Tag Archive for: clickbackdrops

No more wrinkles in your backdrops

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One of the biggest frustrations can be easily solved

As a photographer, I love backdrops.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with seamless paper, but from an early stage, I began painting walls and using wallpaper to create more realistic or interesting backgrounds. But when you change your backdrops a lot, you need backdrop clamps. I tell you why.

backdrop clips

Click Backdrops

A few years ago, we were introduced to Click Backdrops (a brand we now also sell), and I was immediately impressed by the quality of their backdrops. Proper shadows, high-contrast vinyl (without hot spotting), and the very nice pro fabric, which photographs as well as the famous canvas backdrops, without the known issues of wrinkles and damage over time.

Backdrops on location

But you also want to be able to shoot on location without sacrificing what you are used to in the studio.
We have several compact portable systems, and with a large car, there is no reason you cannot bring the ProFabric or vinyl backdrops.
However, for most people it would be ideal to have a backdrop you can fold up very small, and still has a nice print and size like you’re used to in the studio. In fact, we even deliver our new ProFold in backgrounds with a floor attached, and it still fits in a small bag.

The ProFold material is slightly elastic, and even when you don’t use anything, it already hangs very straight. But of course, we want it perfect, right?
And that can be done really easily and cheaply.

First, the ProFold material can be mounted in several ways.
You can use the loop on a background system, or use clamps or magnets from our vinyl backdrops.
Because the material is elastic, you can easily create a super-tight backdrop with a few background clamps.
Because video always works better, we’ve filmed a small video showing how they work.

Get them here: https://frankdoorhof.com/web/product/backgroundclips/
💰 Only €19.95 for a set of 12.

And one in Dutch

YouTube player

 

How to built 3-Dimensionality in your sets 

Clicki is also a very portable backdrop (and does fit in our car exactly) 

 

 

Many different ways to shoot the same backdrop

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Different looks with one backdrop

Its happens…

You think, “This is the perfect background,” and you start shooting… and it doesn’t work.
Do you stop?
Or do you find a way to make it work? In this blog I talk and show you how I made different looks with one backdrop

Some backgrounds work great out of the box. Some backgrounds need some extra thought, but then reward you with awesome shots.

Let me make one thing clear before I continue.
This is an awesome background for commercial shoots. For my work, I like to have a realistic or over-the-top surrealistic background, and especially with lighting, I’m pretty picky where someone else might not even see it. So keep that in your mind.

The backdrop

Today we are taking a look at the new Profold background from ClickBackDrops.
The Ornate drapes gold. When I saw the background I immediately loved it.  I’m a big fan of horror movies and gothic styles so this one really fitted the bill.
The thing that I did not think about was the lighting that is incorporated into the backdrop in the form of chandeliers.
It looks great as a catalog shot. It looks great for family portraits, but for my work I use a lot of light fall off and the chandeliers didn’t look right.

There are several solutions.
You can choose to crop them out or use them just inside the lightfall off, which I did in the following shots.

different looks with one backdrop

here, I cropped, so you don’t see the chandeliers in the backdrop

different looks with one backdrop different looks with one backdrop

A step further, with the same backdrop

It works and gives you great shots, but I also wanted to do something with the chandeliers.
And sometimes the solutions are much easier than you might think.
What about using the studio lights, for example, this gave me already a nice glow which could come from a chandelier.
We are going in the right direction.

different looks with one backdrop

Storytelling with your backdrop

A model on a chair, a beautiful dress, and an awesome backdrop, who wouldn’t be happy?
Well, I do miss some storytelling parts.
Don’t get me wrong, not every shot should be a storytelling masterpiece. But with a background like this, my imagination starts to work in overdrive.

So continue reading how I made different looks with one backdrop

Because the studio lights worked great, we included a real chandelier.
Our model Linda was asked to imagine she was in a Scooby-Doo movie, and walking through the corridors of an old castle looking for the ghosts.

By using a longer shutterspeed you can let in more or less available light when you combine it with strobes.
If you use LED panels to open up shadows make sure you can control the LED panel to balance the chandelier and LED panel. If your LED panel doesn’t go low enough you can always move it further away, or bounce the light via the ceiling or walls.

