Awesome fashion shots with a complete set on a roll

January 2, 2024/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

Fashion shots with Nadine

One of the things I absolutely love are the fashion shots they did in the ’60s-’70s. In today’s blog post, I used that era as inspiration for a more modern “Frank” approach 😀
So continue ready how I made these awesome fashion shots with our model/stylist Nadine.

In today’s blog post, we talk about posing, lighting, and backgrounds.

I’m using our Geekoto GT400 flash unit with a Geekoto 48″ softbox without the grid. You could add a striplight from the other side to give a little bit of accent light.
During the workshop/assignment, I often shoot both ways because they can both give a totally different look and feel. Sometimes the client (or myself) likes the accent light more with certain poses and clothing. And sometimes the basic setup works best. If you want to go really “crazy” you can even add some gels to the set. But today we kept it more basic and as you can see the striplight just opens up the shadows a bit on one shot and gives a little bit of accent on the other. On the Geekoto commander, I can quickly change the settings of my strobes.

My main light I will normally not change, but accent lights I often adjust during the shoot.
Because I’m shooting tethered I can clearly see the effects of the setup and this also means I can more easily adjust my lights on the fly. Especially for the accent lights shooting tethered makes it possible to quickly adjust the lights to fit the poses and mood without leaving my spot 😀

Styling

Nadine did the styling for this set herself (as usual). She made the top with diamonds and glue. and sew a lot of jeans together.
We wanted some more unusual poses, and for me, it’s important that the model will find her/his own poses and “flow” through them. So I will often just coach which way to look or turn. But try to let the model find the poses her/himself. This way you prevent falling into the same poses over and over, plus it will just look way more natural.

Let’s take a look at some shots and then I’ll explain a bit more about the background and setup.

Backdrop

As you can see on the images I’m using a special background.
In a short time, this has become one of my absolute favorite backgrounds.

In this shoot I’m using the Click Backdrops Soft master grey background in the larger size pro fabric, this means it’s possible to use it as both the background and floor part. With this material, it’s also very easy to use tinting or gels and still get a very nice-looking effect in the background/floor. Here I’m using a slight (well okey slightly more than slight) blue tinting.

Motion

Now when we shoot images like this I also want a little bit of motion in the shot.
Motion doesn’t always mean models have to go crazy or leave orbit. You can add a little bit of motion by just raising a leg and slightly standing on her toes. Always remember that the model should point the toes downwards, otherwise, it looks really bad.

As you can see, just adding that little bit of “action” really enhances the shot.
It doesn’t mean the others are bad, they are just different. And again, you will sell more and get more clients when you offer variety in your work.

Angles

Most shots you’ve seen now have been done from a relative “standard” position.
However, when you want to enhance the action a bit it can really help to get a little bit closer to the model and shoot from a slightly lower angle with a slightly wider lens. This is one of the reasons I love to use the 24-79 F2.8 Gmaster from Sony.

As you can see the result is pretty amazing.

Phot

Photoshop for awesome fashion shots

I’ve used generative fill in Photoshop to fill in the sides.
By the way, did you know you now also find generative fill on the iPad in Photoshop?
And it works just as well for most things, which makes the iPad another step towards a real pro device.

Close up

Anyway, let’s continue.
Full body shots are great of course, but never forget to also get some close-ups.
Here I’m using a different tinting, but it’s the same setup.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out.
We really appreciate a share on social media.

Check out the short I made

Adding some color to totally change the look and feel, also with Nadine

See how I used the Soft Master Grey backdrop with Claudia

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

December 28, 2023/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

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.

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

December 24, 2023/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

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

December 22, 2023/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

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.