How Did I Shoot This One, part 2

1. Introduction How Did I Shoot This One Part 2: Hey, guys, Frankie. Welcome to our studio in Emord. And I want to introduce to you our brand new video for Skillshare. How did I shoot this one? Part two. Now, we all know studio work and lighting and working with models is fun, right? But how do you get the most results from your photo shoot? How can you be creative with lighting, with sets, with styling? This is the part that is often overlooked. Of course, we can set up a Rembrandt lighting or a butterfly lighting, or maybe we can use cool light sources like the Frenll. Did you ever think about using one of those? And you can use hybrid strokes or smaller strokes or big strokes, but it's not about that. It's about storytelling. We think about the history of photography and painting, it was never about a duck face or a selfie. It was always about telling a story about getting a mood over to your client or to your customer or whoever wants to see that image. So in this series, it's, of course, about lighting setups. It's of course about getting the best results. But it's also about thinking outside of the box, maybe outside of a frame. Hey, maybe do something different with colors or lens flares or special effects. The best way is just to look at the video. We have several chapters with all different kinds of setups shot during the workshops that I teach. You will see the lighting setups, the story behind the lighting setups, and, of course, the final results. So join me for the second installment of How did I shoot this one? This one is going to be a roller coaster, you're absolutely going to love it. 2. Shine on! : Guys, Frankie, and welcome to another episode of How did I shoot this one? And this one, I absolutely love the outcome. It was totally not expected this way. Now, during the workshops, as you know, we always try to push my limits because, hey, let's be honest, I've been teaching workshops for so long. I can get very boring if you always do the same stuff. So I love to work with props, different backdrops, and, of course, different stylings. And this time, I set something up with the idea it's going to be simple, and it totally blew my mind. It's the material. Now, when we choose our backdrops, we can, of course, choose from a lot of different backdrops from click backdrops. Those are awesome. We have vinyl and pro fabric. You can build whole sets from them. And otherwise, well, we still have all the walls in our studio with custom paints and structures, but sometimes you want something more. And this is where party stores are absolutely awesome. For a few bucks, you can buy great backdrops or props. Now, in this case, we choose a background material of holographic prints. You might wonder like, Hey, what's holographic prints? Well, that's the same thing that I had. When you look at it, you can see that it all glitters and shines. I was just going like, This would be awesome for a backdrop. But of course, it's only a few meters wide, and sometimes you want to shoot more. So that's why on the sides, we actually placed some curtains. But you also want to make sure that everything lights up, and you want to make sure that you use that holographic material. And this is a tip I always give people when you find new materials. For example, if you go to a do it yourself store, take your phone and very simple, just turn on your flashlight and just hold it over the material you want to buy. And immediately, you will see sparkles, or it will just stay dead. Depending on the look that you want, you can buy it or not. For me, it's always something that has to react with my lighting. And in this case, the holographic material is absolutely awesome. But how do you light something like that? Well, first things first, we want to make an open set a fun set, right? It has to emit a certain quality of fun. So that's why we choose two colors on the sides. On one side, I'm using a red gel on one side, I'm using a blue gel. Now, red and blue are on the same axis of the color triangle, and red and blue are also emotional colors. For example, red, love and hate, both sides of the spectrum, blue, a little bit more distance or cold. But together, they always create something interesting and fun for me. So red on one side, blue on the other side. And in this case, I'm aiming the strokes down with a grid so make sure that we have a nice beam of light. And that already emits a nice quality of light on our model. Now on the back, I'm using a red backdrop that's very reflective and one extra strope with a red gel aimed at that backdrop to create that nice flow of light behind our model. But now the holographic material, we want to make sure that that holographic material really shows up and starts to shine and create that holographic look. And that's why we need stropes under an angle with a very harsh quality of light, but I don't want a harsh quality of light on our model. And that's where we use the fnelle. Now, the fnelle is an amazing light spot. First of all, you can zoom it on your model, but it also creates a beautiful light quality. It owes all the characteristics of hard light, but also a lot of the characteristics. I'm Dutch, you know, that's a real tongue breaker. It looks very nice. Let me put it that way. So it looks soft and it looks hard at the same time. And that's what I love about the fronel. Plus, of course, it's a great tool to get some extra light out of your strokes because it also, of course, due to the fronel amplifies your light output. Now, when we place the furnel under a certain angle, you can really see that that material is starting to shine. You really see those