Photographing Women Beautifully with Matthew Jordan Smith

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Good morning or afternoon depending on where you are in the world I'm Levi sim and i am on the west coast of the United States and it's a beautiful morning here in Oregon and I'm so excited to be here with you this morning and I'm echoing myself there we go.
We are excited to present to you this morning we've got Matthew Jordan Smith online with us and he's going to help us learn how to make flattering photographs of women and he's just one of the most qualified people to do it but we'll talk more about Matthew and the presentation coming up shortly.
I just would like to thank photo focus for making this possible and also perfectly clear our sponsor perfectly clear is a software application that makes your pictures look better faster and better than you can do it on your own.
I use it for my portrait work I use it for my landscapes i use it for four weddings and for events and it just it works really really well it touches up faces it brightens and edits it's honestly the best exposure and contrast tool I've ever used and it does these things faster and better than I can do it on my own in photoshop and lightroom and so I'd encourage you to check that out today we will be giving away to full complimentary copies of perfectly clear complete and I'd like to enter the drawing for those and to do that you just need to go and leave us a comment and the way to leave us a comment on screen share my screen with you and show you just how to do this you just pop over to the YouTube page right here and then on the right side there's a chat window and we are going to instead of using the chat for chatting like a like we often do in webinars I'd like you to reserve that for asking questions of Matthew and and also this is your method for entering the drawing for perfectly clear complete and also a book from Matthew Jordan Smith so easily leave us a comment in this chat window right here and that's how you can enter the drawing now let me squid sharing my screen here and pop back over and introduce you to Matthew Jordan Smith a little bit i'm matthew for shiloh six years or so i got introduced to him with the Skip color that at skipton university and it at going pro with he and scott born and Matthews has taught me so much over here so I can tell you and and and and he's taught me photography stuff but some of the most important lessons I've learned from Matthew Jordan Smith's are things like haha look at the smile he's got on oh look look at how at genuine and kind is in in shoots all the time and whenever he talks to anybody he's respectful and such a pleasure to see and and talk sue and so I am extremely honored to introduce everybody else to Matthew this morning Matthew well welcome thank you man how you doing how's it going today so force ok yeah it's a good day for this is lovely i'm on the west coast.
Also today supposed to be sunny la today's little overcast by the ocean which is really odd normally it was bright and sunny but I sell burn off they have that morning out hey is going on so it will burn off bracelet be back two weeks on the LA excellent excellent well and you've just returned from New York you're doing a workshop up there you know and you you are also a nikon ambassador you you travel and teach for for nikon as well as other workshops and things plus you're a full-time commercial editorial photographer you you are you're living has made making pictures exactly has been all my life and and i love it and i love now that i am . my career working i can shoot commercially then also know share the experience of all my years in business that's kinda cool when I was just working only before i started like speaking.
The first of all I never thought I could be a speaker it's kind of like happen but I first started doing it I found out getting a lot of joy to be the top of other photographers about know the joy the art the ups and downs of photography i love that and that's what I'm going to do this did you know share the whole process you know photography the secrets quote-unquote secrets of making beautiful pictures of women i could say really about anybody but today our focus on women because that's the majority of my clients are women by shoot every day i love it and i want to talk about that today and share some secrets that can help everybody out there take better pictures . play right well thank you so much Matthew and so like I say if you'd like to be entered into our drawing for a couple of complementary licenses for perfectly clear complete please leave us a comment in the chat and feel free to ask questions now matt is going to present some things to us and then what will answer questions all at once so don't don't think i'm ignoring you Hedda managing both of these things so bear with me but we'll get you will get your questions and we look forward to it so take it away Matthew let's let's Wow me for like that ok i'll i'll get that going and share my screen so you can look at the I've got to share today I can talk whatever so first let's say Levi feel free to jump in at any point and interrupt if you need to i get along with you that no we don't have a certain amount of time so i wanna make sure i use the time wisely.
I'm gonna share my screen today guys and talk about what's happening in the world photography now you can use these few secrets to really the take pictures of women really take better pictures of anybody and everybody so let me just go quickly and share my screen for a second here.
Excellent I now now folks I don't know if you're still hearing to sounds I had I had my my version of the YouTube window open as well as my own talking I think that's taken care of now please chime in if it's if it's not fixable I'll try and take care of that again but hello all.
Let's see we've got fitzy bugaloos saying hello and and the myob it says hello and David's here Matthews here Denise's in Sam's in the house arryn homestead she's a good friend of of ours Dale Townsend season Ramsey ij2 72 welcome everybody thank you so much for joining us and that's your on that was good.
Can you see my screen full screen Bell yes it looks really good beautiful beautiful alright guys welcome to for wrapping women beautifully this is a joy to share this with you guys I love photography.
We've already give you some stuff about me today i also have another free gift on top of what Levi's sharing as well today so make sure you stay to the very in today because I've got we've got a lot of great stuff to share with you so again my name is matthew Jordan Smith I've been a photographer now for almost 30 years and guys I love it I'm now also a nikon and basa der I'm known for wrapping celebrities but I didn't start my career that way i started off like the same way you guys boston at all you know shooting pictures of your friends and your family and things start to happen that way for me i'm also the author of three books i'm showing you my first book and my current book future American president and actually today I'm going to give away two copies as well and levi you'll be in charge of that I'm gonna get ready to seize of my current book future American president so now I'm so the answer jealous this work I spent a lot of time teaching when I'm when i can i'll try to workshops here and there this is a my workshop last year in Tokyo i'm teaching about light I do a lot of teaching about light i also spent a lifetime of speaking when I can add different seminars around the country but more than anything I love photography and I know you guys do too because you're here listening to us talk about the joy photography today i want to share a recipe review okay i know it's the morning here in LA and maybe its vigorous is the evening where you are it's lunchtime now you're thinking about food and lunch or breakfast but it's a recipe also when it comes to taking beautiful pictures and that's what i want to share with you today.
Firstly you some examples of the recipe that I've been using my entire career and then we'll dive into each part of the recipe.
