Personal Work - Model Shoot: Pamela

(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

Personal Work - Model Shoot: Hazel Clarke

Last Friday evening I had the pleasure of photographing Model: Hazel Clarke for the second time.  The shoot was part of a Friday night event at a local studio (Ian's Studio) owned by a Friend of mine, the studio has events run most Friday nights as well as workshops (I have run a few). It's handy as the studio is local and if I fancy shooting on a Friday but have no model booked I can see what's happening at the studio.

Back to Fridays shoot.. the location was Vernon Park in Stockport which was also part of the location for the following days shoot with my right hand man Mark Boadey but I will save that for another post.

Vernon Park is relatively small park  but has plenty of potential for backgrounds and portrait locations like Stairs, Bridge and small tunnel to name a few. Having photographed Hazel before in the Park I wanted to get a few different shots this time round using different elements in the Park.  Traveling fairly light for me I took a small back with the following kit.

Canon EOS 500D   

Canon EF 50mm F1.8   

Canon EF 85mm F.1.8 USM   

Canon EF-S 18-55 IS (this lens has to go, more on that soon)

Canon 430EX II 

Yongnuo YN460   

Westcott 28” Apollo Softbox   

Opteka 1/4 and 1/8 Grids for the speedlites.

Whilst listed like this it may seem like allot, trust me its light compared to what I can take on a location shoot.

I also had access to a few other Canon lens since Mark and a few others were part of the shoot.

So what did I manage to get out of all this kit?  Thanks to Hazel some great shots.

First up is a set up shot for the next few images in this post, Mark doing his thing as a VAL (Voice Activated Light Stand) and Hazel ready to rock the poses.  In the shot you can see the Westcott 28” Apollo boomed on a light stand, inside the softbox was a Canon 430EX II triggered by a Cactus V4. Oh I also want to say thank you to friend Kevin for the loan of his Canon 24-105 F4L for these shots.

Model: Hazel Clarke

Here are a few frames from this set up. (No 1 & 2)

Model: Hazel Clarke

Model: Hazel Clarke

Hazel has a great look and I love that red hair.

When shooting lit stuff against a sky background remember you always have the option of turning the light off, or in this case removing the Cactus V4 trigger off my cameras hot shoe.. the result a cool silhouette. (No 3)

Model: Hazel Clarke

Using the same location in the park we set up a few more shots using the bed of Fern but I moved position to the top of the hill. (No 4 & 5)

Model: Hazel Clarke

Model: Hazel Clarke

Needed a bit more light in the eyes. So I re-positioned the light for the next frame.

Then one final pose in this location before I let Hazel move to the other photographers set.    (No 6)

Model: Hazel Clarke

Whilst the others were shooting I was watching the sky/sunset waiting for it to get to where I wanted it in exposure value.  The next set of images were shot on a hill top in the park (near the bridge) again the same sky, you will notice how the sky changes throughout the series of images in not a great amount of time. All the images were lit using the Westcott 28” Apollo, Canon 430EX II using either the Canon EF 85mm F1.8 USM (head shots) or the Canon EF-S 18-55 for the wide shots.

Burrrrp!

Smile

First was a test shot to dial in exposure whilst the Model was on another set.  Thanks Mark for standing in

1/200sec, F7.1, ISO100 and I was dialled in first try. sorry Mark not only did I post this on flickr I also put it on a blog post.  (No 7)

The first shot of Hazel was a head shot (I always shoot head shots on a shoot) against the amazing sky during sunset. The Softbox was camera right slightly higher than the model. (No 8 & 9)

Model: Hazel Clarke

Model: Hazel Clarke

Same set but two different shots due to the change in expression.  The one on the left is my Favourite and made Explore on flickr.

A quick change of lens and a rather dramatic change in the sky and we have something a little more dramatic. (No 10)

Model: Hazel Clarke

A change in pose. (No 11)

Model: Hazel Clarke

Then finally for this set a a change in perspective/angle. I simply moved around the light stand and tilted (Dutch Angle) the camera, not something I do that often. (No 12)

Model: Hazel Clarke

The final set was shot at against a hedge, which met to form a corner.  As soon as I saw the hedge I know how I wanted to frame the shot and I also had the Idea of shifting the white balance to tungsten to make the sky go a deep cool blue.  Problem was I needed a CTO gel to colour correct for Hazel after the white balance shift, rats left mine at home!  Luckily Kevin had one with him (thanks Kevin).

These next few frames were shot using a YN 460 speedlite (the 430EX II was in the Westcott) with a 1/4 Opteka Grid modifier which restricts the light in to a focused beam, a little softer than a snoot (which has a harder edge) I love these grids. I have only posted 2 images from this setup but I did shoot more, thing is I have found it hard to pick my proffered frames so may be you can let me know in the comments.  I decided to just post the 2 which grabbed me most. Thanks must go to Mark for VALing the light on this one also.

Model: Hazel Clarke

Model: Hazel Clarke

Thanks everyone for a great evenings shooting, and to Hazel for her work on the night.  I am looking forward to working with Hazel again soon on a personal Natural Light only shoot.

Let me know your favourites in the comments (images have been numbered)

Related post -  Something from seemingly nothing

RB