Tag Archive for: how to

Brand new video on speedlights “Speedlight magic”

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The responses we get on my book “Speedlight magic” now available on Amazon and in our own webshop are all very positive so we decided to dive into the studio and film a brand new full length tutorial with the topic “speedlight magic”

In this 70+ minutes video (in glorious 4K) I dive into the following parts of the speedlight.

Section 1
Everything you need to know about : EETL, First and second curtain sync, HSS, Zooming, Manual mode, Flash exposure compensation

Section 2
My favourite modifiers, using remote controls, stands, how to mount your speedlight safe and secure.

Section 3
A full studio shoot with the following techniques :
light in light, using gels, powerful portrait set-up, classical portrait setup, accent lights, using zoom vs grids.

And this is just scratching the surface, the whole video is filled with tips and tricks with an easy explanation. We filmed most parts with 2 different angles so everything is seen very clearly. During the model shoot (with our awesome model/stylist Nadine) you also see all the images coming in and the final results.

The video is available now via this link.
I’m sure you’re going to love it and really find new ways to use these super creative strobes.

Some examples from the video

What we did during the workshop with Lois

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Today a few results of the workshop with Lois.
During the workshops there is always a theme, but within the workshops the rest is free on the base of what the group wants to learn, this way you always experience a workshop that is exactly tailored to your needs.

The theme of this workshop was “essential lighting techniques” based on the Tutorial with the same name (I highly recommend getting that one), I sometimes call this the “starters” workshop but actually that is not entirely true, this is the workshop where we work with more standard setups such as the butterfly and Rembrandt but this is often quickly supplemented with adjustments to make the image a bit more spectacular.

During the first set we use a Brown Punch background from Clickpropsbackdrops.
This is a very nice background which can be used in almost any situation.

In this set I only use a softbox from Hensel with grid focused on the model but in such a way that there is also some light in the background.

In the next set we use the Earth stacked master background.
This is a background with a fantastic 3D effect, this is of course fantastic to process in a light control workshop, or always pay attention to how the shadows fall and you can get fantastic results.
As an extra flash I end up using a blue gel here for some extra atmosphere and accent on our model.

With this set it was not only important to make it look like we were really shooting on location, but I also used a technique here where I color the set via a fill in flash with gel. And as you can see from the focus effect, I have used the Lensbaby here. The graffity door 1 background is awesome for this kind of sets. You can really use if for story telling, and I absolutely love that in backgrounds.

This remains one of my favorite setups for beauty portraits.
Of course, there is a bright background, and in this case I have chosen the Sweethearts.
I use a triflection system here to open the shadows, and the sides of the clothes. On both sides are strips with grids that provide a considerable output. By feathering this I get a lot of lens flare, this lens flare is turned on even more by the K&F Concept Black Mist filter. You can see an ascending effect here from no filter to 1/4 and 1/2.

Lets start with no filter.

Now we move up to the 1/4 strength

Ok now lets start to add a bit more lens flare by switching to 1/2 and playing a bit more with angles so we can also get the left strobe in better, due to the added strength both will now be easier to capture.

And the final result with an added vignette.

And finally it was time for the set.
This is a really fantastic part of the studio to get creative. I use the Antique wall navy as “main background” and on the top to create a corner a ProFabric Chintz reclaimed, I chose this because it is quite dark and I can easily use it as a very dark background in the photo but still show some detail due to the print so that the photo / set looks a bit more “organic”. But the material also responds very well to color gels and can even be illuminated from behind, so it gives me a huge amount of possibilities. On the ground I use a floor part from ClickPropsbackdrops. A big advantage of loose floorboards is that you can change freely and thus build up a much larger variety than just the floor that is present in the studio.

Besides the main light I’m using a red gel here, because the light is pretty far from the model the 1/2 strength KF concept filter really helps with the lens flare. When the lights are close to the model the 1/4 is a great allrounder but when you want a bit more room in the set the 1/2 is absolutely awesome.

The first image is without the red gel, I already love the way the effect of a real location is created. The vinyl prints are really awesome on photos and add to the illusion of being somewhere else.

But let’s start by adding the red gel and see how the background material responds to the light. This is something that is often overlooked, but every material will respond differently on lighting. And I just love the way the Vinyl mixes the colors.

In the coming week we will release a video per set with an explanation of the lighting on our YouTube channel

You can get everything I use in our webshop via www.frankdoorhof.com/shop

Nadine with the new Rogue magnetic system

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Today the results from Nadine which I took during the digital classroom live stream.
 
Shot with the brand new Rogue magnetic system and the flashbender with the gridded strip. All mounted on #nissin speedlights.
 
It’s the first time I worked with the system because I wanted to share my first time experience with you guys and I can only say… Wow
 
Love the Dome and how the system just clicks together. It’s a super fast solution and as you can see it the live stream I can switch super fast between looks and the dome is great for omnidirectional lighting.
 
Background : grafity door 1 from #clickpropsbackdrops
 
See the full 2 hour tutorial here

 

A clean sensor is a happy sensor

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Loads of people ask me about my opinion about cleaning their sensor. Often people let specialized shops do it for sometimes a lot of money and don’t realize that the moment they zoom (with some lenses) or change lenses they have new dust building up. Let me start by saying that cleaning a sensor is easy as can be. You’re actually not cleaning the sensor itself but the toplayer. Which is actually pretty strong. There is one thing you, however, have to be careful for.

