Project 52 ... 37

Say hello to Ann.

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D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, SB800, shoot thro' camera left,

Vivitar 285 gridspot camera right

I have known for a short time but in that time have come to know how much she does for the local community. Here Ann is doing a jigsaw puzzle, no big deal, right? But it is when you add the next one and the next one and then find out its so that when they are sold on in charity shops they are full and correct and thats all thanks to Ann! She must have the patience of a Saint! A lovely lady she is always there with a smile and is also a great hostess.

For this shot I set up the SB800 in a shoot through umbrella to Ann's left and a Vivitar 285 with a gridspot to her right.

Thank you Ann, for having patience to sit for me, but I suppose if you have the patience to do jigsaw puzzles then me taking twenty minutes to set up and photograph you is a dawdle!

Project 52 ... 34

This is Morag.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, SB800, shoot thro', Vivitar 285 gridspot for hairlight

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Morag is a beautiful young lady with a bright future in ... Maths and Philosophy! Great subjects! She starts her university course this month, rather her than me! To mark the occasion we took a series of shots one Saturday morning of Morag and her Mother and Father. This can only be a difficult but very exciting time for both Morag and her parents.

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For this shot we had an SB800 in a shoot through umbrella to camera right, Morag in the middle and a Vivitar 285 to camera left and behind Morag giving a hairlight separation, and a nice bit of flare... This linear approach works very well and is very quick to set up.

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I want to thank Morag and her parents for being great people to photograph; we had a great laugh taking the shots. Morag, I wish you all the success and hope you enjoy university life! Oh, and don't forget... never divide by zero.

Project 52 ... 33

Say hello to Ria...
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB800 shoot thro' camera right, Vivitar 285 to rear

Ria joined our office for the summer to help out on our ever increasing workload... A great young lady who became a valuable member of the team. We shall miss her when she goes back to university.

She is seen here holding a wake board, not something you use after a funeral, but part of the extreme sports set and it has these strange boots fixed to it (no high heels...)! I am always amazed to see these surfers throw themselves around on boards that barely float and dice with the waves! Amazing!

The shot was taken with an SB800 in a shoot through umbrella, partially blocked to form the main light and a gridded Vivitar 285 to give the hair light. Thanks Ria for being such and  extreme sport...

Project 52 ... 29

Meet my little brother, Paul.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB 800 shoot thro' umbrella, Vivitar 285 + gridspot

I have wanted to shoot Paul since we were kids... only kidding. He is the best brother a man could have. Here he is holding a samurai sword called a katana that was awarded to him on receiving his First Dan black belt grade in Wado Ryu karate. He is also sporting his yakuza style tattoo. Paul and I first started learning karate in the 70's when the Bruce Lee phenomenon hit the big screen. You couldn't get enough of Kung Fu or Karate. It was everywhere and everyone wanted to be a part of it. We both kept it up, Paul studying Wado Ryu in Ireland.

I wanted to make this photo a gritty hard edged one to show something of the karate-ka that is Paul. Unfortunately this cannot show you the blood, sweat and tears that goes into the dedication required to gain this level of achievement in karate, but believe me its there. I lit Paul with an SB 800 in a shoot through umbrella level with the camera to camera left and a Vivitar 285 directly behind Paul and about 10 feet away from him with a grid spot to control the light. I also draped the umbrella with the black/silver cover to limit the spill of light through the umbrella. The lights were in a linear formation; with Paul in the middle forming a straight line.

Both flashes were triggered with CTR 301 P, Ebay remotes, which have fired every time for me so far! Thanks Paul for a wonderful meal that night and for having the patience to sit (stand) while I took the shot.

Project 52 ... 26

Bow your head to Sensei Rolf...

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D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, Vivitar 285, SB 800, both gridded.

Rolf has dedicated much of his free time over many years teaching karate to children, specifically Shotokai Karate. The club is in Winkfield, you can find out more about it here. Rolf has a great way with the children and they progress at a fantastic rate with his teaching and understanding of this amazing martial art. Sadly he is leaving the country to pursue his career. He shall be sorely missed on Saturday mornings!

I had Rolf sit in seiza for this shot. Not a posture I am comfortable in myself, but Rolf was very patient when I set up the strobes. I had both flashguns at camera right and left respectively, both gridded and both about 3 feet higher than Rolf's head. I killed the ambient and then tweaked the aperture / flash power until I got the shot I wanted. Thanks Rolf, and good luck!

Project 52 ... 21

Say hello to Des...

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D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.9, Sb 800 soft box camera left, Vivitar 285 and gridspot camera right

I first met Des about a year ago and given that he is a Building Surveyor we immediately had something in common; the recession. To all who know him he a very happy and sincere person and always has a great building site story!

Throughout this project I have constantly wondered what the next shot is going to be. Because I am invariably in a person's home or office and while often I know them, I don't know their house and given the timescales involved have no chance of a recce beforehand. But I had been to Des' house before so I remembered the glass dining table. So Des became the first reflection shot.

An Sb800 is in a softbox illuminating Des and not much else as I kept it quite close to him. To the right is the 285 with a gridspot that is pointed past Des and onto the wall behind. This separates Des from the background. Ten minute set up, shot done.

Project 52 ... 19

This is the wonderful Carole.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB 800 gridspot camera left

A fantastic and cheerful lady and always with a smile or a new pair of shoes, it's shoes again...

We spent a few quick moments in Carole and Paul's back garden (you can see Paul here), but the sun was very bright and throwing harsh shadows all over the place. Not very flattering. So we retired to the side of the house where I could control the light better. My VAL, (remember - voice activated lightstand) Katy was holding the SB 800 with a gridspot on it aimed directly at Carole's head. I was looking for the light to fall off fairly gently from Carole's face, but enough to give us a dramatic shadow and keep Carole in the spotlight.