I absolutely love these shots. This is another way to get different looks with one backdrop.

different looks with one backdrop

The lamps of the chandelier are a little crooked, but you can imagine the wind…

different looks with one backdrop different looks with one backdrop

Due the inverse square law (light falls off over the distance), the chandeliers in the print are again a bit more convincing, but…. we can do better.

The movie buff

As mentioned before I love horror movies.
And after the “Scooby-Doo” set, I thought it would be possible to make the chandeliers work a lot better and create a cool spooky vibe by using a bit of an alternative lighting setup.

Lensflares always give the impression of light. And when you don’t see the light source, it works. But what if you can see the printed chandeliers and combine this with the lens flare?
That’s exactly what we did here.

I’m using a Geekoto lantern hovering above the model and slightly behind her.
The problem is, of course, that the model will be very dark from the front.
The advantage is that you get a very nice edge light and the lens flare from the lantern blends very nicely with the chandeliers on the print.

I could have chosen to let the model take a step back and use the light from above to light her face. But she has to look up for this which is very limiting in the poses.
I could have chosen to add a light from the side or even from the front. But that would take away the mood I was after.
The image I saw in my mind was like a clip from a 70’s Italian horror movie in an old theater with lights hitting a mysterious figure.

Search for props

One of the things I always advise is to visit flea markets, ask parents or grandparents if you are allowed to raid the attic and get as much “cool stuff” as you can store.
There is always a time when you can use something in a shoot that really makes the shot.
I always try to get masks when we visit markets. And this was the perfect moment for a mask.
The advantage is the same as with sunglasses; you can solve the problem of “raccoon eyes” by letting the model wear sunglasses or a mask. Our brains will now forgive us that the light is not aimed at the eyes. Or in other words, it just looks cool with high contrast lighting.

The next step is opening up the shadows.
In this case I wanted to use colored lights to hit the model. However, I did not want them to clearly come from left and right, but to stay in the style of the movies I wanted them to nicely blend together.
To achieve this I’m using a mirrored surface in front of the model with two strobes aimed at the material which bounces the light back to the model perfectly blending the red and blue gels.
I will upload a video in the next blogpost showing the complete setups.

Here we use the surface as a background.

By changing the balance between the red and blue I could get a nice variety of results from this setup.
I started with the front lights just as a very slight fill, and slowly started to add more power to the colored strobes.

different looks with one backdrop different looks with one backdrop different looks with one backdrop

Play with colors, so you get different looks with one backdrop

You probably already guessed, seeing the number of shots, this was one of my favorite setups of the day.
By changing the balance between the strobes with gels you can get a lot of different looks. Don’t be afraid to change the output from slight fill to “almost” main light source. As you can see, I did this with the red gel in the final shots. In Lightroom/Photoshop you can also manipulate the colors by using the temperature slider (Red and Blue are on the same axis).

And of course when you play with color, we also have to include… a BW version.

different looks with one backdrop

Conclusion: different looks with one backdrop

99.9% of the backdrops work straight out of the box.
With 90% of the backdrops, you can a lot more than you might think at first.
But sometimes you get a background that might not immediately work.
Don’t give up right away. By experimenting, you can probably get much more creative shots, and also learn new techniques you can use for other shoots. So try to make different looks with one backdrop.

Workshops

Believe it or not but this was just one of 3 sets we did during a workshop day.
There are a lot of workshops out there that are aimed at shooting great portfolio material, and there is nothing wrong with that.
In my workshops you will shoot great portfolio material (see above results) but most of the time is spent explaining the setups, why something works, or not.
How to coach the model for the perfect expression/pose, the retouching process and a lot more.
Most attendees are pretty tired at the end 😀

If you also want to experience a workshop that really goes in depth about lighting and model photography?
Visit www.fotografie-workshops.nl for the Dutch workshops.
If you don’t speak Dutch, let us know a few weeks in advance and we switch the workshop to English.
Can’t travel?
Also no problem, you can book one of our online 1:1 workshops which can be taught at the time slot that fits your time schedule.

 

Free video tutorial about mixing flash with continuous light

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It’s one of those questions

That always comes back, and we’ve discussed it several times on the blog.
But because video is always better, today a free 2 hour tutorial about mixing light sources.

