Monthly Archives: May 2014

Cosplay – Shego V Kim Impossible

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Cosplay is awesome to shoot. (For those not in the know, cosplay is the dressing up or role play of a named character, according to Wikipedia, or better yet, check out this rather good doco on iTunes.)

For this particular shoot, model Cassandra Jane played the part of Shego (in the latex green) and model Genevieve Thomas played the part of Kim Impossible (the red head).  We wanted to shoot outdoors, so picked a suitable location, and aimed to make it an action scene, as the two characters are arch enemies. After several hours of makeup and preparation, we headed to the location. The weather – always a factor in outdoor shoots, but particularly important when one of the models is dressed in full latex – seemed to be holding up, and so we headed to the location, about a 25 min drive from the studio and a 5 min walk into the bush. I decided to take the Nikon CLS system using 3 x SB800 speedlites and the Nikon SU800 Commander for this shoot – ease of portability, having to carry everything myself, and being self powered, since forests don’t come with power outlets.

Due to the steep slope of the terrain it was difficult to get light stands to remain upright – I had no assistants with me on this occasion – and no sand bags on hand either. We managed to get quite a few good shots off, before twenty minutes into shooting the heaven’s opened and the rain started coming down. Between the camera equipment and the latex, it meant a quick pack up and run for the card, then back to the studio – but at least we got some shots in first.
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Shego v Kim Impossible

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Shego v Kim Impossible

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Shego v Kim Impossible

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Shego v Kim Impossible

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Shego v Kim Impossible

Shego v Kim Impossible

Shego v Kim Impossible

One Trick Pony – Part Two: Swimwear

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We have shown some of One Trick Pony’s Clothing before from our desert and rustic farm shoot in 2013.  However Sheridan also has a great range of swim wear.  Torquay is one of the amazing surf beaches along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria which offers some awesome shooting locations.  The weather conditions are not always favourable, with strong winds often making it difficult for models, lighting stands and your equipment.  But this was a most memorable shoot  – even with Sheridan having car trouble in the surf club’s car park, delaying our return by several hours while the RACV came to her rescue!
Apart from the minor car issue (and yes the car was sold shortly after), we have a great time shooting that day.  Sheridan makes unique and custom design swim wear for many of Australia’s top bikini models for shows around Australia, helping them standout and win titles.  Don’t for get to visit One Trick Pony Clothing and check out their latest swimwear offering
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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

 

Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Another Code Red collaboration with Jeff Osman of Carpe Diem Films.  Again with a team of stylists, designers and hair and makeup shot at the Orchard Room, Red Spice restaurant  in Melbourne CBD.  Watch the credits to see everyone who was involved but our main lady was the lively Alia Milanio. Alia is a singer songwriter, performer and Marilyn Monroe impersonator.  Check her web site out for further details.

Again Jeff has outdone himself combining the performing talents of Alia with the amazing styling and backdrop we had to work with.  This project was shot within a day, making the pace of the shoot at times a little stressful. These projects are not possible without a team of dedicated professionals and our thanks go to everyone who was involved with the day. We decided because of the pace of the shoot to do all the stills using constant lighting using multiple banks of fluorescent lighting. This enabled Jeff and I to work together more seamlessly, not having to reset with strobes for the stills, but as always it can prove a little challenging to stop motion under these lighting conditions.  Enjoy the video as well as some of my favourite images from the shoot.

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

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Marilyn Monroe Shoot

A Wedding Tarmac Style

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A month or two back I had the opportunity to shoot this wedding with my good friend Jeff Osman from Carpe Diem Films.  When shooting the formal photos of a wedding, having a unusual or different location is always a bonus.  Being given access to an Airport Tarmac is a visual bonus, especially when there are vintage cars and planes involved.  We must thank Essendon Airport Security staff for being patient and accommodating while we conducted the shoot with the bridal party.  While we may have dodged pending thunder storms we couldn’t escape winds of 15 knots plus, making it a little uncomfortable for the bride and her veil and the bridesmaids’ dresses. But we secured the images nonetheless – a successful shoot!

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The Wedding of Gentiana & Harry

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The Wedding of Gentiana & Harry

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The Wedding of Gentiana & Harry

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The Wedding of Gentiana & Harry

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The Wedding of Gentiana & Harry

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The Wedding of Gentiana & Harry

 

 

 

 

One Trick Pony Clothing – a three part series

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One Trick Pony Clothing, based in Ballarat Victoria, is owned by the fabulous Sheridan Bovell.  As a mother, designer, DJ, model and business owner she has her hands full creating her amazing and affordable designs.  In 2013 we headed out to the Perry Sandhills, Wentworth NSW – just about 30 kms from Mildura – to shoot some of her latest creations.  The late afternoons had temperatures passing 35 degrees and the early mornings a chilly 10 degs celsius.  The flies, the flies and more flies… gggrrrrr what can I say.  Even the tropical strength aeroguard did little to keep them away.  We also found some dry scrub bush land along the river in Mildura on the way back to shoot some of her Bridal Couture. 

Our second location was a little closer to home – an old farm on the outskirts of Ballarat.  Thanks to Dave for allowing us to use his property and as the country folk like to do, bring us up to speed on the rich family history of the district.  Check out more of Sheridan’s amazing creations at http://www.onetrickponyclothing.com
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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

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One Trick Pony Clothing

Fashion for the Unleashed

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Saturday night I found myself at an event called Fashion for the Unleashed.  A charity fund raiser for three of Melbourne’s Dog Rescue organisations.  The event was hosted by Sleep Couture and held at the Beach Comber, St Kilda.  Many of the models were Miss Humanity Australia finalists and had come from across the country to participate.  Before the parade several vendors displayed their products in a sea of models and make up artists getting ready.

