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My most recent shoot I photographed mainly in the studio, Stephie Gordon and Adele Prince agreed to model for me on this occasion. From the shoot not only did I improve my studio photography, but I also now employed Stephie as my assistant and also makeup artest for future portraiture shoots.
This photograph was taken using all natural light, I noticed between shots the lovely soft light coming through the window behind me, so I turned off all of my flashes and used just the ambiant light.
This photograph was taken by using a style of lighting similar to that of 'beauty lighting' this is when the flash is positioned infront of the model, and very high up, this creates a butterfly like shape under the nose, I did not think it was appropriate for this photograph so I asked my model to turn her head slightly to her right.
For this photograph I used the same natural light as before, but just added a flash with a CTB gel to create more depth in the picture, I fired the flash directly onto the background to create the uneven shades across the backdrop while using only natural light to light the foreground. It is very rare that I do this set up as I like to light the foreground and the background separately by lighting the foreground with flash, but I thought I would experiment!
Today my mum visited me in Guernsey, she lives in Alderney with my dad. She came over to Guernsey to help me with the wedding show as it was my first. A chance for me to show my work to potencial clients for my wedding photography. My day went very well and I am very happy with the overall results from the day.
Recently I have purchased a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 which has turned out to be one of my best choices of lens. As soon as I got home after buying the lens I had to try it out. A friend who lives just up the road agreed to go out and take some photographs at the beach.
The next day I was to catch a flight to Birmingham for the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC.
A mate who i was staying with asked for some photographs of him skateboarding which didn't turn out quite as planned but still an interesting photograph. I know england is not too far away from where I live, but I must admit, I was still shocked how unreliable the weather can be. It was not at all how I was hoping it would be for these photographs.
The NEC was a great experience, the show involved a huge hall with hundreds of stalls selling lighting equipment, cameras etc.
These next photographs I had the chance to use a professional model and lighting, the images were taken on the Westcott stall at the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC. We were told some tips on using the lighting equipment, then we were allowed to move them depending on what position the model was sitting, and we were also allowed to direct the model. These were the images I produced...
This photograph was taken just as an experiment for my lighting, trying to use just a single flash covering all of the subjects was proven difficult but worked well in the end. I set my shutter speed long enough to capture a slight movement on their bodys as they jump, this prevents the look as if they were photoshoped onto the background.
I think eye contact sets a great mood in black and white photographs.
It was a cloudy afternoon at this point in the shoot, so I used the flash as my main source of light. As I was lacking in equipment, I could not put the coloured gel on the lens. Instead, I have added some warmth by using photoshop, to give the model a more warmly feeling, otherwise the photograph lacks in colour.
With only about thirty minutes left of the sunset I was working under pressure to capture the sunset and my model without either being incorrectly exposed. By lighting the model in the foreground with a flash on full power, I could make my ISO 100 and make my shutter speed 1/200 with an apature of 7.0. This kept my model correctly exposed with the natural colours of the sunset behind.
The wind can make it very difficult to take portraiture photographs. On the other hand, it can make the photograph. A natural movement to a models hair can really improve some photographs.
Today I had a photo shoot with two gorgeous models, Shelley and Georgie. The weather was sunny with a few clouds, this is exactly the weather I like for portraiture photography. Without clouds, the sun can be too bright and can easily overexpose the photograph. This is good for when only using natural light, but today I wanted to become more experienced in using the flashes and equipment I have.
For this photograph I used the sun reflecting off the water for the background. I used a flash with an umbrella on full power right up in the models face to get enough light to then be able to make my ISO 100.
This Photograph was taken when the sun was at its strongest, I used a flash to try to overpower the natural light but it was difficult to move. Instead, by changing my apature, I let in enough light to create an almost white background without overexposing the face
I used only natural light for this photograph, the light coming in over the water and reflecting on the water gave the subject an even light over her whole body.
For this photograph i just wanted to play with the apature and try to make it a little more arty. Where the model was in the background it was too dark and you coud barley see her, i positioned my flash so it was lighting her up, but also some of the pillar the was leaning against and the background.
I was looking for locations when a friend said she knew a great bunker with graffiti. We went there with my camera, i wasn't planning on taking photographs but to only to have a look around. I took my camera to see how my camera reacted to the low light conditions in the bunker.
But here we are, I took some photographs and we had walked quite far to get to that bunker, and I didn't want to leave with no photographs. These photographs were using my small flash with an umbrella to soften the light over the wall behind the subject and also to light the subject equally. If I was to have two flashes I would have lit the background separately but with the lack of equipment this is what I came up with.
I was looking through my Portfolio and looking at all my old photographs when I saw a photograph I took over a year and half ago. I photographed smoke rising after putting a candle out. With a flash behind the smoke, the smoke would show up very well and stand out from a black backdrop. I decided to re-capture this but using my more recent equipment.
As I was wanting to improve on my portraiture as much as possible, I posted it on facebook announcing that I was doing free portraiture shoots for anyone with free bookings till 1st Feb. I got about 20 replies, some wanting group shoots, some wanting a shoot with their boyfriend/girlfriend. I was very happy with the amount of people who replied to my post on facbeook, this way I would present my work on facebook to a huge audience. I was using this as a free way of advertising.
These photos are from one of my first photo shoots with a young couple, Lauren and Ivan. Wednesday at 5pm was the only time they could make this shoot and I was very worried about lighting as I only had the one flash and did not think it was enough. For this photograph I used the full power on my flash but used an umbrella to soften the light.
I am very proud of this photograph, however it's not a good photograph at all. It shows that I have evidence that my photography skills have improved.
By this point it was completely dark, could barley see where I was standing, when I noticed the light coming through the trees from the full moon. I was trying to capture the moon coming through these trees with Lauren and Ivan standing in the foreground. Firstly, I tried with just the flash and using the umbrella on the subjects to soften the light, but I did not like the results as you couldn't tell that the trees were there.
My next idea was to take the umbrella off and only using the flash to light the subjects in the foreground and also the trees in the background. This did not work as the subjects in the foreground were over exposed and the trees not light up enough for my liking.
My final idea was to put the umbrella back on but by not pointing the flash directly at the umbrella and keeping Lauren and Ivan behind the umbrella. This would soften the light for them, but keep the flash on the trees behind sharp and strong.
After purchasing a 70-200 F4. I had the sudden urge to do portraiture photography, and start my photography again. When I moved to Guernsey in september, I was concentrating more in settling in rather then what photographs I took. After charging my batteries and removing the dust from my camera, I asked Laura, my beautiful assistant, to model for me as I was desperate to try out this new lens. I set up a flash in the garden and using my wireless flash trigger, I could use the full zoom on my lens while keeping the flash close to the model.
After practicing in the garden with my new lens and with Laura as the model, I began to experiment with the flash. I have had this flash for about a year now but never used it in manual, only in auto. As with using manual in most things such as my camera, you have much more control over everything you do. I researched and learned how to use this flash in manual.
For this shoot, I used the flash quite close to the subject. I was not completely happy with the results therefore I turned up the brightness of the flash and moved it away from the subject buy doing this it provided an allround light source and I was trying to underexpose the background and bring the model more to the front of the photograph. To do this I used an apature of 4.0 and used a homemade snoot for my flash made out of cardboard and duck tape. This works perfectly and saved £5. I used this to direct the light only in Laura's face. This way I would underexpose the background without underexposing the model.