Same background, totally different results

April 3, 2024/0 Comments/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

Maximize your results with this simple technique

When you shoot for a client, delivering different options is always interesting and smart.
But different options take time, right? In this blog the same background and totally different results

Well not exactly.

Be smart with your setups.

For this example, I’m using a white background.
In the front, I’m using the Rogue black umbrella with a sleeve aimed straight at our model.
The backdrop is white seamless.

You probably already know about the inverse square law, meaning light falls off over the distance.
A great way to use this is to control your background.

I’m using the white background for my first shot in this setup.
This one was shot with one Rogue umbrella in the background and one Rogue umbrella on the front.

You can already see a very slight light fall-off in the background, which can be solved by using a second umbrella on the other side of course as explained in the previous blog posts.

But what if you just take away the umbrella(s)

As you can see the background now turns grey and you can add some extreme vignetting in Lightroom or Photoshop (or your favorite editor) for a completely different look.

Change the distance for total control (different results)

Using the inverse square law you can change the luminance of the background very easily.
You actually have 2 options.

you can change the distance from the main light to your model.
Move it closer to the model and the background will become darker.
Move it further away from your model and the background will become lighter.
Move your model forward to get the background darker
Move your model towards the background and the background will become lighter.

Of course, you have to re-meter the light when you change the distance between your model and your background.

Explained wrong

I just wanted to add an extra note to this blog post.
I’ve seen several videos and articles that claim that the light halves when doubling the distance, this is however wrong.
The name already gives you the answer in fact.

“The intensity of the light is inversely proportional to the square of the distance”
meaning in simple turns that for every doubling you lose about 75% of your light.

In usable terms.
Place your light really close to your model and the light will fall off incredibly fast. Place it further away from your model and more of the set and model will be lit and the light fall-off will be smoother.

Conclusion using the same background and getting different results

When you have to shoot with certain setups always check if you can also get usable results by turning off/on certain strobes.
You might surprise yourself when you start testing this, it can be done in much more situations than you might think.

Read the post about poses and the white background

see more pictures Frank made with the Umbrella on the RogueFlash website

check out the Digital Classroom about Umbrellas

Have fun with the wide-angle option on your iPhone or other smartphone

March 31, 2024/0 Comments/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

The Wide Angle lens on your iPhone

The wide angle is probably one of the most fun lenses. Period. yes i mean the Wide Angle Lens on your iPhone

That might be a very strong expression, but the wide angle is undoubtedly one of those lenses you can have a lot of fun with.
So for today’s blog post I decided to take some wide-angle shots while walking in the forest with Chewie.

The way it was intended… right?

Most of the time we use it just to get a wider view, and let’s be honest, it does really make a difference.

However, for me one of the cool things about the wide angle is not that it just gives you more of the scene. But the way the wide angle distorts.
Now normally distortion is of course a bad word (unless you play guitar :D) but you can also use it creatively.

For example, what about just holding your phone really close to a tree and just aiming it up? The trees will look huge and if you bump the contrast you get some really cool results.

Now it’s also sometimes cool to use the wide angle to include your own feet.
Think about the start of a big hike, or maybe you like a sign that you find on your route and you want to spice the shot up a bit. Why not switch to the wide angle and include your feet?

Now talking about signs and angles

Those are actually awesome for the wide angle.
But don’t just shoot them straight on. Try different “funky” angles! Shoot them top down, or just sit on the floor and shoot up.
Signs are great for this, especially with street photography I love to shoot street signs this way. (although they mostly from the bottom up of course).

Shooting my pet with a wide-angle

Of course, when walking with Chewie we also had to take some shots of him with the wide angle.
Now you can take a little bit of a distance and it will just appear Chewie has a really big head.

But it becomes so much fun when you get REALLY close up and personal.
Just beware that your phone doesn’t end up as a snack.

