How did I shoot this one: Cosplay edition

1. Intro Cosplay Skillshare: Hey, guys, Frank here. And I'm editing the videos for Skillshare here. So if you know me a little bit, you know, I love superheroes, Batman, Superman, Catwoman, witches. Why not? Universal monsters. Those are the things that transport you to a different reality. And let's be honest, reality nowadays is not something that you want to stay in, right? You want to distance yourself from reality. And what is better than distance yourself with cosplay? Cos play is one of those things where you dive into a character, you lose your grip on reality and you just create something beautiful. As a photographer, we are storytellers. And with cosplay photography, we are combining everything. We are combining the storytelling part, but also diving into the character, creating a world around that character. But most of all, also the lighting. With normal fashion photography, it's important that we see the clothing of our model. With beauty portraits, it's important that we see the beauty of our model. I don't know why I'm using myself as an example, but okay, with hair, it's, of course, the hairs of the model. And now, I'm not going to go any further, but with cosplay photography, it's about mood, it's about atmosphere. Do we always have to see the face of the model? Did you always see the face of Batman standing on a big building? No, of course not. When you think about Batman, what is the first thing that you think about Moody, rain, Gotham City, the big cow, black. So you're not gonna light it with a big soapbox from the front. Or maybe when you think about Batman, you think about Adam West. Pooh, Wow, Ben. And then, of course, you light it with a big softbox against the blue backdrop, right? That's the story about cosplay. Whatever you like, you can do it. So in this series, I'm going to take you behind the scenes in our studio during workshops where we actually shot cos players. So strap on, close your doors, bolt your windows, turn off the lights, and get into the world of Cos play photography. Are you ready? Let's go. 2. Cosplay Camp and cool: Oh, hey, guys, welcome to another episode in How Did I Shoot This one. And today, you probably already guessed it. It's not about normal model photography. It's about Cosplay. And we have several videos with this topic, so make sure you check them out all. Now, today, we're going to talk about a disc shot. Now, with Cosplay, there's something going on that you don't have with normal photoshoots. With a normal photoshoot, I think it's really important to have your model in the photo as a character. So, in other words, I want to make sure that my model is represented the way that C is, of course. Or if I'm shooting fashion, the model is literally just showing off the clothing or the accessories that we want to show. With Cosplay, it's slightly different. With Cosplay, I want to tell the story about the character that we portray. So in this case, we have to make sure that if we shoot something that is very bright and colorful, that we don't shoot it very dark and moody, of course. We want to make sure that it fits the scene. And as a comic book lover, I know, of course, that every time period, every drawing has a different character and mood. So today, we are looking at this image. Now, you might wonder, like, Hey, that's very vibrant and that's very colorful. And normally you're more like a moody photographer. That's absolutely true. I love the more high contrast images, but it doesn't mean that we never shoot something that's more bright and colorful, of course. Now, in this case, we want to recreate that funky, groovy atmosphere of the older Batman movies, you know, Adam West, right? And this outfit works perfectly for that. So how did we shoot this one? With this setup, it's very important for me that all the shadow detail is shown. So we're choosing for a large sof box in the front. Now, you can use a lot of different sof boxes as long as it's a large sof box. In our case, we're using the Gekoto lantern. One of the big advantages of this one is because it's also open from the side or translucent from the side, it literally lights the whole set. It's still important, however, how far away you move this light source. For the very simple reason, if something called the inverse Squer means light falls off over the distance. In other words, if you place your light very close to your model, the backdrop will be dark. If you move your light further away and, of course, compensate, then the backdrop will be brighter. So, well, you can experiment to your heart's content with this. But just that big softbox in the front doesn't really work, of course. We want some depth in our images. Now, normally, when we work with, for example, a more moody setup, I love to use the light from one side, light that area, and have a nice shadow sight on that side or maybe fill that up with just a little of an accent light. This case, we, of course, shooting straight on, so we have a very flat looking model, and we don't want it, right? We want three dimensionality. Now, if you normally can create depped with shadows, the opposite, of course, of shadows is highlights. So that's why we're using two strips on the side aimed at the side of our model. Now, the position of those strips is very important. In this case, because, hey, it's a comic book character, right? We want to make sure that we also see the chest area. When I'm shooting fashion, I will probably not set it up like this because we want to have more attention to the side of our model or the clothing. But in this case, it's a comic, so let's make it a little bit more extreme. So we're using two strips from the side to create highlights on the side of our model. This already creates depth. But to make it totally complete, think about the old fashioned pin up photography, right? Create something on the backdrop to to create more depth in your image. In this case, we're using one strope with a grid aimed at our backdrop, and that creates that nice spot. Do make sure that the model is as centered as possible in that spot because that's the tricky part in this setup. Might wonder, like, Hey, Frank, doesn't accent lighting create also double shadow? So in other words, your model is standing here. You have light from the front, creating a shadow in the back, which you don't see, and then you have sidelights creating shadows going that way. Of course, you don't want that, right? Now, this is why we're using strip lights with grids and in most cases, I'm angling them slightly up. The grids already prevent light spill, and by angling them slightly up, you can already guess there's no shadow going that way. There's only accent lighting on our model. So big spot in the middle to create depth, two accent lights to create depth in our model, and, of course, a big softbox. And after that, it's all about posing for the model. But there's one thing that you have to be careful for, and I'm going to explain to you after seeing the behind the scenes video. Now, in video, you saw the lighting setup and you saw, of course, the final results. But there's one image. You probably already guessed it. That's the one with the claw in the front. So why do I take that one out especially? Well, when I shoot an image like this, I want to make sure that my backdrop is as smooth as possible. And that means that I'm shooting on a wider aperture than normally, because seamless paper can get wrinkles very, very fast, and we don't want it in our image. So by shooting with a more open aperture, I already make sure that my backdrop is a little bit out of focus, making it much