Tag Archive for: tricks

Real moody shots are not easy

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But so much fun

To be honest, the higher the level of difficulty the more fun a photoshoot can be.
When working with high contrast lighting and focussed light sources it can be very easy to fall into the trap of not having enough light on your subject/set.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the solutions.

Bounce
An easy solution to just grab a large softbox (or bounce from the ceiling) and set this 3-4 stops lower than your main light and open up the shadows.
You could also try to do it in Photoshop or Lightroom with the shadows slider.
If you use fill in lights you will also take away some of the magic that a high contrast image has.
However it’s a technique that sometimes is necessary, especially when a model is wearing dark clothes.

Accent lights
The first thing I always try is to solve it with accent lights.
For me the perfect accent lights are small strips with grids.

These are perfect to focus the light on one area and the grid prevents spill light.
The reason strips work great is that they are relatively small so you can place them close by, limiting the spread of light.
But you can also use them in both vertical als horizontal position (and everything in between).
And I often use them as main lightsource if a small softbox just doesn’t have enough “reach”.
Because the striplight is a rectangle you can light a wider area without spilling over to the sides like with a standard softbox.
Sometimes just changing a small softbox for a slightly longer striplight can solve the whole problem, and light the whole subject just the way you want.

Smoke
Another option is using smoke.
Smoke is a diffuser, reflector and mood maker.
And you know the most fun….. combining everything together.

So the next time you want to use high contrast lighting and you want to make certain details jump out, try the striplight.
In this video I show you one of the ways to light up details in a very dark shot, for super moody results.

 

You’ll never get that again

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Some things are just way too much fun

And working with motion is without a doubt one of those things.
But although freezing motion can be awesome, think about jumps or just a flick of the hair, incorporating motion into the shot is even more fun.
In today’s video it’s just about that. How to get awesome one time effects with adding motion to strobes and of course how to get special effects by moving the camera.

 

You will never get this

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The unrepeatably shot

You will never get this shot the same twice, and neither will I, by the way. Because the images I’m using today are all unique and can never be made the same way again. Of course, this is true for most photos, but in this case, it’s not even possible to come close. So what am I talking about, an unrepeatably shot?

Adding motion with smoke

Today, it’s a new article in our smoke series.
And we already talked about using strobes, backlighting, and creating patterns, but today we are doing something very creative.

In previous blog posts and videos, you have seen me work with a technique called “dragging the shutter”.
What this means is that I use a strobe to freeze my model but leave the shutter open to let in more ambient light. This will create a mix of a frozen model (by the strobe) and a more blurred version of the model due to the movement and the ambient light.

In most cases, I’m using a shutter speed of 1-2 seconds.
When you add some smoke, the results become really interesting.

When the strobe fires, it will freeze the model and the smoke.
But during the longer shutter time, the smoke will continue to move, and also the model will create movement, which can be seen in her outlines but also in the smoke.
When you shoot this just as a portrait, it does look a bit weird. But in a good way.

For lighting, I’m using a small softbox like our Quicky from Geekoto on our model Isabelle.
From the sides, I’m using two Geekoto GT200’s with the Rogue Magnetic System gels.

As soon as I start adding some more smoke, the effect is already getting a lot nicer.
the unrepeatable shot

 

Movement

But this is still with a model that doesn’t move.
In the next setup, I’m leaving the modeling lights on for the colored backlights.
In this setup, I’m also using a Nanlite Pavo tube on the floor set to a blue tint.
It’s aimed at the floor to tame the output because it was too bright, and a nice extra effect was that it would make the light more diffuse.

As you can see, just shooting a portrait like this is not really a “WOW what great moment”.
But what when we start adding some motion?
In this case, I’m asking the model to turn very fast and stand still as soon as the strobe fires (just like we would do with freezing a jump or standard motion).
When you move your camera, you can get some cool effects from the backlights; sometimes it will shine through the body of the model, but we just call that creativity due to time limits.

So let’s up the ante a bit more.
For the following shots, I’m also turning and zooming the camera for all kinds of “weird” and “cool” effects.
And when you’re lucky, you sometimes capture two strobes in unique places.
Who needs Photoshop 😀
(Actually, I do, I love Photoshop, and all these images are edited in Photoshop)

the unrepeatable shot

And of course, you can also go for a lot more extreme movements.
These were shot during a different workshop without smoke.

