A Portrait Of: A Gun Smith

During a recent visit by my Dad to the UK I had an unexpected opportunity to photograph a Gun Smith in his workshop, now in full transparency the Gun Smith is a relative which can makes things a little easier (not always) on an ad-hoc shoot.

I just about to leave to take Dad shopping and was asked If I would photograph David in his workshop…not one to pass up a challenge I said yes.

Upon walking in to the workshop I was greeted by a mix of tungsten desk lamps, fluorescent tube lights.. you know those crappy kind found in most offices and schools and some natural (overcast) window light.  Quite the mix of colour temperatures to deal with.  The space was also small/tight due to the equipment, lathes & tools around.. so wide lens it is then.

Ok so I have 10 minuets to take no Make an environmental portrait under mixed lighting conditions and all I have with me in my smaller bag is…

Canon 500D
Canon 18-55 IS Kit Lens
Canon 50mm F1.8
Canon 430EX II Speedlite – I always carry a speedlite
TTL Cord

No Light stand, no modifiers, no wireless triggers, no tripod – I was traveling light.

My first thought as David set a rifle on the work bench was focal length.. I needed something wide, the 50mm is to tight a field of view on a crop sensor for this space so its got to be the 18-55 somewhere around the 24mm mark.  Next though was oh crap I have a shit storm of different colour temperatures to deal with already and I'm about to add another.. flash, as you can see in the shot above we already have Overcast Day light (not enough to work with alone), Tungsten, Fluorescent and the flash I was about to add matches none of them exactly.

One way to deal with this problem would be to gel the flash ... that and a slight problem the gel packs are sitting in my main bag at home about 30 minuets away. Ok only thing I can do is find a white balance that gets me close.. flash white balance would of made things too warm, tungsten.. nope not going to cut it flash will go cold as would the day light same for fluorescent. So AWB it is, I rarely shoot AWB as I prefer the consistency of locking to a particular white balance but at times it can save the day as it will let the camera do the heavy lifting for me. Using AWB has warmed the flash up a little and balanced out the lighting better than locking the camera into a set white balance.

After finding my composition by dropping low I took an ambient light reading F6.3, ISO800, 1/60th sec .. ok looks good, windows has blown out but that's not important , time to bring in the flash, attached via a 1.5m TTL cord I set the speedlite to ETTL (yes i do sometime use TTL) set the flash head zoom to 24mm to cover the scene handed to to my VAL (Voice Activated Light stand AKA Dad)  and shot the first frame. Always let your subject know you just getting dial in.

First frame, ambient looks ok and I'm happy enough with what AWB is doing but I can drop the ISO  2 stops from 800 to 200 taking my shutter speed from 1/60thsec to 1/15th sec – Why?  It will give me a cleaner file and  I nor my subject are moving, how ever as always dropping down to a slower shutter speed I think got to keep things steady ( I did in the end bump back to ISO400 for a 1/30th sec shutter speed). Looking at this first frame of 3 made the flash exposure is off (+1/3rd Flash EV needed) and the flash is too far off the side so I directed the VAL Dad to bring the flash round a little and took the second frame.

Second frame is looking better exposed I'm happy with the flash exposure and the ambient also  the move of the desk lamp far right has provided a nice rim light on the rifle.  Problem is composition needs shifting a little and the flash is too side lit and too low casting a distracting shadow on the window behind David and to the right of the lamp.

For the final shot I brought the light further round and higher to drop a shadow under the chin and to deal with the shadows on the window panels which can be seen in the final shot below, you can see David’s shadow is now gone (its behind him) and the lamp shadow is now less distracting.  You can still tell this was lit with bare flash (hard light) if you look at the shadows on the apron, rifle strap and the handle of the vice.. also the highlights on he front of the rifle give the cooler temperature of the flash away.  I did not direct David to much as he fell in to this pose and it looked right, confortable for him the only thing I did was direct his chin/head position to avoid loosing light in the eyes and reflections in the glasses.

Overall I am happy with the final image as were David and my Dad, could it be improved. yes with additional gear but that takes time and a stronger back to carry all that crap around, remember it not the amount of gear or tools you have.. its what you do with them that ultimately matters.

Now I will be going back to shoot some more environmental portraits and details shots in he new year and yes I will take more gear with me (modifiers, lights, Running Manual ) but only because I know what they will do for me and the results they will give me, you can do allot with bare flash but its never a soft light and its indiscriminate to what it hits. I’m looking forward to seeing the results from the new year.