easier in Photoshop to create a nice smooth backdrop. But there's more. As soon as I want to create something that's a little bit more offbeat, a little bit more surrealistic, I can use a wide angle to create a nice effect, for example, with the claw. The problem, however, is the camera doesn't see depth. So everything that's closer to the camera is rendered larger. Everything that's further away is rendered smaller, right? So when I want my model to be extending her claw towards the camera and create that nice distortion of a wide angle, I have to take into account that I'm shooting on a more open aperture. So that means that the claw will be unsharp and the model will be sharp or the other way around. To get over this, just raise your camera three stops on the aperture, and, of course, also three stops on your ISO. That way you don't have to change the lighting setup and you have more depth of field. The problem, of course, is the backdrop will show its creases. And that well, don't worry about that one because there's a very simple solution for it. You know what? Let's dive into Photoshop and very quickly show you how you smooth your backdrops. Hey, guys, here we are in Photoshop. And as you can see here, we have our model, and I try to fitter as close as possible on the backdrop. So first, let's extend the backdrop. For extending the backdrop, you can, of course, use AI, which just works like a charm. Let's be honest. Let's generate it. You don't have to type in anything. If you have a backdrop like this, in most cases, it will just fill in that backdrop perfectly. And of course, you can also look at your alternatives. There we go. This one is great. Let's do the same thing on the other side. Let's make a nice selection. I'm doing this on my laptop, so a little bit rough. There you go. Okay, there we go. So let's first flatten our image because now we have, of course, separate layers. Now, the most important thing is that you realize that you have to create a new layer. So we have two layers that look exactly the same. We have our original with our model and we have our background copy. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to select subject and it will select Catwoman. Great. Now, I'm going to edit and cut my model. So my model is gone, and you might say, No, the model is still there, and now it's not because she's on a separate layer, right? Now it's important that you use the following paste, paste special into place. Now, the model is on a separate layer. So now, when I disable the background, you can see that I have my original image back. But, in essence, there's that backdrop here. Let me disable those so you can see that. This is our backdrop. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to filter, and I'm going to go for a blur. And I'm going to go for Gaussian blur, and I'm just going to blur the heck out of it. And just to the point where it still looks nice and not overly like here, this is way too much. So just go down. I don't want to see the creases in the backdrop, I just want to have it nice and flat. There we go. This is more than enough. We go. Now, in some cases, now, in this case, it's okay, but in some cases, you will see very framed, very strange artifacts in your backdrop. And of course, you don't want artifacts in your backdrop, and you can easily take them out. Go for filter, go for noise, and add noise. Now, make sure that you choose the following monogrammatic noise and Gaussian and only leave it on 1%. You won't see the noise, but all those little weird solarization stripes are totally gone. Now, you might say, Okay, Frank, but where's my model? Here's the model. And it looks terrible, right, until you also select the backdrop. And as you can see now, we have a perfectly nice backdrop, compared it to the original. So cleaning your backdrop in Photoshop super easy. It's just a few seconds work. There's no reason to have well, nasty backdrops in Photoshop, right? Okay, back to the normal story. Okay. So you saw the behind the scenes video. You saw a little bit of retouching. Now it's time to finish this off because there's one thing that I didn't tell you yet and you already saw it on the video. On the floor, we have Plexiglass. Now, Plexiglass is great on the floor with seamless or also with click backdrops. The reason why Plexiglass is great because it reflects back, but in a very beautiful way. It's not like a mirror, but it just gives you a little bit of shine when you use a white backdrop. It's easy to create a perfectly white backdrop. But when you create something with color, it just gives you a nice connection with your model to the floor. In this case, you can always shop it out in Photoshop and make it less, like I did in most images. Or, for example, if your model is sitting on the floor, you can leave the reflection in 100% and create it a little bit more sharp. Now, in this case, as mentioned before, we blurred the reflection slightly, but I still like this much more than just placing a model on seamless paper and just having a small shadow under her foot. Somehow always that makes my models float, and I never like that look. So that's why we use Plexiglass on the floor. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes video and, of course, the explanation about how we shot dis Cosplay set, and I hope to see you again in the next video. Bye guys. 3. Maximizing reflections: Hey, guys, and welcome in another episode of How did I shoot this one, the Cosplay version. I'm holding a graphic novel, but, you know, right? So, during the workshops, we always try to experiment with stuff. And recently, we installed a large reflective wall in our studio, actually a sort of mirror wall. And well, today we're going to talk about some of the shots that we took with that mirror wall. How did I shoot this one? Well, when you walk into our studio, you can see that we have different walls in our studio. Some are painted, some are with backdrops, and some, of course, are with wallpaper. But one of the walls is a reflective wall. I don't want to call it a mirror wall because don't believe everything you read in Amazon, this is not a mirror. It does reflect a lot of light, and you can see yourself in it, but it's no way a mirror where you can comb your hair. But that's actually interesting because you don't often want replication of your model, right? You want to have something that's a little bit more creative, and this backdrop creates something that's really cool. Now, when you work with a reflective surface, you always have to be careful for your angle of incidence is the angle of reflection. So be very careful where you place your lighting. But that can also make that wall really creative because now you can bounce lights back, and that looks really interesting. Now, there's one thing that you have to realize. The angle of incidence is the angle of reflection, of course, also works for something that you do want in that frame. So in this case, we don't want to model against just a mirrored backdrop. She's coming from the sea. She has a very bright outfit. So I thought it would be really cool to create some sort of metal surrounding with a lot of silver. And luckily we have one of our walls actually totally covered with isolation material, which is silver. Now, of course, you can place it in a 90 degree angle on that mirrored wall, but it doesn't give you the effect that you want. You only have a small shiver to work with. So what you have to do is angle that wall. So instead of using it in 90 degrees, just angle the walls. You can see in the video here. The reason I'm doing this is because now more of that wall is