Working the Land

It's great to get out there and work on your own projects, but it is even greater to share them with friends. Last Sunday afternoon I went to an allotment with my good friend Glyn to shoot Vince working the land. It was a perfect afternoon; not too sunny but not too cold either.
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Vince #1

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Here is the set up shot...

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Vince #1 set up

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As you can see the day was bright, so the first thing we did was kill the ambient, at least take it down to where we wanted it. Vince was then iluminated by a single SB800 shooting through a white umbnrella, the umbrella is there in the photo but has burnt out against the sky. This technique is easier to see in the following shot...

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Vince #2

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We then moved into the shed (that Vince and Glyn built) and took this shot. The first thing to do was set the ambient light level. I knew I wanted the sky to show through the window. I set the D200 to 1/250 at f5.6 at ISO 100 (this is generally my starting point).

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                                           Vince #2 (window ambient only)                                             

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I then tweak the camera setting to get the picture I want, this shot is to get the sky right. We then have to illuminate Vince. We added a single SB800 outside the shed firing through the window, set at about half power or so. The settings aren't too important; just start off at your highest camera / flash sync speed, the flash at 1/2 power and tweak from there. The single light was great on Vince's face, but the lower part of the shed needed a small burst, so we added in another SB800 to just give a little separation to the bottom of the picture and balance it up.

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Vince #2 set up

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Here is the set up shot; that's me outside the shed and the SB800 on a stand with a shoot through umbrella and triggered by pocket wizards; quick, easy, fun.

A great Sunday afternoon shoot; a big thanks to 'Vince the Hat' and Glyn too, for taking the set up shots, because I can't hold two cameras at once and take two shots from different places...quite.. You can see his pictures of the shoot here. We then retired to the warmth of a local pub for a swift pint... here's to the next shoot... 

Project 52 ... 47

This is Danny. Danny is a professional model whom I met through my good friend Glyn.
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Danny #1,

D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB800 camera right, gridspot

This shot was taken in Windsor in a railway underpass in the middle of the day last December. It was part of a workshop with Glyn, (check out his website here) on using one light to take great photographs. We had a gridspot on the flash to give the spotlight effect with the light edge falling away nicely. With a shot like this the first thing to do is to get rid of all the ambient light, or as much of it as you want to, and then add back the light with your flashes, where you want it and how you want to control it.
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Danny #2

We then took a series of portraits shots closer to Danny and again to get a photograph of him isolated completely from the background. The camera was set to 1/250th, the max sync speed of the D200 and the f-stop at about f5.6, ISO 100, and then I tweaked the settings from there, but that is usualy my startinf point. There is practically no manipulation needed in photoshop, just a few minor tweaks.

Here is the set up shot when Glyn was explaining the technique

As you can see from the set up shot the ambient light was quite high, it was about 3:oopm or so, but with this technique we can control this and get amazing photographs,in camera, with one light, and no photoshop tricks.
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Katy with Flute

Here is the same technique with Katy. A single umbrella, low power on the flash, max sync speed on the camera and f5.6 or so. All the lights were on in the room, but with a shutter speed of 1/250th it killed it all.

A big thank you to Danny for being such a good model and patient with all of us on the day and to Glyn for imparting his knowledge and of course to Katy for always being there when I need a model!

Project 52 ... 46

Say hello to Paul, a neighbour, father, husband and all around good laddie!

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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB 800 shoot thro' camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridspot, camera right.

Apart from the fact that both of our daughters go to Brownies, (when you become a parent that's where all your new friends come from - school, Brownies, clubs...you are no longer an individual; now you become part of the greater collective known as 'parents') But Paul and I share something else; a fine appreciation of Jack Vettriano paintings. Paul is lucky enough to have a few, and here he is pictured in front of two of them. And I should say he is a Scot too...

For this shot I wanted to portray a hard edged Vettriano type picture as a photograph; film noir and gritty. This is the kind of photograph I like, and the low angle I shot at gives a very hard edge effect to the picture, I like the shadow falling on the wall over the two pictures, it makes you think about them...

Thank you Paul for being such a good sport, oh, and, er,...are you doing the Brownies collection this week...?

See the set up shot here...

Sherie, Miss Swindon 2009

I had the wonderful opportunity of photographing Sherie, Miss Swindon 2009, last Autumn and what a shoot that was. We had two sessions, an indoor one in the morning (while it was raining) and an outdoor one later one in the afternoon, when it was colder, but not raining.
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Sherie at Ashton Court, Bristol, #1

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Sherie at Ashton Court, Bristol, #2

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The outdoor shots were taken with the camera, a Nikon D200 set to manual, 1/200th and the aperture at about f5.6. The lighting was by two SB900's set to half and quarter power to give a bit of definition; a classic lighting ratio and it worked really well with Sherie, accentuating her natural beauty.
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The shots could have been done with one light, but given that Sherie was halfway up the steps, (sios, ag dul anios - if your Irish) getting the light elevated high enough would have been difficult. My good friend Glyn Dewis, you can see his blog here, is giving a series of photographic workshops on using one light this year, be sure to check it out.
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Sherie at Ashton Court, Bristol, #3

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The session went really well and the blue dress and purple tights were perfect for the time of year and the shoot. Sherie really had her eye on the ball and chose the perfect outfit for the day.

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Sherie at Ashton Court, Bristol, #4

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Sherie was shot with Pat and Adam, two other 'Bristol Strobist's' I teamed up with last year. A great day was had by all. We are at the moment trying to set up a 'January' shot and hope to shoot it early next month... yeah, I know it'll be February then, but the snow and holidays stopped play! But we have a few good ideas, so watch this space.

I especially want to thank Sherie for being a great model and having patience in the cold Autumn afternoon, next time I'll bring a warm coat for you!