Myam Photoshoot

My first real blog post since we’ve arrived back from Orlando.

During our stays abroad I always try to book at least one model to do a small (or larger) photoshoot for my own (and the team we work with) portfolio, in this case I posted a casting call on modelmayhem and got some responses that were interesting but Myam jumped out to me for her way of writing and I loved her looks, as you already know the story there would be another shoot, but that model was a “no-show” so as you can see in this post it’s very important that your model does perform, otherwise I would have gone home with a very bad feeling I’m afraid, now I’m super psyched about this series.

Gear used
I wanted a very basic look, but “edgy” for some shots.
I used the Canon 5DMKII with the Canon 25-105L IS lens and for the shots were I wanted more compression to let the background stand out (while being out of focus) I used the Canon 100-400L Normally I would have opted for the 70-200 f2.8L IS which is in fact my favorite lens but when I’m on location I want to travel light and this combination works just fine and gives me also the option to shoot birds while on trips.
For light I used an Elinchrom Dlite for one setup (the first) and two Canon 430EXII strobes for all the rest which were triggered by the Canon ST-E2. Measuring was done with the Sekonic 758 of course.

Airco setup
For the first image I used an Elinchrom Dlite which was placed outside the window, because the sun was not giving me enough light (the weather was very bad that day), by placing the Dlite outside I could mimic the sunlight falling into the window. To get the sense that the airco was really working we taped some pieces of a plastic bag to the airco which would blow in the wind, giving the sense that the airco did work. We tried several different poses and finally I settled for one more cropped image and one showing more of the room.

The hallway (1)
We did several outfits in this location as you can see in a moment.
The first was shot outside our hotel room (actually she is standing in front of our hotelroom door).
Myam brought some amazing clothes and I loved the vintage look of some sets so I just had to shoot them. For the first shots I used the Canon 24-105 lens and sat on the floor to give the model more length. Always remember that when shooting from a lower angle you will give your model more length, your models will love you for it. One 430EXII was used on manual to give me the look I wanted. I love shooting manual because you will get repeated exposures. ETTL is great, don’t get me wrong but when switching from closeup to full or half body you will get different exposures and I don’t want that in a series like this.

After this shot we moved to the end of the hallway and I switched to the 100-400L the reason for this was that I wanted some of the signs in the images and when shooting this wide you will not see the signs the way I want them to show up, by using a longer lens you will compress the scene and the signs will be more noticeable in the final result. I love to use lenses this way and when understanding the power of this it can greatly influence your shots. Because for some shots I wanted a more “day to night” feel we added a second 430EXII because with one I was missing a bit of light, by adding the second this was solved as you can see, and yeah the day to night was really shot with just two of those strobes.

Shot with natural light

The elevator and hallway
Optimizing your location is very important and I strongly believe that with proper light knowledge and of course a good model (styling etc.) you can really use any location to get at least a few nice shots. This location (for me at least) however breathes exactly the atmosphere I wanted for this shot so I was very happy with it as you can imagine.
We first started out by the stairs, One 430EXII was used to light the model from above the stairs, remember that if you want more spread you can lower the wide diffuser and zoom to 14mm, if you want a more spot light zoom more and remove the diffuser again. Your “little strobe” can be tailor made to light the area you want (within limitations of course).

For the elevator shot we used one strobe inside the elevator, you can’t see Annewiek holding the strobe because I choose my angle carefully. I wanted the attention to go to the model so I decided to aim for a higher exposure on the model and cutting down slightly on ambient light which gave me the following effect. Do remember to be kind when someone from the hotel (or other location) comes to you, in fact we were stopping the elevator for a few minutes (so work fast and don’t get caught). And yes we did not have permission this time, it’s a huge building so I thought it would work out and because it was not a commercial shoot they normally don’t mind, if you want to be sure always ask but make sure they know what you’re going to do.

Downstairs
For the next set we ended up downstairs.
For this shot we used two 430EXII’s one as accent light which was hold by Paris, and one by my wife Annewiek. You could use the accent on ETTL mode and the main unit on manual but I (as mentioned before) often use the strobes on Manual.

Yet another hallway
I love these (can’t you tell?).
For this setup I wanted some more soft light so we used a large translucent reflector. I always advise to get something like this, because you will have a more flexible solution.The main advantage of these is that they fold up very easily but are in fact the best light shaping tools you can get, just place it between your model and the light source (being a strobe or the sun) and you will get a wonderful soft effect. By choosing the angle correctly I also caught just a little bit of flare, which I love in this shot, make sure you check your lens during the shoot, when you can see the light source within a reasonable angle you will get some form of lensflare. Remember this will also be subject to change by the quality of the lens you use and the “wideness”. In this case I just wanted a very little bit of flare.

Doing laundry
When I see a laundry like this I just can’t resist. I’ve shot so many shots inside these places (often the bigger ones), but never brought a model to one. Because we were standing right next to it it was a no brainer, Myam also had the perfect clothing. The light used here was just the fluorescences. So I bumped the ISO which is no problem at all of course. Remember that you can beter bump the ISO a bit and be sure you have sharp images (noise removing is simple or doesn’t need to be done anymore).

Just for fun, a bit of motion
This last shot was done just before we ended the session for that day.
Myam was walking towards me and I shot this with just the natural light that was available at the moment, which was pretty luckily.

Remember these little things
The most heard problem with photographers is that they don’t find inspiration in situations that are not breathtaking, and yes of course some locations are stunning on their own, however when you have a good model and a normal location you can do some stunning work that will even surprise yourself. I love to do my sessions in locations were normally people are wondering what to do, I don’t know why but I think it’s the kick to really get something out of nothing. As soon as you develop your eye for this however you will very quickly find out that there are a lot of locations very close to your location.

Also remember to don’t over complicate lights. If you think you need two… start out with one.
If you think you will need two, start with one…..
Also be sure to shoot some natural light shots in between the strobe sessions, natural light can be the most amazing light source.
Oh and one more thing…. sometimes you can also choose to not use the location but just a wall and a reflector and shoot a simple portrait in between sessions, in this case one of the strobes behind a translucent reflector.

Many thanks to our team from this shoot :
Paris Carter : Assistant, organizer, video
Annewiek Doorhof : video, assistant
Myam : for being our model