Imitating Hazy Backgrounds with Diffusion Gels

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Shooting in a studio has its advantages. But although being warm, dry and convenient are greatly appreciated, shooting between the same four walls can get a little boring if you’re constantly using them as backgrounds for your shots.

Sure you could get some coloured paper setup, you could even buy a fancy canvas sheet with paint splashes on it, and for the really adventurous, you could even use some coloured lights behind your subject. But what happens when you're finally bored of all that? Time to get a little more creative with your studio backgrounds.

Having a sense of depth to your shots is very easy to achieve on location. Simply place your subject in the foreground and shoot at a wide aperture to throw all of the detail behind them out of focus. This visually asks the viewer to question what’s… — Having a sense of depth to your shots is very easy to achieve on location. Simply place your subject in the foreground and shoot at a wide aperture to throw all of the detail behind them out of focus. This visually asks the viewer to question what’s back there and draws them in to the shot.

Visual Depth on Location - Depth of Field

Recently I wanted to find a way to add a sense of depth to my studio backgrounds. I didn’t want my shot to just be two visual layers of model and background, I wanted to somehow make my backgrounds feel like they went beyond what we can initially see.

One way we ordinarily do this is with depth of field on location. For example we set the subject up in the foreground and ensure there are elements behind them that we can throw out of focus with our aperture choice. We do this instinctively now, but it’s a visual trick that the viewer engages with as they are being asked to consider what the blurry elements behind the subject are. This sense of intrigue simply wouldn’t happen if everything was in focus.

Unfortunately in a studio, this deep background shot isn’t possible. We have a big empty space and it simply isn’t very interesting to have that empty space behind the subject and no matter how out of focus it is, it’s never going to get the viewer to wonder what’s back there.

Forced Depth - Haze and Smoke

But what it we’re shooting in small spaces, how do we create that sense of depth to the background where there is none?

One trick to add exaggerated depth or ‘forced depth’ to a shot in smaller areas like a studio, is to add smoke or mist to the scene. This is yet another visual trick that is employed far more than you think and smoke, mist or artificial atmosphere is used in practically every TV show or movie you’ve seen in recent years. For example; I’m currently watching Gotham on Netflix and that show has haze in EVERY scene!

If you’re shooting in tight spaces where there is little depth, or even in big open spaces where there is actually no elements to be seen in the background, mist can be added to trick the eye into thinking there is more going on in the scene than there really is. Again, our eyes are tricked into wanting to know more about what’s going in the hazy areas, and this in turn draws us into the scene or shot. On set this technique is often referred to as ‘voluminous lighting’ too.

Adding smoke or mist to a scene is a very simple, yet highly effective trick to add a sense of depth to a shot. This image here has no real depth to speak of as the model is very close to a simple background. The mist helps to make this image feel m… — Adding smoke or mist to a scene is a very simple, yet highly effective trick to add a sense of depth to a shot. This image here has no real depth to speak of as the model is very close to a simple background. The mist helps to make this image feel more engaging as areas of the shot are obscured or less obvious and we are drawn in because of the more ‘voluminous lighting’ we see here.

Mist and haze are great tricks to use, but they do have a certain downside and that’s that they’re very hard to control. We can’t simply add mist to the background and not the foreground in a small space like a studio, it will most likely float into the foreground and around our subject as well. As a result our subject will lack a lot of contrast. Look at the shot above again and you’ll see that the subject is actually shrouded in grey. This doesn’t look out of place, but it’s not always a desired effect on the subject or styling.

Imitating Mist

So how do we create a sense of depth with our background in a small space and without pumping the room full of smoke so that our subject is obscured? It’s with this problem in mind that I came up with a possible solution.

What if I could imitate the look of dense mist behind my subject, and then place simple objects behind that so they appear to drop off into this artificial mist extremely quickly?

This would allow for my subject to remain crisp and unaffected by any supplemental artificial atmosphere and my backgrounds would have a visual depth to them that would draw the viewer in.

My test was for a background so I didn’t need a human subject to test the diffusion gels on. Instead, I ordered a big fake plant as this had a lot of depth to it already thanks to the leaves coming out at all angles.

The Diffusion Gel Test - The Plant

If we look at the properties of mist from a photography standpoint, it simply diffuses the light as it passes through it. Think of clouds on a cloudy day. The light appears far larger and is scattered amongst the atmosphere, and mist/haze/smoke is doing the same thing on set.

But if I wanted to created this softer mist-like look behind my subject, I’d have to explore other alternatives beyond bringing a cloud indoors.

Thankfully in our photographer tool box we have other ways of creating this heavily diffused light look and one of them is via diffusion gels. These are sheets of gels that are doing a similar thing to the diffusion cover on the front of your softbox and they will very effectively scatter the light that passes through them. Softboxes actually have a very heavy amount of diffusion on them though, whereas the diffusion gels come in a vast number of densities so I should be able to find the perfect diffused background, but which diffusion gel is the best one for what I was after?

Here is where I had to test out my idea to find out which diffusion gel would do what I wanted. After all, I wasn’t strictly using the diffusion gel for its intended purpose.

Thankfully I knew this effect would be in the background of the shot so I didn’t actually need to test these diffusion gels with a model. Instead I simply ordered a big fake plant to sit behind my gels. I felt this fake plant would be perfect as it naturally has a little depth to it thanks to the leaves coming out in all directions.

The Diffusion Gel Test - The Diffusion Gels

Once I had my plant, it was time to test the diffusion gels. For the diffusion gels I reached out to LEE Filters who seemed to have the widest selection of diffusion solutions I’ve ever seen. They also split their diffusions up between regular ‘diffusion’, ‘frosts’, ‘cloths’ and ‘spuns’. To be fair, all this choice can be a little daunting when you’re trying to find what you want. Thankfully though, LEE has a very cool image preview and comparison window on their site so you can see exactly how each diffusion will react compared to one another.

Here’s a link to the LEE Filters diffusion comparator if you want to check it out for yourself LEE Diffusion Comparator

The LEE Filters website has diffusion comparator where you can see the effect of each of the diffusion gels side by side.

I went through their selection and ordered 10 or so diffusion gels that I thought might be good for my particular test and then got to work setting up my scene.

The resulting images of my ‘plant behind diffusion gel’ test aren’t particularly exciting, but I thought I’d share them as a point of reference for you guys to see what I was after and what I felt wasn’t working.

From the images above, you should be able to see that most of the diffusion gels are actually pretty dense and too opaque for me to get the effect I was after. But there was a couple of contenders that looked very promising. The 404 one looked good but it wasn’t giving off a very strong ‘mist’ vibe that I was looking for. Ultimately I actually thought the 255 was perfect for what I was trying to achieve and it had the best mix of transparency and depth I was after.

The Diffusion Gel Test - The Lighting

Once I had my particular diffusion gel figured out, I now wanted to test out some lighting options with it. Again, the shots below aren’t necessarily very exciting, but it shows me testing a variety of lighting options and colour gel looks that could be a possibility. This process helps me build up a mental picture of exactly how this gel will react in any given situation.

During the testing process I’m in a very controlled environment and I have no time constraints or model to deal with, so the more knowledge I acquire about this new idea here the better.

After trying a multitude of ideas I eventually decided that a clean white light may actually be the best solution here. I really did love the eerie coloured mist look with shafts of light coming through the leaves, but ultimately I felt that this may be a bit heavy for a clean fashion look. But again, this is great knowledge for another potential project and I’d love to incorporate these ideas in another area in a future shoot.

No time spent behind the lens is ever wasted.

Shoot Day

With the background details setup and understood, all that was left was to light the subject and get both the model and background working together visually in the shot.

Let’s take a look at the setup I used on the day.

We had a large softbox at the back with the plant and then the diffusion gel in front of that. Next we got the model to stand in front of the diffusion gel and then placed the lights around her. We had two small strip boxes with grids behind pointed back and a 22” beauty dish key with a small gelled softbox fill.

The 255 LEE diffusion gel was suspended in front of the plant with a C-stand and the softbox was positioned behind that.

Here’s a shot of what the plant looks like on its own through the diffusion gel. If you didn’t already know that was a diffusion gel, you might actually think it was mist.