Rick

C3 Stockport 120:20 Challenge & Castleton Photowalk

The other weekend I attended a group photo walk at Castleton and Pevreil Castle which was run by C3 Stockport.  A good day out and luckily the weather held up.  Heads up this is going to be a long post,

One part of this photo walk was going to be dedicated to a 120:20 challenge, the rules being that you have 120 minuets to take no more than 20 photographs, no deletions but you can use up one of the 20 shots to retake an image (say if you blew exposure). It was an interesting challenge to complete and is one of many you can do yourself.

We also walked around Peveril Castle before the challenge which gave everyone a chance to warm up before the 120:20 challenge which was run in the town centre.  Below are my shots from Peveril Castle and the 120:20 challenge.

First up the images from the walk around Peveril Castle. You will probably notice I had a thing for black and white on that day.

I won’t be uploading these to flickr until I have renewed the membership (the free account limits your sets and collections).

#1 (Model of Peveril Castle)

#2 (Climb up to the Castle)

#3 (Lisa shooting the Castle on the Climb up)

#4

#5 (Grass and Dew)

#6 (Black & White – 1:1 Crop of another Grass and Dew shot)

#7 (Lisa – Shooting a landscape)

#8 (Part of the Castle Wall)

#9 (Part of the Castle wall and an old gate)

#10 Spiral staircase in to the Castle remains,  not an original feature of course)

#11 (Shot through the window grates making a frame within a frame)

#12

#13 (Looking down from the top of the spiral staircase)

#14

#15 – Yup I know about the leaves and branches sticking in the right of the frame, but this was the composition I wanted for the elements with in the landscape and the people.  I may try to remove the leaves and branches in post at some point.

#16 (Similar to 15 but included more washed out sky and shifted to get rid of the branches, Personally I prefer number 15 and will even more if I can remove the branches and leaves

#17 (Mark shooting the Canon EF 100mm F2.8 L IS Macro on his 7D)

#18 Naomi & I had a bit of fun at the end of the day, she ran around in circles whilst I tried to track her with the camera – 500D  24-105 F4L , these few frames are the best ones out of about 8 (got a bit too close for minimum focus distance)

I would also like to thank Naomi for being a model for me during the 120:20 challenge, speaking of which here are the images from that challenge.

Below are the images (Top = SOOC  Bottom = My Edit)  I am including the edited versions to illustrate a few things that shooting RAW allows. The only images SOOC that had post work are the black and white ones, this is due to them popping back to colour in Lightroom even though they were shot B&W in camera (RAW only captures the RAW Colour Data) and unlike Canon’s DPP the Adobe Lightroom does not pay attention to the Picture styles (at least the way I have it set up).

120:20

#1 

Shooting in to light can cause loss of contrast, I expected this especially with the 18-55 kit lens, its not great at this.

Only some small tweaks in post to bring back some contrast in my edit.

#2

Long exposure of the stream/water.  Achived using a very small aperture f/36 on the 18-55 as this lens will stop down more than the others in my set. ISO100  1/2” got me this result out of camera.

Slight tweaks in post and adjust white balance as AWB made it a bit cool.

#3

Should of upped the ISO to get a faster shutter speed here or opened up the aperture a little. 

Not allot done in post in my edit. Just my own B & W conversion process and contrast tweaks.

#4

Landscape with human interest for this one.

+ 1/3rd Exposure in post as I was a little off with my compensation in camera.

#5

Place marker to show the location.  On a side note always photography major signs or landmarks when you visit places as I will help to complete a set of images.

Not allot done here in my Edit.

#6

Ships wheel.

Only a few slight adjustments here, namely contrast and clarity.

#7

Naomi – I asked here to pose for me and she started winking both eyes one after another   This is the shot I got. Naomi is quite the character, thanks for your help on the Day Naomi. Exposure was dialled in in Manual mode by using spot metering and metering of the cheek then adding +0.3 EV to get the right exposure before shooting.

Just a few basic tweaks to contrast and white balance (I always adjust white balance for portraits in post)

#8

#9

Wow fluffed this one.

I much prefer this version.

#10

Man again!  Shows what happens if you rush things, exposure is fine but framing sucks.  Whoops

Much better. Mental note watch the horizons and edges!

#11

That Sigma 10-20 ultra wide is fun. FYI I go nuts with that lens over the next few images.

Just a few tweaks for my edit.

#12 (Portraits with an Ultra Wide – Yup)

Now I would not normally shoot a portrait with this wide of a lens, this close… but some times its fun to play around.  Thanks again Naomi.

#13

#14

Whoops, should of dialled in about  – 2 ev.  Cameras meter has tried to get the primarily dark parts of this image (camera, jacket) and make them 18% grey  which = over exposed.

