Original subtitles

Hello friends, how are you?

How is December?

I hope things go as best as possible.

It seems that, well, it seems that the

virus is beginning to be controlled a little,

that is, it seems that the light at

the end of the tunnel begins to be

seen a little.

Some of my workshops, such as that of

Colombia and that of London, are already beginning

to take shape, specifically that of Colombia has

dates already and that of London, well, soon

we will start to decide, with which we

will cut wood and see if things start

to work.

Well, as we told you in the previous

chapter, we already introduced you that today, in

this video, we were going to talk a

little about flashes, specifically about a session that

we had, it was a post-wedding session

and although not the whole session we worked

with flashes, it is true that we forced

ourselves to shoot a little with them, well,

to tell you a little bit about how

we work with flashes.

The truth is that, all this time, since

we created the Patreon channel, never, well, very

few times, punctually, I had talked a little

about how we work with flashes, that is,

for several reasons, mainly because, at the moment

we are now, we do not usually work

so much with flashes, I mean, from a

given moment, from the fact that we are

working on the speeches or the dinner or

the dance, obviously we are going to use

flashes and we are going to use it

almost always off camera, except that on occasional

occasions they are local or they are wedding

venues in which the ceiling is very, very

low and as it is obvious, it can

bounce off very easily, but in this video

we have not thought about it to tell

you how we work the flash when we

are partying, but how we work the flashes

in a creative way, for example, as we

did in the session that we are going

to tell you about, to work with hard

lights or with ambient light and how we

try to compensate or how we work with

a hand flash, for example, as this one,

as is the case.

Of course, I was telling you that at

the moment we are now, we do not

usually work with flashes for many reasons, well,

for many, I don't know, but for a

few reasons, mainly because throughout my career there

came a time when I started working with

flash and I did not take the flash

off the camera or off the camera, almost

never, and from the preparatory years I already

took photos with flash, reflections, stories, crazy things,

until later, especially at the time of portraits

or at the time of the posts, of

course, at the time I decided, I don't

know if it is not the correct word

to evolve, but I think it is the

correct word to take one more step and

say, well, I am going to investigate, I

am going to experiment in working with couples

with other types of lights, of course, you

already know that I am from Spain, you

already know that in Spain in the wedding

season we are talking about that we have

a sun that is scary, with which I

decided to investigate what would happen if I

worked without flashes, working with hard lights, with

shadows, with silhouettes, with flashes you can obviously

get the same thing, but I started to

be a little tired but I wanted, as

I said, to investigate on the other hand

and also what allowed me not to work

with flashes was that I did not need

someone with a tripod or someone with a

foot or someone who supported me with light,

I mean, I was already a little tired

that always when we did portraits someone had

to come with me who would hold the

flash for me, that is, in this way,

when working without flashes, as I could work

with the couple in an individual way, that

was one of the main reasons, another reason

not so important is that I started to

fit in as a flasher photographer, I was

known as well as many others and I

think that those who labeled us with the

name of a flasher I think they were

not wrong and the story that happened in

a similar way is that I remember how

several colleagues comparing it when they told me

I love your black and white at the

time that many photographers who told me I

love your black and white I started not

to edit photos in black and white because

I did not want it to fit me

in a term, not like with the flashes,

that is, at the moment that it fitted

me as a flasher and such and at

the moment that in all the workshops I

was only asked to work with flash then

I decided it is the moment it is

the moment to get out of all this

and it is the moment to take one

more step forward, but of course we have

to be consistent, this device gives us 40

% more creativity, of course, if today in

2020 I have barely used flash, it is

not because I do not know how to

use it, it is because I have decided

as a photographer, as an artist, to take

one more step or investigate in other points

of photography, but do not forget that this

little thing gives us 40% more creativity

and simply saying that it is not that

I work with natural light seems to me

very respectable, but gentlemen, handling this or knowing

how to handle it is perfect because it

will help us get out of a creative

blockade of a moment that we have a

day with many clouds, a day with fogs,

a day ...

I mean, it has huge resources that obviously

you have to know how to handle them

to, as I tell you, at a given

moment, go ahead with this.

Before I start talking, you see that I

have three flashes here, okay?

They are with the three flashes that more

or less we have worked on in the

last two years, right?

Of course, this is a Yongnuo, okay?

This is the Nikon, the latest model, the

SB5000, this is the Yongnuo 564, okay?

And this is the Profoto that we use

now, well, it is what we use both

in the last weddings and in the last

session in which we are going to analyze.

Of course, the reason why I use this

one, because sometimes we place flashes in super

crazy places, when we photograph a party in

this case, and this is worth 70 euros,

if it breaks, well, nothing happens.

