Digital classroom is our online educational live stream.
Once a month we have a 2 hour broadcast from our studio where I explain different topics and lighting setups, always fun and interesting.
Today a digital classroom with Claudia.
You’ve been asking a lot about the lantern. So for today I thought it would be nice to share a video in which I show you the difference between a standard softbox with grid and the new Geekoto lantern.
As you can see they both give totally different looks.
The softbox with grid is great for high-contrast photography and a moody backdrop.
The lantern opens up the background and can still be placed close to the model for top to bottom shots.
You can get the gear I use on our webshop
When I started with model photography studio work was… well studio work.
It was mostly seamless paper and some nice fabrics or canvas backgrounds.
Personally, I love working this way, but I have to be honest my heart always beats faster when I find a cool location to shoot. I was happy to find out that sets are very easy to create with Click Backdrops.
As you probably know we use ClickBackDrops in our studio, we actually started with my signature series and ended up being the distributor for the Netherlands.
Of course, you can just use the backgrounds as… well backgrounds.
And although that already looks great, you can do so much more.
I already showed you guys some of the shots we took during the clicklive event in the UK where we built a complete set with 3 backgrounds and a floor part.
Click Live 2024 Portfolio pod. Wooden floor, brick walls on both sides, and a factory windows backdrop on the back
During a recent workshop with Claudia, I used two backgrounds and a floor part to create a quick set.
At the moment I was calibrating a projector for a customer that came into a huge flight case so that was the perfect prop to create something cool. When Claudia entered the set I immediately got some huge Freddie Mercury and David Bowie vibes so I tried to get a little bit of that “rock/70’s” style into the shot.
As you can see it’s super easy to use two backgrounds and a floor part to create a small set.
Add some props and you’re ready for the shoot.
Now as you can see these backgrounds are not really meant to be shot together, but they still work very nicely I think.
Are you curious about more easy-to-create sets? Visit one of our workshops!
They are in Dutch, but if you book a few weeks in advance we can switch them to English.
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more info and booking your workshop.
Want to buy the gear I use?
Visit frankdoorhof.com/shop
It’s always fun to play with new gear, and light shapers always have a special place.
And let’s be honest the light shaper defines a large part of how your image will look. This blog is about the new Geekoto Lantern.
The new Geekoto lantern has a few tricks up its sleeve.
First of all, like all Geekoto softboxes we use, the lantern is super easy to set up and collapse and also has the removable speedring you guys love.
The big difference is in the way the lantern projects the light.
With a normal softbox, the light travels first through a diffuser which makes the light source softer and larger, after which it leaves the softbox through the front diffuser. If you want to narrow your light beam you can use a grid. But that’s about it.
Now let’s take a look at the Geekoto lantern.
The Geekoto Lantern on the Geekoto GT400
As you can see the lantern doesn’t just aim the light forwards, but it also lights from the sides.
Now this has some huge advantages.
At first, you might think that this is the perfect softbox for product photography.
Especially with product tables, you can super easily light your product and the background with a lantern.
But also for newborn photography, it’s great to create a beautiful floodlight effect.
So you might think that this is like an umbrella a softbox for the more “broad” lighting setups.
However, the lantern actually shines in the more high-contrast setups.
One of my favorite setups is lighting the model from the side with a medium-sized softbox.
I often add an extra light source on the opposite side to open up the shadows and also to light the background.
With the main light, I cannot light the backdrop enough when it’s a more darker color. This is why I use the accent light often in a striplight configuration which I use horizontally or slightly horizontally. This makes it possible to light both the model and the background with one light source.
By aiming it slightly away from the background I get a very nice even light fall off on the background.
The first image is just with the main light.
The light used is a Geekoto GT 400 with the 36″ softbox + grid
As you can see adding the accent light creates not only a beautiful lens flare but also lights the model and the background (I love striplights).
The main reason I love the lantern is that it makes it possible to throw a lot more light on the background creating a totally different look.
So let’s take a look at how that works out.
Also here first a setup with just the lantern, and the second one is with the striplight on.
Remember that it’s a matter of which one is better.
I like them both for their lighting.
The first setup is great for a more high-contrast look with a darker background.
The second setup has a much nicer wrap-around effect and “glues” the model and background nicer together.
The cool thing about the lantern is that it gives you a totally different kind of light shaper due to the translucent sides. And that is not just better for portraits but also when you shoot full body images. It makes it possible to place the light very close to the model and still light the bottom part. Something that with a normal softbox that close can be very tricky or even impossible. Now you can place your light super close and still light the background and bottom part of your model.
I would highly recommend getting one for your studio.
We added them to our webshop of course.
On the webshop you find all the gear I use and like.
The lantern can be found here.
We also used the Geekoto Lantarn on the Click Live show in the UK in juni. Check out the BTS video
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