So much fun with cheap materials and lights

December 27, 2024/0 Comments/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

It doesn’t have to be expensive

There is often a discussion about what you need to get a great image. And often it boils down to “I can’t do it because I don’t have any budget”. Well, it might surprise you but 99% of the images I post are shot during workshops, events, and trade shows. So not really situations where I have time or even a budget to really use large sets. Today a blog post about model photography with cheap materials and lights. In our studio, we do use the ClickBackdrops backgrounds of course 😀

Experiment with cheap materials and lights

One of the things I love to experiment with ar cheap lighting solutions.
This can be a string of fairy lights, Christmas lighting, or a magic lantern.
With modern cameras and great noise reduction in Lightroom or Topaz, you can really push the creative limits.

One of the biggest advantages of the strobes (Geekoto) I’m using now is that they can be adjusted to output a very slight amount of light.
Because most of these light sources are very faint it’s great that I’m now able to mix strobes and continuous lighting much easier.

Setup

For this setup, we used wings with small lights inside. To make sure the lights show up you have to be able to capture enough light.
This can be done with a higher ISO or a longer shutter speed.
What I normally do is use the EVF of the camera in emulation mode. This way you can see what your setup in your camera looks like.
I would advise to set up with an option to lower the shutter speed. Often when you start adding the strobes you will find that you need a bit more light from the continuous light source. Especially when a model is uncomfortable it’s nice that you can quickly change the setup by just lowering the shutter speed.

Now that you have the perfect setup just use a light meter to set the strobe up to the ISO and Aperture you chose. And you’re ready to shoot *and probably lower the shutter speed.

Background

A nice dark background is ideal with see-through materials and lights.
But it’s vital for these kinds of shots you use a focused light source, in other word,s make sure you only hit the subject with strobes where you need it. This way the continuous lighting will have a nice dark background to show up and show their color and brightness much better.

I’m using the Geekoto GT400 with a Geekoto Quicky softbox with a grid.
The Quicky is a smaller softbox that has a very straight light beam and is great for focussing light on your subject, even from a slight distance.

Model photography with cheap materials and lights, I like it!

Check out this video about being creative with 2 models dressed up as Barbie

You can rent our studio and get creative too

Working with a scenic backdrop tutorial video

December 21, 2024/in blog, Visions and technique, Webinars and instructional videos/by Frank Doorhof

A warm scenic backdrop

It is a great start, but you can do much more with that backdrop than just use it as is.
In the previous blog post, we discussed creating depth in a scenic backdrop and I showed you some examples.
Today the video we shot during the workshop with Felisa where I explained the lighting setup and of course, how we build the set.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out, or leave comments.

Check the Scenic Backdrop Tutorial below

How to create depth in a scenic backdrop set

December 18, 2024/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

Today it’s about depth

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against creatively using AI. But for me using it to replace backdrops in all your shots, or even worse creating something from text to image and calling it art. Well, it’s not my thing. Today I’ll show you how to create depth in a scenic backdrop set.

When I shoot or teach the workshops I always try to use materials and backdrops in the studio. This means my images are 99% shot on set.
I always leave some marking, because I also use generative fill to extend a backdrop. Take out some things I didn’t see on set. Or just extend a set. But the whole idea, setup, etc. was done as much as possible in camera.

So why is that so important to me?

When I look at a picture I want to see depth.
And this is the one thing often lacking in AI-replaced backdrops, yes it looks great for an SF set, or Cosplay (use it a lot in those setups) but when you try to create something real, at least for me, it mostly fails because the backdrop and the model don’t “connect” in a natural way.

But what is different from using a scenic backdrop you might ask?

With a scenic backdrop, we use a backdrop that literally has a scene printed on it.
Using this as a backdrop can give you a great sense of depth even if it’s just a flat print. The reason is that if you place your lighting on your subject correctly and match the angles on the backdrops (very important to read the shadows), your light, model, shadows, etc. will all interact with the backdrop. Thus creating a much more believable setup.

But that’s not all.
It’s still just a model in front of a backdrop. This is why the least you can do is for example use a chair that is similar to the backdrop in style/color. Or maybe just the opposite (be creative). By angling the chair and your subject, and matching the light mood/color and angles you already have something really nice looking.

