Creative Portrait Photography Series: Winter Wonderland - Part 1

1. Promo: - Hi and welcome to our calls. Winter Wonderland, a new tutorial in our creative portrait. Siri's My Name Is Any D and you're watching. Send his eye catcher TV in our photo studio. We have let over 50 photography workshops specializing in creating conceptual photo shoes, and in this costs we will show you something really cool house to create an amazing serious off winter inspired images. And not only that, most off these images work best with bridal gowns, so even if it's not winter, but you want to include some great fantasy bridal images to your portfolio. Or if you want to offer your brights a truly enchanting shoes with the wedding dress, then this tutorial is for you and the best singers. We don't have to go out into the bitterly cold winter word. We will take you into our studio and show you how you can achieve the same results in your garage or living room and how it can be or done on a small budget. In this cause, you will learn how to create a snow white inspired winter wonderland. Seem was the right lighting and easy props how to shoot fairy lights with the right Apertura and compressions. How to use blue gels and flesh guns for an Ice Queen inspired look. How to create head crowns on the budget that fit to all these scenes. How to use props to tell a story and how to save money when buying them. How to enhance your winter inspired images in photo shop and so much more. So if you want to offer seemed mini sessions a stack in a creative rut or just want to stand out from the competition with new ideas and enchanting images, then this causes. So you interested, Then go ahead and watch the previews to see me in action. Or if you want to learn how to create amazing images on a budget and Roy Now and let's get started, see you soon. 2. Introduction: hi and welcome to our course Winter Wonderland, a new tutorial in our creative portray. Siri's My Name is Andy D and you're watching Sandy's Eye Catcher TV. If you watched any of my other tutorials and you already know my husband met and you will see him later when he assists me with our photo shoots a little bit about us. As you can probably tell by my first sentence, I'm originally from Germany, met from the okay, and now we hear in the Great City off San Jose, California In our photo studio, we have let over 50 photography workshop sofa specializing in creating conceptual photo shoots and whites. We were shooting this winter inspired session. I thought, Hey, this would be so great to develop into a new tutorial because all off a sudden I had these ideas about scenes in my mind how we could have developed the session further, and this idea back then was slightly snow white and spy at. So the model was wearing this big gown like wedding gown and replaced her into this fake cotton wool onto the young to the floor that should look like forest elements, and we bought these things like in the craft store. And of course, we also bought Epper for this snow white effect. So I thought this would be an amazing set up, so elegant yet so simple for any wedding photographer who wants to offer a very unique shoot for the Bryants and also the winter season. It just offers the most amazing seems and colors. So from snowy white toe I screen blew coldly golden fairy lights or center red and Christmas tree green. There are so many great concept to shoot, and the best thing is you don't have to go outside into the freezing court. We will do everything indoors, and you don't even need a big studio. You can set up also scenes in your living room or in a garage, and even better, I'm a true bag and hunter. So I sets a possible on the small budget, and at the end, off each lecture, I will include a list with all the items used for the shoot so that you can save money, too. There's also a bonus where you can see how I create these winter inspired head crowns, and that's all done for $10 or even less. I will also show you tricks and techniques for how you can enhance these images in photo shop to bring them to the next level. So if you want to offer many sessions, are you want to create a new seam? If you are stuck in a creative rut, or if you just want to stand out from the competition with new ideas and enchanting images , then this causes for you. 3. Getting The Most Out Of This Course: our modern for today is Rebecca, who you might know if you watched our tutorial, the oil Tim opposing floor. And she helps us to bring all those looks alive. So the first tutorials off it should will take you through the exact sorts behind it and the set ups, so few free to skip them and dive right into the shoot if you like. However, for a full understanding, I recommend watching the lectures in the right order. If you are interested in learning more about posing, feel free to sign up to our newsletter at send these eye catcher dot com. Also, if you want to share your wins hands by images, join our Facebook group posing like a pro. And it's always so exciting to see the results of our students. And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at Sandy at Cindy's Eye catcher dot com or on Facebook or Instagram at Cindy's Eye Catcher. So let's get started, and her fund was our winter inspired sessions 4. The Recipe For Visual Storytelling: the recipe for visual storytelling and conceptual shoots. Whenever you're creating a conceptual shoot, like what we would do today with our winter wonderlands, the ice Queen and so on. It's important that you create unbelievable set even more so when you are designing a fairy tale or fantasy concept. So we want that it looks elegant and like fashion editorial that belongs into a woman's magazine. And not that it comes across tacky or like a kid's birthday party was costumes. If you watched any off my other tutorials and you might have heard me asking this before, what do you think? As the most important ingredients for a successful image? Really think about this for a second is it's a client. The setting the props, well, it's really none off them. At first, when I started studying photography, I watched every single tutorial by the photography academy and the main photographer and creator, Mark Klegon. He did find the following seven components that are important for a successful image story lighting, exposure, style, posing composition and post production. This recipe that blew my mind. It's so powerful, yet simple and incredibly easy to implement. The most important ingredient is the right story, and from there all of the other ingredients, they just have to fall into place. So whenever workshop attendee shows me an image and asked, What do you think off this photo? What could I do? Better? I tell them about this recipe and makes them analyze their photo. I asked them back. I asked something like, Do you sing your lighting works? Was this image How about supposed? Does it make sense for the story that you want to tell? So