rjbradbury.com Blog

Personal Work & Models– A Studio Shoot with Model: Bex Lendon

2012-05-10T23:55:00Z

Normally when I post these kind of post I get right in to talking about the shoot and the model/person I worked with along side images. But for this one I want to start a little different and talk about my thoughts on personal work and working with models. May be this should be its own post..maybe but it’s this shoot that got me thinking so here it is.

Of late I have been shooting allot of models, why? well for me there are a few reasons.

1. You get to meet, collaborate with different creative people face to face (not just online)
2. It keeps you thinking creatively and working the camera and lights. Stops the rust setting in.
3. You can field test stuff for client work. Yeah I do that, test a lighting setup or two.
4. You get to work on developing your style of shooting/lighting (I'm years off this by the way) and keep moving forward, making mistakes and learning from them.
5. You can build your book / portfolio or at least (depending on what you shoot for client work or want your book to be) develop & continue your skill set & growth as a photographer.
6. You can gain great experience in dealing with many different types of people in front of your camera, yes they are models but lets not forget they are not just models. Talk you who you have in front of the camera, get to know them and find the real them, a real expression or moment.

Personal work is important not only for some of the reasons above but also to give you goals, focus and to help you not suck so much, take my #HrdLight project for example is it some amazing photography project or theme Nope in fact I have had much better project ideas since starting that, and that's the key I started a project.. set a theme or goal and am still shooting it! had not done this who knows if I would be writing this post now or working on another project. Fact is its important and Personal to me and I WILL finish the 25 image edit for the project because I know even if I end up never really adopting hard light in to my future style I would never of know if the project were not to be completed. Ok now that's said on to the shoot with Bex….

#1

I love #1 for a few reasons the light (3 light setup + reflector), the eye contact.. but also for Bex’s hair, it’s amazing (big & wild in a way). Many beauty shots show styled hair and are photoshopped to with in an inch of their lives, this would probably give some people fits in post production but for me it works as its a little different as I let Bex’s hair do pretty much what it wants apart from her fringe so I could keep light in her right eye. Exposure was pushed 1/3rd in camera to give the bright punchy and clean look.

#2

#3

For #2 & #3 I added a 4th light (gridded speedlite) to the set to light the background, image 2 has the rim/hair lights turned off (handy groups feature on the Photix Strato II triggers) and image #3 has them turned back on (the right one failed to fire) but I love the smile on this one, some times no always the moment, expression or smile is more important than a perfect all lights firing image.

#4

#5

Numbers 4 & 5 are actually from the first set shot using the Westcott 7ft Silver Parabolic Umbrella. I am really likening the 1:1 square crops lately and placing my subject centre frame on clean simple backgrounds. I would of liked the light to go a little higher but with 10ft celling height that was a no go.

#6

#7

Numbers 6 & 7 were list using a Westcott 28” Apollo (love that thing), hair light and a gridded light on a material background. Again Bex’s hair is great and apparently it use to be longer.

#8

Number 8 is something a little bit different form the beauty lighting set up of (1,2 and 3) turning the key light off and taking the reflector out leaving the rim/hair lights only. The colour gradient is a result of flare not photoshop.

Number 9 was a I have this bubble wrap so lets see what it will do as a background kind of experiment. Yup specular highlights expected that, quite interesting and something I will come back to maybe lighting the background separately. Key light was a 28” beauty dish.

The next images were shot as a sequence with a fair amount of frames which will fill this post up so I have made them in to a collage instead, which i delivered to Bex. Also I shot these at ISO 400 on my back up camera Canon 500D, still looks great so don't be afraid to up the ISO in studio or good light as it will allow your speedlites to recycle faster due the the reduced flash power required and the flash durations will be much shorter at the lower power so action freezing is no problem.

#10 A sequence of actin and dancing. Some fun to wind down a shoot.

#11 Some back lit fun and hair flicking.

#12 & #13 - My two favourite images from the sequence in #11

To Finnish the shoot off I wanted to play with some fog in a can (thanks to @damienlovegrove for the idea shown on his Lighting Studio Portraits Videos). I only had one can so limited fog.

Big thanks to @markboadey for assisting with this one.

#14 A 3 light set up and some fog in a can. Must order some more. ISO 400 F10 with speedlites.

Thank you Bex for a great shoot, your pre shoot communications were great and you rocked the shoot. Will be working with you again soon.

