Now we are entering a new section of the course.
We've already covered the equipment needed for the job,
and I showed you how to build your own lighting tools.
Then we covered framing, and how to get the room ready for the photo.
Finally, we covered how to light a room
and how to combine all the frames into a beautiful final image.
So in this section I'm going to bring many hints and tips
covering many topics of the creative lighting,
and I'll start with how to shoot more than one photo per day.
When you're working with creative lighting,
you start by shooting the natural light, and then you wait for nightfall,
so you can continue shooting the original light and the creative light.
So it means that you can only shoot one scene per day, right?
Well, not necessarily.
There are a couple ways that allow you to shoot at least two scenes in one day.
First of all, you can have two cameras and two tripods,
one for each scene that you're going to shoot.
So you start preparing two rooms, and you set up a one camera in each one.
As the sun is setting, you keep monitoring both scenes
and you shoot the natural light at the best moment for each room.
You don't need two notebooks for that,
because if each camera has its own USB cable already plugged,
you can plug and unplug your notebook safely.
And once you shot the natural light for each room,
you wait until the night gets dark
and you go on with the original light and the creative light for each one.
By the end of this process you've shot two rooms in one night.
But you don't really need two cameras to do that.
With a single camera you can shoot at least two scenes in one night.
This is what I call the sunset-sunrise technique. And this is the trick.
You start by preparing two rooms for that night,
and then you set up your equipment in the first room.
At sunset you shoot the natural light and then you wait until it gets dark
to shoot the original light and the creative light.
When you're done, take your equipment to the second room and set it up there.
Since the night is already dark,
you start by shooting the original light and then the creative light.
The natural light you're going to shoot at sunrise.
So leave everything as it is. Don't touch anything.
Don't touch your equipment, don't touch anything in the scene.
Also, block the access to that place
to guarantee that no one will mess with the scene.
Then you go to bed, you come back when the sun is rising
and you shoot the natural light.
Again, by the end of this process you've shot two rooms in one night.
I've never used two cameras, but I've used the sunset-sunrise
technique several times, and it works beautifully.
Depending on the situation you can shoot even more than than two rooms in one day.
For example, if if one of the rooms has no windows you can shoot it at any time.
At noon for example.
It can be a meeting room, a home theater or a walk in closet.
And if you're planning to shoot a night scene,
you won't need to shoot any natural light at all.
So you can shoot it anytime at night.
Now, as you can see most of the time you're going to work at night.
During the day your job will be to prepare the rooms for the photo,
but this is something you can do quite quickly, maybe in a couple hours.
So there's going to be plenty of free time.
What you're going to do with this free time, is up to you.
You can do some conventional shots, if that's part of your assignment.
Or you can work on the post-processing of
the material that you shot in the previous night.
I never do it, but it can be done.
Personally, I like working at my work station back home,
with my comfortable chair two big monitors, ideal lighting etc..
But you can set up a working place at the hotel
and start working with your material right there.
When you get the hang of it, there's plenty of time.
But I like to use this free time to enjoy the place.
Usually I shoot two photos per day.
So if my client wants 10 photos, I'm going to need five days,
usually spending the nights there.
Now, if the idea of using a whole day to shoot only two photos
sounds a bit extreme to you,
well in advertising photography this is not unusual at all.
When I'm working with car photography,
to have two or three photos by the end of the day is a normal thing.
And if it's a campaign that requires additional production,
like models or props or maybe a special set,
to use more than one day to shoot a single image is a normal thing.
So, two advertising photos in one day is not unusual at all.
I can say that I love this kind of work.
It has a completely different rhythm than using the same five days
to shoot 10 different gigs for 10 different clients.
It's a much more relaxed thing.
You spend a long time on a single job.
If it's a hotel you're going to sleep there,
enjoy the place try their food.
And you're going to charge for the five days all the same,
hopefully with an added value because of the technique.
Let's say you'll produce two photos per day.
How much do you charge for the for your day's work?
Add to that your assistant's daily rate and divide it by two.
Is this expensive for a top notch, full blown advertising photo?
Not at all.
I'll tell you what is expensive.
Expensive is to pay through the nose for media space and visibility,
and then use a bad photo. That's expensive.
When you use a beautiful photo in an add, it gets a boost.
You boost the return of the investment.
Whenever you use a beautiful image,
each dollar spent gets more effective.
The ad gets more efficient, it draws more attention.
So saving on the production of photos is not a smart move.
And people know that.