Special appearance by Emmanuel Kelly, who sang two songs, one of which a soon to be released new single for Emmanuel.  Check him out at www.emmanuelkellyofficial.com.  Several fashion designers showcased their designs and it looked like a good night was had by all those who attended.  It was good to see a few familiar faces attending and all for a good cause.

 

 

 

 

 

Leather Inc.

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A “Code Red” collaboration – you’ll be seeing a lot more of these projects.  So what is it?  It’s a collaboration between Jeff Osman of Carpe Diem Films and Mark Hudson of Mark Hudson Photography.  Jeff I would describe as psychotic visionary with extraordinary talent to pre-visualise and work with very little to deliver something greater.

Jeff shot this short fashion piece in less than a day.  Jeff primarily shoots on a RED camera and for the images I use Nikon SLRs and the Nikon CLS lighting system.  There were a ton of other people involved in the project and rather than mentioning them all here, check out the credits at the end of the video.

 

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

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Leather Inc.

Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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It was  fun shoot arranged by Minx Model Management with outfits by Exclusive Lingerie and Punani Inc. The home was an award winning home located west of Melbourne.  The models were all from Minx Model Management and awesome to work with.  For some of the girls it was their first time in front of the camera and they enjoyed the experience.  A big shout out to Lisa from Minx Model Management for organising the day and everyone else that assisted / participated.  Can’t forget to finally thank Slasha for the use of his amazing home.  Cheers man! 

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

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Exclusive Lingerie & Punani Shoot

 

Photographing a Fashion Parade

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Welcome to our new web and blog site.  Here’s where I like to discuss the experiences of being a working photographer; the gear, the happenings, the techniques, the issues we all face, all working photographers. I’ve found that reading other photographers’ blogs and the hundreds of hours of video tutorials and behind the scenes videos I watch that I’ve learnt so much myself. So here’s where I contribute to that conversation.

In mid 2013, we photographed a fashion parade held in a Melbourne night club (http://www.rahbar.com.au). We were engaged by the event organiser with the brief to capture the fashion parade and the behind the scenes activities. Night clubs are not fantastic locations to shoot a fashion parade, but you work with what you’ve got. They typically have low and dark ceilings, poor lighting and restricted access. Here’s how we approach these issues when shooting an event like this:

  1. Low & Dark ceilings – Not the greatest for bouncing your flash off.  Having a camera that has better low light capability is a must.  That is when you turn up the ISO to 1600 and above, though the amount of noise (grain) in the image is less than more.  Having a higher power flash is also useful but needs consideration as to the flash recycle time, battery needs and be mindful of burning your flash out.  Dark ceilings can bring benefits in allowing some directional control of the light, and we always look at what walls are available for such use. There may be a white wall ready to bounce a flash off. We’ll sometimes use on-camera flash modifiers, such as small soft boxes, like the Gary Fong Lightsphere or Lumiquest products. Personally, I often enjoy the results from simply using the supplied plastic diffuser and shooting using the bell method – that is, when the flash is pointed vertically and sends the light towards the ceiling, with a little spilling forward.
  2. Poor lighting – Night clubs have a mix of lighting and it’s never very useful for photographing or filming live events.  Lights point in all directions and have a range of colours, a wide range of temperature – we are talking white balance, kelvin here. It’s often about finding angles and locations in the club that work for you as the photographer. Over the years, I’ve tried everything from auto white balance to fixing it in camera, often with varied results.  I’ll always shoot RAW file so in post production I’ll always have a better chance of making corrections if needed. I know many shooters like aperture priority mode due to the constant changing lighting.  I’ve tried this, and other methods, but always come back to shooting in manual.  Aperture effects the exposure and your shutter the ambient light.
  3. Restrictions – Environmental constraints, such as the layout of the club, or those imposed by the event organiser or venue operator.  Having unrestricted access to all areas is clearly best, as then you only need to deal with the layout. With this particular fashion parade I was able to set up at the end of the runway.  While not ideal, due to the layout, I also had to deal with guests and their point and shoot or DSLRs, as well as other photographers attending on the night. You can always tell the other professionals from the guests with good cameras and it’s not just because of their gear – it’s the way they behave and the respect for the space of other photographers while determining from where they want to shoot themselves. I remember a guest at one event complaining I was getting in their way. I had to tell them – politely, with respect – that I was paid to be there on behalf of the event organiser and was hired to fulfill a certain brief. It’s essential to try and work together with other photographers.

Photographing a fashion parade can be challenging, it requires a need to think ahead about the obstacles that need to be overcome. And fast glass goes a long way to help. Lenses that have constant F-stops through various focal lengths. Usually you’d be shooting F4 or lower for run way shots, higher for group shots after the event. And the other lesson learnt from shooting these kind of events? Travel light if you can – you may not always be able to keep a close eye on your equipment bag and there isn’t always a safe plash to stash it.

Most of all, it’s important to photograph in your own way. Learn from the other photographers around you, but don’t all-out imitate.
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Using Spot Colour

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They look cool and can really help sell an image.  Whether you achieve the end result in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or on your smart phone – don’t over do/use it.  Remember to be selective with your image choices and again – this needs repeating – do not over do it.  If you’re shooting a model portfolio or wedding it’s nice to maybe have one spot colour image, but that’s about it and only if there is a image that is enhanced by the process.

There are tons of free tutorials on line that will explain how to achieve this look.  There are many different methods that can lead you to the same result.  Find what works for you by trying them all.  After doing several you’ll start to see what works and what doesn’t.  Some images you’ll have the item or object you want to stand out as the spot colour, which is typically the norm with this effect, but you may also wish to try inverting the mask and having the dominant item as shot in B&W with the rest of the image as a colour.
Spot Colour

Spot Colour