The quality of the light, you have to

recognize it, which is not very good, but

for party photos it is plenty, right?

And we talk about Nikon, obviously it is

much better than the Yongnuo, okay?

We are talking about a great flash that

has great power, but that the light is

sometimes too flashy.

And on the other hand, if we talk

about both, the Yongnuo and the Nikon, as

you well know, the moment you put a

little bit of cane, the moment you put

it at 1.1, a little slow, okay?

The moment you put it at 1.1,

as you start to give it a crack,

as you start to give it a cane,

or you demand a lot, the first shot

at 1.1 will keep it.

The second no longer arrives and the third

does not shoot.

Of course, at the moment we are talking

about this little thing, if you put it

at maximum power, that notice that here it

is no longer that you put it at

1.25 or 1.5, it is super

simple, right?

It's like for fools, sorry.

You put it at maximum power, the first

shot will go to maximum power, the second

to maximum power, the third to maximum power

and so on until you burst the flash.

In addition, at the moment I have realized

that you want to use it for creative

use, okay?

It seems silly, but that the head is

circular is wonderful, because we are talking about

the recreation of light, it will be much

more natural.

But hey, it's not a video, it's not

an episode here to tell you about the

goodness of this flash, which is better than

this one, and that this one is better

than the other, that it's not about this,

but it's about working and we're going to

get down to business, okay?

With what the photos were.

Remember that I had told you that we

had a post-wedding session a couple of

weekends ago and what I said, fuck, this

is a good opportunity to get in, both

to work with natural light and, as is

obvious, to work with artificial light, with flashes

and to combine both, right?

So, of the four best photos we took

with flash, I'm going to describe them to

you, we're going to analyze them and, above

all, in the comments, any questions you have,

ask me and I will answer you.

Especially for those of you who do not

use flash or have not dared to, have

doubts, just practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.

It is that, after all, as photography and

the biggest enemy of this little thing, we

are always ourselves, the photographers, okay?

So if it doesn't come out the first

time, second try, third, third, fourth, fifth ...

until in the end I assure you that

you will be the fucking masters of flash,

okay?

Well, let's start first with the photo, this

one, with the one you are seeing, okay?

As I was saying, we go deeper into

this first photo, in which you are seeing

what was done, that is, the couple was

inside a house and I was outside, that

is, between the couple and me there was

a window, a completely glass door, okay?

What I intended was to get the reflection

that I had from behind, that is, behind

me I had the whole park, that is,

I had a whole huge garden, in front

of me I had the couple and between

the couple and me I had a large

glass door.

Simply what I wanted to capture was, in

the same frame, in the same photo, what

I had behind and what I had in

front.

Of course, the couple, as they were inside

the courtyard or inside the hall, they were

completely dark.

For it to be seen, it had to

give it a touch of flash, do you

understand me?

That is, what I wanted, as I have

told you, to be seen in the same

frame or in the glass, sorry, to be

seen from behind, that is, the garden and

the couple.

Of course, what to do?

We have to compensate what we have inside

with what we have outside and the best

of all is to start checking or exposing,

knowing what light we have outside, okay?

In my case, what I always do is

expose to the outside or to the highest

point of light, in this case to the

sky, and if it gave me, for example,

a measurement of 80 of speed and an

8 of diaphragm, what I am going to

do is simply sub-expose several steps of

diaphragm, one step or several.

In this case, if the correct measurement is

8 of diaphragm and 80 of speed, I

am going to sub-expose.

Why?

Because I am going to try to make

an American night, that is, I am going

to darken the outside, you understand, to try

to compensate with the flash.

Something important, the power that I use of

the flash is going to be almost always

something like an 8, a 9, a 10,

for example, of power, okay?

If you use a flash like this, it

was the one I worked with in the

session, right?

With which, what I am going to do

is gain, overcome the external power that I

have outside with this, that is, I mean,

I have to equalize the power of the

inside with the power of the outside, and

as you already know, the greater the power

of the flash.

Once we have all that, what I am

going to ask Erika to do is to

place herself inside the room, inside the building,

okay?

And already ask her to raise the flash

with a kick, with a foot.

Why do I ask her to raise the

flash?

Why do I ask her to always be

in a position, for example, like this?

Because, how does natural light work?

From top to bottom, the sun is always

up, okay?

Do you understand me?

And something also very, very important, why did

I ask Erika to put this little thing?

Because what I wanted was to direct the

light, notice that it is similar to this,

what I wanted to direct the light in

a super, super central way, that is, that

only the couple was illuminated, to, in quotation

marks, simulate that the photo did not carry

flash, that it was part of what entered

through the glass or through the glass door.