But of course, we want more

One part of the workshop is set building.
And the scenic backdrop is great for this. this backdrop can help enormously by creating depth.
By adding props to the set you can not only create more depth in your image but it also looks a lot more realistic. Our mind seems to have less trouble with the “flat” background if it sees a lot of things in front of it.

During the workshops, I, of course, love a challenge. So in this case I added several continuous lights in the setup.
I’m using a nice focussed beam of light on my model via a small softbox on the lowest setting. And use the shutter speed to let in the amount of light from the continuous light I like.

So far so good, I really like this shot.
But when you want the sense of depth to be a bit more exaggerated it can be nice to also take some shots closer by with a wider angle.
This really draws the viewer more into the shot.

I also always tell the attendees of the workshops to shoot from different angles.
By changing the angle you can change the mood of a shot almost completely.

In the first image, I’m shooting from an elevated position down. It’s not my favourite shot to be honest but it does give you a different view.

When I shoot from a lower angle the whole look changes. Of course, I also asked our model Felisa to take a different pose, for the simple reason it gave the shot much more depth by the leading lines. But also much more power which was more fitting for the whole angle. But of course, opinions differ and that’s why it’s always smart to shoot from all angles 😀

The workshops

How to create depth in a (scenic backdrop) set is one of the questions I get a lot in the workshop

When I teach a workshop I always start with a Q&A
During the Q&A the attendees can ask whatever they want and during that period I actually “build” the workshop. This means all the questions are incorporated into the sets we shoot that day. This way I can always challenge myself, but also have different kinds of images for the attendees and myself. Every single workshop is unique.

If you also want to visit a workshop, check out photography-workshops.eu
All workshops are in Dutch, but if you let us know in advance we can change them to English.

If you can’t travel to our studio, we now also offer full-day 1:1 online workshops.
In our studio, with a model, 4-5 cameras, and a direct line for questions, plus you get all the RAW files to play with.
For more info: see here

Focus your light

December 10, 2024/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

Don’t you just love playing with shadows

“Shadows are the soul of the shot” is one of those sayings I’ve been using ever since I started teaching lighting.
I never understood why people would use large softboxes and white backgrounds to eliminate every spot of shadow. For me it’s flat and not really something I love to look at.

Shadows can be tricky when you start out but in the end it’s the glue that sticks everything together and makes an image look more realistic and also creates depth. Of course we need light to create shadows, and the smaller the light source the faster the edge transfer (difference between shadow and light). In other words smaller light means sharper shadow edges.

But you can also work different with smaller light sources.
One of my favourite things to do during the workshops is using our Rogue magnetic snoot or the Lindsay Adler Gobo projector as my main lightsource.

The Gobo projector I will post some more about soon, but in essence it creates awesome projections on your subject that via a lens you can focus. There are also gobos with just a circle which you can use for shots like in this blog.

The Rogue magnetic snoot is a much cheaper solution. And the cool thing is that you can use it in 4 different settings, but also can take out the diffusion panel for another 4 looks. I love gear that is versatile 😀

Now when you start using these kind of very focused light sources straight on your model you can get some very striking an awesome results. Do be careful about the position of the model, this is a setup where movement is very limiting due to the shadow of the head. Wearing sunglasses can really help here. They don’t only look cool but also take the attention away from the eyes so you don’t miss the catchlights or don’t see the raccoon eyes 😀

These were shot during a session with our model Claudia.
Our workshops are mostly in Dutch, but if you visit the Netherlands and also want to visit a workshop, let us know a few weeks in advance and we can switch them to English, or contact us for a full day 1:1 online workshop, including model and full lighting in the studio walk through via 4 cameras.

Now you probably noticed something in the images?
If you only use the snoot/gobo projector or even a reflector with grid with a focussed lightsource the model will be lit but everything else will probably pitch black so for the viewer it’s not a nice image to look at.

This is why with these kind of images I often use one extra strobe with a Rogue Omnidirectional dome (also from our magnetic system) and in this case a blue gel. I place this under the same angle as my main light and a few stops below the main light (depending on the background and the mood I want). Now the blue gel will open up the shadows and when you point the strobe up you will have very soft (hardly noticeable) shadows and you can even include some cool lensflares by shooting over the strobe. And of course as you can see in these images I also experiment with placing the fill in strobe on the sides.