Nicci B silhouette

Nicci B silhouette, originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Something a little different from me for your consideration. Taken in a great little (and reasonably priced) studio here in Leeds.

But really the main reason for me posting today is to celebrate my successful submission to the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers. As of today I have some new letters after my name - LSWPP - "L" standing for Licentiate.

Need to keep up the work and aim for the next level - Associate.

Other news - I am shooting at Chester Fashion Festival next week so you can expect to see some run way stuff here soon.
Cheers

DrF

Skyler

Skyler, originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Haven't blogged for a while - not because I have been quiet - rather I just have not had the time :-)

Still this shoot today more than merits a mention. Had a good fortune to work with Skyler who was over from the US and able to fit in a shoot. The shoot took place in NDP studios (well worth a visit if you happen to be needing to do a shoot in Leeds....)

Skyler is a professional ballet dancer and very easy to work with. In the space of four hours we managed about six different set ups. Helping me was Natalie Greenwell doing the make up. We have worked together and today she provided two themes.

Not enough hours in the day for editing - but finshed with around 60 photos which I am very pleased with.

Lighting was using my Elinchrom stuff (largely due to familiarity) rather than the Broncolor in house stuff. I used the quadra ringflash extensively either as fill or key light. This shot was taken with the El Octabank camera right (with ranger), a qhadra in the 100cm deep octa cam left and a strip lit (quadra again) recta with egg box cam left.

All comments welcomed!

Cheers

Dr

In the garden of delight.....

In the garden of delight....., originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Used the garden at home for the first time today - funny how somewhere so close tends to get overlooked....

What can't be seen here though is the steepness of the garden :-) Fortunately I was able to use the extending legs of the manfrotto mini combi boom to good effect.

While I tried to get some help with this one - I ended up running around trying to get the smoke right - good work out. Best thing though was using the power tracking feature of the pocket wizards. I used the tt1 on camera, the st4 on the ranger and a flextt5 on the quadra. I also used 2x 590exII to light the trees and provide a little fill. Using the AC3 meant that I could then alter all the lights from the top of the camera - fantastic.

This one really benefits from being viewed as large as possible and more will be posted to my Flickr as I get around to the PP.

Enjoy

DrF

Anyone for a glass of milk?

Anyone for a glass of milk?, originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Great shoot this and very much a collaborative effort.
Taken from a workshop with aurumlight - head over to their blog for more info on future workshops.
Two day shoot - first involved taking the base frames and then a full day of photoshop :-)

Lighting by way of two Paull Buff Einstein units using Elinchrom Recta light mods. Einsteins were used as they can provide very short flash duration so that the milk does not blur when thrown.

And yes lots of towels were used - but no cows were hurt in the process!

Let me know what you think

DrF

Boxer

Boxer, originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Great opportunity today to shoot the current welter weight tri service boxing champ. A true gentle giant.

Shot with an elinchrom ranger through the 135cm deep octa. I removed both inner and outer diffusers then put a silver deflector on to create a large beauty dish. This was then placed high above and looking straight down at Tam. Behind was a large mirror that then provided a touch of rim lighting.

Post production was in PS using a new trick I've discovered with unsharp mask then b&w conversion in SEP 2.

Reminds me of a certain famous shot of an Afghan woman in Nat Geographic but perhaps that's me being conceited!

As usual more on flickr.

Thanks for stopping by

DrF

Self Portrait

Self Portrait, originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Looks sad I have been told - but far from the truth as I have finally gotten around to creating my website!

Have a look at www.drfireballphotography.co.uk and please let me know what you think.

Kind regards

DrF

Enlightenment

Enlighment, originally uploaded by DrFireball.

Such a great shoot this - thought I'd share thoughts on another from the day :-)
Hired some kit from Provision in Leeds. They were incredibly helpful and I will definately be going back there again. I turned up on a Monday morning while they were preparing kit for shooting Emmerdale - I had to ask if there was a prize for being their smallest customer that day......

This shot similar to the previous one on my blog (but make sure you check out the one entitled "Leap of Faith" also) was shot using the El Octa hidden behind a pillar. This was almost the last shot of the day - time was running out as was the Ranger battery - great kit and I have not often had to change a battery during a shoot (only really when I am shooting on full power through the Octa.)

Post produciton was with Lightroom to do the raw conversion then I used a few of the Oneone plugins I have recently aquired - well they were massively reduced this month and I could not resist :-)

PP consisted of adding a little blue sky thinking through the window which was otherwise blown out and then working on overall tone and contrast.

I may very well use fractals to blow this one up large and print it.

Hope you like and all comments welcome.

Kind regards

DrF