All language subtitles for 3.09 - Seeing the Light

Now that we've got all that technical bullshit

out of the way, let's get into the

fun stuff, where we're starting to make our

way into the actual shooting.

But to get there, we got to start

with something far more important, which is seeing,

right?

The scene comes before the shooting.

And specifically, what we're going to talk about

is seeing light.

We're going to start with natural Because in

order to be a really strong lighting photographer,

you first have to be a really good

natural light photographer.

And these two types of photography go hand

in hand.

They'll really affect each other.

Being a good lighting photographer will make you

a better natural light photographer.

And being a really good natural light photographer

will make you a better lighting photographer.

Yeah, because light is light, right?

Whether or not it's natural ambient light or

you've created it, light is light.

Yeah.

And the trick to becoming really good at

natural light is learning to see the world

the way our cameras see the world, right?

And we've been trained since birth to see

the world as subjects and scenes.

But our cameras don't register subjects and scenes,

right?

Our cameras register light and shadow.

Now, the main difference between the way our

eyes and our cameras see when it comes

to light is that our eyes can see

across a much bigger dynamic range, right?

That's why, you know, we can stare into

a sunset and we can see detail in

the bright sky and the dark foreground.

But our cameras can't, right, without filters or

software.

So as photographers, we can take advantage of

this.

We actually hope that our camera technology doesn't

catch up to our eyes because we can

use this limitation to our advantage.

Our cameras can lie in dramatic ways.

I actually like my old iPhone camera better

than your new iPhone camera for that exact

reason because it doesn't have as big a

dynamic range.

Right.

Okay.

And it's actually, you know, once you learn

to see the world the way our cameras

see the world, it's a really beautiful way

to view and experience the world.

It's almost like we as photographers are gifted

with the sixth sense, right?

And the sixth sense is the sense of

light.

And when we have the sixth sense, the

world is that much more dynamic and that

much more visual for us to experience.

So the best way for us to take

advantage of this as photographers is to expose

for the highlights.

And we're going to sound like broken records

throughout the entirety of this course with regards

to exposing for the highlights.

We're going to say that time and time

again.

And what we mean by this is to

properly expose for the brightest part of the

scene.

Okay.

Properly expose for the brightest part of the

scene, letting everything else fall into darkness.

And careful not to think about this as

a style of photography.

A lot of photographers get hung up on,

well, that's not my style.

I'm light and airy.

I'm not dark and moody.

For us in our minds, this isn't so

much about a style of photography.

This is what photography is.

And it goes right back to the very

basics of what photography was when it was

first invented and still is, right?

Photography is and was always about the recording

of light, right?

First on film, now on sensors.

A photo at its core is a physical

static record of light and shadow within a

scene.

And even before photography, right?

If you look at Renaissance paintings, light on

shadow.

They were exposing for the highlights before exposing

was even invented.

So don't think of this as a style

of photography.

It's just good photography.

So the best way for us to talk

about shooting for the highlights is to actually

go through some real world examples.

So that's what we're going to do.

Okay.

So now we're going to look at some

examples of exposing for the highlights.

And we've chosen really extreme examples.

So we can just really nail it in

here.

This, for example, is a very extreme example

of light and shadow.

We've got this great shadow that's being cast

on the ground just by a fence and

the sunlight that's coming through it.

And we've exposed for those brightest parts and

let the darkness, let the shadow fall into

darkness.

Yeah.

And it's an extreme example of what it

looks like when we do go dark and

expose for the highlights, but it didn't look

this extreme at all.

Right.

When she's lying there, it was much, much

more subtle.

And so by intentionally exposing for those highlights,

we're taking advantage of the fact that our

cameras have that narrower dynamic range and it

looks far more dramatic.

Yeah.

And obviously the locations of the highlights are

important as well.

This is obviously a portrait.

We've set this up.

So we made sure that the highlight was

where we wanted it.

Right.

The biggest highlight is right over her eye

because that's where we want the eyes drawn

to.

That's what we want people to focus on

first.

So we've lined up that highlight where we

want it.

OK, so what's the highlight in this picture?

The highlight in this picture is the sky.

Right.

So when we go to shoot outside, often

there's lots of highlights in this picture, but

the brightest part of the scene is the

sky.

Yes, the necessary.

Well, no, I mean, what's the highlight in

this picture?

There are many highlights in this picture, but

like what is the brightest area of the

scene?

The sky.

Right.

The highlight.

OK, OK, so the highlight is the sky.

It's the brightest part of the image.

When we go out and we shoot outdoors,

we'll often just set our exposure for the

sky or for the sun shining on the

ground.

