All language subtitles for 5. What is Good Light

How do you describe what good light even

means?

Now, I think we've done a good job

so far in doing that, but let's simplify

it even further.

Good light, what does that mean?

Well, let's say, for example, if I look

at the light on my hand, what am

I looking for when I look at the

light on my hand?

In fact, you'll actually see me in many

of the weddings included in this bundle.

At times on location, I'll be looking at

my hand and like, well, what am I

looking for?

It looks a little bit weird, doesn't it?

Well, when someone looks iridescent, when someone looks

like they've got a healthy tan, they've had

a beautiful holiday, they just look glowing, well,

maybe the beautiful light is falling on them

beautifully.

In other words, they're iridescent, they're glowing.

Maybe their skin looks very beautiful and saturated.

So that's pretty much what I'm looking for.

So whenever you're struggling with light and you're

out on location and don't know what to

do and you're a bit tired and you're

walking around, you're thinking, well, what do I

do here?

All I want you to do is look

at your hand and then just follow along.

What will happen is if you stand, let's

say if it was a little bit hazy,

it was overcast and you couldn't quite see

the direction of light, where is the sun

behind those clouds?

Don't really know.

Stand there, look at your hand and do

a 360.

What will happen is your hand will go

from flat to a little bit of contrast,

to more contrast, to a beautiful shadow and

so on.

And even when you tilt your hand up,

you see more of that iridescence, that more

evidence of that direction of light.

So I'm saying to you, it's just so

easy to do that.

And also most light comes from up above,

which means that most of us forget to

bring the chin of the bride and or

groom or anybody up a little bit because

that's the actual direction of light.

You'll often see my work, a signature to

my work is actually in fact where I

bring the chin up and I tilt the

face.

Why do I do that is because when

the chin is up and I tilt the

face, that allows a little bit of light

to filter through right in the bridge of

my nose, my eye socket, and it actually

works really well.

It's because when I bring my chin up

and I tilt my face down, now my

face becomes parallel to the ground.

The ground cuts away light, therefore creating the

shadow side, or as we call it the

short side or the narrow side.

So it depends on what you want.

How else can light be defined?

What does good light mean?

Well, here is the answer.

Good light is either flattering, as in we

wanna make someone look beautiful and pretty and

handsome and or it's an important one and

or it helps communicate the desired message from

the artist to the viewer, the photograph.

Now you might say, well, when would it

be okay on a wedding day to actually

not make someone flatter with the light?

Well, probably never.

So you wouldn't deliberately illuminate someone on a

wedding day and make it look unflattering.

That's just not cool.

Because I've never met anyone who wants to

look less attractive than they are, if that

makes any sense, for want of a better

phrase.

In photography in general, I might not want

flattery, I might want to actually execute a

particular thing that I wanna communicate to the

viewer of the photograph.

In this case, for example, you may have

seen this before, this is basically a photograph

of a homage to the Sin City movies,

but you can see how the lighting is

not pretty, the lighting is not attractive.

So you would say that this is not

flattering, but it does help communicate the message

that I'm trying to convey to the viewer

of the photograph, which is of course in

this situation is you.

So remember that lighting is not just about

flattery, it is all about what you're trying

to say.

Well, we've talked a bit about good light.

What is the opposite?

Well, I'm not gonna say the word, although

I've probably said it a few times in

this bundle, but what is this kind of

lighting?

Well, it's funny because when I do a

hands-on workshop, often we'll have friends or

friends of friends or we'll have models or

anything like that, and on this particular workshop

that I did with my 20 students, one

of the actual students turned to me and

said, well, Gerry, I wish we had someone

less attractive so you can show me how

to make them look attractive.

I'm saying, well, are you telling me that

I can't make this girl look unattractive?

And they said, well, no, she's gorgeous.

She could look good anyway.

I'm like, let me show you a photograph

of her looking unattractive.

And there we are, beautiful girl.

We've got unflattering shadows.

The texture of her skin doesn't look that

great.

But, and the next photograph that I took,

literally the next photograph out of my camera

was the following one, and that was this.

We're walking down the street.

I saw the sun actually illuminate a fence

of a house.

That fence was made up of translucent glass.

Translucent meaning the light travels through it, but

you can't see through it.

So I got the girl on the ground,

turned her face to the light, and literally

that was taken seconds after.

So I don't care who you photograph and

whether you have the pretty people or not,

the fact is that it does take a

photographer to bring out the best in them.

And this is more behind the scenes of

that particular environment.

Of course, this is with her now husband

as well.

So it depends on what you're trying to

say.

That was the close-up of that particular

shot as well.

Now, a very, very important thing to understand,

guys, is this, the more people you photograph,

the less lighting options you have.

And you might say, well, what does that

mean?

