17th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. 30.03.2012 “Creative Minimalism”
The idea behind this shoot was based on several youtube videos and DVDs I have watched over the last few years. They were all about using just the minimum amount if equipment to get the best result. As several of the last work shops have had quiet complicated lighting set ups I thought it would be great to use just 1 Bowens flash and 1 or 2 reflectors. Although I limited the number light sources I didn't want to limit the light modifiers, this way we could create totally different looks easily e.g. Hard light vs Soft light, Direct light vs indirect light or Large light source vs Small light source.
It was a long night.... With 4 models and 5 lighting setups we ended up shooting for about 6 1/2 hours. So thanks every one for putting in such a great effort. We started of with a large Octobox behind the models and 2 reflectors in-front, we shot from a position between the reflectors. This achieved a strong back lighting and the reflectors threw enough light into the faces that the models weren't just a silhouette. This lighting design can deliver great results but you need to keep the "Inverse square law" in the back of your head. The next few set ups were variations of 1 softbox and 1 or 2 reflector. The last set up was 1 large parabolic dish set up opposite a sofa.
I also deliberately used different depth of field for each set up this way each lighting construction had a totally different feel to it. To add to the different feel we shot different poses head shoulders, 2/3 body , full body and sitting. Everyone had a great evening which makes me happy, as I put a lot of time and effort into organising the Friday night shoots. I have at least 5 or 6 more one flash set ups floating around in my head so there may be a "Creative Minimalism 2.0" latter this year.
Unfortunately our in house video production crew (2dudes) were busy and couldnt make it to the shoot 
..... But thanks to M-Arx and Thorsten, they shoot some "making of" footage during the night so that the 2 dudes had something to edit.
16th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. “Looners”
I have seen a few photos around the internet taken in a studio with balloons but when looking at most of them I thought they only out in 50% effort and needed to fill more space with balloons. Last year I was photographing a wedding and one of the guests had a extremely large bunch of balloons, there was a few kids that kept hiding among the balloons and every now and then you would see a hand or a head sticking out. All I could think was..... "I have to do this in the studio". So we blew up 400 black and white balloons and started to shoot.
The lighting concept was to keep the shadows and contrast that separated all the objects in the photo. When you have a lot of items the same colour in your photos you need to control the angel of the lighting so that shadows still fall where you require them. What we didn't think of was how much static was involved, it played havoc with the models hair. Next time ill be a bit more prepared.
We only used 2 different lighting set-ups. But they couldn't have been more different. The first set up was a large octo-box from directly above the models pointing down, using the balloons to reflect light back up for a bit of fill light. The second set-up was 2 strip lights set horizontally on both sides of the studio, and set down at eye level.
And finally the world famous Making of/behind the screens video
15th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot “Retro Games”
Wir wollten 2012 mit etwas anderem beginnen. Dank RetroGames e.V. konnten wir das Studio in eine kleine Spielhalle verwandeln und oben drauf hatten wir noch 3 fantastische Models. Die Idee hinter dem Shooting war eine kontrollierte Beleuchtung mit Lichtformern und Wabenfiltern damit nur die Models und Spielautomaten beleuchtet werden. Zuletzt haben wir eine Nebelmaschine und Farbfilter hinzugefügt. Hier und da haben wir noch kleine Softboxen eingesetzt wenn an manchen Stellen etwas mehr Licht benötigt wurde.
Je später es wurde, um so aufwendiger wurde auch die Beleuchtung und um ehrlich zu sein, ich kann mich nicht mehr an jedes Set-up erinnern. Zumal die Set-ups sich sehr schnell änderten. Aber das Grund-Set-up für die meisten Bilder war ein 400w Bowens Blitz mit einem großen Reflektor und einem Wabenfilter auf einem kleinen Galgenstativ als Haar-Licht, ein 400w Bowens Blitz mit einem roten Farbfilter und eine Nebelmaschine in einem alten Space Invaders Spielautomaten. Das restliche Set-up änderte sich ständig während wir uns im Studio bewegten.
Einen großen Dank an alle Teilnehmer, ganz speziell an Missy Mantis für ihre Beratung.
Und zu guter Letzt noch das weltbekannte "Making of" Video, dass ihr normalerweise nur auf der Collectors Edition DVD zu sehen bekommen würdet 
Outfits: www.nakedshameclothing.com
Styling: Missy Mantis - Mantissima
13th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot “Rockabilly”
This workshop was all about "Rockabilly" and "Pinup" Style. Lisa, our makeup artist took care of the appropriate hairdos and makeup and was modeling as well alongside with Chrissy and Jessi. This shooting was completed with the corresponding music and props. This way again the outcome were some great photos in a familiar and much favored atmosphere
And as always it was a blast for everyone...
And the famous making of video!
Sylight:
Recent Comments
- Scott on 23rd lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. 30.11.2012 – “Apocalipstick”
- Shot by Scott on 21st lightGIANTS Friday night shoot “Belle Époque”
- Lennart on Summerspecial – expired analog summer 2012 – the results
- S.Mandic on Summerspecial – expired analog summer 2012 – the results
- spallutography on Summerspecial – expired analog summer 2012 – the results
vimeo
Archives
- May 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010