John

No Flash In The Pan!!

October 7, 2012 by John 8 Comments

Until fairly recently I had used some cheap ebay triggers for studio and location work which worked fine the majority of the time but became increasingly frustrated with the number of misfires I was getting – you get what you pay for I guess. I replaced these with a set of Yongnuo RF603 triggers which were a real improvement and my misfire problems were a thing of the past. A friend of mine Stu Glen was in raptures about a set of Pixel Kings he had recently bought and the virtues of High speed Sync (HSS) which worked with both hot shoe flashes and studio strobes. I was close to investing in a set but then read that Yongnuo were about to release a similar trigger, the YN-622C, the rest as they say is history!!

These are my thoughts, admittedly based upon one location shoot, about the new trigger. The YN 622C is a fairly substantial piece of kit and solidly built with a metal hot shoe attachment. It is a 2 way transceiver with seven channels and 3 flash groupings available. Functions available include TTL ratio control, manual selection of power output for different groups and HSS. The unit runs on 2 AA batteries, has an on off switch together with controls for group and channel setting and a test button, something I missed having on the 603.

My main motivation was to use these on location with my Bowens lights / Travelpak set up so I headed out with the lovely Sharon to try them out in the field. Set up is a doddle with one trigger locked on to the camera, secured with a locking screw, with the other attached to the Bowens Gemini 500 strobe via a cable which screws into the side of the unit. The units worked really well throughout the shoot, firing faultlessly, though to be fair the camera to flash distances were not too demanding. Towards the end of the shoot I really pushed the HSS, or Super Sync as they call it, and the images posted were all shot at f1.4 and between 1/2000 and 1/4000 sec, iso 100, which obviously throws up a lot of creative possibilities for future shoots. So a really promising start and to say I was pleased with their performance is an understatement, will hopefully get to shoot a lot more with them before the winter weather finally arrives.

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Filed Under: Gear Review Tagged With: Bowens, commercial, Darlington, fashion, Flash Trigger, Imago Imagery, Location, photoshoot, Sharon Janney, Travelpak, Yongnuo 622C

Country House Shoot

May 12, 2012 by John 2 Comments

Recently I had a great opportunity to shoot at nearby Middleton Lodge, a private country mansion set in 250 acres of grounds near Middleton Tyas in North Yorkshire. The venue is much sought after for weddings, corporate events etc but also incresingly so as a backdrop for photoshoots. There were some great rooms to shoot in, tastefully decorated with period furniture, and also a really interesting cellar area. The grounds are beautiful too, unfortunately we were unable to venture outside due to the “Great British Summer”!! Model for the day was the lovely Lucy Baty who travelled down from Newcastle with make up artist Alex Pretswell making up the creative team. We worked right through the day trying to fit in as many outfits / rooms as we could and I was delighted with the images that we created, below is a selection of just a few of them. Big thanks to the staff at Middleton Lodge, Eric Murphy and of course to Lucy and Alex who were great fun to work with.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Alex Pretswell, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Location, Lucy Baty, Make up artist, Middleton Lodge, wedding, wedding dress

Just Dance

February 6, 2012 by John 2 Comments

Recently had an enquiry from Jade who is currently in her final year of dance training at Bird College in London. Jade wanted some images that she could use for upcoming auditions with a few fun ones thrown in for herself. The shoot took place at Banana Studio in Newcastle with Alex Pretswell on hand to do hair and make up. I really enjoyed working with her, although she was a little nervous at the start she quickly settled into the pace of the shoot and produced some really elegant, powerful poses that showed her athleticism and grace. Shooting these images has inspired me to do some more dance related stuff and that has been put on my to do list for 2012.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Darlington, fashion, Imago Imagery, Make up artist, Newcastle, portfolio, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

The Positives of Negatives

December 29, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

Did a few product shots for the Omega Power website recently. The company sells wristbands that emit negative ions that are said to improve balance, strength and flexibility and stimulate levels of the feel good hormone Seratonin. You can find out more about these benefits on their website or on their Facebook page. The some of the images were shot using the flash modelling lights with the remainder using a five flash set up.

