EP162 Beyond Soft Shadows – What Really Makes Light Flattering?

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Well, as I sit here in the studio, the
sun is shining in through the windows and
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it's been a beautiful, beautiful week.
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I started it with a trip down
to Devon with the in-laws.
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One great thing about being married
to Sarah, whose family are from
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Plymouth, there are many great
things about being married to Sarah.
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But one of the ones, in terms
of geography, at least, is
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her family still lived down in
Plymouth, in Devon, by the sea.
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So it was absolutely glorious to
spend a couple of days down there
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walking the dog, drinking a beer,
enjoying the sunshine, and the sun
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is still shining here right now.
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And on that happy note, I'm Paul.
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I'm very much looking forward to a
barbecue, and this is the Mastering
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Portrait Photography podcast.
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So what did we do over the past week or
so since I recorded the last episode?
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Well, Sarah and I went off and
photographed the most beautiful
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wedding at a location called
Head Saw House, which is.
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Sort of in between us and
London, give or take a bit.
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Um, and you'll have seen many, many
Hollywood films, uh, that were shot there.
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None of which I can remember.
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There's a couple of James Bond films, a
couple of Dustin h Dustin Hoffman films.
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I don't know, I should have paid
more attention, but it is the kind
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of venue that you can imagine.
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Downton Abbey, uh, being filmed in.
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As it turned out, it was
Abby and Rob's wedding.
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Um, beautiful.
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I've worked with the family for many
years, photographed her brother's
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wedding, uh, a couple of years
ago, and so we've been looking
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forward to this day enormously.
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And when Sarah and I work
together, it is a great privilege.
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It's not just that Sarah, uh,
Sarah's family are from the sea,
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but she's a fantastic photographer.
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Um, not that we've ever really used that
talent, but if you think about it, it
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makes sense given that she must see.
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Well, I dunno how many hundreds
of thousands of images every
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single year go past her screen.
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'cause she does all the selections,
but also she knows exactly, exactly
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what's required to design a great album.
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Because at the end of the day,
I. It's Sarah designs them.
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So it was a real beautiful
thing to be able to do.
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Sarah has created some wonderful imagery.
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We've also had a couple of portrait
shoots, three or four this week, which
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I've really enjoyed today actually.
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We've had one came in for a reveal
and one came in for a shoot.
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Two lovely families, and at the
end of the day, that is still
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what this business is about.
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There is so much going on out
there in the news about ai, about
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technology, about the economy.
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But in the end, the bit of the
industry that I sit in, this
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bit here is all about families.
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It's about memories, it's about
real people doing real things.
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So it's been absolutely brilliant to be.
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Uh, photographing families, uh, and
also selling, uh, a beautiful frame.
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This morning.
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It was absolutely lovely, big layup of
multiple images, uh, to go on the wall.
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Uh, also this week, um, I took a trip into
London to photograph the Barclays bank.
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A GM set up quite specifically the setup.
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The brief actually said, do not
include people where it's possible.
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So that's fine.
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I was there to photograph,
um, for the, um.
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The production company that do
all of the work behind the scenes.
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They create all the staging,
they create all of the film work.
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My job was quite literally, quite
literally, to be there and make sure that
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was really well documented, which I did.
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But of course, because it was
such an early start, I had my,
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um, original call in time at the
venue in the security on this.
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As you can imagine, this
is Barclay's, the A GM.
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Um, I've never seen security like it,
and I've actually photographed this
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event probably 10 years or so now.
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I never seen security quite like this one.
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And with a seven o'clock start, I
had to, uh, stay over in a hotel
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the night before, which was great.
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I mean, it's no problem.
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There's plenty of hotels in London,
but it did mean I got to go out for
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the evening with Harriet, our daughter.
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So the two of us met up the night before,
um, had pizza, margaritas, a beer, a
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glass of wine or two and more or less.
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Gassed just gossiped, um, all the way
through until it was time for both
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of us to part our ways, me to go to
the hotel and for her to head home.
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And there was really something
really special about getting to
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spend time with your kids as a dad.
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It is the greatest pleasure.