And then we're set up for two things.

We're set up for silhouettes if our subject

is in the shade, as Madeline is here,

and we're set up for skin tones and

nice hard light if our subject is in

the sun.

Right.

And we don't have to change that exposure

depending on what direction we're shooting because we're

we're always exposing for that bright spot, which

in this case is the sky.

In this case, the bright spot is the

ground.

Right.

And again, we're set up for silhouettes.

But if lighting we're shooting this from the

other side, he'd be set up for skin

tones.

They set up for silhouettes, shadows, skin tones.

He's exposed for the brightest spot on the

ground here.

I remember when I first started to figure

this out because I used to constantly be

adjusting my settings as I'm you know, every

time I'm making a frame, I'd be adjusting

my my settings to try to get the

exposure right.

And I was like, OK, I'm going to

eventually realize if I just dial it in,

I could be set for shooting the one

direction for for shadows and silhouettes.

And then the other direction, I'm perfectly exposed

for the skin tones.

Another extreme example here, and this is not

what it looked like.

The scene at all.

And that's the trick, right?

The trick is being able to see these

these transitions from light to shadow.

Right.

And we can create something much more dramatic

by exposing for that highlight.

Right.

That little sliver of light over her eye

was it was noticeable, but it wasn't this

noticeable.

In this case, the bride is sitting in

the car and there's this little shard of

light that's filtering through the trees and coming

through the window.

And we just lined her up so that

light was hitting her eyes and made sure

we eliminated all the other highlights in the

scene.

All this darkness here is actually reflection off

the window.

Highlight shadow is always what we're looking for.

It gives that image so much more depth.

In this case, it gives that cleavage so

much more depth.

And so the trick is seeing these highlights

and noticing them.

And so when this is a this is

an image I took while I was in

Ghana.

And, you know, when I was in this

eye clinic, I could see this this movement

of this light going around as the optometrist

was checking out this girl's eyes.

And I wanted to wait for the moment

when that highlight lined up with the eye.

So I used my back button focus, which

we've already talked about the importance of back

button focus.

I used my back button focus.

I focused on that eye.

Then I composed the image and then I

just waited.

I waited, waited, waited until that highlight matched

up with that eye.

Right.

If I had to focus.

And compose and try and wait for the

highlight to match up with the eye on

the same exposure or on the same millisecond,

I wouldn't have been able to do that.

And you also dialed in your exposure for

that high.

Yeah.

So all the midtones and shadows fall away.

Take a very ordinary looking scene and make

it much more interesting.

This is just in the back of the

car.

Of course, again, it's not what it looked

like to the eye.

I can see all the detail, the shadows

here, just driving to the ceremony.

But by exposing for this, we create something

much more interesting.

And so we're always looking for the highlight

on a shadow.

The shadow being a highlight.

Right.

Because you can see how much more of

this highlight pops on this darkness versus up

here.

Right.

And then same with the silhouette.

Silhouette pops really nicely on the bright sky,

but not so great on the horizon down

here.

So we're always trying to get highlight on

shadow and shadow on highlight.

We often run into this scenario with a

lot of the outdoor weddings we shoot where

the bride and groom or the couple are

set up in a direction where the groom

is casting, in this case, the groom is

casting a shadow over the bride's face.

And we really have to make a decision

here because we can expose for the shadow

or we can wait for those moments where

she shifts her weight slightly and comes into

the light and expose for the light.

And so you stood here probably most of

the ceremony and just waited for those moments

where the bride would slightly shift her weight.

She'd come into the light and then she'd

be back into the shadow.

I was over on the other side, probably

silhouetting as well as doing some skin tones

exposed for the shadows here.

Often all the highlights within a scene match,

which is great.

This is good news for us, right?

So we expose for one highlight, we're basically

exposing for all the highlights, right?

So the light coming off the mirror, windows,

fireplace, and the light.

All those highlights are within the same range.

Those sheer curtains on the windows help a

lot because without them, then usually the light

from outside is much brighter.

Sheer curtains are a gift to photographers.

And I'll say that if, you know, when

you're first learning to kind of see what

a scene looks like or imagine what it's

going to look like when you go dark,

you kind of learn to be able to

imagine that.

But I remember when we were starting out,

we would just ask ourselves, okay, what does

it look like if we go dark in

here?

And if we couldn't imagine it, we'd just

literally dial down the settings on the camera

and, you know, make an exposure or check

the EVF and see what it looks like.

And then start to creep those settings up

and see where the first highlights start to

burn in.

And there's your brightest spot, right?