if you are ever stuck in analysing your own images or how to develop photography session , just ask yourself, Which story do you want to tell? And then how can these ingredients be integrated in your story that it works with everything altogether and that it can move along? And that's what we will talk about today. So before each shoot, I will tell you about the concept. Why assured the specific lighting set up and what exposure I found fitting for the shots Also, why, as diets have set this way and what kindof poses work for this image and after each set, I will pick up my favorite image to show you the postproduction tricks in light room or in a CIA, and to bring the image to the next level, plus maybe finding an even better composition and how you can enhance the story off the image even further in photo shop. 5. Intro: How To Set The Scene And Camera Details: I call it the set up Snow White, also bridal princess in the white Windsor Castle. But technically, all we have done here set up this window Effect was curtains. But I imagine a cookie in this long hallway was the princess and her wedding gown walks past. Or it could be in this wide room, which fresh maybe gets ready for her wedding. Or it could be the character Snow White being all dreamy and singing toe the birds. You get the idea and all you need for this window effect is this light stand with curtains on it and how many curtains you need That just depends on the lengths off your stand and the sickness that you want off the curtain. So here we kind of worked with this kind off. Would it look? And for this, we had to hung up six cartons. So the curtains itself that made off this tool like material and the really cheap I mean, we got them in a careful $6 each. And, yeah, you could also develop this whole room, look even a step further if you want a toe, hang really sick cartons on each side and it looks like in the living room, and this way you can also cover the light stand. So here we just hung over some lays that we also found a Nike Air for $6 because I knew that I just wanted to focus more into the middle anyway, for the whole session. Today, I will use my canon five d as ah was my 50 millimeter lens that goes down to 1.4. It's the prime lands, and that will also use another prime lens. And that's my canon 135 millimeter land that goes down to 2.0. So for this should we want to see a lot off area, I will use the 50 millimeter to capture the full body and 3/4 length shots so that I can capture a lot off the surroundings, and you can also use the tailor lens. Then you don't need to do so much footwork as you can zoom in and out without moving around . Personally, I like this 50 millimeter lens just because it's lightweight, and it also means I can just set it down easily. If I want to hand the model oil, those different props and then I can just pick it back up again. So if I would have now a tailor lands on it and it's just heavier from the lens and then at my Tambor. Also, the prime lands is a little bit sharp as an mightily lens. Therefore, it's kind off my go to lens. If you are using the same or similar lens, just make sure that you don't move too close to the Modern, as this will give your model a big ahead due to the compression off the 50 millimeter. And this is because off the fall shortening also, I'm always quite a distance away from my model because this way I avoid that I call bobblehead, and also I just give my model a little bit more space. So also, I've worked with Rebecca how many times before, as they want to give her space and you know, not to crowd toe. Even though I teach all off my photography students to get as much right in camera as possible. I almost never have the right crop in camera, so I shooed a lot wider, as unnecessary to leave the crop open to choice. So that I can do this later in light room or in camera raw, because then I can just define the best crop for this image. So I could even create different versions off this and then also this way, I don't have to worry that I have cropped too tight and camera. The advantage off this technique is that I can totally focus on the moderates eyes and emotions. So those of you find that was out thinking too much about the crop. So off course I do this a little bit. I locked my focus on the eyes, and then I moved the camera to a better position. But I'm not too worried about it as long as I'm shooting somewhat wider and this is things toe modern technology, and my Canon five DS has 50 megapixels, and that just allows me a tighter crop later imposed. So you're set up that might be a bit different, depending on the cameras that you use. So if you like to crop already in camera, or if you prefer close ups and general, then you can obviously choose your lens and your camera on these preferences also assured all of my images in raw and my white balance is set on flesh. And with that, let's look at the lighting 6. Setting Up The Back Lights: so the scene is incredibly simple. It's basically Ah, high key set up, but instead off pointing the back lights or the strop's towards the white background. Here, the lights go more towards the curtain to pretend that the light is coming from the outside world in this castle. So I normally don't light the curtains directly because and new risks that certain areas off the curtains are getting too bright and that the texture is being blown out. But I want that the texture and the curtains visible so that it looks more like a realistic room. So play with the feather off the light, or just place the lights parallel to the curtain so that I don't illuminate the curtain directly and the strength off the lights. That depends a little bit on how wide your background standers and the distance wants more towards the curtains. So here we meet at foreign F 10. That gives us this kind off window effect. But be careful, though, that your yeah, that's the curtains are not too close to the background lights. If you're working with modeling lights because then those lights was modeling lights on. They can become incredibly hot, and you don't want that they start to burn your curtains. Normally, you would use white paper for your high key look. But here doesn't really matter that our background papers gray because we just illuminates the curtains. So it's a great background that will be our next set up, and therefore it's easier if you can set up many scenes all at once. And then you don't have the hassle to changing background while your client is waiting. You want toe flows through the session with ease, and that's the beauty here that we can go effortlessly from this high key look to ah, more Mickey, look in just a few seconds. 