sparkles. What I didn't take into account was that at one point, I asked my model to just spread her arms and lean forward. And that's the image that blew my mind because because he's leaning forward, the material scores is wrapping around our model, and that's create a beautiful light spectacle. And that shot the moment it came in, I was going like, Yeah, that was not expected, but I absolutely love the outcome. So let's go to the studio. Let's see the lighting setup and, of course, our model, Linda, and the final results. Now as you can see, backdrops shouldn't be expensive and don't have to be expensive. Just go to the party store, buy some cool stuff, check it with your phone, and create some cool images, add some little colors, and you're done and ready. Now, you might wonder, Hey, Frank, in the images, I didn't see the curtains. What did you do? Yeah. Well, in the end, when I did my photoshop work, there was only a small part with curtains, and somehow it just took my mind off the nice and reflective material. So this time in Photoshop, I decided to cut off the edges and use artificial intelligence to fill it in. Yes, I know. I'm not a big fan of it, but in this case, I did it for a normal fashion shoot. And let's be honest, it just helps to shut, so no problem there. 3. Master your perspective: Welcome to another short tip in our series. How did I shoot this one? And today, it's not really about the lighting setup. It's about something else. Now, during the workshops, I always try to do different things, and that can be with modifiers, or it can be, for example, with weird modifiers, like a Fneel. It's not really weird one. It's an awesome one. Or maybe we use vintage lenses with, for example, the Techart or the Photo Dox adapter. So you have auto focus with your old lenses on your modern camera. Yeah, if you want to know more about that, look on our YouTube channel. We have some videos about that. But today, it's actually about something really simple about finding the right angle to shoot from. Now, do you realize that a lot of the images that you shoot especially when you start out with photography are from ice perspective, because this is how we see the world, right? We just look at something, we see it, and we take the picture. Now, how often does it happen that you take the perfect picture on your holiday, you go like, This is a prize winner. This is the one. This is amazing. This is perfect. And then you come home, you look at those images, and you go like, Where's that prize winning images? I already called National Geographic. Where is it? And then you find this one image where you go like, Yeah, but that's totally not interesting. And then you realize, that's the image that I shot. And that's because there's a huge difference between our eyes and our photographers eyes. When we shoot models or when we shoot photos or video, we want to make sure that we use different eyes. And what do I mean with different eyes? The camera doesn't really see depth. The only thing a camera sees is something that's closer, it renders it bigger, something that's further away, it renders it smaller. So when you use a Zoom lens, you compress your set, right? So everything looks nice and tidy. Or in other words, if you have your model, and she spreads out her arms, she fits on that background paper. If you use a wide angle lens, it doesn't fit on that paper. But there we go. When you use the wide angle lens, it doesn't fit on that paper, right? But when you use a zoom lens or you compress, see fits. So that already proves that both lenses gives you totally different way of looking at a scene. And we call this perspective. Now, if you are into landscape photography or architectural photography, you know the term leading lines. Now, leading lines are the lines that lead the viewer into the image or towards your subject. Now, when we use this in combination with the wide ang lens and model photography, we can get some amazing shots. Like, for example, in this workshop, so the image we're talking about today, it's a very simple setup. We're using one of our click backdrops, already a little bit of three D, and we're using just a very simple prop. And something on the floor. The trick is, however, how do I position my model, but also where do I shoot from? If I shoot this from a distance I compress everything, it looks boring. If I make my model just sit straight, it looks boring. But by angling my model slightly towards the camera, choosing a very low angle, and also using a white angle, you get this beautiful leading line starting at the foot of the model, just going all the way up to the model. And then, of course, Claudia with the red hair, it really draws the attention. But there's also something else. When we look at how we read and write, we read from the left bottom to the sorry, from the left top to the right bottom. So that also means that if you as the photographer, create something where you capture your viewer in this area, they can't leave the image. This is also why you also see that red logo from us on the left bottom side because people start at the right top. Sorry, at the left top, they go all the way down and then they see our logo and they go like, Hey, that's nice. And they go back in the picture again. So a lot of my images, you will see my models looking the same way. That doesn't mean I do this all the time, but it gives you a beautiful way of using your leading lines. So let's take a look at the lighting setup because you also want to see the lighting setup, of course. But do take notice when you see the final shots, about the angles that are shot at. And those shots, well, I'll give you a different angle of view. And that's where you can experiment with and where you can create really creative shots with. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video. As you can see, a pretty simple lighting setup, pretty simple prop, but by choosing the right angle and using your leading lines, you can create something interesting. And this works for product photography, landscape photography, architecture, and, of course, model photography. I actually goes for all photography, painting and drawing and everything. Use those leading lines and use the distortion of your wide angle lens. As a photographer, we have that tool, so use it. Thank you very much for watching 4. Theatrical lighting in your studio: Today, I want to tell you something about an amazing modifier. Now, you might wonder, there are a lot of amazing modifiers, right, but this one is really special. Remember those old images from George Horrell, Richard Avidon and, of course, Hardce. They all use one light source. That's absolutely amazing. Today, you could say it's an oat to the fnel. So join me for how did I shoot this one. Today we're going to talk about this image from a workshop I did. Now, one of the light sources that I love to use is a fnelle lens. Now, a fnelle is a very special modifier. A softbox will make your light softer, right? And a reflector will give you hard light. But what if you want something in the middle? You still want that harsh quality of light, but you don't want that rough quality of light or you still want nice soft quality of light for your skin of your model, but you don't want it too soft. The frenel is absolutely amazing. And what if I tell you you can also zoom the effect so you can make the beam smaller and larger all with one modifier? You might wonder, Frank, why didn't you use the frenel much more? Yeah, I actually did, but there was a huge problem with the fnel. When I started with photography and I started to teach on trade shows, one of my first demos was actually with an Ellen Grom fnelle spot, and I immediately fell in love with the whole device. It was amazing. I love the quality of light, but I also love to include it into an image. And there was only one problem. It was horrendously expensive, way too much for me to spend on one modifier at that moment. And over the years, I still kept my eyes out for a fnelle and they were always expensive. There is a solution, however. If you go on Ebay or Greg's list or whatever you have in your country, you can find theater spots. Now, I've used the theater spot for years. The only problem is, of course, you have to take out the light, and then you have to place a strope inside and move the strope forward and backwards to get the effect. In all essence, yeah, it's nice to work with the frenel, but it didn't work in practice. It was just way too much work. So I didn't use the fneles in the workshops or in the videos because I think you should be able to recreate my images also with a low budget. And well, that's how I create my videos, right? Everybody should be able to do it. This is why today, and I actually already used it for a while, I want to give you a heads up about a really great modifier. And this one is really affordable. This is the non light FL 20 G, and this is a full frenelns with a bones mount, so it fits on our Gigoto strokes and on most different strokes because the bones mount is one of the most universal mounts. There's always a converter for the bones mount. So what makes this frenel so special? One, it's very affordable. It's about 150 euros. It's so affordable that although we are not a Nanlte distributor or even dealer, we included the fnelle on our own webshop for the very simple reason, all the students that see the fnel want to buy one, and then it's easier to get it straight from us, right? So, how does the frenel work? In the front, you have this glass, and the glass is the trick. It creates a beautiful beam of light on your model. It's harsh, but it's still soft. Sounds weird. I know, but that's the magic of the fnel. But the cool thing about the fnel is you can also zoom it. So in other words, if you turn the dial. This is a little bit hard because I'm now holding it with one hand. You can see that it extends, and this focuses the light of a beam of light. And that means that you can really pinpoint your model. Now, you might wonder I know those fneles, right? Yes, you're absolutely right. These are the ones that are also used in theaters to create that beam of light on the singer or on the performer. So fneles have been used in movies and theater for many, many decades. And now, it's very affordable also for you to use it in your studio. But we can talk about it for hours. And let's take a look at the behind the scenes video of a workshop we recently did with the fn. And a nice thing about the fnel I have to add that if you want that really old fashioned vintage glamour look, add some excellent lighting. For example, a red gel or a blue gel or maybe no color at all, the frenel instantly gives you that beautiful effect. So let's take a look at the video. As you can see, a very simple setup and the fronel again, I can highly recommend you guys looking one up online and highly recommend the NNL. 5. Stepping into the light: Hey, guys, Frank, here, and welcome to another episode of How Did I Shoot This one and this one is really short. Now, during the workshops, we use a lot of props. We use a lot of materials, backdrops, lighting setup, styling, and what not more. The workshops are always jam packed with fun stuff, but most of all, also educational stuff, of course. So if you are interested in a workshop, visit photography workshops dot U