Frank Doorhof

The glamour pose

December 5, 2013/2 Comments/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

One pose I can’t get enough off is the ones you see in this post.
A lot of people ask me for a glamour shot but often the models are not experienced models so posing can be a bit difficult. With this pose you can really work some magic with inexperienced models, now add a really good model and you have (well at least in my opinion) a great powerful shot.

The trick is to shoot this from a low angle and as wide open as possible, you could for example only use the modeling lights from the strobes if you have too much power. I used a very narrow beam of light by using a reflector with grid, but the same pose actually also works really good in hotel rooms (on the bed/floor etc.) with broad natural light.

The main thing you have to take care of is the way the “angle” works, find the curves in the body and let the model play with her arms and chin, I like the pose best when there is a lot of tension in the body of the model.

So the next time you are asked for a powerful “glamour shot” think about this one.
Good luck.

Using natural light and a bit of reflection

December 4, 2013/4 Comments/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

The following shots were taking with natural light, well actually the last one (with the sun reflection) was a shot with added strobe.
Now one of the tips I want to share with this blogpost is looking for location.

Often we walk past location that look 100% uninteresting for our photoshoots, however if you look a little bit better/longer or, as I often call it, with your photography eyes some locations can be really nice. I always love reflections and windows are great for this, however I also love structure so older buildings are a true treat for me and I love using them to shoot against. This building actually is on the other side of the road from our studio and we often use it during our workshops or sessions (It always helps to have good relations with your neighbors :D)

Using the sun in the shot

November 29, 2013/1 Comment/in blog, Visions and technique/by Frank Doorhof

Yesterday we looked at using the sun as the main lightsource, but today we take it one step further.
When using strobes (and even without) you can really play with including the sun into the shot, in the next series I used the Elinchrom Ranger RX to fill in the model while using the sun (in the frame) as a strong backlight and creating some interesting lens flares.

In these shots I also lowered the brightness of the sky to make it more dramatic, you can do this with a lot of power like the Elinchrom Ranger RX, but also with speed lights and the use of HSS (HighSpeedSync). As long as you lower the brightness of the sky in comparison to the strobe output.

Now we could of course just shoot Marie posing and rely on a great model, cool clothing and great light… but that’s not what the viewer will remember in the end. One of the most important things in a shot for me is the inclusion of a story, this can be done with adding props, sets etc. but also very simple by just giving some extra attention to the pose like you can see here.

It can be just as simple as this, but as you can see when you see the rest of the shots, this image really tells a story while the other ones are just…. well nice. So the next time you’re on location try to not be afraid of the sun and give some extra attention to the posing of the model and lift your shot from ok to WOW.