3 WAYS TO CREATE DRAMATIC LIGHTING with Toma Kostygina

Continuing series of awesome quick tricks for photographers, Toma Kostygina teaches us what the dramatic lighting is and 3 ways to create dramatic lighting.

Watch full episode on our Youtube channel!

What is dramatic lighting ?

Does it require a special equipment? No. Do you need to shoot it at the specific time of the day? No. Dramatic lighting is simply the shadow play on the photo, where the contrast between highlights and shadows is drastic, very distinguished. In other words, the light fall off into a shadow happens very quickly.

How does one shoot it? To create drama on the photo you actually do not need any specific environment. You can easily create it in the broad day light with a couple of handy tools. Here are 3 easy techniques you can implement right away!

Technique #1.

Use light modifiers that that have fast shadow fall off – shoots, 7-inch modifiers, beauty dishes with grids, etc. These modifiers are known to create hard light, which is the key for the drama.

Technique #2.

The second technique is called “feathering”. It utilizes the use of soft boxes of various shapes and sizes. Usually, if the modifier is facing straight towards the model, the light it produces is soft, with gradual, slow fall off.

To create a quicker fall off/more distinguished contrast just turn the modifier to the side, so only the edge of it lights up the model. On a picture below, the left photograph of yours and only is the example of modifier – rectangular soft box -facing straight towards the model. And the right photograph is lit with the same modifier, turned to the right, so only the edge of the light hits the face of the model.

Technique #3.

And the last technique covered Toma implements light reflectors/blockers such as V-flats, flags, screens, 5-in-1, etc. If you work with just one strobe light as your key, and the ambient light is your fill light, use blockers to block the ambient light from one side, while flashing the key light on the other.

That’s it!

JOIN Toma Kostygina’s “Studio Lighting 102” WORKSHOP that will let you have hands-on experience under keen supervision of Toma herself

It will take place on September 19th, 7-9pm, Downtown Los Angeles
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Tickets are only $35 (five tix left!) — SIGN UP HERE

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Watch the full episode with Toma Kostygina on the official FD Youtube channel:

Alan Daneshrad masters natural light photography

“Personal Injury Lawyer by Profession, Photographer by Hobby”, is how Alan Daneshard describes himself on Instagram. Choosing the Art 3 studio as the creative ground for his leisure pursuit, Alan took full advantage of amazing natural light conditions the space provides.

Besides working in the studio environment, Alan also takes his passion onto landscape photography, capturing different vivid destinations like Japan, San Francisco, and also focusing on details of skylines, oceans and other aspects of nature.

Follow Alan Daneshard on his Instagram, and make sure to check out his website for more cool projects.

Studio Art 3
is one of our most popular stages. Featuring shot perfect props such as an elegant white-and-gold chair with a mirror as well as a luxurious bathtub, this stage is always on a high demand. Art 3 now also presents a gorgeous rose wall for your unrivaled, outstanding background setting. Besides, this studio is supplied with a seamless backdrop paper of black,grey and white color and studio lighting found in all of our spaces, promoting it as a very flexible creative space. For pictures and more information about stage Art 3 check out our WEBSITE.

Natural Light Beauty/Casual Photography with Zuz

Photographer Zuz produces yet another great episode of photographs, this time in stage Art 1. Zuz is one of the most prolific photographers who visited FD, as her style of capturing portraits/fashion is undeniably catchy. Watch the interview with Zuz we took earlier in studio Hill 3.

About the shoot:

“We recently did a quick shoot (only 1h) with Bleu, focusing on beauty and casual style. Because of short time frame, I decided to use only natural light with a little help of a reflector for some of the shots.
We were still able to do 3 looks, each in different style and vibe (1. showing the coat, 2. natural portraits, 3. casual look – top and jeans) in only 1 hour.
I am really happy what we did and how the final images turned out to be. They are a perfect example of what you can do by just playing with natural light and getting creative in short time frame.
Please let me know if you would like me to provide any extra info.”

