Tag Archive for: model

One simple light

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Often I get the compliment that I only work with one light and get some “pretty cool images”, of course it’s nice to get compliments but…. well it’s not 100% true.
Let me put it differently.
I strongly believe that if you can pull something off with only one light… why use more?

 

It has nothing to do with the fact that there is only one sun, I never really supported that case, well ok I agree there is only one sun for us earthlings but if we look at the light around us there is much more than one light source, look at reflections, the ambient light etc. etc. actually we life in a world filled with light.

 

No the real reason I often only use one light is the simple fact that it just does the trick, I love the more darker looking images sometimes and let’s be honest when you use one light with for example a grid you are already half way there. The other reason is also a bit “because it’s easy” you don’t have to drag around a lot of lights, setups are very fast and the results are always great without the chance of double shadows etc. However… and I really want to make this clear, I’m not a 1 light kind of guy, on the contrary I love using multiple light sources to really add mood to a location, pin point the model with one and add the rest with a second (or third), add some accents where I want them, add a splash of color and sometimes…. well I bought a lot of lights and Annewiek wants me to use them at least sometimes (Ok that was a joke…. or was it).

 

Now most people somehow struggle with the use of one light, so today a small sample about how you can learn to master your one light.
For this setup I used one striplight with a grid (shot during the workshops in Eersel for Studio76 with Nadine as my model).

Nadine Februari 14 Eersel (24 of 99)-Edit

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Don’t be afraid to go wide

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Often you hear the question “what’s the best lens for….”
In my opinion there is not really a best allround lens…. it all depends on creativity, what you want and what you need.
In model photography often wide angles are labeled as “not done” and I can understand this, a wide angle distorts the image (if you’re not careful) and it’s not a lens that will be great for model separation from the background.

 

However having said that… the wide angle can be awesome for some special effect shots, for example lay on the floor and let the model jump very close to you and you can get some pretty funky stuff like this shot we did with Manon during the workshops in Studio76 this weekend.

Manon Februari 15 Eersel (13 of 41)-EditSo although people say “don’t” always try to find a solution in which you say “it will work”, this will make your work stand out from the crowd because somehow now a days a lot of people just believe what’s being told online and don’t even try it anymore, be smarter 😀

 

Subtle expressions

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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.

Lenaa December 28 2013 (19 of 79)-Edit

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Playing with light

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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.

Lenaa December 28 2013 (33 of 79)-Edit

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