About technique and more.

Something old…… or not ?

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Lots of photographers started with shooting analogue and I’m no exception.
I remember vividly that my parents and grandparents always were busy with photography and of course they had their own darkrooms, first only B&W but later on also color, and I loved it…. So I guess that’s were I got bitten by the bug called photography.

I’ve shot many rolls of film as hobby on my Practica and Kodak cameras, mostly of ducks, cats, nature and streets.
Nothing too spectaculair.

Then came digital
Wow, that’s cool you don’t have to change rolls and you can shoot lots and lots of images wow.
Well as with most wows there is always a catch.
My first point and shoot camera was awesome, although very expensive and less than 1MP, but I still loved it and took it with us on our honeymoon, and to be honest although the resolution is totally laughable now the quality was not even that bad. My next camera was more advanced but I more and more missed that great DOF I got from my 35mm practica, but hey what can you do digital is IT………
I tried one more P&S camera, the HP850 and although this was a more advanced camera with aperture settings (what I wanted) I still could not get that nice DOF I wanted back, so I decided to look further……

Soon I ended up with the Canon 10D, my first digital SLR and man did I love it, the 10D was followed but the 20D and after a few years I decided it was time to go to Full Frame and enter the original 5D, times were perfect and everything was great.

Well until I got my hands on a medium format camera, listen to me NEVER but I mean NEVER try that ?
You will fall in love, wake up in the middle of the night craving for that camera, and to be honest all my 5D files looked flat and soft. So I upgraded to a Mamiya 645AFD/II which was a nice camera, for the back I first tried the ZD from Mamiya but I did not like the quality of that back and within a few weeks I got my money back and I upgraded to the Leaf Aptus22 which till today I still love (although I upgraded to an AptusII7 for other reasons).

Back in time
When I taught the workshops in Los Angeles one of my students pointed me towards someone who was selling his analogue back for the 645AFD/II and because the pricing was right I decided to buy it and experiment with film again. I bought my first roll of MF film at Sammy’s and shot some graffiti and developed the film the same day. That was the begin of a strange love affair with film.

Bad is good
Somehow with digital you always know what you’re gone get (with a good workflow).
With analogue this is also true for many photographers who stacked their fridges with the same stock to get the same outcome over and over. But to be honest when I shoot digital I’m 100% satisfied with the results and there are hardly any surprises…… So were am I going with this story.

When I dove into the analogue again I decided to first buy some different roles of film and just experiment with the different looks you could get, and let myself be surprised every time the roles came back, see something I like and maybe buy some more roles of film. But in the end I ended up hunting down film that was over the date and I love underexposing it, or overexposing and just see what happens, luckily we still have a lab were I can order my negatives to be done manually with the speed I tell them. It’s never 100% perfect compared to digital but somehow I just love the outcome but sometimes I also think it was a waste of time and money.

B&W
What I love however about shooting analogue is B&W.
There are great filters like NIK silverfx or Alienskin but when I load the Mamiya with a 3200ISO Illford or a 400ASA Tmax I know I’m gone fall in love with the outcome. In this blog post you can see some images that have one thing in common, they are all shot on film, and as you can see they are not perfect. All the film is over the date, a little or a lot. Most are underexposed and corrected in development, or in other words this is just my fun pool. I will always shoot analogue and digital from the same scene to make 100% sure I also get the digital files.

6×7 the real deal
Although 6×4.5 is great, I really got a feel for shooting analogue when I bought the RZ67ProII, a monster camera that to be honest I only bought for shooting film, nothing else. Well that was until I looked through the finder and thought that digital would be incredible with this camera, the lenses are mega sharp and the contrast is great, and to be honest I just love the way the shutter sounds and the camera looks. The main advantage from shooting MF digital is that you just remove the back from the 645 and mount it on the 6×7 (welcome crop factor, ouch). I stil love to shoot film with the 645 but I actually shoot most of my film with the RZ67ProII of course, when you get the film back from the lab the large images jump of the film. The first time I got the film back the man behind the counter wanted to look at them and was in awe of the colors (slidefilm) and the sharpness.

Scanning and polaroid
Many people ask me what I do to get the images in the PC/Mac.
Well I keep it simple. I use an Epson V700 for scanning the negatives/slides but I do use a betterscanning unit to get more sharpness in the scans, the original Epson holder is nice but far from perfect. And as mentioned before, shooting film is my “fun” and the scans from the Epson can be printed to A2 size without a problem so that’s good enough for me.

