About technique and more.

Using the foreground to add dimension to your images

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Sometimes we need something extra

We all know that when we want to show scale it’s handy to include something to show the scale.
In the case of a mountain we can of course place some people in front but today we are doing something else.

During the workshop “on location in Emmeloord” the challenge is to find locations that look not so interesting but still create some cool images.
If you ever visited our studio you know there always was an old building just in front of our studio, it didn’t look nice but it had some great walls to shoot against 😀 one of them actually made it into my signature ClickBackDrop backgrounds.

Recently they demolished the building and we ended up with a large empty building area.
Of course a great option for this workshop.

The lighting setup was pretty simple, one Geekoto with a large reflector shooting on manual mode.
During the workshops we have to shoot with so called universal triggers due to the different camera brands that are used during a workshop, this means we can’t use extra options like HSS and ETTL.  

The setup itself was ok.

But I wanted something more. Something to give the image more dimension and framing.
Because I’m shooting from a very low angel I decided to include a few of the flowers in the frame.

This already made a huge impact.
But because Nadine is pregnant we also needed a slightly different pose, and I slightly tilted the camera for a nice effect and include the sun.

I also shot on extra image from a slightly higher angle to experiment with.
I ended up with a darker look which to my surprise became the favourite image for Nadine 😀
So always shoot something different, you never know what hits the spot.

Now that we talked about the setups and the framing of the shot, let’s take a look at the video from this setup.

Also want to visit a workshop?

Today I showed you one of the  different sets we did during the workshop outside with Geekoto strobes “on location in Emmeloord” with Nadine.
During the workshops I always try to use 3-4 different setups explaining different techniques and of course it’s a great way to get a good addition to your portfolio.

If you think “that’s for me”
Than visit photography-workshops.eu for the Dutch workshops.
But if you are not living in the Netherlands or don’t speak Dutch we also have other options.
If you let is know 2 weeks in advance I can teach the workshop you want to visit in English.
Or if you can’t travel to our studio we also now offer the option to get a full 1:1 experience with 5 different camera angles, lightroom/Photoshop view and a talkback channel, you also get all the raw files and retouched results from the workshop. Visit our online workshops page for more info.

Working on location with strobes and making something boring interesting

/0 Comments/in , , /by

From the workshop on location in Emmeloord

During the workshop “on location in Emmeloord” we scout for locations that look not so interesting but the challenge is to create some cool images anyway. This is a great training exercise because let’s be honest in most cases working on location is not as superb as often hoped for, but we are still expected to deliver awesome images.

For me there are a few different things I use to make a location look more interesting.

The first is of course the location itself, I try to find angles or other details (small or large) that I can use, or that I don’t want in the shot.
In this location we loved the onion crates, they blocked off the sunlight for a large part, which is always handy when working in the bright sun. The less direct sunlight on the model the better in this case.

After I have something in my mind for the general location I’m going to use in the set it’s of course time for the lighting.
In this case I’m using the Geekoto strobes aimed at our model Nadine from the side to create a nice light patten on the crates. Although this was nice we wanted something more, so I added a blue gel to the set. But as you can see in the video and images we started with a more flat lighting setup.

Of course we can talk about, but often a video is much better, so here we go 😀

And also lets take a look at the images separately

Also want to visit a workshop?

Today I showed you the results from one of the sets we did during the workshop outside with Geekoto strobes “on location in Emmeloord” with Nadine.
During the workshops I always try to use 3-4 different setups explaining different techniques and of course it’s a great way to get a good addition to your portfolio.

If you think “that’s for me”
Than visit photography-workshops.eu for the Dutch workshops.
But if you are not living in the Netherlands or don’t speak Dutch we also have other options.
If you let is know 2 weeks in advance I can teach the workshop you want to visit in English.
Or if you can’t travel to our studio we also now offer the option to get a full 1:1 experience with 5 different camera angles, lightroom/Photoshop view and a talkback channel, you also get all the raw files and retouched results from the workshop. Visit our online workshops page for more info.

A cool set with clickbackdrops

/0 Comments/in , /by

Building a set can be easy

Using a set in your photoshoot adds a lot.
When I started out with modelphotography I mostly shot on seamless (paper) and although it was a lot of fun working with different colors at one point you get a bit bored with it and I started with using custom walls with paint, structure or wallpaper.

A few years ago we came into contact with clickbackdrops and loved their huge selection of prints and the materials vinyl and especially pro-fabric (which mimics the old vintage canvas backgrounds without all the disadvantages)

Today in the blog some images I shot during a workshop with Felisa.
During this workshop I used the “boho drapes” background which can be used without anything extra and gives a real sense of shooting on an old fashioned set.
But it becomes much more interesting when you start to add some props.

In this case I added a chair for the model but also some branches with faint lights and a nice lamp.
For the workshop this is was a great setup to experiment with mixing light sources, finding interesting angles and of course also shoot some images without the strobes.

By using props in front of a scenic backdrop and taking into to account the way the shadows fall on your backdrop you can quickly create something that looks like it was shot on a cool vintage location.

During the workshops I always try to include several “challenges” into the sets and mixing light sources is always one that is often requested.
In essence the technique is not that hard, but you need to realise some important facts.