reflected back in that mirror of wall, and that means that I have a lot more room to shoot with. And, of course, we need lighting for this. Now, we started out with only lighting on our model, and that looked a little bit like this. And I added the vignette photoshow by the way. It looks really nice, but it you know, it doesn't really tell you the story of somebody that's coming from the sea. And what color do we associate with sea? Right, blue. So we opted to add a blue gel to the set. Now, there are many ways to incorporate that gel. You can, of course, just blast it into the set and have your model totally covered in blue and the walls and have reflections. And if you like that, great. That's the creativity part, right. In our case, we didn't want it. So in our case, we bounce it off the wall and just create the blue look. The face is still pretty normal, well, lighting wise, but everything else has this really nice soft blue can tint. And I really, really like it. Now, during our workshops, there's always time for improvisation. If somebody wants to know something about lighting or want to experiment, I'm always open to do it. But there's also something that, you know, when you start out, it won't work. So as soon as one of the students said, Hey, Frank, can you also use smoke in this set, my first reaction was, No, but we're going to try it, right? Now, do you realize why you can't smoke? Why you can't use smoke in this set? It's actually a little bit difficult but easy to understand. When you use smoke and you light it from the front, you get the effect like when you drive your car and you turn on your headlights, right? It reflects back, and you have this white wall. So that doesn't really work nicely for smoke. So when we use smoke, we mostly light it from the back, and that means that you can see those nice plumes of smoke. And although we give it colors, it's still very bright, right? Now, look at the set. It's a totally bright set. So that means that if I add white smoke with a blue gel, it will just disappear or it will look really weird with a big center and it just doesn't look nice. So we set it up. We took some shots, and we all decided, No, this sucks. It doesn't work. And then the weird part is you are in light room. You look at your images, and you want to delete all the ones with the smoke. You go, Well, wait a minute. There's one that I actually like. And that was actually this shot. How do we shoot this one? Very simple. Just in between, our model is standing exactly the same as with the other setups. The only thing is, I'm now using a plotti pot with one stroke behind our model on the floor, and we're just pumping smoke into the set. Again, it didn't work at all, but this shot somehow it just drew my attention. So even if you think something is not gonna work, try it. Maybe you will find something where you go like, Oh, but it looks really nice. Let's keep it. And the fun thing is, if you see it and you go like, Oh, it's really nice. Now, you learned a new trick because you would never try that before, right? But now by doing it and you know it works, you can use it the next time. Okay, guys, I hope you enjoyed this tip about a reflective wall and, of course, our results and see you again for the next video. Bye guys. 4. Lighting for claws: Okay, so when I'm going through my comics, and this is, of course, a graphic novel, I can see a lot of different looks, right? And in this case, it's a Batman, and it's really dark and moody. And, you know, with my photography, I love dark and moody. So this next set is going to be dark and moody. It's going to be this shot. I'm going to explain to you how did I shoot this one. Now, in this workshop, it was all about Cosplay. And Cosplay is, of course, storytelling. Now, there are a few things really important about storytelling and Cosplay. We all know, of course, that with a normal beauty shot, it's all about the model, right? The model has to be beautiful, the lighting has to be beautiful. With fashion, it's all about the clothing. And with Cosplay, it's one, it's all about the character, but also about the mood. For example, did you see the new Batman movie with Peterson? Wasn't it awesome? But do you know why that movie is so much better than, for example, another movie? It's all about lighting, choosing the right tinting, choosing the right well, the right atmosphere, music, lighting, tinting, and, of course, the characters, everything has to fit together. That also means that when you look at the characters, there are distinct characters over times of period. For example, in the first video, you saw a very bright and well, very cheerful cat woman. And that's more well, for the old times. Like for example, Adam West, you know, with the poof pow and the Wow movies. It was great, but it was very camp and very bee quality, right? But a lot of fun. Adam West was a great batman. But today, we're going to look at another get woman. You already saw it in the Voto. It's more like the Michelle Viver and that one had really weird claws and very, very dark movies. I absolutely love that. And that's also what we want to make sure that we also shoot, right? So for this setup, I'm using the red backdrop from click backdrops with curtains. I'm using an old chair, and that's actually where the problem start. Because how do you shoot something like this? Do I use a big softbox from the front? Do I use strip lights or something else? Well, we want to make sure that we capture a little bit of that mood of the movie. So it has to be dark. It has to be moody. So that's why I opted for one light on our model, and it also lights a little bit on the backdrop. It gave a beautiful accent lighting, and in all honesty, sometimes what you don't see is more scary right think about horror movies. But in this case, we wanted to see the outline of our model, but especially the clause, the problem, of course, is he's wearing a very dark outfit. So I have to make sure that I also fill in the shadows. Now, you can, of course, place an exotrope, but hey, let's have a little bit more fun, right? In Hollywood, when you turn on a torch, right, and you aim it, do you see that beam of light? Did you ever see that at home? No, of course, not because if you see that at home, there's probably smoke or there's a lot of dust. And in both cases, you are in trouble, right? So why does it work in Hollywood? Well, because our brains love to be a little bit fooled, right, and our brains will just fill it in. So in this case, what we want to do is we don't want to show the model. We want to show the outline of the model, maybe a little bit of the face when she looks up to the light, but most of all, it has to be dark and moody. But then you have the problem because I'm using light from the top, you have the Ivesque that the bottom part can be really, really dark. Now, you can, of course, open it up with a stroke, but let's have a little bit more fun. And what is more fun than a stroke smoke, of course. So in this case, we're using a smoke machine to give some smoke in our set. And the cool thing about smoke is it's not only a mood maker, it's also a diffuser and a reflector. So that means that the light bounces off the particles of the smoke. That's what photography is, right, working with reflections. And at that point, you get a little bit more light in your shadows. But that wasn't enough. I also wanted to open up the shadow side just a little bit because it was really dark. I started out with one stroke on the side with no gels at all, just a little bit of light opening up the back of our model. That looked nice. There was one thing that actually bothered me a little bit. Like, Yeah, can I make it a little bit more exciting? And I thought, You know what? Blue is always a color that's important in comics. And what they told me, and I don't know if it's 100% true, but it sounds like it is in comics, they made the agreement that if something is really black, but it's not black, let me explain. Batman's cape is black, right? But the inside of his cape is shadow. That's even darker black. So how do you do that in a comic book? You can't? So they use very dark blue to create darker than black shadows. And blue is also a color that has the immediate emotion of ooh, a little bit distance, a little bit mysterious. So I opted for a blue gel on that stroke to open up the shadows on the right side of the image, or the back of our model. Now, with this kind of fill ins, you don't want lens flares. You don't want that um flight. You just want a little bit of an accent. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video. You see the lighting setup and also the final results. H Now, with a setup like this, there is, of course, something that is a little bit more important than just the setup. And that's the angle under which you shoot. I love to use wide angles for that nice distortion and the leading line towards your model. And in this case, because he's sitting on the chair in a very comfortable position, I hope, you have that foot on the front, and I thought, wouldn't it be nice to use that food as a leading line towards the body of the model? Now, one thing that you have to be careful for, especially when you're shooting under a slightly lower angle is, of course, the distortion of the wide angle, but also how does the model lean? Because when you're using a wide angle, everything that's closer is rendered larger. Everything that's further away is rendered smaller. So in this case, if the model leans backwards, she will probably just disappear or has a very small face. So when you shoot something like this, make sure your model leans a little bit forward so she can actually be shot nicely and also her face doesn't disappear like a very small nugget. So lean forward. And another thing, of course, and I always tell you guys this is walk around your model. You can shoot from a lower angle, the hero position. You can shoot straight on. But how about not shooting straight on, but just standing up and shooting down? The funny thing is the first time I show this image to Anna week, the first thing he said, Oh, my, that looks creepy. Look at those claws. And then I know exactly I got it. Move around the model and create different looks. And with Cosplay, remember, doesn't really matter if the model looks weird as long as it fits the narrative of Cosplay. So I hope you enjoyed these tips about this setup for the Cosplay. Make sure you also check out the other videos, of course, because there's a lot of techniques in those videos, too. 5. Cosplay fast and cool: Hey, guys, and welcome to another video in our Cosplay series. Now, there are certain setups that are lifesavers. So this is not going to be a long video. I'm going to do this really fast. If you know me a little bit, you know that I started out, of course, with teaching a lot of workshops on trade shows. And trade shows are not the perfect place to shoot images, but you can still create great images with a simple setup, and that's actually how I shot this image. So how did I shoot this image? Because that's, of course, what you want to know, right? That's the whole name of this series. Now, when I was on trade shows, and the main problem was, especially when I started out, that the sets were often really small, like 2 meters by 2 meters, and then you have to fit in your model, your lighting, and a week with a camera. And, of course, the problem on trade shows, especially when I started out, was that everybody just walk through the set, hit the lighting, and that's very frustrating because in the middle of a demo, the lighting changes and you're shooting tattered, everybody sees the wrong images. So now, that doesn't really work. So I was thinking about, can't we create a lighting setup that always works? It creates great images, and it's different. I started to look at my light sources, and I was going, like, I really like strip lights. But why not place one of those light sources straight above our model A down? And then I started to think, you know, if I don't have a lot of room, place my model against the backdrop, create light from the top. And the cool thing is, if you angle the light, you can create how much light is hitting your model and how much light is hitting your backdrop. So you have total control, although you're only losing one stroke. Edit benefit if you're on location, and you want to make sure that everything else is dark except your model and you want a nice beam of light. This also works great. On the street, place your model against the wall, place your light on top, aim it slightly down, and there you go. Beautiful image. There is one slide problem, of course, as there is always the eyes of the model. We don't want raccoon eyes. So in this case, when you use a lighting setup like this, make sure that your model looks slightly up or sunglasses. Or a mask, of course, a mask, right? Not everybody will wear a mask, but it will look great. Now, this is not one of those setups that you use for your family portraits, of course. This is really a special setup for those special occasions. But in all honesty, especially when you shoot it under a slight angle and make your mother look up, it's one of my favorite lighting setups. And the coolest thing about this setup is it doesn't really matter what light source you have. Now, of course, the difference between those light sources is huge, right? A big softbox will do something completely different than from a Frank. The cool thing about the setup is that whatever light source you have, if you use the same setup, so above the model and use it to angle, it works with all those light setups, even with a large suf box, because, remember, we have something called the sides of the light or in other words, feathering. So when you have a big suffbx, why not just angle it all the way up and only use the edge of the sof box to light your model. Beautiful soft quality of light and nice lens flares in your camera, of course. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video so you can see the lighting setup and, of course, the final results. So the next time you're on location and you need something fast, in essence, this setup was done in the last 20 minutes of our workshop with 20 minutes left, and there's one setup that always works, and that's this one. So the next time you're on location, try this setup. I'm pretty sure you're absolutely gonna love it. See you again next time. Bye guys. 6. Built a set for a villain: Hey, guys, Frank here, and welcome to another episode of How did I shoot this one. Today, we're going to talk about a few different things that are important. The first one is using three dimensionality in a set. The second one is how to like the set like that, but most of all, how to separate it, and I have some cool tips about background systems. So join me for this episode of How did I shoot this one, and it's this image. Awesome, right? Now, background systems is something that you start with when you start with photography, right? Because you don't have a studio, probably. So where do you put your backgrounds on a background system. But did you know that those background systems are incredibly handy, even if you're a professional photographer with a studio with, well, paper systems, background