- What's up, everybody?
Peter McKinnon here, and today we're talking about
how you can start taking better portraits immediately.
Well, after you watch this video,
and then you can start taking better,
you get it, intro.
(rock music)
Okay, so, today, first thing's first,
you might be wondering why,
why are you sitting on the opposite side of the couch?
Why aren't you in the middle?
What happened to symmetry?
Well, I am joined by my friend Adam.
That's Adam.
Say hi, Adam.
- Hey, Adam.
- And Adam's gonna help us.
We go way back.
We used to do videos way, way,
like, the beginning of Peter McKinnon in videos
was me and this guy.
So we're gonna show you guys how you can start
taking better portraits right away.
Okay, just give me a normal smile.
Give me an exaggerated smile.
Just give me a straight, kind of emotionless realtor.
Like, "I'll sell your house" kind of confident smirk,
if you will.
Great.
Give me an expressionless kind of glance.
Perfect.
Give me the corporate "I'm working my way up the ladder."
There it is, perfect like that, okay.
Give me just a straight up boring, forgettable pose
that someone would see in this photo
and then immediately just scroll past it
'cause they're not interested.
Perfect, okay, thank you.
Most people, when they think about portraits,
or they hear, "Oh, I'm doing portraits today,"
the misconception is that it's just gonna be
a singular photo of someone
in a nice dress shirt or a suit, what have you,
just sitting there nicely,
getting their portrait taken.
We've seen this in presidential portraits,
we've seen this in school portraits.
When you're at school through a public school,
a high school, and you get your photos taken,
you just sit on a couple apple boxes or whatever,
and they snap your photo,
you try to put on something nice and comb your hair,
and you are gone.
That's the problem that portraits have.
If you're doing corporate portraits,
if people are doing real estate photos,
they all look the same.
You go to any corporate site,
you look up an about page,
you see the list of the staff, all the portraits.
It just looks like a LinkedIn profile.
It looks just like some kind of stock website.
Even if you go to a stock website and type in portraits,
they're pretty much exactly the same all the time.
So when people say, "Oh, I need to take my portrait,"
the people that really stand out,
the portraits that really stand out
are those creative individuals,
those artists that go out on a limb
and infuse their style into a portrait
to make it more than someone just, hi,
oh, okay, a little to the right, yeah.
So what I think portraits are missing
is the personality of the subject.
Usually that's not anywhere to be seen in a photo.
It's just another generic shot.
Now, granted, you can't always
implement what I'm talking about
when you are hired or you are just
shooting corporate head shots.
Some of these people don't wanna be portrayed in a way that
makes them look less powerful,
or makes them look vulnerable,
or brings out their personalities.
They just want it to be the professional
corporate head shot that goes on the about page
and doesn't really say much about them.
There's a time and place for that.
That kind of photography, those head shots, portraits,
that's not for me.
What I'm more interested in is
how can I adapt and how can I use my creative skills
to pull out this individual's personality
and make it really shine through this photo,
so that when everybody that knows that person
sees that photo, they're like,
"100%, that's totally Adam, nailed it."
Versus someone just sitting there
and a picture of Adam sitting there very blankly
like when we went over and he was wearing that dress shirt.
If someone had sent me that picture of Adam
and was like, "Yo, check it out,
"he got his portraits done."
I'd be like, "What is this?
"That's not you at all.
"Were they holding you at gunpoint?"
So, how do we pull out someone's personality
to use that for the photo?
You gotta get to know the subject.
So, in this instance, Adam loves gaming.
He's a gamer, he used to work for a company
that created video games and apps,
he's on Twitch all the time,
so obviously, we need to incorporate
some sort of aspect of video games into this photo
to make it represent Adam the best that we can.
So let's get rid of that black dress shirt.
He needs to be in a colorful hoodie,
something that he'd be casually wearing at home
whilst playing and streaming his video games online.
Beyond that, obviously, we need to put a headset on him,
throw a controller in his hands,
throw some Xbox games next to him.
And now we need to bring out that personality.
Instead of just standing there and smiling,
give me some exaggeration,
give me a really exaggerated smile.
He just got a game on launch day,
he's super pumped, his elbows are up a little awkward,
he's playing the game.
These are the portraits we want, okay?
So, look at me like that, hold the pose, snap.
Number one, got it.
You gotta work with people.
You can't just expect people to stand in front of a camera
and be completely comfortable.
We might be used to it.
I'm in front of a camera every day,
but, for some people who are getting their portraits taken,
this staring you straight in the face
is incredibly intimidating.
So we need to work.
We need to peel those layers back like an onion
to get to that core that is very unique,
because there is excellence behind that.
