Getting the HERO SHOT + How to WIN £3K Of Photography Gear!
It’s official, this year we’re going to be at the biggest UK event of the year for photographers: The Photography & Video Show 2025! The only thing is, we need an image for our stand. Here’s the process of how we planned and captured the TSOP ‘hero shot’, PLUS find out how you could win £3K of Photography Gear!
The Brief for The Hero Shot
Firstly, what is a ‘Hero shot’? A ‘hero shot’ is the stand-out image for your company or product. The intention for our hero image is for it to be the main image on our website banner and the background image for our stand at The Photography and Video Show – it’ll end up being printed 6ft tall and seen by ten’s of thousands. So in this image we want to encompass everything we do here at TSOP. The aim is to create something, timeless, classic and undeniably about photography. This image will also be the one we use for all our marketing material for the show!
Victorian fashion was inspiration for our hero shot.
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The Equipment for The Hero Shot
For this shoot, we’ve set up a studio and are using flashheads with double diffused softboxes attached, and a textured backdrop. As a prop, we’ve sourced a vintage camera (£4 from eBay!)!
Want to know more about studio lighting? Learn more in our Studio Photography Course.
Here’s the full equipment list:
Fujifilm X-T50 and XF F1 50mm Lens
Fujifilm X-T50 and XF 50mm f1 Lens
We’re going to use the actual camera model that you could win in our giveaway at the Photography and Video Show (Details Below). Kindly provided by Fujifilm, the X-T50. This APS-C body currently retails for around £1,149 and it’s beautiful. It is a lovely little camera for beginners and photography enthusiasts alike. The one you could win will come with the XF16-50mm lens, but for this photo shoot, we will be using the XF 50mm f1 prime lens that Fujifilm has sent us to try out.
Find out how you could be in with a chance of winning this and more in our Photography and Video Show Giveaway – details below!
Bowens studio lights with softbox attached
Flash head with double diffused softbox
There are two different types of softbox that we might use for this shoot, the first being a standard rectangular softbox that is double diffused on a studio flash head. We’ll also introduce a grid softbox later in the shoot as we experiment with lighting the shot to add more of a dramatic flair.
Using a big white reflector and a silver reflector
Reflectors
We’re going to be using a large simple white reflector to fill in the shadows of the face and may also use a silver or white reflector underneath Rosie to bounce light back into the face.
Hair light placed low down to light the smoke
Hair light
We also opted to use 2 other light later on in the shoot. One as a hair light and one as back light.
Steaming the fabric backdrop to remove any creases
Backdrop
As we’re going for a classic vintage look, we’re going to be using a brownish textured backdrop that works with the vibe that we’re going for. The one we’re using is from KateBackdrop.
Smoke in a can
Atmosphere in A Can
Atmosphere in a can is a quick and easy (and relatively cheap) way to add some smoke to your shots. The plan for this is to spray this behind Rosie to add more texture to the shot – we’ll also use a background light, so it shines through the smoke to enhance this effect.
Settings For The Hero Shot
As we teach in our Studio Lighting course, you’ll want to do a lighting test to get the correct exposures when you’re working in a studio. You can use a handheld light meter to get the correct settings. After doing some tests our settings are:
1/125th second
f/5.6
ISO 125
When you’re using studio lighting, you’ll also need to set your White Balance to Flash.
f/5.6, 1/125th second, ISO 125. The initial test shot.
The initial image is not a bad start – it’s clear and well-lit. Now we’re going to see how we can experiment to make this better and more eye-catching!
Want to master the basics? Check out our Beginner’s Photography Course here.
Experimentation For The Hero Shot
For the experimentation part of the hero shot shoot we wanted to experiment with different accessories then we will consider changing the lights and costume.
Working with Models - 4 Killer Tips.
Next we add a hair light. This is going to highlight the left of the face. You need to make sure you use barn doors to stop the light from going where you don’t want it.
Adding a hair light.
The result of adding the hair light.
For the next experiment, we’re going change the reflector to black to block the reflection of light on the left of the body. This will give a more dramatic lighting effect.
Result of using the black side of the large reflector to block the reflection of light onto Rosie.
We added a grid to a softbox to channel the light further. We then added a bounce reflector beneath the body fill in some shadow areas on the face. It’s not made a huge amount of difference, but it’s significant enough to tell.
Top Tip: When changing lighting accessories, make sure you do another exposure test.
The Hero Shot
Now to add some more texture to the shot. We add some smoke and add a light behind Rosie shine through the smoke. This adds texture to the background of the image. Beware if you’re shooting indoors as it gets super smoky, very quickly!
Adding the atmosphere in a can to the shot.
The smoke completely filled the studio!
Attempt 1:
An earlier attempt of adding smoke to the shot.
Attempt 2:
A final shot of Rosie with the smoke added. This one is a really strong contender for the hero shot!
After waiting for the studio to air out, we decided to try this again, but this time with even more smoke! What do you think? Which is your favourite?
The Final Shot:
The final hero shot that we’ll be printing onto our stand at The Photography and Video Show 2025!
Here’s the final edited image that we have chosen for our hero shot. You’ll be able to see it printed 6ft tall at our stand (F185) at The Photography and Video Show in March. And as the banner image on our website!
Win 3K Photography Gear
Come and visit at stand F185 for your chance to win £3k of photography gear!
Want to be in with a chance of winning £3k of photography gear including the Fujifilm X-T50 that we used to get this shot? Visit us at The Photography and Video Show from the 8th to the 11th of March 2025 on stand F185 to enter!
Here’s the full list of what you can win:
Manfrotto BeFree Advanced AS Lever Aluminuim Tripod
That’s not all that we’ve got going on during the Photography and Video Show, we’ll also be putting on special talks from our photographers and have an EXCLUSIVE show offer for those who visit our stand – not to be missed!
Our Talks:
“A Photographer’s Exploration of Purpose” Sujata Setia, Sat 8th March, 2.45PM, Beyond The Lens Stage.
“Scroll Stopping Street Photography” Mr Whisper, Sun 9th March, 11.05AM, Beyond The Lens Stage
“How To Process Spring Forest Photography” Jack Lodge, Sun 9th March, 1.00PM, Stand F185
“Astrophotography For Beginners” Ben Bush, Tues 11th March, 1.45PM, Stand F185
“The Beginner Photography Road Map - Your Path To Success” Marc Newton, 8th, 10th, 11th March 11am | Sun 9th March 3.30PM
Get 20% off entry tickets using code SOP25. Click here to get your tickets
We’ll see you at the show!
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