Tag Archive for: motion

Backdrops are vital

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Just some images

This is how I started this blogpost, just a post with no tips, no techniques just sharing some images.
But somehow that doesn’t work with me, so here is another tip.
Today it’s all about backdrops.

Backdrops are vital

I quickly started with custom paint on our walls in our first studio. I never understood why someone would waste so much space in a studio by keeping the walls all white. First of all it reflects and it just isn’t inspiring (well at least not for me), having walls with details, structure etc. gives you ideas and it just works much better as a backdrop.
Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love(d) seamless paper, and still sometimes use it, but having a “real” backdrop to work with often complements the shoot a lot more than paper.
Besides custom paints we also still use moveable walls in our studio with all kinds of wallpaper, always loads of fun to use and build small sets with.

Now with Ai a lot of people ask me why I not just add a backdrop in Photoshop…
Well it’s actually very simple.
First of all it’s a lot more work, selecting has become super simple and almost perfect but it’s still not as real as a shot you did not cut out.
Also the whole interaction with light, lens flares, edge transfer, focus/circle of confusion etc. are very hard to emulate in Photoshop if even possible. On a set with a proper background it’s a matter of pressing the shutter and you’re done. If you shoot your images with flat lighting it’s actually pretty easy to do, but when you start adding contrast lighting, flares and color gels it becomes harder and harder without it looking fake, or taking hours…so I just prefer my own moto “Why fake it when you can create it?” 😀

When we started with the distribution for ClickBackdrops I totally fell in love with their “old masters” backgrounds, very classical backdrops with great gradients. But also the more extreme backdrops are awesome for shoots. And the nice thing about ClickBackdrops is that the backdrops are designed by photographers for photographers (I also have a signature lineup with them).

But one of the backdrops I HIGHLY recommend getting is the “Soft Gray master with floor” which you can see in the images today.
This is a wonderful medium dark gray backdrop with a beautiful pattern the included floor makes it great for location but also for fashion shoots and the gray color makes it very suitable to not only play with color gels but also with tinting in Lightroom or Photoshop.

So today some images from our model Claudia on and against the backdrop.
As you probably know I love to add some motion to my shots so when Claudia showed me the outfit I just knew we had to add some extra oomph to the shots but keep the lighting relatively simple.

Also want to visit a workshop and learn all about lighting, styling, set building on a budget, coaching the model and a lot more?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for the Dutch workshops.
If you don’t understand Dutch, don’t worry… if you let us know a few weeks in advance we can switch the workshops to English.
Or, of course book a 1:1 workshop in our studio or even online.

Day of the dance, photographing motion

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Today is the day of the dance

Today we celebrate International Dance Day (click here for more info). So this is a great reason to write a blog post about photographing motion and some tips.

This day was created to celebrate dance as an art form and inspire people worldwide to dance, move, and express themselves through music and rhythm. In the Netherlands and Belgium, a lot of attention is paid to dance on this day. Dance schools organize open lessons, workshops are given for young and old, and performances and flash mobs take place on squares and in theaters. From classical ballet to hip hop, from modern dance to folk dance – today it’s all about the power of movement and connection.

Dance connects people, brings joy, and is a universal language that needs no words. It is an outlet, a form of expression, and a way to come together, regardless of background or age.

photographing motion

I love photographing motion

For me, adding some motion to a photo always adds so much more than just that motion. Somehow, you just keep looking at the image.
To freeze motion with strobes, you have to make sure you use strobes with a fast flash duration. For most situations, a flash duration of 1/2000 is enough for a proper “freezing the action shot”. Of course, you can also play with this technique. For example, use a fast strobe on the face of the model but use a very slow strobe as an accent to get some nice blurs in the highlights.

The best way to use your strobes when freezing motion

To figure out the best way to use your strobes is much easier than you might expect.
If you by accident, own a Sekonic 858 lightmeter, you can actually measure the flash duration (very cool), but don’t worry if you don’t own one, there is another way.

 

one of the results from one of my first KelbyOne classes.

Use a fan

Yep, it’s that simple :D. Photographing motion by using a fan.

Set up the fan and use the highest setting.
Now shoot images on the lowest setting and build it up per stop on your strobe untill you hit the maximum output. (Don’t forget to change the aperture).
If you look at your images, you will see that on some settings the blades of the fan are sharper than on other settings. You now know on which setting the strobe has the fastest flash duration and the slowest. Always use that setting when freezing motion, and you’re done.

Remember that you don’t do these tests on HSS, only Manual mode.
Also, remember that in the studio, the shutter speed on the camera is always kept at 1/125, to make sure you can freeze the action as clear as possible always take one shot without strobes to make sure you have no spill light in your studio.

We recorded a “How did I shoot this one” about freezing motion and using a fan. 

Need more light?

One of the problems you can and probably will run into is light output.
The main problem with motion is that you are often stuck with a very limited range on your strobes, and in most cases, the fastest flash duration is not on full power but somewhere between 50% and 75%. Now add to this that you want to avoid shooting on F2.8 but preferably use F11-F16, and you already see that we can run into issues with light output. Luckily, we also have solutions for this.

