André Düxmann (39) and his girlfriend Janine Gwinner (42) from Solingen have been photographing portraits, street photography, light painting, and lost places for over ten years with DSLRs and smartphones. André is responsible for DSLR photos, while Janine primarily uses her smartphone – both at a high level. Recently, they have been using Rollei's Lumen Sticks for their portraits, with which they create absolutely stunning images. In an interview, André Düxmann reveals some tips and tricks, the setup of the photos, and what they particularly like about the Lumen Sticks.
Rollei: André, how did you become aware of Rollei products and what do you like about them?
André: We taught ourselves photography and watched many YouTube videos or read blogs. We also worked a lot with light painting, so we naturally needed good lights. If you do a lot of research, you come across Stephan Wiesner's YouTube channel. That's why we ordered the Lumen Sticks because we wanted them specifically for portrait photography and for creative and interesting pictures. What excited us about them is that the lights simply have a lot of power. During the shoots, we didn't even have them at full power, and we didn't need to, because they get really bright. And besides the RGB function, with which you can work super creatively, it's practical that you can run them via power supply or battery. Just screw them onto a tripod, turn them on, and you're done. And the fact that you can also control them via app is a really big advantage.
What is important to you during shoots and what was your vision for your current shoot?
André: I've often seen pictures where a lot of Photoshop was used, making the image no longer natural, and I personally don't like that very much. I prefer to work with Lightroom and good lighting. The current shoot took place indoors, although I have to say that we work both indoors and outdoors for portraits. For the current shoot, the main focus this time was on beauty/editorial. At the same time, we also wanted to achieve a slightly darker look, which is why we also worked with a fog machine. The image should therefore have a glamorous, but also a slightly dark feel.
Can you tell us something about your setup?
André: For this shoot, we used, among other things, V-Flat reflectors, which are very easy to fold and take with you. They have two sides, one of which reflects light well with a white coating, the other side in black absorbs light. We then formed a U with the reflectors and placed our model Lorena Bjelic inside. Of course, we made sure that Lorena had enough light from the left and right with the help of the Lumen Sticks. Then we placed the sticks in the U and put another reflector on the floor. In the first pictures, the lights are set up at a 45-degree angle to the left and right. We paid particular attention to the face being well divided in terms of color. So that one color is placed on the left and right and is also symmetrical. In the darker pictures, it's a blue-green-magenta tone, and in the picture with the finger on her mouth, we turned on the fog machine I mentioned earlier. The background was black there, and we let the light of the Lumen Sticks hit it from the sides.
What camera settings and hardware did you use?
André: Generally, I tend to shoot with a wide aperture on my DSLR to achieve a nice blur and bokeh in the background. So f/1.8 or even 2.8. Simply with a good average value, so that the center is sharp and becomes slightly less sharp towards the edges. I then do test shots first to see if the image is sharp enough and then check how high I need to set the ISO. For the test photos, I already only used the Rollei light, which was sufficient. As for hardware, Janine uses the Samsung Note 10 and S10 Plus, I myself use the Canon 6D and the Sony A73. Of course, I change lenses and cameras as needed.
The lenses used were the Sony 50mm f1.8, 24-70mm; from Canon the 50mm f1.4 and from Sigma the 35mm f1.4.
You already said a little something about post-processing earlier. How was it in this case?
André: Exactly, so I mainly use Lightroom, and Janine also uses Lightroom on her smartphone. After Lightroom, I go to Photoshop, but there I only remove small imperfections, add a little light, introduce some shadows, and make sure the eyes are perfect. What I also do in Photoshop is adjust the colors a bit more, which is better done there through selective color correction than in Lightroom. The glitter effects, of course, we only did with makeup; nothing was shopped.
And what would be your final conclusion on our Lumen Sticks?
André: You can really only recommend them. They allow for truly creative lighting, they are super mobile, and the battery life is also really long. Really great lights!
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