The shoot itself was actually pretty easy as I’d tested the trickiest part already. Using the diffusion gels to make the plant look like it was shrouded in mist behind the subject was the potential tripping point, but it looked surprisingly effective with very little tweaking required. Plus having the light coming through the diffusion from behind meant I could get away with the model being surprisingly close to the gel with no shadows.

Here’s some of the resulting images from the shoot.

Click on the above images to enlarge them

Last Minute Tweaks on the Day - Low Contrast Filter

There was one change I made during the initial stages of this shoot and that was to add a low contrast filter to my lens. The reason for this was that the background actually looked too realistic with its haze effect and in contrast to that, the model in the foreground was almost too clear and perfect by comparison. This caused a visual dissonance that felt jarring to me. By adding a low contrast filter to my lens I was able to soften some of the more contrasting elements of the model, as a result the foreground and background elements of the shot now seemed to come together a little more with it in place.

Screenshot 2019-07-04 at 17.12.09 900.jpg

In my opinion the low contrast filter really ties this shot together and it’s a lens filter I’ve been using a lot for this reason recently. I’d love to show you a multitude of examples images of my uses of the low contrast filter for studio shooters…. but that’s an article for another day ;)

Closing Comments

Overall I was incredibly pleased with these shots and the effect I’d achieved in a small studio space. The plant behind the model really did look like it was shrouded in mist or fog and I believe it does add an element of depth and visual interest without being overly distracting.

I think I’ve explained my thought process and execution fairly comprehensively, but there are a few things I’d like to hammer-home.

Always be looking to come up with new ways of making your studio shots more engaging. With the proper motivation, there should be no reason to ever get bored of the backgrounds in a studio.
Dissect light and redeploy its properties for your own benefit. Don’t be too hasty to dismiss one form of outside lighting as impossible for inside lighting. Light has very consistent and predictable properties and by taking those particular properties and using them indoors you can produce striking results. From stark, bright sunlight to hazy overcast light, all of which are very possible indoors with the right knowledge.
Test, test, test. Don’t be fooled by what the internet tells you, great results take time and experience and the only way to get that experience is to test new ideas. I could have purchased a single diffusion gel and set about doing my shoot, but I guarantee the results on shoot day would have been awful as a result. I took the time the test a bunch of diffusion gels to find the perfect one for the shoot and I believe that was time well spent. Can you bill that test time to the client? Rarely, but a reshoot may cost you more as a result of not doing it.
I think as studio shooters we can often be guilty of lighting our subject and background separately. Although I believe this is a good discipline to consider, always be mindful of tying them back together in camera. In this shoot I initially got the beautiful hazy background I wanted, but the model was stark and crisp in comparison. As a result she felt ‘stuck-on’ afterwards so I wanted a way to tie the foreground and background back together. In this instance the low contrast filter did the job but other elements like colours or toning can also do this. Light them separately, but don’t forget the bigger picture.

Model: Miss Alexiss

Products used:

LEE Diffusion Filters

JHP Coloured Gels

LEE Low Contrast Filters

Fake plants and leaves that can be used in your photos can be found anywhere, but here’s a link to a list of them on my Amazon associates page here - Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

3D Studio design software used - Set.a.Light 3D V.2

THANK YOU

Thanks as always for checking out this article and spending a little bit of your day with me here. If you have any questions about the setup or the items used, feel free to let me know in the comments below. And if you give this setup a go, definitely let me know, I’d love to see your shots.

More Free Tips & Techniques

If you’re after more tips and tricks on studio lighting then don’t forget to check out my monthly newsletter and my free 10 page pdf on studio lighting techniques. If you’re interested then follow the link below and download it immediately.

Did you receive my FREE 10 page PDF on Studio Lighting Tips yet?

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Lensbaby Omni Review

Lensbaby has become a bit of a household name in recent years and for those of us searching for a more unique look to our images, Lensbaby has been there to provide a whole host of creative solutions. Their latest product is no different, but this time around they aren’t producing a new lens, but instead a ‘creative filter system’ called the Omni.

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of these Omni’s prior to launch and I also had chance to test it out on a couple of portrait shoots recently so I thought I would share my thoughts on it here.

Who is Lensbaby?

If you’re unfamiliar with Lensbaby then they are predominantly known for their creative lens solutions. These lenses, now more colloquially and affectionately referred to as ‘art’ lenses, offer a different perspective for photographers looking for something outside of the norm. Their lenses range from the more aggressive lens distortions like the ‘Edge’ that creates a tilt-shift look, to the more subtle ‘Velvet’ lens that simply softens the edge of frame, creating a very reminiscent look of the bygone era of photography.

I’ve personally used Lensbaby lenses for many years and long before they ever reached out to me to get my feedback on some of their new products.

But Lensbaby are known for making products that ‘bake’ the visual effect into the actual shot at the point of capture. This style of creativity can scare some younger photographers who rely on the comfort of the ‘undo’ command in Photoshop, but for those willing to embrace a creative solution whilst actually taking a photograph with a camera, love what Lensbaby produce.

The Omni….is not a lens

Like I mentioned, Lensbaby are known for their lenses so I think they are VERY keen to make it clear that their latest product is NOT a lens. Their marketing quote the Omni as a ‘creative filter system’ and although that’s a fairly accurate description, let’s break down what that actually looks like.

The Omni is made up of multiple parts, but the key is the metal disc that screws directly to the front of your current lens via the lens filter thread all lenses have.

You then attach sliding magnets to that disc and to them you attach the actual ‘filters’.

It’s a very simple system but one that works perfectly.

What’s in the Omni Box?

When you receive your Omni, this is what’s in the box.

Click on the images above to enlarge them

Inside the box will be some instructions and two grey fabric pouches. In the larger one will be the metal disc, magnet sliders and filters, and in the other will be a selection of step up/down rings for other sized lenses plus a grip to remove and attach them. I’ll talk more about these step rings later.

Omni Setup

As I mentioned, it’s super-simple. Take the metal plate (affix the appropriate step ring if you need it), ensure the magnet sliders are already attached and then screw it to your lens via the lens filter thread. Once it’s on you’re then free to attach the filters directly or via the additional ‘stalks’ to give you more creative options.

**Okay, but what the hell are these ‘filters’ you keep mentioning?!**

So now we know how it works, what does it actually do? Well the purpose of the Omni is to hold a variety of filters in front of your lens so that they appear in shot when you take the picture. So what are the filters? Well the base Omni pack comes with three filters; the Crystal Seahorse, Stretch Glass and the Rainbow Film. And these three probably provide the most variations in looks.

By shooting through these you will get foreground distortions and light flares that can create some very unique looks indeed.

Unboxing and Assembly

Below is a short two minute video from my Instagram Stories. If you want to see the Omni being unboxed and assembled for a sense of scale and ease of use then take a look. Just be mindful that this was recorded from a phone so the quality is pretty low.

The Results

So now that we know how it works and what it does, what do the images look like when you use the Omni?

The following images were taken by me whilst I was testing the new Omni system a few weeks ago.

Click to enlarge: Image taken with the ‘Stretch Glass’ filter — *Click to enlarge:* Image taken with the ‘Stretch Glass’ filter

Click to enlarge: Image taken with the ‘Rainbow Film’ filter — *Click to enlarge:* Image taken with the ‘Rainbow Film’ filter

Click to enlarge: Image taken with the ‘Crystal Seahorse’ filter — *Click to enlarge:* Image taken with the ‘Crystal Seahorse’ filter

Click to enlarge: Image taken with the ‘Crystal Spear’ filter — *Click to enlarge:* Image taken with the ‘Crystal Spear’ filter

I think the above images should give you a pretty good idea of what the system does, but if you’re still unclear, the out of focus foreground blurring and colours in these shots are all produced by the Omni filters.

Omni Crystal Expansion Pack

Also; to the eagle-eyed among you that may have noticed a fourth image and filter in use above, that is actually from the Omni Crystal Expansion Pack that contains an additional 3 filters.

The additional 3 filters are the Crystal Spear, Triangular Prism, Scalloped Window.