Notice that my mission was not that of

causing a bomb of light and that it

smelled artificial, but that it seemed that everything

was in a certain natural way.

That is why I asked Erika to simply

place this, she will place it at a

height, quite large, I suppose that one and

a half meters from the couple, almost two

meters, and that's it.

I used the 35mm, that's why I stick

so much to the glass, I try to

place myself in a position like this, so

that I am not seen, so that my

shadow is not seen, and I am clearly

concerned that the reflection of the glass, what

I am seeing right in front of me,

is all this that I have behind and

the couple that I see there.

Important, why did I ask the couple to

get on two chairs?

Super easy, because I wanted to find a

neutral background for the couple, or at least

a neutral background in their faces.

What is the neutral background?

The sky, okay?

That's why we do this, so that the

subject or the couple stands out even more

in this case.

Notice that I am never going to put

a couple with a background in which they

are branches, a forest, in a situation of

an urban landscape, I will never place it

in something that does not highlight the couple,

always at a point in which I know

that it will stand out, do you understand

me?

Since we were inside, since we were in

that same place, what I asked the couple

to do was to separate, so as not

to photograph them in the same position, because

one of the things or one of the

limitations for me that existed with the flash,

in addition to always going with an assistant,

was that the poses almost always had to

be the same, that is, couple face to

face, and that made me a little nervous,

and that was, as I was saying, one

of the reasons why I stopped using the

flash a little in a creative way for

portraits, okay?

Well, I roll up too much.

Once I had the couple inside, we are

going to do something different.

Instead of being face to face, I am

going to ask them to separate.

What we are going to do is place

the bride, for example, here, with the head

looking that way, and the groom a little

two meters away from her, separated, behind, okay?

And with the face looking that way, that

is, the bride there and the groom there.

And I'm just going to ask Erika to

place the flash here, okay?

With the same power, the same measurement.

We were working all the time at 10

of power or 9 of power, okay?

Ah, ah, ah, important!

Remember that this is going to take away

a step from the diaphragm of power, okay?

You have to know that, okay?

The same, that is, to place, as I

have told you, the bride here, the bride

a little further ahead, and simply Erika, the

same, with the flash above, use more or

less, as I have told you, the same

power, and bam!

And simply illuminate the groom's face, okay?

The mission was that, to separate first, simply

for the couple, frame it perfectly in what

was the frame of the same door, right?

Of the glass door, of that door that

I have, that both were perfectly fitted there,

so that the composition, as is obvious, would

work and, as I have already told you,

illuminate only the groom.

I would just like a little bit to

say, right?

In other words, that the initial measurement of

the photo was the same, diaphragm 8 and

a 125 AO, okay?

With which, that was the ideal measurement, 8

-125.

What did I do?

Sub-expose, as I have told you in

the previous photo, I simply put it at

250 speed, okay?

To sub-expose everything and so that there

was that contrast.

Of course, remember the background too, ah, important,

the background, I used a neutral background again.

What is the neutral background?

Correct, the sky, do you understand me?

The same, absolutely the same.

Ah, why did I use both in the

previous photo and in this photo a diaphragm

8, which is not what I usually use

always?

Because in the first photo, between what I

wanted to photograph, which was right behind me,

although the reflection was here, and the couple,

there would be like a couple of meters,

I wanted everything to be focused, that simple.

In the photo that I was explaining to

you now, in which, for example, the bride

is right in front and the groom behind,

they would be a couple of meters away,

I wanted everything to be focused, from the

bride to the groom, diaphragm 8, as simple

as that.

I didn't want to complicate my life at

all, not at 5, 6, not at 4,

not at all, okay?

Do you understand me?

Okay, well, we're going to change a little

bit of the third.

In the previous photos, what we had done

was simply play with the couple inside, okay?

Now we are going to go for another

way of, well, to use the flash, which

seems more interesting to me, okay?

I directly asked the couple to take us

for a walk through the gardens of the

wedding farm.

Now I wanted to find something to play

with, with something more of architecture, with something

more of lines, and if I could play

with lights and shadows, perfect, right?

I mean, I mean, I wanted to make

a mix between playing with photography, sorry, with

very hard light, very, very, very hard, and

also with lines.

And if I could play with some super

interesting composition, well, perfect.

So what I got, or where we went,

was towards this image, okay?

And I show you the end, well, the

final result, which was this, but as you

can see, that is, it is very simple.

What I wanted is to put the couple

in the shadow, simply.

You see that shadow that forms in the

shape of a triangle?

So, I wanted to put them there.

Of course, if I put them there, they

are completely in shadow, they no longer have

any interest.

Well, you wouldn't even see the couple.

