this episode, I dig into a question that’s always lurking in the back of a portrait photographer’s mind – what really makes light flattering? It’s a term we all use, but what does it actually mean? Is it just about soft shadows and low contrast, or is it more about the connection between the subject and the photographer?

I talk through this while reflecting on a busy week – from a stunning wedding at Head Saw House to a corporate shoot for Barclays, and a spontaneous portrait session that reminded me why I love this job. I also share some thoughts on the updated Mastering Portrait Photography book, which hits shelves in September, complete with fresh images and a whole new chapter on AI post-production.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes a light truly flattering – and why it’s about more than just the gear – this episode is for you.

And as always, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, be kind to yourself.

Cheers
P.

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode.

PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.

Transcript

Well, as I sit here in the studio, the sun is shining in through the windows and it's been a beautiful, beautiful week. I started it with a trip down to Devon with the in-laws. One great thing about being married to Sarah, whose family are from Plymouth, there are many great things about being married to Sarah.

But one of the ones, in terms of geography, at least, is her family still lived down in Plymouth, in Devon, by the sea. So it was absolutely glorious to spend a couple of days down there walking the dog, drinking a beer, enjoying the sunshine, and the sun is still shining here right now. And on that happy note, I'm Paul.

I'm very much looking forward to a barbecue, and this is the Mastering Portrait 📍 Photography podcast.

📍 📍 So what did we do over the past week or so since I recorded the last episode? Well, Sarah and I went off and photographed the most beautiful wedding at a location called Hedger House, which is sort of in between us and London, give or take a bit. Um, and you'll have seen many, many Hollywood films, uh, that were shot there.

None of which I can remember. There's a couple of James Bond films, a couple of Dustin h Dustin Hoffman films. I don't know, I should have paid more attention, but it is the kind of venue that you can imagine. Downton Abbey, uh, being filmed in. As it turned out, it was Abby and Rob's wedding. Um, beautiful.

I've worked with the family for many years, photographed her brother's wedding, uh, a couple of years ago, and so we've been looking forward to this day enormously. And when Sarah and I work together, it is a great privilege. It's not just that Sarah, uh, Sarah's family are from the sea, but she's a fantastic photographer.

Um, not that we've ever really used that talent, but if you think about it, it makes sense given that she must see. Well, I dunno how many hundreds of thousands of images every single year go past her screen. 'cause she does all the selections, but also she knows exactly, exactly what's required to design a great album.

Because at the end of the day, I. It's Sarah designs them. So it was a real beautiful thing to be able to do. Sarah has created some wonderful imagery. We've also had a couple of portrait shoots, three or four this week, which I've really enjoyed today actually. We've had one came in for a reveal and one came in for a shoot.

Two lovely families, and at the end of the day, that is still what this business is about. There is so much going on out there in the news about ai, about technology, about the economy. But in the end, the bit of the industry that I sit in, this bit here is all about families. It's about memories, it's about real people doing real things.

So it's been absolutely brilliant to be. Uh, photographing families, uh, and also selling, uh, a beautiful frame. This morning. It was absolutely lovely, big layup of multiple images, uh, to go on the wall. Uh, also this week, um, I took a trip into London to photograph the Barclays bank. A GM set up quite specifically the setup.

The brief actually said, do not include people where it's possible. So that's fine. I was there to photograph, um, for the, um. The production company that do all of the work behind the scenes. They create all the staging, they create all of the film work. My job was quite literally, quite literally, to be there and make sure that was really well documented, which I did.

But of course, because it was such an early start, I had my, um, original call in time at the venue in the security on this. As you can imagine, this is Barclay's, the A GM. Um, I've never seen security like it, and I've actually photographed this event probably 10 years or so now. I never seen security quite like this one.

And with a seven o'clock start, I had to, uh, stay over in a hotel the night before, which was great. I mean, it's no problem. There's plenty of hotels in London, but it did mean I got to go out for the evening with Harriet, our daughter. So the two of us met up the night before, um, had pizza, margaritas, a beer, a glass of wine or two and more or less.

Gassed just gossiped, um, all the way through until it was time for both of us to part our ways, me to go to the hotel and for her to head home. And there was really something really special about getting to spend time with your kids as a dad. It is the greatest pleasure. As you watch your kids grow up, you watch their confidence increase, you just, well, I do anyway.

Absolutely love spending time, uh, with both of 'em. So that was really, really nice. Then of course, the next day, um, I went and photographed all of the bits and pieces for the A GM. And then at the end of that took the opportunity to go and meet a prospective client that we are planning a shoot for a big client.

Um, and they want to create over two days, sort of 50 unique portraits of different people with different backgrounds, but all looking like their shot in their place of work. But they're coming from all over the uk so we're gonna do it in one location, a mix of the street, a mix of different offices, almost like, um, filming really, it's a bit like putting together, um, a film or a documentary where you use different backgrounds to tell different stories.

So I met up with a client, um, a marketer and a graphic designer, and it was. It was actually quite a laugh because I didn't think I was only really there to help them shape the job, help them figure out how we're going to do it. But of course, I had all my cameras with me from the job I was doing in the morning, and so I dragged one out, dragged a lens out, um, and we sort of barreled around the building, taking portraits of them, um, having a look at how the different backgrounds might work, discussing lots of little details, you know, the things that people miss when you're working on location.

You can't, for instance, assume that you're going to be able to use strobes because much of this building is an open plan, and us firing strobes while we're doing portraiture probably isn't gonna work because it's distracting for everybody. Now, if we're in a closed room, that's fine, but if we're out in an open plan or in the atrium, or in the restaurant, or in the library.

I'm gonna guess that's gonna be majorly distracting. So things like allowing for the fact that we are probably gonna be using continuous lighting, probably gonna be using LEDs, which is fine. There's no problem with that. But that has other knock-on effects because it's slightly different equipment and it will work when the light levels are reasonably low.

But you can't overcome things like direct sunlight or you can balance to a degree, but it gets very bright very quickly. And we are not a film studio. I'm not gonna go and set huge great shadow boxes and things over the windows. I'm not gonna have a tunnel lighting. I'm gonna have a very simple portrait photographers lighting set up.

But it was a huge amount of fun, and the pictures have actually come out pretty well. I'm quite pleased with them. Even though we were working off brief, we were just sketching. But of course, as a portrait photographer, that's your job. And when you do this at weddings, people expect that of you. But when you're working on the commercial side, I think it surprised everyone that it was well, that easy.

I don't mean I'm not playing this industry down, but taking a portrait is mostly about understanding how light works and then understanding how to read. And manipulate characters, how to be a people person with great light. Actually, that could be the topic of a podcast. All and of its all, all in and of itself is, you know, portrait photography is understanding light.

I. And how to manipulate people. And once you're there, there's not an awful lot left, uh, to do. So that was, that was a real blast. Um, I'm looking forward to doing the actual gig. We sort of got our heads around the scope of it now and that couple of hours we spent really did illustrate the best way to plan the shoot book people in, and generally approach him.

Uh, also this week we spent a day, uh, Sarah, Katie, myself and, uh, Abby, one of our regular models. Um, the video we're recording for the mastering portrait photography website. This time round is going to be all about those lighting patterns that have names, the eight or so. Um, lighting patterns, uh, single light lighting patterns.

Lighting patterns with one light, maybe that sounds better, where, um, they're sort of lighting patterns for me. I, I didn't really understand or didn't know, rather, the lighting, the names of lighting patterns until I started to teach. And still, in fact, we wrote the original mastering portrait photography book because although I knew them.

I didn't even know they had names. I'm not in that regard, a formal photographer, but it's really useful to know them because you can jump straight to that starting point. It's a little bit like learning your scales on the piano or maybe learning your rudiments as a drummer. To me, certainly. I mean, I've done both of those things and to me they were the est, most boring, mundane things that you had to do, but you had to do them as a piano player.