This session’s crew comprised of:

Model: Bleu Archbold, @bleuarchbold
Photographer: Zuz, @the_zuz

Stage Art 1 was a choice of location for this session. Adorned with features like white grand piano and three step podium this stage is a tool of versatility, provider of great natural light, benchmark of industrial Downtown minimalistic design. This space has its windows facing South and West and gets beautiful direct light during the PM hours, and great open-shaded light in the morning. Using strobes? No worries, we include 3 strobe lights in the hourly rate along with black, white and grey background available. Take a look at Stage Art 1 HERE to see what equipment is included in the hourly rate, as well as its availability and pricing.

4 PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS FOR BEGINNERS! WE ASKED PROs, ep 4. Sep 9

4-photography-tips-for-beginners-episode-4

“In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little, human detail can become a Leitmotiv.”

Henry Cartier-Bresso

WATCH THE FIRST PART OF PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS HERE .

Continuing series of photography tips for beginners, here are 4 advices from Professional Photographers in Los Angeles that will help you hone in on your skills.

The full interview is available of YOUTUBE. For your convenience, here is the transcript of it as well.

Molly Pan @mollypanphotography: Backup your files.Backup your files in three different places. Backup your files in as many different places as you can. I’ve had to do reshoots and I’ve had to do extra things and spend extra money to recover files, so backup your files to avoid a headache. That’s the biggest one, I think.

Jeff Tse @jefftse123 : So for a newcomer I think it’s important that they have some aspect or some passion that they’re also excited about besides photography that lets them build a strong body of work. So say you’re very into skateboarding, but you’re also into photography. So get really serious into the skateboarding culture and create your style and create your body of work that way. This way it’s more of an organic development. You’ll very easily know what resonates with you in terms of style, and because it’s something that you’re excited about that you’ll be motivated to do it.

Ruben Tomas @ruben_tomas : So it’s important to always go in the direction of the things that you like and represents you the most. Be careful about which magazines do you want to be published. You have to choose the really ones that you think that correspond more of who you are or whatever you want to show with your pictures.

Steven Pressler @stevenpresslerphotography : One of the biggest pitfalls for most newcomers from a photography standpoint is they don’t become an expert at something. So they’re a generalist, and so they pick up the camera, they’ll do landscape work, they’ll do modeling work, they’ll do fashion work, they’ll do commercial work, but they never become a subject matter expert. They take the shotgun approach. And unfortunately they’re not known for anything, and not being known for something, you won’t get hired. You have to be known in the industry as an expert at what you do.

So my advice to any photographer is: pick the genre that you want to be the subject matter expert for, and work on that exclusively.

WANT TO LEARN PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY LIGHTING?

JOIN US FOR “Studio Lighting 102” WORKSHOP that will take place on September 19th, 7-9pm, in FD Pro Studios in Los Angeles !!!

Watch the full episode :

!WORKSHOP! Studio Lighting 102 : Portrait Photography Lighting

Portraiture Lighting - Studio Lighting Class

Photographer Toma Kostygina is one of the best teachers we are proud to have at FD. Her experience in both photography and teaching photography has already touched 100s of students in Los Angeles.

Her teaching approach goes both ways

via online tutorials like this one
or cosy uniques workshops she teaches at FD.

On September 19th, Toma launches exclusive, second level of our Studio Lighting Class series.

In this one, Toma will explain the patterns of the face , the separation from the background, distance and color tricks, planes of lighting, etc. One lovely model will be there to assist her demonstration and your practice! This class is open to any level, from professionals who could use a refresher to new photographers working on their skills.

Here are few details about workshop:

Who?

