Tag Archive for: techniques

Mastering the model shoot in Chinese

During our trip in Finland I got some great news I also want to share via the blog of course.
My book “Mastering the model shoot” has now also been translated into Chinese….
So if you’re native tongue is Chinese (and for a lot of people that is the case) make sure to check it out.

Mastering the modelshoot in Chinees 3 - February 27 2015

Mastering the modelshoot in Chinees 4 - February 27 2015

New instructional video “The light meter”

You probably already saw it on social media, but I also want to give some attention to it on my blog of course.

why and how to use a lightmeter

This week saw the release of my brand new instructional video “Mastering the model shoot : the light meter”
A lot of people have asked me when I would make a new instructional video series in the style of the very populair “Light” series, my answer was always that I would make a new video as soon as I had a lot of information that I did not already share on other videos, because just like you I don’t like to spend money on something I already saw.

 

After the release of my book “Mastering the model shoot” and the workshops connected to the book I got so many ideas and I still got a lot of stuff that did not make the book (there is limit to the amount of pages :D) that I decided now would be the time to release a brand new series of instructional videos.

 

Everything is new.
We have a new approach to filming, we now film everything in 4K for extra quality (videos are presented in 1080P) and we use different camera angles, text will appear on screen to explain the more difficult parts, and all videos will cover different topics so you can buy the ones you like and are not forced to pay for something you don’t like (although I think they are all more than worth it of course).

 

The first video is called “Mastering the model shoot : the light meter”
In digital photography this is without a doubt one of the most talked about topics and to be honest you also hear a lot of stuff that is, now how to say this nicely, well….. not really helping (was that ok?).

 

In over 70 minutes I take you through everything you need to know about the light meter, topics include :
* reading the meter
* which meter to buy
* reflective vs incident
* where to aim the meter
* how to calibrate the meter
* working with strobes
* working with ambient
* mixing strobes and ambient
* working with white backgrounds and black
* how to keep detail in the blacks with a technique called light in light (and how to meter it)
* histogram vs the meter
* how to trigger the meter
* apps and film
* and much more……

I’m joined in the studio by our model Manon and next to the explanation on the meter we will also show you in easy to follow (and copy) examples. This is a very complete video on the light meter and I’m sure you will run out and buy one if you don’t already have one, or understand your meter beter if you already own one.

 

The video is priced at EU 29.95 (US app 35.00) and can be ordere via our webstore or via the direct link here :
https://frankdoorhof.com/web/shop-videos-etc/direct-video-downloads/

Many different looks from one setup

Often I’m asked what kind of setups I use and what kind of modifiers.
What people often don’t realize is that with only one modifier you can chance a lot just by playing with the angles and controlling the contrast/lightfall off. In fact placing a light closer or further away also makes a huge impact on the image look, add to this the option to feather a light source (using the sides of the light) and you know that there is a lot possible with one modifier and light.

 

It gets even more interesting when you are combining two strobes and for example add a gel to one of them.
During the workshop this weekend I made a setup like this with our model Lennaa and decided it would be a cool thing to share on the blog.

 

I started out with one strobe with a red gel.

Lenaa Juli 25 20142025

To get a bit more “punch” in the image I added another strobe without gel under the same angle to mix the two.

Lenaa Juli 25 20142035 Read more

X-Rite webinar

Doing a webinar is always an exciting thing.
You are live, anything can go wrong, and there is no feedback from the audience, some people love it, some people don’t. I do like the tension to be honest, but for the following webinar I did add a bit more tension….

 

Normally with a webinar you stream your desktop, show some Lightroom and Photoshop etc. and well… that’s about it.
Well for me that’s something I’ve done so many times that I decided it was time to up the ante just a little bit, for the X-rite webinar we transformed our studio into a small “tv studio” and streamed not only the desktop but also live footage from 3 cameras in our studio (2 webcams and one normal camera). Because we needed more bandwidth we also used a satellite internet connection to stream the content. In the end it all worked out just fine, the frame rate is a bit on the low side I think but that’s more a problem of the software used to stream everything, from our side we have done tests with 720P which went without any problem, so….. for the future we have some interesting things planned as you can imagine.

 

For today enjoy the webinar I did for X-Rite in which we did a life photoshoot with our model Marie and you will see an explanation about the color checker passport and retouching.
The link to the webinar is http://vimeo.com/82272476

webinar Marie Dec-17_-031-Edit

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