Behind the scenes potrait photoshoot

"home sessions" feat. Maeva K.

I couldn’t delete the rest of this, I thought you might want to see it. Initially, I just wanted to play with these apple boxes and capture a few shots… You saw a few images in my quick review of these apple boxes. We had so much fun that what was supposed to be a quick photoshoot, transformed into a full session, and here is the rest of it, another tiny home session, where I kinda changed the way I light my portraits.

Maeva is back in the building, months after our outdoor session for Fujifilm last year. We haven’t seen each other for a long time, so inevitably, this couldn’t have been a short one. I talked about this in a previous video, I am currently modifying my lighting approach for my portraits. Finding a way to have more control over my contrast, with a very simple setup.

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR

1/200sec f/1.7 ISO 50

I am working with the GFX100s coupled with both the GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR and GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR. I had on hand my usual strobes: the Godox AD1200 pro, AD600 pro, and AD300 pro.

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR

1/125sec f/3.5 ISO 50

I dialed down my contrast, by raising the ambient light and by changing the placement of my main light, moving it closer to my camera for a few shots. In the video I published 2 days ago, I used very different lights for all 3 sessions. During the session with Charlotte, I used continuous lights with a hard light for my key and a fill light. And for Maeva, I decided to work with strobes again, with a top light (AD300 pro) and, if you look behind me, I placed a big Silver reflector. This reflector isn’t working alone, I am projecting another flash on it (AD600 pro), which you should see in the BTS footage. My main light of course is the Godox QR-P90 Quick Release Parabolic Softbox, with the AD1200 pro blasting through it. This setup allows me to have more control over my ambient light, my shadows, and overall contrast.

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR

1/125sec f/3.5 ISO 50

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR

1/200sec f/1.7 ISO 50

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR

1/125sec f/3.5 ISO 50

I said it in my review of the PROAIM Apple boxes, accessories can really help your model to find poses and shapes. Maeva is an Ex-Gymnast and is now a contemporary dancer. These apple boxes gave her many options to express herself.

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR

1/200sec f/1.7 ISO 50

I went back and forth, trying to fight my old methods. I still love shooting "in the shadows", but maybe the lesson here is that having the option to finetune and have even more control over my lights is a solution I should favor in the future, especially in a controlled environment. More optionwheneverer possible is always a good thing. Tastes evolve over time, and so does my technique. My methods and approach will probably be different in the years to come.

Maeva K. (Toulouse - France)

Fujifilm GFX100s + GF 80 mm f/1,7 R WR

1/200sec f/1.7 ISO 50

Having my lights closer to the axis of my camera, something I usually avoid, gave my portraits a less dramatic look, at least compared to my usual work. But as the session progressed I slowly went back to my old ways. If you jump back to that session I made with Emma with the same backdrop, you will see how I approached the session differently.

The entire BTS video of my session with Clara will be an exclusive post on the blog in a few days. And the one with Charlotte will come a bit later on Youtube. I know I haven’t been consistent lately, but remember, and I’ve said it before, I am a photographer first, a filmmaker, and then YouTube is not far behind. But don't worry, I haven't planned on leaving the blog soon.