Tag Archive for: glamour

The power of the expression

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Lighting and styling is essential

We probably all know that proper lighting and styling is essential for a successful photo, but for me personally it’s the start.
During the photoshoot I try to think about the proper posing of the body, the hands, the shadows, the background etc. In other words a lot of stuff going on. This also means that we often forget to think about expression.

Now in all fairness it’s not always the most important thing, although looking neutral is also an expression of course, but in most photography I think the expression can make or break a shot.

Let’s take a look at these 2 shots from our awesome model Claudia.
First image she is looking almost straight through the camera, powerful and almost arrogant, LOVE it.

Just tilt the head a little but, add a touch of a smile and as you can see we have a totally different vibe in the shot.
And trust me, it’s not just the smile, its the eyes that react to the (real) smile and the tilt of the head also gives a lot of extra expression to the final result.

So how do you do it?

In the past I tried different approaches ranging from showing images, telling the story behind the shot to get the proper expression, coaching etc. it all yielded results but in all honesty it was not easy and certainly not always “bingo”.

What I mostly do nowadays is just make sure my model is 100% at ease and has a “click” with me and the team.
This means the model is at ease and you can make her/him laugh without doing a lot of work.

Some things to take into account

A smile is with your whole face and body. If you just move the mouth it looks fake.
Make sure when you talk to your model, she/he can’t talk back. This sounds a bit mean, but imagine shooting a model that is talking 😀 You got it right?

So just make the flow in shoot nice and relax and if you want a laugh, don’t tell your model “Laugh” but just make a funny comment and just say “ok let’s have a real airy/funny or whatever look you like” and in most cases the models will just laugh and when you click, you got it.

 

During the workshops we don’t just talk about lighting and styling, getting the CORRECT shot is a vital part of the workshops.
Do you want to visit a workshop in the Netherlands… visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more info.
If you don’t understand Dutch please let us know a few weeks in advance and I can switch the workshop to English.
And if you can’t travel, check out our online 1:1 workshops (they are awesome :D)

Black and white or color or let’s do both

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Some things I never do, Black and White and color!

We all have said something like this when it comes to our work. Model photography in black and white and color. One of the things I hardly use myself is selective coloring, and yeah, sometimes it looks great. But somehow in my work, it’s always a matter of keeping all colors and even enhancing them or converting them into black and white. But sometimes…

Amazing costumes ask for amazing light

During an online 1:1 workshop we got some amazing costumes and for the final set, our model Linda was wearing an awesome red hat and vintage outfit. I immediately felt an old-fashioned movie star vibe.
So, for this I wanted a spot effect on our model to make it look like a theater spot. You can use a fresnel for this like the great Nanlite Fresnel but if you want total control?  The Lindsay Adler Westcott optical spot is much better because now you can control the sharpness of the effect with the focus of the lens. And for this shot, I wanted it razor sharp.

Black and White and color.

Now that I had the shots, I just loved the black and white version. But the color one was also great due to the reds. (I just love red)

I like the image in color

I like the image in color

Black and white and color

But i also like it in Black and White

As you know, I love comics and movies, and when I was doubting between the color and BW version, I had this idea of “sin city”
And that would mean selective coloring…… but in this case, I think it is more than just an effect; it really made the image jump out. So I bumped the contrast a bit and mixed the two together.

Black and white and color

The result: black and white and color

Remember that nobody tells you you can only have one version of an image 😀

During the workshops, we always try to do 3-4 totally different sets, and this is just one 😀
Also, want to visit a workshop?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more information. The workshops are in Dutch, but if you let us know a few weeks in advance,e we can switch to English.
Don’t want to travel?
It’s also possible to book a full day 1:1 online workshop, see here for more info.

 

WOW that shines like crazy

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And it’s super cheap

Reflective material is a great way to spice up your photoshoot.
You can use it as a set, backdrop or even wrap it around your model. but today we are using it in a set with some colors and hard light hitting it to get a beautiful glow in the material.

And the fun part, it’s really cheap and you can buy it in almost every party shop.
In our case it’s called “holographic” material and they have it in different colors, do make sure you always check materials with your phone (flashlight) to predict the reflection. Not all material looks the same when you throw some light on it.

Here you can read the previous blog post with the images.

And because video is always a beter tool, we also made a “how did I shoot this one” video about it.

 

Cheap can be more fun than you think

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Is gear important?

I hear it all the time: the focus on gear.

“My lens is cheap,” “I have an old camera,” “I only have one strobe,” etc.
In all honesty, of course, gear is important, but you can create awesome art/photos, etc., with your phone nowadays. My motto over the year has been, “If people look at the quality of the pixels, the image is not strong enough.” That doesn’t mean you can just “wing” it and not care about your gear, but it shouldn’t be the main focus.

The same goes for sets. They are important too.
When people look at my portfolio, a lot of people don’t realize that most of the shots were taken during workshops or events. As you will understand, we don’t have a lot of time to create sets, and of course, we love to stay on budget, and that’s what today’s blog post is about: Cheap sets.

Fun and cheap sets

With photography, it helps when we don’t focus on light but on shadows; this is something you probably heard from day 1. The shadows tell you almost everything about the light source used, the angle, distance etc., but one step further is to realize we don’t really work with light but with reflections.
This also explains why we can use black reflectors to take out the shine on someone’s head, for example.

Reflections and shine

And don’t we just love it when something gets a beautiful “glow” in a shot?
Reflections can be a problem but also something really cool you can use in your image.
Today we take a look at some very cheap material you can buy in most party shops. It’s called (well, at least this one) holographic material, and we used it to build a nice background for one of the sets during a workshop. You can even get it in different colors.

A good technique is to use your phone and shine over the material; this will show you how the material reflects and should give you a good idea of how to use it in your shoot.

Fresnel for high contrast

When I used my phone to shine over this material, it immediately started to glow. So, for this setup, I knew we could hit the background with some harsh light for some extra contrast and “oomph” in the shot. If you shoot this with a soft box, it can work fine, too. But it will be a lot less extreme. So on the model, I’m using the Nanlite Fresnel spot (this is one of my favorite modifiers for a great classic high contrast look). The nice thing about a Fresnel is that you focus your light, and even when you use it on the extreme settings, it still has a wonderful effect on the skin of the model.

To make sure the material also shines and to get some nice color effects, I’ve placed two Geekoto GT200’s with the Rogue magnetic system with a red gel on one side and a blue gel on the other.

Together, they created a very nice blend of color and light on the model, plus the material gave a wonderful glow, especially when our model leaned forward.
So let’s take a look at the results from this setup, and in the next blog post, I show the behind the scenes video.

cheap sets

During the workshops, we always try to do 3-4 totally different sets, and this is just one :D. We often try to create cheap sets.
Also want to visit a workshop?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more information. The workshops are in Dutch, but if you let us know a few weeks in advance, we can switch to English.
Don’t want to travel?
It’s also possible to book a full day 1:1 online workshop; see here for more info.