Intro by Skip Cohen

One of the things photographers working with Profoto have always talked about is the quality of light, but now with the B1, the "game changer", there's portability and as photographer, Maneki Neko talks about, TTL. I love this particular video because there's so much great content, all from the photographer's perspective.

The complete blog post is just a click away, along with more images from the shoot as well as Maneki Niko's website and additional work.

Images copyright Maneki Neko. All rights reserved.

Intro by Skip Cohen

The Profoto blog is loaded with great content, especially in their archives. I love posts where we get a sneak peek inside the head of the artist. Fashion photographer, Rossella Vanon, takes you through how she created the shot in this post by Fredrik Franzen from the Profoto archives.

There's so much great information just a click of you mouse away. Check out Profoto's blog, complete with webinars, blog posts, great archives and the latest in new product information!

by Fredrik Franzén


Fashion photographer Rossella Vanon has created a smoking hot, eye-catching portrait. Want to learn how she did it? 

Ask a bunch of established photographers for advice, and many of them will tell you to spend more time on your personal projects. Letting your creativity run free is a great way to remind yourself why you fell in love with photography in the first place. More importantly, you might just come up with some clever ideas that you can apply to your commercial work.

London-based fashion photographer Rossella Vanon’s smoking hot portrait is a clear evidence of that. This particular personal project started when an American model friend who was visiting London and wanted to update her portfolio contacted Rossella. By coincidence, an Australian makeup artist contacted her at the same with the same inquiry. So the three decided to get together and do something out of the ordinary.

Said and done – the model brought the look, the makeup artist added bronze makeup and reptile-like details, and Rossella brought, as expected, the color and the light.

“I used five lights for this shot,” says Rossella. “I had three D1 monolights and two speedlights. The speedlights were positioned in a 45° angle behind the model, one on each side. The one to the left had a yellow color gel, while the other had a green gel. See the yellow light on her shoulders, neck and hand? That’s the left speedlight. The green light from the right can be seen in her palm and on her shoulder.

“I had two D1 monolights positioned in front of the model mirroring the position of the speedlights. The D1 to the left side was equipped with a dark blue gel, while the one on the right had a lighter blue gel. You can see the effect if you compare the model’s front and back.

“The main light was a D1 equipped with a Softbox RFi 1,3×2′. The softbox was positioned camera left so that the light hit the model straight in the face. The light from the softbox was the only white light and it toned down the colors wherever it hit the subject. This was necessary, as I didn’t want her to be as blue in the face as on her back. The soft light also has the effect that the colors blended ever nicer with each other.

“Finally, I think it’s worth mentioning that the black background was chosen to not have too much color spill there. You can see a little bit of blue light there. But that much is enough. I think it looks cool like that.”

See more images by Rossella Vanon at her website.

Intro by Skip Cohen

I can't think of a better way to launch a new year in the Profoto Showcase than to share three videos about Gregory Heisler that Profoto put together a few years ago. The information is timeless, as is Gregory's incredible skill set. He's one of the most respected artists in our industry, but it's not just his technique that's created the legend, but Gregory's heart and non-stop spirit of giving back to the industry.

In 2009 I was fortunate to work with Gregory for three weeks straight, doing portfolio review together at Hallmark Institute. We really had a chance to get to know each other and as we headed out to dinner one night, which happened to be my birthday, Gregory suggested he should do my portrait. At this point it's getting a little outdated, but when you have a head shot by Heisler, you just don't want to let it go! 

In those three weeks of publicly judging the portfolios of each student, often taking over an hour, I learned so much from Gregory. It was an incredible experience to work with him and to find out some of the photo-heritage we shared, going back to my early Hasselblad days.

If you don't have his newest book in your library, you're missing one of the most beautiful books about portraiture that's been published. Gregory takes you through his thought process on each image and it becomes not only a fine art table top book, but a resource to understand what it truly means to NEVER compromise on the quality of an image.  That's also where Profoto comes into the story. There are no compromises in the quality of any Profoto piece of equipment.

Thanks to Profoto, these three videos take you through the Gregory Heisler story and definitely give you a great profile of who is Gregory Heisler.  But, I'll add one more piece to the story - if you see him on any venue as a speaker, RUN don't walk to get a seat. Gregory is about motivation, inspiration, quality, technique and above all passion - for his work, his friends and the industry!