(No1)
The other weekend I had a half day shoot along side Mark Boadey The model for the shoot was Pamela who was booked for the shoot via Purestorm. We also had Jeni (a friend of Pamela’s) on board as MUA for the shoot. I will add links to her site/purestorm profile once I have it).
Weather on the day was great, sun was beaming down, However this did make for the kit bags being a little heavier than planned as the bright ambient light along with the images wanted dictated that we take the Lencarta Safari 600ws Pack along, we certainly needed the power.
The shoot started near the entrance of a local park under a cool tree with over hanging branches and leaves (I have no idea what the tree is).
To start with I shot natural light thinking black and white. The reason for thinking black and white in this location was due to colour casts from the green trees and grass, light hitting the trees and grass bounces off but takes on the green colour, its most pronounced when working deep under tree cover or near areas with heavy foliage.
You can see in the first shot the colour cast. It has been reduced a little in post but its definitely still there. After conversion to black and white I think the image is far stronger. (No 2/3)
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I exposed for the model which meant the background has blown out, just what I wanted.
Thanks (Big thanks) to Zack Arias I now always try to compose my portraits with head in a clean spot but as you can imagine with branches coming from all angles its not really possible so I tried to make them part of the composition. (No 4)
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This is not head in a clean spot really, but I have tried to make the branches in the background lead in to the model.
(No 5) The last shot at this location was a lit environmental portrait , using the Westcott 28” Apollo (love that softbox) and a Canon 430EX.
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My good friend Mark got a great shot of Pamela in this same location. also lit using the Westcott 28” Apollo and speedlite but he also used the Lencarta Safari to fire through the branches/leaves in the background. (Image used with Permission © Mark Boadey) You can check out more of Marks recent work by clicking the image or visiting his site www.markboadey.com
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The next location was further in to the park near to the hall, I planned to use the hall in a shot but the conditions were not right for it (parked cars, sun in the wrong place).
We did however use the area around the hall to get a few frames. Thanks to Jeni for spotting this cool tree, she has a good eye for details in locations.
The following shots were lit using the Lencarta Safari pack on 1/1(full) Power, 28” Beauty Dish up high camera left about 8ft away. The sun was used as rim light.
I needed the more powerful light on these shots because a speedlite would have no chance of hitting F13 at that distance especially being fired in to a light modifier, in fact I would of needed about 8 (that's £1600) of them and you can’t fire 8 speedlites in to a beauty dish.
(No 6)
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(No 7/8)
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You can see a little lens flare form the sun, this was even with a lens hood. I don't mind the flare, but if I wanted to stop it I would of just used my hand to cover the lens further.
The next set was a head shot as I noticed its something Pamela does not have in her portfolio yet. Pretty simple set using the Westcott 28” softbox and Canon 85mm F1.8, I usually use an umbrella for head shots but wanted to try something different.
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(No 9)
You can see from the shape of the catch light a softbox was used to light this. In fact you can also see me in the reflection if viewed large enough.
After shooting the head shot above I noticed the sun had move round to our right hand side, and quickly set Pamela in position so the Sun would rim light her, and slightly over exposed the image to emphasise the flare I was getting from using the 85mm lens with no hood.
These are my personal favourites from the shoot. (No10/11/12) For number 11 the right hand image I brought in some fill flash with the 28” Apollo.
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I Really like this frame from this small set. Pamela fell in to this pose/position naturally So I had to shoot it.
I also grabbed a handful of images for the MUA Jeni during the shoot, some BTS shots of her working, love the interaction on this one.
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Thanks Pamela & Jeni for a great shoot.
Rick