7. Setting Up The Front Lights: So let's talk about the front lights. So the story is meant to be dreamy and areas. So I decided to use a really big soft box as my main light. I also used a smaller soft box from the side as my fill light and the film light set up. That's not the idea set up normally want to have. So, Phillip, coming from behind you our camera position to give you this really nice and even light and lots of photographers and using even bigger soft boxes s square off this doctor box and Yosses where you just illuminate everything. But here I have this really low ceiling, so I can't really place the light behind me because then it's just it can be raised high enough. Well, I could raise it. But the problem is, I can't really angle it. And in this 45 degree angle, because for that the ceilings they're just too low. And the 45 degree lighting anger It's important for the most flattering effect, as we want to produce a nose shadow that comes down. And also, if the light was right behind me, we would create a catch light in the center off the models pupils, and that's not really what we want. So typically we only want. That's the key. Light creates a catch. Light is a 10 o'clock or a two o'clock, depending on which side it's on. And if you imagine that the pupil is oclock, so 10 o'clock or two o'clock and again see that indicates just also the most flattering light and that the no shadow goes down. Why it's the fill light kind of stays invisible. It's there to fill in the shadows, but it shouldn't be strong enough that it creates a second catch light. So this is why I place my feel like to the side, and I'm concentrating mainly on like a closer was re quarter image. Therefore, a small soft box that's fine. And again, the lighting is created with the feather off the light, Rather's and being directly on my model, I would just fez it off ever so slightly. So if you wanted a more dramatic look than you could also skips the second flight. This works well if you want to create shape in your model with more shadow and kind off a narrow lighting, meaning if the model looks toe the main light that the as are part off the faces more in shadow and therefore looks lemma with this narrow lighting technique. However, here I kind of decided to go with this airy and soft look as much as possible. And the advantage is that the model can also look now wherever she wants, so she can look this way or this way, left or right, without risking that her face is getting too dark. I meet at the key light for five and photographers all over the world. The argue what is the right way? Do you meet her now? Each light, individually or together? So that's up to you. So I meet her when both slides are on and I just with the light meter into the direction off the key light and then to my fill light at a 2 to 1 ratio, meaning that the philae it has to have half the power off my main light. So here I have a five for my main light and to now between 2.2 and 2.8 for my fill lights. So why do I use a light meter so personally, I think it's awesome because it takes out the guesswork. So especially because my bone German ized robes they are very old fashioned because with newer devices, you can actually change your F stop already on the trigger. But here I have to actually walk back and forced to adjust the light output. And although the studio is small, I don't really have a great distance to walk. But I still don't want to set it up and then walk back and then take a shop and then see if I like the light. And if I don't have to address the take another shot and so on. So it's much easier if I can adjust it right then and there, meaning the only thing that I need toe control Here in my studio. That's obviously the Apertura, so I want to keep. The ice was low as possible, so this is set to 100 and the typical studio chateau speeds that's between 100 25 260 is off a second because anything over that and you risk that your shutter speed is getting too fast for the flesh and closes before enough light hits a Senza, meaning you have this black line creeping into your image. So the only thing that I need to decide on now is my Apertura and in fashion you normally used in Apertura between F eight and F 13. Because you really want to see all the details and focus. However, if you set up a scene with textures or like structures in the background, like here, then you don't really want tohave, says Tight Apertura. You would nominee shoot with a wider Apertura so that these details fallout off focus to look a little bit more realistic. And here I don't want that the curtain looks to shop, so that's why I just need a wider Apertura, but not too white, because I still want to have model's eyes and focus. Therefore, I decided F five that works really well. Also, this is high key Look. You can also decide to expose slightly more than your meter, reading says, because you want that. It looks airy and very soft in the image. However, I normally keeps a correct meter reading and camera and then polls production. I can decide if I want this image a little bit brighter. Of course, you can always check on your camera your history, Graham, to see how your white and your blacks are doing. So it's up to you if you want to create a lighter image already in camera. But as I said, I just do this, imposed like a CIA or light room, where I have a little bit more control about my highlights and my shadows. So that totally depends on your own workflow and your style. And yeah, it was said, Let's talk about style. 8. Finding The Right Style: So as a typical rule off some, you want to shoot light colors on a light background and dark colors on the darker background. There are three ways house. The viewer looks at the image, and that's from Dr Bright, from blurry to shop and from less saturation or contrast to more saturation or contrast. So in portraiture, the viewers main focal should be really on the face off the model because that's how the viewer connect so is away with direct eye contact with the model or oversee emotion in the model's face. If she's looking away like dreaming, Li like into the distance. So basically, we want to ensure that the brightest part off the image, it's the moderates phase. Or that's the viewer, somehow guided there by leading lines and so on. Or as I mentioned, if the background is very busy, it also helps that you open up the Apertura, so that's the model stands out from the background. In our case, we brings a background a little bit out of focus because we don't want to see every wrinkle in the background, but we can guide the viewer more than that in regards looking from blurry to shop so we can work either with brightness, all the saturation or contrast. So as my model has dark hair, I don't want to lose the overall high key effect by putting her into a dark outfit now, because then the viewer would be really conflict ID by this area and soft set up versus the model. It's dark hair and wardrobe, so now you could argue. But didn't you say that the viewer looks from Dr Bright so they would still land on the model's face? However, in this case, this increased contrast that would really throws this rule overbought because if the viewer sees