The most recent addition to my film shooting experience is the polaroid back for the RZ67ProII.
When I grew up my parents used polaroids and I did have one laying around in the studio for ages but never used it anymore, expect maybe as a prop, but with the new found love for analogue I decided to buy some film for it (still available at that time) and fell in love with the instant “mess” you could get from the polaroids. The version for the RZ however really surprised me, I’ve scanned some polaroids and they make great A4 prints compared to the consumer polaroid I have here that’s a huge difference. At the moment polaroid is saved by the impossible project and I still have to order something from them and keep telling myself I will soon……….

I don’t believe in the stories that analogue is better than digital, both are different but when handled correctly I strongly feel that digital is much more “perfect”, film however has that “rebel” look, that unpredictable cast, that amazing hues, the amazing “noise” in B&W and the incredible….. oh well…… you know what I mean.

If you have an old camera lying around, load it up with some overtime film and shoot some images.
Send them to me and I will post them on the blog, if you’re an avid film shooter, send me some files and I will also post them.
If you’ve never shot film, buy a cheap camera and have fun I tell you you will love it.
When shooting ASA3200 film try to push yourself to experiment with very little light, the last image for example was shot with just a bare lightbulb.

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Besides models…..

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Although you might think I’m only shooting models you are not 100% correct.
My passion for photography goes much further but over the years we have become so busy that in practice indeed it’s almost only modelphotography I do, but hey you don’t hear me complain of course 😀


Being abroad
However when being in other countries for workshops or seminars I’m always carrying around a camera and I often shoot way too much material, my wife often claims I look like the stereotype japanese tourist that shoots everything standing still or moving and I guess….. well as always she probably is right. But how can one resist, there is often so much going on and because I only have the opportunity during those trips I want to use it of course to the max. As a country I just love the states, the open roads, the billboards, the people, the cities and nature it’s all for me shoot worthy. My record at the moment must be New York however were we returned home with over 350GB of material (including video) and to be honest I already deleted while in New York what I did not want to keep. You can see the collection on www.frankdoorhof.com/portfolio by the way.

Recently I visited Florida to film some classes for www.kelbytraining.com and as with all trips to the states we try to have a few days free time before and a few days free after the workdays, often not that much but just enough to get a good impression from the area. One would expect a photographer to be drawn to nature or skylines or beaches etc. and I have to admit we visited a lot of those places and the files are still waiting to be sorted and worked on (can take several months) but the images that always really catch my eye are those that are not what a normal tourist would shoot. I’m always drawn to those areas were you are often warned for, for example I loved the series I shot in South Central in LA, or on First street in LA both areas where they say you should better not go. Call me crazy but I don’t want to shoot the same image of the Statue of Liberty that everyone has, I want that area were people would say “where is that ? I’ve never seen that, and I’ve been there many times”.

My luck is that Annewiek (my wife) also is not someone for the tourist traps, of course we want to see Universal, and next time we’re in Florida we want to go to Seaworld but often we are done very quickly. A student of mine once organized a three day sightseeing trip, he would drive us around and show his area, three days ? we were finished at the end of day 1 😀 why spend 90 minutes at a location were you can see everything in 10 minutes ? I guess we want to maximize the time we have. So in other words we are always looking around for strange and not touristy like options to take a quick shot.

The normal thing
For me during our Florida trip the following images are the ones I love and wanted to share on my blog. Because we also have some dirty clothes during several days (as most of you) we have several options, we can let the hotel do the washing but somehow we always end up in the coin launderettes not because it’s cheaper but while sitting there you can often get a few nice shots.

Feeling like a criminal, but not always
Things have changed since 9/11 and to be honest a lot I agree upon and makes me feel a little bit safer, but as a photographer lives has become harder and harder. It now is at a point that I often feel like a criminal just because I love taking images. On a recent trip to Coventry it all came to a climax for me (and I think my experience is peanuts compared to what happens to others) when a security guard forced me to empty my card….. it made the frontpage of the newspaper because I blogged about it so a lot of photographers are having this frustation.
You must know that feeling when you enter a nice restaurant with wonderful decorations (let’s say Johnny Rockets) and you want to take a shot of the interior, in the time of my grandparents, personal would pose and act funny and you could take a shot. Today I have to almost secretly quickly take an image when I’m sure no one is watching, and even then sometimes the manager will come and ask not to shoot in side (he saw it on his security camera)…. what’s wrong with taking an image for my own collection… it should be a compliment that I love his restaurant so much I want to save it for future memories.

However it can also be different I found out during our trip in Florida.While our wash was getting cleaner and cleaner we ended up in a small sandwich place next to the launderette to get something to drink and eat, and I don’t have to tell you I love those kind of places, very photogenic and always different. The guy behind the counter saw my camera and started talking to me, in my head I thought “ok, no images here he spotted the camera” but within a minute or so he asked me if I wanted to take a shot while he was preparing a pizza….. well of course I want, I wish everyone asked that 😀
And to be honest why not ? I really don’t understand that whole issue about photography, I gave the guy my card and he has some nice images and I have a great shot I can keep for my memories of this trip. That’s the way photography should be, great memories captured forever. Both parties benefit.