Well, you've probably seen the segments regarding light

and patterns and different ways of shooting a

face and things like that.

But do you think that all those lighting

patterns would have been possible with all of

these people in this environment?

Now, arguably, yes, I could have maybe used

one flash on each of their faces, blended

it afterwards in Photoshop.

Who has time for that?

I don't really know.

All I know is that as you start

to add more people, the lighting pattern on

their faces is going to be different depending

on the angle of their face, depending on

what it is.

In other words, if I have one light

from the side here, some of these people

are gonna create a shadow on these guys,

so that's gonna be an issue.

This lighting over here will make this split

broad, would make this a profile shot, will

make this a short side, would be open

loop.

All those lighting patterns that we discussed, and

again, ignore the names, just know the more

people that you have, family photographs, bridal party

photographs, you are going to do well to

recognize that open shade or a big window

photograph from the front will be a little

bit easier.

In other words, so the lights that are

illuminating me right now, there's actually three lights,

one, two, three, okay, one, two, three.

They're flooding me this way.

Therefore, it's quite flattering.

I've got one light from behind giving me

a bit of an accent light as a

bit of a hair and edge light.

That just helps separate from the background, gives

a nice production quality, fantastic.

But this kind of light is great because

whether I'm here, so whether I turn my

face, so if we're looking at the big

camera angle like this, whether I'm like this

or this, the lighting is quite even.

That's gonna be very flattering, very complimentary, and

a lot safer option.

So it just depends on what you're trying

to achieve.

So remember that.

Now, let's discuss the difference between lighting the

female form and lighting the male form.

Remember, guys, this is not an absolute.

This is basically a guideline.

I told you earlier in earlier segments that

what I'm telling you are no absolutes.

These are not rules per se.

Some are mathematical and some are rules and

some just can't be broken because it's pure

science.

But in this case, I'm telling you, I'm

about to tell you how do I light

the female form on a wedding day traditionally

and how do I actually illuminate the male

form if I have a choice.

So lighting the female form, what do we

do?

And I'm not saying, guys, that this is

an absolute.

Remember, these are common denominators.

After this many years of photographing, I believe

this to be the case most of the

time with most brides, and that is this.

Turn the body away from the light and

turn the face back into the light.

So let's talk about this.

In fact, I'm gonna show you a video

right now of me doing this exact thing.

That's it.

Come a few steps this way.

Beautiful antennae.

So here I'm basically setting her up.

There's obviously light coming through from the side.

We've got light filtering sort of everywhere.

And as you can start to see, there's

basically a shadow on the camera right or

her left.

So what I do is, and of course,

posing we'll talk about in different segments, but

I'm actually getting her to put all her

weight on her back leg, bring her shoulder

back, slightly bend her arm and her wrist,

turn her body away from the light source,

which is basically the light filtering through, call

it a glorified veranda there through those pillars.

I get her to lean forward and turn

her face back into the light.

So what have we done?

We've created beautiful texture, depth, dimension, and form

on her body.

There's a shadow on her cleavage, which makes

the bust look fuller, which is great.

And then we turn her face into the

light to a point where the eye socket

that was away from the camera is now

the closest to the camera where that eye

socket is completely lit, just when it's completely

lit.

And then therefore that giving us a shadow

on that side of the face.

So I'm not saying I do this all

the time.

I'm saying I do this most of the

time.

Let's look at another example.

We turn the bride away from that window

light and turn the face back into the

window light.

So now, although white, we see all that

texture on her dress, and now I'm shooting

her on the shadow side of the face.

Well, I've pretty much created the shadow side

of her face.

Similar here, turn the body away from the

light, turn the face back in.

She has a modest bust line, hashtag small.

We have a shadow on the bust line.

It actually makes her bust look fuller.

The shadow now also creates that beautiful shadow

on her shoulder.

We turn the face back into the light

until this eye is completely lit, therefore giving

us a shadow on the nose, on the

cheekbones, and on the jawline, therefore looking beautiful.

You could be photographing from a slight higher

angle, and she could be sitting on a

chair.

The same thing happens.

Turn the body away from the light, face

back in.

How much do I turn the body away

from the light?

How much do I turn the face back

in?

Let's reiterate that again.

So you might start from the light side

or you might start from the shadow side.

What I encourage, get the bride to turn

her body completely to the shade.

Then turn her body towards the light, towards

the light, towards the light, until a shadow

starts to appear in the cleavage and the

middle of the dress.

Now, you've got to think of the body

independent of the face and the head.

So the body stays here.

The light's coming from this side.

We turn the body, turn the body, turn

the body until we just get a highlight

and a shadow in the middle of the

dress, and then turn her face back in.

Now, we've got beautiful depth and dimension, and

we're giving beautiful texture, shape and form.