There is incredible photos waiting to happen,
but you gotta work to get there.
You can just expect to pull out the camera,
snap, and get something.
You gotta work for it.
You gotta put your homework in.
Is the person that you're shooting,
do you know anything about them?
What are their hobbies?
Have you met them before?
What do they like to do?
You don't know any of that stuff,
find out, talk with them before you start shooting.
Don't just sit down and begin.
Maybe sit down and have a coffee.
Get to know them.
Don't talk about the project,
don't talk about the shoot.
Just talk about them.
What do you guys, like,
how's your day going?
What's up?
What do you even do again?
What is it?
Just get to know them.
Those things you can use to make better photos.
Now, there's a good example of this I did
back in 2000, oh, wait, what is it now?
2008 I started this series called The Plaid Chair,
and I featured a bunch of my different friends
in this same manner, sitting on this particular chair
in my parents' house at the time.
So I took a shot of each person,
friend, family, whatever,
and then I tried to incorporate some sort of prop
that represented them in some sort of fashion.
And then that continued.
I kept shooting those and it got really popular,
and then I put it away for a little while.
I came back in 2014 and started taking that chair
into the world instead of having people come to me.
It really let me represent that person's entire life,
versus just one facet of them.
My friend Jay is a firefighter,
so I took the chair to the fire hall.
We did his portrait in the chair, in the fire hall.
I've got a friend who's a Canadian
special forces scout sniper.
We took the chair out into the woods,
we had him lay his rifle on top, set up aim.
That represents him.
I've got another friend who's in,
I've got a lot of law enforcement friends.
I've got a friend who's on the emergency response team here.
We put the chair in the SWAT truck
and put dynamite on the chair.
All of these different examples of that chair
in those elements, but that element
encapsulates that person perfectly.
So then I started using this idea
into all my photos.
So when I take a photo of someone,
it's not just a picture of them
standing on my driveway.
I try to incorporate a part of their life
into that photo.
Props are a big help with this.
So, because he's into gaming,
we're using that headset as a prop,
that controller as a prop,
those games are a prop.
Now, some of the things you're gonna need
if you're doing portraits are lights.
Now, they're different from video lights,
as video lights are a constant sort of light.
Photo lights are a strobe.
It's a blast of light that happens really fast.
But you need some different accessories
to make that happen.
It can get expensive.
I'll link some options below for you guys.
But when you start shooting with strobes
then you're really gonna start seeing
a more professional result.
I learned this a long time ago,
back when I first started photography,
and learning how to use strobes and flashes is that
bright pixels are sharp pixels.
You could still shoot outside during the day
and get a perfectly sharp picture.
What that flash does is it emits
a perfectly even amount of light
across your subject's face,
which is going to make it the sharpest possible.
So when you've got your settings dialed in,
and you're using a strobe,
be it that you're indoors or outdoors,
you will get the sharpest result possible.
So these are a couple of things that I use
when I'm doing portraits.
I'm gonna try and bring this over here.
Don't hit anything.
Okay, let's bring this down for a second.
Let's get this out of my face, there we go.
I realize I'm probably blocking all of my lights.
This should probably be on the other side.
Okay, this, this is still on from yesterday.
Man, the battery life on these is so impressive.
If you're gonna shoot strobes wirelessly,
there's lots of different options to do that.
You can buy all kinds of accessories
and different things that plug into the light
and into your camera that lets you trip
the strobe wirelessly.
Now, you can just use a super long cable
tethered to your camera,
but let's be honest, it's 2017.
Who wants a cable tethered to their camera?
Not this guy.
So this is what I use.
They're called Pocket Wizards.
These are the Pocket Wizard Plus Twos.
I'll link them in the description.
But one of these plugs into the light here,
boop, like that.
Another one goes on my camera.
When I fire on my camera with this,
this sends a signal to this guy,
which tells this strobe to fire.
And that sounds almost exactly like what it sounds like.
Pretty good at sounds effects, I've realized.
Boom, these are the guys I use right now.
Are they the best lights?
Absolutely not, no.
There's far better options than Alien Bees,
far better.
But, I mean, you can pay $200 to $400
for one of these lights,
instead of paying $2500 for a strobe.
So, for the amount that I use them, eh,
I'm just gonna pay the $200 to $400.
But they come in different watts,
so depending if it's gonna be a background light
or it's gonna be your main light
for your main strobe,
or your key light, or your strip lights, whatever.
There's so many different lights.
But for these, I mean, they work great.
This is an 800 watt, this is a 400 watt.
