Kaatje indoors
A couple of weeks ago, I showed you the bad weather outdoor series with model Kaatje. After a quick meal we got into my office to shoot some more pics.
The main light is a small flash on minimal power (1/16 on the Vivitars) with a small shoot through umbrella. By keeping the shutterspeed high, my dark gray office wall went completely black. To avoid Kaatje’s shadow side to blend in with the backgound, we ‘ve put up a second flash with grid spot behind the model.
Sometimes it just works without a hair light too.
When I’m setting up lights, I often try to think one step beyond and look for ways to alter the light significantly with minimal effort.
In this case, I just pointed the hairlight to the wall. This creates a kind of halo that’s great for separation. This also creates a natural vignette, wich often helps leading the viewer eyes.
Kaatje has great soft skin and as a beauty consultant she knows how to put up the perfect photography make-up. This allowed me to use harder light than I usually do in similar circumstances. My silver umbrella, doesn’t get much usage, but would be perfect for this.
Instead of a hairlight, I pointed the gridded flash towards Kaatje’s jaw. If I’m not mistaken, this technique is called ‘kick light’ or ‘kicker’. I don’t use that technique very often, but sometims it helps to make a powerfull image. I kept the main light just a tiny bit below the ‘perfect’ exposure for a more mysterious look.
Some parts of the skin are slightly softened in Photoshop. But that was more because I wanted that mettalic paintjob.
Thanks Kaatje en Marisa for the lovely day out.
wow bert, these are awesome. On that first one, how close did you place the main light? Great work!
hey , nice pics. what lens do you use here ?
Good work, Bert!!
Stunning model and I like the minimal photoshop. Too often we see plastic faces.
Great work. I really enjoy your small flash technique, as I used to use these $10 flash units for fill-light, just a shame you can’t get them anymore.
Also some of my recent shoots and techniques are on my blog, and I think using a small light technique might’ve been easier! see http://danienel.blogspot.com
These are really good Bert. Would you be able to quickly explain the ‘metallic paintjob’ photoshopping you did? I’ve been trying to produce a similar look for a while and just haven’t quite got there.
Thanks.
Thanks
@chris: the umbrella is just out of the frame
@Tim: When I started I was a real barbie maker but these days I’d rather keep it natural.
@Danie: great blog
@Adam: No big photoshop secrets. Most of it is done in Lightroom and I just added a touch of selective blur to soften up the skin a tiny bit. The key is using the right light (and the right skin)
@linus: I think these are done with the 50mm 1.4
Those are some amazing portraits. How do you keep both eyes in focus when using f/1.4?
Hi Bert,
these are impressive photos! I like them a lot. Thank you so much for sharing your technique.
Note, he didn’t say he actually used f/1.4
(The largest is f/2 among the images above.) Nevertheless, I think the only reliable way of having both eyes in focus with such apertures is to keep them both in the sensor’s plane.
Thanks Peter, that saves me an answer.
Wow, super portraits!! Nice lighting!
Thanx for the comment on my blog. Looking for those Vivitars online as we speak.
danienel.blogspot.com