Sorry i love this stuff I love making people feel beautiful I won't say that again i love making people feel beautiful now my clients run the gamut from from being models to singers two actors too young and up-and-coming superstars like sunday and now she's one of the hottest people out there right now uh Mandy Moore shooting celebrities singers and actors and dancers and authors and and and presidents uh yeah but this really matter who i'm shooting it's the same recipe and i'm going to share that with you guys today no matter what I'm doing no matter who i'm shooting whether it's you know a job in China or job in New York or job in la is all the same recipe and that recipe has taken me a long way in the last twenty nine thirty years i love it is a matter of fact we just had the opening of the smithsonian museum for African American art in DC and the new zealand just commissioned this image for the permanent collection so this image you're seeing right now is part of live-action there and I did this in congratulations and.
Thank You Man thank you so much i'm still so psyched about that but i could say i say all that let you guys know this recipe works the recipe works and all you gotta do is follow it it's that simple whether you're doing pictures of your family or your shooting a fashion job or doing a portrait or you doing a wedding the recipes the same so let's go through it today shooting women but it works on everybody whether you're shooting children whether you're shooting Brides whether you're shooting portraits.
It doesn't matter what it is it works on everybody.
So I love taking pictures i shoot a lot in studio shoot a lot outside of location either way i'm using that same recipe so i want to say that I'm saying this so you guys can know that this recipe works in any situation in any country no matter where you are now I shoot a lot of beautiful people but just because they're beautiful doesn't mean they feel beautiful and then granted equal see pictures of models these big celebrities like oh yeah they're all beautiful.
They don't look beautiful until you make them feel beautiful first so that's my first job make people feel this is a picture of halle berry my very first celebrity shoe at beginning of my career and while I learned that you've got to make people feel beautiful the day she walked in which is in New York City and she got out of a taxi and she had a pretty rough taxi ride so she wasn't feeling great when she walked in now to me she looks stunning when you walked in i could tell she wasn't in a great mood that morning I had to make her feel beautiful.
Before I got to the set i think more than anything that when it comes to making people feel beautiful I think that beauty is a feeling it's a feeling if you don't feel good it doesn't show as the photographer we've got to spend that time making people feel good before you throw camera and further face i spent a lot of my time when I'm shooting on location or I'm shooting you know somebody whose been interned account for a long time spent a lot of time making them feel beautiful I also enjoy discovering a new model and encouraging them and building them to know become better this is a new model i just discovered recently and this is her first shoot 14 very first shoots actually but Russia proper shoot together so when I first met her that first moment meeting I could tell by her energy that she wasn't confident so I spent all my time before I ever put the camera in front face and just talking to her making her feel good about herself because when it's time to shoot i wanted to radiate out that feeling of beauty.
It comes from inside when I make them feel good then it shows in the picture so I've been doing a lot of and you can you.
Yes go ahead can you elicit a little bit about what what it was that indicated to you that she wasn't feeling oh yes go back to the picture actually also for second so i could tell by her her body language she was she was shy she was reserved.
I don't believe that she believed that she was beautiful she was very tall and she's my little self-conscious about being tall i know this bye-bye work with other models in the past and hearing their stories about how they grew up and getting them said they felt awkward being tall or being skinny you know being not considered the beautiful girl in high school but then they blossom we have to get them out of that so when I first met her.
She was her shoulders slumped over little bit and she didn't feel beautiful but I thought telling her oh this little small comments as we talked that oh you're so beautiful i love your skin got a great smile there's no small things interjected throughout the conversation to make her feel beautiful before we started shooting and I do that all the time whenever I'm shooting i'm doing a lot of shoots on the beach and on-location recently and I'm spending a lot of my time before i shoot everybody anybody just talking to them and get them to loosen up and be themselves and get out the whole thing opposing people have this idea that all got two poles and sometimes I can look stiff so I'm worked a brand-new model i'll tell them I don't want you to pose I want to get a feeling our out talk to me them compliments the entire time was shooting so i can get that feeling because you can't think this kind of smile it has to come out of them once that have yeah I'm glad shocks so remember this guy's beauty is a feeling you work with that feeling first before you take your first pitch then you mix that feeling that beautiful feeling with great beautiful light you get to feel good and then you make them look beautiful by using great light now that means you've got to discover what is great like how to use it how to mold it how to make it specifically the light that you want to represent you as a photographer now I know many of us begin our career in photography.
If we start using light will use the same light will use a soft box so we use an umbrella because that's what I thought but there's so many other options that you can do as a photographer I can really take your career to another level you learn how to see light you learn how to use light.
Then you create your own specific image based on your brand of light and then people start to notice you they notice how you make them feel beautiful and look beautiful and when you do that you have a client for life they come back to you over and over and over again.
Now it's one thing for sure to make somebody feel good but when you do this and you add beautiful light to the equation they were talking about you forever to all their friends and their friends are calling you it's one thing to go out there and look appliance look for work and that's hard to do but when other people are talking about you and your work then the word just starts to come.
It's just starts to flow yeah it's a great feeling when people start to recognize you and your your brand of photography you're making them feel good number one and if you can make somebody feel something they'll never forget you can make them feel beautiful they'll never forget you and how you made them flannel then how that translates in the picture and that leads to lifelong clients that leads to people hiring you over and over and over again and it makes you feel good too because you have now discovered the secret this is part of that recipe you know when you make people feel special not just beautiful special they never forget that now you mix that with great Pro post-processing so you have this great feeling you have this great light that you're learning how to do and then you have great post processing because clean up your work and make it stand out from everybody else.
Once you have this mix things just start to happen so the recipe is feel good plus great light plus great post processing you mix this together and everything.
Changes guys I mean you have a career you're not just taking pictures you're you're showing your work in the best way in the best light with the best post processing now I know if I wondering first and foremost how do you make it can't be a mistake this is spent a lot time and after into whether i'm shooting a one picture of a picture of one person or or group of people i put the same energy to make sure everybody equally feels beautiful on this shoot this is a big celebrity shoot with shot full cover magazine and they all have their own egos and we have you coming to the shoot so I want to make sure i made them all feel beautiful before they ever came down to my set.
So while they were in their hair and makeup room and they all had separate hair and makeup i put flowers for each of them the little card saying here's to a great shoot this is their first time meeting me by seeing that that note from me with these beautiful flowers and that help them feel great.
