Summary:

In this FotoTV film, photographer and lecturer, Rudiger Schestag continues his discussion about renaissance portrait photography.

In the first film, Schestag gave viewers a practical step-by-step shooting on how to go about recreating a scene that is likened to the masters of renaissance painting. This second film is more of a “making of” and an analysis of renaissance painter, Angelo Broncino’s work.

Schestag uses the master painter’s work as a guideline of reference to use in his own photography. Schestag discusses the posing of his models at great deal as it is one of the most important aspects when recreating a renaissance portrait shooting. He tries to come as close as possible to the portrait poses of the renaissance period. Most subjects had to sit for hours, if not repeatedly over a course of days for the painter. Renaissance portraits were most made in ateliers using the light from windows or skylights. To simulate the grandeur of renaissance paintings, Schestag chooses soft side lighting with 190cm octo-box. It is also a lighting technique that modulates the models face exceptionally well. Another highlight of the shooting is the hair and make-up and wardrobe, or lack thereof.

Schestag has his stylist recreate a typical hairstyle of that period, with the middle part being very straight, giving emphasis to a high forehead, curiously feature that was in fashion at that time. Instead of using costumes, Schestag uses cloth to drape over his model. This allows him to concentrate on the character of the model rather than the clothes. It is very interesting watching him work with the model, directing her to pose like a semi-nude renaissance noblewoman and the results are beautiful. Transposing the elegance of the renaissance period to modern time.

Summary:

In this FotoTV film, photographer Urs Recher discusses at length how to create a typical beauty portrait using atypical harsh lighting. In his first installment on portrait shooting, "The size of the light source", Recher discussed the difference between various sizes of light sources and incremental distances to the subject.

The main emphasis of today's film is that of modulating the face to bring out its three-dimensional characteristics. Recher achieves this by creating two distinct shadows along his model's face using a light modulator, resulting in multiple gradations from light to dark. Typically, a beauty shot is known to most as having a set-up with a large soft box placed close to the subject to create an even, soft and almost non-existent shadow. But Recher does the exact opposite in that he uses harsh lighting, which produces stylistic, sexy results on model Julia's striking face. Another important aspect of the film is the model's make-up and industry standards regarding booking models for shoots. Recher gives a comprehensive breakdown of Julia's make-up technique and application and shares important tips and tricks to enhance the beauty aspect of the shoot.

This film is a treasure trove of information for photographers interested in portrait and beauty shooting. Recher's photos are absolutely stunning and he teaches the one most important thing about photography; Photographers will never create anything remarkable if they don’t experiment and try new things.

Photographer Urs Recher has been involved in photography for a good 17 years. He is responsible for all the advertisement photography for Broncolor, Visatec, and for Kobold which are daylight, halogen and tungsten lamps.

Summary:

We are standing inside a shabby, dirty courtyard. Whereever you look, you see metal shavings, rusty wires and iron bars on the floor.

It is hard to imagine, that this place is an ideal scenery for a photo shoot. But here he comes, Martin Krolop, the man who can shoot everywhere. He places a brand new Yellow Corvette in the Yard with a beautiful model in front. Within some minutes everything is illuminated with flashes and this seemingly dirty courtyard is gleaming now in new splendor.

In this film, Martin Krolop declares his lighting setup and gives some tips on successful positioning of the model.