Hey everyone! Welcome to Alpha Universe. In today's video I'm gonna walk you
through my entire setup for using color gels to take some fun
and creative portraits.
Along the way I'll be sure to share
everything that you'll need to know if you want to try and recreate the
images that you'll see in this video
let's get right into it
every photo
shoot starts with an idea and here it was no different. I'm working
today with model and makeup artist Brianna
who arrived with some cool leather straps that kind of reminded me of
Lara Croft from the video game Tomb Raider. With that idea in mind, I wanted
to photograph her in a cinematic style that made her look like a hero in an
action movie. I knew right away that beyond her
styling and makeup we weren't going to pull off
this concept without something a little...
extra.
A typical lighting setup like the
ones that i would normally use in my portrait work
wasn't going to give us the hero look that we wanted
so I had to get creative with my lighting.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by using something called
a gel which is basically a colored sheet of plastic
that you put over your lights
using these will change the color of the light
to whatever color of film you're using
they make these for
speed lights strobes and constant lights and
typically come in a pack with a variety of different colors to
choose from. Since most movies these days use a teal and
orange color palette I decided to gel each of my backlights
with these colors to help separate brianna's black clothing
from the black background. I also ended up blocking these lights from hitting
the background by using these v-flats from a company
called v-flat world.
This ensures that my black background
stays black and doesn't pick up the color from the lights.
For my main light I used a 20 inch beauty dish with a white interior
and I placed a grid on it.
Doing this helped to focus the angle of
light so that it's only illuminating Brianna. To fill in some of
the shadows I placed a silver lastolite tri reflector on a stand to bounce some
of the light coming from the beauty dish and also to create some catch lights in
her eyes which are these little glints of light that you see here.
While I'm using professional lights from profoto for this photo shoot,
you could definitely get comparable results using other kinds of studio
flashes and even using speed lights, just note
the positioning of these lights and the distances from
the background and subject and you'll see how easy it
is to replicate my shots.
Now that we've looked at the lighting
setup let's look at the rest of the gear that I used
for my studio work i love using the Sony a7r iv
thanks to the beautiful color that I get in my raw files
not to mention a lot of megapixels,
of course,
picking the right lens is going to be very important
in pulling off this look. One of my all-time favorite lenses in Sony's
lineup is their 70-200 2.8 G master lens
This telephoto lens gives me sharpness that rivals some of the best
prime lenses that I've ever used and it's super versatile.
Another important accessory that I highly recommend for the portrait
photographers out there watching is this battery grip. Check out the video
that I made about this grip linked in the description. Now that we've
covered the setup let's take a look at the results:
Adding color to your lighting is such an easy and
fun way to make your portraits look great. I'd love to hear
in the comment section if you've ever used gels and
how you use them in your own work. While you're there be sure to subscribe to the
alpha universe channel to stay up to date on
all of the latest news including tips and tricks
from some of the best photographers in the world.
Thanks again for watching and I'll see you next time