Tag Archive for: tip

Adding something really special to a photoshoot with a gobo projector

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I love my Westcott gobo projector

I love the old fashioned photography, think about photographers like George Hurrell or for example the world famous Harcourt studios.
In the 30’s and 40’s you often saw harsh light combined with hard shadows, this can be for example a plant, branches, chair, ladder or whatever you want to project on the background.

Quick tip.
If you want really hard shadows, make sure your lightsource is far away from the object that will cast the shadow, and the object is as close to the background as possible. The further you move the light away the harder the edge transfer (shadow)

But although those shadows are nice I love to go one step further, and this is where a gobo projector comes in.
As mentioned I’m using the Westcott Lindsay Adler version, but in essence they all work the same.
You mount the projector to your strobe and you can place different gobo’s (metal discs) between a lens (in my case a Canon mount lens) and the strobe, by focussing the lens you can create a sharper or softer pattern on your subject/set. It’s an awesome light modifier to create stunning images.

You can use the projector on your model to create very sharp areas of light or to light the whole set and use fill in lights for extra detail or mood.
During a recent workshop with Felisa I used the projector exactly for that.

In these images I’m using the projector with a standard gobo with lines on our Geekoto GT400 aimed at Felissa, for the accent light I’m using one Geekoto GT250 with the Rogue Magnetic system and a blue gel. By adding a bit of smoke the blue nicely smeared out over the set.

We build a small set by using 2 of our Clickbackdrops backgrounds.
Of course the fur is fake.

A few tips for the Gobo projector

On the Westcott you can mount lenses with the Canon mount.
The lens that was delivered with my set was for me too long and made it impossible to throw the light over a complete set, it does work great for portraits.
So when you want to start using a gobo projector I would advise to get some extra lenses.
Now this is where you have to be careful.
The projector eats light, so make sure that when you get a lens you get the widest possible aperture you can afford, the nice thing is that you don’t need to get a super high quality lens, you could for example use old M42 lenses with a Canon convertor and make it possible to experiment with different lenses.

One of the things I love about the Westcott version is that you don’t need to use the gobos, but you can also use the blades to get some really striking patterns on your model.

And you can of course combine it with some colors for extra stunning effects.

Want to visit one of our workshops?
visit www.fotografie-workshops.nl for the new agenda.
The workshops are in Dutch, but if you let us know a few weeks in advance we can switch the to English.

MacBookPro M4 Pro Display performance nano texture

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The new MacBookPro M4 Pro: It’s gorgeous

I was 100% happy with my MacbookPro M1 Pro. (see my review here) 
It was lighting fast and even when screencapturing Photoshop I didn’t see any hiccups.
But when Apple showed the new screens I was already looking for my laptop to order a new one.
The biggest frustration with the MacbookPro for me was the very annoying  glare on the screen, it could drive me nuts when travelling, if you need a mirror…..

The nice thing about Apple is that you often don’t have to wait too long and indeed today I got the new MacBookPro M4 Pro with Nano Texture  14″, 1 TB, and wanted to share the first experiences with it, mainly focussing on the screen.

And the screen is indeed absolutely gorgeous and kills the reflections better than expected. It’s something you have to see to believe case 😀
I also opted for the space black color and also here I can say I’m glad I did, I love the normal color of the MacBookPro but the space black is my new favourite.

Ok till now it’s been more like an unboxing, and as you know I’m not really the person for that kind of posts 😀
So let’s dive into the interesting stuff.

Shine a light on me

Let’s do a quick test

the MacBookPro M4 Pro

Left is the….really?
As you can see there is a huge difference. On the previous screen you can clearly see the reflection of our led lights, on the new screen there is nothing visible. And remember the reflection of the previous screen was even worse in some older generations. I’m really glad with this outcome because the screen was my main reason to upgrade.

Now when you see this we want to see something more extreme of course.
So we used the flashlight of the iPhone on full power.

On the previous screen you can clearly see the light and its a pretty large circle and you can see the light actually breaking down in RGB.

Now on the new screen it might seem that the circle is also large but thats probably not what you’re seeing.
This is an extreme example, shining a very bright flashlight right on the screen from 20cm distance.
The little circle in the middle is what you also see in the image above but a lot smaller and much less intens.
The “glow” around the circle is probably the Nano texture doing it’s anti light reflective work, when the lightsource is less extreme this would mean it totally takes out the reflections, as you can see in the first example.

In other words, wow.

Performance of the MacBookPro M4 Pro with Nano Texture

As creators we of course demand the absolute best from our screens.
Of course it’s always better to use a dedicated monitor. For example the BenQ monitors I use have a hardware calibration option and are tracking very close to the AdobeRGB colorspace. (and they have a great anti glare coating :D) but does that mean that you can’t use your laptop screen for editing ?

