Tag Archive for: inspiration

If you want to use smoke you have to check out this

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Smoke in the studio is always fun

So today, part I in a series on smoke, or some people call it mist.
I’ve been using smoke almost immediately when I started with model photography in my own “studio”.
Somehow, smoke is magic during a photo shoot.
I often joke that if the model is “so-so” or the set is awful, just pump in some smoke, and you have a killer shot. Of course, it’s not that easy, although in essence it does work that way, smoke is a real mood maker.

Let’s first talk about the smoke itself

In our studio, we use two different kinds of machines.
For the whole set, I’m using two smoke machines with a water-based solution.
I highly recommend using water-based solutions if you are using the smoke with electronics in the same room.

For local smoke, I’m using two handheld smoke machines.
These are “oil-based” and will leave a small residue on materials where the smoke is concentrated.
A big advantage of these machines is that you can use different accessories, and for example, can create a dry ice effect with more like mist, literally sticking to the floor.

I’m using two machines for the following reasons.

For the water-based machines, it’s a matter of being able to work faster. The water-based machines often cool down during a shoot and need to warm up again. When you have two, you can in most cases use the second one when the first one is warming up. Two machines also help to build up the smoke more evenly. One can take care of the back while the other gives a few puffs on the front.

With the smaller machines, it’s simply a matter of having more smoke.

smoke on the background
And finally, let’s talk about the fluid

When you buy smoke fluid, you can probably choose the thickness.
In our studio, we use a medium thickness.
For studio work, this works best for us. When we want thick plumes, we use more smoke; for a haze, it’s a matter of using a little bit of smoke and just waiting. At one point, just like freezing motion, you learn exactly how the machines work and how the smoke reacts.

How to light smoke?

Lighting it can be tricky.

In a lot of cases, you might think that your lighting is too dark on the bottom of the frame, so you add some extra lights to open up the shadows, only to find out that when you start adding smoke, there is way too much light on the bottom. What is going on?

Smoke acts like a diffuser, reflector and a mood maker.
Meaning if you add smoke to a scene, a lot of things will change.
The first thing you have to take into account is that smoke will act the same way as a fog bank when you drive in your car.
Meaning when you place your light straight on your model, the chance you will see a big white glow instead of your model is almost 100%.
So when you place your main light, it works best if you place it under a slight to extreme angle. Don’t worry about a shadow side; we will solve that later on.

Also, the distance of your light can make a huge difference.

The first thing that changes with the distance is, of course, the light fall off, but also the area the light hits. With smoke, however, it’s more about the closer the light is to your subject, the less chance of too much smoke accumulating, creating an ugly white blob in the corner.

If you use a lot of smoke on the opposite side of the light (we often push the smoke towards the accent light), you will be surprised how much light is bounced back on the shadow side of your model. It’s like millions of small reflectors bouncing the light back (which in fact happens).

smoke and some movement

As you can see here, I’m using a blue gel in the background aimed at the back of my model (Isabelle). Due to the smoke and the limited “field of view” of the strobe, I’m getting a beautiful lighting effect behind my model. Add some motion and ….. done 😀

Or is it not that easy… well, yes and no.
For the answer, come back for the next blog post in our smoke series.

Workshops

Want to learn everything about light control?
Want to visit a workshop where it’s not just shooting a model with a fixed lighting setup, but see how the setup is built and adjusted to the taste of the group?
And of course learn how to work with poses, backgrounds, small sets, styling, retouching, and a lot more…..

If this all sounds awesome, visit fotografie-workshops.nl and book your workshop.
If you don’t speak Dutch, no problem, let us know a few weeks in advance, and we can switch the workshop to English.
Not possible to travel to the Netherlands?
We got you covered with our 1:1 online workshop.
We have a full streaming setup in our studio. 4 detail cameras and of course the retouching software, so you can see every detail and of course ask questions during the day. Plus, you get all the RAW files after the workshop.

 

 

 

Mixing colored lights with strobes

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Mixing light sources can be loads of fun

I’ve talked about it many times on the blog, but today we are adding one detail that will give you a lot more control over the look of the set. Today, it’s about mixing colored lights with strobes.

Workshop: mixing light

During the workshops, I always try to put in as many techniques as possible in the sets.
Which also means I sometimes have to create a problem to solve.

These images were shot during a glamour workshop with Claudia.
During this workshop, I love to create a more moody atmosphere and play a bit more with the model’s interaction with the camera.
One of the sets I think is great for glamour shots is pretty simple to recreate yourself.

Reflective surface

You only need some material with a nice reflective surface that you can lay on the floor for your model to lie on.
I love the color red, so for me it’s of course red velvet-like material.
Be careful with these kinds of materials; sometimes they will reflect light back differently depending on the angle you lay the material.
Sometimes this can be a nice effect. But if you want to keep the color even and need several parts together, make sure you check the direction you lay it down.

In most cases, I will light a set like this with one striplight or a small softbox. And let the light fall off around the legs.
Today we decided to add an extra element.

mixing colored lights with strobes

For this shot, I’m bouncing two strobes from our mirror wall into the set.
I’m using two Geekoto GT200’s with the Rogue magnetic kit and two Rogue gels, one red and one blue.
This already gave a really nice effect, but for a workshop, we need something more, right?