Click to enlarge: The 3 additional filters available via the Omni Crystal Expansion Pack — *Click to enlarge:* The 3 additional filters available via the Omni Crystal Expansion Pack

Tips on using the Omni

Bottom line; I think this product is incredibly easy to use. Firstly, it’s not like an art lens that requires manual focus skills. Secondly, the Omni is very much a product that is ‘what you see, is what you get’. You look through the viewfinder, tweak, move, push and pull the filters around until you see something you like.and take a shot.

But there are a few pointers that I’ll add that can set you on the right path to begin with.

Head Outside. I shoot almost exclusively with flash in a studio, but the Omni is actually a little easier to use outside where there is more light to work with.
More Light. The Omni really comes alive when light is hitting the filters in front of the lens, so if you’re not seeing much of an effect, consider a position where more light is striking the filters.
Longer Lens. The Omni effect is reliant on the filters in front of the lens being out of focus. So using longer lenses will help with this and lenses of 50mm or longer will be fine.
Aperture. In keeping with the longer lens, consider shooting wide open with your aperture as well. Using apertures of f2.8 or wider for example will ensure that the filters are completely out of focus and will bed into the surrounding image a little more.

So try shooting outside with plenty of light and use a lens of at least 50mm with a wide open aperture like f2.8 to get the best results with your Omni.

Opinions and Thoughts

I personally think this product is going to be easy for you to decide if you like it or not. The images above speak for themselves regarding what this product does and how you achieve the intended look. You need almost no skill to make these effects appear in your shots and it really will come down to whether you like the look it produces or not.

The Omni will do its job of adding this effect to your image, so if the image is already good without the effect, I think the Omni can add another layer of visual interest that may well enhance the final shot. But don’t think these Omni’s will make an already poor image more engaging, because that’s not what this is.

If you’ve read this far then I’m going to assume you’re interested in what it’s doing so I’ll elaborate on a few strengths I think the Omni has.

What’s wrong with me just holding the ‘filters’ in front of my lens with my hand?

It is of course very possible to simply hold some filters in front of your lens. I’ve held everything from, crystals, lightbulbs and even chair legs in front of my lens before, but the Omni offers a few benefits over you using your regular ol’ meat-hooks.

Two hands. Holding stuff in front of your lens means you only have one hand left to hold the camera. With a DSLR and 24-70mm lens, this becomes ‘literally’ painful to do pretty quickly. The Omni gives you both your hands back to hold and steady the camera.
Professionalism. The Omni is a more professional solution to what can look a little concerning to clients. I’ve seen professional photographers holding sandwich bags in front of their lenses at a wedding before, and although I’m all for ‘getting-the-shot’, this can be unnerving to those not familiar with our dedication to the craft. The Omni looks very clean and very professional so if you’re after a more polished approach to in-camera effects, the Omni provides that.
Consistency. One issue I’ve always had with holding something in front of my lens in the past was consistency. Sure I might get an awesome effect in one shot, but the next image will be completely different as the filter moves. The Omni holds the filter exactly where you want it and keeps it there so you can recreate that exact same look again and again and maybe even with another subject. Imagine setting up some lights for a series of portraits and wanting a consistent look across multiple people. The Omni can ensure that happens.
Video. Although I don’t shoot video, I think the Omni is a great solution for video or in fact any tripod work. The Omni sits on the lens and gives you a consistent look throughout an entire scene. Again, this would be very hard to do with you simply holding it. Plus if you are on a tripod you can be looking through the lens and tweaking the filters to exactly the right point and then when you let go they stay exactly where you left them thanks to the magnets.

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Your Lens Size

The whole Omni system does really hinge on you attaching the whole thing to your lens, so you really need to make sure the Omni fits your proffered lens choice. To try and accommodate as many photographers as possible, Lensbaby has made the Omni in two sizes and in each of those two sizes there are also a variety of step rings so that the metal disc will fit as many of your lenses as possible.

Here’s the two base packs they offer.

-The smaller metal ring Omni has a 58mm thread and includes step-down rings to also fit 49mm, 52mm, & 55mm lens threads.

- The larger metal ring Omni has a 77mm metal ring and includes step-up/down rings to also fit 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, & 82mm lens threads.

So essentially if you have lenses with a diameter of 49mm, 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, 72mm, 77mm or 82mm, then the Omni has you covered.

Just be sure to select the right size pack you need when purchasing.

Tip: Your lens diameter is often displayed not only on the front around the glass, but also on the reverse of your lens cap.

Closing Comments

As I mentioned above, I think this product really does speak for itself and you’ll likely know by now as to whether this is for you or not.

I think that if you’re a fan of Lensbaby products already or other art lenses that bake visual effects directly into your shot at the point of capture, then you’ll love the Omni.

On the other hand, if you’re somebody who is hesitant about the permanent nature of in-camera effects and instead prefer to add effects later in Photoshop, the Omni is perhaps not for you.

This distinction may seem obvious to many of you, but when this product released a few days ago, I saw the usual trolls rushing to the comments sections of every Omni post berating this product when its effects can supposedly be produced in Photoshop with more control and far less permanence. I must admit, I’m puzzled by the curious nature of those individuals bothering to engage in those articles when they clearly have no interest in the product, surely we are beyond this fairly dated argument now.

Yes, lighting effects can be added in Photoshop later on. But you may ask yourself how good they actually look when added afterwards. After all, systems like the Omni use the refraction of light in the surrounding area when crystals and prisms are concerned. It is simply impossible for Photoshop to augment light data from areas not within the camera frame. As a result, I firmly believe that if you’re interested in creating these optical foreground elements in your shot, then doing so at the point of capture will always look far better compared to doing it in post with those painfully dated and very obvious overlays.

Oh, and it’s actually just a ton of fun to use and experiment with the Omni whilst shooting, and in my opinion, it’s just far easier and simpler to do it in camera than in post-pro :D

In the interest of total transparency, I was sent an Omni by Lensbaby to test and provide feedback. I was not and am not being paid to write this article, but I have been given a discount code for you guys to use if you are interested in purchasing one for yourself. If you do use that code then I will see a small commission at some point in future, but in reality that will amount to a couple of beers and I really can’t see myself retiring off of this anytime soon.

My point being; I believe this article to be an honest opinion on how I feel about this product.

Links, Discounts and Where to Buy

For the official word on this Omni, head on over to the Lensbaby site here OMNI CREATIVE FILTER SYSTEM

If you want more info on the expansion pack then that can be found here OMNI CRYSTAL EXPANSION PACK

Prices are listed as follows as of June 25th 2019:

Base pack: $99.95 - £89.00

Expansion pack: $49.95 - £45.00

As with many marketing strategies, the actual release date for products can be far more confusing than it needs to be. What with pre-orders, back-orders, early-bird, pre-sale, early-adopter, registered sales and so on, the confusion can be frustrating. All this to say that I actually don’t know when this product was released/became available! I thought it was released on June 18th, but the official statement on the site reads;

“*The OMNI Creative Filter System is currently available for preorder. They will begin shipping mid-July, in the order in which they are received.*”

So there’s your answer and unfortunately you have to wait a couple of weeks yet before you can start shooting with it.

EDIT: I reached out to Lensbaby to get an official statement on availability and it seems that they are unfortunately backlogged on shipping. This means that they’ve sold out for now but they said they will shipping products in the order in which they receive them. So basically, the sooner you order it, the sooner you’ll receive your Omni over simply waiting for them to state they have more products back in stock.

My British Brethren

If you happen to be one of my countrymen/ladies here in the U.K., then I have a discount code for you if you purchase the Omni from WEX Photographic. Here’s the links:

Lensbaby OMNI Creative Filter System Small for filter thread sizes 49-58mm

Lensbaby OMNI Creative Filter System Large for filter thread sizes 62-82mm

Lensbaby OMNI Crystal Expansion Pack

Use the discount code: JAKEHICKS10 at checkout for 10% off. Plus this code works on ALL Lensbaby products at WEX too!!

Thanks as always for checking out this article and spending a little bit of your day with me here. If you have any questions about the Omni then feel free to let me know in the comments below and if you pick one up, definitely let me know, I’d love to see your shots.

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Understanding Light - Hard Light

Being able to look at an image and understand the lighting within it is not crucial to becoming a great photographer. But having the ability to look at another image you love and recognise the qualities that stand out to you will undoubtedly help you to become a better photographer far faster.