The entire day by the in little italy they all left those flowers and I'm i'm close to all these girls now it's wonderful how these little small things can make a difference i'm shooting men I don't send flowers and I do something special for sure to make them feel good as well and sometimes that's just me going into the the grooming room or the hair and makeup room and spend time talking about whatever is going on in the world at that moment maybe it's politics maybe it's you know their last vacation or the last movie that they would just see well let's not that I want to see talking about their children they have kids or you know talking about you know a funny youtube video can be anything you know.
Ok man go it doesn't matter i travel i talked about everything because when you make a connection you have something special you make them feel special you make them feel beautiful or handsome and then they get from your camera and starts to come out little by little by little so yes this lip service absolutely it is but guys this recipe works it works it works I've been doing this now for in april of next year will be 30 years sounds weird to say that makes you here yes leave I've been shooting with 30 years and man.
Guys I still love it i absolutely love this every day is different every day I get to share how i feel my camera how I feel about like how i feel about beauty I feel about the world all by using my camera and it's a great feeling when you can do that so yes as i'm shooting i'm also always giving compliments i'm giving flowers i'm doing things that make people feel beautiful it could be a small investment in you know a small amount of flowers so you like okay I won't spend a lot of money on flowers.
It doesn't have to be a big expensive gift just something small it's a token of appreciation and your goal is not to get flowers your goal is to make somebody feel beautiful maybe it's a small gift with a little card saying here's to a great shoot it can be anything.
It's totally up to you but before you take that first picture of anybody make them feel beautiful.
First let me show you that what it looks like in in terms of making its my work look beautiful for the first time this is me working with the Queen and making now this is the Queen and read the Franklin queen of soul and my first time working with her this is now Wow 12 years ago was my first time for wrapping Aretha Franklin and before I met her.
I had heard stories how she's hard to work with she's a debug you know you always tell a story about two people but before I did the shoot we were shooting in Detroit where she's from i sent her flowers i said i did some research also i did research to find the she knows yellow roses so I sent two dozen yellow roses to the franklin and then I get a call like flowers later I get a call and i thought it would be like from her management like this but it wasn't it was from a reader Franklin her cell she calls me on the phone she's like nobody's no photographers ever sent me flowers before we start talking is this my first time having that conversation with her first time having any connection was that conversation on the phone talking about me sending her flowers that was 12 years ago guys and now we've been shooting over the over the years over and over and over again and whenever she shoots she calls me sometimes you call me on the like if we're talking the morning just to ask me a question.
Yes that but i love that I've seen her you know as she is now this is our latest CD cover shot know her last 45 CD covers but it's a great feeling to make a connection with somebody make them feel good they remember you forever now I'm great at its that's terrific isn't anything liebe is just so weird how you know you spend so much time trying to get a client and we do that by no to our marketing trying to show our work so please look at me look at me look at me but when you make somebody feel good they talk about you left and right you know read the talks about me I've got clients because she's mentioned me to other people.
Let's have a plan or scheme of the clients then you learn how to make great light you learn how to use the light to create your signature so your pictures are different from everybody else you can't shoot the same way everybody else does that means you've got to learn how to study light you learn a celite and then things just started to happen when you make somebody feel great by your brand of light they call you over and over and over again vanessa williams and Tyler banks with quite the rap now going on almost like 17-18 years we've been working together for a long time and we always have a great time.
So how do you photograph women beautifully you guys already know this now you make them feel beautiful first you let them have fun being themselves get them away from this idea that they have to do a polls because that may not work for everybody.
Yes it works for some people but not most people let them have fun express themselves in pictures and when you do that great things happen this is a recent shoot of Tyra we're just being silly and having fun we've been doing this like there's something 18 years just being silly yes that's glitter and yes there's a lot of glitter all over the years old and is different to clean up after this you know we had a lot of fun with this you guys get a lot of fun but always do the glitter picture last yes yes I I just yesterday do that little laugh I but i still have literally in my camera bag somewhere last several generations i think yes let me give you guys the recipe now more beautiful pictures of that this woman before anybody you put two and a half cups of feel good i mean you put your energy.
Do your research you put this tunic at cups of feel-good you mix it with 3 cups of great light and then you put in that one cup of great post processing this is going to change everything for you when you learn how to mix all this together you put this all together and you get great pictures doesn't matter who you're working with this recipe works on you gotta get them filled good you got to use beautiful light and you've got to use great post processing solely by being questioned in there are people asking questions yet although this this great great people are weighing in from around the world of get folks from Switzerland Iraq yokohama England West Virginia utah that everybody's here.
Yeah stuck with me great guy i learned for all went wrong but but folks start getting some questions ready if you have any questions for Matthew and what we've got a break here Matthew let me just tell people again how to enter our drawing I Matthews giving away a couple copies of his his marvelous book future American president president's rather than s right and it does it yeah president got it.
Your hand up and then we're also giving away a couple copies of perfectly clear complete which will help you make your pictures look better faster than you can do it on your own and we would love to share these these wonderful tools with you and so please leave a comment in the chat window right next to your next to the YouTube viewer and let's see what we got spots straka from Slovakia checking in and and Denise from San Francisco wonderful wonderful so leave us a comment just like these guys did and if you have a question feel free to write a question here thanks for keeping the chat kind of down to a minimum this is our mode for our tool for for asking Matthew questions as well and thanks so much Matthew this is this is great we're just thrilled to to be learning from you I love this guy's i love photography and I love sharing knew about the joint photography and it's taking me a long way.
Let's now talk about know how you get that great post processing i found a to now that's made my life so much easier and I use it all the time now so this is a shoot i just finished in the in Japan recently actually is that a nice trine those who are watching Japan ohayo gozaimasu.
It was very early in the morning there so.
Wylex about this too is that is is freed up my time so I go out and shoot pictures more which is the thing I love doing the most.
Its freedom time so i can go out there and make pictures over and over and over again it's made it easy to my clients great pictures right away and in the past I've always hated where I've had to send a client to shoot the next day and there's no time in the world to retouch an entire shoot is impossible until now now i can use perfectly clear I can retouch one picture for my shoot and I just done like to shoot actually a week ago.
