First Shoot of the Year (Part Three)

The key part of this shot was getting the background exposure and composition right, then adding enough light from the flash in my left hand to expose Helen properly.

The photo above and the one below were both taken in the same place at the same time, the difference being the second has a flash illumination the background, while Helen is lit by natural light. The flash is laid on the ground just to the left of Helen's foot, pointing towards the wall behind her. If I had taken some gels with me I could have changes the colour of the wall to better contrast with her hair. (Maybe next time).

And that's it for this set of photos.

Thanks for reading and a big thankyou to Helen for being an excellent subject as always.

First Shoot of the Year (Part Two)

This is a shot that initially on the camera LCD didn't look to good, with the histogram pushed all the way over to the right and a lot of the frame over-exposed. But, as I were shooting in RAW, I knew I had al least a chance of getting something good with a little bit of fiddling in Aperture. So with a bit of recovery, a mono conversion and a quick contrast boost, Voila!

Now this is what I call a "Lou O'Bedlam"shot. Natural light, open shade, prime lens wide open. This was shot in the shade of the huge Xmas tree.

This was shot in direct bright sunlight, with a truck trailer as a background. Once again i had the flash in my left hand right at the limit ( high speed sync at 1/8000 of a second!) filling in the shadows and providing a catch-light in Helen's eyes..

Right, that's Part Two sorted, see you soon for Part Three.

First shoot of the year (Part One)

Well, another year rolls around and it's time to get back shooting after the Xmas excess :)
One of my favourite models, Helen was up from university for Xmas break and we managed to squeeze a quick shoot in. I often travel light, especially when I'm shooting on location or on the street and this shoot was no exception. One camera body, one lens and one flash (with no stand and no softbox, brolly or other modifier). Lens-wise I used the Canon 35mm f2 prime lens. Although I use zooms a lot, sometimes a prime lens is great for forcing you to "zoom with your feet" and maybe try some compositions you wouldn't normally think of using.