Client Work (3 Family Shoots 1 Day part 1) - Pippa, Dave & Sky

Back in Feb this year I had 3 family shoots in studio in one day.  This is the first of those shoots with Pippa, Dave & Sky who is one of the cutest little girls you will ever meet.

When working in a studio with lights, stands & backgrounds it can be a bit daunting for the children involved so I usually start slow and simple and make a point of arriving in studio 1-2 hours before start to prep the space and make it as safe as possible.  I also use this time to get my head in the mode of shooting.

Have to say Pippa, Dave & especially Sky were great and we all had allot of fun on the day.

We stuck to the white seamless set up for most of the shoot because it works, its simple and it’s clean.  3 Lights, white paper background and a few pieces of white board are all that’s needed.  Ok on to some images from the shoot.

I love this image above of Sky and her Dad, she is trying to figure out the white boards and the set.  Always have your exposure roughed in ready for when the client steps on set, that way you can catch moments like this and have good or very close exposure.

Whole family on set now and Sky looks at her shoes… Cracks me up.  The reflection is made possible by using the white board, I wont shoot full length white seamless with out it.. so much so I bought it for the local studio I use.

As the shoot progresses everyone (including myself becomes more comfortable) and we start to get some great images and moments.  Moments.. that’s the most important thing… not the gear.

The next few frames were not shot on the white seamless set, make sure you have some breaks now and again to change it up and keep it interesting for the child but be aware of your ambient light (windows light in this case) so you can dial in exposure and capture some candid shots.

Back on the seamless set for a few shots of Sky and her Toys.​

Sky the budding photographer, taking after her Mum Pippa.

Girls got to look her best whilst photographing.​

Yeah this is what happens when you knock you mode dial to bulb mode, Sky looks as impressed as I was.​

Sometimes your subjects/client just fall in to something and it works.​

Sometime I hand the camera to the child (with my help.. 5D2, grip and lens is heavy) and let them shoot some frames.  The next 3 images are courtesy of Sky,​

Then Sky found the hats.  Let me explain.. the owner of the studio I use is a stage / theatre actor and has a few props and hats around which means it’s not uncommon for the kids to find them.

At first the hat was a drum, makes sense I can see that.​

Then is was time to try it on.. this is where it went a bit wrong….

This always gets me laughing when I see it. 

Thank you Pippa, Dave & Sky for making it a fun and easy shoot.  Also thank you to Ians Studio for providing the studio space.

Thank you for reading.
Rick

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Photographing a good friend…. Steve

Image (Steve..) Taken 07/05/2011 – 1/100sec, F8, ISO 100 – Canon 430EXII 1/2+0.3ev

As I looked outside the first thing I noticed was the Sky, cool dramatic looking clouds other wise know as typical British weekend weather.  I knew I wanted to shoot with it in the background and underexpose it for that really dramatic look, crap I need a model.. no chance! so a quick call to my good friend Steve who by the way is the Farther of my two God sons Zakk and Saul, and is a kick ass guitar player.

Subject arranged I went to check the exposure of the sky (this was at 4pm) F13 and 1/200sec, ISO100, ok I need to wait – not enough flash power for the kind of composition I want with a single Canon 430EX II.

After some waiting (about 1 1/2 hours) I headed over to meet Steve and walk down the road to a local rec/field, now I only had 15 minuets to figure out a location, background that included the sky and how I was going to light it. The trees you can see Silhouetted in the shot caught my interest and we set up about 20ft in front of them.  Its pretty windy so no chance of flying a light modifier with out it being destroyed or taking me with it, so I went with a bare Canon 430EX II speedlite high up on a 13ft stand. After working out my framing I placed Steve framed in the trees to hide Silhouetted houses/chimneys in the background, found my exposure that would underexpose the sky by about 1 stop and light Steve well, grabbed a few frames before packing up and heading home. The above shot is the one I selected, as a result another friend of mine Mike wants a dramatic photograph of him making, no problem Mike I'm looking forward to it.

The take away’s from this are, 1. Don’t have a model (call a friend) 2. Know your gear so you can work quickly. 3.You don’t have to travel far to find a cool location and shot.

Thank you Steve Dude (i always call him that) for your time and friendship.

Rick