01. Classic looks and locks lit with crisp hard light. Priceless.
Here are a selection of my pictures from a 1 to 1 training session with my friend and fellow photographer Aneil Sharma. Aneil booked Chloe Jasmine, created the mood boards and styled the shoot. Vicki Waghorn designed the hairstyles and did the makeup and I was left to recreate the lighting looks from Aneil’s mood boards. This is what we got up to
02. One hard light was a good starting point for this beauty shoot.
03. I then evolved the look by reducing the lighting contrast to lift the shadows. Fabulous hair by Vicki.
04. Fun and games created fleeting moments to be captured.
I used my Fujifilm X-Pro1 for this shoot. I don’t usually like working with the Fuji in the studio under modelling lights but the autofocus speed is way better now than it was with earlier versions of the firmware. The Fuji is now a joy to use in all lighting scenarios.
05. Such magical beauty fills the frame even though there is lots of space surrounding Chloe Jasmine. I get drawn into this shot.
06. Retro styled sunglasses and the furry wrap are Aneal’s finishing touches.
07. A 3:1 contrast ratio is what we went for here. It was not measured with a meter but judged using the screen on the back of the camera. Control of contrast is one of the fundamentals I teach in my studio lighting training workshops and 1:1 sessions.
I shot all these frames using the 18-55mm zoom lens on my Fujifilm X-Pro1. There is also a Tiffen 1/8th Black Pro Mist filter on the lens to give a more analogue feel to the pictures. Lens design has advanced so much in the past couple of years we are swamped with detail and contrast on a new level. I like to knock it back a bit with glass filters rather than try to do it in post production.
08.
09.
10.
11. We went for a soft fluffy look here by reducing the lighting contrast to a bare minimum.
12.
13.
14.
15. This is the look I achieved in camera. Fabulously detailed yet etherial at the same time.
16. A familiar look. I switched to the 1/4 strength Tiffen Black Pro Mist filter.
17. Perhaps this is my favourite shot of the set.
18. Our last session of the day was lit with four classic Dedo lights.
19.
I have the pleasure of shooting with Chloe Jasmine Whichello twice over the coming weeks on the Film Noir workshops. These are now sold out but Laura my PA is taking names for the next series of Film Noir workshops to be held later in the year. They may be abroad so be prepared to travel :)
Please feel free to comment below.
awesome
Hi Damien
As usual – some fantastic shots!
Do you have any plans for courses in London over the next year?
I’d be very interested in the next series of Film Noir…couldn’t make the Feb ones as they clashed with skiing (it’s that time of year).
Having attended your boudoir course, I’ve got to say that your courses give the best ‘bang for buck’ that I’ve been on.
Ioan
Hi Ioan,
London is just so expensive for me to put on workshops. My expenses: hotel, parking, congestion charge, meals etc all have to be passed on to the delegates making London workshops prohibitively expensive. Plus when doing street workshops we keep getting moved on. This never happens in Manchester or Bristol. London venues want to charge silly money for me to host workshops there. Maybe I’m missing something but my last workshops in Hoxton were not financially worthwhile. I’d be delighted to hear of funky venues that will let us shoot for around £500/ day. Most venues I contact want 4* that :(
I’ll see if there is a demand for any more Film Noir workshops in the UK once I’ve shot and blogged the two that I’m shooting over the next 10 days. I sort of expected Film Noir to be a one off. I’d love to take the genre to Chicago and Munich as I plan to visit those cities soon.
I like old country houses or historic town houses with big rooms to shoot my workshops in. We need to have them exclusive use and it is even better for my two day events if we can all dine together and stay at the venue too.
Thank you for your kind words. If you have any potential venues for workshops drop Laura an email. :)
Stay creative,
Damien.
Any lighting tip looks like 3 soft boxes at front?
Love the classic feel to this shot!
True hollywood lighting and pose, very nice Damien!
A very nice shot !
No 18 for me Damien – love it.
Dav
Thanks Dav,
18 is inspired by the work of Studio Harcourt in Paris.
Kind regards,
Damien.
I’d have to agree, number 17 is my favourite. It’s in the eyes. I love the fact that lighting technique is coming back in!
No more flat lighting *big cheers*
Hi Nathan,
Real lighting has never left this blog Nathan. Thanks for your compliments.
Stay creative,
Damien.
Wow, all are great as usual Damien, but the color and the softness of the light for 15->17 is just out of this world. I have to ask: how did you achieve that beautiful light Damien, pretty please!
Hi Gabriel,
The softness and radiance in 15 – 17 was created using an optical filter on the lens. I used a Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/4 strength filter. It is so much better than any post production diffusion. There is nothing quite as good as glass when it comes to image tweaking like this. I shoot with a 1/8th filter on my lens most of the time and swap to the 1/4 Black Pro Mist for a more obvious effect. There is nothing new in this kind of filtration. I was using Tiffen Black Pro Mist filters 20 years ago at the BBC. The big difference is they are now available in rounds rather than just 4mm thick 100mm squares for matte boxes. They are now available in the UK too. For a limited time we have them far cheaper than Amazon too (Shh) I used just one Wafer softbox from above and a Triflector from below as my lighting rig. The rest was filtration.
Thank you for your kind words and stay inspired.
Kind regards,
Damien.
Gorgeous! She is just amazing as usual!
A beautiful set Damien… love no. 12 … love them all … but that’s my fave :-) stunning.
Thanks Tony.
12 is alluring, captivating and would make a great print for the wall of any classic hotel bar. Thank you for your continued encouragement.
Cheers,
Damien.