They're both they're both high-end shoots both celebrities so I get your system right away i use a perfectly clear to make one picture the way I wanted it.
Terms of my my post processing i applied that to all the images and sent the entire shoot the next day that's a great thing that I could never do that before now i can so what's wonderful about perfectly clear is you have so you do a sheet so you shooting a hundred pictures or you're shooting two thousand pictures doesn't matter i'll take that one picture i'll put it in perfectly clear I put this now perfectly clear is a plug-in it works into in lightroom and photoshop i put that one picture into perfectly clear the lightroom open it up automatically it will do an adjustment because actually show you what it does this is what it does automatically right there now go through my adjustments and I can make it anything else I want to do i can increase the exposure increase exposure i can work when the skin tone I can make the teeth wider or can contour the face a little bit i want to particularly blemishes I can take it away from under the I anything I want to do I have the option to do it I can do it super quick so now what you should take me hours to do now takes me you know about 55 10 minutes.
It's just so quick and easy to go through and do this process now yes as photographers I know you can always carried away doing this and I spend all of my time out on the plane actually retouching my pictures and i love that i had the ability to go back and do all my old pictures now also this way so i was actually before there's a freak if i get back to that later on by one actually stop sharing this and go to my room if I can do that.
Levi's that ok yeah absolutely and while you pop over there get a couple questions for you.
Ok cool Jeffrey says he likes the geniusness Matthew brings to it to his intentions and making people feel their best so that's that's a great share all your the way you help people feel great before they even start shooting with you and then Aaron is asking what is your thought process behind your lighting setup for your shoots do you or your clients choose whether you're in a studio or on location things like that in terms of a spin on the job is a great question so in terms of my clients one shoot on location and studio it depends on the usage was looking to do sometimes i'm shooting on location on a beach sometimes i'm shooting in studio that is usually based on the client dictating what they want to say I'm shooting a magazine cover while shooting an advertising job.
Generally it's in studio well it can go either way but for cover usually it's in studio if I'm doing a fashion story is an editorial maybe location it will be shooting you know in the Bahamas or in Jamaica or just any location but its a mix is it is depending on the on the client what they want now clients hire you based on what they see so if you only show work that's in studio you'll only get that type of work if you only show work best on location you'll only get that type of work but they need to know before they hire you they know exactly what they're going to get so.
You should work on only doing the work that you enjoy doing.
Don't try to shoot pictures that you think will make people feel good or one hired that doesn't work shoot what you love first and those clients hire you to do what you love that way you'll you enjoy shooting those back those apples images and you'll get you no more enjoyment for the rest of your life by doing that kind of thing that's what I do all the time actually I love taking pictures and making people feel beautiful so that's terrific that you have you have to work time little can do two more questions real quick is absolutely ok when you have bad light on location Jeff asks Jeffrey asks what's your.what tips to use to turn lemons into lemonade oh that's a great question oh man that is such a great question so I didn't shoot recently actually where it was a horrible day outside shooting on location and we had to do the shoot so also the mix and is worse shooting in a shrine which location in Japan and could not bring lights into that location which a man like my first thing is i would say to everybody know if you shoot location is bad life then bring lights with you shoot on location i do that a lot but yeah this because this way you can control your life you know when you're shooting location you have no control over the life you've got to either make sure you have the right time of day.
You've got to make sure that you can control the light by bringing artificial light with you so you can have that beautiful light regardless of location but sometimes you have a job and you have to shoot in bad light that's hard and i recently had that happen as a matter of fact so it can you still see my screen.
Levi is that possible yes you see you later okay great so I'm just gonna actually because he mentioned that picture i think is great so this is a day when I had to shoot when the light was not great so it was overcast day I couldn't bring light to the shrine it was a great location amazing location but in terms of light it was not a great day but i still had this year you know.
So what do you do you try to look for light and this is this is I think one of the best lessons and learning how to see light you know its a bright sunny day you can see like very easily but when it's an overcast gloomy day it's hard to see the light now even when it's overcast in a bad light or dark light you still have to see the direction of the light it's still out there that sums up there still in the sky is just covered by clouds you still look the direction of the night so I'm looking for direction of the light and looking deeply at the shadows once I do that I can have some help i can clean it up and post so this this image where it's really in bad light.
I had to look for direction of the light and then do a lot more work and cleaning up and post i'm so glad that question man thank you so much for that because on those days like this day for example when the light is not the best you've got to work harder to see the light and this takes training because it's hard to do you know we think that Austin overcast days it's beautiful life that's not exactly true you've got to still look for the direction of the light and then you can make beautiful pictures so just because it's an overcast day doesn't mean it's great light its soft like but you gotta look for the direction of the light that's a great question you have an exercise Matthew yeah i did you have an exercise that helps you see light I do as a matter of fact when up when i'm teaching a lighting course i do that you know daily actually I talked about during how to see light and it's a very extensive course but it's very expensive lesson and learn how to see light because I give my students examples and even give them exercises and learning how to see light because to be honest we can't do that ordinarily you know our eyes but just to all the changes throughout the day as a walking around but your camera doesn't just the same way you got to learn how to see light the way your camera seems like and that takes training so it means going out in and looking for light in different situations and being aware of it because we see it every day and we take it for granted but you've got to train yourself on how to see light at different times of day and how it changes once you do that it opens but new world of possibilities and you start seeing like all the time by all my good friends and I know they always tease me because I'm always talking about the light throughout the day safe or in a car driving down the road like oh my god this is a beautiful time of day and people laugh at me now but i can't i can't help it i just love beautiful light I know it sounds silly but this is my thing that I do all the time i'm always looking at the light is that it's a habit that are sorry but i'm now at the place where I'm always looking for beautiful light.
Excellent thank you so much one last question for you from Denise she says do you start from the default retouching in perfectly clear and then make the other adjustments great question yes i do our first go through and actually show you in a second i'll go through and show you joking what i do should i do it now we've eyewitness news first answer the question now show you guys so I first put a picture in ensuring that nuclear lightroom it will give me the default i never use the default i'll usually just go through and make my own great make it exactly what I want.
