Photoshoot Studio Tutorial

These are the notes I took during the Photoshoot Studio Tutorial.

Before starting the shoot

- When taking photos, turn the room lights off, so that the light will not affect the shoot

- Do not position the model at the back of the backdrop, because they will bleach into it and not light up properly. Make sure the model is 4 to 5 feet from the backdrop

- The room in infrared, therefore make sure that the bones transmitter is on the camera, so that when you take a picture, it activates the flash simultaneously

The 3 Flash Lights

- Key (main) light - left side
- Fill light - right side
- Hair line light - behind model - separates model from backdrop

- Each light has a soft box, which makes the lighting look natural. They do this by softening and diffusing the light and distributing it evenly

- Each light has a built-in fan, which prevents it from overheating

- You are able to adjust and height and brightness. To adjust the brightness, there is a dial from 1 to 6, from a low burst of flash to a higher burst. 3 is recommended as it distributes the flash evenly

- Note - when turning the lights off, make sure you turn them off by the switch, then unplug them. If the lights are not switched off, and just unplugged, the flash charge will destroy the light when turned on

Camera - Nikon D7100

- The camera is a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)

- It is a 24 mmp (mega million pixel) camera with a 118-185 lens zoom

- The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the foreground and background. Adjust the
F - number to increase or decrease the DOF

- You can switch the mode using the left hand bar. The 2 modes recommended are:

                           - A - Aperture - more control of DOF

                           - S - Shutter - used when  camera movement is involved. The higher the number,                                                        the faster the shutter

- WB - white balance - this gives the photo natural colours
- ISO - film speed -  100 or 200 recommended as any higher will allow too much light into the lens

- AF - autofocus - this is recommended
- M - manual - use this if you want to take a close-up

- Note - Leave 10 minutes at the end of the shoot to download the photos