This overall approach has been KEY in my food/product photography looking *so much* more compelling than when I started out. Great analysis, Brandon!! I appreciate you going a step further than other educators and sharing your observations, research, and analysis with us so that we understand the "why" 🙏🏼
Hi Brandon. I've been lucky enough to have taught photography and lighting for nearly two decades and you do such a beautiful job of elucidating these concepts. Not just because you're good on camera but you have the depth of understanding to carry it through. Great work.
i clicked so fast! Your thumbnails always make me want to grab my camera and shoot kitchen ingredients 😊. Looking foward to the weekend to put what i learnt from this into practice.
It’s about volumetric light too. In those shots where you have steam, actually in almost all examples from the movies, they aquire volumetric light. Which give depth to te shot, as you said. But to obtain volumetric light, the air most be not “clean”. Dust, steam, smoke, artifical smoke.
Really happy to have you back. I just want to point out that your voice is so soothing and calm that it reflects in your pictures as well. Very nice observations emphasizing the importance of backlight. Thank you for creating such insightful videos🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge in depth and explaining in a way that’s very easy to understand! You’re not just a great photographer but an amazing teacher too! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Hi Brandon, thank you for the amazing content! I sell pottery and other kitchen products and your videos are helping me take better photos for my social media accounts and website. I currently have a single Godox SL60W which I setup with a 120cm octagonal softbox side lighting my subject with a white reflector on the other side. My backdrop is 1 meter wide, and I place my softbox and reflector right by its edges. I have been struggling with light fall-off across my scene, my backdrop and background get significantly darker from one side of the frame to the other. I think the fall-off makes my image look a little “fake”. I’m trying to go for the indirect/window lit look and from what I can observe these types of images tend to be evenly lit across the scene (in the direction of the light source). Setting up my light to a 45-degree angle somewhat helps but I think I lose a bit of the window lit look with the shorter shadows. I imagine this kind of issue if hard to describe without seeing the actual photos, but any tip or comment might go a long way.
Love the video!! But would argue about the better picture with a strawberry smoothie. The pic on the left looks better just because usually we drink smoothies in the morning and since the pic on the left looks like it was shot in the rainy (or cold winter morning) it looks better (just my modest opinion as an ex-marketing manager 😊)
Cinematic principle. Shoot shadow side and into the light. The eye will be attracted to in order: Human faces Highest contrast Highest saturation Brightness. Web design uses these same principles for design hierarchy. This has been studied with people having their eye movements recorded as they look at a series of different images.
Thanks for the video - I love it when the presenter asks "why?" and gives a good answer. I think it is sometimes overlooked in tutorials. One question I have: how can I reconcile this advice with the need to not blowout the highlights when facing the light source?
I think there are a number ways you can do this. I typically use a polarizing filter, otherwise I would just expose for the backlight and then add fill light to the front to even put the exposure.
At the very least, this view inspired me to open up my kitchen window, clear my dinning table from all the clutter on it, layout a flat white cardboard, put a couple of apples 🍎 on a bowl, and take a few shots. There are certain mysteries in life that I will never understand, lighting and women, I don’t know how to conquer neither of them, but am alive, I still exist, so the least I could do is to continue to try, thank Jesus for digital photography so I don’t have to waste so much money on film shooting horrible photographs. I think there are two type of people on earth, #1, the ones that are blessed, everything their do or touch comes out right, so it doesn’t matter what type of lighting it is, the image will look fabulous. Then there are type #2. The ones that struggles. We are the ones that don’t have it, we have to try and try until we stumble into one little niche that we can do well, find the one woman that likes us, and then we just better stay there and preserve that, we have to concentrate on developing that one niche and don’t wonder too far. This is when back lighting might be the one niche that could help spring up some of us into a style that works so that we can fake it and act like we made it. I remember back in 1999 when I first heard of digital cameras, there was a photography using a 960 Pixel Sony camera, not even 1 MP, and it was amazing how he was able to use the lacking of that camera and turn it into art, he would mostly shot BW because the camera didn’t have white balance settings and could never get the colors right, so he didn’t even bother. Today, I find myself with a 20MP mirror less camera, that has amazing white balance, all kinds of different lens, and I can’t even start to image to create images like that photographer was producing with that very first iteration of the Sony digital camera journey. For a while Sony fade away when Canon and Nikon took over the digital realm with their DSLR, but am glad to see Sony back on the horse with the whole compact mirrorless cameras. These days I find myself spending too much time watching TH-cam tutorials and not pressing the shutter button enough, it is just more enjoyable to see someone produce beautiful photos, than me struggling to get one shot that is half way decent. But, your videos do give me some motivation and inspiration to keep trying, I am still here, so why not.
