One of the things I always try to teach during workshops is how to maximize the location. I really think this is one of the most important things for the very simple reason that you are already on that location and sometimes you come home with awesome shots but when you look at them you go like…”really…. was this what I shot?”

Now this is pretty normal.
Often you’re under stress, people looking over your shoulder, no real way to check your images (so always shoot tethered) etc. etc. So often decisions are made that are not perse wrong, but are more than often very good, but… on the “too” safe side. Meaning you feel like you took some kick @ss images, but when you’re home you see proper shots but not that spectacular.

By playing with the location and your lighting you get two results.

First off you get different looks from the same location, BUT more importantly you learn how to improvise and actually become more and more flexible on location, meaning you can make awesome shots more easily.

During my New Jersey workshop we shot one series in a location I already wanted to shoot in the year before but we didn’t have the time that workshop, so this time it had to happen.

We started out pretty standard… with natural light.

After the natural light shot I added one strobe and give it just a little bit of a fill in flash.

After this I started adding strobes and a red gel, but I didn’t use the gel on our model, however I put the strobe under my lens and create a really cool lensflare like effect as you can see here.

It almost looks like a sort of mist and it really gave the images a cool look.

So the next time you’re on a location, make sure to experiment with your angles of course, but also maximize your location by using different lighting setups, gels etc.  PUSH that location to the MAX.