Rae of Sunshine

July 23, 2011 by 4 Comments

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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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Taylor Made

July 17, 2011 by 2 Comments

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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 🙂

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

June 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
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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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Take Me To the Beach

May 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

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Well wasn’t the weather in April fantastic!!  So much so that I felt the urge to get back out and do some work on the beach, weather was glorious though the water temperature was bloody freezing so we kept well clear of that!!  One of the techniques I was looking to perfect last year was the use of the Alien Bee’s Ringflash to provide fill at the times of the day when the sun was high and there were some pretty deep shadows.  The flash has an output of 400W so has plenty of juice and powered by the Vagabond II battery pack it is portable enough to have the pack slung over your shoulder and still keep relatively mobile and enough power to keep the flash charged up throughout the day.  My usual approach is to have the model with the sun behind her and use the flash to fill from the front.  Most of the images were shot at around f8 – f11 with the flash set anywhere between 1/4 and 3/4 power depending on the shooting distance

For the latest shoot I was lucky to have Charlene as the model who was looking to add some different elements to her modelling book.  The weather was lovely, if a little hazy at times, so we headed off to nearby Redcar on the north east coast of England.  Charlene has such a great look and an absolute pleasure to work with.  We spent about three hours just wandering up and down the beach looking for different places to shoot and things to shoot with.  The piece of driftwood we found presented a few challenges and was the cause of much laughter when it kept rolling over!!  We got there in the end though and despite the difficulties I thought Charlene really nailed that shot.  Fingers crossed for more days like that this summer.

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