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As you watch your kids grow up, you
watch their confidence increase,
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you just, well, I do anyway.
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Absolutely love spending
time, uh, with both of 'em.
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So that was really, really nice.
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Then of course, the next day, um,
I went and photographed all of
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the bits and pieces for the A GM.
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And then at the end of that took
the opportunity to go and meet
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a prospective client that we are
planning a shoot for a big client.
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Um, and they want to create over two
days, sort of 50 unique portraits
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of different people with different
backgrounds, but all looking like
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their shot in their place of work.
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But they're coming from all over the uk so
we're gonna do it in one location, a mix
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of the street, a mix of different offices,
almost like, um, filming really, it's
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a bit like putting together, um, a film
or a documentary where you use different
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backgrounds to tell different stories.
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So I met up with a client, um, a marketer
and a graphic designer, and it was.
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It was actually quite a laugh because
I didn't think I was only really there
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to help them shape the job, help them
figure out how we're going to do it.
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But of course, I had all my cameras
with me from the job I was doing in
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the morning, and so I dragged one
out, dragged a lens out, um, and we
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sort of barreled around the building,
taking portraits of them, um, having a
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look at how the different backgrounds
might work, discussing lots of little
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details, you know, the things that people
miss when you're working on location.
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You can't, for instance, assume
that you're going to be able to use
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strobes because much of this building
is an open plan, and us firing
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strobes while we're doing portraiture
probably isn't gonna work because
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it's distracting for everybody.
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Now, if we're in a closed room,
that's fine, but if we're out in an
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open plan or in the atrium, or in
the restaurant, or in the library.
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I'm gonna guess that's gonna
be majorly distracting.
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So things like allowing for the
fact that we are probably gonna be
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using continuous lighting, probably
gonna be using LEDs, which is fine.
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There's no problem with that.
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But that has other knock-on effects
because it's slightly different
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equipment and it will work when the
light levels are reasonably low.
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But you can't overcome things like direct
sunlight or you can balance to a degree,
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but it gets very bright very quickly.
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And we are not a film studio.
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I'm not gonna go and set huge great
shadow boxes and things over the windows.
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I'm not gonna have a tunnel lighting.
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I'm gonna have a very simple portrait
photographers lighting set up.
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But it was a huge amount of
fun, and the pictures have
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actually come out pretty well.
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I'm quite pleased with them.
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Even though we were working off
brief, we were just sketching.
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But of course, as a portrait
photographer, that's your job.
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And when you do this at weddings,
people expect that of you.
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But when you're working on the
commercial side, I think it surprised
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everyone that it was well, that easy.
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I don't mean I'm not playing this industry
down, but taking a portrait is mostly
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about understanding how light works
and then understanding how to read.
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And manipulate characters, how to
be a people person with great light.
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Actually, that could be
the topic of a podcast.
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All and of its all, all in and
of itself is, you know, portrait
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photography is understanding light.
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I. And how to manipulate people.
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And once you're there, there's
not an awful lot left, uh, to do.
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So that was, that was a real blast.
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Um, I'm looking forward
to doing the actual gig.
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We sort of got our heads around the
scope of it now and that couple of
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hours we spent really did illustrate
the best way to plan the shoot book
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people in, and generally approach him.
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Uh, also this week we spent a day,
uh, Sarah, Katie, myself and, uh,
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Abby, one of our regular models.
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Um, the video we're recording for the
mastering portrait photography website.
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This time round is going to be
all about those lighting patterns
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that have names, the eight or so.
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Um, lighting patterns, uh,
single light lighting patterns.
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Lighting patterns with one light, maybe
that sounds better, where, um, they're
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sort of lighting patterns for me.
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I, I didn't really understand
or didn't know, rather, the
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lighting, the names of lighting
patterns until I started to teach.
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And still, in fact, we wrote the
original mastering portrait photography
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book because although I knew them.
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I didn't even know they had names.
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I'm not in that regard, a formal
photographer, but it's really useful
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to know them because you can jump
straight to that starting point.
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It's a little bit like learning
your scales on the piano or maybe
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learning your rudiments as a drummer.
