One-light PORTRAIT tips with Miguel Quiles! Video Lecture | Capture like a Pro: Digital Photography Tutorial - Professional Skills

we're here with portrait photographer
Miguel Quiles and our model Emily and
Miguel is gonna be telling us some tips
for taking better portraits and showing
us this amazing one light setup and how
you can get great fortunes like him
first big tip that I would tell you is
that if you have this camera in your
hand you are the master of the still
main you need to work confidently you
need to walk talk confidently throughout
the entirety of the photo shoot so your
attitude going into the shoot very
important attitude is huge because
imagine let's say we were driving and
I'm like oh don't know where I'm going I
don't know this what is this oh my god
what is actually my drive so but I see
notices that are starting out to do the
same thing you know they're like oh
they're looking at their camera and you
know kind of fidgeting about second
thing that I would say is always talk to
your subjects especially if they're not
models they get in front of the camera
they're not so comfortable so you have
to constantly communicate I think beyond
anything else you have to be encouraging
you have to let them know they're doing
a good job one two three beautiful get
one more here nice love that my favorite
line I'm like I retire I'm done like
it's never gonna get any better than
this is the best photo ever you're like
dang that was me I'm good yeah it's got
a good photo that's awesome so
confidence and also encouragement
encouragement yep the other thing as
well is posing your models you tell
people to turn to their left or their
right or you say oh can you look left or
look right and they never know which way
that is what I do is I pose them without
physically have to touch them and I call
it my Jedi posing I'll get you guys
together I want you guys to pretend like
you are looking in the mirror and you
see your tall chunky latino reflection
so like this like this you have it right
so Mirror Mirror me I understand mirrors
like this perfect fantastic like this
awesome like this the second thing that
I do I call it the claw so the claw
basically if I put my hand up like this
I want you to pretend like you are
having your face palm like a basketball
okay right this is like those sticky
hands that you
25 cent machines so if I have a sticky
hand right now I have it over your face
and I tilt the face this way or tilt it
this way third one that I do call the
old Bill Clinton it's not that Bill
Clinton though so you're holding the
chin right so I'm holding you by your
chins down now your head is on a swivel
okay so I could go up or down or left or
right or I could even go like this yeah
right because I'm holding you by your
chin the hard one that I do is if I pull
the chin forward and then down and all
I'm doing is just trying to get the neck
skin the skin under your neck there to
stretch out just a little bit last one
that I do if I put both hands up I have
my hands on your shoulders now your
waist is on a swivel okay so we we are
basically going this way so I'm gonna
push the shoulders back perfect push
your shoulders back this way the hard
one that I do which is not hard at all
if I tap the shoulder yes
tap the shoulder yes just like that or
if I go like this like that perfect so
literally from that combination of those
four things I could get you to pose any
which way that I want today I've got the
a 7r3 with a 85 one-point-eight
basically have a vertical grip because
the majority of the stuff that I shoot
hopefully will end up published
somewhere and most of those photos need
to be think of your final format since
maybe I don't know if these are gonna go
into video I'm actually gonna shoot
these horizontal you're using an octa
box here I'm using a three-foot doctor
right now cuz it's really small it's
easy to travel with but it provides a
really good quality of light and I think
that's what a lot of people don't
realize they see a lot of these big
photo shoots and they're like no but you
have to have like ten lights and big
modifiers and assistants to like move
everything around listen if you can't
make magic with one light you can't make
it with ten or you start with the one
and you say okay what would the second
light bring to this right I'm gonna
bring this in a little tiny bit closer
so I noticed that you put the light up
higher on her yeah so and it's it's
pointed down on her a little bit so
you're getting like casting down on her
rather than up or directly straight at
her yes so there's a lot of ways that
you could position the light and it's
gonna give you different looks and it's
a matter of like what flatters the
curvature of their face right and that's
not something that a light meter will
tell me you know I'll look at it like
I'll look at these
and I'll say you know what the lighting
for me coming from the left side on her
face because she has like a beautiful
structure yeah it looks fine but there's
some people I'll photograph them with
the light this way and be like it's it
can it can accentuate things that aren't
flattering for a person's face correct
so I look at that and say okay maybe I
can't have it to the left maybe their
face is such that they actually look
great being lit from the right so you
try it from the right because what you
see and what the camera sees is always
so different yeah and I think that's
where a lot of photographers sometimes
have a disconnect because they'll see
like beautiful the hair looks fantastic
the makeup looks awesome she's like
stunning but then you take the photo and
they're less stunning and their hair
looks less awesome and you're like
what's going on where's the disconnect
right and the disconnect is usually a
technical thing like I'm saying the
lights could be in the wrong position it
could be you're using the wrong focal
length it could be that your settings
are a little bit off yeah you've got the
artistic side which is telling you you
know this is great that's great but then
you have the technical side that has to
kick in to say this lighting is really
bad we need to fix this or these
settings are off or this lens is off so
you have to be able to develop both
sides is really the key if you have that
artistic side great I wasn't brought up
with that yeah like I didn't come from
an artistic kind of background I played
video games I don't know if that's
artistic sure but there's a lot of
artistic people who don't have the
technical side I'm very technically
minded so when you can get to meet in
the middle that's the other portrait tip
is balance the art with the technical we
all have strengths and weaknesses and
it's about bringing out your strengths
and working on your weakness and
understanding what they are yeah there's
a lot of people that fall on like the
two extremes I have no weaknesses I am
an artiste yeah and then there's the
other people who are like I'm super
technical I don't need the art because
my technicality is sharp the light is
there right what's what else is there to
do so I'm gonna have you mirror me again
posing that way it's perfect twist this
way very nice you're coming up this way
with the hand there you go just like
that
push that back just a bit beautiful just
like that looking straight at the camera
it's beautiful using the eye autofocus
feature on my camera as well because on
top of having to do all this mechanical
like pose like this and do all this on
the photographer's side I was having to
chase people with the joystick to find
the focus and if you're changing from
vertical to horizontal
you have to be in command of everything
right so if I'm sitting here fidgeting
with my gear they don't know that I know
what I'm doing they just see me messing
with my equipment and they wonder if I
know what I'm doing yeah we'll look
straight onto the camera for a sec we're
gonna go this way
perfect and marry me this way and on the
hair just like that perfect chin over
this way beautiful pull it out and there
you go just like that very nice nice
smile one two three beautiful get one
more here nice love that you know I
could say that these are the things that
no one talks about yeah everyone talks
about the gear and by this better lens
by this full-frame camera right there
just learn from experience right nothing
to it but to do it
you definitely learned how to pose model
and how to set up a one light shoot yep
and I loved your tips in the beginning
about what's both attitude and it's
about creating this dialogue with your
model on this relationship where you're
comfortable and you're confident and you
believe in one another
definitely I think you can all see why I
love Miguel and why I admire him so much
as a portrait photographer you should
check out his YouTube video he has
incredible tips there he has more things
about lighting he's inspired me so I
know he's going to inspire you and go
there and subscribe thanks so much yeah
you're the best thank you good job today