Last week we looked at how important being able to understand light can be and I also highlighted where many self-taught photographers struggle with this in todays industry. If you missed last weeks article then I recommend you take a look to see some of the pitfalls self-taught photographers can struggle with as todays article leads on from that. Understanding Light - An Introduction

When Copying Simply Isn’t Good Enough

We all see images we love online and there is nothing wrong with wanting to copy a certain look or setup, but the problem comes when we don’t fully understand why we love a certain image.

Simply copying a shot will only get you so far unless you first understand why you’re copying it. If we instead look to replicate some of the key factors we love about a certain image, then we may well have more success in creating an image we ultimately love ourselves.

The Problem with Simply Copying

Let me highlight an example of some of the problems you can face by simply copying an image over actually understanding it first. One of the biggest issues with this approach is that you simply NEVER have the same ingredients with which to copy another image.

The model may have a different skin tone, your lighting brand may not be exactly the same and therefore you modifier may differ slightly. Also elements that may not be apparent in the shot you’re copying can play a factor too.

Lighting never happens in a vacuum and as a result the environments in which we take the shots will differ as well. In fact, even when I try to copy my own work, I never get the exact same look because there are simply far too many variables to account for between each shoot. But more importantly, even when I am trying to copy a look I’ve previously created, I’m adapting to the ingredients I have on the day.

We may cook the same meal multiple times, but it never, ever tastes exactly the same. Copying a photo is no different and so each time we pick up a camera we must strive to make the best photo we can with the ingredients we have on the day.

Failing to realise this can lead to us actually taking an inferior image as we chase the impossible task of trying to copy exactly what we or someone else did before.

Identifying the Lighting

In recent weeks we’ve been discussing a lot about understanding light over on my Facebook Page and a little while ago I posted a set of images from the very talented fashion photographer Chris Nicholls. The images I shared can be seen below and at the time we discussed how we think he lit and shot the set.

Click to enlarge: All images copyright of Chris Nicholls

Truth be told, I actually thought this was going to be a relatively simple one to discuss, but as it turned out, we had a vast disparity in how people interpreted the lighting. I had a pretty good idea of how this was lit but I had no proof. As it turned out, and what with the internet being what it is, nothing stays hidden forever and before long a member of the community somehow managed to unearth a behind the scenes image for the shoot. Take a look at the shot below to get a better idea of how this set was shot and huge thanks to Christophe Naslain for somehow finding the proof we needed.

The above image pretty much confirmed my thoughts on how it was shot, but let’s briefly discuss what’s going on here before we run off and ‘copy’ it out ourselves.

Explaining the Setup

Like I mentioned at the top, this is a pretty simple setup and its strengths lies in its simplicity. We have one light and that light has a bare reflector dish pointed straight at the subject. I’m not exactly sure on the strobe being used, but it’s likely a Profoto with either a Magnum or zoom reflector dish attached.

Profoto has a bunch of open reflector dishes just like any other lighting company, but these are their main smaller ones.

Another key point here is that the flash is always positioned just above the lens. I appreciate that any setup that sees an assistant holding the light seems a little like hazing the new recruits at first glance, after all, why not use a light stand? The reason some poor sod/intern has to hold it is because the meat-stand has to follow the photographers movements so that they are always holding the light above the lens.

If Gucci did on-camera flash, it would look like this.

Now I also mentioned that I felt this was a fairly simple setup to interpret, but that may well be my age. Years ago, this setup was everywhere and well known photographers like Rankin and Ellen von Unwerth used it a lot for its very simple yet striking results.

Click to enlarge: Ellen Von Unwerth with what could arguably described as one of her signature looks. — ***Click to enlarge:*** Ellen Von Unwerth with what could arguably described as one of her signature looks.

Here in the U.K. the photographer Rankin also used this setup extensively and the setup became synonymous with his work, especially his portraits throughout his career.

Let’s Copy

Perfect! So we know how Chris Nicholls achieved that lighting, in fact we even have the proof of a BTS shot to back it up. So now all we have to do is copy it. Simple enough, after all, we just need a single light and a reflector dish.

BOOM! A single light and reflector dish!

Now granted I don’t have a Profoto head to hand here, nor do I have a Magnum reflector dish, but this is a Bowens Maxilite 65 degree dish that is very comparable as the Profoto Magnum has a variable light spread between 40-80 degrees.

I’m also using an old Godox/Pixpro Citi 600 head here and the next couple of images will show that I’ll be using it with a remote head attachment. This means that the poor soul holding the light, doesn’t have to hold the entire bloody strobe, just the modifier and flash tube.

Pixapro Citi 600 with a remote head attachment. This allows for a much lighter and easy to hold flash head.

The eagle-eyed among you may be wondering what that flappy piece of paper is doing stuck to the front of the light. Well these BTS shots shows an adjustment I made after I’d taken a few shots with just a bare, open reflector dish.

So first let’s look at the shot I took with just a bare, open reflector dish in front of my model.

Click to enlarge: Model shot with open reflector dish. Doing so produces an ugly dual shadow. — ***Click to enlarge:*** Model shot with open reflector dish. Doing so produces an ugly dual shadow.

In the image above you should see that I have my strong directional, hard lit, flash image. But in this image, I’m simply using a bare reflector. Now I’ve seen many ‘YouTube’ tutors teaching this setup among others with bare reflector dishes, and it’s a BIG no-no. The reason you never use a bare or open reflector dish in this way is these ugly dual shadows. But let me explain how this happens.

The flash tube fires and sends out its light. Some of that light simply fires straight out of the tube and hits the subject and some of that light first hits the surrounding reflector dish before it hits the subject. Can you see now why we have two shadows. Shadow 1 is stronger and from the actual flash tube and shadow 2 is the softer bounced flash light.

JakeHicksPhotography (1 of 3)a dual shadows.jpg

So after narrowly avoiding a classic newb mistake, we need to add some way of reducing that dual shadow look. There are a couple of ways you could go with this and one of them is to simply grab the diffusion cover off of your beauty dish or soft box and place that over the reflector.

Take a diffusion cover from your beauty dish or soft box and place it over your bare reflector to eliminate the dual shadow issue.

Click to enlarge: The shot above now has a diffusion cover over the bare reflector and now you can see that we’ve removed the dual shadow. — ***Click to enlarge:*** The shot above now has a diffusion cover over the bare reflector and now you can see that we’ve removed the dual shadow.

With the diffusion cover over the bare reflector, we can see that we’ve now removed that ugly dual shadow. But for me, this shadow is looking a little soft and blurred at the edges. This is actually a nice looking light and is worth bearing in mind for the future, but for now I want a stronger shadow that gives me a harder line (shadow-edge transition).

Another alternative to a diffusion cover is an actual diffusion gel. These gels are specifically designed to be colour neutral and they sit in front of your light to slightly soften or diffuse the light. They come in a multitude of powers but I tend to always use the one in my Utility Gel Pack as seen below.

I personally use the diffusion gel from my Utility Gel Pack

It is entirely up to you what diffusion gel you use. Yes I appreciate this looks like I’m flogging you some gels, but I’m simply letting you know which ones I use as I know I’ll get asked. Whatever diffusion gel you use though, be sure it’s made by a reputable gel company to ensure it’s colour neutral and won’t catch fire on hot lights. More details on my Utility Gel Pack here.

So with my diffusion gel attached, let’s take another shot and compare it.

Click to enlarge: The shot above has a diffusion gel on the bare reflector and now the shadows are far stronger, cleaner and have a lot more contrast. — ***Click to enlarge:*** The shot above has a diffusion gel on the bare reflector and now the shadows are far stronger, cleaner and have a lot more contrast.

Perfect! We’re done right? Yes, we copied the BTS shot of Chris Nicholls and we followed what we saw. He has a single bare reflector being held just above the camera and if we look even closer, we can actually also make out the diffusion gel on the light too. So yes, mission accomplished, our shot must now look the same because we copied his exactly.

When Copying Falls Short

So this is where I see some self-taught photographers come up against a wall. We copied the shot from the behind-the-scenes photo, yet we aren’t quite happy with the results. Let’s take a closer look at the shots side by side again and take another look.

