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New instructional video : Live in the UK 2013

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With pride I can announce that today sees the release of our new instructional video :
Live in the UK 2013 : One light can be more than enough.

This video is loaded with tips on model photography and was shot on two stunning locations, the glasshouse in Edinburgh and Studley castle in the UK.
Join the group of students in the workshop and see the video in full 1080HD filmed from different angles so you can really see what’s going on.

 
Topics covered include :
Metering for ambient and flash (Including the tricky spot metering), coaching the model, finding the right location, working with angles, story telling, styling, coaching the model, how clothing can have a huge impact, vintage lenses on modern DSLRs, composition, finding lines and repeating patterns, using the background, dragging the shutter (using the shutter speed to control the ambient) and much much more….

In the video you see me working with just one strobe and ambient light, you will see that in most cases you really don’t need more. Also on the modifiers we kept it really simple this time no big soft boxes (of course) but nice smaller modifiers that really give the image some POP.

When we release a new video it always have to add something to the videos we already have online and trust me… this one will give you enough tips and inspiration to get you going for a long time.

You can now download the video from https://frankdoorhof.com/web/shop-videos-etc/direct-video-downloads/

Pricing is set on EU 35.00
Run time is app 90 minutes

live in the UK

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Shoots with impact

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Often people ask me “Frank, how do I create a shot with more impact?”
My answer is often incredibly simple “Shoot something with impact”

 

Sound obvious right?
Well it actually is to be honest, it’s an answer that is used so many times by the great photographers in the world, “if you think your images are not interesting enough, make sure you shoot something that interesting”. For model photography that means I love to work with strong colors, and my personal preference…..well red.

 

So today some images “with impact” shot during a session with Nadine.

Nadine Maart 7 2014 (2 of 130)-Edit

Now the real fun starts when you add a little bit of motion.

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An easy pose

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One of the poses I love to work, and especially with glamour, is a pose on the ground.
Choose a longer lens and a wider aperture and “pinpoint” light, for example a beauty dish with grid from pretty close by, some reflective or other nice material and everything is set for some interesting poses on the ground.

 

Depending on the body of the model the poses will have to be changed, personally I love to see more rounded lines, with the more plus sized models you can use oversized mens shirts to cover up the areas that the model wants and “shape” her body that way. Overall I always find these poses to be very pleasing and also work great with starting models.

 

Change your own position and move around your model to maximize the results.

Sheena Maart 14 2014 (68 of 88)-Edit

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Duo shoots

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I always say :
“shooting one person is easy”
“shooting two people is terribly difficult”
“shooting three people is easier”
“shooting four people can be a disaster”
“shooting more get’s easier”

 

Now why is that?
When I shoot 2 people you very quickly get into the “boyfriend/girlfriend” kind of posing, now it’s not bad… but sometimes I think it’s just a bit “boring” and I want something more. When shooting three you can actually build something with balance, but with four I always feel like it’s easy to create two groups of two… Most of the times it will go ok but I always find that I love to work with three or five and more people if I do groups.

 

Now when shooting a duo shoot it always wise to plan ahead.
Let’s say you want a cool duo shoot in your portfolio but you don’t want that “boyfriend/girlfriend” kind of shoot, a good tip can be to shoot dancers, they are often way more flexible than the average run of the mill person, although I’m pretty flexible I have seen these two do things…. well it hurts me when I think about it. The fun part about shooting with dancers is that they are often very creative with poses, and they will actually pretty well interact with each other.

 

The following shots were taken during a workshop motion last week and feature models : Marvin and Sharda.
I also included some images you’ve already seen, just to give you and idea of the other crazy duo stuff we did, but I shared that during another blogpost about these two.

 

The idea of the shot was to give the images some “tension” but also a lot of power. I think they pretty much aced it.

Marvin en Sharda Maart 12 2014 (46 of 69)-Edit

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