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Filed Under: Shoots

From Raphaella With Love

September 18, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

As you look the work of other photographers and model’s work there are always those who stand out head and shoulders from the crowd. One such person for me was Raphaella whose images I had been an admirer of for some time. She has a stunning portfolio of work and always seems to bring such a sense of style and grace to her images. This put her very high on my list of people to work with. When the opportunity came up to shoot with her at Banana Studio in Newcastle I naturally jumped at the chance and was looking forward to the day immensely. Raphaella certainly didn’t disappoint and was an absolute joy to work with, looking through the images after the shoot there were so many that I liked that I was hard pressed to choose, below are just a small sample from the day, no doubt more will make it here over the coming months. Great day all round with a very classy lady.

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Filed Under: Shoots

Bak To Skool

August 29, 2011 by John 4 Comments

One of the things I really love about photography is that there is always something new to learn and even though I feel I have come quite a long way in the last few years I’m very aware that there is still a long way to go. With that in mind I signed up for a workshop with Leeds based commercial photographer Jay Mawson held at Banana Studio in Newcastle. I had been an admirer of his work for quite a while now and was really looking forward to the experience. It turned out to be a really interesting day during which Jay shared his philosophy on lighting techniques and getting the best from the people you are shooting. Perhaps the most refreshing aspect were the stripped back set ups, utilising single strobe and reflector, natural light and on camera flash, allowing the photographer to concentrate wholly on the image and the models expression / pose. During a series of demonstrations and discussions Jay outlined his workflow, supplemented with the odd pearl of wisdom from Steve Robertson, this was followed up with ample opportunity to put this into practice with the five models on call using different sets around the studio. It was also good sharing your thoughts and ideas with the other photographers on the course who were great company throughout the day. At the end I came away feeling really enthused about the whole thing and with lots of food for thought. Big thank you to Jay and Steve for a stimulating day, Eric and all his staff at the studio who rolled out the red carpet as usual, models Kirsty, Louise, Shonagh, Abbey and Sarah and last but not least to the other photographers who took part on the day.

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Filed Under: Shoots, Uncategorized Tagged With: Banana Studios, commercial, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Jay Mawson, Newcastle, Photographer, photoshoot, Steve Robertson

The End of the Pier Show

August 14, 2011 by John 2 Comments

Saltburn Pier is a place I’ve had in my mind for a while now as a cool location for a shoot. It has had quite a long and interesting history, it’s coming up to 150 years old now, and is one of the few remaining piers on the east coast of England. It has had a few narrow escapes down the years but is now looking better than ever thanks to a sizable lottery grant. The plan was to do an early morning shoot fashion, starting at 7am gulp!! and style it according to the weather conditions. As it turned out the sky was quite heavy and dramatic so I decided to try and emphasise that in the images. Jade Turnbull was the model for the day who is really well suited to this type of shoot and had brought along a couple of floaty dresses for the shoot. The lighting was a Bowens 500W strobe with a gridded softbox and powered by a Travelpak, though I did have to switch to a beauty dish later on as the wind wouldn’t play ball!! Over the course of the shoot we worked through a few different sets around the area and tried to make the most of the location. Overall a really productive shoot which made getting up at some unearthly hour worthwhile!!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

Rae of Sunshine

July 23, 2011 by John 4 Comments

Well this was a shoot that was almost cancelled because of the weather, the forecast was pretty poor and it looked like we were not going to get any good light. On the morning of the shoot I got up early to chek out the webcam that overlooks the location and it didn’t look too bad so we decided to give it a go. I made the short trip up the A1 /A19 and through the Tyne Tunnel to Tynemouth to meet Charlene who you will probably recognise from previous shoots on the blog. Tynemouth is a popular area well known to the people of the north east because of the beach but also draws its fair share of surfers and scuba divers. The plan was to shoot a couple of outfit changes in and around the beach area, including an old outdoor swimming pool which had been thoughtfully re painted before the shoot :), before the weather closed in. As it turned out the weather was lovely, sunny and perfectly still which made for great shooting condition, this gave me the option of using my new silver lined 59″ parabolic umbrella ella ella from Hobo Lighting. The quality of the umbrella is good and it is built a little more strongly than a standard brolly making think it would be a better option for location work. Using a 500w Bowens Gemini strobe running off a Travelpak it gave out a good amount of light which was quite focused and contrasty. I have read that they are considering making a front diffuser panel for this which will be interesting to see the effect it has on softness. It needed careful setting up but when you get in the right place I really liked the effect it gave, certainly something I will be looking to use a lot more in the future. As usual Charlene looked stunning and we worked through the different sets quickly before she had to rush off home and feed her new Dalmatian pup Spot!! A thoroughly enjoyable shoot with a great model, hope you enjoy the images.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beach, Charlene Rae, Darlington, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Location, model portfolio, photoshoot, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