or, of course, dot NL. And if you're English, don't worry. The workshops are normally in Dutch, but if you let us know a few weeks in advance, we can switch them over to English. Now, today, as mentioned, a really short tip. It's about a prop that we got. It's a mirror. But without a mirror, it's only the frame. And those are awesome in your photo studio. Now, this was shot during a workshop called filmic Images, where we try to recreate images that tell a story that could be done in a movie set. So I decided to just create a nice backdrop, place our mirror there and let the model step out of the mirror. I'm using a very, very nice light source close to our model, just making sure that the light spreads around my model, and then it's all about angles. Shoot this straight on, doesn't look nice, shoot it under a cool angle from the top and make your model twist. It's a horror story. Shoot it from a lower angle, and it's more like a fairy tale. Walk around your model to create contrast and a lot more. So let's take a look at the studio so you can see our lighting setup and the final results. Mm. As you can see, props are awesome. They're very cheap. You can buy them online. Don't spend a lot of money because you only use them a few times. 6. Overhead lighting with a round softbox: Hey, guys, Franker and welcome to another episode of How did I shoot this one in our digital classroom series. And today, it's about this image, but actually about all the images we shot during this shot because it's about the technique. So join me for this episode of Digital Classroom. Now, during the workshops, we, of course, try different kinds of modifiers because every modifier gives you a different kind of look. And when you look at your modifier, you can predict how the lighting will look. Now, one of the things that I always love to do, especially in tight spaces is use my model against the wall and use a strip light on top because with the strip light, I can angle the strip light and create beautiful vignettes on the backdrop and, of course, nice lighting on our model. Now, we did recently a video just about that subject, and we got a lot of questions from you guys like, Hey, can you also do this with other light sources? And, yes, of course, just look at how the light source is designed, and you exactly know how to place your lighting to get the effect that you want. So of course, you can do these kinds of setups with the strip light. But for this workshop, we actually decided to use the quickie. Now, the strip light is, of course, a light that projects the light on your model, and it is longer but narrow. So that means that you get a beautiful light quality on your model. You can still aim the light, and you don't have a lot of spill light. Of course, you can do it with a big softbox, and then it spills everywhere. But just to prove the point that you can do it with any light source, we decided to use the quickie. Now, why is that so important? Very simple. The quickie directs the light directly down or forward, depending on where you aim it, of course. So if you can pull it off with a smaller light source that aims the light, including a grid, you can do it with almost any light source. You just have to remember how much light do you want to hit on your backdrop and how much light do you want to hit on your model. And with the quick well, you can see it in behind the scenes video. It's a small light source, but you create a beautiful light quality on your model. Now, the most important thing about lighting setups like this is don't just shoot it straight on, but always walk around your model. Because when you walk around your model, you get different contrast ratios, and you get a totally different look. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video and the results, and I will be right back. W Now, guys, I hope you saw a very simple lighting setup, and I love using this lighting setup. For example, on trade shows, events, workshops, it's super simple, and it always gives you a beautiful high contrast image. The only thing you have to remember is the inverse square law. Light falls off over the distance. So make sure that you don't place your light too close on the model because then this part will be properly lit and everything else will be totally dark. So use the distance and your Iver square to create a beautiful light fall off on your model. And it works best, of course, with slightly lighter clothing. If you wear black, the light falls off really fast and it becomes a black blob. So make sure that you take that into account. If your model is wearing black, maybe a portrait is the best option, or maybe use a filling light, but that's for another video. 7. Maybe the best light shaper for your budget: Guys, Frank, here, and welcome to another episode in How did I shoot this one in our digital classroom series. Today this image. Don't you just love that backdrop? It's the final click backdrops, and somehow this backdrop, it looks busy. But every time when I photograph it, it just comes to life in the shop because I just love the lines and the color, of course. But it's about something else. Now, when we want to shoot images, the first thing I always determine is what is the look that I want? Do I want something nice and flowy, or do I want something really harsh and edgy? You probably already know the answer, right? I love the harsher quality of light and the more edge he looks. Now, Claudia is standing in front of our vinyl in this setup. And if you have a model that stands against the backdrop, there are a few things you have to realize. First of all, the shadows. Now, believe it or not, a model that stands in front