Behind the scenes video Feat. Ophélie Ferrand
Back to the good old straightforward "Behind the scenes " video. No talking, straight to the point, and showing you what goes behind the lens on a photoshoot session with me!
I have been working more and more with Fitness models lately and never really had time to experiment with a few basic accessories on the first ones. Yes, there is nothing revolutionary in using Colored smoke in your photography, and it is tough and a real challenge to make something truly original and interesting these days.
Usually, my sports pictures perform less than my dance work so I was surprised to see so many people react to the short Behind the scenes clip I posted the next day on my IG.
This picture summarizes pretty much what I wanted to create, something epic, colorful, with a strong confident woman! The smoke had to be massive, and this is something I rarely see in other photographers' work, and now that I've tried, I understand why. These Smoke Grenades, last between 30 to 120 seconds, which is really short.
Plus, the smell is strong, and you must use them outdoors or in an open space protected from the wind. I hate not having control and playing with these is a mess! I've worked with smoke machines before ( A new chapter !) and I've had mixed results. I haven't tried them all but it should happen soon.
You have probably seen a few of my attempts with smoke grenades in the past, and one, in particular, happened in the same place we used for this one.
We are in Toulouse, inside la Cartoucherie, not inside la "Grande halle" but in the "Petites halles" this time. I must thank the Staff of this amazing place and Pierre Olivier in particular for letting me create in this huge place.
This place is great for smoke work because the wind is almost stopped by the remaining walls of these abandoned factories and the huge holes in the roof let the smoke escape. We had just enough time to try a few shots with flying fabrics again ( Make epic dance photos with flying fabrics!). I had the chance to have a small team with me to help me manipulate the different props.
I will go back on some of the techniques I used here in a near future, but for now, I leave you with my lighting setups and camera settings! After this session, I cannot imagine shooting fitness models without a few accessories!
Huge thanks to my helping hands, Mélanie, Marion, and my loving partner Marlène.
Have you ever used smoke in your work? How and why? Let me know! Will share with you a few more thoughts on this really soon, hope to have inspired some of you with this one.