So sometimes I set this up behind somebody
to kinda just graze the back of their head
and give me a nice little rim light on the hair,
like a hair light.
Looks really good.
Sometimes I catch the flare coming through the shoulder,
kinda like this shot of my friend Bobby,
would be a good example of lighting it
with this in the front, that in the back.
So you can see where that light source comes from,
but it just makes it a little more like,
Michael Bay-esque, or whatever, I don't know.
My style's very exaggerate and 3D surreal,
so I love that, it works for me.
Okay, some of you might be wondering what this is.
This is the Octobox.
It's the soft box.
So, the light fires through this part,
which comes off.
So, if we take this off, actually.
Woo-hoo, that's always fun to do.
That's where the light is.
The light is way back here.
So it has a little bit of distance.
We put this up for diffusion,
so by the time the light hits the face of the subject,
it's been diffused.
Think of it like a shower curtain kind of thing.
It's way less harsh, and it's much softer
coming through a background like this,
than it would be if we were just to just
fire it straight from here.
It packs down pretty flat for travel.
All you have to do is unscrew this,
and then it pops up like a mouse trap
and scares me every time.
Now, what's good about having strobes with you
is they're pretty small.
The particular ones that I use
pack into a really, really small bag.
It's just a light stand and then that modifier
collapses down into a little three piece kit.
On top of that, I have a small spare little battery
that I can actually plug my strobe into
if I'm out in the middle of a field,
or in a parking lot, or in a shopping mall,
or somewhere where my light
isn't gonna connect
and I don't have an extension cord.
So I have, essentially, a small,
efficient little lighting kit that I can bring anywhere.
No limits.
I probably couldn't hike to the top of a mountain with it.
Just not worth it.
But maybe it is, who knows?
Now, if you don't have a strobe, that doesn't matter.
You can still take great portraits.
You guys know me.
I am a huge fan of natural light.
Half the time, I do end up just saying,
"Ah, forget it, I'll shoot it outside, it's fine."
But if I really wanna put some work into it,
and I really wanna make these pictures special,
I'll use a strobe.
Sometimes it can be a pain in the ass using gear,
and you think to yourself, "Ugh, I don't wanna do it.
"To hell with it, just going outside.
"It's gonna have to do."
But when you push through that block,
when you get through that mentality,
and some days it's so hard to get through that.
But when you do get through,
man, the result is so much better,
and you're so much happier at the end of the day.
Once you've done the shots, you've edited them,
you've delivered them, whatever,
everyone's gonna give you more accolades.
They're gonna be like, "Wow, that's so good."
It's because you pushed through.
And sometimes it's not gonna happen.
Sometimes you're just gonna succumb to the
"Agh, forget it."
But do your best to get over that hump,
because the payoff is well worth
the work you put into it.
So thanks so much for watching, guys.
I hope you got something out of this video.
Hit that thumbs up button if you did.
Portraits I hold very dear to my heart.
It's probably my favorite aspect of
taking photos, as a whole, is doing portraits
and being able to capture someone's personality in a photo.
So, try it out, give these tips a go.
Grab some props, grab some friends,
do whatever you have to.
Just keep practicing.
That's how you're gonna get better,
you just keep going at it.
Subscribe if you aren't already,
and, and, I will see you, all of you hopefully,
in the next video.
- [Peter] Just a little bit less.
- So, what's up, we're Peter McKinnon.
I'm Peter McKinnon, not we're Peter McKinnon.
I'm Peter McKinnon, today we're talking about portraits.
What's up, I'm Peter McKinnon, and today,
we are talking about.
- [Peter] What's up everybody.
- What's up?
- [Peter] You gotta get the "pffwuh" in there,
it's "pffwhat's up, everybody?"
It's the P-F-F-W-H-A-T.
- Pffwhat's up, I'm Peter McKinnon,
and today we're, oh, almost had it.
Everybody, what's up everybody.
What's up, everybody?
Peter McKinnon, and I'm here today to talk about--
- [Peter] Peter McKinnon here, and today.
Come on!
- What's up?
Peter McKinnon here.
No, what's up everybody.
What's up everybody, Peter McKinnon here,
and today, we're gonna talk about portraits.
- [Peter] Yeah, just get it.
- What's up, what's up?
Peter McKinnon here today.
- [Peter] Everybody.
- What's up, everybody?
Peter McKinnon here today.
What's up, Peter Mc--
(laughing)
- [Peter] It's not as easy as it looks, is it?
- No, man, that button up there, well deserved.
What's up, everybody?
Peter McKinnon here today to talk to you about portraits.
What did I do wrong?
♫ I don't think there's more that we can do
♫ How come you think that I still owe you