Rick

PS any spelling mistakes are not real, honest. It’s 2 am

#HrdLight–Stephanie Williams

2012-04-29T14:05:00Z

During a windy and cold location shoot at Hale Lighthouse near Liverpool I was on the look out for #HrdLight shots but wanted something different than the others in the series , So far everything has been lit so I have been wanting some natural hard light to work with for a while and the sun came through for oh about 5 minuets and gave some awesome direct sun light through a small gap in the clouds. You have to move quick, dial in your exposure and shoot… if you don't the light is gone before you know it. My first exposure was a little hot by 1/3rd not bad for a quick dial in in Manual, made a quick change leaving the exposure for the series of about 10 frames I took (before the clouds spoiled the fun) was ISO 100, F2.8 1/2000th sec.

Note to self – Leave your lights at home for a whole location shoot sometime, natural light rocks!

Shot with the Canon EF 35mm F2 on a 60D and gotta say I love this lens and the field of view it gives on a crop sensor.

After being ill for a few weeks it felt good to be shooting again but have to admit I struggled on this shoot, need to get my head back in the game. I’m happy with some of the results (love this shot) and others not so much.. that's all me and no one else, got to refocus as I'm not prepared to fall in to being a lazy mediocre photographer and I don't want to be the fix it later in post guy.

We all have doubts and not everything can and will be perfect every shoot or for every shot I get that, I am my own worst enemy/critic a little too often but lately I have been struggling, feeling frustrated and on occasion have wanted to put the camera a way for a while. I need to slap myself and shake it off ready for next weekends Studio shoot, get back up and carry on moving.

PS. I am still looking for subjects to photograph for my #HrdLight project, would love to shoot some portraits (Environmental) of people and not models for it so if your interested send me an email here and find out more about the #HrdLight project here .

Rick

#HrdLight - Nataly Pourikkou

2012-03-17T21:31:00Z

The third image in my #HrdLight project series.

Taken about 2 weeks ago on a location shoot in my home town Stockport, this project was kind of in the back of my mind… in a I will grab something If i see a shot kinda way, to be honest I just wanted to get out and shoot after a really crappy week.

Even though I used hard light a fair bit during this shoot (dam wind), I did not have any specific hard light shot ideas for this project, that was until the last location (a dark walkway) resulted in an interesting long exposure after a accidental shutter press… that started the process of making this image. Due to the lowlight level in the walkway exposures for ambient light were pretty long, this means you can get some ghosting when mixing ambient with flash, which is the result you see above.

Exposure : F6.3, ISO 500, 4” Light: On Camera (yes yes on camera) Straight up hard flash 1/64 power + 0.3ev (in camera NOT photo shop)

I tried it ETTL but it sucked (nothing new) so i switched to manual as I wanted a more consistent flash exposure. The flash exposure is the only consistency your going to get with long exposure images like this and that’s what makes them fun, to quote Forrest Gump .. You never know what your gonna get.

Also on a side note, I'm getting to like the in camera RAW processing options on the 60D quite a bit. This was shot in RAW colour and since you can’t re shoot the same image again with long exposures I converted the RAW file in camera to a B & W JPEG and added contrast, sharpening etc to give me an in the field idea. FYI the final image has gone through Light Room.

Personal Work – In Studio – Model: Alana Elliot

2012-03-11T19:02:00Z

This shoot took place a little while ago back in January this year. I had the luxury of looking after and running a friends Studio (Ians Studio)whilst he was away on holiday, in-between running some events at the studio I booked a model along with Mark (newtophoto co-host) and had a day in the studio working on some personal work for my portfolio.

You can find out more about Alana on the links below.

Her blog - http://alana-j2012.tumblr.com/

Her Model Mayhem - http://www.modelmayhem.com/1943375

Alana’s communications pre shoot were great, and she was amazing to work with, professional, great range of poses and expressions and was able to connect with the camera (you could feel it) and nail the shots. I will be working with here again soon, thank you Alana :)

Below are some more of my favourite images from the shoot, some of which are in my galleries on this site. All images shot using the Canon 500D, 50 F1.8 or 24-105 F4L, but remember the gear does not matter.. what ever you have go shoot.

#1 (By the way this was taken at ISO400, perfectly clean in good light) Don’t be afraid of increasing the ISO, it can help shoot faster with flash as a lower power is needed.

#2 , #3

#4, #5

#6, After the softer images above I went for something harder and more dramatic using hard light. 30’ Grid

#7 , #8

Love these images, especially number 1 in fact its been printed and I am in the process of finding a frame I like.

Thank You

RIck

#HrdLight–(Rachael Fairburn)–Shut Up!

2012-02-26T15:08:00Z

Continuing on with my #HrdLight project this is the second image.