Now you can use the default because they work actually very well but I want my work to have a specific look so I'm tweaking it to have my own brand because something want a lot of retouching someone a little less and you should have your own brand so people can notice your work right away and how you do your own post processing and that looks stays consistent your your feet good your light your your post is all consistent act things that work together so let me just quickly go this one picture because I this will answer that last question as well so excellent learning how to see like music go big on that picture so learning how to see lightnings you are aware of the light now it changes throughout the day this is an early morning shooting about a month ago up makes you want to go down this is like an early morning shoot and I knew the light quality that I wanted and it was doesn't last long that sons not staying still guys it's moving constantly so the life that I wanted in studio I control exactly where I want to be.
That's my look I still that same look when I'm shooting on location so that means sometimes I'm looking for in the morning you know where I am in the world and waiting for that sunrise and preparing for it so this is actually the very first 30 minutes of sunlight we shot this picture the sun's just rising i'm getting that shot we shot until we shot the first our exact start shooting this image like 615 in the morning we ended at seven thirty so we get shot like you know the first hour and 15 minutes and that we then we're done well I want that quality of light but to know that means you get 30 the Sun study where it is how it changes and where the Sun is two months ago where is today's totally different.
So you're always studying the light we go into winter as we going to fall as it going to summer that lights changing so you were always studying the light what work two months ago is not be the same today I go back to the beach right now that son looks totally different and look two months ago.
So let's get back and the whole thing now of going through the process so i would off first picture i have here I'm going so I'm in Lightroom well first we'll do is I'll go to photo i'll go down to.
Edit in and I'll go to perfectly clear complete so once it does that is going to read the image is going to figure out what it needs this route right now so doing that right now is going through and read the image I'm going to tell you that I want to make a copy with Lightroom adjustments I'm going to do at if I'm gonna do a follow profoto RGB colour space and when he was 16 bid and hit edit it continues to read it based on what i've said i want to do and was doing this is telling me okay it's reading the skins reading how much it thanks to have me to have done this for the longest process in in the entire process is going to give me a reading based on what I think it thinks it needs to be done and I've got a lot of pictures on my computer I've got that this one's actually padded it's time we going to continue technically yes because I'm i travel computer which is packed so far.
Oh no oh there we go i don't always your mother fuckin rats is your uh your recycle bin empty.
Let me see that might do it uh and and also that that as it prepares that picture for processing it also depends on the size that you know what camera you shot it with you if you're using a phase 1 versus a an iphone that the size of the photograph is quite different from each other and Buster will let me slip into not using an ipod I'm Micah great shot this week my my nikon d50 don't need that up either let you go away this get Cecil was also asking if you ever use the d500 oh yes as a matter of fact I do.
Uh I just I just got to be 500 great question so I am I crash here at the same time now that that that's what make a big difference so they go back to that again i do you see 500 as a matter of fact that I used both my g5 andy five-hundred last week on the shoot why did I use my d500 doing behind the scenes images on this bitch let me shoot that we just did.
There's a lot of fun actually kind of cool and that shooting with my g5 great camera by the way.
Amazing amazing yeah camera so write me that again now that i think my trash which I should die before I have way too much on this computer for sure oh come on come on it's still full wow that's insane i know i guess it wasn't looking elect okay yeah you quit lightroom and come back it might reset something for us too many of the meantime you were you were also talking about about about knowing where that when the lights can be nice and everything and so erin was asking do you usually have the option of scouting a location so that you you know what things are going to look like when you go at the time radio show yes usually I do have and I push for that as much as possible because i want to know you can't you can't guess what its gonna be you guys go out there and Scout reminds me my very first shoot for a this year I was going on a location and we spent weeks we're testing the shooting a job in in Tokyo so i spent time testing in la the idea i want to shoot and me and my sister were on the beach.
Testing the idea first here and then we went to Japan and went to Scott location found the light and the time of day it was very different from here once we did that we could do the shoot so yeah I spent a lot of time in pre-production like the scary part that's all pre-production and production means I'm they're like going through everything and make sure everything works just right so I'll go through and also make sure that everything else open i don't need to open here let's make a big difference.
So yeah the scouting part is a big part i'm different going through there as much as possible.
Seeing the location at different times a day you got to do that sometimes outstanding assisted out to scalp but actually like doing that myself and I can I want to see the apt myself vs getting it from some of my assistant in seeing it through a picture or something or senior and iphone picture of the location i want to see the light myself when you can see it in real time changes how you feel about the location so great question absolutely scouting is a big part of weight so so you mean you don't just get to sleep in each day and have breakfast in bed and nobody's that that is an operational lifetime LA but that all i parted you that time to sleep more for sure but no i have not sleeping in that all you know as a photographer you an entrepreneur and that means you are in control of your life and how things work so mice sleeping in never a spy one of the things I've made to do I think my movie that's what i want the plane but yeah okay who do I think is asking t3 yes it's loading up.
Oh Ben was wondering if you ever used some of the apps like sunseeker or the photographer's ephemeris or photo pills to write nowhere because i do is you use sunseeker because our earliest i asked about knowing the direction of the Sun i use that sensical after all but I all the time.
It tells me the sunrise sunset it tells me the direction of the light I thank you for asking that question man that's a great one because i use sunseeker all the time for my favorite apps as a matter of that I've gotten a land where know what time is sunrise is what I'm sunset is where the Sun is going to be a certain time of day.
Sunseeker gives me all of the options to do that and i love that so thank you for asking me that that was great people just coming in guys because I think these are all actors questions absolutely and then once again asking questions like that or leaving a comment in the chat entered you in the drawing for two copies of perfectly clear complete well we're giving away to you don't get to and also that is also sharing two copies of his book featuring american president yes which we love in my my latest book features and it's a personal project I think you guys should all have your own personal projects that you work on that the that keep you in love with photography you shouldn't just be shooting a job because somebody is paying you photography is an art form you're doing hopefully because you loved it which means you should be shooting all the tie . right.
Ok let's go to my computer well if I wasn't on this webinar be things working fine but now what is going right did it I did it perfectly clear open up and the other day quit work and try and try to edit it again.
