Tag Archive for: glamour

Tip on using colored lights

/in , /by

You have probably seen them in kits… color gels.
Most used are the so called CTO gels which can be used to correct colorcasts for example when mixing strobes and tungsten. However there are also the “special effects” gels, for example bright red, green and blue (and many others).

 

Now when I started out using these some years ago I used them on my black background to give it some color and this is probably how most use them. Later I used them (a lot) when working with smoke for that real “live concert” feeling. However they can also give some great results when you use them as accent lights, which we did during the last glamour workshop of 2015 with Jade.

 

Today some of the results and some more tips.

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Jade December 18 2015 0406

As you can see I did not just use them as accent lights but also to light the floor.
The main light in these shots is an Elinchrom snoot aimed at the face of the model and the rest of the lighting is all from the colored spots from the back (gridded reflector with gels).

 

If you start doing this, make sure to not overpower your strobes because in that case the nice tints will be replaced by blowout white areas and only sides with the original color, you can better feather the light slightly away from the model and use the light that way, the benefits from this technique is that you can actually get some funky lens flare if you want but most of all the light fall off is much smoother on the wall, ceiling, model or floor.

 

If you like these kind of tips make sure to check out my book “Mastering the model shoot” or one of our instructional videos (you can order them from the menu on the left).

Ingrid during glamour workshop

/in /by

Today some images we shot from Ingrid during her first glamour workshop.
Ingrid is a new model for our workshop and will be appearing in both our fashion as glamour workshops, in short… she’s a blast to work with.

 

Some images might be considered NSFW (Not Safe For Work) but I think they are ok 😀
Enjoy.

 

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Ingrid October 30 2015 0157

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Ingrid October 30 2015 0608

 

It’s all about expression, especially with glamour

/in /by

I’m not really a glamour shooter, but when I do I love to play with the expression of the model.
For me glamour always should have something that’s a bit “naughty” so working with the expression of the model is vital (as with all of photography I believe). In this case I choose a lower angle and had our model Linda on the floor lit by an Elinchrom Deep Octa with grid from the top. A very simple setup but very effective due to the fast light fall off (if placed correctly).

 

 

Camera : Sony A7RII
Lens : 70-200 F2.8 (Sony)

 

 

As you can see I always play with different expressions, going from rather subtle to a bit more extreme.
Remember that when shooting glamour you can very easily go over the border of glamour to erotic by a subtle expression chance, it’s up to you of course which way you like to go, but as you can see here, the same lighting setup and the same position/model and even retouching give you 3 totally different moods. So always remember to work with your model through different expressions, they REALLY can make the shot.

 

 

Oh and a nice BW conversion also helps sometimes 😀

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Linda 0031

Linda 0019 1

Digital classroom EP1 (the test)

/in , , /by

Last week saw the release of a new series in our educational program.
I’ve done a lot of workshop and webinars and both are 100% different, a workshop is a real 1:1 experience (we always work with small groups), a webinar is more a “watch and learn” experience.

 

For a long time I wanted to do something in between and never had the chance to do it, setting this up costs a lot of money as you can imagine (different camera angles, assistants, fast internet etc) but thanks to our friends at BenQ, Rogue and of course Elinchrom we finally were able to pull it off.

 

We dubbed it the “try out episode” but as far as we could see everything went very smoothly and what we ended up doing was a 3 hour intense instructional video with interaction from you guys.

 

We did not promote it a lot because we didn’t want a lot of people online if it would go wrong 😀 but… don’t worry we recorded it and you see it via this blogpost (or on our YouTube channel of course).

 

Please feel free to share the link, watch it and comment on it here or on YouTube, the idea is to do these kind of sessions 10x a year and normally they will have a topic just like the workshops, so except some smoke, movement, masks, location work etc.

 

Is it the same as a workshop?
No of course not 😀
A workshop is much more intense and has way more interaction, but I think we bridged the gap between a webinar and a small group workshop.

 

Is it the same as your instructional videos?
No of course not 😀
The instructional videos and the KelbyOne videos I do are much more in depth and will have totally different topics. The idea of the digital classroom is to show you guys how we work, what we do to complete a photoshoot and you can interact and ask questions, it’s not meant to replace the instructional videos or our other videos like on KelbyOne, if this gives you the hunger for more…. there are actually those options… book a workshop or watch/buy the instructional videos.

Enjoy.

Many thanks to our friends at BenQ, Rogue and Elinchrom to make this possible.