You had to get your fingers to have muscle memory so that if you needed to move around certain notes, you could get there. You needed to know in certain keys what notes went together. Similarly, as a drummer, you had to get your wrists loose and your fingers loose. And be able to move around the drum kit fluently, fluidly, and fluently, and the only way of doing that is repe repetitive practice.

It's repetition, doing it over and over and over again. Much as I didn't enjoy it, it paid dividends when I found myself on stage or in a recording studio. Then all of those hours spent at a practice pad or. As a piano player learning my scales suddenly came to fruition. And just for clarity here, I was an awful piano player.

I hated the scales and I had very little talent. I, I could play a bit, I could play enough to, you know, Russell Une, if I really thought about it, um, was not a great piano player. However, as a photographer, the value in learning these named lighting patterns isn't about the names and the lighting patterns themselves.

It's learning why they're called what they are and how to do them and be able to recall them if you need to, and certainly when, for instance, as a mentor and as a trainer. It's so much easier if we can talk about lighting patterns by name. You know, I can, we can talk about this shot would've been better lit short or lit narrow.

I think this face shape might have looked better lit. Broad maybe. Um, you know, Rembrandt lighting is very theatrical actually. Rembrandt light is one of those really obscure lighting patterns that everybody knows about. Every photographer, loves and can name and can create the triangle on the cheek. But that's usually done with a hard light source.

But if you really want to use it, you've gotta use a soft light source. But knowing where the light goes so that you can create that beautiful, gentle roll off across the top of a cheekbone is a practice thing. So anyway, we spent the day. Recording all of these different lighting patterns, and they're gonna look really beautiful.

I mean, Abby's a beautiful model. Um, we shot it really clean, so every picture you'll be able to see precisely what we're talking about. So we shot each one with a hard light so you can see exactly where the light lands, where it falls, and then we shot them with a soft light. So you can see how might, how you might use exactly the same positioning of the light to create great portraits.

So I'm looking forward to finishing that video up, which we'll do, uh, I'm gonna guess Wednesday next week. Um, and that will go out onto MPP. That'll be this month's, uh, video. Uh, a lot of fun. Um, today, uh, like I said, a reveal. All the cookies have gone. The kids needed chocolate. Um, so I'm sitting in the studio thinking like, quite fancy a cookie and nope, they're all gone.

Um, but the sun has been beautiful and so what a lovely, a lovely thing to do. Uh, some big news. Now, this has actually been rumbling on since, uh, January, I think. Um, but it's now, um, out of embargo is that we've, Sarah Platon and myself have been asked to revise the mastering portrait photography book. Um, the reason the website is called Mastering Portrait Photography is 'cause we produce the book.

The publisher have asked us to rework it. And so I've actually just spent a few months, um, reworking every single portrait. Except for the one of me, you can't really see that it's me. I dunno when it was shot. I look like, um, I've been dragged through a hedge backwards, and I've left it well alone because it makes me laugh.

So there's still a shot of me holding a camera in there that hasn't been revised. But every other portrait in there has been, they're my clients. Every single one of the people in that book is a client of ours, or it's from a job where we're doing a workshop or a masterclass or something. I can tell you a story about every single picture, and it's been such a pleasure.

It's 10 years old this year. The book, it came out around about, I think it came out in May. Well, I could look the dates up in, um. 2015 and it's gonna come out is, I think the launch date is the 9th of September this year, 10 years. 10 years ago we first created it, but we've reworked all of it bit by bit by bit, picture by picture, by picture, um, so that it's still the same book.

Um, it's definitely a second revision. We haven't changed all of the wording. We've revised some of it. And the post-production chapter, I've reworked to be mostly about. As it happens, ai, so the mix of Lightroom, Photoshop, and then uh, tools like Voto. I should, again, for clarity. Uh, I'm not sponsored by any of these companies.

These are tools and apps that I pay for. I wish I didn't. If, if a Voto are listening, feel free to b me a sponsorship. But no, I pay for it. Um, I pay for it because it's useful, makes my life easier. Um, it polishes images at a rate that I could not have kept up with. Photoshop, not. In this market. Now, if you are a high-end fashion house doing fashion photography, maybe you could beauty shots on the covers of magazines.

Yeah, maybe you could. But to, we can produce, you know, to a level of about 18, maybe even 90% of that level of detail. And you can do it in a heartbeat. So things like a Voto, the last chapter in the book, the post-production, uh, chapter, has been completely rewritten to include. How we now use things like ai because if this book, let's say this book has another 10 years on a shelf before it needs revising or taking off ai, I think would've completely changed.

Not just this industry, but every industry and the most valuable things will no longer be how good you are with a computer or how good you are as a coder, or even how good you are as a writer. All of that will become. Commoditized. You can simply tell a machine how to do it. The value will be, I think, in your intellectual capacity to imagine things.

Now, I know you can go into Mid Journey and type a bunch of keywords in, or you know, Firefly or Dali or whatever, but in a very real sense. That's not art or creativity, it's just the computer spitting stuff back at you. And the same is true when you're doing creative writing, but if you truly have interesting and original ideas and configure out how to articulate those, AI is gonna be sitting alongside you every step of the way.

And what's left? What's left when. Those kinds of tools become just the heartbeat of your work. Whatever's left is the personal contact. It's the people to people, the human to human, the character to character, the very physicality of being in the same room as someone, hence the. Why I get so excited about doing portrait shoots.

I've done that all my life, and I still feel that way, that when I'm face to face with a client, yeah. All right. I mean, I know I'm an idiot and I am loud and I laugh a lot and you know, every time I have a a, an adrenaline rush, when I'm working with a client or I meet new people afterwards, I will forever beat myself up for being.

I guess embarrassing, but that's the joy of being human. Um, the tooling, the behind the scenes stuff, the management, even social media. You don't have to go onto social media for very long before you start to see AI generated videos, AI generated images. Um, and the truth of it is, I'm not sure I can tell the difference anymore, but the, the days of six fingers to three hands funny necks, they're gone.

These, the AI tools that are appearing now are super realistic. Um, and if you can do that with words, imagine what you can do with a photograph as your reference point. So anyway, the book will be out. Sorry, I've digressed slightly. The book will be out on the 9th of September. It's called Mastering Portrait Photography.

Um. Um, it's already available for pre-order on Amazon, which means I can now, um, share details of it. We've been under embargo up until this point, but, um, the rework has been done. Now looking forward to, um. Seeing the actual printed, but I've got some proofs sitting here beside me that arrived this morning.

Uh, that, uh, I just wanted to confirm some of the colors were are spot on because one of the great things I think about Amini to produce this book is their color work. That printed work is just beautiful. The prints look like competition prints in the book. It's a proper, it's, I mean, for us it's a training book.

It's a kind of a walkthrough. Things you should think about as a portrait photographer, but actually. As the photographer. It's a coffee table book of some of my favorite work, so that'll be out 9th of September. You can google mastering portrait photography. The book is available on Amazon, and of course we'll announce details of, uh, signed copies.

Uh, we're gonna have some kind of launch bash, I'm sure of it. Uh, I cannot, absolutely cannot wait. Uh, and then onto, I think what I intended to talk about today, which is linked to the lighting patterns I talked about. But it is simply this question, what makes flattering light? And I see titles of videos, how to use flattering light, how to use this light, how to use that light, and nobody really explains.

What do you mean by flattering? You know, Rembrandt pioneered. Well, did he pioneer? That's, no, he didn't. He put his name to an observed lighting pattern that created a triangle of light on his cheek. Um, is that flattering? Well, it created a very effective, very gloomy portrait, the way he painted it Anyway.

Is it flattering? I dunno. I mean, certainly it looks great. What about soft light? The thing about soft light is we all always talk about soft, flattering light. I mean, if you ever hear the word flattering light, you're probably, it's probably prefixed by the word soft. And what do we mean by soft? Well, usually soft.