This is why I shoot RAW. A jpg would of been lost as the data is simply lost. RAW allows you to recover images in post, but Always try to get it in Camera.

#15
 

I was a little annoyed I blew that last one I shot a similar image again, but this time shifted right to crop the sign out in camera. Oh and this time dial in –1.7 EV

My edit.  Not allot done.

#16

#17 (I like the rim light on the subject walking away)

Street scene. In this SOOC shot you can see the guy just coming in to frame on the right, I missed this as I am a right eye shooter, even though my left eye was open.. that and the 500D does not have 100% VF.

Slight Crop and my own black & white treatment for the edit.

#18

Quite like this crop in my edit. Not possible in camera.

#19

Group shot of Mark, Naomi & Lisa. I said say Cheese . which prompted mark to start to open his coat which would of revealed a Say Cheese T Shirt which is available over at www.newtophoto.com

#20

Last shot of the 120:20 is a portrait of Naomi and her mum Lisa.  I decided to use the barrel zoom technique to create this effect in camera.  If anything the zoom on this is a bit OTT but all good fun.

All in all a good day out shooting, and it made a nice change from shooting in studio or working with models/lights.  I look forward to next years.  As you can see from the images posted from the 120:20 challenge I don't do allot to my images in post beyond adjusting white balance, contrast and sharpening (with the exception of black & white conversions).  I rarely crop unless its needed to make the final envisioned result, I’m a get in in camera shooter.

My take away from this day out and challenge is not only is it fun I can open your eyes to other things by going out and shooting something you don’t normally shoot, those who follow my work online know that I am primarily a portrait photographer and use off camera lighting allot.. but I am aware shooting other subjects can also help improve portrait work by looking at shape, patterns, different compositions and colours all of which you will get by going out and shooting different subject matters. Also its good to break away an get out of your comfort zone.

Thank you Lisa & C3 for a great day out shooting.

Rick

Gear Talk: Going Full Frame

Those of you who follow me on Facebook or Google + may have noticed some discussion going on regarding my next Camera purchase. I laid out options which basically broke down to staying with APS-C (1.6x Crop) Sensor or going Full Frame. Just so you know I currently shoot APS-C (Crop) on the Canon EOS 500D and have done for a few years now, it’s a great camera and will make a good back up camera.

The reason for this upgrade is 2 fold.

1. I have out grown the 500D as a photographer – eventually it happens. A few times I have wanted 1/3 stop increments on my ISO and the 500D does not allow it. The below listed DSLRs are more responsive and allow for faster shooting shot to shot (talking single shot not motor drive/burst)

2. I need manual video, with the work I have done on youtube, for www.newtophoto.com and elsewhere manual video is a must for me.  Video is here to stay on DSLR’s so you might as well embrace it. The 500D does not allow any kind of manual control in video mode nor audio inputs. You can install third party firmware but there is no-way I am doing that on my currently one and only body.

During this process I looked at the Canon EOS 60D, 7D and 5D MK II  with varying load outs. Now before I get in to this please know I an not Anti-Crop and firmly believe you can get great results from any camera let alone DSLR, after all its about the photographer/vision more than the Camera or Lens.. these components whilst they differ from each other and give different results are ultimately just tools.

One thing to know also is I would like to eventually like to build up a good kit of 2 identical bodies, good set of prime lens, and possibly a pair of telephoto zooms (undecided yet) as well as a good lighting kit.

So in looking at the above options I listed a few kits.

60D (APS-C)	2x60D (APS-C)	7D (APS-C)	5D MKII (Full Frame)
60D Body	2 * 60D Bodies	7D Body	5D MK II Body + LPE6
Canon BG-E9 Grip	2 * BG-E9 Grips	BG-E7 Grip	BG-E6 Grip
2 * Spare LP-E6 Battery	2 *Spare LP-E6 Batts	2* Spare LP-E6	2* 8GB 60mb/s CF
16GB SDHC C10 Card	16GB SDHC C10	2 * 8GB 60mb/s CF	1* 16GB 60mb/s CF
Canon EF 17-40 F4L	Canon EF 17-40 F4L	1* 16GB 60mb/s CF	Canon EF 35mm F2
		Canon EF 17-40 F4L	Lens Hood for 35 F2
Total £1416.97	Total £2165.96	Total £1863.16	Total £2109.68

I did have kit list for the 5D II that included the 24-105 F4L or the 24-70 F2.8L but these priced up as £2566.86 and £2864.86 respectively which is just too much, that and I can borrow a 24-105 F4L if needed and the 24-70 F2.8L is about £900+ new and to be frank I have heard mixed review about it and would rather rent it and see for myself before committing to a £900+ lens.

