Jessika at the Studio

For one of our workshops a few months ago the foreseen model (Sanne Boons) let us down by text message at 4:38AM stating that she decided to quit modelling, for whatever reason.
The evening before she did send me a message trough my facebook stating "you can count on me, I'm ready!" , models do act strange from time 2 time!

But this was a huge problem because at 10:00AM we had a workshop with 10 people and we needed a model to point our light on...
Luckily facebook provided me with a solution... I posted it on my wall and within 1 hour Jessika was ok to model for our workshop, this studio shoot was a gift to thank her for really helping us out that day!

But Jessika also did a wonderful job on the styling wich contributed greatly to the results :-)

Make-up and Hair did by Sanne de Wolf from sdw-styling!

I new I needed an ethereal look for this series so i set my light in a not so standard position.

2 Striplights left & right aimed at the white background and set at f:11 (as I intended to shoot at f:8 and i wanted it pure white and overwhelming)

The hair light was close behind Jessika on a Boom (500Ws studio head with reflector and a wide grid)

The hair light was pointed towards the camera very close to her head so it would produce a serious amount of lens-flare (intended!)

Hair light set at f:8, but then I measured the front side of Jessika, the "not-lit" side....

When you light the white paper, it acts as a giant soft-box but the light is coming from the wrong direction (what is wright and what is wrong anyway)

And she was only at f:4... problem!

So I added some white bounce panels to kick back a part of that great soft light coming from the back.

This set her front side up at f:6.3 and i kept the Hair-light at f:8 for greater effect.( Because all the light is already coming from behind)

Oh yes, we used a fan too ;-)

Thank you Jessika and Sanne!

Natacha

Early morning shoot with Natacha, Make-up and Hair was done by Sanne de Wolf from sdw-styling.

All is lit using the still amazing Westcott Apollo Softbox powered by the SB-900 at 1/4 or 1/2 power, triggers are Elinchrom Skyports, for some shots i also used a reflective panel to bounce some flash-light back or the cut of the hard light rays from the sun, Strobist Style ;-)

Less frontal positioning of the softbox (side left 90° angle) combined with good natural fill gives a nice result, don't you think?

Please send more sunshine our way

On a sunny friday afternoon we went into the nature for a small shoot, time was not on our side, we only had 3 hours but I think we did a great job together.

85mm f:2, ambient & reflector

24mm (dangerous for portraits ;-) )
+ Shadow fill flash, 800Ws head in the Westcott 28" softbox

Back to the studio

The studio is not favorite working place for photography, my choice for light and creativity is fed by the environment, so if i decide to go into the studio with a model, it has to be a strong one ;-)

Peggy asked me to work out some idea's before she retires as a model, she thinks she's too old for modeling... women I'll never understand them!

At least she knows how to smile!

And how to yell.

And even be more serious ;-)

LBA strikes again!

A few weeks ago I got the use the Nikon 24-70 AFS 2.8 zoom lens during a wedding. I fell in love with it no, not with the bride, but with the lens :-o !!

In the past i worked with a prime 50 and a 24 wich is fine if you don't mind switching lenses from time 2 time but in confined spaces there's not always the possibility to move around so when you can't zoom with your feet you have to seek another solution, never thought I'd buy this lens as I'm sure it's way OVERPRICED but anyway I have one!

Enjoy



picture taken with my smartphone in auto mode "lol"

First meeting and shooting day

A few days ago we, as strobistworkshops.be organized out first meeting and shooting day in the old Waterschei coal mine building.

Our idea was to have some models available for a small amount so that every photographer has a chance to work with a fine and experienced model, this concept was new, i never saw or heard anyone do this before. After a slow start we soon had not enough models, we will have to look into that for next editions...

Our security guy Bart ;-) also fooled around with my dad's DV-camera so there are some images left to show you :

Things that go fast, 2 fast 4 U !

No models today, my light has run away ... :-p

I got asked to do a small shoot with the daughter of a friend, she really is a petrol head (everybody involved in this shoot was in fact)

I'm just gonna post some pics from the bike and cars involved, license plates have been altered to protect privacy.

- Triumph Daytona 675 -

- Aston Martin V8 Vantage -

- BMW M3 -

One light

- Saar -

Some people think you need 3, 4 or more lightsources and complicated setups to create professional looking images, I however really like the One Light approach, first time I saw this it was done by the amazing photographer Dean Collins.

He had a way of using all the possible light coming from a single source by adding some simple reflectors, the key is to position them correctly...

This shot from Saar was done with one softbox positioned right above camera, with a slight inclination towards her face, underneath the silver reflector and a non-lit white backdrop, One Light!

Julie 3!

- Julie -

This is Marieke, the very dangerous dog from Julie, wha wha, whatch out!

As we went up at our location i saw the natural light gently flowing inside the room, one window behind me and one at the end of the room, it would be the same as putting 2 giant softboxes up...

changed the light form natural to strobes, SB-900 in the Westcott 28" softbox, "One Light"

Julie 2!

I really liked the results from our first cooperation that we decided to shoot again in a matter of a few days, for our first shoot Julie came to my region, for this I went up to hers.

As it was a windy and cloudy day, the level of ambient light was constantly changing, this is not easy to keep the flash fill in a 50/50 ratio, and my umbrella was broken after falling over for the 4th time, so further on some pictures were made with bare flash, no walls or ceiling to bounce of in the open nature :-p