So let’s add some continuous lighting.

Mixing colored lights with strobes: the setup

In the past, this was something we had to guess for a large part.
Or, of course, shoot tethered and check the images while shooting.
But with almost every modern camera, it’s super easy.

When we normally shoot in the studio, we have our EVF in the “optical viewfinder emulation mode”.
This is the mode where, in a dark studio, you can see your subject perfectly.
On most cameras, even better than with a traditional viewfinder.

Emulation mode

You probably have at one time already experienced the “Emulation mode”.
When your camera is set to this mode, you will wonder what’s wrong with your camera when shooting in the studio.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with your camera, but the EVF is emulating what will happen when you press the shutter, and because we often shoot with very low light in a studio and with strobes, it’s normal for the camera to show you a pitch-black screen.

But for this setup, we actually need this setting.
You probably know, or by now have guessed, that the emulation mode is great for situations where you work with continuous lighting.
The camera literally shows you the result before you press the shutter.
So, for a setup like this, it helps a lot to set up the camera.

How to create this image: mixing colored lights and strobes

Step 1

Make sure the studio is very dark, and you don’t have any lights that affect the set.

Step 2

Choose the aperture for the depth of field you like.
I personally love to shoot these kinds of sets wide open or very close to wide open.
Now, make sure you choose a shutter speed you feel comfortable with for shooting handheld.
Although the model will be partly “frozen” by the strobes, we have a lot of the small lights in the frame, so you don’t want too much (if any) movement in your model.
In most cases, I would aim for anything between 1/8 and 1/30
Luckily, with today’s cameras, we have great high-iso performance and otherwise great software.

You can set the perfect ISO and shutter speed combination by simply looking at the emulation in the viewfinder.
When you lower the shutter speed/raise the ISO, the lights will get brighter.
When you raise the shutter speed/lower the ISO, the lights will get darker.

Step 3

Congratulations! The most difficult part is done.
Now that you know the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, it’s important not to change the ISO and aperture anymore.
You now have to take out your light meter and meter the strobe to the aperture and ISO you have set in your camera.
When your strobe is too powerful, you can opt to place an ND filter on the strobe (not on the camera, of course :D), or bounce the strobe from a ceiling or wall.

Step 4

Now that you have set everything up perfectly and the first images come in, you will probably be disappointed.
And that’s normal, don’t worry.
In sets like this, the perfect exposure is often not the “perfect” exposure.
Because we are working with two different light sources, we have a lot of creative control over the set.
For example, you can choose to raise or lower the shutter speed and control the output of the little lights. But you can also opt to lower the output of the strobes and make it more moody with more saturated colors.

This is the part that I often compare with cooking.
The base has to be perfect, but then we start adding the spices.

Step 5

The final ingredient: mixing colored lights and strobes

Because we are working with loads of small lights in this setup, plus colored strobes that bounced from the wall, it was almost impossible to get perfect lighting on certain parts of the body and the face.
And this is where you have to be smart…. use the small lights to light these parts.
Together with the students, we checked the images coming into Lightroom.  (This is why we always shoot tethered) And every time we changed some lights until we got the final results you see here.

mixing colored lights and strobes mixing colored lights and strobes mixing colored lights and strobes

Conclusion

Sometimes a prop is just a prop.
But sometimes you can also use your prop to help with problems in the set. We used the lights here to light certain parts of the body and face that were not lit by the strobes.
Remember that in mixed lighting setups, the aperture/ISO combination must stay fixed for the strobe, and with the shutter speed, you can let in more or less of the continuous light.
Do remember to stay under the X-sync of 1/125 in the studio.

Workshops about (mixing) lights

Want to learn everything about light control?
Want to visit a workshop where it’s not just shooting a model with a fixed lighting setup, but see how the setup is built and adjusted to the taste of the group?
And of course learn how to work with poses, backgrounds, small sets, styling, retouching, and a lot more…..

If this all sounds awesome, visit fotografie-workshops.nl and book your workshop.
If you don’t speak Dutch, no problem, let us know a few weeks in advance, and we can switch the workshop to English.
Not possible to travel to the Netherlands?
We got you covered with our 1:1 online workshop.
We have a full streaming setup in our studio. 4 detail cameras and of course the retouching software, so you can see every detail and of course ask questions during the day. Plus, you get all the RAW files after the workshop.

Lightroom for beginners video

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lightroom for beginners

Lightroom is awesome and super easy to use

For me, Lightroom (classic) is the beating heart of my business.
It holds all my photos, I can edit inside of Lightroom, use keywords, and a lot more.
With smart albums, I can quickly create a portfolio or presentation, or just see all the images I shot with a certain camera or setting.
With the map module, I can see exactly where I shot my images. This is a great way to relive your trips, but also to share awesome locations with other photographers.
And…. there is a lot more. (Lightroom for beginners)

And probably this is why some people don’t want to start with Lightroom, because it can look a bit intimidating.
I started with Lightroom from version 1, and in all honesty, there is one thing that stayed absolutely the same over all the years. Lightroom is super user-friendly and has nothing to be afraid of.

