About technique and more.

Using natural light and a bit of reflection

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The following shots were taking with natural light, well actually the last one (with the sun reflection) was a shot with added strobe.
Now one of the tips I want to share with this blogpost is looking for location.

 

Often we walk past location that look 100% uninteresting for our photoshoots, however if you look a little bit better/longer or, as I often call it, with your photography eyes some locations can be really nice. I always love reflections and windows are great for this, however I also love structure so older buildings are a true treat for me and I love using them to shoot against. This building actually is on the other side of the road from our studio and we often use it during our workshops or sessions (It always helps to have good relations with your neighbors :D)

 

Marie November 21 2013-86-Edit

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Using the sun in the shot

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Yesterday we looked at using the sun as the main lightsource, but today we take it one step further.
When using strobes (and even without) you can really play with including the sun into the shot, in the next series I used the Elinchrom Ranger RX to fill in the model while using the sun (in the frame) as a strong backlight and creating some interesting lens flares.

 

In these shots I also lowered the brightness of the sky to make it more dramatic, you can do this with a lot of power like the Elinchrom Ranger RX, but also with speed lights and the use of HSS (HighSpeedSync). As long as you lower the brightness of the sky in comparison to the strobe output.

 

Now we could of course just shoot Marie posing and rely on a great model, cool clothing and great light… but that’s not what the viewer will remember in the end. One of the most important things in a shot for me is the inclusion of a story, this can be done with adding props, sets etc. but also very simple by just giving some extra attention to the pose like you can see here.

Marie November 21 2013-74-EditIt can be just as simple as this, but as you can see when you see the rest of the shots, this image really tells a story while the other ones are just…. well nice. So the next time you’re on location try to not be afraid of the sun and give some extra attention to the posing of the model and lift your shot from ok to WOW.

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Using the sun as a hard light source

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We all know the sun, it’s that big bright thing in the sky.
It’s almost always there but still a lot of people are afraid of it to use it into their photography.
We all know the expression that you should shoot during certain time periods because otherwise the sun is not “nice” for the final shot. Well I agree with this in certain situations however with model photography I have to say that I love to shoot with real harsh light.

 

Today I share some images from Marie that were shot with just the sun as the light source, as you can see the shadows are really adding to the shot.
The difference between the two sets is that in one set I metered for the face and in the other set I metered towards in between the model and the sun, this creates two different looks from the same situation as you can see. You can of course also later do this in Lightroom or Photoshop but I strongly believe that you can better create it right on the set.

 

Anyway for today a tip that you should not be afraid for shooting in the bright harsh sunlight.
But make sure that you watch the shadow “play” it should really add something to the shot.

 

Marie November 21 2013-10-Edit

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Warm tones and paper

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Today a few images from a session with Nadine.
In this case I used the Elinchrom Deep Octa with a light tools grid aimed under an angle on Nadine.
By using a grid and aiming your light under an angle you can actually create a nice vignetting on the background.
By moving your model closer or further away from the background you can control not only the size but also the brightness of the background, in this case make sure you set this up before the model sits down.

Nadine November 11 RZ 2013-20-Edit

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