Tag Archive for: posing

Awesome fashion shots with a complete set on a roll

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Fashion shots with Nadine

One of the things I absolutely love are the fashion shots they did in the ’60s-’70s. In today’s blog post, I used that era as inspiration for a more modern “Frank” approach 😀
So continue ready how I made these awesome fashion shots with our model/stylist Nadine.

In today’s blog post, we talk about posing, lighting, and backgrounds.

I’m using our Geekoto GT400 flash unit with a Geekoto 48″ softbox without the grid.  You could add a striplight from the other side to give a little bit of accent light.
During the workshop/assignment, I often shoot both ways because they can both give a totally different look and feel. Sometimes the client (or myself) likes the accent light more with certain poses and clothing. And sometimes the basic setup works best. If you want to go really “crazy” you can even add some gels to the set. But today we kept it more basic and as you can see the striplight just opens up the shadows a bit on one shot and gives a little bit of accent on the other. On the Geekoto commander, I can quickly change the settings of my strobes.

My main light I will normally not change, but accent lights I often adjust during the shoot.
Because I’m shooting tethered I can clearly see the effects of the setup and this also means I can more easily adjust my lights on the fly. Especially for the accent lights shooting tethered makes it possible to quickly adjust the lights to fit the poses and mood without leaving my spot 😀

Styling

Nadine did the styling for this set herself (as usual). She made the top with diamonds and glue. and sew a lot of jeans together.
We wanted some more unusual poses, and for me, it’s important that the model will find her/his own poses and “flow” through them. So I will often just coach which way to look or turn. But try to let the model find the poses her/himself. This way you prevent falling into the same poses over and over, plus it will just look way more natural.

Let’s take a look at some shots and then I’ll explain a bit more about the background and setup.

an awesome fashion shot with model/stylist Nadine

 

Backdrop

As you can see on the images I’m using a special background.
In a short time, this has become one of my absolute favorite backgrounds.

In this shoot I’m using the Click Backdrops Soft master grey background in the larger size pro fabric, this means it’s possible to use it as both the background and floor part. With this material, it’s also very easy to use tinting or gels and still get a very nice-looking effect in the background/floor. Here I’m using a slight (well okey slightly more than slight) blue tinting.

Motion

Now when we shoot images like this I also want a little bit of motion in the shot.
Motion doesn’t always mean models have to go crazy or leave orbit. You can add a little bit of motion by just raising a leg and slightly standing on her toes. Always remember that the model should point the toes downwards, otherwise, it looks really bad.

As you can see, just adding that little bit of “action” really enhances the shot.
It doesn’t mean the others are bad, they are just different. And again, you will sell more and get more clients when you offer variety in your work.

Angles

Most shots you’ve seen now have been done from a relative “standard” position.
However, when you want to enhance the action a bit it can really help to get a little bit closer to the model and shoot from a slightly lower angle with a slightly wider lens. This is one of the reasons I love to use the 24-79 F2.8 Gmaster from Sony.

As you can see the result is pretty amazing.

Phot

Photoshop for awesome fashion shots

I’ve used generative fill in Photoshop to fill in the sides.
By the way, did you know you now also find generative fill on the iPad in Photoshop?
And it works just as well for most things, which makes the iPad another step towards a real pro device.

Close up

Anyway, let’s continue.
Full body shots are great of course, but never forget to also get some close-ups.
Here I’m using a different tinting, but it’s the same setup.

another awewome fashion shot with Nadine

If you have any questions feel free to reach out.
We really appreciate a share on social media.

 

Check out the short I made

 

 

 

Adding some color to totally change the look and feel, also with Nadine 

See how I used the Soft Master Grey backdrop with Claudia

 

Using props

/in , /by

I love using props in sessions.
In this case a “fake” famous microphone and as you can see it adds a lot to the session. Not only because it looks nice. But also because the model can now do a lot more with Expression and poses.

But you don’t have to use a microphone of course.

How about a cool guitar for example

Or you can also use your strobes. In this case one of our geekoto strobes shot during a tradeshow

But of course you want to spice things up a bit.

Or use a spare camera

Almost anything you like you can use as a prop. So next time a model doesn’t know how to pose or hold her/his hands. Think about adding a prop 😉

How to pose hands

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I think that one of the questions a lot of people struggle with (including me) is “how do you pose hands?”

Let’s be honest we all have them, and normally they are incredibly handy (pun intended) but in a photo…. well that’s where the problems often arise, what do you do with them, what do you show, or accept not to be shown, do you want them to draw attention, or not…

In todays video I dive into the topic “posing hands” and share some of my tips.
Do remember that we film these videos in one take including the images, so don’t expect stellar results, it’s just to share some ideas and hopefully help you guys.

Do you have any questions, feel free to ask them.
This video was actually created because someone on Patreon asked about it. And that’s the cool thing about our Patreon, I don’t only share behind the scenes images and videos there, but we also do a monthly portfolio review and questions are often answered within 24 hours (often even faster) plus the members help each other out too. Sounds cool?

Join our Patreon at www.patreon.com/frankdoorhof it starts at only $1.00 a month.
By joining our Patreon you help us to continue releasing free tutorials etc.
Join this week and get my Lightroom pack for free.

 

Tip : should I actually see the eyes?

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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 😀

Cosplay May 29 2016 32612

Cosplay May 29 2016 32617