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.

Speedlight magic the tutorial

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I’m proud to announce a brandnew full length tutorial. And it’s available now.

First 50 orders will receive a free copy of the book in digital format.


Speedlight magic : an in-depth tutorial about the speedlight and round flash systems

Without any doubt the speedlight is one of the most creative tools in the photographers arsenal. Some call it strobist, some call it speedlights, or small flash… in essence this is the video for you and just for these strobes of course.

We talk about the techniques like HSS, Exposure compensation, First/Second curtain sync, Zoom, ETTL, manual etc. but we also cover my favourite accessories, information about remote controls and how to mount the strobes to a stand and of course there are several chapters with awesome lighting setups.

Everything is filmed and edited in 4K and shot from different angles so you can see the explained techniques very clearly. During the studio sessions you see all the images coming in while they are shot, and you get to see the finished results.

Speedlight magic is a video for everyone that is interested in working with the most creative strobe system that fits in almost every bag.

Run time : 70+ minutes

Get the video now at https://frankdoorhof.com/web/product/speedlight-magic-an-in-depth-tutorial-about-the-speedlight-and-round-flash-systems/

The many ways to use a beautydish

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The beautydish is probably one of those modifiers that you can find in every studio in the world. And probably when you start with portraits or fashion it’s one of the first things you buy.

But why use it just one or two ways when you can do so much more;). So in this video we take a look at the Hensel beautydish and the possibilities.

Stripdagen

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As you all know besides being a photographer I have a passion for guitars… and comics.
Now for people that are not familiar with strips, let me explain very quickly.

Strips are not comics, but also … well they are.
The format is different and comes close to trade paperbacks, but the “feeling” is different.
Most strips I grew up with were Donald Duck, De Generaal, OB Bommel, Kuifje, Suske en Wiske, Garfield, Lucky Luke etc. etc. there are a lot. Most strips are app 49-50 pages and are in a semi hard cover (flexibel, not like a comic, more like a trade paperback).

Now my personal favourites from my youth were Storm and Trigie, Both were awesome for their artwork but also for the insanely well written stories.

For the real difference between strips and comics is very hard to explain, expect for the size. Although most people think when they hear comics about Batman, Superman etc. my personal favourites are actually EC comics, which comes very close to strips because they contain several short stories and are not just aimed at super heroes. And comics can also be filled with Donald Duck, Garfield etc. And let’s be honest in the end it doesn’t really matter right?

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s show some images I shot during my visit at the stripdagen.
Normally I would probably not visit shows like this (books are way too expensive) but in this case I was there for our friends from Reboot Comics and Felisa (our model) to help with some interviews.

And let’s start with this.
Part of the interviews was shot in an empty room and I was sitting on the side, taking care of video and audio and I just couldn’t help but notice this amazing light. So after the interview I asked him to stay there to take a photo. His first response was “why….?” till he saw the shot…. sometimes you just have to be ready 😀

This is Willem Vleeschouwer.

And yes when you squeeze your eyes together he does resemble our friend Joe McNally just a bit.

 

Ok, let’s keep the blogpost a bit shorter and lets just share the images I shot during my time off during the day.
These were just shot for fun, so be gentle 😀

Click on one of the images to open up the gallery.
Enjoy

Bring some Hollywood in your images

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Sometimes you come across software that is truly unique.

Most software that you find online are variants of each other, eg Lightroom, Photoshop or they are focused on a specific part of the workflow such as tinting, skin processing, etc. But there is always a variant of a variant to be found. That’s why I was really surprised by BorisFX Optics.

As a big film lover I regularly see light effects of which you as a photographer know that it is as fake as can be… but oh how beautiful it is in the context of the film, think of the beautiful glow around street lighting in the fog on a warm summer evening, realize that there was no fog at all but it was added through special effects….

When we think of special effects we often think of space ships, talking mice, etc. but what we often don’t think about is that special effects are also used to add fog, glow, lens flares, smoke, etc. to a scene to increase the atmosphere. in a movie, and it’s just often easier to add it later than to fog up an entire street perfectly.

But also fire and particles are part of special effects, just think of a scene where someone walks into a burning house, all those small fire particles of burning paper/material… huge chance that these are all special effects.

The software that is used a lot for this could be labeled as the big brother of BorisFX Optics. And this is also very clear by the huge amount of options and very realistic looks.

There is a lot of software where you can work with overlays for smoke, for example, but I have never seen software where you can literally let the smoke pass by like a movie via a multitude of sliders and choose EXACTLY where you want the smoke, and even then you can still change a staggering amount of things building the perfect smoke. And believe it or not but almost every effect you choose has a similar slider choice, if you don’t get the desired effect with this I wouldn’t know what to do.

Anyway, isn’t this “cheating”?
Yes and no.
What I personally have trouble with is when people make no effort at all for correct lighting or styling and then try to make a photo interesting through all kinds of filters, and although sometimes you can get some very nice results, it is a completely different result if what I have in mind when I shoot a scene.

Of course you can always say that if it is not caught by the camera, it is not real… but…. then I wonder how do you see a black mist filter, which makes a lens flare clearly stronger?

And that’s basically how I see BorisFX Optics too.
I’m still trying to get the photo 100% correct in the camera, I build the whole set, put the lighting in the right places, use smoke etc. etc. But after the shoot I use BorisFX Optics to turn everything “on”, the lens flare is already in the photo, but in the retouch process you can enhance it with eg BorisFX Optics and really give it your look and feel. The same applies to turning on a spot just a little bit extra, it is there, but you make it just a bit clearer, or enhance the glow of an old tube amp…  I personally have no problem with that at all.

And let’s be honest, in the end we still made the photo ourselves and went through the entire process in the software and that is a completely creative process, only instead of just colors we now also add atmosphere in a photo which otherwise would not have been possible, and this makes it possible for me as a film enthusiast to give photos a much more film look.

In the coming months I will make several videos about BorisFX Optics, you can find them on our YouTube channel and of course from this site.

► Get 20% off Boris FX Optics via https://bit.ly/3zpQLzZ and use coupon code: doorhof-optics22