The Shaving Dutchman

Gear Talk

In this section I will be talking about the specific gear I use, both hardware and software. Also I will be covering my shooting technique to give you an idea on how that I achieve my signature look.

Gear

Camera

  • Nikon Z6 II Body
  • Nikon Z MC 50mm f/2.8
  • Nikon EH-7P Adapter

Tripod

  • Manfrotto 055XB Tripod
  • Manfrotto 410 3-Way Geared Pan / Tilt Head
  • Manfrotto 410PL Quick Release Plate

Remote trigger

  • Hähnel Captur Receiver
  • Hähnel Captur Module – Timer

Lighting

  • iPhone 11 with “Light Paint” App

Shooting mode

  • Manual focus
  • Bulb mode
  • Mostly f/11
  • ISO 100
  • Exposure ≅ 10s / 20s

Software

  • Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • DxO Nik Collection
  • Helicon Focus

Process

Shooting

  1. Stage the scene with all lights on. The lights help the camera with achieving a good focus.
  2. Setup the camera, get a good focus on the subject, then switch from AF to MF.
  3. Switch on remote receiver and trigger module, switch to long exposure (I usually use a 10 to 20 seconds interval).
  4. Start up your light painting app.
  5. Go dark.
  6. Use the trigger to fire off a shot and light paint the subject in the next 10 seconds.
  7. Repeat previous step until you have completed your desired lighting.

Post processing

  1. Load photos into Lightroom.
  2. Set lens profile and sync those settings to all photos.
  3. Load them into Photoshop as layers.
  4. Reverse the layer order and then auto-align all layers.
  5. Selectively, blend the different layers with the help of layer masking.
  6. Once you’re done with the previous step, merge all layers to one.
  7. I then mostly resize the canvas to a 16x9 ratio and use content-aware filling to fill in the sides.
  8. Create a new layer and use that for the healing brush to work non-destructively.
  9. Once all cleaned up, flatten image, save and return to Lightroom.
  10. Edit the photo in RAW Presharpener, I use the default settings.
  11. Edit the photo in DFine, U use the default settings.
  12. Edit the photo in Viveza, do all color corrections here.
  13. Edit the photo in Color Effex Pro, I mostly use Pro Contrast, Bleach Bypass, Detail Enhancer, Tonal Contrast and Dark / Lighten Center.
  14. Edit the photo in Output Sharpener, I usually use it around 15-20% output sharpening.
  15. In Lightroom, make some final retouches.
  16. Edit the photo in Photoshop for the final time for the occasional extra cleanup.
  17. Back in Lightroom, go to the Library mode, supply the correct tags and name the picture. Then export the picture in your favorite format.