But first I’ll show you the results from the video, and give you a short explanation of the setup.
Due to the different lighting setups I have chosen to edit the final results also with different looks which I think fits the mood.
During the video you see the lighting setups and also part of the retouching process in Lightroom, Photoshop, BorisFX and Luminar Neo

Chandelier

Strobes are fun, but just a chandelier can be great too.

Mixing the chandelier with strobes

In the following shots I started with the Geekoto Lantern, and later switched to the Geekoto Quicky softbox, both on the Geekoto GT400.
As you can see the difference is clearly seen between the more focussed lightsource and the lantern which spreads the light out much more.
In the later shots I compensated with the light output of the chandelier by changing the shutterspeed. (explained in the video)

More focussed lightsource.

And of course it’s always fun to add some extra color.
Here I’m using the Rogue magnetic system on the Geekoto GT200 with a blue gel
The black diffusion filter helps with the lens flare.
You can always add some extra “oomph” to your lens flares with software like BorisFX, which I used in the first shot.
The lens flare is there, but it just gives it something extra.

Back to the chandelier

In the final part of the tutorial I switch back to the chandelier, but with a different setup.
This setup goes into detail about the inverse square law and shadow problems when shooting closeup light sources.

The tutorial

After seeing the results I hope you are looking forward to the tutorial.
The tutorial is part of our Digital classroom series, which you can find on our YouTube channel.
If you want to learn more about lighting in small groups check fotografie-workshops.nl for the Dutch workshops and events.
If you don’t speak Dutch and let us know a few weeks in advance we can switch the workshops to English.
And if you are not able to travel, no problem, we have a great setup for 1:1 (group) workshops online Online 1:1 workshops

Backdrops are vital

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Just some images

This is how I started this blogpost, just a post with no tips, no techniques just sharing some images.
But somehow that doesn’t work with me, so here is another tip.
Today it’s all about backdrops.

Backdrops are vital

I quickly started with custom paint on our walls in our first studio. I never understood why someone would waste so much space in a studio by keeping the walls all white. First of all it reflects and it just isn’t inspiring (well at least not for me), having walls with details, structure etc. gives you ideas and it just works much better as a backdrop.
Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love(d) seamless paper, and still sometimes use it, but having a “real” backdrop to work with often complements the shoot a lot more than paper.
Besides custom paints we also still use moveable walls in our studio with all kinds of wallpaper, always loads of fun to use and build small sets with.

Now with Ai a lot of people ask me why I not just add a backdrop in Photoshop…
Well it’s actually very simple.
First of all it’s a lot more work, selecting has become super simple and almost perfect but it’s still not as real as a shot you did not cut out.
Also the whole interaction with light, lens flares, edge transfer, focus/circle of confusion etc. are very hard to emulate in Photoshop if even possible. On a set with a proper background it’s a matter of pressing the shutter and you’re done. If you shoot your images with flat lighting it’s actually pretty easy to do, but when you start adding contrast lighting, flares and color gels it becomes harder and harder without it looking fake, or taking hours…so I just prefer my own moto “Why fake it when you can create it?” 😀

When we started with the distribution for ClickBackdrops I totally fell in love with their “old masters” backgrounds, very classical backdrops with great gradients. But also the more extreme backdrops are awesome for shoots. And the nice thing about ClickBackdrops is that the backdrops are designed by photographers for photographers (I also have a signature lineup with them).

But one of the backdrops I HIGHLY recommend getting is the “Soft Gray master with floor” which you can see in the images today.
This is a wonderful medium dark gray backdrop with a beautiful pattern the included floor makes it great for location but also for fashion shoots and the gray color makes it very suitable to not only play with color gels but also with tinting in Lightroom or Photoshop.

So today some images from our model Claudia on and against the backdrop.
As you probably know I love to add some motion to my shots so when Claudia showed me the outfit I just knew we had to add some extra oomph to the shots but keep the lighting relatively simple.

Also want to visit a workshop and learn all about lighting, styling, set building on a budget, coaching the model and a lot more?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for the Dutch workshops.
If you don’t understand Dutch, don’t worry… if you let us know a few weeks in advance we can switch the workshops to English.
Or, of course book a 1:1 workshop in our studio or even online.