Are you a professional photographer ?
How often is this question being asked to you ?
“can you shoot the moon with that lens ?”, “Look honey that’s the camera I want”
We all know these probably.
But what happened to me on the way to the airport back from Tampa was new.
We stopped at a wafflehouse to have some breakfast and when we left an nice older gentlemen approached me and asked me if I was a professional photographer, because I already took my “secret” shots inside and he did not look like management I said “Yes”. As it seemed the gentleman was running for a place in government and wanted me to take his portrait next to his car, well how often do you get a change like that out of the blue, and I don’t mean to shoot a maybe politician but I mean a real character (and I mean this in the positive sense of the word), I love to shoot real people with what they love and I have way too little time for that and often the people I want to shoot have similar schedules to mine, so I jumped to the opportunity. The next photo is the one I choose for myself, and I send a few more to him. Somehow people have a certain expression of pride or passion when you shoot them in character and that’s something that I often miss in the modeling world and what I’m after during those trips, but as mentioned before since 9/11 it’s just very difficult to shoot people on the street let alone really focus on them….. Maybe I should just walk up to people more and ask ?

Do you have stories to share, opinions, tips etc. use the comment button on top and post your comment…..

I’m not a wedding photographer, although……

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When one of your favorite models who has been one of my muze s for many years asks you what can you say ?

Marie joined our models some years ago and has been in some of my favorite concepts and locations. Her casting was one of a big reset, she mailed me many times to join the model group I was working with at that time and to be honest the images she mailed me did not convince me…… however finally I decided to give her a chance (hopefully after that she would stop mailing :D), she came in and was more interesting than on the webcam shots she mailed me, but I was not convinced yet. Her posing was not that good and she was obvious nervous. After 10 minutes she said “Wait a minute Frank” went to the makeup room and stayed there for a few minutes, she came back a model…. her posing was awesome and she really was someone completely different after the big reset.
After this test shoot Marie joined me on countless photoshoots, workshops, advertising campaigns etc. etc. there was no idea to crazy of Marie would be up for it and she always nailed it, I have only a few models that I trust with almost every assignment and she is one of them.One day during a workshop she was not feeling well but she really shined, the best images I ever got from here, until I turned around and heard a big bang. Marie collapsed and was totally out. Now one advantage when you call 112 (911) and say that a model has fainted in a photo studio is that within 3 minutes there was an ambulance and they took good care of Marie. The good news arrived a few weeks later…. Marie was pregnant.
We never lost contact but it was quiet for some time, getting a child is a huge change of course. But a few weeks ago Marie got the urge again to pose and who did she ask…… 😀 yep she still got it. During that session she told me she was getting married and wanted to invite me…. yeah sure….. and yes very soon the question followed that she would love me to take the shots after the ceremonie, and what can you say to one of your favorite models ? “yes I will”.

The shots during the normal day were in the capable hands of another of my favorite models…. Corine 😀 yep she also picked up the camera and is doing some fine work, so it was fun in the church with both of us shooting the ceremonie because let’s be honest as a photographer you can sit front stage and when you already have your camera with you, what else to do to kill time.

I won’t bore you with the normal ceremony shots but I do want to share these shots with you, it was raining and they had to go the diner of course so I had to work really fast (although they had given me all the time, I just don’t feel it’s proper to take more time than needed). With this kind of sessions I always aim for 2 great shots that they will love and can hang on the wall, however I understand it are no model shots so I try to coach as little as possible and just let them be themselves and a good couple they are to shoot.

Technical information:
Camera : Canon 5DMKII
Lens : Canon 24-105 f4 IS L
Strobe : Elinchrom Quadra with 1 head and a shoot thru umbrella
Session time : app 10 minutes

From this side I would like to congratulate Marie and Symen (and Tijs) wish her all the best in her future, and of course hope to see her many times in front of my camera again.
And hoping for a lot of crazy themes, outfits and locations.
Marie you still rock 😀

The need to understand the light…..

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Actually a repost and slightly changed topic of something I did before, but I strongly believe this is a very vital piece so I also added it to this blog, feel free to comment or ask questions.
I get ALOT of questions about how I get the look in the shots I take and post. According to

 

most it must be some secret photoshop trick, or some very expensive camera and glass. Although I do use photoshop and a MF camera this is however not where it comes from. I have started teaching workshops and releasing instructional DVDs for the simple reason I found out that 99% of the photographers asking these questions are not shooting the way it supposed to be. I’m a firm believer that when you setup a shoot you should have the correct results straight out of the camera, or if you know your workflow use the light needed to get the endresult you want. There is NO way you can fix something in photoshop that is better than when you shot it right from the start.

