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Creating wind blown hair
I am sure there is a thread somewhere on this. If so I appologise for a new one. I was curious what some other photographers use to create the wind blown hair in studio. Can someone provide suggestions and price ranges? Nov 29 09 04:39 pm Link I bought a low-profile, extremely powerful fan at Sam's Club 3 or 4 years ago for about $39.00. Works great and can be aimed/angled. Nov 29 09 04:42 pm Link Andrew Kirchner wrote: I made mine out of an vac motor. Cost me about three dollars. Its small and very powerful. ITs on a long cord so I can move it anywhere and clamp it down with spring clips. Nov 29 09 04:46 pm Link If the scene is right you can just have them lay backward over a table: https://www.modelmayhem.com/1389823 Nov 29 09 04:49 pm Link open a window on a windy day? (; Nov 29 09 04:55 pm Link Got a $27 electric leaf blower at WallyWorld and plugged it into a router speed control box ($15 at Harbor Freight tools). Mounted it on wood and mounted that to a cymbal stand so I can change height and angle. Use with or without the extension nozzle. Works great. I can create a whisper or a tornado and aim it precisely with the nozzle in place. Only problem is it's pretty freakin LOUD if I turn it more than 1/2 way up. Nov 29 09 04:55 pm Link Gr8 advice...thankyou. I just wasnt sure if a normal house/box fan would be powerful enough Nov 29 09 04:57 pm Link Mark Laubenheimer wrote: LOLOL Way too funny!!!!! Nov 29 09 04:59 pm Link invite rush limbaugh over... any fan will work i have been thinking electric leaf blower for a while now Nov 29 09 05:00 pm Link Andrew Kirchner wrote: The one I got @ Sam's out-blows a box fan X10. Nov 29 09 05:02 pm Link Alfiere wrote:
Nov 29 09 05:02 pm Link Nov 29 09 05:04 pm Link No matter what fan you use.. a key is to avoid getting too much air in the models eyes (dries them out) .. I took a plastic dinner plate and put it in the center of my cyclone fan so the air blew around it, keeping the air flow down enough to avoid giving the model a hard time. Nov 29 09 05:04 pm Link fans, and lots of fans... It's not just having something powerful, it's also moving the volume of air it takes to not only make things move, but keep things moving. IMO I'd go for a huge barn fan, or a few of those (like what was mentioned above) Nov 29 09 05:06 pm Link GM Photography wrote: Just like mine, but a different brand. Works like a charm - even from 10+ feet away. Nov 29 09 05:08 pm Link Blowing hair is not as easy as it sounds because the hair has a strong tendency to go into the dead air zone behind the head and drop down there with just a few flying sprigs remaining. If it is for just the head, an electric leaf blower can be used but be forewarned that it is very noisy. Have someone control the fan, shutting it off in between different poses so that the model can hear instructions and so everyone involved won't have the urge to put their hands over their ears. Putting the hose on the output instead of the input end of a vacuum cleaner can be effective also but the smell of dust may be off putting. The airflow needs to be strong to have a chance to be effective. The model can close the eyes to at least slits between shots to thwart drying. Instruct her to open the eyes as soon as she hears "open" and then close again after the flash. This does not work well with photographers that shoot like they are operating a machine gun. If you are blowing not only the hair but fabric, a strong fan with multiple speed control is the best. However, it is surprising how quickly a model who was comfortable with the room temperature will be chilled down in the blower wind. Nov 29 09 05:47 pm Link I had an assistant use a reflector and waved it. electric powered fans would do too  just make sure that it's not too strong it does create watery or squinty eyes.Nov 29 09 06:14 pm Link GM Photography wrote: I use one of those too...works great. I've "Jerry-rigged" this to a metal plate using industrial strength Velcro. The metal plate has a hole with a 1/4-20 nut spot welded to it. I can then place the entire rig onto an old P.O.S. tripod and use the tripod head to direct it and make adjustments. I've done the same thing with a leaf blower. If using a leaf blower, buy the cheapest you can find, because it's easy to have it be too powerful...(so the advice about a router speed control unit might make sense). Nov 29 09 06:18 pm Link if the hair is long enough, I usually use the help of another person to pull it, you can use a clothes hanger, or a nylon cord. Have both under the hair, then ask your assistant to pull it to the side, then shoot... or if you want something thats really controllable, a hand toss would also works. But if you just need a simple wind blown effect, I also use a good industrial fan then a strong blower to add more control Nov 29 09 06:26 pm Link I've got a pedestal fan I got on sale. If you need to work outside the studio, do a search for "cordless leaf blower". An inexpensive trick for a light breeze if you've got an assistant is to have them near the model and make an upwards swoosh with a reflector