Everyone I know in the business have their preferences regarding focal lengths for different applications. I tend to work quite a bit shorter than most when it comes to working in closed quarters in a studio environment. I specify this for a reason. Studio work is a fixed space that you set up lights in and know what those dimensions are for the whole day of the shoot. Unlike interior location shoots where you often have to change settings and adapt your focal lengths to the circumstances.
It is for this reason, that I often find myself using a wide angle zoom in non studio environments. My focal length of choice in 75% of my studio shoots is around 60-75mm i.e. 40-50mm in the 1.5 ratio APS-C sensor cameras. But I tend to shoot closer to the former. I have read on several forums that the majority of shooters tend to shoot quite a bit longer i.e. 90-120mm i.e. 60-80mm 1.5 ration APS-C sensor cameras. I find that getting in closer to the model, allows you to communicate on a different level which in my opinion is more immediate. I am also not that fond of (at least at this juncture in time) of that compressed long focal length look. All of the major brands have focal lengths that fill this criteria.
“Because the image sensors on digital cameras are usually smaller than a frame of traditional 35-mm film, when a lens is used with a DSRL, you need to account for that difference by figuring its effective focal length. For example, a 50-mm lens on a Canon Digital Rebel would have an effective (or “equivalent”) focal length of 80-mm lens when taking into account the camera’s 1.6x magnification. Such magnification factors vary from one brand of camera to another, and sometimes even among models within the same brand.” from Consumer Reports.
I find that getting in closer to the model, allows you to communicate on a different level which in my opinion is more immediate. I am also so that fond (at least at this juncture in time) with that compressed long focal length look.
I have on occasion shot shorter than the above at around 30mm (45mm) APS-C, with very pleasing results, but for this focal length I need to work in studio’s with very high ceilings, as I more often than not am sitting or lying on the floor when shooting. I also need the much larger seamless when using this wider focal length or just work off of a bare studio cyclo wall.
Shooting at these shorter focal lengths most certainly have a distinctively modern edgy look about them (at least for now)… So don’t be afraid to experiment with shorter than the recommended norm for fashion work. It may give you a bit of the edge to stand out from the rest of the very highly populated crowd.
My second image campaign for Swedish Top Hair & Beauty Salon Mika’s Koivisto-Karlsson, as always creative direction by Tony Lundström & Jenny Karlsson using a whole slew of Mika’s models, notably Klara wester, Alina & Linnea Hellbom…
This time around, we were influenced by the Andy Warhol factory look + your the “extended family” concept + as well as an obvious “homage” to image maker Jean-Gaul Goude’s iconic Grace Jones nightclubbing” cover…
Several years ago, I would pick up my camera, put on a lens, start taking photos and not think twice about the outcome.
The responsibility was mine to produce the goods and if I didn’t it was usually my fault. Well, more and more, those days are over. I am so overwhelmed with complaints by users of camera gear around the world expressing their dissatisfaction with the quality of their lenses and camera’s that a new phenomena is occurring called the “Fear of Fotography” syndrome.
In the past I never feared using my gear. But that has also changed. I have had several QC problems that have effected me in a way I never thought possible and that is the “Fear of Fotography” syndrome. Will my images be in focus? Will my lens auto focus mechanism fail? Will my camera die? etc.
There is nothing more frustrating then having your assistant say to you while shooting, “what is wrong with the lens, it is making strange noises…” and I respond “Frigging thing isn’t focussing…” or “It is taking too long to focus!”
I’ll keep this short and sweet. Manufacturers of camera gear, get your shit together and make the stuff work before loading it on the public and us professionals who depend on your gear for our livelihood.
I have a very simple philosophy. When I do a shoot, I want to forget that I am holding camera gear. I want the gear to become transparent, where I forget I am using it. I don’t want the gear screaming, “Look at me, look at me, I am “F’ing” up your shoot!”
I never thought I would ever own a white camera. Well those lovely people at Pentax France have decided to send me aPentax K-xand I decided to get it in white which incidentally matches my iPhone. I should have it in about 5 days from now and when I get it up and running, I will do a review on it… My Way.
