My blog, although I don’t see myself as a blogger but as a Photographer I will try to blog some interesting material during the weeks.
Expect at least 2 updates a week.

How to shoot for the stars or fireworks or the christmas tree

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Tip about shooting fireworks or Christmas tree

 

In today’s blog a quick tip on how to shoot a continuous light source and add some strobe power to give an awesome end result. For example with fireworks or Christmas tree

When we combine continuous light sources with strobes,  always remember :

  • The strobe is a pulse that will appear very fast during exposure.
  • The continuous light will build up over time.

Normally, we would set the strobe on the lowest setting and adjust camera settings like ISO and Aperture to fit your lens wide open.
Now use the shutter speed to let in the continuous light until you like the effect.

Do remember that when working with strobes the max speed is often 1/125 (Xsync), you can go faster when using HSS (high-speed sync) or some other solutions like leaf shutter lenses but in this case going faster is not really the issue.

For the following images, I’m using a Geekoto small softbox with a grid to give a nice soft but focused lighting effect on the model.
When shooting a series I’m always experimenting with different angles (contrast) around the model, but also from a lower or higher perspective.
This gives you a lot of different options and looks, which especially when working with clients will give you a great way to let the client choose his or her favorite look.

I thought these were fitting for this period. Enjoy the photos I took of Claudia holding simple fireworks.

shooting fireworks or christmas tree

So now you know how to shoot fireworks. You can do the same for a lit Christmas tree of course.

See more about how to shoot fireworks or Christmas tree? 

Or the rest of a model shoot in a Christmas theme? 

Something else, but very Christmassy, is our walk in the Orchideeënhoeve in winter style 

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2024

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Merry Christmas from the Doorhofs

 

The last few years will not go into history as happy times.
Still, we hope that everyone will have a peaceful Christmas and we wish you the best for 2024

Frank, Annewiek, Brian Doorhof and Chewie (the labradoodle)

For a workshop, we build a complete set from isolation blankets, in the Netherlands we also call them rescue blankets, used if victims get hot, or very cold.
The nice thing about these is that they are very cheap and have two sides: gold and silver. Yes, you probably remember the gold set 😀

Here you see a few of the results from the workshop with our model Claudia.
Ultimately, we decided to use one of these images for our Christmas card. It was hard to choose 😀

A great backdrop for fashion shoots with impact

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More impact in your fashion shoot? Use our Click Backdrops

Today in the blog some images I shot with our model Claudia during a recent workshop.
We recently got the Soft Master Gray backdrop and this quickly became one of my favourite backgrounds from Click Backdrops. Let me explain and show you how I used this backdrop for a fashion shoot with impact.

ProFabric, Soft Master Grey including a little extra to use as a floor

The nice thing about this background is that it is an extra-long version (Profabric), meaning you can use it as both background and floor. Especially with this print and color, it create a great set for fashion shots. (and a lot more).

The original color is a light grey which is great on its own but as you can see in the following shots this color as background is great to manipulate with colors.
Because of the light grey color, you can easily change the tint in post with tinting presets, or on the set with colored gels.

How did I shoot this backdrop?

In this series, I’m using a strong vignette to draw attention to our model Claudia.
Her bright red hair is coming back in the clothing and the dark dress has a great shine.

I’m using our large Geekoto softbox without a grid aimed straight at the model.
Normally I will create the vignette on the set with for example a grid or smaller softbox (Geekoto has 3 great softboxes). But in this case, I did not yet know which look I wanted. So, in those cases, it’s better to shoot it with a broader light source. You can always add a convincing vignette, but taking it the other way… well is a bit harder, to say the least.

 

You can rent this Click Backdrop (contact us) or buy the Soft Master Grey with a discount.

Check out the BTS video below.

See also the fashion shots I took with Nadine

 

A backdrop for fashion shoots with impact. The Soft Grey Master from Click Backdrops A backdrop for fashion shoots with impact

 

Read more about our Clicki portable backdrops 

Or check out the video about the Rembrandt Lighting in this blog 

 

We got the new smokemachines available and they are awesome

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Awesome portable smoke machines without breaking the bank

During a recent broadcast in our digital classroom I was playing with the new lensgo smoke machines.
These small smoke machines are great for product photography and via special adaptors (all in the box) the are even working great for model photography.

Normally we are using much larger smoke machines and although they are great for backgrounds they are not that good for adding subtile smoke effects or smoke in a specific place. The LensGo smokemachines are much more flexible and as you can see during the broadcast you can also add some local smoke effects like on a mirrorball for some mystical effects.

Because you can take the smokemachines with you in your photo bag and have smoke wherever you shoot I think everyone should have one…. so we decided to add them our webshop.

You can find the smokemachines and accessories on your webshop.
It will be the perfect holiday gift for a loved one (or yourself).

During the broadcast I’m showing the different accessoires, including the awesome “floating smoke”.
And of course you can see how I shot those images with Lois.