Great video, but i have a question, backlight create a lot of glare on a drink or what ever on a steak meat, so the question is what do you do? Do you use polarization filter or somehow you have some technic to avoid glare without using polarizer
If you're getting glare, you can angle the camera so that the lens doesn't catch as much light from the source, you can also use a lens hood. You can also change the position or angle of the light if possible. A polarizer can help but it's not always going to be enough.
such a helpful info for very newbie here, but can anyone tell me what to type the name of the diffuser (white paper roll) and flag (black board thingy) or where i can buy it? thank you before, sorry if this dum dum question hehe
no worries! the roll is from a company called Rosco. they’re pretty expensive and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just starting out. A simple 5 in 1 reflector from Amazon should do just fine. The board I got from Amazon as well. It’s from a brand called Elmer’s
I don't do food photography regularly. But your lighting insights help in my tech product videos a lot!! Thank you!!
That’s awesome , thanks for watching!
This overall approach has been KEY in my food/product photography looking *so much* more compelling than when I started out. Great analysis, Brandon!! I appreciate you going a step further than other educators and sharing your observations, research, and analysis with us so that we understand the "why" 🙏🏼
Thank you Leena! I really appreciate it 🙏
Hi Brandon. I've been lucky enough to have taught photography and lighting for nearly two decades and you do such a beautiful job of elucidating these concepts. Not just because you're good on camera but you have the depth of understanding to carry it through. Great work.
i clicked so fast! Your thumbnails always make me want to grab my camera and shoot kitchen ingredients 😊. Looking foward to the weekend to put what i learnt from this into practice.
As always, this channel is a treasure!
Thank you Brennan. Well explained and super great to learn.
Thanks for being here again! Stay safe and have a good one!
Your video content is always the best. Ever since I started watching your videos it made my photos look better. Thanks for coming back 🙂
That’s awesome, thank you!
Your channel is pure gold! Mate!
Your videos are amazing! Keep them coming!
Glad to see you back with new and improved videos! looking forward to more
I almost never leave any comments on TH-cam, but your videos are so good! Glad you are back, keep going!
So good to see a video from you after a long time. As always thought provoking and useful information. Thank you and welcome back :).
Thanks Pradeep!
best photo/lighting youtube channel, my top favourite
great insights! very much appreciated! thanks for this video! 👍
Gold!!! Lucky we are as subscribers. 🤘🏼
This video is gem. Period. Thanks man for amazing content.
learned a lot from this . . . lookimg forward to moreof it soon
you are the best bro there are super serious lessons to learn from.
Your videos are AMAZING 🙌🏼 Watch every one of the the moment I see they are up 😊 Definitely more like these, please 🙏🏻
Thank you Susanne!
@@figandlight I meant videos, of course - don't know why it changed to vines 😅 Changed it now;-)
It’s about volumetric light too. In those shots where you have steam, actually in almost all examples from the movies, they aquire volumetric light. Which give depth to te shot, as you said. But to obtain volumetric light, the air most be not “clean”. Dust, steam, smoke, artifical smoke.
I’ve been waiting for the follow up of this series
Really happy to have you back. I just want to point out that your voice is so soothing and calm that it reflects in your pictures as well. Very nice observations emphasizing the importance of backlight. Thank you for creating such insightful videos🙂
this is so helpful, thank you so much
I’m a portrait photographer but I’m going to experiment with this in my next shoot. Thanks for all of the great content!
Your teaching methods are first class, Brendon; I've learned so much from your videos. Thank you
Thanks Christine! Appreciate that
Awesome video! your content is the best! Thank you so so much!
Thank you so much. Very helpeful!
Nothing but SOLID info - every time.
Thx for sharing ur knowledge 🙏 #Big appreciate 👍👍👍
Brandon, I really enjoy your presentation style, so thorough and engaging. You make me feel like I can do anything.
I dont do food photography but i love watching your tutorial. Thank you for sharing. Keep em coming!
thanks for being so in depth ( pun unintended) and informative. Love ur vids
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge in depth and explaining in a way that’s very easy to understand! You’re not just a great photographer but an amazing teacher too! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Omg the pasta shots at 9:40! 🤩
Beautifully explained 👍🏻
Super insightful 😻😻😻
I'm so glad that you're back!
Hi Brandon, thank you for the amazing content! I sell pottery and other kitchen products and your videos are helping me take better photos for my social media accounts and website. I currently have a single Godox SL60W which I setup with a 120cm octagonal softbox side lighting my subject with a white reflector on the other side. My backdrop is 1 meter wide, and I place my softbox and reflector right by its edges. I have been struggling with light fall-off across my scene, my backdrop and background get significantly darker from one side of the frame to the other. I think the fall-off makes my image look a little “fake”. I’m trying to go for the indirect/window lit look and from what I can observe these types of images tend to be evenly lit across the scene (in the direction of the light source). Setting up my light to a 45-degree angle somewhat helps but I think I lose a bit of the window lit look with the shorter shadows. I imagine this kind of issue if hard to describe without seeing the actual photos, but any tip or comment might go a long way.
Yay!!!! I’m so glad you are back!!
Love the video!! But would argue about the better picture with a strawberry smoothie. The pic on the left looks better just because usually we drink smoothies in the morning and since the pic on the left looks like it was shot in the rainy (or cold winter morning) it looks better (just my modest opinion as an ex-marketing manager 😊)
LOVE THIS VIDEO! (really useful to instill the concept and idea with examples of how its created using studio lighting setups for the shot)
Cinematic principle. Shoot shadow side and into the light.