So that's a good way to sort of

get a feel for what what the drama

of a scene is going to look like

when you do underexpose.

Okay, so here again, we've got highlight, shadow,

highlight, shadow, right?

That hand would not pop nearly as much

if she were further down the stairs than

it were on this bright brick.

And same with that foot.

That foot would not pop nearly as much

if it weren't in her shadow there.

Just being aware, you know, we're always looking

for those highlights to be on a dark

background, on a shadow background, makes it that

much more dramatic.

And this scene, obviously, to the eye looked

much different because Erica could see all the

detail back in there.

But you start to recognize those, the difference

between the opportunities, you start to recognize the

difference between this highlights and the shadows, and

what it's going to look like when you

expose for those highlights.

Now this this photo here is pure luck,

pure luck, like the fact that the clouds

parted and the sun came down and beamed

on this ridge top.

But it really shows the importance of the

absence of highlights, right?

The reason these these this couple pop here

is because the mountain in behind them is

in shade, right?

If the mountain behind them were in sun,

they wouldn't pop nearly as much.

That's on the top of a kicking horse

mountain.

So they actually got married on the summit.

And then we made some portraits.

And we realized when we when we went

up the mountain on the gondola, or on

the on the gondola, that we could get

this this angle, this perspective.

And so what we did is the last

portrait, because basically, once you're on the lift,

it's you know, it's half an hour down

the mountain.

So Eric is just over here, basically kind

of coaching them out across the ridge back

and forth, back and forth.

And I'm on the gondola with the big

70 to 200.

As the gondola is going down, basically, shooting

them walking back and forth, exposing for the

highlights on your back button focused on that

ridge, just shooting through them.

And the window on the gondola happened to

be that.

Yeah, that's right.

Because it was your idea.

Totally my idea.

I got to take the shot.

And then he also got to win the

award for the shot.

What award?

You got an award for that shot.

I did.

I don't think so.

Anyways, whatever.

Okay, anyways, another another example here.

This is more photojournalistic example.

So we've got shadow, highlight, highlight, shadow.

Okay, so this was in the morning, about

730 in the morning, the bride had just

done her morning run.

And she was driving to the house that

she was getting ready in.

And I noticed as I was driving with

her, I was in the front seat.

I noticed if you're the bride, you'd be

Jess.

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

But you're driving.

All right.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, I noticed as she went in between

the blocks, the sun was very low in

the sky.

So it was behind the houses for the

most part.

But as she went in between the blocks,

the sun would come into the sky, the

sun would come into the car and give

her this beautiful rim light.

So I just sort of stayed in this

position with my camera.

Where is my camera?

Yeah.

And as she was talking, I would I

would back button focus right here on her

nose.

So her nose was sharp.

My back button focus there.

And I just wait for those moments when

the sun would come into the car in

between those blocks.

There were literally like second and a half

long each.

And then I just photographed through those, those

small little spurts of light coming into the

car.

And then this is the one, it's actually

pretty good at you right there.

Yeah.

And this is the one where she was

talking and she was expressing with her hands.

And it lined up really nicely with her

wedding ring.

And on this nice dark background here.

Here, they're just peeking in kind of getting

their first glimpse of the reception space before

their grand entrance.

And I remember just being beside them and

just seeing that little it was subtle, just

that subtle kiss of light, hitting their, you

know, their noses and their eyes as they

as they peek through.

So the crux here isn't, you know, isn't

getting the exposure.

That's just a matter of exposing for those

highlights.

The crux is seeing it, right?

It's like, oh, there it is, that little

kiss of light.

Kids feet, right?

And all the highlights within the scene match.

Feet, sky, grass, reflection.

It can turn a really ordinary looking scene

into something much more interesting.

This is midday, harsh sunlight, awful light.

But it gives us this nice texture on

the ground, right?

Of the light filtering through the leaves onto

this boardwalk.

And then we got the highlight hitting her

dress, which is perfect, right?

Because that dress is giving us some movement.

Our eyes are drawn right there.

Then we've got all this wonderful texture in

the foreground.

And really, you know, we didn't we didn't

envision this at all.

We just crossed the bridge and looked back

and realized, oh, hey, there's pretty cool speckled

light and shadow across there.

Let's expose for the highlights and just shoot

as they come across.

Hope for something cool.

This is just window light coming in.

That's all it is.

We got window light and the little girl

here, window light coming in under mom's hands.

And then we've framed the picture such that

we're there's no window in the in the

frame.

Right.

So we've eliminated all the highlights.

Yeah.

And window light is one of the reasons

window light is so awesome is because it's

so much brighter than everything inside the room.