Same thing could be said when we're photographing

complete sun.

Turn the body away from the light, turn

the face back in.

Even wearing black, you can still see that

a bit of a shadow on the bust

line there as well, even the legs and

all that kind of thing.

Even lying down again, I'm shooting from a

bird's eye view.

The light's coming here and filtering through this

way.

I've turned the body away from the light

to a point where I've got highlight and

shadow on her dress, turned her face into

the light, and now I've got highlight and

shadow.

And the more highlight and shadow you see

in a photograph, the deeper it becomes and

more three-dimensional.

Let's have a look at this.

Now, this goes against a little bit what

I've basically said, but I want to show

you the anomaly, and this is the anomaly.

Now, yes, she's wearing a darker dress, so

it's a little bit harder to see, but

we said, well, Gerry, you just said turn

the body away from the light and the

face back in.

Well, now she's turning her body completely towards

the light source.

Well, why is that any different?

Well, why it's different is I'm turning her

body so much to the light source where

I now see a shadow on the middle

of her body, therefore half the body's in

shadow, half the body's in light.

If, for example, she was a slightly plus

-sized bride, I'm going to say slightly as

in just a normal person, not skinny, not

overweight, just regular person like you and me.

And if she turned her body towards the

light source and we photographed mainly a big,

broad part of her body in the light,

that would make her look bigger and broader.

So what we want to do is either

turn the body away from the light source

and the face back in, or turn the

body so much to the light source where

we're now getting a shadow in the middle

of the body.

Your instinct is going to tell you different

when you're actually working on location.

So let's say, for example, I'm the bride.

Here is a window.

I could turn the bride's body to the

window, and I'm making her look bigger and

broader.

Now, if I, and your instinct is telling

you, illuminate the bride from there.

And my previous analogy that hopefully you've already

heard is I liken light to water.

So if you turn the body towards the

light so much so, you might get this

water flooding the bride.

Now, if I turn the body away from

the light, away from that shower head, then

now I'm getting a little bit less light

on the cleavage, less light on the body,

which therefore means I'm creating a shadow, which

means that I'm slimming that person and giving

more depth, dimension, and form.

And if I turn her face back in,

it works well.

So if you are actually photographing a really

slim bride, you might deliberately position her body

towards the window.

So in this case, again, she's deliberately profiled.

She's like literally perpendicular to the light from

our perspective, and we create a shadow in

the middle of her body, beautiful cheekbones, beautiful

jawline.

And in this case, I'm going even further.

I'm turning her body so much away from

that light source, but shooting from behind.

So I've got the back mainly in shadow,

a hint of a bust, very important that

I keep that arm in the middle of

her waist, so it doesn't actually hide the

thinnest part of her waist, and a triangular

piece of light through her arm again, so

I can see a silhouette of her shape.

Her face looks beautiful.

I'm getting a bit of cheekbone shadow there

and jawline, looking fantastic.

Now, looking at this particular camera here, you

can imagine that there are certain angles that

are considered more masculine and more feminine.

Although the light here is very quite flat

and flooded, just to sort of even out

this production value of what we're doing right

now, it's considered quite feminine to do this.

So there's the camera angle.

I'm turning my body this way, and I

bring my chin to my outer shoulder and

my eyes back.

That's considered quite feminine, even more so with

the shoulder up.

Now, so if you want femininity and wanna

make someone look really beautiful and they've got

a bit of a style, then that would

be really good.

Front on's fine, but you're making the bride,

the girl, whoever you're photographing, look quite broad

because that's at her broadest.

If I turn the shoulders and then turn

the face back in this way and then

eyes back, then that's gonna be very feminine.

As with this girl right now.

Now, on the other hand, if I'm photographing

a guy, let's do this.

Rather than the chin to the shoulder, I

could basically just open up, keep the actual

face clamped there, and then all of a

sudden, I can actually photograph the same look

per se, but I'm just moving the shoulders.

So let me explain again.

Didn't quite get to that explanation properly.

So chin to the outer shoulder.

Let's leave the face there.

Let's just move the body.

And then now it's more masculine.

So masculine, feminine.

Masculine, feminine.

Let's look at the differences and let's see

how it works in comparison.

Just before we do that, I wanna explain

to you this.

If you photograph the female form front on,

at least use side lighting to show shape

and depth that the angle is not.

Perfect example here, the bride is perfectly facing

me, right?

Facing me perfectly, I'm actually photographing her at

her widest.

I'm not saying she's wide, but I'm saying

this is the widest that I'll actually see

her.

If I have to do that, if the

light comes from the side as it is

right now, window light, I'm getting this beautiful

texture depth dimension form and the shape of

her bust where the angle is not doing

that.

Probably more obvious in a somewhat semi sort

of nude form here.

