©Andrea Belluso

Andrea Belluso is an experienced photographer with more than three decades in the business. Over the years, Andrea has shot everything and everyone from supermodels and celebrities to fashion, beauty and stock photography. In addition, Andrea works as a light shaper evangelist at the Profoto headquarters in Stockholm.

Once a month Andrea shares one of his recently used setups. He is also available to answer any questions you might have. Just leave a comment or tweet us at @Profoto

This month’s setup: The Futuristic Setup

Perfect when: You want a futuristic, slightly eerie atmosphere.

But also whenever: You want an image dominated by dramatic shadows.

The assignment: When the Swedish men’s underwear company Liias asked me to do an inspirational campaign in a futuristic, Mad Maxish kind of style, I decided the overall feeling should be dominated by shadows. This to give it a modern but somewhat eerish atmosphere. Can you guess what tools I used to achieve this effect?

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©Andrea Belluso

Andrea Belluso is an experienced photographer with more than three decades in the business. Over the years, Andrea has shot everything and everyone from supermodels and celebrities to fashion, beauty and stock photography. In addition, Andrea works as a light shaper evangelist at the Profoto headquarters in Stockholm.

Once a month Andrea shares one of his recently used setups. He is also available to answer any questions you might have. Just leave a comment or tweet us at @Profoto

Setup: The Hazy Fashion Setup

Perfect when: You want to create a motion blur effect.

But also whenever: You want to shoot editorial type fashion and beauty video.

The assignment: I’d been curious about the ProDaylight since it was first introduced. Not so much for its obvious use in video, but for its potential applications in still photography. My impression was that the fact that ProDaylight allows me to use the same Light Shaping Tools that I’m used to would open up possibilities that normal HMI film lamps cannot provide. So, when Daisy Beauty Magazine asked me to do a hazy and slightly surreal beauty shoot, I decided it was time to give it a go. (more…)

©Andrea Belluso

Andrea Belluso is an experienced photographer with more than three decades in the business. Over the years, Andrea has shot everything and everyone from supermodels and celebrities to fashion, beauty and stock photography. In addition, Andrea works as a light shaper evangelist at the Profoto headquarters in Stockholm.

Once a month Andrea shares one of his recently used setups. He is also available to answer any questions you might have. Just leave a comment below or tweet us at @Profoto

SETUP #02: The Nippon Pop Setup

PERFECT WHEN: You want to bring out colors and details without sacrificing soft skin textures.

BUT ALSO WHENEVER: You want a light with a high output but soft shadows and smooth shapes.

THE ASSIGNMENT: I was recently contacted by M Magazine who wanted me to do a shoot inspired by the Swedish painter Manuela Vintilescu. She makes these beautiful, colorful portraits that look like a blend of manga and pop art. I thought it sounded like an exciting job and an interesting production and happily agreed to do it!

The first thing I did was to contact the art direction company JU’NK to discuss how the different themes should be handled. We also discussed the styling, the make-up, how to find a suitable doll-like model and, of course, the lighting.

THE SETUP: It soon became obvious that the perfect way to light these images would be to use a hard light with very soft shadows, lots of punch and color contrast. I also decided that I wanted only one light source and that it should be focused. So, what do you think I used?

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©Andrea Belluso

Andrea Belluso is an experienced photographer with more than three decades in the business. Over the years, Andrea has shot everything and everyone from supermodels and celebrities to fashion and beauty and stock photography. In addition, Andrea works as a light shaper evangelist at the Profoto headquarters in Stockholm. Once a month, starting today, Andrea will share one of his recently used setups. First up is his beauty portrait setup.

SETUP: The Beauty Portrait Setup.

PERFECT WHEN: You want a light that brings out the beauty rather than the character.

BUT ALSO WHENEVER: You want a soft light with depth and contrast.

THE ASSIGNMENT: When I was asked to shoot a fashion/beauty story featuring furs, I immediately thought of softboxes. My idea was to utilize the soft, even light to bring out the softness of the fur, so to speak. The fact that the client wanted something clean, young and fresh strengthened me in this conviction. As Profoto had just released the RFi softboxes, I figured this was as good a time as any to try them out. For the record, I am a big fan of softboxes. I love the soft shadows they create and how you can almost make shadows disappear with certain softboxes. The only thing I sometimes miss when using a softbox is a bit more depth and contrast, but I was hoping that the deeper shape of the new RFi softboxes would solve that issue. (more…)