of the backdrop has probably more problems with shadows than a model that's against the backdrop. Now, in all honesty, shadows aren't a real problem in a shot. For me, it connects the model to the backdrop, and it gives my model more three dimensionality, or in other words, she's in the real world because, well, shadows are part of the real world. Now, when you have your model in front of the backdrop, you always have to think about lines. So follow the lines of your stroke, and you can immediately see where the shadows fall. So if you don't want shadows on the backdrop, make sure that the shadow of the head falls below the shoulders because below that, everything will be gone. If you shoot from a lower angle, you cut off the shadows also. But if you want your shadows in the shot, and that's something that I always want, place your del against the backdrop, make sure you aim your light correctly, and you just have a shiver of shadow on the backdrop. Move your del a little bit forward, and you can play with that shadow. Today, it's actually not about the shadow. It's about something else. It's one of my favorite light sources. And in this case, it's the fnelle. Now, the fnelle is a beautiful light source. You probably know it from the old glamour photography, right, and the movie scenes. It's one of those light sources that you can set up for harsh light or a more softer quality of light, a real focused beam of light on your model or a more feathered out beam of light. Now, in this case, we're using the harshest quality of light, and I'm aiming it straight at my model. The main advantage of this is in combination with that final backdrop is that you can now make the colors pop out. And that's the question we get a lot. How do we make those colors pop out? That's the quality of light. If you light something like this with a big softbox and then create the vignette later in Photoshop, or according to a lot of people can be done, you will miss that quality of light on your colors. And we all know, right? Colors have three coordinates, and one of those coordinates is luminance. But when you change the quality of that luminance, you can also get more vibrant colors. And the fnelle that's awesome for this. There's only one problem with the fnel. And that's actually also a benefit for us as photographers. It gives you a lot of light. So if you go outside and you want to boost your strokes, for example, this is a GT 250 from Gekoto. Let's say that with a normal light source, it outputs maybe F 11. When you use a furnel, yeah, F 16, F 22, maybe even F 32. I'm just calling it from the top of my head. But the furnel really focuses the light and gives you way more light output. But that also is a problem for the model. So when I'm using a fnel, I always lower my modeling light because you don't want your model to look like this. Looking into the light, it's very, very bright. And one of the tips I can give you also, and you're going to see that in the final results in a minute is let your model wear sunglasses. One, they look cool, and two, they really help because they don't have to look straight into that light of the furnel. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video. As you can see, it's a super, super simple lighting setup, but I just love the quality and the results. You don't need a lot of gear to create something like this. And so Now, as you can see in the video, only the fnel now the cool thing about this frenel it's the nonlte. And now, in all honesty, when I started out with photography, the fneles were really expensive, and nowadays, you can still buy really expensive fernels. But this one retails in the Netherlands for about 130, 140 euros. And that's incredibly affordable for a light source like this. So if you want to experiment with fneles and in the back of your mind, you still have that option like, Yeah, I love it, but they're so expensive, check out the fnelle from Nenlte. See you next time. Bye guys. 8. Creating a spot: Hey, guys, Frank, here, and welcome to another episode in our How did I shoot this one? And you already see it. I have a lot of modifiers that I really like, and this is one of This is the Lindsey Adler Westcott projector. Now, the projector I already explained a few times, but today we did a photo shoot with just only the projector. Now, I already explained that with the GboPjector you can put several things in there, and it creates, for example, shadows of a window or, for example, a tree. Whatever you want to put in there, it projects it on our backdrop or on our model. But you can also do something else. With this one, for example, you can use the blades to literally create different kinds of patterns on the backdrop. And I already used this a few times, for example, to create a triangle or a line of light. But you can also buy these gobos. And these are really interesting because it actually creates a round spot around your model, and there's no light source in the world except a nelle that can create something that comes close to this one. Now, the main advantage of a gobo projector or a snoot is that you can literally focus this one. So you can make it super sharp, or you can make it super soft depending on what you want. Now, we all know those old pin up shots, right, where you have a circle of light around your model with a beautiful shadow on the backdrop. You go like, how did they create something like that? Because you can never get that roundness so sharp. Is it Photoshop? Well, there was no Photoshop at that time. So what did they use? Probably finels and probably also something like this to create that nice round effect. So today, with our model, we created