We talk about soft edged shadows. That's normally what we're talking about. But of course, contrast ratios are supremely important, too soft. Edged shadows and low contrast tend to give forgiving light. They tend to reduce wrinkles or they reduce the amount of modeling that might be across a part of someone's figure or face, um, that makes it harder to discern.

Lumps, bumps, textures, hard light, hard edged shadows tend to reveal. I tend to reveal light. That's a shape more than soft light. But what if you want to, for instance, reduce the perception of somebody's width? Is soft, light, soft edge shadows, low contrast, light better, or is it better to have. Very contrasty.

Light, dark, dark shadows where everything disappears into the gloom and hard edge shadows where when it's wrapping around a curve around a body, for instance, the lip part is gonna be slightly narrower than if you lit it with a soft edged light. Well, no one can answer that. No one can tell you which is the most flattering, only the subject and the creator can tell you the people actually there in the room.

The interaction between the subject. And the creator, you the photographer. So when we talk about flattering light, what really do we mean? And I think what we mean and what we have to agree to mean is flattering light is the light that creates a picture that you love and a picture that your client loves.

If that's hard light, if it's contrasty light, if it's soft edge shadow light, if it's low contrast light, it doesn't really matter. Your ability to read your subject, your ability to read, shape and form and textures, and how to either exaggerate that or reduce that. Well, that to me is what creating flattering light is all about.

Anyway, uh, that was not, which I, I dunno why I thought that would be a topic to talk about, uh, today. And the last thing, um, I'm just, before I sign off, I've, I'm just, so I'm gazing round our studio as the sun is going down. I have to do a big tidy up tomorrow. That's my job tomorrow, is to absolutely sort this studio out so it's nice and tidy for our very first, uh, inaugural two day bootcamp, which is Monday and Tuesday next week.

Now, you may be listening to this podcast after that's been done, um, but I will give you an update. Next week as to how it has gone. So it's two days, a maximum of 10 people. Um, a mix of being here at the studio out on location round our amazing village. Um, we've also rented, um, a hall in a local church, which will give us a ton of room to really play and explore lighting.

Our studio here is incredible. I love it. It creates the pictures that I love and pictures that clearly our clients love. But putting 10 people plus me plus models into it is just. I'm gonna be a little bit tight if I want to move the lighting around. So we're gonna have, uh, spend some time over at local church hall, which is always funny, um, because it's very real for most people who don't own a studio.

Being able to show how to rig and use studio lighting in any space you are in and all the considerations that go with it. For instance, we've been around there and, um, the, um, lots of the pin boards around the room have bright colors because they use it as a crash. Well, bright colors get bounced back. So you're gonna get yellows and pinks coming back off your light.

So learning how to work with that and how to reduce the colors of light. You don't want an increase of color, of light you do want. Those are gonna be part of the topics. We've got two days in the evening between the two nights, uh, pizza, lots of chatter about portraits. Um, and then on the Tuesday, a wrap up.

Uh, more photography and in the afternoon looking at, uh, technology, looking at, uh, Photoshop, Voto, imagine all of these tools that you can do things with. So I'm really, really, really excited about it. And that's, tomorrow's job is to go through the studio. You can see it, if you can see the edges of my desk, I'm kind of glancing around.

It's, there's so much stuff here. Uh, I collect stuff. I can't help it. Sarah keeps trying to get me to either sell it or throw it. Um, and at some point, of course. I will, but in the meantime, in the meantime, if you fancy coming on one of our workshops, please do head over to mastering portrait photography.com and go to the academy section.

All of our workshops are listed there. A bit too late, obviously for the bootcamp. Uh, that is Monday, Tuesday this week and it's sold out. Uh, but coming up, uh, our various workshops throughout the summer ranging from our on location in Oxford Workshop, which might be, and we haven't done the two day, uh, two day bootcamp yet.

This might turn out to be my favorite, but working in Oxford for the day, just taking pictures on the street using whatever light we can find. And our client, oh, sorry, our models this time. Uh, one of our wedding clients, the beautiful people who I photographed at the Manir, the most unassuming and gorgeous couple.

So I think that's my favorite. That's, uh, on our website. I don't, I think there's a space left. And then of course, there's a whole load of other workshops and opportunities for if you would like to come for some mentoring, like to come for training. Um. One-to-one, whatever it is. If we can help, we will. So if you fancy any of that, head over to mastering portrait photography.com and uh, go to the academy section.

And on that happy note, I'm gonna go brave some hay fever. 'cause it's the evening the sun is set. I feel there might be a barbecue in the offing. My nose is ever so slightly bonged up with hay fever. In spite, in spite of the drugs. So I'm gonna head away. Uh, hope all is well with all of you and whatever else on this beautiful, sunny Saturday evening, be kind to yourself.

Take care.

