Simple lighting set up - dragged the shutter to underexpose the outside ambient light by a stop or so. Took a few shots of another dancer here recently (Jessie Jing) and realised that I had to have the frame of the window in the shot otherwise the lighting looked really false.
Here you can see the Elinchrom 186cm Octabank. Inside is the El RX AS Speed A head fired using a pocket wizard plus II. I do also use the skyport but I like being able to trigger the pack with the Sekonic L758 DR meter. Of course when you have the benefit of an assistant you also have someone to alter the power of the pack so the skyport is less essential.
Shooting with the Hasselblad and not tethered as the amount of dust in the warehouse is unbelievable and I do not trust my laptop to it.
Shooting from slightly lower down to elongate Emms.
Post production in PS via my own personal recipe - enjoy :-)
DrF
First shot out of the editing room from my latest shoot with the gorgeous Tamsin. Shot in a local Casino - great room with lots of scope (almost too much!). Had two assistants this time and I have to say this really is the way to go. Lots of help, lots of inspiration and subsequently lots of images to edit :-)
This was taken using the two octas as key and fill with a bare quadra behind the glass for effect.
Just a touch of post production - it's all good!
DrF
And now for something completely different. This is the first posted image in a new series of mine exploring twins.
The model is the incredible Holly AKA Ivory Flame (www.ivoryflame.co.uk). A great day was had shooting with a fellow colleague - using his house as a studio.
Second real shoot with the Hasselblad and was able to shoot tethered throughout - clearly on a tripod also for this one.
Post production was fairly straight forward and I am not finding a need to sharpen the Hassie files beyond the default setting in Phocus - an absolute joy.
DrF
Shot this one from the same shoot as the last - but this time used a paper roll and more of a conventional studio setup.
Lighting wise this was achieved with two El ranger quadras left and right through gridded strip soft boxes and a ranger through a 70cm gridded beauty dish as key light.
Post production in photoshop.
Grandfather clock is a family heirloom! Fun and games getting it on set but defiinitely worth it I hope you will agree.
Lauren was superb as usual - not often that I get the opportunity to shoot a X-factor contestant :-) - things are looking up for the rest of the year!
Enjoy
DrF
Another fun shoot today despite the cold! (Hired a heater to keep all involved comfy). This is just one of the many great shots that we created. More to come for certain.
Idea was to create an album cover/artist tear page. Started off with the Octa supplementing the natural light that was coming from all sides - metered at ISO 100 f2.2 1/125.
Shot the whole shoot with my fave lens the canon 85mm f1.2 II - so sharp with the 5dII - would love a few more focus points on the 5II but then you can't have everything - until the 5dIII that is!
Bit of post production in CS5 using a smattering of nik color efex along the way.
As usual I hope you like and please tell me what you think.
DrF
Didn't expect to come back with something like this today. Went to visit a friend and am now deeply jealous of the real estate he has! Perfect for location shots. This was taken in a practically derelict house on his land.
Almost too many choices of where to shoot but this I am very pleased with.
Lit by my 1200 Ws Ranger head in a wide angle reflector about 15 feet from the leaded, grimy windows. Balanced with the ambient light and warmed with cloudy WB in camera. A touch of post processing in PS and voila!
Hope you all like
DrF
Wow am I pleased with having finished the post production on this one!
Great shoot with Clare (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clare-Neruda/233156630088846), Natalie and Sharon at the a boutique Hotel in Harrogate - used a truly plush suite and had a long day. The shoot was to create an editorial storyline based around a girl getting ready then increasingly bored/agitated waiting for her beau before finally coming to a sticky end. How this happened is up to you although there are a number of clues around the shot.
Lighting was with a 70cm beauty dish to light Clare on the bed with two quadras gridded to light selective areas - even a strobe hand held to light the bedside light. The composited shots were taken with a Damian McGillicuddy beauty dish hand held. The camera was locked down on a tripod to allow a lot of masking to be completed in photoshop. About 40 layers in PS in all. But hopefully you will agree that it was worth it.
Cheers
DrF
Just one photo from the extensive selection of images created at a recent Boutique hotel shoot.
This was taken at the end of the day when quite frankly we were all very tired! The lighting for this was accomplished using a beauty dish as key with two gridded SB's camera left and right. I dragged the shutter and zoomed out on my 24-70 for the effect.
The shoot was an editorial idea themed around a suicide/murder in a plush hotel suite - two multiplicity shots and will certainly post them when I have finished their post production.
Enjoy
DrF
Another shot from a prevous shoot with the lovely Fliss. HAd spent most of the time trying to recreate the Sun using a ranger only to suddenly have the real thing!
Learnt a lot about using smoke that day :-) The more foliage that the sun has to go through the more impressive the smoke then looks.
Hope you like
DrF
Why are all my photoshoots on location freezing cold? I look at the likes of Drewshoots shooting models on beaches at sunset and feel there must be something Karmic afoot.
That said Fliss did a wonderfull job (as usual). This one was the last shot of the day as it started to rain and we needed to pack up quickly. Taken at Brimham Rocks (with permission! :-)) and this time sufficiently out of the wind that I could use a softbox - oh for an assisstant.
Lighting-wise this was pretty straightforward with the ranger providing key via a 100cm deep octa with both baffles and a single quadra with a full CTO cut to act as the search light.
The whole aim of the story telling to relate to the film the English Patient with Fliss playing the part of the wounded wife waiting to be rescued by Ralph Fiennes. With a little fashion edge.
Hope you like - more on my Flickr stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/drfireball/
Just one shot from the "Rhythm and Rags" fashion show held in Chester. More photos available on my website - www.drfireballphotography.co.uk
Once the models had been through hair (Tony and Guy) and makeup I had the opportunity to take a few shots. I set up in the corner of a busy bar and cracked on!
I had taken my ranger and using a gridded beauty dish I was able to separate the models from the otherwise busy decor!
Good night was had by all.
DrF
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
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
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
.jpg)
