About technique and more.

Finding angles… maximizing the scene

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During workshops I always teach the attendees to maximize the scene by using different angles.
In this example, which was shot during the workshop in Castle Dussen, I walked around the model to get different angles from the set, different lighting effects, and even used the lens flare from the sun coming through the window to create totally different looks from the same set within seconds.

 

It’s a very simple technique that can really benefit you in situations where you are pressed for time and need to deliver a lot of different looks to your clients. But of course you should not only do it in those situations but always try to maximize your scene, and seeing the fact that’s it’s very easy to do…… don’t forget to do it 😀

 

By moving around you are not only creating different lighting effects (I always call this contrast control) but you are also showing different angles from your set/location, so do be careful that what you include in the shot should be there, if you see some cables it’s better to remove them before you take the shot than later in Photoshop.

 

Here are my samples.
Model : Nadine
MUA : Christa

 

 

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Duin en kruidberg Pt IV

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Today the final blogpost in the Duin en kruidberg series.
For this setup we used a nice room inside the hotel.
The challenge here was to mix the ambient light with the strobe.
The trick is actually pretty simple, you meter the lights in the room and adjust the strobes for this.

 

Determine the slowest shutter speed you feel comfortable with (or bring a tripod) and the aperture you want to shoot with  and meter the lights, in my case I used a reflective meter reading of the lights and opened up app 2.5 stops to still keep some detail in the lamp-hoods but also create the idea the lights are actually working.

 

As a light source I used an Elinchrom Quadra mounted with a 70Cm Deep octa and the Honeycomb grid.

 

Model: Manon
Styling: Nadine
MUA: Christa
Assistants : Annewiek & Chaim

 

 

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Duin en kruidberg Pt III

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Today part III in the series on the workshop I taught at Duin en kruidberg with Manon (styling by Nadine).

 

After shooting inside it was time to go outside.
For this workshop we did a day to night setup, the reason I often do this during the workshops is that it’s a great technique to show metering techniques. In essence what you have to do is determine the dynamic range in the shot and calculate the settings for the strobes for this (something I explain in depth during the workshops, instructional videos, or my book Mastering the model shoot). In short you meter the darkest part of the scene reflective and set your strobes between 4 and 4.5 stops higher (incident on your model) this way you can always use your shutter speed to let in more ambient light to make the background lighter.

 

The first setup we used was behind the hotel.

 

Model: Manon
Styling: Nadine
MUA: Christa
Assistants : Annewiek & Chaim

 

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Duin en kruidberg Pt II

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Today the second part in the Duin en Kruidberg series.
Yesterday I showed you the images I shot with natural light.
Now by adding a single strobe in the same location you can completely transform the scene into something that gives you actually two different looks from the same set and same shoot location. If you also zoom in and if possible move around your model you can maximize the location and come up with a multitude of different looks for your client to choose from.

 

Metering wise I metered the windows reflective and choose to open up 3 stops to blow out the windows but not creating a wrap around effect of the light, thus containing contrast in my scene.
Adding a small prop will make the shot complete.

 

Model: Manon
Styling: Nadine
MUA: Christa
Assistants : Annewiek & Chaim

 

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