Tag Archive for: tips

Tip on angles

/in /by

One of the easiest ways to improve your shots is by taking some care about the angle you shoot in/under.

As you can see in the samples in this blogpost there can be a HUGE difference.
The problem is that often the images you create during workshops or photoshoots where there is a lot of attention for styling already look really cool when shot from… well almost any angle, so often people are already impressed with the shots and don’t take the extra effort to do more, and why should they? often the responses from the public is also WOW, AMAZING, COOL… etc.

However those same images can be so much stronger when you also play with your angles.
Personally I love the way the images change and would really advise you to also play with these, even if you prefer the eye level shots in this series 😀

As you can see in the following samples I first changed my angle in the horizontal manner, and than I actually started shooting from much lower angles, for me the lines and drama are much more present in those really low angles.

Styling/model : Nadine

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New instructional video “A guide to Capture One 9 Pro”

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We just released a brand new instructional video, and this is a LONG one.
With over 190 minutes of information it’s actually one of the longest we ever released, and the best thing… for a limited time only it’s priced at only 10.00 euros.

 

Often people forget the importance of the RAW developer and how much of a difference it can make on your final images, let alone what you can do in the RAW convertor as retouching. As soon as you open up Photoshop you are not working in the RAW convertor anymore so it’s vital to do as much as possible before that.

For years Capture One has been on the top of the list of best RAW convertors and not without a reason (of course), Capture One has many retouching and developing options that for some people will even make it possible to do the complete workflow within Capture One. 
 But that’s not all, in studio or location setups many photographers love to shoot tethered, and this is were Capture One in my opinion really shines as being rock solid and incredibly versatile.

When you first open up Capture One everything can look a bit…. frightening, especially when you are used to the industry standard Lightroom, but in all honestly the layout and options are actually very easy to learn if you get a little bit of help, and that’s where this video comes in.

In over 3 hours (190 minutes) I walk you through the way that I use Capture One.
You will find chapters on the tools, tethered shooting, retouching samples and workflow.
All videos are kept as short as possible and are very easy to understand.

Topics include :

BW modes, integration with Lightroom/Photoshop and plugins, exporting recipes, styles/looks, synchronizing, using local adjustments and layers, advanced color adjustments, advanced and simple skin retouching, masking possibilities, folder structures, overlays, watermarks, customizing the look and layout, HDR from one image, making images pop, using processing in batch, all the tools you need to know explained, auto masking tips, skin tone smoothing, tricks with the skin tone smoothing for skies, removing spots and dust, using healing for removing hair and blemishes, using capture pilot in a tethered workflow, RAW developing explained, lens correction, adding grain for a great look and evening out retouches, noise reduction, stacking effects in layers and styles, sorting and rating in the browser, creating your personal layout and much much more….

If you want to get the best out of Capture One in your workflow and setup a great integration with Lightroom this is without a doubt the best way to start. All videos are high resolution captures and the standard video is 4K so you can see all the settings and details the best way possible. The video is available now via www.frankdoorhof.com/videos

I’m 100% sure you are gonna love this one.

 

Mixing ambient/available with strobes

/in , /by

A situation most photographers encounter many times is mixing ambient/available light with strobes.
There is however a pretty simple rule you can always use to remember how to influence the look of a scene.

Shutter speed controls the available light
Aperture is the flash
ISO stays the same

If you change the ISO you have to change the aperture (because this is fixed pulse from the strobe).
By changing the shutter speed you can let in more or less ambient/available light.
This way you can make a background outside darker (faster shutter speed) or lighter (slower shutter speed) while the exposure on your model (the flash) stays the same. Do remember this is of course with manual flash with ETTL this works slightly differently.

Also remember that there is a point where the ambient/available light can actually over power the strobe, especially outside when working with fill-in flash this can happen quite easily, that’s why I always advise to setup your strobes on full power first and lower the output by counting (if your system has 1/10th or 1/3rd digital settings and is reliable). If you change the shutter speed you have to remember that if you double or halve the shutter speed this is ONE full f-stop so if you know your aperture and the combination of ambient and flash you actually can very quickly calculate when the ambient is higher that the flash. If for example the setup is f11 on the model on 1/125 and you overpower the ambient with 2 stops, you know that when you shoot on f11 1/60 you are now overpowering the ambient with just 1 stop.

This comes in very handy when you start adding constant lighting to your scene like in these examples.
You can actually (to a certain level) control how much the lightbulbs emit, or how far they blow out.
I love using the Elinchrom ELCs for this because they can go down REALLY low in power, and that’s awesome for mixing them with this kind of light.

For this setup we used one strobe on the model and one blue gelled strobe on the back for the smoke effect. The chandelier was powered by 230V 😀

Mixing light sources can be incredibly fun but also a bit difficult at first. Also take into account that some light sources have a different color temperature (to be exact EVERY light source has a different color temperature, that’s why we use the X-Rite color checkers), you can solve this by gelling the strobes, or…. just leave it and play with it like I did in these shots, I love the cool hues you can get this way.

As a rule of thumb:
Outside light : no correction
Tungsten : Amber colored gels
Fluorescent : Green colored gels

Or find the proper CTO gels, you can of course also stack gels, I always advise to by them not to heavy and get two, this way you can stack them together if necessary.

Model : Danique
Dresses (black) by Sinister

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Tip : where should the model look

/in , /by

A question I get a lot is “Where should the model look?”
Well in all honesty I don’t really think about it, I often let the model look the way that fits the image. Take for example these shots of Poeka I took during the recent small flash workshop, she is not looking into the camera, but straight into the light. I love the way the light plays on her face in combination with the shadow on her cheekbone.

Now is there a right or wrong?
Well I don’t know, I know what I like, or what my model likes.
In most cases I will however follow a few simple rules or guide lines.

  1. Catchlights
    If possible I always want the catchlights in the models eyes
  2. Center the eyes
    Make sure the eyes are centered, unless of course you want to go for that “walking dead” look with loads of eye white
  3. Make the story
    Often I will try to tell a story with my photography (even with “simple” portraits”) when a model looks straight into the camera this of course tells a story, but when he/she looks away this can often bring just a bit more of tension in a shot.

As you can see I do follow some rules, but in essence I can throw them all overboard when I think something else fits the story better, so if you are still following all the rules…. try to just “relax” and go for that special look, the look that feels awesome and when it breaks some rules… well… maybe it was time for it 😀

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