So when you expose for that window light,

the rest of the room just falls away

into this room.

This room just had one window on the

one side and it was all dark wood

paneling.

So all the clutter in behind is just

gone.

Now, we've mentioned this before, but every highlight

in your frame has to have a purpose.

Every every highlight needs to needs to tell

some sort of the story else there's no

use including it.

So this is where the bride was getting

her makeup done.

I will often move the dress around, which

is why we're not pure photojournalists.

I will often move the dress around in

a scene to help fill in problematic highlights.

So this this window pane here, I could

not exclude for most of the pictures where

she was getting her makeup done.

So I decided to just put the dress

there so that if it was included, at

least it provided some sort of context for

what was happening, right?

And then in this case, the videographer came

in and filled in this highlight for me.

And so I stepped back and decided to

include that highlight as well.

And videographers are great for filling in problematic

highlights.

Actually, they're great for many reasons.

But for filling in problematic highlights, they help

tell the story of the day as well.

Like we always feel like we have to

eliminate them and they can't be in any

of our pictures.

But really, what other day of your life

do you have a videographer following you around,

right?

It's part of the story.

So just remember that they're not always a

threat to your photos.

They can add another element and an unexpected

element.

Oh, this is the same scene, actually.

This up here, getting her dress now.

But it's shadow on highlight.

And I waited just for that moment where

this highlight be on the shadow as she

crossed this dark part in between those.

Waited for it, hoped for it, and shot

the shit out of it.

Right through this whole moment, right?

Catching that frame just with that little tension

and the framing.

This is actually the exact same room.

Different bride.

And it's a setup shot.

This one is a setup shot.

The bride had asked me for some sexy

boudoir shots.

I don't do boudoir.

But I'd seen this picture from Divina Kudic

that I'd been really inspired by.

And so I decided to try something like

that.

So basically what I did is I just

took all these curtains and closed them.

I closed this curtain, closed this curtain, this

curtain over here.

I just left open a little sliver, like

maybe a couple inches wide.

I just had the bride sit in front

of that.

And so the light is just coming in

through that tiny sliver and hitting her.

And then, you know, I really am not

sure if I like my decision of keeping

the lamps on.

I put them on to help balance out

the scene.

But I think it would have been actually

a stronger image if I'd turned those off.

This one looks pretty trippy because it's actually

a reflection.

It's a, yeah, it's a reflection.

It's an LED light on the mirror.

And I'm using the bride here and the

bridesmaids over here to cover up the LED.

But I'm exposed for the light that's coming

off that.

I wish I'd focused on her though.

Not on her.

Okay, a few more examples.

This is a church.

We've got these windows that we couldn't get

out of the scene.

But I wanted to layer in the priest,

her parents, bride and groom, and this hand.

Right?

So I just- That hand was kind

of a happy, lucky- Wasn't it?

Well, you were intentionally trying to get it

in there.

Okay.

I thought that, I thought that was just

a happy accident that that hand came in.

No, no.

I was, I knew they're- Yeah.

Praising the Lord.

Right.

Or whatever they were doing.

But this highlight, I intentionally lined it up

so that the priest's hand would be giving

this highlight a purpose.

You know, if the priest's hand weren't there,

if he were just had both hands on

the book, that window would hold no purpose.

It wouldn't, it wouldn't be worth including in

the frame.

I'd have to find a different way to

problem solve around that.

But his hand gives that frame, gives that

highlight purpose.

Because it, I mean, that bright highlight draws

attention to itself.

So if it's, you know, if it's in

the background, it's going to draw attention away

from wherever it's going.

In this case, it's drawing attention right where

we want it.

Yeah.

Only that one lined up with a different

window.

Okay.

So in this one, we're exposed for that

light that's coming in through the, through the

door that they're exiting out of.

Right.

And churches are actually a really good opportunity

to do this because they're always coming in

or coming out.

And so by, by getting that transition where

they're going from light to dark, or in

this case, they're going from dark to light.

It's a really big opportunity for us, especially

if we expose for those highlights.

Right.

And then we framed it so that we

also included the highlight, this stained glass window.

And this is not what it looked like.

Again, sound like broken records, right?

We could see, we could see enough to

get up these stairs.

It wasn't pitch dark, the wall here, but

by just exposing right here, we probably grabbed

our exposure off that door.

Actually just exposing for right there.

You cannot let all that other stuff fall

into darkness.

Okay.

So now we're going to take this out

into the real world.

We're going to take you behind the scenes

with us on a shoot, and then we're

going to send you out on a little

quest to hone that sixth sense of light.