Cherelle fashion 1:1 workshop

Today it was time for a 1:1 workshop with one of the most beautiful models I know (well ok they are all beautiful bit it sounds nice, doesn’t it ?) Cherelle. The 1:1 workshops are always special because the student can make his/her own program, and for me it’s always challenging because I can often do stuff I normally don’t teach during the workshops, or do in my own work.

The first setups
For the first setups it was the idea to show how simple a shot can be, and that you don’t need a lot of lights to create something special. A bit in the continuation of yesterdays blog post I decided to use the 1.90 Octa, I placed it right behind me and as a background I used white seamless, nothing more. From here on it was all up to Cherelle to pose and use her expression to give me/us the shots needed. The first image you see at the top, and here are my other favorites, do remember that I used different looks on the shots, so the colors differ, they are not meant as a series, but loose images.

After this I added two extra strobes on the background with the Elinchrom wide reflectors I really recommend these to use for getting your backgrounds white, they are very good for this use, so if you don’t already own them (after me promoting them so often :D) make sure to get them now…. The background was measures 3 stops higher (reflective) than my mainlight. I need 3 stops for my camera (MF leaf digital back), for DSLRs it will work with 2.5 stops. Because I wanted a bit more depth in Cherelle I moved the 1.90 Octa to the side and I added an extra accent light to give her a nice highlight on the opposite side. This accent light is very important because it really makes the difference between an ok shot and a “nice” shot.

And yes I cut of limbs, hands etc. sometimes, if it fits the image I have no problem with that to be honest.
Often people will label this as high-key.
For me that’s wrong, it’s just a white background.
Because the student also wanted to shoot some high key you can now see what I think is a high key shot.

To be totally honest I always say that high key is not really my thing, but when I see these images….. well I love them.

Going dark
I don’t know why but people also always want to go to the more low key side….. (Yeah I do know why, it’s just awesome to be able to play with shadows). For the next setup I used a reflector with grid and just a bit of fill in from a striplight (3 stops below the mainlight)

Time for ropes
Because one of the most important things in a shoot is posing I decided that for the next setup it would be fun to do something that would enhance the posing power of the model, and to be honest Cherelle begged me to do something with the ropes again (she did a great series a while ago) she also begged me for something else, but more on that later…..
For this setup I used the Elinchrom Deep Octa as mainlight and a striplight as accentlight, on the background a thick grid was used.

Relax Cherelle
As you can see we do a lot during a 1:1 workshop so for the next setup I wanted Cherelle to relax a bit, and what is better than to just lay on the floor. As light I used the Elinchrom Deep octa aimed from the top down. By changing the shooting position two totally different images were created within seconds.

Some very quick ones
These shots were taken literally in less than a minute, Cherelle walked in the light and I just loved the look so I took a few quick shots with the 1.90 Octa. Nothing special just some images that I really liked.

Oh please Frank, please…….
Let’s make one thing clear, I HATE being in front of the camera, so I try to stay behind it as much as possible, that’s why I’m already trying to make a new headshot for myself for months…. one day soon I will have to do it but I keep pushing it forwards. However when Cherelle, Dilani, Sharon and the student push me…. well ok I had to do it, I hope you guys like it (to be honest I love this shot but don’t tell anyone).

Maybe you knew, maybe not
Some people I tell about my iPhone and Android app don’t know about it, while there is a link on the website, so I decided to give a bit more attention to the app via this blog. If you like what I do with the blog and twitter make sure to check out the “Frank Doorhof” iPhone and Android app. It’s filled with feeds, but also more than 300 tips, newsfeeds about photography, wikis about technique, wikis about inspiration, backstage videos (2 channels), new images every week that you can use and share, a live chatroom (in which I answer all questions) and more….. it’s sold for 0.99 dollar. Make sure to check it out, I’m sure you’ll love it.

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