For the next set we used a corner of the studio that was available with an unique prop, well I never worked with something like this before.
Nadine had the perfect outfit for this….. a cross between fashion and a gymnastic Ninja 😀
During the photoshoot it’s very important to have a “connection” with your model.
If you don’t the images will turn out…. well pretty “standard”.
To get more interesting images it’s often enough to play with very subtle expressions.
During the workshops I always have a lot of attention for this, and today I share some images we shot during a workshop with Lenaa, now very closely look at the expressions that Lenaa shows, in my opinion this is one of the key elements in the photoshoot, of course light is important etc. but if the model looks “standard” or “empty” well…. you end up with something that could have been much better.
Now don’t get me wrong, the expression will always be very personal, what one loves the other one hates, so find your own way, but start experimenting with the very subtle expressions and then go to the more extreme ones.
Light is our language in photography.
When you play around with language you get poetry.
So why not play around with light……
All images were shot during a workshop with Lenaa using one strobe from the back.
Meter was used aimed approximately 45 degrees away from the camera to get the right balance between blowing out the sides but still keep enough detail in the face.
So don’t be afraid to break the “rules” because in “art” there are no rules in my opinion, it’s one big play area where you set the limits to what you do.
A lot of people always complicate light setups, if we bought we 4 lights we better use 4 otherwise the “wife” will be angry “why did you buy 4 if you only use 1” right?
However sometimes simple can be so much more spectacular.
Today two images with an incredibly simple light setup.
I used one Elinchrom head with the standard reflector and a grid.
Now most books, videos, workshops (including my own) start with the tip to get the light OFF CAMERA, well yeah that’s true… however that doesn’t mean that sometimes it’s very cool to shoot in the same direction as the light. In this case the light is of course OFF CAMERA, for the very simple reason that you “can’t” mount a studio strobe on your hotshoe (although I’m sure somewhere on ebay you will find an adaptor), but for this setup it’s actually just a little bit above my camera, so I’m shooting almost with on camera flash (only it’s placed about 40-50cm above the camera).
As you can see there is nothing wrong with the effect, it’s actually pretty cool.
The background is also very simple, it’s just wallpaper, we have several movable walls in our studio that are covered with wallpaper, we need app 2 rolls per wall so it’s very cheap and easy to change wallpapers if I’m bored with them.