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WEBVTT
NOTE
This file was generated by Descript
00:00:05.535 --> 00:00:09.945
Well, as I sit here in the studio, the
sun is shining in through the windows and
00:00:09.945 --> 00:00:12.765
it's been a beautiful, beautiful week.
00:00:12.765 --> 00:00:16.155
I started it with a trip down
to Devon with the in-laws.
00:00:16.155 --> 00:00:19.845
One great thing about being married
to Sarah, whose family are from
00:00:19.845 --> 00:00:22.725
Plymouth, there are many great
things about being married to Sarah.
00:00:23.115 --> 00:00:26.385
But one of the ones, in terms
of geography, at least, is
00:00:26.385 --> 00:00:30.495
her family still lived down in
Plymouth, in Devon, by the sea.
00:00:30.765 --> 00:00:33.555
So it was absolutely glorious to
spend a couple of days down there
00:00:33.555 --> 00:00:37.065
walking the dog, drinking a beer,
enjoying the sunshine, and the sun
00:00:37.575 --> 00:00:39.885
is still shining here right now.
00:00:39.885 --> 00:00:41.475
And on that happy note, I'm Paul.
00:00:41.775 --> 00:00:45.675
I'm very much looking forward to a
barbecue, and this is the Mastering
00:00:45.675 --> 00:00:47.115
Portrait Photography podcast.
00:01:03.709 --> 00:01:08.149
So what did we do over the past week or
so since I recorded the last episode?
00:01:08.149 --> 00:01:11.869
Well, Sarah and I went off and
photographed the most beautiful
00:01:11.869 --> 00:01:14.599
wedding at a location called
Head Saw House, which is.
00:01:15.034 --> 00:01:17.524
Sort of in between us and
London, give or take a bit.
00:01:17.944 --> 00:01:22.714
Um, and you'll have seen many, many
Hollywood films, uh, that were shot there.
00:01:22.834 --> 00:01:24.964
None of which I can remember.
00:01:24.964 --> 00:01:29.194
There's a couple of James Bond films, a
couple of Dustin h Dustin Hoffman films.
00:01:29.494 --> 00:01:33.064
I don't know, I should have paid
more attention, but it is the kind
00:01:33.064 --> 00:01:34.384
of venue that you can imagine.
00:01:35.134 --> 00:01:37.324
Downton Abbey, uh, being filmed in.
00:01:37.324 --> 00:01:40.054
As it turned out, it was
Abby and Rob's wedding.
00:01:40.489 --> 00:01:41.329
Um, beautiful.
00:01:41.329 --> 00:01:44.089
I've worked with the family for many
years, photographed her brother's
00:01:44.089 --> 00:01:47.689
wedding, uh, a couple of years
ago, and so we've been looking
00:01:47.689 --> 00:01:49.249
forward to this day enormously.
00:01:49.249 --> 00:01:52.999
And when Sarah and I work
together, it is a great privilege.
00:01:52.999 --> 00:01:56.449
It's not just that Sarah, uh,
Sarah's family are from the sea,
00:01:56.449 --> 00:01:59.119
but she's a fantastic photographer.
00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.749
Um, not that we've ever really used that
talent, but if you think about it, it
00:02:02.749 --> 00:02:05.749
makes sense given that she must see.
00:02:06.349 --> 00:02:09.259
Well, I dunno how many hundreds
of thousands of images every
00:02:09.529 --> 00:02:11.239
single year go past her screen.
00:02:11.449 --> 00:02:16.669
'cause she does all the selections,
but also she knows exactly, exactly
00:02:16.669 --> 00:02:19.309
what's required to design a great album.
00:02:19.309 --> 00:02:22.489
Because at the end of the day,
I. It's Sarah designs them.
00:02:22.789 --> 00:02:25.219
So it was a real beautiful
thing to be able to do.
00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:27.799
Sarah has created some wonderful imagery.
00:02:27.799 --> 00:02:32.509
We've also had a couple of portrait
shoots, three or four this week, which
00:02:32.509 --> 00:02:34.069
I've really enjoyed today actually.
00:02:34.069 --> 00:02:37.069
We've had one came in for a reveal
and one came in for a shoot.
00:02:37.069 --> 00:02:40.459
Two lovely families, and at the
end of the day, that is still
00:02:40.459 --> 00:02:41.644
what this business is about.
00:02:42.054 --> 00:02:46.279
There is so much going on out
there in the news about ai, about
00:02:46.279 --> 00:02:48.529
technology, about the economy.
00:02:48.994 --> 00:02:52.834
But in the end, the bit of the
industry that I sit in, this
00:02:52.834 --> 00:02:56.014
bit here is all about families.
00:02:56.014 --> 00:02:59.494
It's about memories, it's about
real people doing real things.
00:02:59.494 --> 00:03:02.319
So it's been absolutely brilliant to be.
00:03:03.409 --> 00:03:08.089
Uh, photographing families, uh, and
also selling, uh, a beautiful frame.
00:03:08.089 --> 00:03:08.449
This morning.
00:03:08.449 --> 00:03:12.679
It was absolutely lovely, big layup of
multiple images, uh, to go on the wall.
00:03:12.799 --> 00:03:19.939
Uh, also this week, um, I took a trip into
London to photograph the Barclays bank.
00:03:20.029 --> 00:03:23.689
A GM set up quite specifically the setup.
00:03:23.689 --> 00:03:27.559
The brief actually said, do not
include people where it's possible.
00:03:27.559 --> 00:03:28.789
So that's fine.
00:03:29.029 --> 00:03:31.939
I was there to photograph,
um, for the, um.
00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.659
The production company that do
all of the work behind the scenes.
00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:37.879
They create all the staging,
they create all of the film work.
00:03:38.209 --> 00:03:42.619
My job was quite literally, quite
literally, to be there and make sure that
00:03:42.619 --> 00:03:45.349
was really well documented, which I did.
00:03:45.349 --> 00:03:48.199
But of course, because it was
such an early start, I had my,
00:03:48.259 --> 00:03:51.769
um, original call in time at the
venue in the security on this.
00:03:51.769 --> 00:03:54.349
As you can imagine, this
is Barclay's, the A GM.
00:03:54.949 --> 00:03:57.619
Um, I've never seen security like it,
and I've actually photographed this
00:03:57.619 --> 00:04:00.079
event probably 10 years or so now.
00:04:00.364 --> 00:04:03.124
I never seen security quite like this one.
00:04:03.604 --> 00:04:07.774
And with a seven o'clock start, I
had to, uh, stay over in a hotel
00:04:07.774 --> 00:04:09.394
the night before, which was great.
00:04:09.394 --> 00:04:10.354
I mean, it's no problem.
00:04:10.354 --> 00:04:13.654
There's plenty of hotels in London,
but it did mean I got to go out for
00:04:13.654 --> 00:04:15.904
the evening with Harriet, our daughter.
00:04:15.994 --> 00:04:21.334
So the two of us met up the night before,
um, had pizza, margaritas, a beer, a
00:04:21.334 --> 00:04:23.824
glass of wine or two and more or less.
00:04:24.529 --> 00:04:29.719
Gassed just gossiped, um, all the way
through until it was time for both
00:04:29.719 --> 00:04:33.949
of us to part our ways, me to go to
the hotel and for her to head home.
00:04:34.189 --> 00:04:37.489
And there was really something
really special about getting to
00:04:37.489 --> 00:04:40.339
spend time with your kids as a dad.
00:04:41.479 --> 00:04:43.459
It is the greatest pleasure.
00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:46.399
As you watch your kids grow up, you
watch their confidence increase,
00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:49.279
you just, well, I do anyway.
00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:52.669
Absolutely love spending
time, uh, with both of 'em.
00:04:52.669 --> 00:04:53.899
So that was really, really nice.
00:04:53.989 --> 00:04:56.629
Then of course, the next day, um,
I went and photographed all of
00:04:56.629 --> 00:04:58.639
the bits and pieces for the A GM.
00:04:59.494 --> 00:05:02.464
And then at the end of that took
the opportunity to go and meet
00:05:02.464 --> 00:05:06.514
a prospective client that we are
planning a shoot for a big client.
00:05:06.994 --> 00:05:12.304
Um, and they want to create over two
days, sort of 50 unique portraits
00:05:12.844 --> 00:05:16.834
of different people with different
backgrounds, but all looking like