a lot off contrast in the image like here in this black dress, then the viewers eyes would just walk between light and background was this light background and then the dark dress, and it would just appear like this big dark blob. So especially if you're working with bigger people, that rule is really important, because why it's we say that black a slimming the opposite happens when we stick a bigger person in this black outfit onto a white backdrop the viewer will notice is huge contrast immediately and instead off looking at the moderates phase, they will just look at this big body ends this big black flop. So that's why I decided to guides the viewer with light concept looking from the light background to the models, dark hair to the light phase and so that that would actually work. I would also need a bright outfit and what could be light as in a wedding dress? Plus it enhances obviously this princess story that I want to tell So we will develop and as I concept later where I will break this rule and I will not bring actually bright on right, but more on this later. So if you don't have actual bright to shoot and you want to photograph a model, where do you get the dress from without spending hundreds and hundreds off dollars. So in our case, we actually got the stress used from a NASA photographer whose soldiers for like, $10. So it doesn't have to be the perfect dress, as if you find something used. Then that's totally fine. And really good option for this is if you go into like thrift stores such as good with or you could also go to flea markets or Craigslist, or even on eBay. If you can find any wedding dress and no worries, then you can also buy white Cosette on Amazon. So this year was $18. And it's awesome, because for this price you can easily buy a few different sizes to make sure that it also fits your model while your client Oh, also, if you know roughly the size off the model, then you can buy this size because the nice thing is that these cost sets can become bigger . It's the back. So Rebecca sort first that this cause that is too small and that it wouldn't fit to us. But then we just adjusted thes strappy things, and then that worked really well. So in regards to the skirt, there are also a lot off nice and big fluffy tools girls on Amazon and again this year. That's another awesome item, because this fits everybody because you can just tired in the back and you can even design this yourself. You only need, like, a long like here, like a satin strap, and then you need a few pieces off tour, and then you can basically just not it onto the strap and make it as big and fluffy as possible. And that fits anybody because you can just tired at the bag. So whenever I buy wardrobe or props, I always make sure that these items don't just fit toe one shoot, but hopefully to many more. And with these tools, good, for example, you could also create maybe, like a ballerina inspired image. And also, if you have different call sets, then you can also create different style. So I have this one also in green. That would work now for it. Yeah, like a Christmas related seem. And then again in spring time, you could also use green for yeah, like a green feared outside or something like that. 9. Working With Props: from here, you can enhance the look off your outfit with jewelry or different house sites. I mean, we will keep it. You're fairly simple. We are just using this hair crown here from Michael's for $5. If you're not from the US Michael's is a craft store, and again you will find plenty off options and shops like mashers, Ross, Burlington and so on. So if you live in the US or anywhere where you can find this countered fashion or outlet items in the mall. So Amazon also has a good your goods, a variety off those, Yeah, like jewelry things or just cheap little props. And another thing that you can do is also create your own unique head crown. And you, it sees, is at the end where we have this bonus lecture on how to create such a head crown. The same principle applies to all the props that I'm using. So they're all from outlet malls are shops such as TK Maxx and Michael's or marshes. So you're all sorts off props you can find. Also like on Amazon with the funds is clock here for $12 we have a bird cage that we found in Marshall's for $15. The bird came from Michael's for $7 I will include a list in the end off the lecture where you will see all the props that we were using in the set up and also how much they cost. And it's really easy and really cheap. And that's why it's also a lot of fun to play with all those different items. 10. Storytelling With The Right Posing: although this cause it's not about opposing itself. If you want to learn about posing than you can check out my other tutorials, like posing like a pro or the ultimate posing floor. But you would still see a little bit here how I guide Rebecca through different scenarios. So it was this white caster set up. It obviously works if you play with a different range off emotions. So it could be is a happy, smiling bright that is waiting for her big day. It could be. Is assault full? It's no why to worries that you might be up against the queen and the fight. Or it could be dreamy or glamorous or happy or thoughtful. So you can actually change your a lot off poses or create facial expressions that show emotions as long as that makes sense. If you have reclined on Newcombe, a model who doesn't know what to do with the hands, then props will help with that. So I always give props to my models if they're unsure of what to do. And the nice thing is also, if you create a story, then you can also guide some through the expression so I I always tell my model something like Imagine you walk with the lamb through this big, empty castle like you're worried. Or maybe you're worried what you will find behind the next corner. Or you can look down onto your engagement ring and think about Mr Charming and how he proposed and so on. So don't forget to keep shootings. Oh, what's your instructing your model? Because you're moderates. Face will wander through difference facial expressions and visual, different emotions, and all of them can look really interesting. So all right, so that's always a preparation that we need. Let's dive into the shoot. 