Cool selfies

Now I’m not going to lie, because I want to use the wide angle I can’t see the screen. So the following shots are 99% luck. But when you try enough times you will get some really unique selfies.
Let’s start with the phone on the floor with some leaves in front of it. You can also do this from a higher standpoint of course.

We loved this shot, but it was too easy to get right…. so we decided to throw in Chewie and be a bit more creative with the composition….. It’s not hard to guess, but most images were totally wrong (you can’t see the screen) but when it works… well it’s loads of fun as you can see here.

The wide-angle on your phone is fun

So the next time you use your phone. Use the Wide Angle lens on your iPhone, get close, and take some pictures for more creative shots.
As soon as you start using it you will find that even the most boring things can become really interesting, just due to the distortion and the different angles.

These shots were done with the iPhone 15 pro-Max on the wide-angle setting.
Editing is done in Adobe Lightroom Classic

A few years ago, the Digital Classroom was about Small Spaces and Wide Angles

Rock that Low and Wide Angle Blog about street and travel photography in the UK

Fashion shoot with Nadine, a blog about angles and more

Modelling is also acting, well actually a lot of acting

March 29, 2024/0 Comments/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

It’s all in the expression and poses and… a lot more

Over the years I’ve photographed many models in various locations and situations.
They range from trade shows on a booth measuring 2×3 mtrs to awesome castles. Modeling is also acting. a model should empathize in the shoot.

One thing I learned is that you can shoot in the most difficult or awesome locations, the model determines how the results will end up.
When I look for models the first thing of course, I look at is how the model looks. I don’t believe in size zero and love to shoot “real” people instead of Barbie dolls.
And that immediately brings us to the most important part.

Acting on 1/2000 of a second

When shooting a film we have several seconds, minutes, or hours to tell a story.
However with photography it’s 1/2000 of a second, well not exactly but you know what I mean right 😀

So one of the most important things for me when looking for models is actually expression, poses, and moving freely/naturally within the light setup.
And trust me this is much more difficult than you might think.
One of the tricks I use is to tell the model she/he should always be able to see the main light even if it’s just in the corner of her/his eyes. This way you will almost always have catchlights in the eyes, which in my opinion are really important. This doesn’t mean the images are not good when there are no catchlights, but in most cases, we want them in the eyes.

During a recent workshop with did some different expressions with our model Claudia.
As you can see these are totally different from just a pretty face on a picture, these really tell a story.

Modeling is acting and storytelling.

What is she thinking about?

It’s not just expression, it’s acting

Of course, it’s not just the expression of your model.
Styling and the whole setting, including your light choice will help to cement your story into the images.
So always experiment with the whole setting.
It doesn’t make any sense to have makeup that is running with a smiling model against a white background doing jumps. But it can work wonders in a moody setting where the model is looking sad (see examples).

Now, of course, there is a time and place for these kinds of shots, and I will not tell you it always works.
Sometimes you need a model that looks …. well like she’s not really there. Some fashion brands love that look. In my opinion, the model in that setting is more a way to demonstrate the clothing and should not take away any attention to the clothing. I like the “lifestyle” photography more where we use the clothing/accessories in settings that give a “feeling” instead of just presenting. But as mentioned before this is 100% up to the client. However, it’s incredibly handy if you can deliver both. And in a lot of cases, this means I will ask my clients if I’m allowed to use our “own” models.

It happened too often that I end up on a trade show or location workshop and have a beautiful model but am bored after the first shoot.
And we have had situations where even a model in jeans and a tank top blew me away and didn’t need anything else.

So the next time you scout your models, maybe go for the ones that are also able to act 😀 Because modeling is also acting!

Check out this video about storytelling

Model Claudia uses seamless paper as a dress

A pure white background and floor, plus accents on your model with just three umbrellas

March 27, 2024/0 Comments/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

A white background, floor, and accent on your model with just 3 umbrellas?

Seems impossible… it’s not

Shooting with a white background and floor is far from my favorite setup, but sometimes you have to 😀
When I started with photography the white background was hot. And used all the time (I was always more of a light grey fan). So of course I had to learn how to shoot it.