Won’t be as technical as what you are used to, but, you know me, I’ve never been a technical junkie. I will look at it from my perspective as a working professional. I am extremely excited about the 16-9 aspect ratio HD video mode which I plan on using to catalogue my photo shoots. From everything I have seen and heard, the image quality is more than good enough for shooting double page spreads for magazine layouts, which for me is a very important factor. Oh…and not having to up size (interpolate) is a major plus for me.
Well until then, stay tuned…In the meantime, have a look at those incredibly cool, eye popping colors. What a refreshing change and So Psychedelic…Peace and Check out this Review as well. Ben.
UPDATE: Just got the camera yesterday and am just getting acclimatized to using it. Love the high iso rendition and the video quality. Will post my review when I am ready…
PS…one more thing and it is purely cosmetic. The photo does not do this gorgeous camera justice. In reality, it is more pf a matte off white, which I much prefer and it is a lot smaller than I imagined.
What Kinds of Lighting Accessories are Needed to Sculpt or Paint with Light? Part 5
A very important aspect of choosing which part of the subject shall be hit by which type of light source is something I consider very closely when doing a selective lighting exercise in my shoots.
As we all know, continuous lights and flash can have very different outcomes and knowing how to control those results is part of the challenge in adding dimension to your images.
I have been able to recreate to a certain degree the tilt shift look in an image without using a tilt shift lens, by just choosing which part of the subject will be sharp and which will be blurred. You can see an example of this in the shoot I did for Spoon Magazine in this VIDEO. You can watch what I am doing momentarily, attempting to have a subtle lower half blurred effect even when shooting perpendicular to the subject.
For example, to obtain this effect from the waist don, I will light the upper half of the body with flash and the lower half with either hot lights or kino light. I will shoot at around 1/4 to 1/15th of a second. As I am shooting the subject, I will focus on the eyes and just as I am pressing the shutter, I will do rapid pivot downwards to achieve this effect. Playing with the rapidity, will render different outcomes.
It has taken me years to perfect this and have had some success in doing so. Although not perfect, it is something that is difficult to replicate in Photoshop and can give you some very strong 3 dimensional effects. None the less, you can also see this technique employed in this VIDEO where I have flagged the flash and use Mandarine Tungsten light on the lower half of the models body.
Have fun and experiment. The sky is the limit.
What Kinds of Lighting Accessories are Needed to Sculpt or Paint with Light?
In this instalment I would like to discuss how to control your light with greater precision by mixing “Hollywood Grids” (Cookies) with either bare head flash units, snoots and honeycomb grids.
A Hollywood Grid or (Cookie) is produced by taking a sheet of cardboard or backdrop paper (usually black or dark grey) that can be cut in to a square of around 1.0 to 1.5 meters square. You can use a box cutter or scissor to produce the patterns you will introduce on to the cardboard or backdrop paper squares.
Lay the cardboard or paper on the floor and make sure you place something underneath not to damage your floor. Start cutting out patterns of circles, squares, triangles, diamonds, stars or what ever comes to mind of different sizes from 2 to 3 centimetres to 10-12 cm. Experiment with the different shapes and do so over the area you plan to shoot the light through. You might wish to do your cookie cut outs over the whole are and I will explain why in a moment.
I suggest you prepare one flash head with your classic 7 inch diameter diffusion bowl, your snoot and your honeycomb grid in fine, medium and large (grid sizes).
Set up two light stands to support the cardboard or backdrop paper. You might have another makeshift stand that can be used to support your grid vertically on either side. I use standard clothes clips to affix them to the stands. Raise the stands high enough to allow the grid to not touch the floor, unless you wish to shoot through very low. Your height will be determined by the subject orientation to the grid, angle of light source etc.
