Tash and Jed
I was invited to a wedding recently and of course took some photos. It was nice to be able enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and take pictures when the oppurtunity arose. Tash and Jed make a great couple, although they did get a bit carried away with the wedding cake.
It was all available light shooting, I probably only used the flash 2-3 times. The venue was great in that regard. Large sunlight and an early afternoon wedding. Plenty of light to go around. In true wedding style I had to put plenty of black and white shots into the mix.
Linh
I also did another portrait shoot recently, with the Melbourne Strobists. The models that I worked with were John and Linh. I’m very happy with the way that the shots turned out.
I was mainly working with 1-2 lights. The main light was a speed light in a 28″ softbox, for some shots I also used another speedlight as a hairlight. Really basic stuff. Easy, quick and gives a nice result.
The shot of Linh was in a fairly average looking car park. Overcast day and a soft box can get a bit of drama out of it though. I also kinda like the catchlights in the eyes. There has been a bit of post production on this shot, mainly raising the shadow levels and a bit of contrast.
John
For this shot of John I was aiming for maximum drama and impact. I think I may this again with the same setup but the model in an expensive suit, mafia style. Again this was done with just one softbox. The shot seems a little bit cliche but seeing the couch there against the wall I saw this exact shot in my head. Who was I to say no to that.
Also the group that I shot for last year, 27 politics, has released their first EP. The album art was also shot by me. If you want to support aussie music you can get a copy here.
Zoe on the Beach
There was another Strobist photoshoot on the weekend. Lots of fun. Hanging out on a beach with a bunch of models in swimsuits, what could go wrong? Luckily not too much.
The basic shoot went well. My group decided to go easy on the lights. Instead of trying to wrestle with the ambient we went with the flow. It allowed us to work with the models more and do some quick setups. I’m quite happy with the results.
The shot on the right was with Zoe just walking out of the water while one of the other guys was pointing a single strobe at her. Even though it was only a hot shoe light it did the job nicely.
I have noticed that on recent shoots I have tried to simplify the setups and am quite happy with the result. Overthinking may have been my enemy. Maybe I should write a book called “Zen and the art of Photography”. Just checked amazon and the book is already made. There goes that idea, back to taking photos I guess.
When Chase Jarvis said that he had helped to design a new iPhone app, I thought I would try it out. Based on the idea that the best camera is the one that you have with you, it is designed to allow the simple iPhone camera to be a more valid artistic tool. After playing with it a bit it seems to excel at that. It will never replace a good SLR but it does allow a lot of creative freedom.
The first shot I uploaded is the one on the left. It was taken with a Canon 5d MKII, so it may go against the iPhone portable camera ethos. But it was stored on the phone and looks good. I was not trying to claim that as a phone shot. You may notice that I didn’t even apply any of the in app filters. It was taken at a photo shoot a couple of months back. The model is the wonderful Kiara.
It looks like a few people liked the shot which is awesome. It is even showing on the most popular shots for a while. So if you are reading this because you have come over from www.thebestcamera.com then welcome, I hope you like what is here so far. This blog is going to combine phone and camera shots.
If you would like to see some more of my work then there is Flickr, Model Mayhem and twitter. These will be updated regularly.
Yesterday was a fun day of shooting. It was another Melbourne Strobist meetup/shoot. I have been to 5 of these now and I always learn something. This one was at a 3 story studio . While the numbers were down the energy was quite good.
These normally work as getting 20 photographers together and 6 or so models and finding a location to shoot. We split off into groups and then find a place to shoot. This time I was shooting in a Gym, outside. against a backdrop and on the roof.
The shot here is from on the roof. The model is Lauren, a dancer and model that we were working with for part of the day. This was at the end of the session and from memory only one strobe was used. It was modified with a beauty dish. I really like the quality of light from it.
It’s great to be able to turn up to these sort of meetups where you get the mix of professional and amateur. Even first timers are able to get some amazing shots. It kinda makes you hungry for the next one.
More information about the Australian Strobist groups can be found here.
