Tag Archive for: Geekoto

Working with strobes on location and how to kill the ambient light part II

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Day2Night photography can give you great results

One of the techniques I love to use on location is Day2Night.
With Day2Night we mimic a night or evening scene during day time.
As you can imagine you need some powerful lights to achieve this, or some cool tricks.

In the previous blogpost you saw me using HSS, and I got some questions about HSS and other techniques that I will try to answer in this blogpost.

X-Sync

When we look at a how a camera works the X-sync is easy to understand.
Let’s take a look at the older cameras and for the newer cameras just forget the mirror part.

When we take the photo, the mirror locks up and the first shuttercurtain opens, at one point followed by the second curtain closing the film/sensor again for light.
The faster you set the shutter the faster the second shuttercurtain will follow the first.
Now you have to understand that when you use a strobe/flash all its power is emitted at once, so it’s just a pulse. And that pulse is REALLY fast, they can for example easily be between 1/2000-1/50.000. As a rule of thumb, the more advanced the strobes the faster the flashduration.

Now that we know that the strobe is just a pulse it’s also easy to understand that the X-sync is the maximum shutterspeed in which the whole sensor is open for the light hitting it. Anything faster and the second shuttercurtain will follow. And we probably all saw that problem at least a few times, the black bar on top of your image where you probably wondered where it came from, but it disappeared when you lowered your shutterspeed. That’s the X-sync.

The X-sync will vary a bit per camera, but as a rule of thumb we can say that with normal strobes you can shoot up to 1/125 on 99% of the systems, sometimes with speed lights you can get up to 1/250 but that’s about it. This means that we often end up with smaller apertures and a less shallow depth of field than you might want, so what to use when you want that nice shallow depth of field?

Geekoto GT200 Portable Off-Camera Flash

HSS

With High Speed Sync we can overcome the X-sync problem by using the strobe not as one pulse but by using the stroboscopic effect and this way the strobe acts almost like a super powerful continuous lightsource. The disadvantages are of course that you will burn through your batteries faster and the strobes are more prone to overheating, so my advise when using HSS is to take it a little bit easier and let the strobes cool down between series and shoot slightly slower.

Also when shooting HSS remember that the power-output is a lot lower than on manual.
But thanks to HSS it is possible to shoot on a very high shutterspeed and wide open aperture to create great images with a shallow depth of field, something that was not possible without HSS.

For outside sessions I’m mostly using the Geekoto GT200 and GT250. Both support HSS and have more than enough power to use even during bright sunlight.

There are also some other options at the moment like the Sony Global shutter sensors which makes it possible to shoot up to insane shutterspeeds with strobes. There are some limitations you need to know, but this is one of the biggest steps forward for flash photography in decades.

Manual mode

Todays images are part of the workshop “on location in Emmeloord” we did with our Model Nadine.
In this workshop we look for uninteresting locations and the challenge is to make it interesting with the use of strobes.
This wall is next to our studio and we loved the combination of Nadine’s outfit and the color of the Fence.

In the video I explain the lighting setups and how to incorporate a gel and the sun in the final shots.

And of course here are the images from the video.
As explained in the video these were shot on manual mode.
The reason we use manual mode during the workshops is because HSS is camera dependent, if you use your strobes yourself that’s no problem but during workshops we have attendees with different camera brands, so we have opted for a so called universal system that will just trigger the strobes on manual mode. Because I use my strobes on Manual mode in 99% of the cases this is not a real problem, the only limitation is of course the X-Sync. But as you can see we have plenty of power in the Geekoto’s 😀

Also want to visit a workshop?

Today I showed you the results and 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.

A cool set with clickbackdrops

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Building a set can be easy

Using a set in your photoshoot adds a lot.
When I started out with modelphotography I mostly shot on seamless (paper) and although it was a lot of fun working with different colors at one point you get a bit bored with it and I started with using custom walls with paint, structure or wallpaper.

A few years ago we came into contact with clickbackdrops and loved their huge selection of prints and the materials vinyl and especially pro-fabric (which mimics the old vintage canvas backgrounds without all the disadvantages)

Today in the blog some images I shot during a workshop with Felisa.
During this workshop I used the “boho drapes” background which can be used without anything extra and gives a real sense of shooting on an old fashioned set.
But it becomes much more interesting when you start to add some props.

In this case I added a chair for the model but also some branches with faint lights and a nice lamp.
For the workshop this is was a great setup to experiment with mixing light sources, finding interesting angles and of course also shoot some images without the strobes.

By using props in front of a scenic backdrop and taking into to account the way the shadows fall on your backdrop you can quickly create something that looks like it was shot on a cool vintage location.

During the workshops I always try to include several “challenges” into the sets and mixing light sources is always one that is often requested.
In essence the technique is not that hard, but you need to realise some important facts.