As a starting point of reference, place your flash head about 50cm or 2 feet from the grid only using the 7 inch bowl reflector. Turn on the flash unit using the modelling light. If using Hot Lights the same rules apply but shutter speed will change of course. Darken the room if possible to see the effect of the light on the area you wish to concentrate on. Start moving the light source up and down in the direction of the subject to see where the light hits. If you want harder patterns, move the light source further away from the subject. If you want more diffused light, move the head closer to the patterns. If you don’t like one section of the patterns, move your grid up or down or move your light to where you see something you like.
Here is where things get really interesting. You will notice that with the bare head, there is a lot going on and the light spread is considerable and covers a large area of the backdrop. Introduce honeycomb medium grid as a starting point and see how much more perceived contrast has been introduced. The area of coverage has been reduced substantially adding greater drama to the image. Experiment in the same manner as above, but also experiment with different *honey comb grid sizes.
Snoots are a compromise between open bowl lighting and honeycomb grid lighting. You will also see a more evident circle than with a *HG. It is important to note,where you meter for these images, as hot spots are a lot more evident and drop off is extreme. You must consider dynamic range when using this technique. So check your curves.
In the next instalment… More of the same.
Above images shot for “Swarovski” Saatchi & Saatchi Agency Paris
What Kinds of Lighting Accessories are Needed to Sculpt or Paint with Light?
What do Swedes and Canadians do when they meet? They talk about how low the temperature was 2 weeks ago… Yes, Per Zennström and Benjamin Kanarek two brilliant renowned fashion photographers could talk about hockey teams as well, but they have much more in common:
Both globetrotters, they were born in northern countries and left their hometowns to settle in different cities throughout Europe and North America: Stockholm, Paris, New York, Berlin for Per – Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris for Benjamin.
One was Steven Meisel’s assistant in New York when the other was shooting in a studio next to Steven’s a while back ago in New York.
They both share their technique with others through their blogs. This is very unique in this industry where top fashion photographers keep their cards very close to their chest.
Their work has been influenced by similar stimulis: architecture, pop culture and urban atmosphere and the moon as well as other esoteric subjects. However they express themselves very differently.
Per has developped his own style: elegant, clean, sparce, luminous but he can also push the envelop to more edgy and raw imagery. He has always been attracted to the facets of fashion photography: popular culture, the creation of image, the quest for new ideas. He calls it “Edgy Elegant,” a precise description of photography that is both sophisticated and incisive: a dose of classic fashion photography + a twist to give it that edge. He is drawn to the field of fashion photography, where he feels there is a constant hunger and need for innovation and a search for new expressions. Pop-culture with all it’s facets plays an important role in his universe, be it film, design, the business itself, new digital media and techniques… Thriving on the ephemeral and fleeting aspects of this sometimes fickle environment he tries to turn these “limitations” into opportunities.
Per Zennström studied at the School of Photography at Göteborg University, worked as Björn Keller’s assistant (a Swedish still life photographer). He worked in New York as a freelance photographer for several years and assisted Steven Meisel among others. He started his own career in 1992 when he moved to Paris and were he lived for almost 10 years. He moved back to Stockholm in 2005 and is now established in Berlin.
Some of the magazines Per Zennström has been published in: Bon, Plaza, Glamour, Air France Madame, Madame, Vanity Teen, Qompendium, Tush, Qvest, Feld Hommes, Best Fashion, Park Avenue, DV Mode, Falte.
Some of his ad campaigns and assignements for: Toni & Guy, Velour, MQ, Åhlens, Ouí, Dior, Guy Laroche, Nina Ricci, Schwarzkopf, Absolut Vodka, Renault, Galeries Lafayette Paris.
Publisher of the on-line, pop-cultural magazine “11HORSES-“. Here is the last issue:
Or how I learned to play with glass, vases, plants and other stuff…
I have for years pondered how to render 3 dimensions on to 2 dimensional walls and surfaces, or how to add greater topographical richness to predictable lighted interior landscapes.
Our brain through our eyes and life experience allows us to determine how light will be rendered in our familiar environments and as a result we are rarely surprised when we turn on the corner lamp of our room, or the sun comes shining through the picture window in the library.
