Behind the closed DOORs July 1 2016
In todays episode a glamour photoshoot with Ingrid, recording a new video segment, we’re packing for the workshop in Germany, picking up the RV and…. the winner of the MacPhun competition.
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.
Tip : colors and expression and styling and….
In a good photo everything has to fit together.
During a recent cosplay shoot we had one of the final setups with a beautiful young lady holding two guns and blowing bubble gum… now in my opinion that didn’t belong in a side lit dark situation, but I wanted something more like a spotlight.
During sets like this you always have to look at the outfit, the look you want from the image (the mood) but also of course what the model wants. So we decided on (my choice) the pink backdrop with a spot on the model creating a focused light source where the model really jumped out. So lighting ok, colors ok, outfit ok… now the rest.
The first shot was easy, just blow some bubble gum (see top image).
After this I wanted more so I asked the model to smile like crazy, almost insane… well she did ok but it was not what I wanted.
A cool tip to get this MUCH MUCH better is let the model MOVE… yeah you heard it right MOVE… in this case I asked her if she heard about “scarface” and his final scene where he screams “say hello to my little friends” while he waves his machine-guns around. After 2 testshots we ended up with the final shot you see here… the guns might be a bit blurry but the result of the smile is (in my opinion) MUCH better.
So don’t overthink the technique… sometimes it’s better to have a slight blur in a gun (they were moving really fast) and an awesome shot, than have everything sharp and an OK shot, dare to be extreme boys and girls 😀
Behind the closed DOORs June 30 2016
In todays episode we visit a Wacom demo and I give you my opinion on using Wacom products.
Also a talk about the frustrating experience of companies always blaming the customers that they are “stupid”
And the MacPhun give away of course
Tip : Think about your lighting
Lighting a model isn’t as easy as 123 just throw the strobe somewhere.
Sometimes when people see me lighting a set it might look that way, but remember that I’ve done it before (at least a few times), and in my mind I already have a pretty good idea about what I want to do.
One of the most made mistakes, and hey this is my opinion, is to light the model too flat when the idea is to create a nice dark atmosphere. First of all I would advise to start with gridded strobes, this means you can really steer the light towards your subject and create a sort of spot effect. The next thing is actually light your subject from an angle, this way you can create more contrast. You can also achieve this of course by moving around your subject.
Sounds weird or complicated?
Let’s show you.
These shots were done during a recent cosplay set.
Here we have the model lit properly but it’s…. well a bit boring.
There’s nothing really wrong with the image itself, the model is lit from an angle, the set shows up, but…. well I just don’t “feel” the shot.
So let’s change my position.
In my opinion much much better.
The problem is however that we are shooting a cosplayer and not a model that knows exactly what to do in front of the camera, now don’t get me wrong she was awesome but sometimes it’s hard to pose for a still image, so as a photographer you should help out, and one of the best things is actually give the model something to do, make her “experience” the pose. In this case we used her dragons (her own idea by the way). And as you can see the image looks a lot better.
My model now has a real sense of that something is going on and I love the lighting and angle in this shot.
So the next time you shoot something, MOVE around the set, find that contrast, don’t always go for the “straight on lighting”, but really work the angles.
Good luck.
