tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75278502770598982012024-02-19T07:26:39.994-08:00ImonkIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-58244853732935134622010-07-30T09:46:00.000-07:002010-07-30T16:15:57.168-07:00Flashy pad 5!<span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3nMd481VogNSHKRAwbvvtYAKiLQVikGxwbRPMEZbIVsAJ90fPJioqy0_g6j-V2hQPkKDxojBOTXfyzaOVlksA4njMOp5QSJcazziZwZp9-5ZPBmDVQFmA1ReFJP10fAHHUuRXLr8h779/s1600/_DSC0050.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw3nMd481VogNSHKRAwbvvtYAKiLQVikGxwbRPMEZbIVsAJ90fPJioqy0_g6j-V2hQPkKDxojBOTXfyzaOVlksA4njMOp5QSJcazziZwZp9-5ZPBmDVQFmA1ReFJP10fAHHUuRXLr8h779/s400/_DSC0050.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499741737686091410" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Haven't updated the blog for a wee while so I thought I'd add a bit of info about a recent job for a regular client. As it was quite a nice day with some brea</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">ks in the cloud I broke out the flashes to keep the windows in check whenever there was blue sky showing. As I've said in previous 'Flashy pad' p</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">osts a cl</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">oudy day is usually better for interiors but when you get a nice blue sky with white clouds then you can't turn it down.</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />The shot above was taken using one (I think) flash bounced into the ceiling to light the interior so I could make the exposure for the outside (which was 250th/f9). Without the flash the interior would obviously have been pretty under-exposed. Here's a setup pic from a previous shot showing one flash bouncing off the ceiling and one lower down off the white door for even coverage...<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMt0KRr8VfkooF9uG18GJ3xF32XDMJBNpZe2Y6NhiPo2sZpLcBNoKG1kE4H1rI06I9XKJ4YXFpUPes2YmpebtOK2zqkQMDGFuwaC2eSIMxifRFk8A-3OHYnpUDwSHyI2h0NuDxEeO_UXei/s1600/IMG_0442.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 304px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMt0KRr8VfkooF9uG18GJ3xF32XDMJBNpZe2Y6NhiPo2sZpLcBNoKG1kE4H1rI06I9XKJ4YXFpUPes2YmpebtOK2zqkQMDGFuwaC2eSIMxifRFk8A-3OHYnpUDwSHyI2h0NuDxEeO_UXei/s400/IMG_0442.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499827735430498610" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Another space that needed some flash was the top floor which had a nice skyllight and was light and airy. The natural light shot was actually ok but I wanted to pull in the nice sky </span><span style="font-size:85%;">ou</span><span style="font-size:85%;">tside so I set up the flashes. Here's the natural light shot...<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdxhnXHQ3fTLt_gQi0LDZs324jyxbZZvig5uEgeC1a0sSksrEa67oxBRwmRp03SyUmIcWvAZbSKZU88QvjyH2PJD7aedVtgybw6MHFDkHqhN3foAzvIGSX1Uajv57rLFx5hTK3LScB3lWl/s1600/_DSC9944.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdxhnXHQ3fTLt_gQi0LDZs324jyxbZZvig5uEgeC1a0sSksrEa67oxBRwmRp03SyUmIcWvAZbSKZU88QvjyH2PJD7aedVtgybw6MHFDkHqhN3foAzvIGSX1Uajv57rLFx5hTK3LScB3lWl/s400/_DSC9944.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499831963301226946" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><br />Which looks fine, but I really wanted to pull the window in so here's a rough setup shot<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV14WFTjnazem1IBWcqwquAohE10-frRWoZaHsVlvJnw4cP6VJWSaD7AN7NslF9BaCTYKCl6yaCKiJM2nJUI4P1RXJOymT9CMjlIHpBcxqoo3SfO2Qy5Cf8E4fyoJwEFknPb10eb7GXA6s/s1600/IMG_0443.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 304px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV14WFTjnazem1IBWcqwquAohE10-frRWoZaHsVlvJnw4cP6VJWSaD7AN7NslF9BaCTYKCl6yaCKiJM2nJUI4P1RXJOymT9CMjlIHpBcxqoo3SfO2Qy5Cf8E4fyoJwEFknPb10eb7GXA6s/s400/IMG_0443.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499833486792653266" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />And here's the 'final' shot...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHXnIw_xlKS-BjV-aaG6N349bQaQbBwe8aEI1cUhBFTggRmZhGYyT-niysC83niNdpqnPW3X5dZC_khsKY2CqghWpLvvyihmQMqL2Y0G_CAySv0CrbijaYKD0MZZSFkrwE5-SBmE1SpRr/s1600/_DSC9950.