11. The White Winter Castle Shoot: OK, so a quick walk around the set here we got the key light over here on the left, the lace curtains hanging down off the background like sandy surgery before there's a white board on the floor that will reflect some of the light to give it a nice, airy feel to it. Now, behind those lace curtains, you can just about see them. Ah, the strobes that will go and take a look at them right now. So the strobes of facing towards each other, the bond or is a little bit close to stop too much light shining towards the front. This means that they're not going to shine onto the lace curtain and on the not gonna shine towards the background. On this way, it gives a nice kind of airy daylight sunlight effect from behind the lace curtains, which is gonna look very cool. Always make sure you have a table full of all your props, so you can grab him easily and quickly during the shoot so you can throw them to the model and take him off again without interrupting things too much. So with that said, let's get into it, have fun and Caesar. All right. Coming ones behind the curtain, actually. And kind off. Can you? Maybe can even open this up and then you just opens this curtain up, and then you're just looking out and look right at me. That's great. Come. And even a tiny bit more power to have just one. Yeah, perfect. That's great. And look into the light beautiful and broke out the door and lower your chin down. Beautiful. And now just your eyes back at me. Perfect. Maybe even with both sends that they can grap into the garden. Yes, Perfect. Just so maybe that I see is a finger stood from you as a hand yet Perfect. So I seem off the hand. Beautiful. That's great. Perfect. And lawyer Chin down. Awesome. Can you bring all your hair onto one side? Actually, Racists hand a little bit higher. Yeah, Perfect. And I speak a me puff. Yeah, Perfect. And look down towards it and bring your hair actually across bulls short us again. Perfect. And then just lower it down. Perfect. Beautiful. And maybe just your head up. A tiny but beautiful say looks like it's great And lower your chin down perfect. Maybe bring it even the battalion yet Perfect. And just look down to it. K State likes it. Beautiful. I'm just lower it. A little bit town, maybe more nexus. Yeah. Perfect. Beautiful day Lexus and just eyes at me. Perfect. And just look down again and maybe keep this kind of straight actually. Come most rate on Yeah, And then just maybe, like to your chest. Perfect. And then just look down and just tell you I had a little bit more this way Or maybe even your upper body a little bit more this way. And just book still down and still have Snow boy ma towards me. Yeah, perfect. Perfect. And just eyes at me Beautiful and maybe wants more, more serious tend off. It's a really reindeer in there and it's been frozen in time Something like what happens in once upon the time. Beautiful charity. I had a little bit to your show without beautiful And just stay with their head and just bring your hands a little bit down. Just your hand. Just so that a Caesar reindeer just ahead. Yeah, perfect. And now, just eyes at me and just look down towards the clock perfect. And just look down to lots of again. Perfect, beautiful, awesome Texas Nice. Alexis looking down. Miracle. Maybe also just anger your head. Tiny bits this week. Beautiful. And one more Just more straight towards me and then just looking around. Awesome. Very nice. Can you bring once more your hair? Like over your front? Shorter. Very nice. Said your head A tiny betrayal shorter and also a lower or anger so that I can Yeah, look into the nest. Perfect. Beautiful. No, your chin a little bit and yeah, Just bring your head The tiny bits, Asswipe. Perfect. Lower your chin. Yeah. Perfect. Beautiful. Very nice. Just do the same thing again. Just maybe change this hand. Sorts. Yeah. It's more like grabbing inside from the side. Lower your head again. That it is this very perfect, beautiful And maybe one more. Just like lowering at all down. Yeah, perfect. Maybe it's what's did a little bit more than anger. No, not you. Just a stick. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's cool. Beautiful. Yeah, that's great. And just lower your head a little bit. This very perfect. And just bring your chin down. Down, down! Perfect. beautiful. Just Lloyd. And down, actually, Maybe keep this pours just like this was both hands And just bring your face a tiny bits this way. Perfect. And then just your chin down and then just ice back at me. Perfect. Come in again. Beautiful. Perfect. Very nice. Yes, it should keep said, That's beautiful. Lawyer turned down perfect and look into the light. Perfect, beautiful. And maybe one of its kind of this twilight and does the same thing again. But just actually come a tiny bit more this way, if you can. And then just bring your face a bit more into the light. Perfect. It's beautiful. Nice, awesome. And just your eyes at me. And now just bring this bird in the tiny, but towards us, we just bring your arm in a little bit. But you still stay more sideways. But now you just bring the arm and a little bit No. Now you go all the way out. Yeah, just a little in. Perfect. Beautiful. This is heavy. Also is a manager of a little child. Yeah. Okay. Beautiful. Nice. Maybe also go. And once the close and higher actually brings us and maybe yeah, perfect and just dies with me. Perfect. Very nice. That's great. Well, let me just take one more. This is beautiful. Now this is cool. Come, actually, just a tiny step backwards. Yeah, perfect. And just bring your head to put this right awesome and lord again the tiny but onto your belly And just bring your head again This way Perfect. And lower your chin down Perfect. And now just bring heads us very beautiful and just it You're actually just bring your face a little bit So why not your body? Just your face. And now, um, however, now, so your ear goes to the shoulder, but then you just bring it in and it's a perfect and lowers a candle a little bit down. Perfect. Awesome. All right, one last thing and come in even further this way. And then kind of like you're just walking down the stock corridor from your majestic Catholic and like, you're kind of scared, maybe. Yeah, that's cool. And stay. Exactly. Nexus. I just bring you here again. That gorgeous do this exact same head and just brings us light in the tiny. But what's your body Just yet? Perfect. And just keeps the head. Thank you. Kind of looked toe towards the ceiling. Yeah. Perfect. Wonderful. This is awesome. And just one shot where you pretend where you're blowing snow Pretty much can. Looks like cool keeps this full on second. Are you really good at that one? Well, and just looking down to your hand and one more blow. Awesome. 