Taken using one speedlite with a 1/4 grid and some pain in the ass suddenly unreliable wireless triggers (time to change them, gave up counting after 10 misfires).

I took other frames but for some reason this simple frame stood out to me, pretty sure its the fact the image is lit to show the top more than her face (different way of doing it).

Thank you Rachael for working with me.

During shooting I also talked to Rachael and another model I have worked with about a shot I have in my head for this project, its always good to talk about ideas and collaborate, get a team together. I won’t go in to any detail about this planned shot here but I will say its going to take some planning. Can’t wait.

Rick

Photo Critique – Adrian from Leeds UK

2012-02-25T09:20:00Z

In this Critique video I look at the work from 12 yr old Adrian from Leeds, UK. Adrian has been shooting for 2 years and got his first DSLR ( Canon 30D ) for Christmas 2011. Remember its not about what gear you use at all.

Thank you Adrian for submitting your critique following the requirements outlined here and giving me permission to use your images in the video.

Photo Critique – Adrian, Leeds UK

If you would like to submit work for a future Critique video please read this blog post and follow the guidelines. I will record Critiques as often as I can and don’t reply to emails until I am about to record your Critique.

Thank You

Rick

#HrdLight – Karina

2012-02-19T14:34:00Z

You may have read my previous post about starting a new project #HrdLight well I wanted to hit the ground running with this. I had a shoot on location yesterday in Liverpool (More on this shoot later) and while I was keeping the project in mind I wanted to get the shots the subject wanted in the bag first.. remember when working with a subject on location (model, client, what ever) its a collaboration always.. your working as a team.

As it turns out the conditions (25mph winds) kind of dictated the type of light that could be used, that type of light was unmodified bare.. #HrdLight .. If I had tried to used a softbox or umbrella it would of been game over (Wind 1 , Modifier 0). So to kick start this project off here is my first #Hrdlight frame and incidentally one of the first real frames from my new Camera.

One more thing to say… Karina you were an absolute star and coped with the difficult conditions amazingly.. Thank You.

FYI - If you or you known somebody would like to be photographed (18 Years or older) as part of this project then you can email me here Please use "#HrdLight" in the email subject. I am only looking for people in and around Stockport, Manchester and Liverpool (Basically local).

If you have any questions about this project if you are considering contacting me about being photographed for it let me know.

Thank You

Rick

Project Announcement: #HrdLight (Hard Light)

2012-02-18T02:10:00Z

Just a quick blog post about a new project I am starting. Its a personal project/personal work…but may include work from client shoots also.

Some of you may of guessed what the project is from the title #HrdLight – It’s a portrait project based on using and experimenting with hard light.. no large softboxes, umbrellas in fact no soft anything… just hard light. The example above is just that an example, I want to shoot all new work for this project.

Hard Light (#HrdLight) can come from using strobe, mid day sun, torches… the list goes on.. its all about the size of the light in relation to the size of your subject and also the working distance as working far away can make a large light source hard (Think Sun).

What is hard light? - Well its Hard/Harsh Light... you will get shadows and a very hard lines between hightlight & shadow (Light and darker) areas of an image, to what degree depends on how its used.

Why hard light? Well why not - no seriously I love it..and like drama and shadows so want to experiment and grow my use of hard light, will it work for every subject..may be.. maybe not depends on how you use it but it will be fun to find out.

This will be an on-going project and not a 365 picture a day project.. I am planning to shoot models, friends, family, strangers (read anyone I can get in front of the camera) for this.

Whilst its a project based on using #HrdLight I will still be working with my subjects to make the images, getting to know them and working to find a frame that suits them as well... so there is more to this than a project based around a way of using light, as always with portrait work you have a subject to work with / understand.

Images will be blogged on this site and sent out on twitter with the #HrdLight and I will also add them to my 500px account until the project is complete and can be added to a gallery / page on this site.

I’m shooting tomorrow no wait today (crap its 2:15am) so I’m hoping to get the first image for the project.

FYI - If you or you known somebody would like to be photographed (18 Years or older) as part of this project then you can email me here Please use "#HrdLight" in the email subject. I am only looking for people in and around Stockport, Manchester and Liverpool (Basically local).

If you have any questions about this project if you are considering contacting me about being photographed for it let me know.

Thank You

Rick

Critiques - Requirements & Submissions

2012-02-06T16:29:00Z

Well after doing two critique videos over on my youtube channel I have decided to open up my channel for a series of critique videos. I will create a play list over on my channel to make them easier to find. Once the critique has been uploaded I will post it on my blog also with a short bit of info about the photographer but won’t be writing up the critique in any major detail…. i simply don't have time.

