Tag Archive for: models

Ultimate Weekend October 2/3

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It’s almost that time again……
On October 2/3 I teach another one of the Ultimate weekend workshops from our studio in Emmeloord. As you know I love teaching and these weekends are very very dear to me. In a normal workshop you work with a group for the better part of a day, but at the moment you start to know each other well it’s almost over.

 

 

In the Ultimate weekend we work from 10:00-21:00 on day 1 and from 10:00-16:00 (17:00) on day 2, including an awesome diner on day 1 with the whole team, this is a lot of time to get to know each other and really get those questions and discussions rolling and heating up, it’s for me the best teaching experience period.

 

 

We always keep these groups very small so we have a great interaction between the group and there is always an assistant close to you to help you out with questions when I’m talking to someone else for example. So it’s an almost non-stop experience.

 

 

Now I can type a lot here, but why not visit : https://frankdoorhof.com/web/tours/ultimateweekend/ for an overview of what we do during the weekend and of course you can book also, at the moment we only have 3 seats left, so don’t wait too long. BTW if you already did an ultimate weekend we now have a special discount of 150.00 if you book again, please contact us directly for this offer.

 

 

Some of the shots we took during past ultimate weekends.

Nadine May 22 2015 0262

Nadine en Jonathan May 22 2015 0142

Esther May 16 2015 29780

Nadine-February-20-2015-06361

Nadine-February-20-2015-09761

 

Using a very simple prop can make a difference

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We all know the so called “posing stools”, “how to pose books” well don’t get me wrong… they all have a market, but for me they often don’t work.

 

Every model is different, every lighting situation is different but most of all every scene is different.
I love to “sync” the pose to the models clothing, the model, the scene etc. etc. there are so many variables it’s almost limitless, so to have one pose that fits all…. doesn’t really work for me.

 

To help with posing and to let the model get a bit more relaxed in front of the camera it can help if you give him or her something to “play” with, or a better turn something to pose with. And that doesn’t have to be an expensive posing stool or whatever, you can only spend your money once so make sure you spend it on things you can re-use, re-sell etc. And spending 100.00 or more on one stool just is a waste of money in my opinion, although if you shoot a lot of families or the same portraits over and over again it will probably work just fine (otherwise they wouldn’t be on the market right?)

 

This prop I got from a friend of mine who owns a toy store in Emmeloord and he didn’t use it anymore, we actually got three in different lengths, you might recognize it as something to hang lights on in a store or a stage, and you’re (probably) right, but I love to use it to let my models play with during the shoot as you can see in these images with Nadine.

 

Nadine Juli 27 2015 1732

Nadine Juli 27 2015 1740 1

Nadine Juli 27 2015 2027As you can see it’s a different way to pose than without any props, these kind of things will really boost your (and your models) creativity and make sure you keep shooting with fun and don’t end up doing the same thing over and over again, because let’s be honest…. we are in a creative business so repeating the same things over and over… well that’s just boring.

 

Now how do you get the cheap posing things?
Just go out to second hand stores, dumpsters, stage companies etc. and just ask for the “junk” it doesn’t have to new or good looking, in fact the more damaged it is the better it often works for a shoot.

Good luck and good hunting for those amazing props 😀

If you want to learn more about this and more model photography, you can buy our book on Amazon called Mastering the Model Shoot.  Or visit one of our workshops, see www.photography-workshops.eu 

Or join KelbyONE for classes about model photography, see our youtube page for backstage videos, our short photography tips on “Quite Frankly” and our interview shows on “The DOORhof is always open”.

 

Digital classroom EP1 (the test)

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Last week saw the release of a new series in our educational program.
I’ve done a lot of workshop and webinars and both are 100% different, a workshop is a real 1:1 experience (we always work with small groups), a webinar is more a “watch and learn” experience.

 

For a long time I wanted to do something in between and never had the chance to do it, setting this up costs a lot of money as you can imagine (different camera angles, assistants, fast internet etc) but thanks to our friends at BenQ, Rogue and of course Elinchrom we finally were able to pull it off.

 

We dubbed it the “try out episode” but as far as we could see everything went very smoothly and what we ended up doing was a 3 hour intense instructional video with interaction from you guys.

 

We did not promote it a lot because we didn’t want a lot of people online if it would go wrong 😀 but… don’t worry we recorded it and you see it via this blogpost (or on our YouTube channel of course).

 

Please feel free to share the link, watch it and comment on it here or on YouTube, the idea is to do these kind of sessions 10x a year and normally they will have a topic just like the workshops, so except some smoke, movement, masks, location work etc.

 

Is it the same as a workshop?
No of course not 😀
A workshop is much more intense and has way more interaction, but I think we bridged the gap between a webinar and a small group workshop.

 

Is it the same as your instructional videos?
No of course not 😀
The instructional videos and the KelbyOne videos I do are much more in depth and will have totally different topics. The idea of the digital classroom is to show you guys how we work, what we do to complete a photoshoot and you can interact and ask questions, it’s not meant to replace the instructional videos or our other videos like on KelbyOne, if this gives you the hunger for more…. there are actually those options… book a workshop or watch/buy the instructional videos.

Enjoy.

Many thanks to our friends at BenQ, Rogue and Elinchrom to make this possible.

Finding the right angles

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Making a photo work is part of many many elements, light, storytelling, poses, composition, tinting, “retouch” and so much more.
But one of the key elements is also finding the right angles.

 

There are always books/videos/sites that will tell you HOW to shoot something or how NOT to shoot something, if you would follow ALL the NOTs you would probably not make a picture anymore and if you follow all the HOWs you will probably shoot images that don’t work. I strongly believe that making a good shot is very personal, not only depending on the photographer but most of all the situation, model etc.
Today some attention to finding the right angles.
According to some a wide angle is not really used in model photography (and according to some it’s cool, I’m in that category) so today some images and tips for shooting images a bit differently.

 

In this shot we used a mirror on the floor and I shot it with a 24 from slightly above the model (It helps to be tall, or a ladder also).
Twiga May 2 2015 0141

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