panel. You'll get the timing after a couple of tries. Nov 29 09 07:16 pm Link What about a Hair dryer (set to cool)? An assistant could hold it out of the shot, or could be clamped onto a lightstand. May 08 12 05:52 am Link Plastic fan from Wal-Mart. $20 May 08 12 06:03 am Link I just saw this done yesterday and it worked great. They were renting my studio for a video. An electric leaf blower. Very narrow strong direction airflow. Move closer or farther to change the strength. It was awesome, and I've got a really good fan system and this will be added to my studio shortly. I asked about it and they said the saw it in a sports illustrated shoot. May 08 12 06:11 am Link Unless you have someone controlling the fan so that it can only be used right at the point of capture, look for some type of foot switch type of power control so you can turn it on an off when needed, else it does get irritating to the eyes and can be a wear and tear on a model if it is on all the time. The quieter the fan the better, less mental fatigue due to noise pollution. I use a fan that has a base and the fan sits up approximately 3' off the floor, with a tilt so the fan can be aimed up or down. There are also wireless remote control light switches that can be used to turn it on and off from a remote in your pocket or taped to a tripod. May 08 12 06:42 am Link http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/produc … 5e_300.jpg http://www.homedepot.com/Appliances-Hea … reId=10051 I use several fans. Giant movie ones to small ones like the above as well as the Elinchrom one. The lasko fans (as well as the stanley one) are great. Small, lightweight and the wind can be directed very well. They can also double as power extensions. Very nice for daisy chaining or to blow a hair dryer through them to warm up the air. May 08 12 01:10 pm Link GM Photography wrote: I have this because of you actually! (or at least I think you've posted that before) I love it! May 08 12 01:14 pm Link This is what we use, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2 … chine.html We also use cine-foil to shape the wind May 08 12 01:48 pm Link GM Photography wrote: Same here... used it on this shot of Kayla in the SM studios white cove... May 08 12 01:54 pm Link Assistant with a pro quality hair dryer on a long cord. (would love to say I thought of that, but got it from Sue Bryce) I'm amazed at how much better it works than the other methods I've used before. (a little perk - you can control the temp of air you are throwing at your model. Sometimes that can make a difference in the expressions you get out of them. If you stick them somewhere cold it's waaaaayyy easier to look sexy if you have a stream of warm air hitting you.) May 08 12 02:44 pm Link we already have quite large fans with variable speeds in the studio, for keeping the model comfortable (and the makeup dry lol) - handy for hair blowing as well..... though I do prefer to employ it gently and strategically.....  May 08 12 02:52 pm Link Ideally I'd have a 3-5 foot barn fan. It's not really about the speed all that much, but the size of the wind. A leaf blower, while great for speed, really doesn't have the size of movement that's needed to really get hair going and keep it going. Someone waving around a piece of foamcore does, but doesn't have the speed to keep it up or get things sideways.  5 fans and about 40 shots to get the 4 I needed to stitch together.  4 or 5 fans and about 30 shots to get the 2-3 I needed to make that image. Andrew Thomas Evans www.andrewthomasevans.com May 08 12 04:52 pm Link Don't know if this has been mentioned, but if you are doing a head-on type of shot and you just want the blown (non-directional) fashion look, blow upwards not backwards. Have the fan low to blow the hair up, not face-level to blow the hair back. May 08 12 05:11 pm Link My wife's hair blow dryer at the shop. We had some fun.  Wow to Kayla! Thanks Gary. May 08 12 05:18 pm Link GM Photography wrote: This is how I roll too. May 08 12 05:21 pm Link Mickey Rountree wrote: Second the leaf blower, works great. I'm partial to the Toro 2spd. Just make sure the model doesn't wear contacts and that you have some eye drops handy. May 08 12 05:45 pm Link MMR Digital wrote: You're welcome... here's another hairblown shot using that same $39 Stanley fan... May 08 12 06:15 pm Link S de Varax wrote: what a workout that must've been O_O May 08 12 09:46 pm Link SAG Photography wrote: Only in professional photography do you get $1000 solutions to $50 problems. I'm sure it does what it's designed to do but a grand for a metal blade driven by a motor inside a coffee can with a variable resistor and a remote on off switch? Damn! That's some good marketing there. May 09 12 10:31 am Link haven't tried this yet but i know some folks use a blowdryer. unwarmed air can be kind of chilling for the model. we have a couple fans we got at the hardware store that we use but in order to get enough hair movement sometimes the poor model's eyes dry out. May 09 12 11:02 am Link there's a guy locally who has one he got on eBay. it's way cool! but, yeah, kind of gross overkill. 95536 wrote: May 09 12 11:03 am Link |