12. Winter White Castle Shoot Part 2: okay for this part of the shoot. Rebecca is sitting down now on that white rocking chair for the general set up. You don't need to change anything. Actually, the back lights are still facing towards each other on the fill light and the key light on exactly the same positions as before. You'll only need to lower that key light when she's actually being shot on the floor, which will happen a little bit later on so half. 13. Preparation For Fairy Lights / Christmas Lights Inspired Backgrounds: a mini session was fairy lights that is always fun, even when it's not winter time. So these lights become very trendy a while ago, and now you see them all over Instagram being shot inside and outdoors. And as far as story is involved, I see a lot of images was a model just holds a bunch off fairy lights, and that doesn't really make sense, because I think it's like, Why are you holding just some fairy lights like that? So if you want to play with them, have so maybe in a jar or something so that yeah, whole lighting set up looks like the motor needs the light for some reason, like a light source in a similar way, how you would use a candle. Also on, as I said that the story could go anywhere. Dreamy, mystic, um, fantasy or whimsical. I think fairy lights are awesome. So in our case, I always want to go through a flow off portrait. And if I don't need to change the model's wardrobe than the faster I can move through the set. So we were just turn Rebecca now, from the snow White into a winter, Bryant with this furry Skaff. And then I also have, like a red riding hood and buy a record just because I didn't have another furry broom at hands. So, yeah, I think that's just fun, that we can also play now with color after the area. White first set Fairy lights are very delicate and can quickly be overpowered by flesh. So he returned. Now the strokes off and Rebecca will be lit by natural light and the modeling light. And this way we can just open up the Apertura because with this kind of shoot, you really want toe CS. Yeah, many lights as possible, and you also want to create this bow. Com. You would write it okay, but it's pronounced Boca. And to achieve this effect, two ingredients unnecessary. So you will need a wide Apertura and a longer lens so that you can give your image more compression the size and shape off the spoken. That also depends on the lens and your Apertura. So it was left to some lenses. They create more off this over shape, and then if you shoot maybe with the top on five, then the Boca can appear more around and I will start the shoot with my 50 millimeter lens , 2.8 125th off a second and isolate 100 because, as I said, I'm often shooting at a distance, which makes it really tough toenails. The focus with the 50 million meter lens in the eye with an Apertura smaller than 2.8, especially when the model also moves. So as a rule off some you're shatters be shouldn't be shorter's and the length off the lens so potentially I could shoot with fifties off a second with my 50 millimeter lens. However, I often talk at the same time to instruct the model, so that would increase my camera shake so the higher I can keep the chateau speed, the better in my case. So if you wanted to Spokane effect even stronger, then you could also place your camera on the tripod and really slow the shatters beat down to like half a second or even a second. But you would need to instruct your model to stand perfectly still, and this way you would also have less noise because then you could also reduce your eyes old. But I'm always in motion and therefore my set a booby two point, 825th off a second and I so 800. And then I want to change things from there and I will switch to my canon. 135 millimeter lens was 2.0, and now I'm Yamma zoomed in, which makes it a little bit easier to focus on the I and I will shoot then with Anapa. Chew off if too I so 500 just to reduce the noise. And then I can also see my shutter speed, maybe around 100 260 depending on how much I'm talking in shaking the camera. So, like I said, before anything goes era, I will hand Rebecca Winter related outfit and the Saudi, And because we set up these fairy lights onto this gray background, we can also play with different background colors and post production for is a warmer or cooler tone so that it also works with these different outfits. We still keep actually a little bit off curtain in front because and we don't completely lose this lighting affect us, so I don't want to have too much crap in here, but it was a little bit off carton. We will achieve the soft light look and create this whimsical atmosphere. So to create an even more whimsical Boca effect, you can also place very lights in front off your lens to create even more depth to the image. In this way, there will be also more light flares, which can look really interesting. And for this to work, you can maybe either have another background stands and then place more lights on toe that and just hold it in front off the camera to make it easier. Or if you have, like, really long string off fairy lights, then you could just drags us along and then just hold it in front off your land. So that works, too. And was Rebecca. I will just keep it simple because focusing will take a bit longer when you do. This technique was another fairy lights in front off your lens, but it's definitely worse playing with Boca in front and behind the subject to throes of background strings as much out of focus as possible. Have the moderate step away from the lights and towards you because and more distance the better. And if you shoot with the longest lens and also with the widest Apertura, then you will really drop anything out off focal so you won't see the strings anymore and only the lights. So in my studio and a little bit limited regarding how much the model can step towards me and how much I can step back because I want to work with 135 millimeter lens, especially if I want to include more body and not only its highest head shot. But if you are shooting where you have more room, create distance between the model and the backdrop, so posing as before from happy to sort for toe holding different props, we can play here with a range of emotions, so let's see what we can come up with. 14. Fun With Fairy Lights - The Shoot: OK, so a quick walk around the set up here, we still got the lace curtains, of course, from the previous set. And now we've added another background stand right behind them with the fairy lights clamped to the top. So they're all hanging down right there. Andi The well, you can see there. The lace curtains were exactly the same. You may need to spread them out a little bit more. Teoh allow the fairy lights to shine through because they're not that bright. And of course, the main thing here is that the key light on the fill light and the background lights are now all turned off. So this will be a completely natural light shoot. So here we go. 15. Preparation For A Mystical Forest Inspired Foreground: all right. So with this set up, we will go into a more mystical and spooky direction because this is actually a fake spider webs that I bought on Hello, Win and Rebecca will change now into my wedding dress that I wore when I got married. And I waas actually never happy with the idea off wearing a white dress because I'm so pale . So when I found this truly princess inspired outfit, I was a happy girl. However, it always intrigued me to see this in another environment. So instead of using it for the typical princess bright, I thought it would be fun to create the opposite. Seen so a bright in the stress, like lost in the forest off spider webs and again, slightly snow white inspired here. You could also just stick with the white dress