The first two critique videos are listed below, FYI they are pretty lengthy (30-40 mins). Why so long? .. Well its mainly because i don't think these 5-10 minuet critiques that people are putting out on youtube are long enough to do a good job so mine are going to be as long as needed, if you don't want to watch a 30 min + video then don't watch it.. simple really.

Critique video are best watched full screen in original size on youtube as I record them using the native screen resolution of my monitor.

Steven from Newfoundland, Canada

Keith from Newcastle, UK

The way I run the critiques is pretty straight forward, I print off the email / info sent in with the images and record a screen cast of light room along with a small intro video, I don't look at the images before hand so the critique is as organic as possible. I say what I think and give feedback on the images both the positive and the negative.. don’t expect me to treat the critique with kid gloves.

Now please note these things take time to prep and record and then tons more to render (slow computer which needs updating – on the to do list ) and upload which means I don't have a set schedule for releasing these, I will do them as and when I can do.. also if I have a large number of people applying for critiques you could be in for a wait.

Requirements/Rules for ~Image Submission (Seriously Read This)

Ok sorry to be all strict on these but I have to be, if these conditions are not met I will delete your email.. no reply.. no questions. I don't have time to babysit the submissions …So what you need to do is as follows.

Email me no more than 10 images to rbcritiques@gmail.com the email must have the the following subject line. Don’t use my personal email address use the one above.

RB Critiques - Your First Name from Home Town,city/State and Country

examples: RB Critiques – Rick from Glasgow UK

RB Critiques – Rick from Texas USA

The body of the email should include information about you,your photography aspirations, your gear if you want, what you shoot as well as information about each image (where/why it was taken). Also (now this is important ) the following text amended with your details must be in the body of the email.

“ I YOUR FULL NAME of YOUR HOME TOWN, COUNTRY hereby give Richard J Bradbury (rickjbradbury on YouTube) permission to use the images I have emailed to him solely for the purpose of the critique video that will be recorded and uploaded to his You Tube channel (rickjbradbury) and posted on his website.

I FULL NAME of YOUR HOME TOWN, COUNTRY also understand the videos will be published publicly on line and will remain there until Richard J Bradbury (rickjbradbury on YouTube) sees fit.

I FULL NAME of YOUR HOME TOWN, COUNTRY also understand the views and feed back given by Richard J Bradbury are his own and are for critique/constructive criticism purposes. “

With out the above email text or subject line your critique wont happen ever.

You can copy and amend the obvious parts of the above text and subject text for your email submission.

I wont be including hot links to websites in videos or descriptions or blog posts so don't ask or send them, if you send me a link to your website along with the images I wont look at it, im not here to get your site traffic.

Don’t expect a reply to the emails sent, I will only replay when I am about to/have done the critique

You are asking for critique not just for the hell of it but to grow, gather feedback and get help/input so send me your best… think it through.

Images

Image Size – 1500 px @ 100 dpi - This keeps file sizes reasonable whilst giving a good viewing size.
Image format – JPEG only.. don't send me TIFFs or RAW files.. if you do I will delete the email.
Images Names – Up to you, name them or don’t name them.
Water Marks – Up to you, your call.
Meta Data – Must be intact as its part of the critique process .
Image Tags – yeah go for it, but remember i do these things in Light Room so they will show up – watch what you tag on an image.

Ok that's all the rules laid out but a few other things to remember…

Send your best work – you are doing this to show your work and gain feedback.

Its nothing personal – Don’t take it personal, these are my thoughts abut your work not you personally. I will say what I think with out being rude (i hope) so be warned.

Take it on board – Not saying you have to like everything I say.. I'm sure people wont and hell I am far from perfect myself I'm still growing/improving my work.. always will be but don't watch the critique say thank you and do nothing with the feed back .. get out there shoot, learn , improve.. grow. Go do it!

Not from a mountain top – I'm not doing these from a mountain top, I am far from perfect, I make mistakes.. will make more, still learning every time I shoot. In fact I questioned if I had a place to give critique but have been encouraged by my peers and followers so here goes.

Please realise everyone starts somewhere.. everyone sucks at this at first.. you will improve, suck,, improve, suck some more.. on and on it goes. It takes time to learn the technical, develop and eye.. years to develop a style… I got the technical down and am still working on the rest.

I encourage discussion in the comments on youtube and my blog when I post the critiques.

Thank You

Rick

A Portrait Of: A Gun Smith

2011-12-10T19:22:00Z

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