Toma Kostygina INSTAGRAM WEBSITE

With thousands of hours spent on sets and at photo studios, Toma has gained experience in everything that you need to start working with studio lights. She has been always inspired by photography masters and artists so she’s decided to take it to the next level. While attending Photo classes at Santa Monica college she has mastered creation of custom sets and thorough production. From assisting on sets such as for Coca-Cola, Italian Vogue, GQ, Interview magazines and Benefit cosmetics she is now working with A-list photographers and magazines. Toma is always in search of improvement her skills and creativity. You will find her work bright and colorful with some concept behind like for Grammy-nominated Sofi Tukker or David Bowie Tribute.

What?

We will cover several topics to get you up the speed:

1 Introduction.

2 Portraiture Lighting.

3 Demonstration with Model

4 Practice with Model

Where and when?

FD PRO Studios (FD Photo Studio PRO Location), September 19th, 2018, 7pm – 9pm.

Why?

With this easy, introductory workshop ending with a test shoot, you will get the knowledge you have been looking for! The average photographer who doesn’t know how to work with strobes wastes about 30-45 minutes of studio time trying to set it up. With this workshop you will be prepared to start your shoot from minute 1, saving both your time and money!

How much?

Tickets are only $35 and we have 11 spots left!

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE!

!WORKSHOP! Learn how to Light and Capture Raindrops

Do you know what really grinds my gears? Having absolutely not a single drop of rain in Los Angeles for like entire year, every year! The drought is serious business, and a boring one. When you don’t have it raining’ , You cannot dance in it, cannot sing in it, cannot photograph it, geesh!

But today you are in the luck. For the whole two reasons:

1 FD has this oasis of awesomeness called “studio Hill 7” aka the rain room.

2 We have the workshop on Wednesday Sept 12th from 6pm to 9pm to attend, called Rain Room Workshop.

Left (📷 by @igor_malakhov and Model @elizabethmarochok) shot at Hill 7 / , Right (📷 dappergeekpics and model @lenoxknight) shot at Hill 7

For the first hour, she will tackle technical topics such as the use of back lighting, how to work with dark backgrounds, use of gels, how to light the water and capture those perfect water drops and reflections, etc. Then, she will assist and guide you as you practice shooting in the rain with a professional model.

Here’s the plan:

– 6-7pm:
Intro on the Rain Room Techniques (and snacks/drinks)

– 7-9pm:
Shoot time with model assisted by Toma.

Here are few details about workshop:

Who?

Toma Kostygina INSTAGRAM WEBSITE

Toma Kostygina is an LA-based photographer originally from Siberia. She started her photography and production career shooting in night clubs in Russia. Her goal was to capture colorful lights, properly expose guests in one frame, and accomplish it all on a small mirrorless Canon camera. With thousands of hours spent on sets and at photo studios, Toma has gained experience in everything that you need to start working with studio lights. Photography masters and artists have always been her inspiration, so she decided to take her expertise to the next level. While attending Photo classes at Santa Monica college, she mastered the creation of custom sets and thorough production. From assisting on sets such as for Coca-Cola, Italian Vogue, GQ, Interview magazines, and Benefit cosmetics, she is now working with A-list photographers and magazines. Toma is always in search of new ways to enhance her skills and creativity. You will find her work bright, colorful, and conceptually rewarding, as illustrated in her collaboration on the Grammy-nominated Sofi Tukker or David Bowie Tribute.

What?

Learn how to light the set while working with water/rain
Things to avoid while on set/hazards
How to capture photographs “in the rain”

Where and when?

Hill Studios (FD Photo Studio Hill Location), September 12th, 2018, 6pm – 9pm.

How much?

Tickets are only $79 and we have 9 spots left!

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE!

Natural Light Photography by Daveed Benito

Artistic family of husband-photographer Daveed Benito and wife-model Kristi Veera continues to conquer FD stage-by-stage with their sexy, sensual photographs, taken in plain natural light. This time their target stage was Secret Loft – a perfect spot for urban, open natural looks.

Check out couple’s previous visit at stage Art 2.