And what lady does not want to be in the spotlight...

Project 52 ... 17

Here's Malcolm!

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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, Sb 800, Vivitar 285, Mains Flash.

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This is Malcolm. Hiding under the table?; this is the table Christopher was standing on, here, not at the same time I might add...

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In this shot I used an old Edison screw in flash head I picked up years ago and never used. I got a fantastic Ikea lamp shade in the shape of the old aluminium flash heads and Bob's your uncle. I placed a piece of white paper over it and placed it to camera left. The flash is manual and has one power setting, so you vary the intensity by distance / aperture / softening. To camera right and behind Malcolm is a gridded Vivitar 285 giving the rim light effect. An SB 800 is placed, bare bulb, in a cupboard behind him.

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At first I didn't like the flare the SB 800 is giving off, but it has grown on me now. I could have modified the light by snooting it or putting a gobo on it to ensure the light didn't fall on the underside of the table. But I like it as it is.

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And, no, Malcolm does not live under tables...

Project 52 ... 15

This is the one and only Christopher...

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D200, Tamron 17 - 50, f2.8, Sb 800 + softbox , Vivitar 285 + gridspot, Sunpak behind

Christopher is standing on a layout space down the centre of the drawing office studio. An award wining architect, Christopher is leaving his mark on this land in the residential sector. His designs are innovative, both traditional and modern, and very well received. He is a much sought after designer. Unfortunately he doesn't appreciate my jokes... but that's another story.

I lit Christopher with an SB 800 in a softbox to camera left about six feet and 30 degrees to the front of him, it was probably at 1/2 power. A Vivitar was placed behind him at about 45 degrees and at 1/2 power, with a tight gridspot. About ten feet behind him was a small Sunpak flash with one manual 'full power' setting to give him an 'edge'.

I set this all up beforehand, again visualising the finished shot, did a few test shots, tweaked the aperture. The D200 was set to manual at 1/250th. Then all that was left was to call in Christopher, get him to climb on the table and shoot! As you can see I missed!

More formal portraits ...

The School Governor seems to be a particularly British institution. And long may it continue to be one. It is a way of giving something back to the school and through it to the greater community in the form of time and expertise. Completely voluntary, these people provide support and help to the Head Teacher and all the Teachers of our schools to grow and develop the school, which ultimately comes down to a better education for our children.

I was recently asked to take a set of portraits of the School Governors of St Joseph's RC School in Bracknell.

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D200, SB 800 in softbox camera left, Vivitar 285 gridspot to background

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I went into the hall where the meeting was to take place beforehand and set up the lights and took a few test shots. I tweaked the exposure until I got the look I wanted and then it was a matter of sitting all the Governors down in the strategically placed chair, (which was moved again and again) and taking the shot.

The camera was in manual mode, at 1/250th; I cannot remember what the f-stop was. The flash guns were on 1/4 and 1/2 power to give a faster recycling time, as I knew I would have to get the job done quickly.

I want to say thanks to Adele, John and Donald for allowing me to post their pictures and thanks to all the other Governors for having their photographs taken.

Project 52 ... 9

This is Neil. Neil likes his cars. A lot.
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D200, Tamron 17 - 50 f2.8, SB 800 CTO gel camera left

This was a fun shot to take. In February, the weather wasn't exactly clement and the sky a dull cloudy grey. I set the camera's white balance to tungsten which threw the sky blue and then aimed the SB 800 at Neil's face. I gelled it with a 1/2 CTO (colour temperature orange) gel, put a gridspot on top of it and illuminated just his face. It was a bit precarious as I was crouching down, handholding the flash at the maximum reach of my left arm, while taking the shot. In this case the flash was connected to the D200 by an SC-17 cable. I also dropped the ambient exposure about a stop or so to add a bit of drama. We turned on the headlights to give a bit of definition to the front of the car.

Again, this was a quick shot. I had pre-visualised what I wanted to achieve and it was just a matter of checking as I went along. As with most of the Project 52 shots, the camera was set to manual at about 1/250th, which is the max sync speed of the Nikon D200 when using the flash.

As the days get longer it will be interesting to see if I use less flash and more ambient.

Project 52 ... 8

Meet Lisa...

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D200, Tamron 17 -50 f2.8, Sb 800 with gridspot

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Lisa, a very tall lady, seen here illuminated in her domain amongst the filing! She has since progressed on to the realms of management - Good luck, Lisa!

I placed an Sb 800 on a mobile VAL (voice activated lightstand - Catherine) with a gridspot to concentrate the beam of light from the flash, camera left. The flash was set to half power, the camera at 1/250th, I think and then I just chose an aperture that worked to give the shot I wanted. I knew there was going to be some fill from the wall beside Lisa.

Another thing I was concerned about was Lisa's glasses. I didn't want a reflection of the flash in them. The way to overcome this is to remember secondary school physics; with light the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence. So if you set the flash - or any light source for that matter, at such an angle that it will not be reflected into the lens, you are onto a winner!

Project 52 ... 6

Esta es Sandra,

Sandra trae encanto latino a la oficina!

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D200, SB 800 with gridspot camera left

From Argentina, Sandra, now practices architecture here in the UK. We didn't have much time, so I quickly set up the shot and asked Sandra to stand where I had pre-visualised the scene and pressed the shutter!

This shot of Sandra was taken with a DIY gridspot on an SB 800 to camera left, feathered to take in just half of her face and then to illuminate the background. The ambient was taken down a stop and a half or so, with some light still coming in from a window at camera right.