Here you can find the webinars and instructional videos I posted on the blog.

Using the foreground to add dimension to your images

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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

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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.

The difference between modifiers

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Want to know how to predict your light?

And of course how to use the different modifiers to create some images with impact?
Than this is the digital classroom for you.

In almost 2 hours I show you the difference between a lantern, normal softbox, striplights and our new Geekoto Quicky softbox.

You see the setups from 3 different angles, plus all the images I shoot.
And of course there is a boatload with information in there as usual.

So enjoy the brand new Digital Classroom.
With our stunning model Jannaika.

Never the black screen again when using strobes

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Black Screen on your camera when using strobes?

Oh, the black screen!

“This camera is unusable for studio use, that’s insane for such an expensive camera…. etc”
Countless of these kinds of bashing cameras can be found online, especially when the EVF in a camera was not as widely used as now. But why is the screen black when you are using strobes?

So what’s going on here?

In the older cameras, we used the sensor only as a replacement for film.
The image was still split into a part where you see the image, focus is done, etc., and a part where it’s hitting the sensor.
With the mirrorless cameras, everything changed.
First of all, we could get super accurate focus (well not at first, it was terrible at times) because you literally focus on the sensor, but we could now also use the viewfinder in a completely new way.

It started with the Sony A99

One day I got a call from Sony if I wanted to test a brand new camera that was “soon” to be released and do the press release in Dubai.
At the moment I wasn’t really into Sony. I was working with Canon cameras and absolutely loved the camera and the people at Canon (I still do :D)

But testing out new gear and getting carte blanche for my review, ……send it in.
Now there is a really funny story about batteries and Sony the Netherlands hanging up several times because they thought I was not serious seeing they didn’t know the camera yet. When it got solved I was literally stunned when looking through the viewfinder… this looks like fricking Topgun 😀
Yeah well, it was a huge improvement over the standard OVF (now I feel old).

The only problem with the A99 was the speed of the EVF. You probably remember the videos of people running through parking garages with their cameras and falling down because the EVF was too slow. In all honesty, when you do stuff like that it’s probably not just the EVF that has a … well ok it was funny 😀

Nowadays EVFs have greatly improved and yes you can now run around with them, although I would not recommend it.

Black Screen when using strobes.

But one problem remains; the black screen when using strobes

When you use the camera in the studio, the image you see through the viewfinder is totally black, and maybe when you press the shutter you can see a little bit of light. So what’s going on here?

The EVF actually does exactly what it’s supposed to do, it emulates the exposure….. ok let’s rewind.
Remember that A99?

Another thing that I found out with the EVF was that taking pictures outside was awesome, even the most difficult situations like backlighting were no problem anymore. Just change the exposure compensation till you see what you like and press the shutter. I called it the WYSIWYG display (What You See Is What You Get).

And this is the problem in the studio.
In a dark studio with the settings 1/125, F11, and ISO100 it should be 100% black in the viewfinder.
And of course, this also happened to me. And remember this was my first EVF. There was no manual and I had no contact person I could reach on the weekend. So, there was one solution, because this couldn’t be how it worked. I went through every single setting in the menu looking for something like LCD or EVF off. I couldn’t find it. Maybe it really was like this… no… ok now let’s try out all the settings. Finally I found a setting with the “not so clear for me” name “setting effect”. Because there was an option ON and OFF, I decided to go from ON to OFF… and like magic, there was my whole studio 😀

Black Screen when using strobes . A funny picture of a model with a camera

So the solution is actually pretty simple

In most cameras with an EVF, you can switch the EVF to roughly two modes.
One is an emulation of what you will get when you press the shutter with those settings.
and the other one is an emulation of what an OVF would show (optical view finder).

This means that in the studio we use the EVF on OFF and outside it’s in most cases best to leave it on ON.

On all cameras, the wording is a bit different but look for settings like “Emulation mode”, “Lighting emulation”, “Setting effect” etc.

To show it on my Sony A7RV I made a small video about the black screen when using strobes and how to solve it.
For this one, we made 2.
The first one is in English the second one is in Dutch.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.
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