Well decide for yourself, I will post the validation of the screen in a moment.
It really depends on how color critical your work is, but in all honesty when I look at the results I would not hesitate to edit my work on the MacBookPro, as long as I’m able to check it on the BenQ before it goes to the client.

the MacBookPro M4 Pro

Calibration

The first thing I do when I get a new laptop is make a 1:1 copy from my old laptop (I love the way the Mac does this).
This mostly takes an hour or slightly longer, in that time I keep my screen on at my preference light output.
When my whole system is up and running, this often means the screen has been on for a few hours.
Now it’s a good time to do the first calibration (and repeat this after a few days).

Do make sure you use the proper analyser for the XRD screens.
We highly recommend the Calibrite HL series due to the high luminance output of the screens.
On the photo you still see an older analyser which was handy for the moment, calibration should be done with the HL series by preference.

With MacOs you do have to make sure that you check your display settings and disable the two settings you can see in this image, these settings can really mess up your calibrations.

the MacBookPro M4 Pro

After the calibration is done it’s possible to run a validation of your screen.
I’ve setup the screen to the brightness I normally use in a bright room, this is brighter than my BenQ which is in a controlled environment.
I highly recommend calibrating at the brightness you use the most. You can always go up or down 1 click.

 

As you can see the performance of the screen is actually pretty good 😀
I’ve been working on the MBP for a few hours now and coming from the M1 Pro I can say that especially plugins like Luminar Neo and BorisFX are running a lot faster. That doesn’t mean that the M1 Pro was slow. But the M4 Pro is clearly a lot faster.

Conclusion, should you buy the MacBookPro M4 Pro with Nano Texture screen?

There will be a lot of reviews about the speed of the new MacBooks, for me it was already clear I would get more speed than I would probably ever really need. However the screen is one of the most important things on a laptop for me. We travel a lot and having a screen that functions like a mirror is insanely annoying. To be honest the screen alone was worth the upgrade. But a good screen should also be able to show proper shadow detail, don’t clip the whites and have a proper performance for color “critical” work. So in this short review I focussed on the screen and wanted to share the validation of the new MacBookPro 14″ Nano structure screen.

 

If you are in the market for a great monitor, make sure to check out the BenQ series.
I’ve been using them for years and they always deliver a great price/performance.
For the European customers we have a few 10% discount coupons we are allowed to give away. (Email)

Check this link for more info about BenQ SW monitors

 

 

 

Check out my YouTube video about retouching on the iPad 

On location photoshoots : how to kill the ambient light part I

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Locations are awesome

 

But what if they are not? Well, it’s up to you to make them awesome.
Sounds difficult?
Well, it can be, but with the proper lighting and lighting techniques you can create stunning images in locations that are far from awesome. Killing the ambient light is one of those techniques.

Workshop “On location in Emmeloord”

During this workshop, we scout locations close to our studio that look uninteresting but have the potential to become awesome. This is a great workshop to get more secure when working for clients in locations that are a bit less inspiring (or in other words 50% of the time).

During the workshop, I explain the techniques but also tried to create something different in each location.
For this workshop the model was Nadine, and as you can probably see she’s is pregnant so that was a great option to also shoot some pregnancy shots of course.

Today one of the sets from this workshop.

I’m using our Geekoto strobes on HSS in this video.

 

And, the final results

killing the ambient light

We took this picture during a sunny day and killed the ambient light

killing the ambient light

 

Day2Night

Killing the ambient light is also called Day to Night (Day2Night). Pictures are taken during the daytime. But it looks like it was taken at night. A lot of my students are interested in this technique. And I always try to incorporate such a scene in the workshop outside.

 

In this video I went to Times Square in New York, and I’ll give you some tips to look like you took the pictures at night

Check out another video on location with Nadine ad styling of course 

We also did a workshop outside with a Tesla car and model Lois 

 

Audio is one of the most important things in video

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When the audio is bad I often stop the video

Honestly, I can watch a video with imperfect image quality, but if the audio is bad, I’m out. Audio is one of the most important things in video.
For years I’ve been using a Sennheiser wireless lavelier microphone. I always bring this to shows and use it during almost all videos and live streams. And it just sounds awesome and never fails me. But it’s expensive. And for most starting creators it will be overkill, plus in all honesty, you always have to put the wireless transmitter somewhere. It’s not a super small device. Over time I’ve had several (expensive) cables replaced.

Over the years I’ve tested several alternatives from all kinds of brands. And although some are really nice they never really pulled me away from the Sennheiser.
On most cheaper mics my voice sounds like it’s coming from a can without any bass and harsh highs. But they do have something really nice and that’s size and connectivity.

Audio is one of the most important things

My Sennheiser set never lets me down

We use different audio devices

The time that you shot video on a handycam, photos on your photo camera, etc is over.
Nowadays we use a combination of capture devices, sometimes we shoot behind the scenes or B-roll with iPhones, Osmo Pocket or a Sony A7RIII. So when you buy an audio system you have to make sure it will work on all your devices, and as easy as possible.

