Tag Archive for: tip

Workshop Cannenburch with Nadine

/in /by

This weekend I taught a workshop in a very special location.
I always love doing workshops on location but sometimes you get the chance to do something that is really unique and this weekend that was one of those days.

 

A while ago we said we wanted to start doing workshops in special locations, studio workshops are of course also very cool but shooting on locations is a whole different ballgame. A few of my friends ran with the idea and contacted Cannenburch, a museum in the Netherlands, to be honest we thought it would never be possible to shoot there, but why not try right? and much to our delight they were up for it, it was never done before like this they told us and we had to be under guidance of the museum itself, in exchange for that we were allowed to shoot wherever we wanted and we were allowed to remove the alarms, use flash and even use the sets, well….. you don’t have to say that twice of course. So we started the registration of the workshop, now my location workshops are most of the time sold out but this was a new record… within 20 minutes after putting it online we were actually booked solid.

 

So today I can share the first series of results from this very special workshop with Nadine as model and stylist.

 

The first setup was outside the museum.
In fact in these 3 shots you can see my motto, always shoot double or triple setups if you can.
The first is with natural light, the second with one strobe and the third is actually with 2 strobes. This way you can deliver different looks to the client so they will always find something they like.

Cannenburch November 8 2014 Nadine 115 - November 08 2014

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Shoot silhouettes sometimes

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Often people ask me what to look for when shooting models with shadows.
The answer is very simple “make sure that the shadow is part of the story”
In other words I don’t want a big blob of a shadow behind my model but a nicely featured shadow that actually also plays a role in the shot, or in again other words, the shadow is a vital part of the shot.

 

So how can you “train” this.
Very simple.
Start to experiment with some silhouettes and learn what a model can do, by moving her arms away from her body she creates a certain look, when everything is connected to the body she creates just a big black “blob”.

 

In this shot I used a white background with a small strobe with grid and nothing in the front.
I asked Nadine to create several dramatic poses and especially play with the position of her arms and keep her head/face in profile so you can see that she is a real person.

Nadine October 12 2014 0057-Edit

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Move around your light

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One of the best tips I can give people is “move around your light”
Every time I show this very simple technique during workshops there is always a group of students that is literally totally surprised by the effects you can create by just moving around your model. What you are actually doing is the same as moving around your light source, but when you combine it with a wall against which the model is posing you can get some stunning effects very fast.

 

In this setup I’m using one strobe aimed at my model.
In the first shot you see it shot from the front.

Nadine October 12 2014 0149-Edit

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A tip on lighting patterns

/in , /by

Today a quick tip on lighting

Often people ask me what they should use to show patterns on the wall from blinds, racks, chairs etc.
You have to understand that to show patterns you will need a light that is pretty hard, meaning if you place a softbox very close to blinds you will not get the effect you want (see the first example)

 

This is of course pretty logical because the light is literally spreading around the structure of the item you place in between the model and the light source, meaning you will hardly see any patterns.

Nadine October 12 2014 0001-Edit

when you change the softbox for a reflector or even a bare-bulb strobe you will start to see the effect (see second shot).

Nadine October 12 2014 0020-Edit

Now the fun part comes into the angle of the strobe and… the distance, with all these elements you can control the outcome of the shot.
Good luck.

 
For much more tips on lighting get my book “Mastering the modelshoot” or download one of my instructional videos via : https://frankdoorhof.com/web/shop-videos-etc/direct-video-downloads/