00:05:17.314 --> 00:05:19.239
their shot in their place of work.
00:05:20.074 --> 00:05:23.614
But they're coming from all over the uk so
we're gonna do it in one location, a mix
00:05:23.614 --> 00:05:28.264
of the street, a mix of different offices,
almost like, um, filming really, it's
00:05:28.264 --> 00:05:33.304
a bit like putting together, um, a film
or a documentary where you use different
00:05:33.304 --> 00:05:34.714
backgrounds to tell different stories.
00:05:34.714 --> 00:05:40.324
So I met up with a client, um, a marketer
and a graphic designer, and it was.
00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:43.909
It was actually quite a laugh because
I didn't think I was only really there
00:05:43.909 --> 00:05:49.129
to help them shape the job, help them
figure out how we're going to do it.
00:05:49.129 --> 00:05:51.649
But of course, I had all my cameras
with me from the job I was doing in
00:05:51.649 --> 00:05:55.189
the morning, and so I dragged one
out, dragged a lens out, um, and we
00:05:55.189 --> 00:06:00.409
sort of barreled around the building,
taking portraits of them, um, having a
00:06:00.409 --> 00:06:02.929
look at how the different backgrounds
might work, discussing lots of little
00:06:02.929 --> 00:06:06.649
details, you know, the things that people
miss when you're working on location.
00:06:07.474 --> 00:06:11.434
You can't, for instance, assume
that you're going to be able to use
00:06:11.494 --> 00:06:17.674
strobes because much of this building
is an open plan, and us firing
00:06:17.674 --> 00:06:22.054
strobes while we're doing portraiture
probably isn't gonna work because
00:06:22.054 --> 00:06:23.734
it's distracting for everybody.
00:06:24.064 --> 00:06:27.604
Now, if we're in a closed room,
that's fine, but if we're out in an
00:06:27.604 --> 00:06:31.714
open plan or in the atrium, or in
the restaurant, or in the library.
00:06:32.344 --> 00:06:35.074
I'm gonna guess that's gonna
be majorly distracting.
00:06:35.074 --> 00:06:39.034
So things like allowing for the
fact that we are probably gonna be
00:06:39.034 --> 00:06:43.054
using continuous lighting, probably
gonna be using LEDs, which is fine.
00:06:43.054 --> 00:06:44.014
There's no problem with that.
00:06:44.314 --> 00:06:47.254
But that has other knock-on effects
because it's slightly different
00:06:47.254 --> 00:06:50.644
equipment and it will work when the
light levels are reasonably low.
00:06:51.009 --> 00:06:55.299
But you can't overcome things like direct
sunlight or you can balance to a degree,
00:06:55.749 --> 00:06:58.179
but it gets very bright very quickly.
00:06:58.209 --> 00:06:59.739
And we are not a film studio.
00:06:59.739 --> 00:07:04.389
I'm not gonna go and set huge great
shadow boxes and things over the windows.
00:07:04.389 --> 00:07:06.759
I'm not gonna have a tunnel lighting.
00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:10.509
I'm gonna have a very simple portrait
photographers lighting set up.
00:07:11.314 --> 00:07:13.294
But it was a huge amount of
fun, and the pictures have
00:07:13.294 --> 00:07:14.344
actually come out pretty well.
00:07:14.344 --> 00:07:15.214
I'm quite pleased with them.
00:07:15.454 --> 00:07:17.974
Even though we were working off
brief, we were just sketching.
00:07:17.974 --> 00:07:20.524
But of course, as a portrait
photographer, that's your job.
00:07:20.524 --> 00:07:22.984
And when you do this at weddings,
people expect that of you.
00:07:23.374 --> 00:07:27.664
But when you're working on the
commercial side, I think it surprised
00:07:27.664 --> 00:07:29.794
everyone that it was well, that easy.
00:07:30.424 --> 00:07:35.194
I don't mean I'm not playing this industry
down, but taking a portrait is mostly
00:07:35.194 --> 00:07:39.244
about understanding how light works
and then understanding how to read.
00:07:39.814 --> 00:07:44.224
And manipulate characters, how to
be a people person with great light.
00:07:44.584 --> 00:07:47.074
Actually, that could be
the topic of a podcast.
00:07:47.074 --> 00:07:51.124
All and of its all, all in and
of itself is, you know, portrait
00:07:51.124 --> 00:07:52.924
photography is understanding light.
00:07:52.924 --> 00:07:54.469
I. And how to manipulate people.
00:07:54.499 --> 00:07:57.979
And once you're there, there's
not an awful lot left, uh, to do.
00:07:57.979 --> 00:08:00.499
So that was, that was a real blast.
00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:02.809
Um, I'm looking forward
to doing the actual gig.
00:08:02.809 --> 00:08:05.989
We sort of got our heads around the
scope of it now and that couple of
00:08:05.989 --> 00:08:12.769
hours we spent really did illustrate
the best way to plan the shoot book
00:08:12.769 --> 00:08:15.229
people in, and generally approach him.
00:08:16.084 --> 00:08:21.574
Uh, also this week we spent a day,
uh, Sarah, Katie, myself and, uh,
00:08:21.574 --> 00:08:23.164
Abby, one of our regular models.
00:08:23.644 --> 00:08:27.874
Um, the video we're recording for the
mastering portrait photography website.
00:08:27.874 --> 00:08:33.424
This time round is going to be
all about those lighting patterns
00:08:33.424 --> 00:08:35.824
that have names, the eight or so.
00:08:36.374 --> 00:08:39.734
Um, lighting patterns, uh,
single light lighting patterns.
00:08:40.964 --> 00:08:44.834
Lighting patterns with one light, maybe
that sounds better, where, um, they're
00:08:44.834 --> 00:08:46.034
sort of lighting patterns for me.
00:08:46.034 --> 00:08:50.384
I, I didn't really understand
or didn't know, rather, the
00:08:50.384 --> 00:08:54.704
lighting, the names of lighting
patterns until I started to teach.
00:08:54.704 --> 00:08:57.434
And still, in fact, we wrote the
original mastering portrait photography
00:08:57.884 --> 00:09:00.494
book because although I knew them.
00:09:01.249 --> 00:09:03.169
I didn't even know they had names.
00:09:03.469 --> 00:09:08.809
I'm not in that regard, a formal
photographer, but it's really useful
00:09:08.809 --> 00:09:12.829
to know them because you can jump
straight to that starting point.
00:09:12.829 --> 00:09:18.499
It's a little bit like learning
your scales on the piano or maybe
00:09:18.499 --> 00:09:21.469
learning your rudiments as a drummer.
00:09:22.594 --> 00:09:23.914
To me, certainly.
00:09:23.974 --> 00:09:29.584
I mean, I've done both of those things
and to me they were the est, most boring,
00:09:29.584 --> 00:09:35.794
mundane things that you had to do, but
you had to do them as a piano player.
00:09:35.794 --> 00:09:40.474
You had to get your fingers to have muscle
memory so that if you needed to move
00:09:40.474 --> 00:09:42.814
around certain notes, you could get there.
00:09:43.594 --> 00:09:46.894
You needed to know in certain
keys what notes went together.
00:09:47.254 --> 00:09:51.364
Similarly, as a drummer, you had to get
your wrists loose and your fingers loose.
00:09:52.204 --> 00:09:57.064
And be able to move around the
drum kit fluently, fluidly, and
00:09:57.064 --> 00:10:02.014
fluently, and the only way of doing
that is repe repetitive practice.
00:10:02.014 --> 00:10:05.104
It's repetition, doing it
over and over and over again.
00:10:05.404 --> 00:10:09.844
Much as I didn't enjoy it, it paid
dividends when I found myself on
00:10:09.844 --> 00:10:12.184
stage or in a recording studio.
00:10:13.534 --> 00:10:17.524
Then all of those hours
spent at a practice pad or.
00:10:17.929 --> 00:10:22.219
As a piano player learning my
scales suddenly came to fruition.
00:10:22.219 --> 00:10:25.219
And just for clarity here,
I was an awful piano player.
00:10:25.339 --> 00:10:28.249
I hated the scales and I
had very little talent.
00:10:28.249 --> 00:10:32.149
I, I could play a bit, I could
play enough to, you know, Russell
00:10:32.479 --> 00:10:36.379
Une, if I really thought about it,
um, was not a great piano player.
00:10:37.099 --> 00:10:42.679
However, as a photographer, the value