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To me, certainly.
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I mean, I've done both of those things
and to me they were the est, most boring,
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mundane things that you had to do, but
you had to do them as a piano player.
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You had to get your fingers to have muscle
memory so that if you needed to move
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around certain notes, you could get there.
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You needed to know in certain
keys what notes went together.
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Similarly, as a drummer, you had to get
your wrists loose and your fingers loose.
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And be able to move around the
drum kit fluently, fluidly, and
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fluently, and the only way of doing
that is repe repetitive practice.
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It's repetition, doing it
over and over and over again.
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Much as I didn't enjoy it, it paid
dividends when I found myself on
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stage or in a recording studio.
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Then all of those hours
spent at a practice pad or.
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As a piano player learning my
scales suddenly came to fruition.
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And just for clarity here,
I was an awful piano player.
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I hated the scales and I
had very little talent.
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I, I could play a bit, I could
play enough to, you know, Russell
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Une, if I really thought about it,
um, was not a great piano player.
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However, as a photographer, the value
in learning these named lighting
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patterns isn't about the names and
the lighting patterns themselves.
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It's learning why they're called what
they are and how to do them and be
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able to recall them if you need to,
and certainly when, for instance,
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as a mentor and as a trainer.
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It's so much easier if we can talk
about lighting patterns by name.
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You know, I can, we can talk
about this shot would've been
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better lit short or lit narrow.
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I think this face shape might have
looked better lit. Broad maybe.
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Um, you know, Rembrandt lighting
is very theatrical actually.
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Rembrandt light is one of those
really obscure lighting patterns
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that everybody knows about.
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Every photographer, loves and can name
and can create the triangle on the cheek.
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But that's usually done
with a hard light source.
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But if you really want to use it,
you've gotta use a soft light source.
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But knowing where the light goes so
that you can create that beautiful,
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gentle roll off across the top of
a cheekbone is a practice thing.
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So anyway, we spent the day.
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Recording all of these different
lighting patterns, and they're
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gonna look really beautiful.
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I mean, Abby's a beautiful model.
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Um, we shot it really clean, so
every picture you'll be able to see
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precisely what we're talking about.
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So we shot each one with a hard
light so you can see exactly where
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the light lands, where it falls, and
then we shot them with a soft light.
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So you can see how might, how you might
use exactly the same positioning of
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the light to create great portraits.
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So I'm looking forward to finishing
that video up, which we'll do, uh,
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I'm gonna guess Wednesday next week.
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Um, and that will go out onto MPP.
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That'll be this month's, uh, video.
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Uh, a lot of fun.
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Um, today, uh, like I said, a reveal.
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All the cookies have gone.
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The kids needed chocolate.
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Um, so I'm sitting in the studio
thinking like, quite fancy a
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cookie and nope, they're all gone.
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Um, but the sun has been beautiful and
so what a lovely, a lovely thing to do.
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Uh, some big news.
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Now, this has actually been rumbling
on since, uh, January, I think.
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Um, but it's now, um, out of embargo
is that we've, Sarah Platon and
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myself have been asked to revise the
mastering portrait photography book.
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Um, the reason the website is called
Mastering Portrait Photography
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is 'cause we produce the book.
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The publisher have asked us to rework it.
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And so I've actually just spent
a few months, um, reworking
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every single portrait.
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Except for the one of me, you
can't really see that it's me.
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I dunno when it was shot.
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I look like, um, I've been dragged
through a hedge backwards, and I've left
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it well alone because it makes me laugh.
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So there's still a shot of me holding a
camera in there that hasn't been revised.
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But every other portrait in there
has been, they're my clients.
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Every single one of the people in
that book is a client of ours, or
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it's from a job where we're doing a
workshop or a masterclass or something.
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I can tell you a story about every single
picture, and it's been such a pleasure.
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It's 10 years old this year.
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The book, it came out around
about, I think it came out in May.
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Well, I could look the dates up in, um.
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2015 and it's gonna come out is,
I think the launch date is the 9th
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of September this year, 10 years.
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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.