Comparing the results. Chris Nicholls on the left and mine on the right.

When we look again, and this time we take a moment to really analyse the light, rather than simply copy it, what can we see? Well obviously we need to ignore/accept the glaring differences in the model ethnicity, makeup, environment, toning and post-pro colouring for now. That seems like a huge amount to ignore, but that’s what we need to do to really understand the lighting and nothing else.

So let’s solely look at the lighting.

Click to enlarge: Analysing light falls under several things including highlights, shadows, their density and their sizes. — ***Click to enlarge:*** Analysing light falls under several things including highlights, shadows, their density and their sizes.

In last weeks article, I briefly described what I believe to be the foundations of understanding light in any image. By looking at these aspects, you can then clearly interpret a shot and better understand how it was lit, but more importantly, what you like about a shots lighting.

Sure we copied the BTS of the image above, but why? What is it about the lighting within the shot that we like and how can we extract those elements and use them within our own image?

So let’s analyse the image using the list I mentioned last week.

Shadow density (how dark the shadow is)

The shadows in Nicholls image are very, very dark (see numbers 3 and 4 above). This means there is likely no fill-light.

Highlight size (this will be relative to the object it’s on)

We can actually see the catchlights here and they are tiny (see number 1 above). This means we are dealign with a light source that is small and/or far away. Either way this will result in hard light.

Shadow edge transition (how a shadow transitions into mid-tone or highlight)

The shadows change from very dark to very bright extremely quickly (see numbers 3 and 4 above). This means we are likely dealing with a single very hard, directional light source.

Highlight brightness (how bright is the highlight relevant to the object it’s on)

The brightness of the highlight is often tricky to gauge as it changes based on the sheen of the object. For example a highlight size will appear different in size on wood compared to chrome. We struggle with this in portraiture as we can’t tell how shiny/oily someones skin is. But based on what we can see here, we seem to have a glistening skin highlight (see number 2 above) which again points to a hard and very bright light source.

Angle of shadow (where exactly is the light in relation to subject)

The shadows in this image are tiny and we only see a sliver of them (see numbers 3 and 4 above). This means that the light source is almost directly inline with the camera lens.

Distance from subject (how far is the light from the subject)

This is another factor that can be tricky to tell, but based on other factors like the overall brightness of the shot and the strength of the shadows, I’d say it wasn’t too far away, but far enough to light a larger area for those half-body shots.

Height in relation to subject (how high is the light in relation to the subject)

The height of the light here is again almost at the exact same height as the camera (see numbers 3 and 4 above) If we look at the shadow on the right of the model and under the model, you’ll see that they are the same size. This means that the light must be almost exactly inline with the lens.

What We Love

So now that we’ve broken the image down into its component parts, what are we really drawn to about it? For me it’s the stark, very bright, directional light and razor sharp shadows. That is what makes this lighting stand out to me. So although my attempt at copying it incorporated a similar look in terms of light placement and shadow placement, I feel like I could further capitalise on what I love and try again with those new priorities in mind. And of course this time, I wont be directly copying Mr Nicholls.

A Fresh Approach

In my previous attempt, I felt like I had the light placement correct and this time around, I’ll be placing the light just above the lens just like before. This time around however, I’ll be looking to increase the contrast and sharpness of those shadows and I’ll be doing that by switching up my modifier.

Many people think that a bare-dish reflector is as hard as light gets, but due to the issues we mentioned like the dual shadows and the resulting softening thanks to diffusion gels, there are modifiers that may better suit the look we like.

This is a Universal Spot Attachment and as you can see above, it has a lens on the front to focus the light.

One modifier I like to use a lot for very strong shadows is a Universal Spot Attachment. As you can see from the image above, it also has a lens on the front which further helps to focus the light and produce a very strong directional shadow.

So now let’s shoot this again with this new modifier and see what we get.

Click to enlarge: This time around I switch out the bare reflector for the universal spot lighting modifier.

When I look at these, I immediately feel like I’m happier with the results. The whole image feels far brighter and starker like the original and the shadows are now razor sharp in comparison to what they were. So although I personally never shoot anything in this very stark style, I think that if I did, I would go down this route and capitalise on that hard light look with this modifier over the bare dish.

Optional Post-Pro Adjustments

Of course if we wanted to take this one step further and try to ‘match’ the look and style even further, we could spend a little time in post-pro to push the tones to better fit the original look.

Click to enlarge: With some tweaking in post, we can push the tones to better fit the original theme of the Nicholls shot too. — ***Click to enlarge:*** With some tweaking in post, we can push the tones to better fit the original theme of the Nicholls shot too.

Granted these colours may seem odd to you now, but had I never shown you the images original colour, you wouldn’t have questioned the colours in these. Applying a similar look in post is a fundamental stage of replicating/matching/copying a look…. but that’s an article for another time.

What We’ve learnt

As I’ve mentioned many times before, copying is not necessarily bad, in fact I still believe it’s a fundamental part of many a photographers learning process, especially the self-taught ones. The point I wanted to make with this article is that copying will only teach you so much. Having the ability to firstly read an image and then understand what it is that you love about it, will be far more beneficial to you when it comes to learning, improving and developing you’re personal look and style.

By all means use similar ingredients, but make a concerted effort to focus on showing the elements you love in your own image over blindly copying the original.

Plus, copying is actually next to impossible. There is simply too many variables at work for you to realistically achieve the same look. Even the most experienced photographers cannot actually copy one another effectively.

Do you own any cook books? Chances are that you do and there’s even a strong chance you own a cook book by a celebrity chef. Now in that cook book, that celebrity chef has shown you EXACTLY what to do, even down to the smallest pinches of salt. Does your meal come out tasting just like theirs does? Forgive me for saying this, but… I highly doubt it.

In fact there is simply no way your meal tastes like theirs because there are far too many variables at play. But for those of you who are perhaps a little more experienced at cooking will likely attest to, you never follow the recipe to the letter. You improvise, adapt, and tailor the recipe to your own tastes. A little more wine here, a little less butter there. You’re adapting to your tastes and iterating on the original.

I would urge you to the same with your photography, look to iterate on work that inspires you rather than simply copying it.

Closing Thoughts

Thanks as always for indulging me with this weeks article, I certainly appreciate that you’ve decided to spend a small part of your day with me here. As you can likely tell, I’m working through some thoughts in this series and as we go on with this, I’m sure it will become less preachy and more focused on actually interpreting the light in the images we look at.

So with that in mind, are there any looks, styles or even specific images you’d like for us to explore and iterate on in the future?

If you have then let me know. Drop me a message or simply include a link to the images you’re interested in learning from down in the comments section (I’ll likely only be checking the comments on the original post on my site in case you’re viewing a shared copy of this article elsewhere).

Thanks again :)

And please go check out the phenomenal work of Chris Nicholls

Also, take a look at Rankin as well as Ellen Von Unwerth

Featured models: Alexis Ka & Eryn Tett

P.S. I know I’ll get messages on this as I do every time I share an image of my modifiers. If you’re wondering what the bulldog clips on my reflector dishes are, then I explain it here.

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Understanding Light - An Introduction

This article aims to look at how we as photographers ‘understand’ light. It may seem obvious to many of you, but to a vast majority of us, it’s simply not quite that easy. But what does it truly mean to understand light? Do we really need to understand light to take great photos? The simple answer is no…. but I guarantee it will help.

A self-taught generation

Many of us have opted to be very heavily invested in our passion for photography. Some of us want to make our passion a full time career and some of us are simply more than happy to derive great pleasure from creating beautiful photographs. Whatever out intentions or aspirations may be, we as photographers are very fortunate to have that choice. After all, there are very few hobbyist surgeons or lawyers. They have to undergo many years of training from the previous generation before they can even think about making a living from it.

But we as photographers don’t need to do that. In fact there are a huge number of very successful professional photographers working today that were never directly taught by their more experienced peers. They never pursued further education in photography and instead they opted to teach themselves the craft. But again, we’re very lucky that it’s even possible to do this.

Like I said, it’s probably a lot harder to learn to be a surgeon from YouTube.