The continuous lights are of course a lot less bright than the strobes.
The strobes however are just a pulse, and after the pulse they don’t emit light anymore, so when you shoot images like this it can be cool to leave the modelling lights on, but if you need longer shutter speeds it’s important to disable the modelling lights, if you use the longer shutter speeds the strobe will freeze the model, but the modelling lights will start to register on the model at one point, so if you don’t want this make sure you only use the pulse of the strobe.

Let’s set the shot up

For a quick setup I’m using a lightmeter.
The Geekotos I’m using can go really low in their output, which is a huge benefit for these kind of setups where you mix faint light sources with strobes.
With the Geekotos it actually often means that I don’t have to use them on the lowest setting, which gives me more headroom to correct the balance without having too much noise in my images. If you use strobes that are more powerful or can’t go lower on their output it can help to choose a different light shaper, for example a striplight with grid will eat light while a metal reflector will boost your output. If you tried everything and just can’t go low enough think about adding a ND filter to your strobe (not the lens).

But let’s continue with my setup.
First I will meter the strobe on the lowest setting, when I know my aperture I will raise the ISO on the lightmeter till I hit that aperture (the light meter will calculate the aperture in real time when you change the ISO values).

Now it’s important to put the camera in the “exposure compensation” mode when using an EVF.
Look at the EVF and change the shutterspeed till you like the output of the lights.
Longer shutter speeds means more light from the continuous lighting, and as long as you don’t change the output of the strobes and ISO the shutterspeed will have to influence on your strobe output (as long as you take into account the Xsync of your strobes, max shutterspeed).

As you can see it workshops great when you mix continuous lighting with strobes.
I love to keep the color of the continuous lighting warmer than the mainlight, but if you want to correct the strobe to mimic the color temperature of the continuous  lighting you can use so called Color Correction gels.

Workshops

During the workshops we always try to shoot at least 3 different setups with different challenges, if you want to visit one of the workshops visit fotografie-workshops.nl
The workshops are in Dutch but if you let us know a few weeks in advance we can switch to English.
We are also now offering online 1:1 workshops live from our studio, where you can ask questions, see all the light setups via 4 cameras and see the whole retouch process.

 

On location photoshoots : how to kill the ambient light part I

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Locations are awesome

 

But what if they are not? Well, it’s up to you to make them awesome.
Sounds difficult?
Well, it can be, but with the proper lighting and lighting techniques you can create stunning images in locations that are far from awesome. Killing the ambient light is one of those techniques.

Workshop “On location in Emmeloord”

During this workshop, we scout locations close to our studio that look uninteresting but have the potential to become awesome. This is a great workshop to get more secure when working for clients in locations that are a bit less inspiring (or in other words 50% of the time).

During the workshop, I explain the techniques but also tried to create something different in each location.
For this workshop the model was Nadine, and as you can probably see she’s is pregnant so that was a great option to also shoot some pregnancy shots of course.

Today one of the sets from this workshop.

I’m using our Geekoto strobes on HSS in this video.

 

And, the final results

killing the ambient light

We took this picture during a sunny day and killed the ambient light

killing the ambient light

 

Day2Night

Killing the ambient light is also called Day to Night (Day2Night). Pictures are taken during the daytime. But it looks like it was taken at night. A lot of my students are interested in this technique. And I always try to incorporate such a scene in the workshop outside.

 

In this video I went to Times Square in New York, and I’ll give you some tips to look like you took the pictures at night

Check out another video on location with Nadine ad styling of course 

We also did a workshop outside with a Tesla car and model Lois 

 

Directional light is so much cooler

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With directional light, you can really make your model jump out

We recently filmed a brand new class for KelbyOne with our model Claudia.
The video is all about using one strobe and how, by changing light shapes and angles, you can still create totally different looks like using directional light.

Today I wanted to show one of the sets in which I show one of my favourite setups.
In this case, I’m using my main light under an angle from above aimed down.
Because Claudia is wearing glasses I don’t have any problems with shadows under the eyes, or the eyes not getting enough light so I can maximize the direction of light.

The cool thing about this kind of setup is that if you move around your subject the look changes dramatically.
For the mainlight you can use a small softbox like our Geekoto Quicky or for example the Frank Doorhof Rogue Flashbender in striplight configuration.

directional light

Although the whole class is about using one strobe. In this setup, I decided to break that rule and add one more strobe with a blue gel.
In this case, I’m using a blue gel from our Rogue magnetic system.
This is an awesome technique in which you first create a focused light pattern on for example the face of the model and make sure the rest is as dark as possible. Now use the second strobe with the gel on a lower setting than the main light and you can get the effect you see below.

Of course, you can experiment with the output and colors.

directional light

Want to see the whole class?

Of course you want 😀
visit www.kelbyone.com for all my classes.

 

Want to visit a workshop?

If you think “that’s for me, I would love to learn more”
Then 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.