I think we found the solution, and I love it.

The Saramonic Blink 500+ Wireless Audio System with 2 mics

Audio is one of the most important things

The Saramonic Blink 500+ contains one receiver unit and two wireless microphones.
And that immediately makes it a very interesting set for creators. It now becomes super easy to quickly interview someone on location (or in the studio of course). The connection is made super fast, as soon as you take the microphone out of the case (which charges everything) it is almost immediately connected to the receiver. So no more taking the lavalier off and using it as a microphone to interview someone. Just quickly give them their own mic, which also makes editing audio after the fact much faster and easier.

As mentioned before we need something that can be easily connected to all the devices we use, and the Saramonic doesn’t disappoint there.

Audio is one of the most important things

“One Size Fits All”

In the box, you will find different cables and connectors, and in all honesty, I think they cover an impressive array of connections.
It works just as easily on your iPhone as on a console and all without changing settings, just choose the right connector.

Always charged (well almost)

Nothing is more frustrating than empty batteries.
The Saramonic microphones and receiver are stored in a nice case that is both sturdy and not too big. So it will fit easily in most camera bags or even your jacket pockets. The case keeps your devices charged until you take them out. So as long as you make sure the case is charged you know you will always have a full battery when you go live. Now the first time you think about a built-in battery it might be a bit scary. With the Sennheiser, I can easily switch batteries when they run out, but with a built-in battery…. well when it’s empty that’s it. Luckily the battery time with up to 20 hours for the microphones and 16 hours for the receiver it will cover most, if not all activities.

Going the distance

A few of the sets I tested where okay when I stayed close to the receiver. But several mics became a lot more noisy or flat sounding when I walked further away from the receiver. And most even lost connection when I went to the makeup area, which is in a different part of the studio. The Saramonic promises 150 meters, but to be honest I always take those numbers with a grain of salt, and mostly it means in the open field. I didn’t test that but I did walk to the makeup room and didn’t hear any difference in audio quality, and also no extra noise, which actually surprised me a bit, but in a positive way 😀

Where to put it your mic?

We need to place the microphone somewhere of course. With the Sennheiser I’m using a small lavalier microphone, which is great because you hardly notice it. But the disadvantage is that you also have to put the sender somewhere, and that is in most cases my pocket. With the Saramonic the microphone is larger than my lavalier but it has a huge benefit. You can clip it on your clothing, but often it happens I’m wearing a sweater where it’s not really handy to clip a microphone on. And in that case the Saramonic has you covered too, if you don’t want to clip it you can also use the magnet.

Some key specs

Of course, it’s always important to get the specs right, so here we go.
– Up to 150 meters of wireless transmission.
– Separate noise cancellation control – 48 kHz HD audio format retained.
– Wide-range 20 Hz – 20 kHz frequency response – delivers exceptional high-quality sound.
– Low-cut filter (75 Hz / 150 Hz) – cut off low-frequency noise from common.
– Up to 20 hours of operating time for a transmitter and 16 hours for a receiver.
– Comes with a windproof capsule – minimize unwanted wind noise.
– Attach the transmitter to your clothes with the included magnet.
– Receiver’s 3.5 mm headphone output – monitor your audio in real time.
– High-resolution OLED display – see vital information at a glance.
– Mono / Stereo Safety Track output setting.
– 3.5 mm TRS analog output, USB-C, and IOS Lightning digital output – universal compatibility with cameras, smartphones, and computers.
– Charging case included – make the kit easy to carry on.

In practice

I’ve been using the system for a few weeks now and can honestly say that I love it.
I find that I use a lot more than the Sennheiser. With the Sennheiser I regularly got tangled up in a cable or had fights with the transmitter during shoots. Plus when filming on location it was very uncomfortable to be always “mic-ed” up and taking the lavalier off when interviewing someone. The Saramonic solves all these irritations. We have it with us in the photo case. As soon as we want to film something it’s connected to the camera and I clip on the mic. Give the other mic to the other person and we’re ready to go. Add to this some noise reduction (although I like to edit audio after the fact personally) it’s very nice to have.
I’ve been using the system in the last episode of Digital Classroom in a live setup and it performed without any problems for the full broadcast. We didn’t lose connection once.
The problem with the live broadcasts is that it always compresses the audio so for the second part of the review I’ll create a video in which I show you the Saramonic in action with the proper quality.

Conclusion

When you want a proper 2 microphone setup that is super easy to use and works without any problems on most capture devices, gives you a good audio quality and some extra features for a very reasonable price. I would highly recommend you check out the Blink series from Saramonic, it might be the perfect solution for you.
I’m not paid for this review. We met the guys from Saramonic at a tradeshow. They gave me one of their demo units to test out.
The review was not seen by them before release and is 100% my personal opinion.