The first problem I ran into was getting the background completely white.
This is easily solved by moving the model forward and just blasting the background. But when cameras became better and the headroom larger it became more and more problematic due the the enormous amount of light reflecting back from the background. So how to get that pure white background?

Special modifiers to get a white background

The first thing I tried was of course lighting the background with open reflectors, or softboxes. And although it worked ok it never was 100%.
So enter the special background reflectors.
The idea behind these is that they “focus” the light on the background and spread it out evenly.

a modifier which makes it easier to get a white background.

By the way, it’s more easier if you have two of those.

And although it worked a lot better than a standard reflector it’s far from perfect.

The solution(s). How I made a white background and floor

Floor

So let’s not make the blog post too long and immediately jump to the solution.
Let’s start with the floor.

Without a doubt, this one was the most difficult to crack.
You can use extra strobes on the floor. But that also meant the light fall off on the model would look unnatural with loads of light on the feet.
You can use Photoshop of course. But that would mean the model just floats in the air, so you can start adding shadows again. Long story short this is not doable when you need to deliver 50 images to a client. You simply can’t edit every single image in detail unless you have a very large budget.

The solution is actually super simple and gives an awesome effect.
Just put some transparent plexiglass on the floor.
The plexiglass will reflect the light and give you an instant perfect white floor and as a bonus a great reflection.
The added bonus when using transparent plexiglass is that you can also use it on other color backgrounds and get some stunning reflection effects. But for today let’s keep it on white.

Now that we have the floor covered (pun intended) we have the background to light.

Background

For this, the solution is actually much simpler and cheaper than you might think.

Here you can see the setup we used for the shots with Claudia from the previous blog post.

Umbrellas for a white background and floor

As you can see I’m using two white Rogue umbrellas, on our Geekoto GT400 strobes, at the back. And these are more important than you might think at first sight.
The placement of those two is vital for the end result and also gives you a lot of flexibility.

The first task for the umbrellas in the back is of course lighting the background and floor. So they are placed behind the model aimed at the background with the shoot-through part. However, a white umbrella also reflects so we have a light source that’s pretty unique. It lights both what’s in front but also what’s in the back, and that’s actually the whole secret or trick in this setup.

By choosing the right angle of the back umbrellas it’s possible to light both the background and also give a very accent light on the model.
In loads of setups, you can see 2 strobes on the background and 2 strobes as accent plus your mainlight which means you need 5 strobes for one setup.
By using umbrellas you can bring this back to just 3 strobes, and also the costs are considerably lower than using background reflectors and for example striplights as accents.

For example, we sell the Rogue fiberglass umbrellas in a nice travel kit edition with a black umbrella plus sleeve (here used as main light) and one white umbrella in a travel kit for € 116,00 the extra white umbrella retails for € 23,00

Now if you don’t like the accent lights you can always place two large flags between your model and the umbrellas and take away the accent lights.

And how about just 2 lights?

You might wonder, can we also do this (getting a white background and floor) with 2 strobes and 2 umbrellas?
That’s the nice thing about umbrellas.
The disadvantage is that the light spreads around very easily. But that’s also the advantage if you know how to control it 😀

Now when you use one umbrella on the back the accent light will of course just be on one side. But when you look at the end result it’s absolutely a setup that you can use.

Conclusion of white backgrounds

White backgrounds can always be tricky due to the amount of light that spreads everywhere.
But by using the right light modifiers and placing them correctly in the scene a lot can be done for a very low budget.
And let’s be honest. These images are straight out of the camera with just a little boost in contrast, as you can see the background is almost pure white and the only thing you have to take out are the seams of the plexiglass, which in most cases can be done in seconds.

So the next time you need a pure white background, why choose the expensive and difficult route?
Just use three or two umbrellas and some plexiglass and deliver images almost straight out of the camera.

check out the video about the Rogue Umbrella’s

Or this short, also with model Claudia about the Umbrella

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