or any as our Cosette, as long as it doesn't look too normal, because I think this lost Winter Princess is intriguing and can be a lot off fun to enhance and photoshopped by adding snowflakes and so on. So the lighting and the exposure that's exactly as before, so that we still have just big soft box on the side. It's kind off headset so that it doesn't hit too much off the spider web because otherwise that would be just too bright. So whenever you light a white or bright texture, it's easy to run into danger That just looks too bright, and then you will lose all the detail, and the back light is now switched off. So the main night that still at a five and also the fill light at 2.8. So the settings are fitting as you still don't want to create too much steps off years or to litter. So the set up also works great and composites and photo shop. Because in my last session, I added this forest image into the background. Just make sure that the original Apertura comes into play again. If you create such composites like that and that the background wouldn't be then tack shop , but more blurry and out of focus. If you shoot here at five always keeps the story in mind, you want to tell the soul, look as realistic as possible and not too tacky. So with such a set up, you could also decide to use a smaller light source, maybe a strip box and no philae to creating more shadow and drama. That would certainly work here as well. The lights there needs to be a little bit soft, so because if you use now harder light so us like a beauty dish or flesh, it will create white patches and also could yeah, introduced art shadows on the spider web. So I decided to stick with the big lights. Also speak soft box, because in my final image, I will pretend that's the scenes maybe lit by the moon, and therefore a bigger light source works for me, and I don't have to spend time changing the light source. So the faster that you can flows through the chute, the better it is. So with this in mind, Ah, happy go lucky style off posing. That really wouldn't work well because when I think off the princess lost in the cold winter forest tangled up in the spider web, then she would look lost and vulnerable and scared or spooked or maybe even determined to find her way out off there so you can add certain elements to the story. Was props like holding a candle, something like this or other things that drives the story forward. Just play with that and have fun. So they set up with also look great here with the Ice Queen crown that you will see in our do it yourself bono section. But I don't want toe mix here too many things together. I just want to keep it simple. But if you have more ideas for the set, then certainly go ahead and pay a visit. So the spider web costs about $5. So it's not a huge investment and offer so many possibilities. So let's get started and enjoys a shoot. 16. The Mystical Forest Shoot: Okay, so putting this spider web on the background can be very interesting with two people. That makes it a lot easier, so you just have to pull it apart as much as you can keep in things random, hook them onto the background, stand with clamps or clips or anything that you have available. Stretch it nice and thin and you'll see that pretty quickly. It gets this really, really cool kind of spiderweb effects on. It doesn't really require that much work. Teoh put it on there. So let's get into the shoot and have fun yet. 17. Preparation Of The Floor: If you watched my tutorial, the ultimate posing flow, then you know by now that I love to create sets on the floor. Anything is possible here, From snow scenes to fall or Halloween inspired setups. You don't need to buy expensive new backgrounds. All worry about gravity that things you attached to a while or Styrofoam might fall down. So you just lay it all out on the floor, and you can add or subtract and rearrange and create all sorts off looks. So in our case, we will start easy by just lying Rebecca in this cotton work and pretend that it's no because I wanted to create. One scene was the red and white princess dress, where it is indeed a little bit more romantic and dreamy in comparison to our spooky set up . And from there we can also add red winter flowers, and we can play with all sorts off looks. Then Rebecca will change into a neutral white costs it so we can play with more colors, such as another brownish forest. Seem again slightly snow white and spired was maybe a red pepper because the nice thing is that with the white snow that the colors were really pop. So that's why we will also create a set up with blue flowers and then also one was Gordon items because these were all left over, said ahead. From this flower crown that I created and Assad, it would be great to use them as well. So you could also play some interesting tool on the snow and then you can create another background. But we will stay here with this cotton work just because I don't want to move her back too much up and down because she has really long hair where we would have to adjust, the cotton will end. Just have to rearrange the flowers every time. So for these we will just keep Rebecca on the floor. But maybe bring some tool in tow, wrap around her. We will also set up a plexiglass over Rebecca for one set so that you can see the difference from contrast e to a more vintage look by just adding zits plexiglass. And for this we spray snow from a can on to it, and then we also will Sprinkle some snowflakes, and this way we will just create more depths or feared and a whole different look. So for such a shoot, it would be used for risotto. Have a polarizer on your lens because this way you can cut the reflections down. And it might not even be a problem in your house or studio if you have white ceilings. But here I have these typical office dire, yeah, tired on man a ceiling, and this creates a very strange was drive in my plexiglass. But unfortunately I don't have a polarizer for my 50 millimeter lens. So Matt has to hold something over Rebecca or the plexiglass to reduce the glare from the ceiling for the plexiglass. We will shoot with natural light to avoid reflections at F two and sixties off a second and Aiso 1000 because it's very dark here without the modeling lights and for the other set up , we will have the strokes at four. So the snow it's a little bit out of focus and otherwise the same studio settings 125th off second, and I saw 100 for that. We will bring the big soft books down so that we can still achieve this 45 degree lighting as the main key light and the big soft boxes very forgiving if the model stands or sits. However, if you brings a more laws than that, then you definitely need to change the position off your light. It was a light itself Can still be Fez that or directional That's up to you also if you want to use a fill light or not. So, as I said before, I'm not usually a big fan off to catch lights in the model's eyes, left and