The eye will be attracted to in order:
Human faces
Highest contrast
Highest saturation
Brightness.
Web design uses these same principles for design hierarchy. This has been studied with people having their eye movements recorded as they look at a series of different images.
Great stuff as always
Amazing content - thank you so much
Brandon is officially the 🐐
I didn’t skip ads to support this.
Yey more vids!! :)
Great video ,as always. Thanx for sharing.
that is amazing, would never have seen that if you have not explained it. Thank you
Yyeeaahh !! Thank you very much thid video is very interested and educational
This was so good. Every video is a game changer.
Wonderful Video!
Omg you're alive, i'm so happy!!
Just what I needed!! Thank you ♥️
LOVE IIIIIIIT!
Love your content, normally i dont like slow, and too detail infomation video.
But somehow i enjoy yours. Amazing!
thank you!
Saya belajar banyak dari bapak 👍👍
Thanks for the video - I love it when the presenter asks "why?" and gives a good answer. I think it is sometimes overlooked in tutorials. One question I have: how can I reconcile this advice with the need to not blowout the highlights when facing the light source?
I think there are a number ways you can do this. I typically use a polarizing filter, otherwise I would just expose for the backlight and then add fill light to the front to even put the exposure.
Amazing!! Love the way you explain this subject!!
Thanks Miguel! Hope all is well
Wonderful
Thank you brother 🙏🏻
At the very least, this view inspired me to open up my kitchen window, clear my dinning table from all the clutter on it, layout a flat white cardboard, put a couple of apples 🍎 on a bowl, and take a few shots. There are certain mysteries in life that I will never understand, lighting and women, I don’t know how to conquer neither of them, but am alive, I still exist, so the least I could do is to continue to try, thank Jesus for digital photography so I don’t have to waste so much money on film shooting horrible photographs. I think there are two type of people on earth, #1, the ones that are blessed, everything their do or touch comes out right, so it doesn’t matter what type of lighting it is, the image will look fabulous. Then there are type #2. The ones that struggles. We are the ones that don’t have it, we have to try and try until we stumble into one little niche that we can do well, find the one woman that likes us, and then we just better stay there and preserve that, we have to concentrate on developing that one niche and don’t wonder too far. This is when back lighting might be the one niche that could help spring up some of us into a style that works so that we can fake it and act like we made it. I remember back in 1999 when I first heard of digital cameras, there was a photography using a 960 Pixel Sony camera, not even 1 MP, and it was amazing how he was able to use the lacking of that camera and turn it into art, he would mostly shot BW because the camera didn’t have white balance settings and could never get the colors right, so he didn’t even bother. Today, I find myself with a 20MP mirror less camera, that has amazing white balance, all kinds of different lens, and I can’t even start to image to create images like that photographer was producing with that very first iteration of the Sony digital camera journey. For a while Sony fade away when Canon and Nikon took over the digital realm with their DSLR, but am glad to see Sony back on the horse with the whole compact mirrorless cameras. These days I find myself spending too much time watching TH-cam tutorials and not pressing the shutter button enough, it is just more enjoyable to see someone produce beautiful photos, than me struggling to get one shot that is half way decent. But, your videos do give me some motivation and inspiration to keep trying, I am still here, so why not.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
thank you!
Welcome back! 🙏🏻
Love your channel.❤😊
I always love all of your videos. You presents it with the simple way...
❤ from Indonesia....
Thank You!
Loved the video! You really inspire me to change my current setup😜
Also so glad you used the painting reference 😍
Thank you Saipoornima! hope all is well
wooooow i like it thank u😍
Amazing! This is a realy, realy important thing for me 😀
Great video, but i have a question, backlight create a lot of glare on a drink or what ever on a steak meat, so the question is what do you do? Do you use polarization filter or somehow you have some technic to avoid glare without using polarizer
If you're getting glare, you can angle the camera so that the lens doesn't catch as much light from the source, you can also use a lens hood. You can also change the position or angle of the light if possible. A polarizer can help but it's not always going to be enough.
👆 🙌
You are a genius !
great vid!
Nice video as ever..always learn something,,cud u pls suggest some good book on lighting...thnx
wow great
nice advice for me
Great
such a helpful info for very newbie here, but can anyone tell me what to type the name of the diffuser (white paper roll) and flag (black board thingy) or where i can buy it? thank you before, sorry if this dum dum question hehe
no worries! the roll is from a company called Rosco. they’re pretty expensive and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just starting out. A simple 5 in 1 reflector from Amazon should do just fine. The board I got from Amazon as well. It’s from a brand called Elmer’s
But what do we do in sunlight directly coming to lens.
Can u make one video on how to shoot fine jewelry?
subscribed! very good content
Thank you!
The best!
Do we have to turn on room lights when using natural sun light or diffused light?
It's is very helpful to me specially for cooking videos but I have android
Great video. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Thanks Carrie!
Привет, скинь фирму стола, очень классный.
"ah see what I did there" 😂😂😂
hey your video content is A+ its amazing but its getting boring after some point
Thank you❤️❤️