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.
Details of the Grand Opening
Saturday is coming soon! The grand opening of our new studio will take place and we would like to tell you some details.
The whole thing starts at 3:00 p.m., then we open the doors. Throughout the day you can inspect the studio, test and try everything, talk shop together and have fun. Food and drinks will be provided. In addition, you can participate in our raffle.
The following prizes are waiting for you:
- Manfrotto Unica V Messenger Bag
- Manfrotto strobist lighting kits (Nano Light Stand & Lite-Tite)
- dm-fotobuch coupons
- lensloop.com camera straps
- DVD package Krolop&Gerst
- DVD Krolop&Gerst
- Manfrotto tripod (Compact Photo Kit)
- Manfrotto table tripod
- Manfrotto (Pocket Series) tabletop tripod
- Travel voucher
Overview of the program:
7:00 p.m. raffle deadline
8:00 p.m. raffle
9:00 p.m. catwalk of "Color me Bad", they show you their online store fashion
10:00 p.m. DJ Overflow - Partytime!
The studio is in the same building as the Gotec. To avoid problems during admission, print out this ticket and show it at the entry gate:
See you on Saturday!
11th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. “Zumba”
The Zumba Friday night shoot was based all around getting the timing right. Zumba instructor Nadine and "speedy" danced their hearts out , repeating steeps and move so we could capture the perfect moment.
To give the girls a rest each time we changed photographers we changed dancers. And for the second round we checked that each photographer was paired up with the other dancer. What was amazing was that they had just done a one hour Zumba calss then raced direct to the studio for a 3 hour shoot. Thanks so much for the effort you put in.
I had 2 very different lighting set-ups planed for the evening. I with a blown out what background and one a lot more colourful.
And now to finisher it all for the world famous video.
10th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. “Glamours/GQ style”
This time the Friday night shoot theme was based around fashion magazines like GQ. To achieve this high fashion looks we had 2 models "sandra" and "lars" (Some of you my recognise Sandra from my rocker girl shoot). Speaking very generally mens' fashion mags tend to use a lot harder light source them womens' magazines. There for we limited the the lights sources to beauty dishes, large parabolic umbrellas and a ring flash.
One thing i noticed very early in the shoot is that a 2m umbrella can (that we were using as a fill flash), was putting out way to much light although it was set to minimum power. My mistake was that the silver umbrella was so large and so close to the subject, that it was acting as a reflector for the key light. After a slight bit of repositioning the problem was solved.
For a lot of the solo photos of Lars we only used a beauty dish with a honeycomb grid. That extra hard light works wonders on is chiseled cheek bones and jaw line. Maybe we should have added a hair light for a bit of separation, but at the time the results were looking good.
and if its finished in time...... the world famous making of video 
9th lightGIANTS Friday night shoot. “Birds of Paradise”
Once again Lisa Futterer (http://www.hairart-lisa.de/) was back in the studio doing some of her make up magic. This time we were shooting "the Birds of Paradise". I based the lighting around quick easy set ups to get different looks quickly, and like always I had a set of lighting (with a bit of free time at the end to play with the lighting). We started with one set up and step by step changed the background lighting to create different looks.
The idea was to leave the key light and a reflector set up in the same place and only change the background lighting.
- We started with 2 flashed pointed at the background to blow the grey paper out to become almost white.
- Later turned the strobes around towards the models. This caused the background to become a lot darker (almost black) and creat a rim lightin on the models
- Then I added a 4th flash on the ground behind the models, with barn doors and colour gels we could control the colour of the back ground.
- Towards the end we changed the grey seamless paper background for curtains
Using these quick easy steeps we created 4 different looks with next to no effort or time.
It was a quick and creative way to get different looks when you are pressed for time ....
and finally the world famous video
Thanks to Daniel Neu
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