something very simple, a dark backdrop, our model in front of that backdrop, and only the projector with this round gobo. Now, in this case, because the model is in front of the backdrop, we want it around vignette around our model in the back, but it has to be super sharp and I want to see the shadow. Now, when you place your model, normally with a projector like this, you have to make sure that the model is against the backdrop for the very simple reason because the light extends, it will create a horrendous shadow on your model if your model is too much in front of your backdrop, or the vignette in the back will be too large. Now, if you don't want that shadow on your model, there's a very simple solution. Choose gobo that has a smaller hole because now the light spreads out less like this. But in this case, I love the shadow on our model. I'm not shooting full body. I'm shooting three quarters. And by angling my model, I can play with the shadow. And the cool part is, if I shoot it from the side, you can create a beautiful shadow on the backdrop. Use your negative space, and I'm still a big supporter of using the term negative space. Not anymore. Use the term positive space because it really adds something to your image. So let's go to the studio. Let's see the lighting setup, and of course, the final results. Oh Now, as you can see, the gobo projector in combination with just an open gobo creates a beautiful vignette around your model, but also also a real attention grabber to your model. You can, of course, always use the blades to create something more rectangular or a triangle. But the gobos with round holes are absolutely amazing for this kind of work. Again, if you don't like the shadows on your model, use a smaller one or place your model closer to the backdrop. In this case, it was intentional, and I really like the outcome of the extra shadow. It creates an extra dimension in your image. 9. The light shaper that surprised me: Guys, Frank, here, welcome to another episode of Digital Classroom. How did I shoot this one? During the workshops, we always experiment with light quality and light sources. Every light modifier gives you a different light quality. And in all honesty, when you look at your modifier, you can already predict what it's going to do. For example, a strip light. You know, it's narrow and it's very, very tall. So, in other words, when you use it horizontally, you can light your backdrop, give an accent light on your model, and you have something to spare in the middle. If you use it straight on in portrait mode, you can light your whole model and you don't have any spill light on the backdrop. So great light source. Now, when I look at all my light sources in the studio, I love to use grids because I want to be able to pinpoint my light on my model or on my subject. And somehow I just love Rembrandt lightings, you know, maybe because I'm Dutch, but that whole lighting from Rembrandt, a triangle, I just love it. But one of the things that I don't like about that lighting setup is often how the backdrops create, because let's be honest, if you do a Rembrandt lighting, your main light is a little bit behind your model because you want to make sure that you see that triangle. Now, because the other side is so dark, I always choose to use some accent lighting there. But also the excent lighting is aiming forward. So both light sources are aiming forward. And that means that often the backdrop, when you aim it a little bit, you get some lighting behind your model. But often it's dark. You see your light side of the model. Then you see your accent lighting, and then you see the light backdrop. You could call it irascuro light, dark, light, dark. But what if you don't want it and you want more light on your backdrop? You want it more airy or flowy, whatever you want to call it. Well, that's when we have a really cool light source, and that's the lantern from Gekoto. The main part that I love about this lantern is that it still has a straight front. A lot of the lanterns you see have actually that bow in the front, so they're aimed to hang from the ceiling down, and then the light is omnidirectional. This lantern does have a straight front, and that means I can also use it for fashion photography and for portraits. But the main advantage of this light source is that because it's open from the sides or translucent from the sides, you also get light on your backdrop. So in other words, I can now place my light even more extreme behind my model aiming forward and still light my backdrop. That gives me two totally different images compared to a normal sof boox. Let's just put them side to side. This image was shot with the lantern. As you can see, I have a lot of light on the backdrop. I have a nice flowy image quality. It looks nice and soft. And this image was shot with exactly the same setup, but now with a softbox that's closed. And as you can see here, this is way more darker. I don't even see my backdrop anymore. So let's see this in practice in the behind the scenes video. As you can see, two totally different image qualities, but two totally different light sources, same setup, same model, same backdrop. So if you start your studio and you ask somebody like, Hey, what kind of soft boxes should I buy for my studio, always first determine what kind of images do I want to create? Do I want to create high contrast images where I don't see the backdrop and I want total control. Then you use, of course, strip lights, you use normal soft boxes with grids, but you use something that can steer the light. But if you are more into, Well, I want more newborn photography, I want product photography