I almost dare to say that everyone who can control a camera can work with Lightroom without needing a manual.
But there are, of course, some things you have to be aware of when starting. So in this video, I show you how to start from scratch, share some retouching tips, how to use the smart albums, and a lot more.
And don’t worry if you are an absolute beginner, we really start at level zero.
But I also share some tips for the more advanced Lightroom user. Click below on the image for the free webinar: Lightroom for beginners

Disclaimer: 
Lightroom is updated a lot.
In fact, only a few days after this episode, it already added a lot more AI options.
It doesn’t change anything for the video, but do beware that some things might change over time.

Want more, and I mean A LOT more?
Check out my video about Lightroom and Photoshop. (7+ hours)

 

 

Soon, we will host a webinar about Photoshop

My workflow in Lightroom more in depth

 

Reflections and how to use them creatively

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Today a bit more about reflections

In my previous blogpost I shared the link to the digital classroom episode about reflections.
Today let’s take a look at the results and give you some information about how I shot them.

Set 1


Here you see our model Lisa leaning against a wall that is covered with wallpaper that is sold, at for example Amazon, as mirror wallpaper.
I have to be honest, the effect is very cool, but it’s far from a mirror which you could use to comb your hair.

For a setup like this, the first thing you have to make sure is that there are no reflections in the wall from your studio.
When you stand in front you will of course see the studio, but remember that when shooting with strobes you are overpowering the available light so if you push enough power to the set it will render the reflection to a very nice black wall with of course a cool reflection.

The second point is of course to make sure you don’t see the strobe in your viewfinder.
If you don’t see it in your viewfinder, it won’t show up in the final shot. There could be some lens flare of course but that can also be a nice addition to the shot.
We call this effect “angle of incidence is angle of reflection”, in other works, follow the lines and you know where the reflection will show up.
As soon as you’ve done this a few times it becomes almost second nature.

Set 2

In the first set I did not want the reflections in.
But what if we are getting a bit more creative?
I have to be honest, this is a large amount taste.

Set 3

As you can already see in the last shot, I’m adding a red strobe.
Now you can use this strobe just as a fill in light, but you can also go a “bit” more extreme.

In the last image I’ve used a lens flare effect from BorisFx.
BorisFx is great software with loads of special effects including some very convincing lens flares.
I mostly use it for filmlooks and special color processing. But sometimes a lens flare can turn out not 100% perfect in the final results, or you want to add a bit more “oomph”
In that case BorisFx can really add something special.
I do feel that the lensflare/colored gels should be in place when shooting the image, just adding a lens flare when there was no lens flare does look nice, but also fake in cases like these.
But when it’s already in the shot, BorisFx can really add a lot of extra mood.

During the broadcast I also took a quick shot of the setup.

Yep, try to keep the reflections out, can be a challenge, so why not include them, right 😀

Set 4

For the next set we used a very nice mirror background.
I bought this for a few euros online and must be honest it’s one of the coolest things I bought for the studio in while.
In fact you can use it in two totally different ways, so let’s start with option 1.


Here I’m using the background behind my model (duh), and placed two strobes behind the background.
Both the red and blue gel can be angled to get different results, if you just want to blend the colors, use a sort of cross setup, of you want to have some cool lens flare effects you can for example aim one of the strobes forward. Also make sure to experiment with the light output, in these cases I love it when it almost blows out the background on some of the edges.

The final set

Let’s combine the mirror wallpaper and the mirror wall for the final setup.

I’ve placed the small mirrors in front of the model.
Two strobes are aimed at the mirrors to reflect the light back on the model who is standing against the mirror wallpaper wall.
This way you don’t only get a very cool shimmer effect, but also a very nice blend of the red and blue gels.
By varying the output you can mix the colors of course.
Another cool thing you can do is shoot with one of the strobes aiming slightly towards the camera, this way you can get a blue or red “haze” in the shot due to lens flare.
It’s not as obvious as the lens flares from the back, but the effect is something I use a lot to spice up a shot.

Here you can see the setup.
Two Geekoto strobes with the Rogue magnetic system on the background and our Geekoto Quicky softbox on the model.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed todays blogpost.
The images were shot during the live broadcast.

Want to learn everything about light control?
Want to visit a workshop where it’s not just shooting a model with a fixed lighting setup, but see how the setup is built and adjusted to the taste of the group?
And of course learn how to work with poses, backgrounds, small sets, styling, retouching, and a lot more…..

If this all sounds awesome, visit fotografie-workshops.nl and book your workshop.
If you don’t speak Dutch, no problem, let us know a few weeks in advance, and we can switch the workshop to English.
Not possible to travel to the Netherlands?
We got you covered with our 1:1 online workshop.
We have a full streaming setup in our studio. 4 detail cameras and of course the retouching software, so you can see every detail and of course ask questions during the day. Plus, you get all the RAW files after the workshop.