Cool effects, you will never get again

Of course, you can add great effects in Photoshop.
For example, I love plugins like BorisFX and use them mostly for the film effects, but you can add some awesome lens flares and smoke effects that would really enhance images like this.
For me, adding lens flares on set is part of the fun, but when you miss a lens flare in a shot because you framed the shot incorrectly, you could add some pretty convincing ones from BorisFX.

When you’re in the studio and want some really unique images that are always different, but always cool.
Try adding long exposures and flash combined with strobes and colored lights.
Move the camera, zoom in/out, and be surprised by the outcome.
“It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”

Workshops

Want to learn everything about light control?
Want to visit a workshop where it’s not just shooting a model with a fixed lighting setup, but see how the setup is built and adjusted to the taste of the group?
And of course learn how to work with poses, backgrounds, small sets, styling, retouching, and a lot more…..

If this all sounds awesome, visit fotografie-workshops.nl and book your workshop.
If you don’t speak Dutch, no problem, let us know a few weeks in advance, and we can switch the workshop to English.
Not possible to travel to the Netherlands?
We got you covered with our 1:1 online workshop.
We have a full streaming setup in our studio. 4 detail cameras and of course the retouching software, so you can see every detail and of course ask questions during the day. Plus, you get all the RAW files after the workshop.

That Hollywood effect

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It’s weird but it does work

When we watch movies there is one thing that always draws my attention.
The flashlights.
Let me explain.

When I walk in a dark room and use my flashlight I can see the whole room light up, and… well that’s about it.
Well unless there is a LOT of dust in a room, but in those case I’ll be gone very fast.

So why is it that in almost every movie when someone enters a room there is distinct beam of light from the flashlight?
Well…. because it looks cool and draws you more into the movie.

So how do they do it?

You probably will know, but just in case.
You can get these effects by using a very nice focused flashlight and make sure the room is filled with haze, a very light smoke that is hardly visible.
In the previous posts we already talked about backlighting smoke, and that’s exactly what happens, and because the beam of light is very focused you can see the beams of light.

So how can we create something like this in our studio?

There are several solutions to create patterns in the smoke.
Of course you can chose to use a flashlight and no strobes. With modern cameras and great high iso performance this will be no problem.
When using strobes you can use for example a snoot, or a reflector with a very narrow grid and place the strobe far away from something that will project your pattern in the smoke. You can use branches, a ladder etc. As long as the strobe is far away it will create nice effects.

However if you want to do it easily and much better…

Use a gobo projector

Probably one of my favorite toys in the studio is the Westcott Lindsay Adler optical spot.
This is a device you place in front of your strobe and you can use the blades to create a light pattern but you can also place metal discs with patterns that can be projected in the smoke.
The unique feature of a gobo projector is that on the front you will find a lens that will literally focus the pattern from the gobo. This means you can place the projector close to your subject and have 100% control over the sharpness of the patterns.

So let’s take a look at how this looks.

Ok that might be nice, but how about adding two extra strobes?
By adding some colors you can spice up a shot, especially with smoke.
I’m using two Geekoto GT200s with the Rogue Magnetic system gels.
When you add too much smoke the pattern will disappear, during the workshop I often have less time to let the smoke disappear, so as you can see in the following results the smoke was a bit too thick for an optimal effect.

As you can see, adding the colors totally transforms the scene into something completely different.
Personally I like them both, but my preference are the ones with color.
However having the patterns from the back did lose some impact, so at one point we decided to raise the stand and let the projector aim down at our model.
This way the pattern will cut through the smoke a bit different and make it more visible, even when using a bit more smoke.

More fun

Working with smoke is already loads of fun, but by adding patterns or/and a Gobo projector makes it a lot more fun.
I can highly recommend getting one for your studio. Especially when you like working with smoke and emulate the old masters or film noir techniques, now that I think about it, it’s also great for fashion 😀

Next time it’s about adding motion in the smoke and the model.

Workshops

Want to learn everything about light control?
Want to visit a workshop where it’s not just shooting a model with a fixed lighting setup, but see how the setup is built and adjusted to the taste of the group?
And of course learn how to work with poses, backgrounds, small sets, styling, retouching, and a lot more…..

If this all sounds awesome, visit fotografie-workshops.nl and book your workshop.
If you don’t speak Dutch, no problem, let us know a few weeks in advance, and we can switch the workshop to English.
Not possible to travel to the Netherlands?
We got you covered with our 1:1 online workshop.
We have a full streaming setup in our studio. 4 detail cameras and of course the retouching software, so you can see every detail and of course ask questions during the day. Plus, you get all the RAW files after the workshop.