 

About the workshops
In the workshops I try to teach photographers to go back to the state where you can trust your lightsetup and get stunning results straight out of the cam (and use photoshop to finish it, although it’s not really necessary to be honest for some people). What we do in the workshops is teach the students how light works, and more importantly how to manipulate the light and how to measure it. I don’t believe in all the urban legends about the histogram and fix it in photoshop. I teach the students how to calibrate their meter and how the system works, in other words your meter and understanding the light are the most powerful weapons a photographer can have. This way you will never ever wonder if your black background will turn black or if your white background will still show a little detail or should blow out.
But with the basic knowledge you can also very easily calculate the appearance of a background, or in other words raise the exposure on the background to exactly what you want, (or lowering of course).

 

Only studio ?

Some people will say that this only applies for studio work but I disagree, I also use the same techniques outside. With the proper techniques you can make a day turn into night or get the wonderful pastel almost blown out backgrounds, and you will never have to guess anymore. (and anything in between). Remember that in the old days the photographers also had to trust on their metering and knowledge (although polaroid helps :D). In the workshops you will learn to understand the light and with that you can manipulate it. After the workshops you will never have to wonder how a certain shot was done, because you can see it and with the knowledge you can recreate it yourself. Also take note that alot of great photographs are not only light or photoshop. Theme/styling/pose/Makeup etc. are all vital for the succes of the photo.
Communicating with your model (coaching) is something that is also very difficult for a lot of photographers, in the workshops there is a lot of attention for this part, which in my opinion is about the most important for a session. You can have the most stunning light setup and the most expensive camera, but if you have no model you can’t shoot it. Working with the models is often talked about but never appriciated the way it should be, that’s why in the workshops I will give the students pointers in how to pose your model, look for compositions and most importantly how to work with models to get them to do what you want in the photograph.
So in short.
There is no photoshop trick to give you stunning results. There are simple lighting tricks that can look stunning without a big investment or dragging a whole studio outside. When you have a technique that relies heavely on photoshop (like the populair animated look) remember that the basis for that shot ALWAYS is the lightsetup, when taking for example Dave Hill you can never get that look if you don’t use the lightsetup he uses. Working with composition/posing/styling and communicating with your model is just as important as previous mentioned items.
So please don’t think that I can give you a simple trick in photoshop that explains everything. Also I can’t give you lightsetups from my work to simply copy, when you don’t understand how to measure them the exact setup will not work. Buy one of the DVDs or visit the workshops and learn how to do it yourself and get stunning results straight out of the camera, it seems a commercial remark but don’t read it like that, I strongly believe that the knowledge about light/color etc. is something that every photographer needs to master to get good results. In the workshops you will not learn how to setup one lightsetup. You will learn to use the light the way YOU want it, to manipulate difficult situations and how to get the end result you have in your mind by learning the compositions and communication between your model and you.
When you are done with the workshops you will be able to workout your ideas and will not be limited by expensive gear (which you don’t need) or light situations that you think you can’t manipulate.
Conclusion
I’ve been teaching for some years now and am very active online, 99% of the questions are about getting that wonderful shot that is shown as sample, however the questions are always about photoshop and the images shown that should look like sample are totally different lightwise, somehow people really expect a wonder filter for photoshop that makes everything else. For me it’s very simple, learn how to take the shot, learn to understand and look at the light, work your shadows and angles and you will improve considerably as a photographer, photoshop for me is about 5-10 minutes per shot but only to make it 100% the way I want it and I can’t fix on location (like skin etc.) I will however not take away shadows or change the light.

 

Understand how a light meter works and you will see it makes your live so much easier. I always try to visit some fellow photographers or clubs when we are on the road and it sometimes puzzles me why I guess 90% of the photographers are NOT using a light meter, when I teach the seminars sometimes people even walk away because I start about light meters, the people who stay (luckily 99.9%) often come to me after the seminar and say they sold their light meter but will now buy a new one.It all boils down however to the simple principle that photography should be, photography means painting with light, not with magical filters or photoshop, so when you see a shot you really like first try to make that shot in camera, without any tricks, and than you often find out that the photoshop work is often very minimal (mostly color adjustments).
You also don’t ask a landscape photographer for his lightsetup.
You know it’s all in the light and composition.
Why fake it when you can create it.


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To see the light you have to understand the light.
To understand the light you HAVE to see the light.