Okay try that again that's so weird John reminds us also that he just joined late but this video is being recorded right now and as soon as we hang up it's available for rewatching so you can watch it again you can share with your friends and and please do please share and help other people learn these great tips from there went to Jordan's perfect so okay right away when it opens up its going to open up in perfectly clear is going to give you an idea of the picture might hit this one sexy before and after this is what it reads automatically tell me what it thinks it needs this is in details but I don't want to do details with a woman so what my favorite wants to use is beautify or beautify plus this gives me out the bat this gives me adjustments so you can see right now what it's doing so he it is before-and-after and you also had have different ways to look at this so you have a slider you can use a slider before after up with the middle you can see that both ways before and after or you can go through seeing it side-by-side before on the left after on the right or you can just do the full and hit it and go back and forth other ways these are different options for you to see how you want the image now this is what the software does out the bat incident at the box and it's just really beautiful when it does automatically but again I want to make my own adjustments so i might just bought and I can either take my exposure up or down if I want to anyone what i want is totally up to me i can go and do small tweaks I can make the skin color i can make my skin tone more i can go under the eyes and thick dark circles away which I do that a lot because we all have.
Yeah you know that's my favorite tool in there that alone is are going to the custom software look look at the eyes under the eyes is just so amazing what it does this before.
Yeah this is a huge i can do that in lightroom and I can do that in Photoshop but it takes a lot more time and I can't do it automatically in a batch like this let's do this.
Exactly exactly so i have i've also have one my slimming my face contouring so I take this off I want to because she's really slippery I don't want her to us but let's just show you how that works so this is just a little bit you see her face changes just a little bit the contouring here yet resin cheap online a little bit yeah so this is just taking two pounds off of her which is not much but sometimes that little small amount makes a big difference now she doesn't have realized i could I can have that on i can have the i enhanced I want to make her eyes stand out even more just a tad more actually live has quite a bit she's got beautiful eyes mean this is one a good friend of mine she's an actress in a in Tokyo and love this shot of her beautiful beautiful stunning now again the first thing I did before I did this picture was how to make sure she felt as beautiful as she is I just spend that time her feel be the whole before putting from my camera this is actually shot in from a class like this is a did a workshop last year in Tokyo and i shot this in front of class I'm teaching them about light and how to make people look beautiful so I'd like about 40 people behind me actually some teaching this class in front of her and and turn them how to do each and every part of this so this is actually a fun shoe so this is kinda cool i love how the software uses so easy to work even shy removal but she's not shiny but you know i am if I'm using a picture of me I take this and go way up but she's really that much at all so let's remove all she's have any blemishes like take it down just a little bit i want to i go to face contouring this is see if i go up on that face contouring you guys see that he has or after makes a huge makes me giggle everytime i see it is crazy weekend to go to liquefy yeah yes liquefied you know takes a long time to get write this I just do my 10 spider it makes a huge difference just that small difference.
Oh look at this I mean wow so I don't understand his eyes man she's studying she is stunning I'm wearing now say finish this essay I've done all everything I want to do with it whatever I want to sharpen it i want to you know ask vibrancy whatever I want to do I smell decide i love the picture as it is how create then i'll save it almost is a test right now i'll save that image so now this is locked in so say I shot a hundred pictures of her or 200 pictures or two thousand pictures this one picture that just now we touched I can apply that to every picture of her that I've done that can go out and take more pictures as it goes to work i love it how same of it after you use the same makeup artist how can bring all the questions asked Peter that's a wonderful question so i am very very picky about hair and makeup this is my team so I definitely work on using the same people over and over and over again that i can try to a class just on makeup because i spent a lot of time going over my team that make it possible especially the makeup artists because if you had bad makeup no matter what you do you can't clean it up and post so I love having that so that's open from before I see somebody cancel that one so now i have my before image my original which is my teeth I'm sorry so I have my original image there we went there this might it just hasn't loaded up the difference yeah if you click on that if you click on the one to the left or whichever yeah whichever one is that if you know when we might have created two tips because we tried a couple times they are launching it again.
Yeah but if you right-click and choose metadata there you go see the little arrow in the top right corner of the photo click on that guy and then say import settings from disk yeah and that will bring in the changes there's an update for your labor Matthew okay i gotta do that yeah let's do another one to see who should we do here a is all shoots I've done recently is a great smile let's do this one so yeah I'm gonna go to again it in do perfectly clear complete to read the image i got my settings erase it from before I keep that actually the same all the time but you said it one time you're good to go so this is where I keep all the time i go edit going to read the image and this has been some great questions also the day guys.
Thank you for always amazing questions you guys a wonderful they're all right on . just exactly what people need to hear so don't be shy about asking questions so that was going to let see there there's a new version of a perfectly clear.
That's about to launch or that I think it just launched and John's asking about have you tried that one yet Matthew ever read one yet.
Version 3 i'm waiting to get baby there yet.
Yeah I'm excited that I wonderful owner of John's already used it instantly I think it's launching momentarily if you go ahead and buy perfectly clear say today and you if you buy version 2 they're gonna give you version three complimentary when it when it's released so here we have just out the box now what does this is very cool to see this also i got ya that's a ravine let me talk about that because there's so many options that you have so early I just show you that first panel that has details and vivid and beauty if I plus and fix dark exploit you have other options as well as you click through on the right here you have intelligent auto outdoor shooting but no landscapes you have fill flash yet gentle boost you have all these things you can do so you just want to work on the eyes only you can go go to the to be the I mode and just work on that you can do high-fashion you have all these other variations you can do you doing children's portraits you were just children no softer you want to enhance just the eyes you have eagle eyes you have natural catch light you all these options available to you throughout the complete package of you got clear skin and all they are is presets to it we could run going to make adjustments and it's the same settings there just a preset to get you started you started this is great a clear skin flakes so you have kids we have acne so you're doing seniors in high school this is what is great and simple easy and with each and every one of these presets you can adjust them to make them exactly what you want specifically simple and easy there's a more his process as well as this light powder the strong blow is poor softness it's just a little bit sheer coverage full coverage and again each and every one of these you skill to make your own adjustment for that picture you have a shooting men you've got a male portrait so need just a little bit less for manual for a woman you can do no one's portrait you do high-fashion there's even a supermodel skinned version which is really cold you're doing a guy like it like me to make it rugged skin just all these different options you have in this amazing package so i love perfectly complete gives me all these options and again you go through and you pick out the one you want the best you make your adjustment actually able to a different one we did beautify for let's go to let's go to his work on her eyes is go to recognize its go to bat for a second so I can now go to adjustments I'm going closer on her as well let's say I want to.