systems, movable walls. And we still use our background system all the time. And you know why? You can hang everything from it. You can hang chandeliers. You can hang fabrics. It's just a great way to add some extra depth to your set. And that's exactly what we're going to do today. As you know, I love my click backdrops and also the scenic click backdrops. And what is a scenic click backdrop? It's very simple. It's where you see a scene. Now, in this case, we're using curtains. And if you just use the backdrop and you place your model in front of it, you already get a great image. But what if you build a small set? Now, you've seen a lot of videos probably from us, and you know that we always build small sets, like, for example, just put a chair somewhere or some fabric or some leaves or whatever, just to make it a little bit more three dimensional. But how about if we really want to make it three dimensional? In this case, one of the attendees of the workshop said, Frank, I would love to have also curtains in front of the model to make it a little bit like she's in a box or in a room. And we thought, why not? Let's grab our background system, get some red fabric. And that's also a good tip for you guys. If you have a studio, go out and buy fabric because fabric you can always use for all kinds of different stuff. You can use it on the floor. You can use it as clothing, and, of course, over your background system as a backdrop or in this case, as a foreground. So we place the material over the background system, as you can see here. The only problem is, of course, how do we light something like this? The first thing we have to make sure is that our model is properly lit. Now, in this case, we can't, of course, just put a stroke straight in front of her because that will be in the frame. And in all honesty, I love light that's coming from a little bit of a higher position. If you don't have a large studio or high ceilings and over here we have pretty high ceilings, but not perfect. It helps to have hybrid strokes, like, for example, Geko Dos and a somewhat smaller softbox. Now, in this case, we can use a lot of different sof boxes. We can use the quickie, the S 26, and the new beauty dishes because they're all pretty flat. And that means that I can play them over the background system, aiming them down at my model. Now, you can choose between different kinds of setup for your light modifiers. If you want a focus light beam, I highly recommend a light source that actually focuses the light and use a grid. Now, if you want the light to spread out a little bit more, get a light shape that has a little bit more of this kind of attitude. And we call attitude, of course, where the light hits, and even then you can use a grid. Now, in this case, we're using a smaller softbox with a grid aimed directly at our model. Now to get the foreground nice, of course, we also need some light on our foreground. So how do we do something like this? Well, you have to realize that there's something called the invert Squero. Light falls off over the distance. And you have something called feathering. Now, in essence, when you aim your light source straight ahead, you will find out that the light spreads out not straight but actually under an angle. That's what we call the spread of light, and that's why it's important to choose your soffbxes and light modifiers depending on how they steer the light. But when you want to light something like your foreground, you want to make sure that it's as even as possible. But when you just aim your stroke at it, you will find out that the center part is really harsh and the sides are a little bit softer, and you have those annoying shadows on the backdrop, so you don't want something like that. So in this case, we need light from the site. Now, it's no mystery. It's red fabric, so I'm using a red gel. But when you light it from the side, I hear you thinking, then the site where the light is will be the brightest, right? And the other side will be really dark because light falls off. And that's the trick. Don't aim at the front. Don't even aim at the center. Aim at the back, and then you use the feathering of your light to get a nice and even light quality on your foreground. Now, you can use, of course, a grid to make it really narrow, but that doesn't really work, or you can use something like, for example, the magnetic dome from R now, this one spreads out the nice. This one spreads out the light very nicely and evenly, and it's great for setups like this. But you can also do it with an open reflector. You can do it with a grid. You can even do it with a snoot if you want it really localized or if you want to spread out more, you use the dome. But when you set something like this up, it looks nice. It just didn't move me. We need something else. Now, of course, one of the things that we love from all time photography is, of course, lens flares, Lens flares are pretty easy. You place your light on the side, aim it directly at your camera, not directly at your model, pump up the volume and make sure that your model is hit by the side of that light. Remember, feathering. If you guys see this video as first, feathering means that we use the side of the light. The center part is always really harsh and has a light output that's pretty high. The sides are softer and a little bit lower in output. That's also why it works great if you aim at the back and you just use the feathering and the light follow for the rest. So lens flare. So how do we get lens flare in our image? The first thing you can do is just use it as a fill in light. So now we just get a little bit of red on the side, as you can see in these images. What I do here is I'm using the same setup. I can lower the output of the stroke just a little bit, and I make sure that the stroke is out of the frame of my camera. So in other words, if I frame my shot, I see my back lighting and I move it all the way out of the frame and I take the picture. At that moment, I don't have any lens flare. Now if I want to lens flare in, I will just add a little bit of extra power to that one stroke and then make sure that your son hood is off and it really helps to use, for example, a black diffusion filter to make that lens flare a little bit more organic and nice looking. So for the next shot, as you can see here, we're using the full blast of that red stroke, for me, that shot, that's the killer shot. But always remember, that's my personal opinion. Sometimes somebody doesn't like a shot like that, always make sure that you shoot it two times one time with that stroke and one time with that strope off and maybe something in between, if you know what I mean, right? Let's take a look at the behind the scenes video so you can see the lighting set up a little bit more in detail and, of course, the final results. As you can see, a pretty easy setup? No, not this time. It's pretty hard to get everything right. But you have to realize that when you set something like this up, you have to think simple. First, look at the shadows. You don't want any falls shadows on your backdrop. Meaning a stroke from the front on your background system will cast a very terrible shadow, you don't want that. If you side light it, it will give you a beautiful soft quality of light. The fabric will just start to shine and you can light it more evenly. Make sure that you aim your light sources at the subject that you want, choose your light shapers correctly. Look at how it spreads out the light. Does it do this or does it do this? Do you use a grid or don't use a grid? Of course, your lens flare. Make sure that you see the stroke in your camera