Working with a model during her first shoot and how to make it a success

May 25, 2024/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

Trial by fire

In the previous blogpost you already saw the results from the test session with Jannaika.
The images were shot during the Digital Classroom live stream.

Today in the blog the full episode of Digital Classroom with a much requested topic.
“how to work with models during their first shoot and how to make it a success”

See the full session and get all the tips about lighting, posing and how to coach your model.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

A new model in our studio for a very special session and she rocked it

May 21, 2024/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

Trial by fire

For the workshops we are always looking for new models.
Before I use a model in a group I always invite them for a test session. A test session is a great way to get to know each other, explain how the workshops work and take some photos for her portfolio and for me the see how she/he is in front of the camera.

For Jannaika it was a bit different 😀
If you have been following my work for a few years you probably remember Sanne. A few years ago we worked a lot with Sanne and also did some sessions for the Miss competitions Sanne organises.

Jannaika is Miss Photogenic 2024 and Sanne was convinced she would be a perfect model for me.
And you never guessed it… we needed a model for the Digital Classroom.
So the images you see here were shot during a live stream, and we literally met 5 minutes before we went live. It doesn’t happen a lot but I was impressed.

I think we will see more of Jannaika in the future.

A very cool lighting technique with just one strobe and softbox

May 19, 2024/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

A tip on lighting

Today in the blog a video about a very powerful lighting setup for ultimate moody shots.

In the short digital classroom videos I explain the lighting of one of my photos I took during the workshops. You see the results, the behind the scenes video and an in depth explanation about the technique.

If you have any questions feel free to ask and maybe you see your question answered in a video.
Want to visit one of our workshops?
Visit fotografie-workshops.nl for more info on the Dutch and English workshops.

I’m using Geekoto strobes and softboxes in the video.

Sometimes 15 minutes is enough for a commercial photo shoot

May 16, 2024/in blog/by Frank Doorhof

Planning is everything in a photo shoot

Sometimes it doesn’t go as planned. Our planning for this commercial photo shoot was good, but it ended in only 15 minutes shooting.
Recently we did a photoshoot for the new Sparks sunglasses collection.
The idea was to shoot the series in Amsterdam, but due to the weather, we decided at the last minute to change the location to Emmeloord so we would have the studio as a backup. and once again we found out that planning a for commercial photoshoot can go differently than you thought.

Rescheduling was impossible because the tickets were already bought from the UK to the Netherlands and back. So we decided to go for it.

Oops… planning for a shoot can go wrong

When the client arrived we started by planning the whole shoot, and to our horror, we found out they had to be back in Amsterdam in….. 2 hours.
This meant we had to drive to the location (Urk), do the photo shoot, and drive the client back to Lelystad, and from there to Amsterdam. In the car to Urk I, actually for the first time, realized I had exactly 15 minutes to do the whole shoot.

Seeing our client was here all the way from the UK I wanted to give them more than they asked for, but 15 minutes… would be a new record 😀

Flash and natural light, ETTL rocks

I’m not a big fan of ETTL but luckily our Geekoto strobes support both HSS and ETTL. So I decided to shoot almost everything in 3 fold. One time natural light, immediately after that with strobes as a fill-in light, and then the final shot with a more day-to-night look.

When you set this up correctly it’s possible to shoot 3 different looks in one setup. Just move your body a little bit or change positions. And it almost looks like you did a lot, while in essence, it was a short session.

For the location, I chose the harbor of Urk. Because we only had 15 minutes I knew that from a low angle, I could get a nice sky. But with just changing my own position I can shoot Urk in the background or all the boats in the harbor. And when walking back the killer-whale and some other nice locations where you can just stand and shoot.

Annewiek was functioning as my VAL *(Voice Activated Lightstand) and held the GT200 with the S26 softbox under different angles during the shoot, again to maximize the amount of different “looks”.

In this case, I shot the whole series with ETTL and HSS. This meant I could work very fast on location. But the downside is that all photos needed slight adjustments in Lightroom. Not a big deal but personally I’m a lightmeter guy 😀

Anyway, enough talk. Although our planning for this commercial photo shoot was different, we got great results, and the client is satisfied.

Here are some images from the session. It’s not everything I shot, but it is a nice overview.