I also think this self-taught approach is becoming more and more popular now given that further education is become so prohibitively expensive. But what does being ’self taught’ look like? Where do you begin?

What does a self-taught art education look like?

I’ll just add that although I received a formal education in the form of BA Degree in photography, I’ll be using myself in the following steps because since I graduated back in 2001, I’ve been learning and therefore….. teaching myself.

Step 1. Spray & Pray

As soon as we get our hands on our first camera, our first step often sees us photographing anything and everything that crosses our path.

Look at any new photographers portfolio and you’ll see that it contains photos of landscapes, portraits, flower pictures, still life, animals… the list goes on.

For example, 25 years ago I started out shooting black and white landscapes in Canada, before graduating up to exploring black and white ‘artistic’ still-life. View my portfolio today by comparison and you’ll see that it takes a very long time to find out what any of us really want to photograph.

JHP Circa 1997: Sadly I couldn’t find any actual prints from my landscape glory days…. but this inverted sheet of negatives against a window will have to suffice as proof for now. Trust me, I have boxes of these negs!

JHP Circa 1999: A look at when lighting was easy. I remember it being nice to light small objects that never moved ;)

Step 2. Focus Up

So after we’ve photographed everything that was foolish enough to get in front of our lens, we’ll gradually begin to be drawn to one particular aspect that excites us. That could be portraits, landscapes, really anything at all. The point is that we will slowly begin to see more focus in our work.

For me, I was continually drawn to photographing people as I enjoyed the interaction and spontaneity of working with subjects. Plus, I nearly always preferred to take control of the light via studio lighting.

Back in the early 2000’s and as a camera for hire, I shot everything from corporate headshots, portraits, hair competitions and campaigns and even the occasional wedding early on.

JHP Circa 2001-2003: I’ve spared you the wedding shots, but way back at the start of my career I pretty much exclusively shot studio based photos of people.

Step 3. Getting Inspired

After we’ve become fairly confident with our current craft, we very often begin to look at other artists work within our field.

We look at their work and we know that we like it. Perhaps we’ll follow them on social media and occasionally we may see an image of theirs that we absolute love and wished we’d taken it.

At this stage, we really don’t know how they shot that image because as a self taught photographer we don’t yet have the skills to completely understand it, but we wish we could recreate it.

Note: There is a large gap in my photography timeline as I dropped out of the field in around 2003 due to the digital revolution. It became very tricky to find work when so many owned a camera and my failure to adapt to a changing industry ultimately soured my love of what I had enjoyed for so long. For a few years I worked in a climbing and outdoor store and spent my time traveling and mountaineering before I ultimately returned to my passion in around 2007.

Images above are from photographers Bruno Dayan, Nick Knight and Nadav Kander.

As I started to realise that mountaineering was likely to get me killed before too long, I started to get drawn back into the world of photography. But although I remembered photography being tough to make money from, it had to be easier than trying to get paid to climb really big hills.

Back then (and to this day) the work of photographers like Bruno Dayan, Nick Knight and Nadav Kander were truly inspiring to me. Their passion for creating breathtaking and visual arresting images is what ultimately made me want to start shooting again, regardless of whether I made a successful career out of it or not.

I saw their images and I wanted to take photos like that. The colour and interest they were creating at the time was incredible and certainly a very far cry from the stagnant high-key fashion imagery that had reigned for so long.

It’s probably worth pointing out here that I personally did not want to copy their work, but instead I wanted to take what I saw and loved about their work and inject it into mine.

Step 4. Evolving Inspiration

One great way to learn how an image was shot, is to copy it. But stop for a moment and think why are you copying it? One reason may be because you simply want that shot in your portfolio. Another reason (and likely the real reason), is because you want to know how that image was shot.

If you look at a photo and don’t know how an image was created, you often jump in with both feet and try to recreate the basic elements. You might think ‘I could get a model to stand like that and I could use some coloured lights to light her’. And off you go to recreate/copy the image.

Now I think you all know how that turns out. At this stage you have no idea what modifiers were used, you may not even be sure how many lights were used and that’s not to mention you no clue on the post-production treatment and colouring used. As a result, you will most likely be sorely disappointed by the results.

So instead, how about you focus on what you really love about the image and try and use those elements into your own work. For example, I loved those colourful shots from Bruno Dayan, Nick Knight and Nadav Kander, but I didn’t try to copy their images directly, so instead I took the elements of crazy colours that made no sense and brought that into my own work.

JHP Circa 2009: My first forays into crazy colours opened up a new world of ideas to me.

This inspirational process was a fundamental turning point for me and my work. No longer did I have to light something ‘correctly’. If I wanted to bathe a portrait in yellows and blues, then I could do. If I wanted to wash a dining room in neon pink then I could do. The inspiration I took from others was the kick I needed to be truly creative again and from here things snowballed as my veracious appetite to continually create something new took hold.

Step 5. Understanding & Crafting

This is ultimately the final step in our creative journey. We now know what we want to shoot, we also know what we love, so now all we need to do is get good at shooting what we know and love. Simple right?

This is by far and away the hardest part of course. You’re now a fully fledged creative and so now the burden of being truly creative sits upon your shoulders. But how do you become truly creative? How do you create what has not been created before? What is it that truly defines you as an artist and do you really posses a unique vision and style?

Of course, many non-creatives will tell you that it’s all been done before, nothing is truly unique and everybody is really just copying each another. This is certainly one school of thought, but I honestly think you have far more to gain from believing you can create something unique, than not.

How many generations of artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol, (insert any artist that is a household name) believed it had all been done before. It’s always impossible, until it isn’t.

You may know nothing about art, but I bet most of you know who the three artists are who created the work above. Being creative is rarely about being ‘better’, but more often it’s about having the vision to create something unique.

So how do we get here? Well first and foremost you need to start believing you can create something unique….like, NOW! The sooner you believe you can do that then the easier it’ll be. Next up, we’re going to need to look at what we love and then we’re going to have to look at how we can incorporate that into our own images….without strictly copying them.

Look at some photos that you truly love, and think about what the individual elements are that is making you love that shot so much. From here we can begin to take those elements and use them in our own shots.

This is where we begin to truly create, not by copying, but instead by learning to understand what we love about other art and incorporating it into our own and with our own voice and vision.

Learning to understand what we love and why is one of the hardest things an artist can do, but to move forward and craft something new we have to master it.

Where being self-taught falls short

Unfortunately, having the ability to read an image is hard and this is often a stumbling point for many self-taught artists. Up until now, many of them will have simply copied others work and so understanding elements that they love is actually tricky. When I say copy, I mean that they have watched YouTube videos, seen the modifiers used and the lighting angles and then copied that verbatim into their own work.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with this style of learning. But it will only get you so far.

I was taught what light did, how it reacted and why, long before I ever switched on a strobe. This is not a better way of learning, but it did equip me with the ability to read and understand light, something that I see many newer, self-taught photographers struggling with.

Last week I shared some images of another photographers work on my Facebook Page and asked the community to explain the lighting that was used. The lighting itself was fairly simple, but even still, we saw a whole host of varied responses. Here’s some of them below. I’ve also blurred any names as there is simply no need to include them.

If you didn’t take part in this on my page, then I highly recommend you try and analyse the light in the images below yourself, before continuing.

How do you think the images below were lit?

All above images are copyright of Chris Nicholls

Above are the beautiful images from Chris Nicholls we were looking at and below is some of the interpretations of them.

Like I mentioned, what individuals thought isn’t relevant. Some people nailed it, others were a little ways off. But either way, I think this was an interesting exercise as it shows that even with very simplistic lighting like this, there are many, many ways to seemingly read it.

Note: If you’re interested in the actual answer, you’ll unfortunately have to wait until next week as I’ll try and recreate this classic lighting then and show you the results in next weeks Technique Tuesday.

Also, please go check out more incredible work by the photographer Chris Nicholls

How do we get better at understanding light?

So how can we improve? Like I said, this is not designed as a snobby jibe at self-taught photographers, quite the opposite in fact. As I mentioned at the top, it’s very rare to come across a photographer that isn’t self-taught today so this exercise is squarely aimed at the vast majority of photographers.