and then just take it out, slightly and you get lens flare. See the strop in camera, take it out a lot and you have filling light. It isn't that hard, but to set everything up that it works, that's pretty tricky. And don't you just love the styling? Because that's the one thing I didn't talk about yet. You can shoot a great model in jeans and tank top, but you better be a lighting wizard because nothing else is going on. As soon as you start shooting with great styling and proper lighting and great backdrops, an image comes alive automatically. I hope you enjoyed this little tip about three dimensionality in your set and try it out at home. See you again next time, bye guys. 7. It doesn't have to be difficult: Hey, the Halloween workshop, man, this is always a special workshop. In this workshop, we try to do stuff that is a little bit more on the storytelling part or uses a little bit more Photoshop. Now, normally, I'm the kind of photographer that loves to do everything in camera, but for this workshop, we are using a lot of Photoshop. So in the final result, you will see some Photoshop. So let's just show you the final result right away. Now, for this workshop, we had the great model Felisa. And during this workshop, we actually choose the wich as our main point of interest. Now, this setup is actually pretty easy. It's on our stage, and we're using a click backdrops and it's called the botanical garden. Now, we have a lot of leaves on the floor, and we have our model with a big black dress, and it didn't look right for me. I just didn't like the leaves. I didn't like the black dress. It was all just sucking up too much of the lighting. So I started out with lights from the side as an excellent lighting. That was okay, but, you know, when you're using lights from the side as an accent lighting, it's something we do a lot and sometimes you want to do something else. And one of the students actually said, Why not change the lighting from the back to behind our model and just shine through the dress. Now, this is one of the most important things to remember. Even if you're teaching a workshop or even if you think you're the best photographer in the world, always listen to what other people tell you because they look at stuff with different eyes. The cool thing about the workshops is, of course, that we have time to change setups. In some cases, it will work out great and we get a great shot. And sometimes we change the set, and the student actually goes like, Yeah, this doesn't work. But if you don't try it out, the student will always have this question like, but what if and that's for me, not a workshop. It's not a learning experience. So we decided to place this strain the model. In this case, we are arch using green. Now, you know, I'm not a big fan of green for accent lighting. But if you use it with a witch, if you use it from the back in the Halloween workshop, yeah, green works totally because Green has this weird, witchy like quality, right, think about the Wiz, the wizard of us the green witch, right? Now, you have to make sure that you use material that's a little bit shine through. And in this case, we were very lucky it did shine through. Now, when I got to shot, I shot it full body, and I just didn't feel it with the floor. So that's where in Photoshop, we actually decided to create some leaves on the floor. Now, the weird thing is, I'm the kind of photographer that loves the original stuff. So the original leaves, but somehow they just didn't work. And the ones in the computer, because they're wet, they're more spread out, they just worked a lot better for me. So in this case, we are using the floor from the computer and not the original one. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video. It's a pretty simple lighting setup, but it's just a lot of fun to show you guys. S As you can see, simple lighting setup, and the next time you are shooting, try to place your light behind your model. The only thing you have to do is, of course, make sure that if you have a boom stand you take out the stand, and if you don't have a boom stand, well, maybe get a platy pod and place the light exactly behind your model without any stands. See you again next time. Bye guys. 8. Something is cooking: Hey, guys. Welcome to another episode of How Did I shoot this one today, another shot from our Halloween workshop. And this one combines actually some pretty interesting techniques. So make sure you watch it till the end. Now, during the workshops, we always try to do different things. I've mentioned this many, many times. But what is different at one point? I'm teaching workshops for so many years. How do you still create something that's different? Well, in all honesty, that's impossible. But you can always combine stuff that you didn't do before and just make something new. Stuff that you didn't do before. Mm. Yeah, that's also difficult. So let's talk about storytelling because that's something you can do different every single time. And the cool thing is, if you are just copying images from a book, you will always end up with the same images. But as soon as you start to realize that the technique is not the most important thing. It's all about the storytelling. You are not afraid to use the same lighting setups over and over again. And you will start to see that if you just move your lights around, change the setting, change the backdrops, change the styling, the story becomes much more important than that lighting setup. I always tell people the lighting setups, make sure that you see the story right. That's about it. But don't you need technique for those lighting setups? Well, of course, you need technique and you need to understand what you're doing. So when we're only working with strokes, we use something called a light meter incident light meter, in other words, it meters the light hitting your subject. It gives you the value for your camera. You set up your camera, and you're done. But what if we use continuous lighting? Well, continuous lighting builds up over time, so that means that the longer we leave the shutter open, the more of that ambient or continuous lighting builds up and creates that look. Now, there's one thing that you have to realize when you're working with strokes, and that's the so called X sync or well, maximum sync duration for strokes. For most cameras, this is stuck at 125th of a second. Now, of course, I'm not going to go into the discussion. I can work on 1200, I can work on 160. That's great. In essence, it doesn't really matter. 