Taylor Made

July 17, 2011 by John 2 Comments

During the course of the summer I’m looking to do a few different fashion based shoots on location to freshen up my portfolio. Once I started to look for models who would suit the type of look I wanted Bex Taylor was someone who I felt had the look and style needed. I had seen some images of her on Facebook but also through some really good shots taken by local photographer John Picton which really convinced me she was right. Fortunately she was keen to be involved so we set about planning a day which would be part studio and part location based. Bex travelled down to Darlington from Sunderland and we just seemed to get on right from the start. During the morning we worked on a few different looks, including some natural light images which I was really pleased with. After a rather rushed lunch (there just never seems to be enough time!!) we drove out to the coast to do some shots on a local beach, weather was great although the light was really contrasty so a good deal of fill light was needed using the Bowens Travelpak and a 400W flash head. This was also a first try for a brolly box I had recently bought from Ebay which worked out pretty well though I’m now considering buying a suitable octobox to replace this in the near future. We had another location picked out to finish off with but unfortunately ran out of time, though that is a great excuse to work with this talented model again!! For some of the images I was trying out a new processing technique (for me) which involved the use of localised curve adjustment layers, gradient maps and some shadow / highlight work. Not sure I’m 100% there yet with this but it definitely has potential to create the look I’m trying to achieve. Great day, lovely model, hope you enjoy the images.

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ps Watch this space as a couple of these images will be appearing in the first printed edition of Elite magazine next month 🙂

Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beach, Bex Taylor, Darlington, Imago Imagery, Location, model portfolio, photoshoot, Portfolio Shoot, portrait, Portraits

Sunshine On A Rainy Day (Well A Little!!)

June 18, 2011 by John Leave a Comment

This week I took delivery of a new piece of kit that I had been scouting around for for quite some time, a Bowen’s Gemini strobe together with a Travelpak. I’d been keeping an eye on several of these over the past few months but they always seemed to attract a high price on EBay. They say patience is a virtue and it certainly was in this case as I managed to pick up a set in great condition for a really good price so I was a very happy chappy 🙂 . As a guy with a new toy I was dying to try them out and was lucky enough to have a shoot with Eve set up for the following weekend. I have worked with Eve several times now (link to last shoot) and I’m always delighted with the images we produce and this time proved to be no exception. We headed for the coast on what proved to be a rather dull and overcast day and quickly abandoned the bikini shots we had in mind (this is the NE coast of England!!) and Plan B was to shoot something a little more commercial / fashion style. During the course of the morning we shot at 3 different locations, interspersed with get warm and bacon sandwich stops. There was a bit of a breeze blowing in from the sea so I was extra careful to make sure that the light stand was well weighted down with some strategically placed rocks to prevent the whole thing blowing over. With a 1m 10cm Brollybox attached I was able to shoot at about f5.6 to f8 with the 400W strobe on about 3/4 power. Recycling time was pretty good at about 2 seconds and the power meter had hardly moved after shooting a couple of hundred shots, so all round I was really happy with the way it performed and the quality of light it produced. As always Eve was an absolute pleasure to work with, great fun but also totally professional. I really like the feel of these images and look forward to using the kit again on future projects I have planned for the summer, considering adding a second strobe too for some ideas I have.

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Filed Under: Shoots Tagged With: Beach, Eve Lemmon, fashion model, Imago Imagery, Location, Photographer, photoshoot, Portraits