But have you noticed that when those rare lighting anomalies occur how we stand up and take notice. When the sun peaks through thunder clouds while it is raining, giving a stark contrast to what would be a very common landscape. Or when lightning strikes and lights up very specific portions of a scene. Or when a point of sunlight hits a glass and renders a mini rainbow in its wake.
Well those are the types of illustrations I find appealing and attempt to recreate in photography. I have always been drawn to the symbology of the “light at the end of the tunnel”. That is in its own right is a reflection of my own being and I won’t attempt to go in to a self analysis of why that is, but just wish to say, that contrast is important to what I render.
There are many ways to accomplish these effects in photography and some are more extreme than others. Some have more subtle gradations and others are quite frankly polar opposites and quite stark. How you use these tools will be based on what “YOU” are attempting to express, because ultimately, it is “YOU” the artist expressing your vision of how you perceive reality.
One of the tools I enjoy employing are those that partially obstruct light to varying degrees. For example, I often use empty vases or sometimes filled with water or glasses placed in line and shoot light through them on to the surface of the space I am shooting in. I may use either a honeycomb grid, snoot or barn doors to control the size of the opening from the light source. I have often used a combination of all three and often more. Moving the light source closer to the objects will spread more light on to the space and will render the effect with more subtlety. Moving the objects further from them will enhance the effect. Play around and experiment. You’ll be quite amazed by what can be accomplished.
I have often had accessory stylists order different plants to bring to shoots and aim my light source at them to cast exciting shadows on to the background of the images I am rendering. Some plants are more transparent than others and light will bleed differently through all of them. Again the rule of closer and further applies here.
Another technique I have employed that you may find interesting is to shoot through objects that give you a subtle vignetting. It is akin to shooting partially above and below the water line. Using a mix of opaque or transparent objects will aid in realizing the effect.
In all of the above cases, I recommend a mix of continuous light and flash light sources to add interest to your lighting composition.
What I am attempting to accomplish here is to influence how you approach light. Your interpretation and employment of tools around you, that can be used to accomplish exciting and unusual effects is another objective.
Again, I have only scratched the surface here, but hopefully have sparked some ideas for you to explore.
In the next installment, I will discuss other modifiers and how to mix it up…
What Kinds of Lighting Accessories are Needed to Sculpt or Paint with Light?
When attempting to control lighting, it is important to decide which part of the subject area you wish to light or which sector will have a greater amount of light to draw the eye to. Now this can also be perceived as, which part of the image will be shaded with less light. That is where the “Yin Yang” principal of lighting comes in. I believe that what makes images interesting is contrast. There are an infinite amount of ways of doing so.
In the last instalment I suggested that I would delve into umbrella and light box lighting used creatively or selectively. When using a bare umbrella or light box, the light is distributed quite predictably. What I would like to suggest is the following; go out and get some black velvet or thick black cloth that is large enough to cover the entire surface of the light box or umbrella surface. Also purchase some Velcro. Cut the cloth in to a circle for the umbrella and attach the Velcro to the periphery of the umbrella and cloth circle. Do the same for the light box. You may wish to cut holes in the circular cloth umbrella pattern to allow it to be attached to the umbrella rib tips.
Here is where some of the fun begins. Place the cloth scrim template cover over the entire umbrella or soft box and turn on the flash unit, with the modelling light on. Place the object or person you are wishing to light in the desired place and remove i.e. peel back a sector of the cloth scrim. See what the light is doing. Rotate the umbrella or soft box and observe the effects on your subject and don’t forget to play with the angle and distance of the main light from the subject. You might also consider allowing light to bleed from several sections of the soft box or umbrella, by peeling back different sections.
You may also consider applying the same technique for the background light as well. However, in this case you may wish to move the light source around to see the effect on the overall image. If there are ambient light sources, you may consider using them to add realism to the image.
In the next instalment, I will continue with other types of less conventional modifiers.
What Kinds of Lighting Accessories are Needed to Sculpt or Paint with Light?