where everything is nicely lit, and I also want some light on my backdrop, the lantern is absolutely amazing. But also for work that I do, with all my portraits and all the high contrast stuff, I still use the lantern a lot for the very simple reason. If I want light on the backdrop, I can easily now get some light on the backdrop. And if I want less light, just remember the simple rule. Move your model forward, move your lights forward, and use the If square law. And you have total control about what happens on your backdrop. And finally, of course, with the lantern, you can still use feathering. So if you run out of the distance, you can still angle the lantern because, well, nobody tells you that you can't example, light your model with the sides. So in our set up, we're actually using, of course, the front of the lantern to light our model. But if you don't like the amount of light hitting the backdrop, nobody tells you that you can't take the lantern, turn it all the way towards me and maybe use only a small part of that open part on the backdrop and use the rest to light your model. In the end, it doesn't matter how much light is lost. It determines how much light is hitting your model and how much light you don't see because we crop it out. The lantern, a very, very cool light source. And well, you can use it in many different ways. It actually surprised me because when I saw it the first time, I thought, This is not a light source for me because, well, it lights everywhere. And then when you start using it, it really grows on you, and it's now one of my favorite modifiers. Hey, guys, thank you so much for watching. 10. High Contrast: Y's Frank here. And today, a very short tip, but an important one. It's all about a dis shot. Now, during the workshops, we, of course, try to create as many different solutions as possible because, well, let's be honest, I love high contrast images, but sometimes your client doesn't want a high contrast image, but something that jumps off the screen, maybe something with flat lighting. And I'm not a big fan of flat lighting, but as soon as I start doing this, yeah, that's when I really like it. You see that red backdrop, you see the model just jumping out. I really like this look. So how did I do this? And what is the intention of this video? Well, there's a lot of stuff that I want to discuss with you guys, but we're going to do it really fast. The first thing you have to realize is this setup is not complicated, but it is extensive. So I'm using one light on the backdrop to create that nice round light effect. I'm creating two strip lights on the side for the accent lighting, and I'm having one light source in the front to create a nice soft light on our model. But we don't want it too soft. Now, my favorite modifier for shooting something like this is actually a ring flash. But I didn't use it today. Today, I'm using the S 26 from Gekoto, and I want to show you something, and that's actually part of the video. So let me grab one. Now, when we look at a strip light or a softbox or any other light modification, you can actually see that it's built up in several parts. So, for example, in the front, we have the grid, and the grid steers the light towards your model. But let's take the grid out. Now, it doesn't look really nice now because I took the grid out. But as you can see here, this is what we call the front diffuser panel. Now, the front diffuser panel captures the light and then spreads it out over the front diffuser and then actually spreads it out over your model. This creates a nice soft quality of light. But as you can see here, it isn't that deep. So how can I light this whole area with just one stroke? Well, that's the idea behind the front diffuser. Because behind the front diffuser, we also have the middle diffusier. And the middle diffuser, this is where it's all about today. For this setup, I'm just using the middle diffuser. Now, you might think a softbox is just one way of lighting your model, but it's not. With the grid, we, of course, steer the light. But with only the front diffuser, you get a smaller quality of light, so a harsher quality of light. So you can use just the from diffuse without the middle diffuser. However, if you take out the front diffusie, leave in the middle of diffusi. Look at what happens. The light will go here, and this will be soft, but all the sides will get that nice, harsh quality of light. So in other words, if you're using a smaller light source, the quality is already harsh. But if you take out your diffusers, you can actually totally tailor made that light to your liking. If you like it softer, use more diffusion. If you like it harder, use less diffusion. But also look at what happens inside that soft box. A white soft box will totally act differently than, for example, a silver sof box. And that's the whole idea. We wanted to use a nice crispy light quality on our model. And in this case, I'm using the S 26 without the front diffuser, without the grid with only the middle diffuser. And that gives me that little bit of bite in the image. There's more in the image. If you look at the setup, you can see that I'm also using two flex on the sides. Now the reason for this is very simple. We're using two strip lights aimed towards the camera, and this can introduce a lens flare. Now, sometimes you want lens flare in the image because it gives you a nice moody image, or it gives you some atmosphere. But sometimes you also don't want lens flare in your images. And that's when you have to make sure that you cut off the lens flare before it hits your lens. Now with white backdrops, we have to do that nowadays because the cameras