in learning these named lighting
00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:46.309
patterns isn't about the names and
the lighting patterns themselves.
00:10:46.864 --> 00:10:51.184
It's learning why they're called what
they are and how to do them and be
00:10:51.184 --> 00:10:55.294
able to recall them if you need to,
and certainly when, for instance,
00:10:55.294 --> 00:10:56.884
as a mentor and as a trainer.
00:10:57.709 --> 00:11:02.059
It's so much easier if we can talk
about lighting patterns by name.
00:11:02.569 --> 00:11:04.849
You know, I can, we can talk
about this shot would've been
00:11:04.849 --> 00:11:06.889
better lit short or lit narrow.
00:11:07.369 --> 00:11:12.859
I think this face shape might have
looked better lit. Broad maybe.
00:11:13.069 --> 00:11:16.249
Um, you know, Rembrandt lighting
is very theatrical actually.
00:11:16.249 --> 00:11:18.949
Rembrandt light is one of those
really obscure lighting patterns
00:11:19.339 --> 00:11:20.449
that everybody knows about.
00:11:20.449 --> 00:11:24.889
Every photographer, loves and can name
and can create the triangle on the cheek.
00:11:25.564 --> 00:11:27.754
But that's usually done
with a hard light source.
00:11:27.754 --> 00:11:30.694
But if you really want to use it,
you've gotta use a soft light source.
00:11:30.694 --> 00:11:34.864
But knowing where the light goes so
that you can create that beautiful,
00:11:34.864 --> 00:11:39.604
gentle roll off across the top of
a cheekbone is a practice thing.
00:11:40.024 --> 00:11:41.284
So anyway, we spent the day.
00:11:42.034 --> 00:11:44.104
Recording all of these different
lighting patterns, and they're
00:11:44.104 --> 00:11:44.944
gonna look really beautiful.
00:11:44.944 --> 00:11:46.174
I mean, Abby's a beautiful model.
00:11:46.534 --> 00:11:49.654
Um, we shot it really clean, so
every picture you'll be able to see
00:11:49.654 --> 00:11:51.094
precisely what we're talking about.
00:11:51.094 --> 00:11:54.394
So we shot each one with a hard
light so you can see exactly where
00:11:54.394 --> 00:11:57.904
the light lands, where it falls, and
then we shot them with a soft light.
00:11:57.904 --> 00:12:02.854
So you can see how might, how you might
use exactly the same positioning of
00:12:02.854 --> 00:12:05.164
the light to create great portraits.
00:12:05.164 --> 00:12:07.474
So I'm looking forward to finishing
that video up, which we'll do, uh,
00:12:07.474 --> 00:12:10.474
I'm gonna guess Wednesday next week.
00:12:11.464 --> 00:12:13.144
Um, and that will go out onto MPP.
00:12:13.144 --> 00:12:15.664
That'll be this month's, uh, video.
00:12:15.724 --> 00:12:16.504
Uh, a lot of fun.
00:12:16.804 --> 00:12:19.414
Um, today, uh, like I said, a reveal.
00:12:19.414 --> 00:12:20.314
All the cookies have gone.
00:12:20.884 --> 00:12:22.084
The kids needed chocolate.
00:12:22.564 --> 00:12:24.664
Um, so I'm sitting in the studio
thinking like, quite fancy a
00:12:24.664 --> 00:12:26.224
cookie and nope, they're all gone.
00:12:26.584 --> 00:12:31.324
Um, but the sun has been beautiful and
so what a lovely, a lovely thing to do.
00:12:31.774 --> 00:12:33.304
Uh, some big news.
00:12:33.304 --> 00:12:38.404
Now, this has actually been rumbling
on since, uh, January, I think.
00:12:38.949 --> 00:12:44.229
Um, but it's now, um, out of embargo
is that we've, Sarah Platon and
00:12:44.229 --> 00:12:51.099
myself have been asked to revise the
mastering portrait photography book.
00:12:51.549 --> 00:12:54.489
Um, the reason the website is called
Mastering Portrait Photography
00:12:54.489 --> 00:12:55.809
is 'cause we produce the book.
00:12:56.109 --> 00:12:57.999
The publisher have asked us to rework it.
00:12:57.999 --> 00:13:01.869
And so I've actually just spent
a few months, um, reworking
00:13:01.959 --> 00:13:04.569
every single portrait.
00:13:05.419 --> 00:13:09.319
Except for the one of me, you
can't really see that it's me.
00:13:09.829 --> 00:13:10.909
I dunno when it was shot.
00:13:10.909 --> 00:13:14.689
I look like, um, I've been dragged
through a hedge backwards, and I've left
00:13:14.689 --> 00:13:16.369
it well alone because it makes me laugh.
00:13:16.789 --> 00:13:19.939
So there's still a shot of me holding a
camera in there that hasn't been revised.
00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:24.529
But every other portrait in there
has been, they're my clients.
00:13:25.069 --> 00:13:28.759
Every single one of the people in
that book is a client of ours, or
00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.879
it's from a job where we're doing a
workshop or a masterclass or something.
00:13:32.329 --> 00:13:37.819
I can tell you a story about every single
picture, and it's been such a pleasure.
00:13:37.819 --> 00:13:39.649
It's 10 years old this year.
00:13:39.709 --> 00:13:44.449
The book, it came out around
about, I think it came out in May.
00:13:44.959 --> 00:13:47.239
Well, I could look the dates up in, um.
00:13:47.989 --> 00:13:51.909
2015 and it's gonna come out is,
I think the launch date is the 9th
00:13:51.909 --> 00:13:54.499
of September this year, 10 years.
00:13:54.589 --> 00:14:00.559
10 years ago we first created it, but
we've reworked all of it bit by bit by
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:04.399
bit, picture by picture, by picture,
um, so that it's still the same book.
00:14:04.549 --> 00:14:05.929
Um, it's definitely a second revision.
00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:07.609
We haven't changed all of the wording.
00:14:07.609 --> 00:14:08.899
We've revised some of it.
00:14:09.229 --> 00:14:13.189
And the post-production chapter,
I've reworked to be mostly about.
00:14:13.744 --> 00:14:17.914
As it happens, ai, so the
mix of Lightroom, Photoshop,
00:14:18.244 --> 00:14:20.254
and then uh, tools like Voto.
00:14:21.049 --> 00:14:22.579
I should, again, for clarity.
00:14:22.939 --> 00:14:24.829
Uh, I'm not sponsored by
any of these companies.
00:14:24.829 --> 00:14:28.879
These are tools and apps that I pay for.
00:14:29.509 --> 00:14:30.379
I wish I didn't.
00:14:30.769 --> 00:14:33.949
If, if a Voto are listening,
feel free to b me a sponsorship.
00:14:33.949 --> 00:14:34.879
But no, I pay for it.
00:14:35.239 --> 00:14:38.359
Um, I pay for it because it's
useful, makes my life easier.
00:14:38.689 --> 00:14:43.009
Um, it polishes images at a rate
that I could not have kept up with.
00:14:43.009 --> 00:14:43.879
Photoshop, not.
00:14:44.249 --> 00:14:45.119
In this market.
00:14:45.119 --> 00:14:49.619
Now, if you are a high-end fashion house
doing fashion photography, maybe you could
00:14:49.859 --> 00:14:52.289
beauty shots on the covers of magazines.
00:14:52.289 --> 00:14:53.309
Yeah, maybe you could.
00:14:53.969 --> 00:14:58.409
But to, we can produce, you know,
to a level of about 18, maybe
00:14:58.409 --> 00:15:00.929
even 90% of that level of detail.
00:15:01.199 --> 00:15:02.459
And you can do it in a heartbeat.
00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:04.829
So things like a Voto, the
last chapter in the book, the
00:15:04.829 --> 00:15:09.239
post-production, uh, chapter, has
been completely rewritten to include.
00:15:09.859 --> 00:15:14.329
How we now use things like ai because
if this book, let's say this book has
00:15:14.329 --> 00:15:19.459
another 10 years on a shelf before
it needs revising or taking off ai,
00:15:19.729 --> 00:15:22.909
I think would've completely changed.
00:15:22.939 --> 00:15:27.529
Not just this industry, but every
industry and the most valuable things
00:15:27.529 --> 00:15:31.669
will no longer be how good you are with a
computer or how good you are as a coder,
00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:33.829
or even how good you are as a writer.
00:15:34.339 --> 00:15:35.689
All of that will become.
00:15:36.229 --> 00:15:37.159
Commoditized.
00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.219