There is a good example to explain how

we work, right?

How we put the flash.

Again, the idea was to put them inside,

expose them to the sky.

If the exposure, for example, is diaphragm 2

and it gave me, for example, a speed

of 2,500, I'm going to try to

do something similar to an American night, okay?

Similar, more or less.

I mean, I'm going to set the speed

to 5,000, okay?

If the original exposure, the supposedly correct one,

is 2,500, in this case 5,000,

I'm going to expose it to the maximum,

to create more drama.

And now, yes, I'm going to talk to

Erika, so that she gets close to me,

she gets close to the couple, raises her

vertigo, as always, more or less, about two

meters from the couple, again with this, okay?

And already 45 degrees, well, more or less

like that.

Power, in that case, I remember that we

used 10, that is, very simple, okay?

That is, maximum power.

The couple, again, very, very close together.

Look, I mean, I clearly noticed that in

the triangle this, that is, the triangle that

you see black, that neither on the left

nor on the right touched any body, neither

the couple's body, neither on one side nor

on the other.

In other words, the lines had to be

respected.

After all, it is the same formula as

when we are photographing without a flash, that

is, it is the same, but doing it,

in this case, correctly, right?

Once we had done that, simply, I mean,

I stuck to the maximum of the glass,

okay?

Camera stuck to the maximum, for what?

To have that double reflection, you understand me?

And simply, pam, pam, pam, and the photo,

you see it, right?

Very, very simple.

The ISO always at 100, okay?

Because I'm not going to, well, we're outside,

it's obvious, okay?

And it is that practically, the only thing

that I dedicated myself to, and the only

thing that I lost a lot of time

was in eliminating, with Photoshop, all those lines

that bothered me or that made the image

not have so much strength or so much

interest, right?

That is, as it was diluted, everything was

diluted quite a bit, right?

Okay?

And we are going to go to the

last image.

I wanted to pretend that I had not

used flash, right?

I wanted to deceive the viewer, in quotes,

that the profile that the couple has, that

profile came from the sun that they had

just against them.

Notice that my mission is, as always, right?

It is to go for a walk with

the couple and see a little bit, right?

See a little bit what are the points

of interest to photograph it.

Almost always, you already know that what I

like is to play with neutral backgrounds, and

since we were, for example, outside, what I

was looking for was a neutral background and

it occurred to me, I said, damn, the

light comes in from above, okay?

So what we are going to do is

simulate, right?

Pretend or deceive the viewer that that profiling

that I have explained to you is part

of the light, well, the natural light, right?

So I asked Erika to release the vertigo,

that it would be placed right behind, hidden

from the couple, okay?

And that she would already remove this, directly

this, why?

Because I was interested that the light would

open a little more.

If Erika was close to the couple, when

I say close, it is a palm, eh?

If she was close and if she kept

this, it would only light up a little,

right?

Like a part of the face.

I wanted this to open and I don't

know if you can see it, but the

good thing about this damn flash is that,

I mean, for the zoom, it is this.

Depending on how you turn it, that is,

it opens or closes, right?

I told her to open as much as

possible so that it had a little more

light and she simply placed a palm of

the couple, I told her to point directly

for this, that is, for the couple's face

and that's it.

And I put a couple of shots, pam,

pam, pam.

I tried at the same time that, that

is, the flash light was flowing through the

couple, I also tried that the flash light,

the natural light, sorry, would flow into my

lens, right?

That is, it would be placed.

Of course, here I also worked with a

35mm, of course I removed the sunshade so

that even more light would come in and

the result was this, right?

The power also, as I have told you,

was at the maximum, it may be at

10 of power or it may be between

8.5 and 9, right?

At the maximum almost all the time so

that the flash light would stand out, that

is, it would be above the natural light

or the external light.

You see that the operation of the flash

is very simple, you just have to get

used to it a little bit.

And the truth is that, from being almost

two years without using flash creatively in portraits,

when the time came, I felt like out

of the blue, right?

I mean, like I didn't know where to

go, but hey, it was five minutes and

already, bam, bam, and I already got down

to work.

So that's all, friends.

Surely you have heard my son Leo out

there, who is screaming out there.

And well, that was all about flashes, okay?

Well, not everything, but we are going to

try to introduce, in the future chapters, some

more chapters in which we can be seen

a little more working in portraits in a

more creative way, for example, with flashes, because

I know that many of you like all

this and here we are to work for

you, right?

So that's all, friends.

I hope you liked it, I hope you

had fun and, as I had told you,

if you have any questions, any questions about

this, simply in the comments, write, write and

we will be there to help you in

everything we can.

So nothing else, friends, be good and see

you soon.

Bye!