We've got the light coming from the side.

I am shooting her front on.

And it's important to know that when that

happens, we are getting that beautiful shape from

the highlight shadow, highlight shadow, and so on

and so forth.

Here's a very important lesson guys, that if

you want to emphasize something, you push it

towards the camera and towards the light.

If you wanna de-emphasize something, you push

it away from the camera and away from

the light.

In other words, so this is somewhat, it's

more of a posing thing, but it is

combined with lighting as well.

Do you see how she's shifting her hips?

She's putting all her weight on this leg.

So she's shifting her butt away from the

light, de-emphasizing her shape.

She's at a great figure, she gets away

with it.

If she shifted her butt towards the light,

it would actually make her butt look fuller.

And if that's what you want, which of

course is, it's fair game right now, as

of this recording we're in 2020 and big

butts are in right now, which I think

is great.

Beautiful, big shapes, different shapes, odd shapes are

being celebrated everywhere, which I absolutely love.

But you just have to know who you're

photographing, what they want, and then execute accordingly.

Now, how do you photograph the male form?

Well, I slightly alluded to it already, giving

you a bit of a foundation, but that

is this.

Whereas with the female form, we said turn

the body away from the light and the

face back in.

Not an absolute, but a common denominator.

With the male form, we turn the body

and the face back into the light.

So what am I basically saying?

Well, he's turning his body towards the light,

that makes him look bigger and broader.

And then, let's say if we start with

his face in shadow, turn his face to

a point where this eye socket gets completely

lit.

Look at the difference between the chin to

the outer shoulder, and then the chin away

from the shoulder.

Feminine, masculine.

So, the more you look at this, the

more you understand.

Now, he's a small guy, as in not

so broad, but positioning his body and turning

his shoulder blades towards the light makes him

look bigger and broader.

And then turning his face into the light,

in this case, I've got Rembrandt lighting on

him, looks really cool.

I am not saying though, I never do

this for a guy, as in I never

bring the chin to the outer shoulder.

All that's happening here is I'm shooting him

a little bit flatter than actually shooting him

on this side and bringing his chin closer

to his shoulder.

Otherwise, then in fact, yes, it would look

a little bit feminine.

But just remember, there are no absolutes depending

on the person, the body type, the shape,

the age, your angle, the perspective, the compression

of the lens.

All these things will make a difference to

what you do.

Just trust your gut.

If you think someone looks a little bit

bigger, they actually are, they probably do.

If you think someone looks a little bit,

sexier and slimmer in this particular area, they

probably will.

And then that's what you do.

So take your time, slow down, look at

the person that you're photographing, diagnose them and

realize the difference between photographing the female form

and photographing the male form.

To finish off our conversation, I want to

talk to you just about the luxury of

shadows.

The luxury of shadows are very, very important

because when you start adding shadows to an

image, as in the subtraction of light, then

that gives us that depth dimension and form.

So you can add shadows to the female

form, the male form, you can increase shadows

in different ways, but ultimately what's luxurious about

these photographs that we're seeing is not so

much the light, it's actually where the shadows

are.

The shadows give us the cheekbones, the shadows

give us the depth and the shape of

her face and her body.

It's the shadows that show us a beautiful

shoulder line.

It's the shadows that actually show us the

cute little dimples when she's giggling and laughing.

It's all of those things that give us

that sense of luxury.

So remember, when you walk into say a

bedroom of a bride's house, for example, I

don't want you to think that you can't

move anything around, like this lamp is on,

those overhead lights are on, the windows are

drawn, the drapes are drawn a certain way,

you walk in, you use what you've got.

What I prefer you to do, walk into

a bedroom, turn off all lights, close the

blinds and then open up one by one.

Now you can control it like a studio.

The difference is that the lights are already

existing in the one place, you've just turned

them off.

Yes, have I been known to move a

bedside lamp or move different things to create

different light sources?

Absolutely, but at the very minimum, walk into

a room, turn off the lights, open up

one by one, and then depending on your

angle and perspective and compression, you can change

the look and the destiny of that particular

situation dramatically.

In our next segment, what we're going to

do is we're gonna break down different light

sources, which I'm really excited about sharing with

you.

We're gonna look at anything from sunlight, window

light, open shade, continuous light, off-camera flash,

on-camera, you name it, we're gonna cover

it.

We're gonna show you very much in theory

and also practice by showing you many photographs

and what these different light sources do, but

please be sure to look at the actual

weddings included in this bundle so you can

actually see me on location using everything that

we're about to explain in a real-world

situation.

And remember, repetition, experience, and practice will be

your best teacher, and hopefully you can take

this experience, you can practice it, and then

you're on the wedding day, and then all

of a sudden, I can't believe it, I've

got this, and you do.