You can simply tell a
machine how to do it.
00:15:40.219 --> 00:15:48.499
The value will be, I think, in your
intellectual capacity to imagine things.
00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:51.709
Now, I know you can go into Mid
Journey and type a bunch of keywords
00:15:51.709 --> 00:15:58.669
in, or you know, Firefly or Dali or
whatever, but in a very real sense.
00:15:59.569 --> 00:16:04.699
That's not art or creativity, it's just
the computer spitting stuff back at you.
00:16:04.699 --> 00:16:09.649
And the same is true when you're doing
creative writing, but if you truly
00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:15.619
have interesting and original ideas
and configure out how to articulate
00:16:15.619 --> 00:16:20.449
those, AI is gonna be sitting
alongside you every step of the way.
00:16:20.449 --> 00:16:21.649
And what's left?
00:16:22.249 --> 00:16:23.479
What's left when.
00:16:24.424 --> 00:16:30.154
Those kinds of tools become
just the heartbeat of your work.
00:16:31.114 --> 00:16:33.514
Whatever's left is the personal contact.
00:16:33.514 --> 00:16:37.234
It's the people to people, the human
to human, the character to character,
00:16:37.264 --> 00:16:41.254
the very physicality of being in
the same room as someone, hence the.
00:16:41.569 --> 00:16:43.939
Why I get so excited about
doing portrait shoots.
00:16:43.939 --> 00:16:47.239
I've done that all my life, and I
still feel that way, that when I'm
00:16:47.239 --> 00:16:48.619
face to face with a client, yeah.
00:16:48.619 --> 00:16:49.009
All right.
00:16:49.794 --> 00:16:56.479
I mean, I know I'm an idiot and I am
loud and I laugh a lot and you know,
00:16:56.479 --> 00:16:59.884
every time I have a a, an adrenaline
rush, when I'm working with a client
00:16:59.884 --> 00:17:04.699
or I meet new people afterwards, I
will forever beat myself up for being.
00:17:05.464 --> 00:17:08.614
I guess embarrassing, but
that's the joy of being human.
00:17:09.214 --> 00:17:13.474
Um, the tooling, the behind the scenes
stuff, the management, even social media.
00:17:14.044 --> 00:17:18.424
You don't have to go onto social media
for very long before you start to see AI
00:17:18.424 --> 00:17:21.094
generated videos, AI generated images.
00:17:21.724 --> 00:17:25.744
Um, and the truth of it is, I'm not
sure I can tell the difference anymore,
00:17:25.834 --> 00:17:30.274
but the, the days of six fingers to
three hands funny necks, they're gone.
00:17:30.904 --> 00:17:34.684
These, the AI tools that are
appearing now are super realistic.
00:17:35.134 --> 00:17:38.014
Um, and if you can do that with
words, imagine what you can do with
00:17:38.014 --> 00:17:39.784
a photograph as your reference point.
00:17:39.784 --> 00:17:41.794
So anyway, the book will be out.
00:17:41.824 --> 00:17:42.844
Sorry, I've digressed slightly.
00:17:42.844 --> 00:17:45.154
The book will be out on
the 9th of September.
00:17:45.154 --> 00:17:46.624
It's called Mastering
Portrait Photography.
00:17:46.984 --> 00:17:47.284
Um.
00:17:47.299 --> 00:17:51.379
Um, it's already available for
pre-order on Amazon, which means I
00:17:51.379 --> 00:17:54.109
can now, um, share details of it.
00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:58.099
We've been under embargo up until this
point, but, um, the rework has been done.
00:17:58.639 --> 00:18:00.349
Now looking forward to, um.
00:18:01.399 --> 00:18:05.149
Seeing the actual printed, but
I've got some proofs sitting here
00:18:05.149 --> 00:18:06.769
beside me that arrived this morning.
00:18:07.189 --> 00:18:10.879
Uh, that, uh, I just wanted to
confirm some of the colors were are
00:18:10.879 --> 00:18:15.469
spot on because one of the great
things I think about Amini to produce
00:18:15.469 --> 00:18:17.899
this book is their color work.
00:18:17.899 --> 00:18:20.509
That printed work is just beautiful.
00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:22.729
The prints look like
competition prints in the book.
00:18:22.729 --> 00:18:25.399
It's a proper, it's, I mean,
for us it's a training book.
00:18:25.399 --> 00:18:27.139
It's a kind of a walkthrough.
00:18:27.139 --> 00:18:29.749
Things you should think about as a
portrait photographer, but actually.
00:18:29.789 --> 00:18:30.929
As the photographer.
00:18:31.259 --> 00:18:34.679
It's a coffee table book of
some of my favorite work, so
00:18:34.679 --> 00:18:36.629
that'll be out 9th of September.
00:18:36.989 --> 00:18:38.849
You can google mastering
portrait photography.
00:18:38.849 --> 00:18:42.299
The book is available on Amazon,
and of course we'll announce
00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:44.309
details of, uh, signed copies.
00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:47.459
Uh, we're gonna have some kind
of launch bash, I'm sure of it.
00:18:47.909 --> 00:18:51.149
Uh, I cannot, absolutely cannot wait.
00:18:51.299 --> 00:18:58.229
Uh, and then onto, I think what I intended
to talk about today, which is linked to
00:18:58.259 --> 00:18:59.669
the lighting patterns I talked about.
00:19:00.574 --> 00:19:08.194
But it is simply this question,
what makes flattering light?
00:19:09.394 --> 00:19:12.784
And I see titles of videos, how
to use flattering light, how to
00:19:12.784 --> 00:19:15.874
use this light, how to use that
light, and nobody really explains.
00:19:17.104 --> 00:19:19.354
What do you mean by flattering?
00:19:20.344 --> 00:19:22.414
You know, Rembrandt pioneered.
00:19:22.819 --> 00:19:23.749
Well, did he pioneer?
00:19:23.749 --> 00:19:24.679
That's, no, he didn't.
00:19:24.679 --> 00:19:28.789
He put his name to an observed
lighting pattern that created a
00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:30.649
triangle of light on his cheek.
00:19:31.249 --> 00:19:33.409
Um, is that flattering?
00:19:33.409 --> 00:19:37.159
Well, it created a very
effective, very gloomy portrait,
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:38.689
the way he painted it Anyway.
00:19:39.769 --> 00:19:40.729
Is it flattering?
00:19:40.999 --> 00:19:41.479
I dunno.
00:19:41.479 --> 00:19:43.429
I mean, certainly it looks great.
00:19:44.419 --> 00:19:45.439
What about soft light?
00:19:46.249 --> 00:19:50.359
The thing about soft light is we all
always talk about soft, flattering light.
00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:54.289
I mean, if you ever hear the word
flattering light, you're probably, it's
00:19:54.289 --> 00:19:56.539
probably prefixed by the word soft.
00:19:56.959 --> 00:19:58.039
And what do we mean by soft?
00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:01.189
Well, usually soft.
00:20:01.189 --> 00:20:03.349
We talk about soft edged shadows.
00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:05.029
That's normally what we're talking about.
00:20:05.449 --> 00:20:12.379
But of course, contrast ratios
are supremely important, too soft.
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:19.519
Edged shadows and low contrast
tend to give forgiving light.
00:20:19.879 --> 00:20:26.179
They tend to reduce wrinkles or they
reduce the amount of modeling that might
00:20:26.179 --> 00:20:32.959
be across a part of someone's figure or
face, um, that makes it harder to discern.
00:20:33.439 --> 00:20:41.569
Lumps, bumps, textures, hard light,
hard edged shadows tend to reveal.
00:20:42.669 --> 00:20:44.164
I tend to reveal light.
00:20:44.224 --> 00:20:47.764
That's a shape more than soft light.
00:20:48.604 --> 00:20:56.104
But what if you want to, for instance,
reduce the perception of somebody's width?
00:20:56.164 --> 00:20:59.764
Is soft, light, soft edge
shadows, low contrast, light
00:20:59.764 --> 00:21:02.524
better, or is it better to have.
00:21:02.959 --> 00:21:03.859
Very contrasty.
00:21:03.859 --> 00:21:09.469
Light, dark, dark shadows where everything
disappears into the gloom and hard edge
