Tag Archive for: glamour

The brand new Geekoto Lantern in action

/in , /by

The New Geekoto Lantern

 

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.

Having new light shapers triggers creativity

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.

What does the Geekoto Lantern do?

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 New 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.

 

Let’s take a look at some examples.

Normal softbox with grid

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).

But let’s switch to the Geekoto Lantern

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.

using the new geekoto lantern

Also here first a setup with just the lantern, and the second one is with the striplight on.

It’s no battle

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 

 

 

 

ClickLive event 2024 Results from Day 3 with our amazing model Tion

/in /by

Results Day 3 with Tion

In the previous blog we showed you the behind the scene video we shot during the ClickLive event.
Today in the blog some of the results from Tion

Shot with the Geekoto GT400 and the new Geekoto Lantern and striplight.
On the blue tinted images I’m using a GT200 with the Rogue magnetic system and a blue gel.

This was the third day and the backgrounds were not mounted 100% anymore, but I still love the results from these sessions.
Also many thanks to Tion who did his best with loads of different outfits and never too tired to pose for me or the attendees. This day was a bit more quiet on the show so I had some more time to shoot, so sorry for the many images 😀

For the first series I’m using the new Geekoto Lantern and striplight on the Geekoto GT400

It’s always a challenge to shoot images during a trade show, but with a set like this and a great model it becomes a lot more easy.
Do you want to build a set similar to this?
Check out our professional quality backdrops at www.clickbackdrops.nl

Here I placed the striplight close to the wall for some nice side lighting.
I always love this setup and with Tion it worked extremely well.

Finally I added a Geekoto GT200 with the Rogue magnetic system and a blue gel in the back, and use the Geekoto striplight as mainlight for some final more moody shots.

 

 

Same background, totally different results

/in , /by

Maximize your results with this simple technique

When you shoot for a client, delivering different options is always interesting and smart.
But different options take time, right? In this blog the same background and totally different results

Well not exactly.

Be smart with your setups.

For this example, I’m using a white background.
In the front, I’m using the Rogue black umbrella with a sleeve aimed straight at our model.
The backdrop is white seamless.

You probably already know about the inverse square law, meaning light falls off over the distance.
A great way to use this is to control your background.

I’m using the white background for my first shot in this setup.
This one was shot with one Rogue umbrella in the background and one Rogue umbrella on the front.

white background but different results You can already see a very slight light fall-off in the background, which can be solved by using a second umbrella on the other side of course as explained in the previous blog posts.

But what if you just take away the umbrella(s)

again the same white background but different result

As you can see the background now turns grey and you can add some extreme vignetting in Lightroom or Photoshop (or your favorite editor) for a completely different look.

Change the distance for total control (different results)

Using the inverse square law you can change the luminance of the background very easily.
You actually have 2 options.

  1. you can change the distance from the main light to your model.
    Move it closer to the model and the background will become darker.
    Move it further away from your model and the background will become lighter.
  2. Move your model forward to get the background darker
    Move your model towards the background and the background will become lighter.

Of course, you have to re-meter the light when you change the distance between your model and your background.

Explained wrong

I just wanted to add an extra note to this blog post.
I’ve seen several videos and articles that claim that the light halves when doubling the distance, this is however wrong.
The name already gives you the answer in fact.

“The intensity of the light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance”
meaning in simple turns that for every doubling you lose about 75% of your light.

In usable terms.
Place your light really close to your model and the light will fall off incredibly fast. Place it further away from your model and more of the set and model will be lit and the light fall-off will be smoother.

 

Conclusion using the same background and getting different results

When you have to shoot with certain setups always check if you can also get usable results by turning off/on certain strobes.
You might surprise yourself when you start testing this, it can be done in much more situations than you might think.

Read the post about poses and the white background 

Read more about making the background and floor totally white 

see more pictures Frank made with the Umbrella on the RogueFlash website 

check out the Digital Classroom about Umbrellas

Modelling is also acting, well actually a lot of acting

/in , /by

It’s all in the expression and poses and… a lot more

Over the years I’ve photographed many models in various locations and situations.
They range from trade shows on a booth measuring 2×3 mtrs to awesome castles. Modeling is also acting. a model should empathize in the shoot.

One thing I learned is that you can shoot in the most difficult or awesome locations, the model determines how the results will end up.
When I look for models the first thing of course, I look at is how the model looks. I don’t believe in size zero and love to shoot “real” people instead of Barbie dolls.
And that immediately brings us to the most important part.

Acting on 1/2000 of a second

When shooting a film we have several seconds, minutes, or hours to tell a story.
However with photography it’s 1/2000 of a second, well not exactly but you know what I mean right 😀

So one of the most important things for me when looking for models is actually expression, poses, and moving freely/naturally within the light setup.
And trust me this is much more difficult than you might think.
One of the tricks I use is to tell the model she/he should always be able to see the main light even if it’s just in the corner of her/his eyes. This way you will almost always have catchlights in the eyes, which in my opinion are really important. This doesn’t mean the images are not good when there are no catchlights, but in most cases, we want them in the eyes.

During a recent workshop with did some different expressions with our model Claudia.
As you can see these are totally different from just a pretty face on a picture, these really tell a story.

modeling is acting

Modeling is acting and storytelling.

 

modelling is also acting

What is she thinking about?

It’s not just expression, it’s acting

Of course, it’s not just the expression of your model.
Styling and the whole setting, including your light choice will help to cement your story into the images.
So always experiment with the whole setting.
It doesn’t make any sense to have makeup that is running with a smiling model against a white background doing jumps. But it can work wonders in a moody setting where the model is looking sad (see examples).

Now, of course, there is a time and place for these kinds of shots, and I will not tell you it always works.
Sometimes you need a model that looks …. well like she’s not really there. Some fashion brands love that look. In my opinion, the model in that setting is more a way to demonstrate the clothing and should not take away any attention to the clothing. I like the “lifestyle” photography more where we use the clothing/accessories in settings that give a “feeling” instead of just presenting. But as mentioned before this is 100% up to the client. However, it’s incredibly handy if you can deliver both. And in a lot of cases, this means I will ask my clients if I’m allowed to use our “own” models.

It happened too often that I end up on a trade show or location workshop and have a beautiful model but am bored after the first shoot.
And we have had situations where even a model in jeans and a tank top blew me away and didn’t need anything else.

So the next time you scout your models, maybe go for the ones that are also able to act 😀 Because modeling is also acting!

modelling is acting

 

Check out this video about storytelling

 

Model Claudia uses seamless paper as a dress