The continuous lights are of course a lot less bright than the strobes.
The strobes however are just a pulse, and after the pulse they don’t emit light anymore, so when you shoot images like this it can be cool to leave the modelling lights on, but if you need longer shutter speeds it’s important to disable the modelling lights, if you use the longer shutter speeds the strobe will freeze the model, but the modelling lights will start to register on the model at one point, so if you don’t want this make sure you only use the pulse of the strobe.

Let’s set the shot up

For a quick setup I’m using a lightmeter.
The Geekotos I’m using can go really low in their output, which is a huge benefit for these kind of setups where you mix faint light sources with strobes.
With the Geekotos it actually often means that I don’t have to use them on the lowest setting, which gives me more headroom to correct the balance without having too much noise in my images. If you use strobes that are more powerful or can’t go lower on their output it can help to choose a different light shaper, for example a striplight with grid will eat light while a metal reflector will boost your output. If you tried everything and just can’t go low enough think about adding a ND filter to your strobe (not the lens).

But let’s continue with my setup.
First I will meter the strobe on the lowest setting, when I know my aperture I will raise the ISO on the lightmeter till I hit that aperture (the light meter will calculate the aperture in real time when you change the ISO values).

Now it’s important to put the camera in the “exposure compensation” mode when using an EVF.
Look at the EVF and change the shutterspeed till you like the output of the lights.
Longer shutter speeds means more light from the continuous lighting, and as long as you don’t change the output of the strobes and ISO the shutterspeed will have to influence on your strobe output (as long as you take into account the Xsync of your strobes, max shutterspeed).

As you can see it workshops great when you mix continuous lighting with strobes.
I love to keep the color of the continuous lighting warmer than the mainlight, but if you want to correct the strobe to mimic the color temperature of the continuous  lighting you can use so called Color Correction gels.

Workshops

During the workshops we always try to shoot at least 3 different setups with different challenges, if you want to visit one of the workshops visit fotografie-workshops.nl
The workshops are in Dutch but if you let us know a few weeks in advance we can switch to English.
We are also now offering online 1:1 workshops live from our studio, where you can ask questions, see all the light setups via 4 cameras and see the whole retouch process.

 

How I approach a business shoot

/0 Comments/in , /by

Dentists “kruispunt”

Most of the work I post is from our workshops model photography or street/travel photography.
But we do a lot more of course, including business shoots.

Today I want to share some tips on how I approach our clients and why we score the shoots.

The first thing I always do is know my client.
When a client approaches us I always try to find out what kind of company they are, how do they work together, what is the team like and of course what do they want to have as an imago. One of the questions I try to avoid is “what do you look for?”

In most cases this is why you/we are hired, to create something where the client will recognise themselves in.

In our first conversation I often already have some ideas I bounce off to the client, and during that conversation you will find out that the client will open up a lot more and share much more information when you pay attention than you would ever get by just asking “what do you want?”. In this case it was immediately clear this is a very modern practice with people that love to work together and is a real team.

Before the “real shoot” I always try to visit the location to look around and see if we need extra lighting or other gear, and if somethings need to be moved or removed. This is a vital part of a successful business shoot because although your client might be comfortable in front of your camera, often the people working there have other opinions when a stranger just points a camera in their faces. So that first visit before the shoot is vital to get to know the people, joke around a bit and make yourself known, this will not only speed up the real shoot but also give you a huge headstart because now everyone knows what’s going to happen, and if you make it fun they will mirror this.

Standard, or not

This client was the kind  I love the most, they didn’t want to use any stock photography. Every shot had to be unique for their practice and the people that work there. But they also wanted unique images for their service/pages fitting the subject. So I started with shooting some close ups of the tools and rooms, and most shoots will probably stop there because that would be exactly what they needed. But if you really want your clients to come back you have to deliver much more. And in this case I knew they were very involved with patients that were afraid of the dentist.

“When we have a patient that is afraid, we always ask our receptionist to hold her/his hand, this really calms them down”

So I knew that one of the images for the page about fear, would have to show this.

But we also wanted some images that were a bit more tongue in cheek and different.
So for one image I decided to put away my fear and sit in the chair with a 12mm wide angle.

But we didn’t stop there.
They also work a lot with kids so we decided we needed some images that showed the dentist as a fun person and is nothing to be afraid off.
The actually used a puppet to show how to brush your teeth and of course this was the perfect prop. The only problem was that it’s a slightly older puppet and the teeth were all yellow, but although I’m not a dentist this was something I could easily fix in Photoshop.

By using the wide angle I got the effect I wanted.

And for the page prosthetics I could not resist to also make a funny looking shot.

Do remember that the images in this blog are the more funny, extreme ones.
For me during a business shoot I always try to shoot as much “stock like” images as possible from different angles and depth of field settings. You never know what works best in the design of a website, so also experiment with the angle and flow of your images. By giving your client different angles and directions in your images you never have to say to your client “sorry we did not shoot that”.

But besides these “stock” photos I always feel it’s important to capture the essence of the brand/company/client. And this is were you start to use the information you gathered about the company.

In this case I knew they were dynamic and modern and in for some fun. So this is why at the end of the session we did one more shot.
This one will probably not end up on the website but it can function as an awesome sociale media headshot 😀

During a business shoot I shoot a lot of images that are usable for websites and show tools and rooms, but to get the ones that really capture the essence of a business/client you have to know them. So always take your time and don’t do the shoot as a photographer but as a friend, it will hugely impact your business.

For business shoots and much more visit www.studiofd.nl