Some sensors (like the Sony) have onboard image stabilization, this means the sensor is “kinda” floating, so when you apply pressure to the sensor you will actually see it move, now that’s not good of course, to solve this just go into the menu and activate “sensor cleaning” this way the sensor will do it’s “magic” and it will lock itself unless you turn the camera off and on again, this is the moment when you can easily just clean your sensor.

Solutions

The in-camera one
To be honest, most cameras nowadays have sensor cleaning but to be clear, I never really had the idea it worked, yeah it sometimes did clean up a little bit but in essence, it’s the less effective way from what I’m going to discuss here.

Rocket blower
This is probably the most famous one, and for good reason, often all that is needed to get rid of that dust bulb is a good gust of clean wind. In all honesty, this really is a must buy, if you don’t own any of these well…. get out and get one. And don’t EVER blow into your chamber with your mouth, although cleaning a Medium Format sensor can be done by breathing on it and wiping it clean with a pecpad, this is something that should not and never been done inside a camera.

Get your rocket blower here


Arctic Butterfly
If I have to choose one device to use for cleaning, this is it. That’s also the reason I opened the article with an image of the arctic butterfly. I’ve been using them for quite some time now and the “new” versions with led lights are absolutely awesome. Operation is very simple, just activate the butterfly and let it run for a few seconds, stop and clean the sensor, it’s a very effective way of cleaning and takes out a lot more than the rocket blower. The main problem with dust is that not all dust is equal, some dust particles are just “resting” on the sensor and can be blown off, but some are a bit more sticky, and that’s where the butterfly comes to the rescue.

They are delivered in a sturdy case so you can take them with you on travels without worrying about damaging it. And trust me I’ve been in loads of situations where a rocket blower just didn’t do it’s work and being in the middle of nowhere without the option to clean your sensor at a camera store is amazingly annoying and takes a lot of time in Photoshop to clean up those beautiful shots, so if you only can take one device with you make sure it’s this one.

Get your butterfly here

Sensor swipes and Eclipse
If all else fails this is it. The wet method. In essence, there will always be dust that whatever you throw at it it will stay there, it’s like it’s glued to the sensor, now before you take out the paint remover (which you should not even thing about) you should invest in a bottle of eclipse and sensor swipes. I have to be honest, for me, wet cleaning is like a last resort, but it never let me down. I’ve cleaned sensors from students of mine that were so dirty that even on f8 you already saw the dust blobs appearing and after a good wet clean they were “perfect” again.

Get the sensor swipes here
And get the Eclipse here

Conclusion
There is one very important thing you have to keep in mind before you lose your sanity. There will ALWAYS be a little bit of dust on your sensor when shooting at f16 or f22, don’t worry about it, it will be gone in seconds in Photoshop/Lightroom etc. I actually never saw a 100% clean sensor in my life, there are some things you can do to prevent it from building up or getting really bad.

  1. Make sure you always switch lenses up side down and fast.
    don’t let the camera lay on it’s back with the lens mount wide open, change caps first and then the lens. No take the lens off with the camera facing down and immediately put the new lens on
  2. Don’t switch lenses in a windy or dusty environment
    Sounds obvious but you don’t want to know how many people I see changing lenses on the beach or even worse in the dunes.
  3. Don’t push the dust to the sides
    I see this a lot when people start out cleaning their sensors, they will move the dust to the sides of the sensor and don’t take notice, this dust will build up and before you know it it will be very hard to clean and you see a collection of dust particles in your corners or side.
  4. Make sure the dust is gone but don’t over do it
    A good cleaning should be pretty fast, don’t keep rubbing the sensor one good swipe from left to right and maybe one to check but that’s it. Check first and continue later

 

Of course there are more ways to clean a sensor including some I never even tried because somehow they feel a bit sketchy for me, like putting magic tape on your sensor and pulling it off (yeah I really read that somewhere) now let’s make one thing clear, yeah magic tape is supposed to not leave any trails but really seriously would you risk your sensor to that? I won’t. There are also some dustpickers out there with which you can select one dust particle and take it out via a sort of plunger effect, I never tried it because in all honesty with the 3 solutions above I never run into problems.

So what should you always bring?
One would say the rocket blower and although I use it a lot in the studio my choice is, however, the Arctic butterfly. It’s right in the middle of effectiveness between the rocket blower and the wet method and this means that when travelling within seconds I can clean my sensor more than enough to get clean shots for the rest of the trip when I’m home I can always do it “perfectly” with the wet method. And trust me nothing is more frustrating than being on a trip and shooting some stunning scenery and coming back in the hotel/RV and finding out your sky is littered with dust and you didn’t bring anything and there are no camera stores close by enough. Try driving an almost 10mtr RV into a city centre to get some cleaning stuff or lose some time on your trip to find a camera store that sells cleaning gear. So always bring at least one device that really does the trick and for me, the best allrounder is the Arctic Butterfly.

 

Any experiences from you guys?
Post them below

 

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