Just enhance the ice a little bit more sharper and do that dark circles i can even go in closer and so I want to as well so that i can see a girl says question al says well what about missing candidate the same way to the missus sees it but would love that but I know because it yes because by woman she feels like he was everything to research challenges well i just ate their one we have all these great options guys it's just so wonderful that you just go through here and they any adjustment you want to so the presets you have this is more about the about the eyes the first is perfect eyes that working now so this is just focusing on the eyes to make them different so notice how each one changes it just a little bit in the natural catch light you get natural-looking catch lights this one you get the night sleep makes it look more like you've had a good night's sleep is not as puffy under the eyes high fashion is kinda like the works where you really like make the eyes stand out more coffee yet again just take out a little bit of that under-eye puffiness then if you're doing more than just a the eyes you want to get perfect skin you have all these presets just working with skin intelligent auto wow that's kinda cool.
Look how that changes and just read it right away you get clears climate is this so cool man i wish i had this like 10 years ago I hit my life's over here healthy glow.
Look how this changes so much in so simple and so easy and with each and every one of these again you can make your own adjustment and tweak them just a little bit let's go to another series here you have more terms of same shooting an older man for example you have the rugged man.
Action no she's not a man of course but we have this option of using this one menor rugged skin where you don't want the man to look like it's retouch just want to take it down a little bit i need this one quite a bit actually but i love this stuff and guys this is just so fun to play with me i find myself going through in researching about my older pictures that i haven't never going back to do before and it makes it easy and fun and simple definitely go back to beautify again this is my favorite ones beautify plus i like that and I high fashion as well but i'm always in here just making small streets making it look just right let's see the message you ever use capture one oh yes i have had quite a bit as a matter of fact of on the SIP very often I'm having a digital tech on my shoes and usually that's the standard on set on commercial jobs you can capture one but perfect i don't use it not about my computer.
Actually I do have on my computer but I don't use it it's a soho is a heavier program but it is a standard but i have my digital tech use that program it was crashing for a long time for a while but now something more stable and it was ok well as i was trying to look and see Chad was asking if perfectly clear works with capture 18 i don't think it doesn't know because aperture and with with elements go ahead.
Yeah and as well as aperture if you're still using aperture to work I'm and then with there's some new tools for Apple photos as well there's no extensions for Apple photos it gives you these tools working from the Photos app and it does not stop those well yes right right let's see here a couple of questions.
Renee Ferguson is asking where is the perfect skin settings i'm perfectly clear completely don't have those additional options.
Rene you might need to just get an update yeah i think there are free update don't don't quote me on that but I.
I think they're free update for perfectly clear version 2 and and so check that out just go up and down on the bottom left corner hit the about button and that will show you a little help you find updates to our damn says hello Matthew I followed your recommendation and bought it and I like it.
Gerard are you doing other going this draw in Austria it sounds like it wonderful will win again its neck and i'm sure you know that henna let's see uh Jeffrey asks any particular adjustments that you like for darker exotic skins vs lighter skin tones or do they work fairly similarly across different skin tones.
No I make an adjustment for each and every person because it's not just you about dark skin light skin but everybody has their own collection so i'm definitely using for example those assumptions but this girl is a is Indian I'm you know actually come from all over the place you know.
Black white asian Hispanic in the end i'll make an adjustment for each every person because you can't have one for everybody so I'm different going through and making my own adjustments on each and every person i wanna make sure I can get you know the best color the best clarity about the best skin by making those adjustments so i'll use up my presets first and then I'll always tweak them just a little bit to make it my own specific book.
Yeah I Dale's ask you is there an iOS option yes they're there is there are new apps for iOS and Gerhard says yes of course it's me from Austria yes is yes upgrades that you man glad you are here let all my friends a year so even talk about it.
So here we have two women who were both you know African Afghan african-american ones afterwards after American both black but different skin tones so i can through and change based on their skin tone that's of everybody I love this program so many so simple when you when you light some 120 for photographing them and and it's a whether you're photographing very dark-skinned nor fair-skinned do you approach it differently is there is there something we should consider as we approach different skin tones for lighting absolutely i feel like i feel like when I'm photographing dark skin and I focus on the highlights where is one of those photographing light-skinned I focus on the shadows was even deeper than that what though because you can bring this so when you start really getting into lighting and looking at all the different hues and shades that we all come in.
You can't just like say oh I have a way of treating person who is you know of skin or a really dark skin got to get each person you know in a case-by-case basis basically so what that means is from first taking a picture i'm going to use a light meter each and every time it's not enough just to use your histograms you've got to know exactly I mean exactly what the light is reading and histograms don't give you enough information so i use a light meter integrate all the information it will tell me where the lights falling and where it falls all specifically and again about light meters they don't think they only we act to light and the light is going to give you both in your camera and a handheld meter is going to give you a neutral reading you get always remember that right your meters only giving you a neutral reading it thanks Abe is the same but we're not all the same so it's my is very very fair i can't shoot her at neutral it's my eyes very very . i can't shoot her an intro eater either that light meter but where's your camera or your meter it's only giving you and average reading once you understand that you know how to start tweaking and and adjusting the light for those not in the shot film in the old days you guys know you never shot pictures and process your film normal i'd always go through him add to a test that's the job and I go plus a third plus a half plus a quarter for my third is a have I always do small tweaks to make it exactly right with digital the same thing you've got to make your small adjustments but you've got to first know what your average reading is and that changes everything thanks for that question that was a great question so glad i was asked that was great thank you.
That's a terrific dancer Dale says this podcast is getting even more expensive and and Susan asks about perfectly clear can you spot select certain areas to correct issues such as scars swelling in the eyelids or do you need to use photoshop or another program to fix now you do better specific parts in the shop because i can't get that specific area but once i get my image where I want to go out putback and photoshop and then getting small areas that what I was well yeah question and and like perfectly clear doesn't doesn't remove things like moles again so something that looks like it more like a big zit it also doesn't refer but it it does a great job on the very fine details that actually take up so much more time.