ISO

The first thing you can do is raise your ISO.  With modern cameras, it’s absolutely no problem to use ISO800, and with some proper noise reduction, you can easily use ISO1600.
However, especially with commercial work where fine detail is important, I always choose to solve the issue with a proper light shaper, or the lack off.

Light Modifier

For motion, I love the more harsher quality of light for focus. And of course contrast. This does give me a head start because the light-shapers are already more efficient than for example a softbox. Think about this: with a softbox, you use several layers of diffusion material, which takes away light. With a light-shaper like a reflector, you can already see that the material is shiny. Which means that in the reflector, the light is focused via the reflective layer, which gives you a lot more output.

The size of the reflector is just as important as the material that is used inside.
Some of my favorites over the years were the Hensel 14″ spot and the Elinchrom Maxilight/spot, both gave a tremendous amount of extra light. I used them also a lot for outside sessions, and they saved me a lot of batteries 😀

Nowadays I’m using the Geekoto strobes, and the GT200 is a great strobe for outside use and freezing motion. Due to the fact it used a built-in Fresnel lens you get more light output from a standard flash tube. The compact design, in fact it gives more light output than the  Geekoto GT250, which in its defense, uses a different flash tube. The design of a  Fresnel gives you extra light output, and when used in a light shaper, also gives you a great quality of light, think about the old theater and movie spots.

Photographing motion

Fresnel

Which brings me to my favorite light shaper at the moment.
I use it for portraits, fashion, freezing motion, and outside work. It boosts the light output,t and you can focus the light. I’m talking about the Nanlite FL20G Fresnel 

In the past, Fresnels were very expensive, but with the Nanlite, you can now get a Fresnel for a ridiculously low price, and thanks to the Bowens mount, you can easily fit it to most strobes out there. So, if you want a great high contrast and high output light shaper make sure to check out the Nanlite Fresnel. (Or any other Fresnel, of course).

Let’s conclude today’s blog post with some dance/motion-inspired images. I love photographing motion and in my workshops I often show this technique to my students.

 photographing motionPhotographing motion Photographing motion

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to very easily find out your flash duration

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Flash duration and freezing motion

Freezing motion is fun

One of the things I always love to do during photoshoots is add some motion to the shots.
If you have ever tried this, you will probably know it’s all about timing. But even then, you probably noticed that sometimes the images are razor sharp and sometimes a bit blurred. How is this possible when you use the same strobes? Read more about flash duration and freezing motion.

The first thing you think is of course, that you probably timed it slightly differently.
But the reason is probably somewhere else.

Flash duration

You may have already noticed the flash duration in the specs of your strobes.
But how do you read this?
Well, that’s the problem when you see 1/1.000-10.000 T.1 or T.5. It probably doesn’t really ring a bell.
I will not make it too technical but see the flash duration as your shutter speed.

When you take a picture in your studio without strobes the images should be black. Because we have to take into account the X-sync in the studio (otherwise you see those nasty black bars) we shoot at 1/125 in the studio. Normally this would make it impossible to freeze motion. But because the flash is just a pulse MUCH faster than 1/125 it’s not a problem.

So that T.1 and T.5 values can be seen as your shutter speed (as a reference, it’s slightly more complicated).
For me, a T.5 value higher than 1/2000 is enough to freeze most motion. Anything higher than 1/5000 is awesome for really razor-sharp motion with models.

I already told you that the values don’t really tell the story. This is because they will vary over the output of your strobe.
Some strobes are super fast on the lowest setting, and some are the fastest on 75%
At first sight, you might think that it doesn’t really matter. But imagine shooting a jumping model on the lowest setting, that would not give you a lot of playroom with your depth of field. So, being able to shoot it with more power is very much needed. This is why most professional strobes have the fastest flash duration at 50-80%.

There are two ways to see the flash duration really fast.

Flash duration and freezing motion

Important gear for freezing motion

Sekonic 858

Although the Sekonic is a lightmeter it also has a great feature that makes it possible to measure the flash duration and even show the graph. But this is an expensive solution.

The fan

A much cheaper, but less accurate, and more fun way is to use a fan.
Put the fan on full power.
Place your camera on a tripod, adjust the strobe from lowest to full power, and take an image every stop (of course adjust the aperture).
In Lightroom you can now easily see in which images the blades are frozen most.

In this video, I tell you a bit more about freezing motion.

And some of the images from the video.

During the workshops, we talk a lot about technique, lighting, coaching the models, retouching, and in essence every topic the attendees want to learn about.
Do you also want to visit a workshop?
Most workshops at fotografie-workshops.nl are in Dutch, but if you let us know a few weeks in advance and we can switch them to English.

flash duration and freezing motion

How to shoot fire works or Christmas lights 

More about the light meter 

Don’t you just love motion

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One of the things I absolutely LOVE to do is adding motion to a shot, especially freezing it.
For my classic portraiture series I’m working with some artists and actors to build a small series and one of the people on my list was Lorenzo.
Now maybe you know Lorenzo from “So you think you can dance” and the movie “Body Language” and if you do, you know this boy can move….

 

Lorenzo was more than willing to pose for the classic portraits (which I show later in the week), but he also had some cool ideas himself, and when a dancer has some ideas… well just go with it.

 

Today some of the results from that session.

Lorenzo November 11 2014 0016

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