right, because that indicates flat lighting and fled. Lighting without shadow means fat lighting, so you want to shape your model with shadow. However, here I really keeps the fill light up and over Rebecca so I can keep the airy feeling toe the image with less shadow. So in case the second fill, it bothers me. I might retouch this out off Photoshopped, so why not change with now when I hate the second flight? So much So the moment you have your model and accessories and plays, the shooting can be very static because there aren't a lot off options now to pose for the model, because the moment they do woo, they move also the accessories and especially if you created some close to them. So opposing wise, it looks best that you create a nice curve in the models body was Lex and needs to one side and then the body to the other. And then they can play with props and they can do small movements with hands and arms. So and of course, I can also move ahead. However, that's now only possible if the light sources are placed on both sides. Otherwise, the moments of modern turns her head to society with Let's light, it will look back and muddy. So, unfortunately, sometimes in photography you have situations with the classic sees or effect. So you saw the double catch light. I would have to create easier and more static post where the model is not allowed to move ahead too much into the other direction. Or I would have to find now a whole new position for the secondary lights so that I wouldn't see the second catch light, and that would just take Noah while so here I settled. Now, with the lesser evil off dealing with the to catch lights, especially when I know this is a quick fix and photo shop. And otherwise I'm OK with the flat light for this look. Yes, I know you should create as much as possible in camera, but sometimes little fixes in photo shop are allowed and can makes a shoot a lot faster and easier. 18. Posing On The Floor: so first off are They are very flattering for most models as you are shooting from above, and this compresses the face and body, which makes them look smaller. It's also awesome for clients, and new comma models will never modeled before because they can create different looks. Was tiny movements off their hands Or, as I said, their arms or that has a head. So because I can't really move that much, you can play a swell. Here was different emotions. They can close, their eyes, looking all dreamy, and you can also walk around them to see the most flattering anger. So most off the time I'm shooting actually from a letter, but then also come down to either side and also tooting my camera to get interesting viewpoints. There is only one big No, no, don't shoot from the moderates. Feed up this way. You want to stay on either side off her, so on her level with the hips are and not lower because this way you will avoid two things . So, first of all, you don't want to imagine the legs and shrinks ahead if you would shoot this way, because this would happen due to compression and four shortening from the side up, so it never looks flattering to look into somebody's nostrils. A swell. So that's why I should most images from the letter and turned them around in light room or a C R. And this way I have to write compression and then shoot upwards. So wonder step for the posing part. I always add a little cushion under the model's head so that she doesn't think into the floor like a pancake. So if the head is a little bit lifted, you will avoid the flatness and also the double chins. If the model brings a friend or if you have an assistant, then you can also. Yeah, it would be helpful if they could step up the letter and is a pretend to shoot. Or just take some iPhone pictures. Because the moment the model interacts with somebody else, then this will give you a whole new range of facial expressions. Just be careful when using the letter, and, of course, that you don't drop the camera on the model. Always safety first for the model and for you all right, now that you know oil, the main facts have fun watching the shoot 19. Winter Wonderland Shoot Part 1: Okay, so for the next few shoots, thes subject will be on the ground. So first of all, with this fake snow, it's basically just calm. We'll just unpack it, spread it around to make sure that there's enough coverage for the model a zwelling, some room around her for the petals and for the various props that we're gonna throw in now , when the model lies down, you'll want to spend some time just tidying things up. So, for example, the hair make sure that it's spread nicely around the sides. And if you want sort of towards the top as well, any. She also put a little pillow under the model's head, so she's comfortable instead of on that hard floor with your stepladder. You just position it right behind the model's head there so you can climb up onto the top to take the photos from above, pointing directly down as you can see there and just make sure that you lower the key light down, as you can see here as well. So it's not that the same height as it was when Rebecca was standing up, because then the light wouldn't hit a properly here And of course, we've turned off those back lights that were previously lighting the lace captains because we don't need them anymore. 20. Winter Wonderland Shoot Part 2: Okay, so for here, this is where the props start to get thrown in. So you can see we've got a whole bunch of red flowers again, just bought from Michael's off those stocks getting ready so you can just throw them in or have your assistant throw them in around the model in a relatively, intentionally random way. And with that half from with this part of the shoot, - yeah . 21. Winter Wonderland Shoot Part 3: So this part of the shoot is just a continuation off. The previous one going away from the red team is now into a mortar brown props. So we got some little twigs and branches there. There's a bird's nest. It'll get thrown in on, of course, the red apple for the snow White effect as well. So let's go yet . 22. Winter Wonderland Shoot Part 4: so this part of shoot requires a little bit of a balancing act. As you can see, we got this perspex here with the spray snow all over the Perspex with a kind of hole in the middle where the model's face can obviously see through so you can actually take the picture. Now we've just balanced the Perspex here on a couple of stools from like a with a sandbag, holding them down on one side because it's a little flimsy. And you just want to be careful that when you do balance that prospects, that it doesn't slip around and potentially fall off, so make sure you weigh it down quite nicely. And another thing to look out for with this is, of course, the reflections of the Perspex is very reflective, so that could be minimised with a polarizer and just making sure you where you stand, you're not putting yourself either in front of the lights or in the way off the reflection as well