00:21:09.469 --> 00:21:14.449
shadows where when it's wrapping around a
curve around a body, for instance, the lip
00:21:14.449 --> 00:21:18.319
part is gonna be slightly narrower than
if you lit it with a soft edged light.
00:21:19.399 --> 00:21:20.449
Well, no one can answer that.
00:21:21.259 --> 00:21:25.639
No one can tell you which is the
most flattering, only the subject
00:21:25.729 --> 00:21:29.509
and the creator can tell you the
people actually there in the room.
00:21:29.509 --> 00:21:31.489
The interaction between the subject.
00:21:32.224 --> 00:21:35.044
And the creator, you the photographer.
00:21:35.974 --> 00:21:39.544
So when we talk about flattering
light, what really do we mean?
00:21:39.694 --> 00:21:45.154
And I think what we mean and what we have
to agree to mean is flattering light is
00:21:45.154 --> 00:21:50.284
the light that creates a picture that you
love and a picture that your client loves.
00:21:51.154 --> 00:21:54.544
If that's hard light, if it's
contrasty light, if it's soft edge
00:21:54.544 --> 00:21:59.164
shadow light, if it's low contrast
light, it doesn't really matter.
00:22:00.514 --> 00:22:04.114
Your ability to read your subject,
your ability to read, shape and
00:22:04.114 --> 00:22:10.264
form and textures, and how to either
exaggerate that or reduce that.
00:22:11.464 --> 00:22:15.634
Well, that to me is what creating
flattering light is all about.
00:22:16.234 --> 00:22:20.164
Anyway, uh, that was not, which I,
I dunno why I thought that would be
00:22:20.164 --> 00:22:22.324
a topic to talk about, uh, today.
00:22:22.354 --> 00:22:26.644
And the last thing, um, I'm just, before
I sign off, I've, I'm just, so I'm gazing
00:22:26.644 --> 00:22:28.624
round our studio as the sun is going down.
00:22:29.404 --> 00:22:31.624
I have to do a big tidy up tomorrow.
00:22:31.624 --> 00:22:35.974
That's my job tomorrow, is to absolutely
sort this studio out so it's nice
00:22:35.974 --> 00:22:41.914
and tidy for our very first, uh,
inaugural two day bootcamp, which
00:22:41.914 --> 00:22:44.044
is Monday and Tuesday next week.
00:22:44.074 --> 00:22:47.674
Now, you may be listening to this
podcast after that's been done,
00:22:48.124 --> 00:22:49.669
um, but I will give you an update.
00:22:50.074 --> 00:22:52.924
Next week as to how it has gone.
00:22:53.074 --> 00:22:55.564
So it's two days, a maximum of 10 people.
00:22:56.014 --> 00:23:00.364
Um, a mix of being here at the studio out
on location round our amazing village.
00:23:00.724 --> 00:23:05.914
Um, we've also rented, um, a hall in a
local church, which will give us a ton of
00:23:05.914 --> 00:23:08.464
room to really play and explore lighting.
00:23:08.464 --> 00:23:09.934
Our studio here is incredible.
00:23:09.934 --> 00:23:10.444
I love it.
00:23:10.444 --> 00:23:14.374
It creates the pictures that I love and
pictures that clearly our clients love.
00:23:14.824 --> 00:23:18.514
But putting 10 people plus me
plus models into it is just.
00:23:18.764 --> 00:23:21.884
I'm gonna be a little bit tight if
I want to move the lighting around.
00:23:22.394 --> 00:23:25.994
So we're gonna have, uh, spend some
time over at local church hall, which is
00:23:25.994 --> 00:23:30.494
always funny, um, because it's very real
for most people who don't own a studio.
00:23:30.494 --> 00:23:34.424
Being able to show how to rig
and use studio lighting in any
00:23:34.424 --> 00:23:37.484
space you are in and all the
considerations that go with it.
00:23:37.484 --> 00:23:41.744
For instance, we've been around there
and, um, the, um, lots of the pin
00:23:41.744 --> 00:23:45.044
boards around the room have bright
colors because they use it as a crash.
00:23:45.674 --> 00:23:47.384
Well, bright colors get bounced back.
00:23:47.809 --> 00:23:51.679
So you're gonna get yellows and
pinks coming back off your light.
00:23:52.009 --> 00:23:57.649
So learning how to work with that and
how to reduce the colors of light.
00:23:57.649 --> 00:23:59.689
You don't want an increase of
color, of light you do want.
00:24:00.049 --> 00:24:01.399
Those are gonna be part of the topics.
00:24:01.399 --> 00:24:04.639
We've got two days in the evening
between the two nights, uh, pizza,
00:24:04.669 --> 00:24:06.289
lots of chatter about portraits.
00:24:06.769 --> 00:24:08.539
Um, and then on the Tuesday, a wrap up.
00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:13.849
Uh, more photography and in the afternoon
looking at, uh, technology, looking
00:24:13.849 --> 00:24:18.319
at, uh, Photoshop, Voto, imagine all of
these tools that you can do things with.
00:24:18.709 --> 00:24:21.049
So I'm really, really,
really excited about it.
00:24:21.049 --> 00:24:23.419
And that's, tomorrow's job
is to go through the studio.
00:24:23.419 --> 00:24:26.329
You can see it, if you can see the edges
of my desk, I'm kind of glancing around.
00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:28.669
It's, there's so much stuff here.
00:24:29.089 --> 00:24:30.259
Uh, I collect stuff.
00:24:30.289 --> 00:24:31.039
I can't help it.
00:24:31.069 --> 00:24:33.139
Sarah keeps trying to get me
to either sell it or throw it.
00:24:33.559 --> 00:24:35.179
Um, and at some point, of course.
00:24:35.449 --> 00:24:39.469
I will, but in the meantime, in the
meantime, if you fancy coming on one
00:24:39.469 --> 00:24:43.309
of our workshops, please do head over
to mastering portrait photography.com
00:24:43.549 --> 00:24:46.399
and go to the academy section.
00:24:46.429 --> 00:24:48.769
All of our workshops are listed there.
00:24:48.784 --> 00:24:51.214
A bit too late, obviously
for the bootcamp.
00:24:51.574 --> 00:24:54.064
Uh, that is Monday, Tuesday
this week and it's sold out.
00:24:54.574 --> 00:24:59.314
Uh, but coming up, uh, our various
workshops throughout the summer ranging
00:24:59.314 --> 00:25:04.024
from our on location in Oxford Workshop,
which might be, and we haven't done
00:25:04.024 --> 00:25:05.644
the two day, uh, two day bootcamp yet.
00:25:05.644 --> 00:25:10.684
This might turn out to be my favorite,
but working in Oxford for the day,
00:25:10.744 --> 00:25:14.764
just taking pictures on the street
using whatever light we can find.
00:25:14.824 --> 00:25:17.344
And our client, oh, sorry,
our models this time.
00:25:18.184 --> 00:25:21.274
Uh, one of our wedding clients,
the beautiful people who I
00:25:21.274 --> 00:25:24.604
photographed at the Manir, the most
unassuming and gorgeous couple.
00:25:24.934 --> 00:25:26.674
So I think that's my favorite.
00:25:26.674 --> 00:25:28.264
That's, uh, on our website.
00:25:28.264 --> 00:25:30.214
I don't, I think there's a space left.
00:25:30.664 --> 00:25:35.164
And then of course, there's a whole load
of other workshops and opportunities
00:25:35.164 --> 00:25:38.314
for if you would like to come for some
mentoring, like to come for training.
00:25:38.884 --> 00:25:39.304
Um.
00:25:39.564 --> 00:25:41.214
One-to-one, whatever it is.
00:25:41.574 --> 00:25:43.044
If we can help, we will.
00:25:43.224 --> 00:25:46.824
So if you fancy any of that, head over
to mastering portrait photography.com
00:25:47.364 --> 00:25:51.204
and uh, go to the academy section.
00:25:51.414 --> 00:25:54.474
And on that happy note, I'm
gonna go brave some hay fever.
00:25:54.504 --> 00:25:56.214
'cause it's the evening the sun is set.
00:25:56.364 --> 00:25:59.154
I feel there might be a
barbecue in the offing.
00:25:59.154 --> 00:26:01.524
My nose is ever so slightly
bonged up with hay fever.
00:26:01.524 --> 00:26:03.984
In spite, in spite of the drugs.
00:26:04.969 --> 00:26:06.199
So I'm gonna head away.
00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:12.139
Uh, hope all is well with all of you and
whatever else on this beautiful, sunny
00:26:12.169 --> 00:26:15.859
Saturday evening, be kind to yourself.
00:26:16.249 --> 00:26:16.759
Take care.

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