My goal and aim is to formulate a criteria for us all to use so that we may better understand the things we love in other images by extracting how each image was crafted.

Light is thankfully constrained and controlled by the very understandable laws of physics. It travels in the same straight line and at the same speed it always has done. It reacts and responds in exactly the same way it always has and this makes it very predictable and understandable.

It is my aim to clearly outline these characteristics so that we may better understand them when we see them in other images. Elements that affect the light in our images like:

Shadow density (how dark the shadow is)
Highlight size (this will be relative to the object it’s on)
Shadow edge transition (how a shadow transitions into midtown or highlight)
Highlight brightness (how bright is the highlight relevant to the object it’s on)
Angle of shadow (where exactly is the light in relation to subject)
Distance from subject (how far is the light from the subject)
Height in relation to subject (how high is the light in relation to the subject)

With these and likely more elements in mind, I believe any lighting is understandable and therefore open to us being able to implement a similar look within our own work and style.

Looking Forward

This will be a fairly comprehensive project and a large undertaking, so unfortunately I do not have all of these answers, examples and results to share with you today. It is my aim to truly compile a list of elements that will help all of us to better understand any lighting we see. No more blindly guessing or even simply copying. If we can unlock and understand the exact properties of light then I truly believe we will all benefit from it.

Note: Of course I also fully appreciate that lighting is not the only factor to understanding an image, but I think it’s at least a good place to start.

What can you do?

The next step for me is going to be testing this list of lighting elements. Can I use this current list against any image right now and unlock its secrets? Unfortunately I highly doubt it, and that’s where you guys come in. If you have anything to add to this then let me know. What other elements do I need to be considering to fully understand any lighting situation?

Either let me know in the comments below or reach out to me personally. I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks as always for reading this. I know I didn’t share any actual content with you this week and this was more of a ‘Dear Diary’ entry than an actual technique. But I do think this project has a lot of potential.

More and more of us are self taught now and with no formal understanding of light, it makes it far harder for us to develop our own look and style outside of repeating and copying what we’ve seen on YouTube.

I look forward to keeping you in the loop on this as I learn more and feel free to sign up to my newsletter to stay up to date on what I find JHP Newsletter

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Thanks as always for checking out my articles. I know your time is precious and there’s almost an infinite amount of other things you could have done with the last 15 minutes of your life, so I really do appreciate you checking this out :)

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Stay Inspired - Inspirational work from 10 Photographers and Artists 005

"Stay Inspired" is a weekly post on my Facebook Page where I share the work of an inspirational photographer or artist every Thursday. I've been doing this every week since 2013, so there is now a vast number of outstanding creatives from all genres and disciplines that we've looked at over the years. In fact I’ve been doing it for so long now that even I’ve forgotten some of these great artists so I thought why don't I try and collate them all into one place for not only myself, but for you as well.

This is the fourth compilation, so if you missed the previous ones and are interested in an inspiration overload, here’s the links to them;

Stay Inspired - Inspirational work from 10 Photographers and Artists 001

Stay Inspired - Inspirational work from 10 Photographers and Artists 002

Stay Inspired - Inspirational work from 10 Photographers and Artists 003

Stay Inspired - Inspirational work from 10 Photographers and Artists 004

These new posts will look at a collection of 10 artists each and they should prove to be an excellent resource for not only inspiration but motivation as well. With each artist shared, I will include a short overview of their work including things to consider and look at whilst on their portfolio.

Please bear in mind that these opinions are mine and as such are clearly very subjective. I could just share a link but I believe a more personal point of view of another artists work may be of more value to you over simply stating their name and age for example. But this does mean you may not always agree with me and I would encourage that. Art is subjective and like music, the best art does not appeal to everybody.

Inspirational Work from 10 Photographers and Artists 005

Based on previous post 'engagement' I tend to avoid sharing work of the big names, instead I usually try and find the 'diamond in the rough' to showcase a different perspective on the industry. But today I felt that even though New York based Francesco Carrozzini is as big as they come, his work is still unique in a few ways. Francesco's career actually started back in 2001 when he was 19 as a director and made his debut shooting promo videos for Italian MTV. The reason I mention that is because usually the career path is the opposite, you start with stills and move into cinema and for me it’s this difference that gives Francesco his unique take on photography.
His site has a huge amount of content but the link I have given you here actually takes you to his archive of past editorials and it’s here where I feel you can really see his style shine with incredibly unique and dramatic portraits of the biggest A-list stars.

Although he has more front covers on the big name glossies than most, take the time to see how his cinematic style captures the rich and famous in a more personal and intimate way than I’ve seen achieved previously. Plus, don't forget that he was 19 in 2001, that makes this body of work even more impressive for somebody in that industry seeing as most of these legends were considerably older than him when these were taken and it can't of been easy to get these portraits with that generation gap looming over you.

Francesco Carrozzini

So this is a funny one and some of you may have already seen a lot of his work considering he has more UK front covers than my ego cares to count, but I first thought this guy was based in L.A. It turns out that Jay Mawson is actually based in the photographic polar opposite of L.A., Manchester England. First off, nothing untoward is meant by that, I know Manchester is a beautiful city but unfortunately like the rest of us here in the U.K. we are tormented by less than Californian weather, but in my opinion somehow Jay has managed to portray that classic L.A. look to his work.

The soft natural glowing light that hangs in his images really is something that I love, but upon reading some of his blog posts it appears he actually achieves that with studio flash. It’s that mastery of controlling light that gives his images the ethereal look that so many of his gorgeous photographs have. If even half his images are actually shot with studio strobes then that really is an enviable skill indeed because that quality of light really is highly coveted here in the U.K. Head on over and be your own judge, and for the slightly stronger of heart, also be sure to swing by his blog posts. He's certainly not shy in airing his opinions, but frankly with that portfolio more power to him.

Jay Mawson

I can't find too much out about Tiago Prisco I'm afraid so I will save you from my 'tog droll' this week. Suffice to say that Tiago loves a lot of colour in shots and shiny models occupying them so what more do you need?

Check out his site for yourselves but especially make a visit to these editorials from his main page:

In the Deep (colour and shine at its best),

A Dreamy Garden (strong colour theory throughout, especially the last image),

Used to Love Her Skin (actually good latex photography),

Its A Flair (interesting range of techniques for one editorial),

The Black Widow (some of the finest coloured shadows Ive seen in ages),

Golden Future (awesome beauty lighting, the nerds among you should check the catchlights for more info ;)

Enjoy!

Tiago Prisco

Update May 2019: Tiago is now with Disparala Studio so his old site is no longer active. The link above has been updated but unfortunately there is now not as much work being displayed. It’s still most certainly worth checking out and if you like it any of it then I highly recommend you search around a little more online for it.

On a plus though, the agency now lists a little info about him:

“Bio: Tiago Prisco Born in 1979 in Brazil. He moved to London at the age of 18 where he discovered his interest into the art of photography. Three years later he came to Spain and graduated from Idep (University Upper School of Image and Design). Since then, he has been working as a freelance editorial and commercial photographer in Europe. His work is regularly being published in national and international newspapers and magazines such us HORSE MAGAZINE, MARIE CLAIRE, ZINK, SCHÖN!, NEO2, H MAGAZINE, FACTICE, BOUTIQUE BAKU, AVENUE ILLUSTRATED, SPEND-IN, UNIT MAGAZINE, VOGUE NOIVAS BRASIL, TRUCCO&BELLEZA, BELANE and more. Nowadays, Tiago Prisco lives and works in Barcelona, Spain.”

To me, this is as good as fashion photography gets. Its not to everybody's taste, but Spanish born Txema Yeste just seems to capture so much with every single one of his shots and you really get the impression that no inch of his frame is wasted. Born in 1972, Txema has been shooting for many years and throughout his career he has adapted and pushed his style but it has still maintained its overarching saturation, contrast, vividness and almost electric quality.

In an interview he did for PULL&BEAR in 2011 he was asked, what do you find most interesting about your job?

'The most interesting work in fashion is it´s constant change and above all, that it allows you to experiment and explore new techniques.'

Head on over to his site and take in this exceptional work that personifies what fashion photography should be.