have way more dynamic range. So the backdrop starts to reflect back. It eats away all the hairs, and at that point, it doesn't look right anymore. So that's where we also use flags. But also when using accent lighting and especially when you have a filter on your camera like the black mist filter, it's very important to use flags on the sides of your model to make sure that you don't get any lens flares. In essence, it's a relatively simple setup with two accent lights, one main light, and one on the deck. But the idea behind the setup is actually a little bit more complicated. And I hope you understand that by taking away the lens flares, you are creating a much nicer and even backdrop. So when you are in Photoshop, it's much easier to Photoshop. And, of course, the front, that's all up to you. If you want more contrast, you use the setup that we use now. If you think, Hey, that's a little bit too much, I want less, use the front diffuser. If the light spreads out too much, then use the grid. But hey, we can talk about it a lot. Let's take a look at the behind the scenes video and the results. As you can see, a relatively simple setup, but actually a little bit more complicated. Hey, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode of digital classroom. How did I shoot this? 11. I've been using this for years, movement in your shot: Hey, guys, Frank here, and welcome to another episode of Digital Classroom. How did I shoot this one? Yeah, I really like those images. Now, during the workshops, one of the things that I love to do is incorporate motion into my shots, and you might wonder like, Hey, why motion? It's actually pretty simple to explain. If you shoot a portrait and everything is static, for me, that's nice. But at one point, you also have to get your model loose right in a set. And sometimes the models are a little bit, well, scared and they are stiff and they don't really move nicely in front of the camera. And I found out many years ago that adding some motion to the shot one loosens the model up. They get a really kick out of it, and the images are absolutely stunning sometimes, not always. So, in this case, we're shooting motion with our model Felisa. Now, I could have stopped there and just said, Hey, incorporate motion in your images. It loosens the models up, and it gets you great images. But there's more. When you shoot motion, there's a few things you have to take care of. The first thing is the flesh duration. You have to make sure that your motion is frozen. Now a lot of people wonder like, Hey, how do you do that in the studio? Because we're shooting on 125th of a second? Well, that's easy to explain. A stroke isn't continuous lighting. A stroke just gives you a pulse. And within that 125th of a second, the pulse of the stroke is like this. If you have a really good stroke, you will have a fast flash duration. If you have a cheaper strope, you will have a slower flash duration. The best tip that I can give you is take a fan, put it on the higher speed, start shooting with your strop on the lower setting, and just build it up stop by stop and see where the fan is frozen the most. And that's your sweet spot to freeze motion with your models. So that's part one, the flash duration of your stroke, and to realize that over the range, it varies. Sometimes it's very slow and unusable and sometimes it's really fast and perfect. Most of the times you will find that within the 60, 70, 80% of your stroke, that's where the sweet spot is. Another thing that you have to realize is your aperture. When you are shooting motion, you're not going to shoot at on 2.8. Well, be my guest if you can do it. But most of the times we will try to shoot on F 11 or F 16, because if the model moves forward or backwards, we want to make sure that she's still in focus, and you don't have any well, out of focus images. Although with motion, out of focus, it's allowed a little bit, of course, because, hey, it's motion, right? So aperture, flash duration. And the other thing is cropping. I'm a huge supporter of shooting it straight right into camera. I don't believe in cropping afterwards. At one point, you should just look into your camera, see the composition and shoot it and use every pixel available. But with motion, I always try to shoot a little bit wider for the very simple reason, you never know where your mother's gonna go. And sometimes you have to kill a shot, and she's extending her arm like this and it's out of the frame. And you go like, Why? So shoot it a little bit wider. And in all honesty, with 60 megapixels nowadays and studio cameras, that's no problem at all anymore. And finally, your lighting setup. Make sure that your model turns towards the light, but also make absolutely sure that you have enough light hitting your model from the back to make the hair stand out and, of course, also create something on your backdrop. In this case, it's not always perfect, but we try to keep the backdrop lit behind the model and then fall off really dark on the sides. In Photoshop, you can always enhance this a little bit, but the images I'm going to show you now are not enhanced that way. So this is really the light setup. So let's take a look at the behind the scenes video. As you can see, motion isn't that hard to do, but you have to take into account your cropping, your flash duration, and, of course, your aperture. Well, encoach your model. Now, if you do motion and your model always looks like this or this or that or weird, one final tip if you made it to the end, make your model scream without making sound. One, she will have a blast. Two, your ears will stay good. And three, the image is absolutely awesome.