It was not an easy choice to make, both the 60D and 7D have features over the 5D II (Mainly in AF and video resolutions/frame rates) but neither will give me what I want from my len’s. And it’s that which swayed me to go FF.  I want my 50mm lens to give me a 50mm field of view and I want to be able to shoot wide (24mm, 35mm) with out having to go to an ultra wide lens to get the same field of view. Remember with  a crop sensor your will need to times your focal length by the given crop factor (1.6 for Canon , 1.5 for Nikon, Sony and others for APS-C) so the 50mm F1.8 on a crop sensor camera give you an 80mm field of view. It’s explained and visualised better in the video below)

Newtophoto Tutorial Video–Crop & Full Frame

Some of you may be wondering if its the best choice to go with a 35mm F2 prime instead of a more flexible zoom lens, good question.. and the answer is yes it will be fine, I prefer primes and like I said need to evaluate a zoom like the 24-70 F2.8L further before committing to it. Adding the 35 F2 to the kit will give me a good wide on FF to go along with a 50mm and an 85. Also the 35 F2 will give a 50mm field of view on the 500D whilst I still have it as a back up.

Once ordered (Cash Money Only) It will leave me with a good FF kit to start with, remember the bulk if not all of my work is portrait based. I am looking forward to it not only as new Gear (come on its always exciting) but getting to know the 5D II / 35 F2 and re-know my 50mm and 85mm F1.8 len’s.

Why not the 5D3? Sorry I can’t time travel , no-body knows when it will be released but I know it won’t be cheap.

1DX? – no comment apart from …. £5200

I will write up my thought's and experience's with FF in a future post.

Remember get to know your Camera , Lens’s, Lights.. it will help when it comes time to upgrade in the future.

Rick

Model Shoot (In Studio): Sophie Winters

This set of images are from a recent shoot at a studio I visit regularly (Ian’s Studio, Stockport). 

Model: Sophie Winters

Purestorm ID :189061

(Number 1)

The above was shot against a grey background which was lit with coloured gels.  I don’t use gels very often , other than to match flash to a particular ambient light for example tungsten/incandescent or fluorescent. However the theme of the night at the studio was Technicolor Grey. The key light was a bowens 500ws head with a umbrella.

The next frames were taken during the same set up with a slight change in pose.  You can see a black and white and colour version.  Personally I prefer the black and white, why? Well like I said I'm not a fan of gels. One thing to note is on all the images so far I have made sure I have light  in the eyes and the hand pose is feminine, if Sophie had here a fist clenched (back of hand to camera) and was leaning on that it would be more masculine.  (2 & 3)

Time to change it up, so I turned the background light off which left me with a grey background. (4)

I decided to go black & white with this one.  Lighting was with one light with a 28” beauty dish high up camera left.  The light was quite close in so I got the fall off I wanted on the background, it also meant the light fell off quickly towards Sophie's legs/feet which is why its a half/3/4 length shot.  Converted to black & white in post and also added a slight vignette.

You can light a subject and background with just one light, all you need to to is have your set closer to the background or light from the side, feathering the light towards the background but anticipate more shadows on your subject.

One tip is to start with just one light, don't get caught up in all the different modifiers or light placements, keep it simple and learn from there.  Just one small speedlite, light stand and some wireless triggers will open up a world of possibilities outside of just shooting ambient or available light. Whilst I always try to pass on something in these blog posts you can pick up some great tips on starting out with flash via www.newtophoto.com and tutorials on the youtube channels.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ntpadvanced

http://www.youtube.com/user/newtophoto

Ok shameless plug over the last set I set up was with a patterned background and again just one light.  (5 & 6)

This time a Speedlite (Canon 430EX II, but any will do) in a 60” convertible umbrella set up for half shoot through.  Half shoot through? Yup.. what I mean by that is half covered, this was to keep some of the light off the background as it was a shiny wall paper one. You still get a great soft quality of light from the umbrella half covered because its still a large light source and was used close in.  Sorry I don't have any BTS shots showing the setup, I kind of err forgot   I will TRY to remember during the next shoot.

Rick

Model Shoot: Pamela

(No1)
The other weekend I had a half day shoot along side Mark Boadey Co-Host for Newtophoto.  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)

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)

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.
 

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

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)

(No 7/8)

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.

(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.

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.

   Thanks Pamela & Jeni for a great shoot.

Rick