Txema Yeste

Seriously, stop what you're doing and find a decent monitor. French born David Bellemere has an amazing style and anybody who loves the work of Guy Aroch is going to fall in love with it too. David Bellemere is pretty darn big in the industry so there’s not a huge amount on the guys bio suffice to say that French magazines were commissioning him whilst he was still at Uni (no I'm not making that up… I swear, magazines really did used to commission photographers I promise).

Head on over and check out his incredibly dreamy/retro style (although to be fair the guy probably invented it so it might not be that retro to him). The website is very image heavy so give it time but be sure to check out the 'Body' section of his gallery before you leave. This is his agencies site by the way.

UPDATE May 2019: David has now switched to the ‘Art Department’ agency and the link has now been updated accordingly.

David Bellemere

It's artists like this that really drive home how phenomenal photographs can actually look. The sea of dross and 'throw-away' images we are subjected to on an hourly basis is slowly numbing our perception of great works and this body of images is the rude awakening we deserve.

Ivor Paanakker has a pretty unique style and although his imagery is always fashionable and feminine, it does have a darker edge, something that is very tricky to do well. For those interested in editorial work, pay attention to the series of images that makes up his stories. The imagery is very diverse throughout the set with wide, very tight, grainy, blurry all very different shots but all very eye-catching. I'm sure we are all guilty (myself definitely included) of submitting far too many similarly shot images to magazines. While you're there be sure to check out his 'nudes' page as he’s got some amazing images in there too (Plus: I need that lens he uses in those shots!).

Ivor Paanakker

So I was going to share Dana Pennington's work tonight, but it looks like their site is down which is a shame. In the mean time though, have a look at his rather extensive Tumblr page. Although he's blessed with the ever-bright L.A. dream light that never seems to crest above 2000 Kelvin he still has a fantastic mastery of natural light (and a seemingly endless list of L.A. ladies). One day I swear I will get to the natural light holy land of L.A. and see what all the fuss is about but until then, enjoy Dana's work

Dana Pennington

I very rarely look at other photographers wedding work, but the distinctive and great use of wide angle work and lovely colourful post pro certainly caught my attention in this wedding portfolio. Russian wedding photographer Анна Киселева certainly doesn't seem to be short of grandiose locations either, combine that with a seemingly limitless supply stunning brides and you have some awesome wedding shots. The link below takes you straight to one of her albums and although I've negated the need for you to brush up on your Russian, a little poking about and you'll find some other links to her portraiture and boudoir work too.

Анна Киселева

Update May 2019: It appears that Anna no longer has her own site, but I did manage to find a wedding online portfolio services that stat still houses all of her work. The link above has been updated. If you’re looking for more of her work then it also appears that she goes by another name of Anna Kiseleva / Temperance.

Just to be clear, this is not safe for work/school/bus/home/office/train or partner. The two of you now left foolishly still reading this and not clicking the link will certainly be interested to hear that Alexei Bazdarez has not only photographed some of the most stunning models out there, but also photographed them incredibly well.

On first opening his port you may be fooled into thinking you've seen this all before, stunning bronzed twenty-somethings desperately trying to keep their American Apparel wardrobe on, but upon closer inspection I can assure you that you haven't.

This genre is being DONE TO DEATH right now but Alexei manages to subtly raise the bar by being not only very tasteful, but using just the right amount of light, the photography never overpowers the subject and the light is always there to compliment and nothing more. Also, the locations always seem believable but bland enough not to be distracting and I would be very surprised to hear if he doesn't always use a very talented MUA on his shoots. Finally his post pro is impeccable, you have to consciously look to notice it, but the skin is always radiant but believable and the colour toning is always spot on, remaining constant and complimentary.

Overall then this is actually very difficult to pull off, I say this mainly because the internet and modelling sites are awash with examples of photographers getting in their own way with this style and as any decent makeup artist will always tell you, the hardest makeup to pull off is actually the 'natural' look, a look that looks like you've just gotten up looking that good and this style of photography is no different. Nothing gets in the way or overpowers the model, everything adds to and compliments her.
If you are a model looking to get a portfolio done then these are the very qualities you should be looking for in your photographer.

Alexei Bazdarez

Update May 2019: Since I wrote that diatribe above, a few years have passed. As a result Alexei’s work has grown hugely and a lot of that older work is no longer visible as far as I can tell. Consequently the images are now more commercial as a result and the portfolio as a whole is far more rounded out. So although there is a little less skin on show now, this body of work is still very much worth checking out.

These guys are as big as they come in the fashion photography world and they are often the first port of call for so many fashion labels with big budget ads to shoot. Sure their work is great but it’s not breaking any moulds in my opinion and the reason I'm drawing attention to them is the fact that are self confessed 'copycats'.

Although on first impression this statement might be something that is shocking, it's actually quite refreshing to hear, by acknowledging where their style has come from helps them to evolve and personalise it. Take a quick look at their work on their agents site and I'll follow it up next week with the rest of the article about where their style and others comes from and how those styles can evolve.

Mert & Marcus

UPDATE May 2019: The full article I am referring to in the above the dialogue can now be viewed here Being Proud to Copy Others

Closing Comments

As with all of my posts, I welcome your comments and thoughts on the artists I've shared here today. But although all of the photographers and creatives I've mentioned above come from my own personal tastes and appreciations, I still feel they are all incredibly varied, which ultimately means there will be at least one persons work here that you'll love.

Granted we've really only looked at 'people' photographers including, portraits, fashion and editorial shooters with none of the other photographic genres being covered, but it's still incredible to me as to how varied this single discipline can be.

I think one of the core things I want you to take away from this series is how another person interprets their subject into a photograph.

Sure you can simply reverse engineer the lighting or copy a pose of an image, but I hope you take away a lot more than simply the mechanics of a photograph.

Look at their style and see how that is impacting their work for the better. Look for similarities in pose, expression, subject, lighting, theme and colour. All of these things play a role in any image and by appreciating that in others work we can be better equipped to express it into our own images.

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Shooting in a studio has its advantages. But although being warm, dry and convenient are greatly appreciated, shooting between the same four walls can get a little boring if you’re constantly using them as backgrounds for your shots.

Visual Depth on Location - Depth of Field

Forced Depth - Haze and Smoke

Imitating Mist

The Diffusion Gel Test - The Plant

The Diffusion Gel Test - The Diffusion Gels

The Diffusion Gel Test - The Lighting

Shoot Day

Last Minute Tweaks on the Day - Low Contrast Filter

Closing Comments

Products used:

THANK YOU

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Who is Lensbaby?

The Omni….is not a lens

What’s in the Omni Box?

Omni Setup

Okay, but what the hell are these ‘filters’ you keep mentioning?!

Unboxing and Assembly

The Results

Omni Crystal Expansion Pack

Tips on using the Omni

Opinions and Thoughts

What’s wrong with me just holding the ‘filters’ in front of my lens with my hand?

Your Lens Size

Tip: Your lens diameter is often displayed not only on the front around the glass, but also on the reverse of your lens cap.

Closing Comments

Links, Discounts and Where to Buy

Base pack: $99.95 - £89.00

Expansion pack: $49.95 - £45.00

My British Brethren

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When Copying Simply Isn’t Good Enough

The Problem with Simply Copying

Identifying the Lighting

Explaining the Setup

Let’s Copy

When Copying Falls Short

Shadow density (how dark the shadow is)

Highlight size (this will be relative to the object it’s on)

Shadow edge transition (how a shadow transitions into mid-tone or highlight)

Highlight brightness (how bright is the highlight relevant to the object it’s on)

Angle of shadow (where exactly is the light in relation to subject)

Distance from subject (how far is the light from the subject)

Height in relation to subject (how high is the light in relation to the subject)

What We Love

A Fresh Approach

Optional Post-Pro Adjustments

What We’ve learnt

Closing Thoughts

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A self-taught generation

What does a self-taught art education look like?

Step 1. Spray & Pray

Step 2. Focus Up

Step 3. Getting Inspired

Step 4. Evolving Inspiration

Step 5. Understanding & Crafting

Where being self-taught falls short

How do we get better at understanding light?

Looking Forward

What can you do?

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Inspirational Work from 10 Photographers and Artists 005

Closing Comments

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