Yes the giving your time we find pimples and skin.
Yeah yeah it gives you all your time back and that i love so much I'm gonna go back to school and work going along here bikes will make sure i get to okay.
Any tips for forgetting that a group of women with a range of skin tones oh yes I do this if I have one any of the range okay i don't have the range in this group.
Well actually this is shot little differently this is so here i have a woman.
Who's Japanese was african-american was German but let me just can you see that full screen now if I oh yeah well don't know what on what that ok Billy are so this it this job I couldn't get all the models at the same day we shot them all separately girlfriend away and yeah this is all shot separately or together and post so once flat ones african-american was German and I shot them all separately and put them together and post so that means that these are all different days now also this is all different days so i had to shoot them all i had to know exactly what my life was reading I don't know exactly the position of the light and then recreated over and over again mean I could've shot one girl in Japan one American wonder in Germany that it didn't matter i knew the recipe for the lighting and that's how great this image now if I shot them all together i would go up make the girl in the middle i bring her for just a little bit more so she's getting just a quarter more life it doesn't mean to be a lot that small difference makes a difference so we're doing groups and I'm very often doing groups i did a cover recently love of a group and I'm thinking about their their skin tones as I line them up so who's ever closer to the light was gonna get the more light.
Who is the fairest persons will get the least amount of light I'm making that just been based on their skin tones and I'm doing that in the moment so what I'm shooting a couple that's an interracial couple where one person is no very dark and then the say the bride's very very fair-skinned I just them based on where the light is going to be to make it correct once you learn that recipe you can shoot anybody can make them all look beautiful that's a great question thank you for that one guy that was a wonderful one so you know about possibly getting all this stuff i want to also just give people that that information for I know what we talked about a free gift stay at the end so for everybody I've got a free gift this is a a lighting video this is going to give you can teach you.
Ten ways to use one life this is my gift to everybody here today and just get it by going to Matthew Jordan Smith . com for / free i love photography and glad you guys are interested for sure you get it right here simple and easy as my free gift for those who want to learn more about lighting I've got a lighting course it's called photography lighting course com pretty simple and easy where I i teach lighting to my students all the time love doing that and give a lot more information but going deeper into lighting and all the exercises you want to see light this is the course we learn how to do that how you learn how to use your own light then our peoples estimate upcoming workshops I don't do as many workshops these days because i want to shoot more anything else so i'll try to like one per year or two at the most for next year I've got one workshop and this one's won't take place at the end of $MONTH 2017 in Africa i'm doing an African safari and photo workshop we're going to Botswana and South Africa so if you're interested in going on this workshop and safari I mean african safari you go to Matthew Jordan sniff . com for / safari and this will be a lot of fun can't wait for this workshop that doesn't mean I'm not so far everything I don't know if you have enough flowers to send all the elephants before you shoot it has to be doing that workshop in 2018 elements look beautiful I can't wait for this movie grade that location now works at the one in Kyoto Japan a couple years ago that was so much fun man.
We were there kyoto doing the cherry blossom season.
All that was so amazing in but i'm also looking forward to this one going to Africa.
Oh can't wait to get it just because you make a living photographing people for commercial work doesn't mean that's all you've photographs right no not at all yeah I love photography . like I feel of photography's love photography and and I love travel as well so i can put those two things together and teach photography is the best thing in the world best thing in the world altogether now if I don't get something to give away as well right.
Yes in fact yeah and now stuck here mark and get back to me right now excellent so I've got two copies of perfectly clear complete to give away and the first one of those goes to Denise sweet.
Oh cool in San Francisco so Denise if you'll send me an email at Levi at photo focus . com i will set you up with a license code for perfectly clear complete and the second copy of perfectly clear complete goes to let cdale Townsend but Dale did you say you already have it let me know Dale it leave it leave another comment for me there and otherwise day I would love to send you a copy of perfectly clear complete and let's pick another one for your book Matthew further for your free copy that i'll give away to excellent let's give one of those two cell matrix 2000 is Sam still here so matrix and so just send me a an email salmon and Dale great Thank You Alfred for way back in send me an e-mail Levite photo focus calm and we'll get you that book and then the second book goes to Aaron homestead Aaron wonderful just send me an email and and I'll for that to you Matthew and and we'll get those sent out to folks and thank you so much for joining us and and photo focus we do webinars like this several times each month we had one yesterday all about backing up your data while traveling so that you don't lose pictures when you're on the road i watched every 1st monday yes that's a good one of the first monday of each month.
Rob silva and I have a lightroom hangout where we discuss all things lightroom and help you learn with some of our guests some specific classes about how to improve your Lightroom kungfu and then we've also got the the storage and we've got these enrichment webinars all made possible by perfectly clear and our other sponsors and so we're sure sure glad that we can do these and we love to have you joining us and thank you so much math you for coming in and sharing with us in my pleasure my pleasure guys I love photography love sharing a the joy photography every chance I get and shoot as much luck as well absolutely uh-huh ben says that the drawing was obviously rigged because he didn't win no it's it's totally random I just I've got a very random system that's totally fair it's totally I'm just glad you guys join us we're glad we could share something but also been do you know everybody who's here get that free gift from me.
Realigning video that hannah and i gotta tell you that it's jam packed some great stuff so you didn't make sure you get your hands on that it's a 10 ways to use one light source so get your hands on that the great one and this is my free gift.
Everybody's here i'm having folks over to my studio tomorrow night to practice some some lighting techniques and we're all gonna watch it before I love ya allah cool thanks very much Matthew thank you guys and we're excited to to learn with you more and we've got all your contacted for there are you on instagram 20 absolutely i'm gonna come on everything Matthew Jordan Smith on instagram i just got on snapchat some late to the game on snap death and on that as well have.
An idea on twitter i'm matthew underscore Jordan is a little different can get my full name on on Twitter unfortunately but i am matthew and scored children s and then of course you can find on my website as well Matthew's account perfect thank you so much Matthew and this is levi sim for photo focus . com.
We'll see you next time it's been great man thank you for inviting me to be part of this.
Thank you will see you all later you guys.


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