125th in the studio is more than enough. But it also means that if we start to combine light sources, for example, continuous lighting and strokes, that shutter speed becomes really important. Now, in this set of what we wanted to do because it's a Halloween workshop, we wanted to create something a little bit inspired by the Wizard of Oz and wicked. So we have a green witch, Felisa, and we have a large book. And I was just going like, I don't just want to shoot our wizard or our witch with a book. Let's create a little bit of a set. So we collected everything we have in our studio. This is one of those tips where we always go, like, go to flea markets and secondhand stores and thrift stores and buy as many junk as you can get because one day, you're actually going to use it. So we have all these little figurines, like a skeleton of a crow. We have a real crow a real crow, a fake crow, of course, and we have this little ball of light. We had all these little Christmas lights and, of course, a candle. The problem is, those Christmas lights, they will hardly show up. Those candles, they will hardly show up. So using strokes might not be the only solution. And in this case, we didn't we're using a mix of strokes and continuous lighting. First things first, on the side, we have two powerful tubes from non light. Those lights are on green because in this case, although I don't like green in my sets with a witch, I love green in my set. So, those two are actually spreading out over the set, creating a little bit of backlighting, but also lighting the backdrop. Now, the backdrop wasn't lit 100% correctly, and I wanted something behind my model also to light up a little bit overhead. So we're also using one of those powerful tubes behind our model a straight up. So it lights the backdrop a little bit, and it gives some back light on our model. Now, the front is very, very dark. Now, we knew we were using smoke, and because we're using continuous lighting, I opted for one larger tube, the same that's behind me now on the blue setting, creating a nice halo of blue. If you shoot just over it, you get a little bit of lens flare from that blue. Now, with those lead tubes in place and higher ISO, I was able to get a nice shot, including the Christmas lights and the candle. But of course, we also want to make sure that in that pot, there's a little bit of red coming out, right? Like it's on fire. And I'm one of those kinds of photographers that if I can do it on set, and especially because it's a workshop, it's much more of a challenge to do it on set than in Photoshop. Doing it to Photoshop is really easy. But doing it on the set, that's a challenge. So we want to light our model with a stroke, and we want to make sure that that pot lights up. So what do we do? Well, in the pot, we have a GT 200 from Gigoto. I love the smaller hybrid stropes with a red gel from our rogue magnetic system. As you can see here, we're just using a GT 200, which is a rectangular strope and we're using holder here, and on that holder, you can click the magnetic system. It's a great system. And it fits in that pot, if you take off, of course, the pistol grip. Otherwise, it won't fit. Because that one is remote controlled, and it's red, I can change the output, depending on what I want. Do I want more fire on the bottom part? That will blow out, of course, I will become white, and then the bottom part will be white, and the top part will be red, or do I just want red? In the end, we ended up with something in between. One light on our model really focused on her face to make sure that her face jumps out. You can use a snoot for this, for example, to make sure that you focus that light and smoke. Now, in this case, the smoke didn't really turn out how I want it because I made it a little bit too complicated to shoot it in a workshop. I'm pretty sure if I took half an hour more, I would have nailed a shot, and it's a little bit frustrating during workshops. So what went wrong? Let me first say it didn't really went wrong because I love the output. The first thing we did was fill up the back with smoke. That went great. The second thing and that's where it went wrong. Fill up the pot with smoke. The bigger smoke machines, they just puffed after we stopped them. So they also created a little bit of smoke in front of our model. And then the final part was make sure that we have something like this. And this is smoke that actually fits to your subject. Oh, sorry, to your surrounding area. So let's turn it on. And I will show you that on my desk. So this one will fit on your desk, for example, and slowly will go up. And that's, of course, great for something that's more mysterious. But as you can see, it goes really fast. And that's what went wrong in this set. I probably would have also had to use this one on the pot, but that I realized after we did the whole set. Now, what do you choose? Well, in this case, I opted for one color image and one in black and white. And let's be honest, the black and white gives you a really cool look. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes recording, and it will be a little bit grainy because there wasn't a lot of light, and then, of course, the final results. Well, I hope our witch didn't scare you as much as it did me. The whole setup pretty elaborate. I love building sets, but the biggest problem in this case was actually the smoke, not the lighting. So when you do something like this, take your time and in between, make sure that smoke can disappear because a lot of smoke. Yeah, it might look nice, but it will actually destroy your image. In the end, I'm still happy with the results, but it could have been better. Thank you so much for watching, guys, and see you again next time. Bye bye. Right. 9. Don't forget...: Hey, guys, Frank, here and welcome to an episode of How did I shoot this one? Today, it's time for. Same channel. Same time. Same Bad Man, or maybe different Batman. But anyway, it's about this shot. Don't you just love it? Well, it's no secret. I love comics and I love Batman. Don't you just love that dark film noir look. As soon as you hear Gotham and you hear Batman, the first thing it's in my mind, it's dark, it's moody, it's cool. But how do you capture something like that in a picture? Now, there are several kinds of thought about photography. Some people say, You need big softboxes and everything has to be in detail and everything has to be perfect. Totally agree. And there are people that say, Well, I don't even care about seeing the face of the model. It's all about mood, about atmosphere, about getting drawn into an image. And I totally agree with that one, too. So why not use both, right? In this case, we're actually using one. Now, in all honesty, this isn't a really spectacular lighting setup. I'm giving this video for a totally different reason. Now, one of the questions from the Attendees of the workshop was, can we do something with reflections? Now, we have a whole workshop called reflections, but we can also do it during a normal workshop, of course. Now, the tip in this video is actually not really about a lighting setup. I will tell you the lighting setup and you will see it, but it's more about something else. It's about thinking ahead and making mistakes. Now, the first thing is, if you want reflections, you can get it a few different ways. Of course, you can use Photoshop, but well, I love photoshop, but I would rather do it in camera. Now, you can use plexiglass. The Plexiglass is great for reflections. You can use it on white backdrops to get a great white backdrop, including the floor. You can use it on colored backdrops to get a nice reflection of your model sitting on the floor, but it isn't really a mirror effect. It's really reflections. But if you want a mirror, you have a big problem because with a mirror, you always get these double reflections. And it's really annoying because it takes you out of the picture, and you want to make sure that you only see one reflection, right? So we need Photoshop. No. There's something called a plastic mirror. Now, I don't know if I translate it correctly or I give you the right materials, but it's a mirror that's literally out of plastic. You place it on the floor, and it only reflects one time. So you don't see that nasty double reflection. You only see it once. And that's great for setups with your model. In this case, we're using a very, very dark backdrop. We're using our black curtains in our studio, and, of course, we have a black outfit on our model. So he's wearing a black mask. Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster, right? It doesn't have to be, because with Batman, we need something that's really dark and moody, right? So I'm using a focus light source that can be a strip light or a small softbox. It doesn't really matter, but I'm using a focus light source, so often including a grid. Now I'm aiming that at my model under the right angle because you have to realize that when you work with mirrors or hi reflective surface, reflective surfaces, and so sometimes that's a tongue breaker. You have to take care of the angle of incidence is the angle of reflection. Meaning with glasses, if you look up too much, you will see the reflection of lead lights. If you angle your face down a little bit or move the light up, you have much less interference from your light in the reflecting areas. Especially when working with mirrors and several light sources, it can be awesome getting all those reflections out. And don't use Photoshop because, well, do it on set, you learn and it looks better. Now, with only that one light, it looked okay, but it wasn't spectacular. So we added a blue filling light. But again, it's not really about the lighting today. It's about something that's much more important. And the first tip I already gave you the plastic mirror to prevent that double reflection. But when you look at the videos and you look at the final results, you will see that there's one thing that's a little bit different. And we should have taken care of that on the set, but this is where Photoshop comes in really nice. When you look at the video, as you can see here, do you see that she's not wearing any gloves? And do you see that in the final results, she is? Yeah, that was a terrible mistake from my side. But hey, it was a workshop, right? The thing is, the whole area is black. So the clothing is black. The mask is black. The background is black. The reflection in the mirror is black. Everything is dark and black. And then you see those white hands. Including the reflection of those white hands. And that looked absolutely terrible. So this is the part where I highly recommend you guys to think ahead, shoot tethered, for example, with IQ wire and make sure that you see your images coming in on your screen because then you can literally see what's going on. And even then I missed it in this workshop, so I'm very sorry. But luckily, we nowadays have photoshops, so I just selected the hands and said gloves. And after a few tries, we got the perfect gloves, I think. And now the image looks the way that I want it. So let's take a look at behind the scenes video and don't make those mistakes. And let's see the final results. Now you can see a pretty simple lighting setup. There is, of course, a lot of stuff in here that I explained during the workshop where we move the lights around and show the reflections in the mirror. But also, if you move too far away, you don't really get that nice reflection. If you move too close, you also see the ceiling, of course, from the studio. So this mirror is a little bit too small to get that nice reflection, but we're working on something. In a few weeks, we're going to release that, and that's going to be awesome. We're going to create a whole mirror wall, mirror floor, and mirror side. So that's going to be great, but the material is not in yet. But with this small mirror, you can get a little bit of that sense of reflection. I hope you enjoyed this tip about the mirror and don't make the mistake that she has white hands and that just shows up in your shot. It's terrible. Thank you for watching. I see you again next time. Bye guys. 10. Fast and awesome lighting for every setup: Guys, welcome to another episode of How did I shoot This one? My name is Frank Doorhof and we are outside because the weather is nice. But you can also do great shots on location, of course. And you know what's cool about shooting on location? Is that you can find really rough backgrounds. For example, a graviti wall or a nice stone wall. And as a photographer, don't we just love structure and contrast? But in the studio, you can also, of course, create beautiful backdrops. Now, for this setup, and we all know that, I love Batman, right? Yeah. And you know who does it? Yeah, that's Harley Quinn. Now, Harley Quinn has several outfits. When you watch Suicide Squad, you can actually see that she chooses a new outfit instead of the old one. In all honesty, I was always a fan of the old one, but the new one is, of course, much more fitting for the player of Well, Harley Quinn. And today, our Harley Quinn is actually our model, Felisa. Now, creating a backdrop and creating something that fits together is always a matter of I always call it a little bit like playing with legos. You see the outfit. In your mind, you have the whole setup, you have the whole mood of the shot, and then you have to find, of course, the backdrop, and you have to find the lighting. Now, in this case, we're using a click backdrops with a nice, almost graviti like backdrop, but still bright colors and nice patterns. Of course, Felisa is wearing a very shiny outfit. And with Harley Quinn, well, you need a hammer, right, because he has to smash stuff. And well, we needed something to make it more film like. And what is one of those things that you always see in films, and also a lot in my work, ns flares. But what kind of color? If I want to draw the attention to something, I'm really much a fan of using the color red. But in this case, I just want to blend everything together. And that's when I choose a more safer color, in this case, blue. Blue also gives you more of a distance, a little bit of weirdness, and, of course, coldness, all well, greatly fitting for Harlequin. But how do you shoot something like this? If you want a more filmic look, I love to have that lens flaring, and I don't really care about the lighting of my model. If I just want a portrait, this is where it's very important to just light your face of the model, that you make sure that all the shadows are nice, that you have a nice butterfly or maybe a Rembrandt triangle, but it's all about the lighting on the face. When I go for a more filmic look, that's when I look more at the atmosphere of the shot. Sometimes one of the eyes is dark, sometimes the shadows aren't right. But if the whole look and feel of the shot is filmic, for me, that's much more important than just having perfect lighting. Sometimes perfect is not perfect and sometimes not perfect is perfect for the shot, if you get what I mean. So for this setup, the S 26 on our model, creating a nice spread of light, making sure that we have a smaller light source for high contrast. We can place it close, so I have a rapid light fall off, but we still light a lot of the scene. And for our backup light, of course, the Roque magnetic system with a blue gel aimed from the back at our model. And now the only thing you as a photographer has to do is walk around your model and create contrast. And, of course, it helps if you use a black diffusion filter on your lens to create that nice beautiful lens flare. We can talk about it for hours. You know the drill. Let's watch the behind the scenes video and enjoy some music. Did you know that all the music in our videos is played by me, and you can find it on your favorite streaming service. But hey, this is about photography. Let's go behind the scenes with Harley Quinn. Mmm As you can see, a pretty simple lighting setup. Now, this is one of my favorite lighting setups, one main light slightly from the edge and an accent light. The accent light you can use for adding some smoke atmosphere. You can use it for lens flares, and you can just use this as an accent light or maybe on the backdrop. Two strokes in your studio is the perfect setup to create everything. And, well, your creativity is the only limit.