Frank Doorhof

Tip : Expression really can make a difference

June 8, 2016/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

I’ve said it several times on the blog and online, but expression can really make or break a shot.
When I do portfolio reviews in fact most of the shots I see are well lit, have good styling, have a great location but…. it’s often the expression that kills the shot, I sometimes even think “was she waiting for the bus?” yes it can be that bad 😀

During the shoot always push your models for that real cool expression, the look where they go “WOW, SLAMBAM THERE I AM” well you know what I mean. I sometimes tell the more “shy” models that 80% of the expression is blown away by the strobes so they really have to push it over the top, and this often helps.

No most of the time the models will respond a bit surprised when they see a real expressive shots, some will love it and you are on a rollercoaster from there one, and some will start to doubt themselves, so in my experience don’t ask the model “what do you think?” but just TELL her/him “WOW look at this, THIS is amazing, your rock girl/man” you will quickly see that this last line actually works wonders.

Now when I do my testshoots the first thing I try to figure out is if the model is expressive, I’ll run him/her through different expressions and coach a lot less than I normally do (I’m a real talker during the shoot) because I know that if they do fine without coaching they will rock with.

Some models really surprise me during their testshoots and those are the models you often also see a lot during the workshops I teach :D, one of them is actually Poeka, and today some expression shots we did with Poeka during a recent small flash workshop.

Tip : should I actually see the eyes?

June 7, 2016/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

When you work with a model you often hear…. “it’s all in the eyes”
And although I often agree with this I also strongly believe that sometimes a pose can be SO much more powerful when you don’t see they eyes, in fact think about so many horror, SF movies or comics when you cover up someones eyes the attention of the viewer immediately goes to the pose and the expression/gesture in that pose.

Take for example these shots I did during a recent Cosplay shoot, as you can see you hardly see the eyes in two of these shots, and to be honest the less I see the eyes the more powerful the shot becomes…. of course I shot it with the intend to let the pose do the “talking” but when you have a model that can show a very powerful pose it’s often much cooler and more threatening/moody to just leave the eyes out.

In the first shot I went for the motion and action.
The second shot only shows a “hint” of the eyes and with the third one it’s all about the pose.
So the next shoot you do… try to do something with(out) the eyes 😀

Tip : where should the model look

June 3, 2016/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

A question I get a lot is “Where should the model look?”
Well in all honesty I don’t really think about it, I often let the model look the way that fits the image. Take for example these shots of Poeka I took during the recent small flash workshop, she is not looking into the camera, but straight into the light. I love the way the light plays on her face in combination with the shadow on her cheekbone.

Now is there a right or wrong?
Well I don’t know, I know what I like, or what my model likes.
In most cases I will however follow a few simple rules or guide lines.

Catchlights
If possible I always want the catchlights in the models eyes
Center the eyes
Make sure the eyes are centered, unless of course you want to go for that “walking dead” look with loads of eye white
Make the story
Often I will try to tell a story with my photography (even with “simple” portraits”) when a model looks straight into the camera this of course tells a story, but when he/she looks away this can often bring just a bit more of tension in a shot.

As you can see I do follow some rules, but in essence I can throw them all overboard when I think something else fits the story better, so if you are still following all the rules…. try to just “relax” and go for that special look, the look that feels awesome and when it breaks some rules… well… maybe it was time for it 😀

The light blaster in action

May 27, 2016/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

Today some images with Nadine, the light blaster and some smoke.
The light blaster is without a doubt the kind of modifier that really triggers your creativity, when I got it I was first a bit skeptic because I don’t like to shoot a model against a “fake” background, but when you use it more “subtle” it can be a HUGE boost for your shoots. We loved it so much we are now the distributor for the Netherlands :D, so check out the shots and if you like them you can buy the light blaster via our website store.

BTW… these shots were done during the filming for the next instructional video in the “Mastering the model shoot” series 😀