Original subtitles

Alright, so we're gonna try something really kind

of trippy here, and we'll see if it

works out.

So what I'm gonna be demonstrating is a

reflection in a piece of artwork, but it's

actually reflected two or three different times.

I was just in this room, and I

was exploring around with my eyes, seeing how

we could demonstrate reflecting in a piece of

artwork with a flash.

And as I was exploring around, I was

looking in this piece of artwork, and I

could see this mirror reflected, which is on

this wall, the opposite wall of the piece

of artwork, in the artwork.

But then within the mirror, I could see

myself reflected.

And I really have no idea how any

of that's happening, like what is reflecting off

what surface, and what's double reflected, and what's

singular.

Like, I actually have no idea, but it's

more about having the curiosity to see the

potential, right?

I don't actually have to know what's going

on to see the potential, right?

I don't need to know the physics behind

it.

So I'm gonna head on over here and

show you what I was seeing from what

angle.

So when I put, when I go in

this position right here, I can see this

artwork, obviously, that's in the foreground of my

frame, and I'm gonna fill the foreground of

my frame with this piece of art.

And I'm gonna use ambient exposure that allows

me to show in the final photograph these

swirly things.

So there needs to be enough light on

it, and I need to be at a

high enough f-stop.

And within this glass-covered artwork, I can

see the mirror over on that wall reflected.

And within that mirror, I can see myself.

Okay, now, I don't really pop, but I

can still see myself.

So I've got to figure out how to

make myself pop within there.

So I'm kind of doing like self-portrait

triple reflection here.

So what I'm gonna do first is I'm

gonna set my ambient exposure for what I'm

looking for with this artwork.

So I'm gonna go to 1 200th of

a second.

So 1 200th of a second, I'm at

ISO 1600.

I'm finding one, and I want a fairly

high f-stop.

I'm with a 35 lens right now.

I'm at f4.

I'm finding 1 200th of a second way

too dark.

So I'm gonna go down all the way

to I think about 1 80th of a

second.

We're gonna try that to start.

Okay, so I've got my ambient set.

I haven't even turned on my flash yet.

But I can see that it could all

come together nicely.

And all these tiny little micro adjustments I'm

making with myself and my camera make a

big difference to the composition.

One little detail I'm going to take care

of before I start shooting is I can

see in this part of the artwork, it's

reflecting the open doorway here, which has a

big distracting highlight.

So I'm gonna close the door.

So now I need to make myself pop

within this reflection.

I'm fairly small in the frame, so the

easiest way to make myself pop and become

recognizable is not to actually flash for my

skin tones, but to flash for a silhouette.

Because it'll be high contrast, you'll be able

to see my shape, you'll be able to

see my form, and I'll pop a lot

more.

I'm gonna move this flash.

And the place where I'm going to flash,

I'm going to move this flash a little

bit to the side.

And the place where I'm moving this flash

to is actually, I can see exactly in

this reflection what's behind my head.

And I can see this seam in the

wall is behind my head.

So I'm gonna point the flash right at

the seam in the wall.

I've got a grid on it.

I want a grid on it because we've

got white ceilings.

It's fairly closed off in here.

I don't want the light to spill everywhere

and destroy my ambient exposure.

And I might actually even need to put

a tighter grid, but we'll start with that

for now and see how that goes.

Okay, tricky part is going to be focusing.

Actually, if I turn the modeling light on

here...

Oh, that's perfect.

If I turn the modeling light on, I

can see it in the reflection.

I can put my silhouette right where I

need it to go, and I can focus.

Well, hopefully I can.

Let's see if I can focus.

Okay, so I'm going to focus on that.

Oh, no.

Okay, let me take this off.

Let's see if I can focus without the

grid on.

Okay, there.

That helped.

I was able to focus.

I'm going to put the grid back on.

And I'm going to start at about four

for power.

Okay, we're going to take a test shot

here.

Let me just zoom in and make sure

I'm sharp.

The composition's good.

Actually, that's pretty bang on.

I'm actually, because the flash is so close

to the wall here, I'm finding the cone

of light that it's projecting is very small,

especially with the grid on.

I'm going to see what it looks like

with the grid off.

It might completely destroy my ambient exposure, but

I'm going to try it anyways.

There's only one way to find out.

And I'm fiddling with my silhouette a little

bit.

Normally, I would shoot with this right up

against my eye, but we talked about the

importance of the negative space in silhouettes.

So I'm slightly holding it away from my

face, so I've got some negative space in

the silhouette I'm creating of myself.

And pop.

Yeah, that did definitely affect my ambient exposure.

There's a lot more light on the painting

now, but I don't know if I mind

it so much.

Let's see here.

My silhouette definitely pops.

I'm going to try one more with the

grid back on and the flash backed up

just a tad so that the cone of

light is a bit wider.

Because as the light comes off the flash,

it starts very narrow and it gets wider,

even if you've got a grid on it.

I'm going to back this up.

Just problem solving my way through this.

I think I might need to refocus now.

I'm going to just take that off for

a sec.

And refocus.

Got it.

Put it back on.

Turn that up to 5.4. Let's see

how that is.

Just checking to see if I'm sharp.

Alright, that is an interesting self-portrait.

And it's kind of gimmicky, but it just

came out of curiosity.

That's it.

It was lots of problem solving.

Again, I have no idea what is reflecting

and what and how all these reflections are

coming together.

But you don't need to know.

If you just put your eyeball in different

spaces and explore the room, not just by

coming in the room and looking around.

But coming in the room and looking at

different angles and different positions.

You can discover really interesting things that you

might not have noticed otherwise.

So it's sort of being open to the

creativity and the opportunities that exist.

They already exist.

You just have to find them.