Few words from Kristi about the experience at FD:

“It was an absolute pleasure to shoot at your secret loft location. My whole team loved it and the natural light is amazing there. [We] shot [it] with my husband Daveed Benito. He is a self-taught professional photographer and has been shooting for 12 years. We are Arizona based and love to travel and shoot whenever we can. LA is one of our favorite spots since there is so much beauty there. “

This session’s crew comprised of:

Photographer Daveed Benito

Model Kristi Veera

Our Secret Loft is located in the heart of Downtown LA. Featuring floor to ceiling windows with gorgeous urban city views, its windows are facing south-west, which provides different light patterns and effects inside the apartment. It also has a kitchen area with large dark quartz countertop that is also available for photo and video projects as well as shower/bathtub, hallway and bedroom area. Find out more about secret loft, prices, hot deals, and availability here!

How to Know You’ve Made It, with Vanessa Joy

In this episode amazing Vanessa Joy (via her awesome show “Breathe Your Passion” highlighted by AdoramaTV) aims to “make you feel really good about yourself”. With a few tips on how to make sure that the professional pursuit you have chosen is indeed the right pursuit for you, Vanessa attempts to help you reinforce your determination, success and hopefully overall happiness in life.

Let’s start with

SETTING YOUR GOALS

One of the obvious, yet still most effective tips to determine your success is setting the goals, and achieving it. Your goals have to be precise, like “this month I will have 10 clients” or “this week I will produce 100 photographs”, etc.

Otherwise if your goal is too vague and doesn’t have the quantitive aspect, how can you know for sure if you ever reached it? too avoid making vague goals watch for words like “more”, “better” “higher” and replace them with a definite number instead.

Keep good records of your progress each week, month, year. Every week make it a habit to come back to your previous year’s stats and try to exceed whatever goal you had exact same week last year.

WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS?

Ultimately you have to decide what it success for you.Yes, your business might look like it is successful, but more importantly what does your life look like while your business is successful? If you booked 20 weddings this year, is it a success? Or is 40 weddings per year considered to be a success? Each individual will find his own comfortable level of success to aim for. And if your number is unbelievably high – good. Break it down into several “stages of success”, i.e. if you want to have 100 clients per year, break it into “30 clients first year, 50 clients second year”, etc. Don’t try to conquer Mt. Everest right away. Learn to walk before you can run.

ARE YOUR CLIENTS HAPPY?

If you are constantly getting great reviews from your clients online, you are on the right track. This is a clear indication that your craft, your product creates a real value for people. And when you do create a lot of value for society, not only your business will be successful but your life will be filled with joy and self-satisfaction.

DID YOU QUIT YOUR DAY JOB YET?

If you haven’t yet, hang in there. If you did, congratulations! That is a clear indication that you’ve already stepped on the right track to “make it”. We all know how hard it is to work 80 hours a week, doing hateful 9-5 and then catching up on stuff you actually like – photography. Putting in long working hours will pay off. However make sure that this workload is temporary and should last no more than 2-3 years. Nobody works 80 hours a week for decades, and even if somebody does, what is the joy in that?

BE BORED.

Did you know that the more bored you are, the more opportunity you allow yourself to be creative and to come up with new ideas? Be successful enough to have time to be bored.

AND THE LAST SECRET IS… THERE IS NO SECRET.

It all comes down to “why?” Why have you decided to pursue photography? Do you support your family with it? Do you crave for public recognition or fame? Being honest with yourself about your true motivation will open you up like an open book and will show clear roadmap to how to get it, like on gps.

Watch the full episode with Vanessa Joy and Adorama TV:

Stage UPGRADE: Hill 1 + rolling silver/gold background

Natural light photo studio with high-gloss white floors available for rental in Los Angeles

Another perk was added to stage Hill 1. A rolling flat background, with 8’x8′ size metallic gold/silver texture now is available to you at no cost!

As any of our stages, Hill 1 comes equipped with 3 strobe lights and modifiers as well as backdrop paper of black, white and grey color.

Take a closer look on our WEBSITE and check what equipment and other perks are included in this stage’s rent.