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXHXnIw_xlKS-BjV-aaG6N349bQaQbBwe8aEI1cUhBFTggRmZhGYyT-niysC83niNdpqnPW3X5dZC_khsKY2CqghWpLvvyihmQMqL2Y0G_CAySv0CrbijaYKD0MZZSFkrwE5-SBmE1SpRr/s400/_DSC9950.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499834380389449634" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">Which I do prefer. There's three flashes here by the way, one cam right into the ceiling corner, one cam left handled by me on the stairs (cam triggered with a cable release) and one in the bathroom at the end of the hall.)<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;">I could have used HDR for these shots, as I did in my previous post, but the results, in my opinion, are rarely good enough quality and when the house has so much white to bounce light around I really think doing all this 'in camera' is the way to go whenever possible. I did take an HDR shot of a dining room to compare with doing it in-cam....<br /><br />First is the natural light shot<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivb4hFai1v-osjDu85_Yv8mlpFi6BGbApIDXlMj-N__FqJnzRFFIH0W53cGueFx6UR9pGAezkg2Ri2qLVRIxsKtqaZMridny07Agy-9I8471xEL2NR8WsEc4E4ZQk0epokZ2ZDTpgS49eX/s1600/_DSC9856.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivb4hFai1v-osjDu85_Yv8mlpFi6BGbApIDXlMj-N__FqJnzRFFIH0W53cGueFx6UR9pGAezkg2Ri2qLVRIxsKtqaZMridny07Agy-9I8471xEL2NR8WsEc4E4ZQk0epokZ2ZDTpgS49eX/s400/_DSC9856.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499836352090327282" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Which, again, isn't bad, but I wanted the sky and a little bit more light as I felt this looked a tad dingy, which the room wasn't. So next is the HDR version (9 exposures)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEurkRXUGXf7EYG5h2X7Qr0Wvov-icFJwvq6wSbBnu07ZOjzQE6dTDYqTTIe11bL0gLPaRW5w56tzQ7gqT_Ht8HCZvWGibj6xZosJigbKFujZHuwEgPlzh_QYktf4a9mOkOyB-WHqw7Jm/s1600/hdr+test+final.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEurkRXUGXf7EYG5h2X7Qr0Wvov-icFJwvq6wSbBnu07ZOjzQE6dTDYqTTIe11bL0gLPaRW5w56tzQ7gqT_Ht8HCZvWGibj6xZosJigbKFujZHuwEgPlzh_QYktf4a9mOkOyB-WHqw7Jm/s400/hdr+test+final.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499836746947317714" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Which loses some sharpness and the colours just don't look right. Then the shot with two flashes...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RGHaMm82DlqJyM4w7EuQU9jTdsDijNLuF3Hmq_HJhj61jzGKwC1n0s5SOqXTG1qFEUKUBTdFqPEiRIF6fpLb9EaViBf_44K0KXLrKOw9gzLy4WUJHnFgiKllEdavpJc3SkZCYvMRzZZU/s1600/_DSC9863.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RGHaMm82DlqJyM4w7EuQU9jTdsDijNLuF3Hmq_HJhj61jzGKwC1n0s5SOqXTG1qFEUKUBTdFqPEiRIF6fpLb9EaViBf_44K0KXLrKOw9gzLy4WUJHnFgiKllEdavpJc3SkZCYvMRzZZU/s400/_DSC9863.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499837104285418850" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Which in my opinion looks much better. I was a bit sloppy and got a slight hit on the corner of the mirror but that's user error :)<br /><br />All in all this was another nice house that I'd love to live in! Here's a few of the detail shots I liked:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNZDK-kApjnIrraNlyATvjqGLGXoTb6zFskg2Lz9ESm5fZkmMv_QynU5N7WbqKb8DJI6nPExw686sqPqTRF7eWQfGVnz5hoy9FAF_o-Yy5oGva3M7K9A6dmNfyPoEtDUwbtugnjOzjtAhj/s1600/_DSC0023.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNZDK-kApjnIrraNlyATvjqGLGXoTb6zFskg2Lz9ESm5fZkmMv_QynU5N7WbqKb8DJI6nPExw686sqPqTRF7eWQfGVnz5hoy9FAF_o-Yy5oGva3M7K9A6dmNfyPoEtDUwbtugnjOzjtAhj/s400/_DSC0023.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499837853586616834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOaFsYgIBBuST1brdoQ8hyCwpb-jDoKQxhKcBn011Z8i24CWujEW5fooxUyP2kUcQy4Tq6NXmPubHAEWj49SeTR6ksaCcQBFsUORTQtW-bLeAT5sX9Izon3KpNt0JxJnPNrDJj8mDW7Ch/s1600/_DSC0035.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOaFsYgIBBuST1brdoQ8hyCwpb-jDoKQxhKcBn011Z8i24CWujEW5fooxUyP2kUcQy4Tq6NXmPubHAEWj49SeTR6ksaCcQBFsUORTQtW-bLeAT5sX9Izon3KpNt0JxJnPNrDJj8mDW7Ch/s400/_DSC0035.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499838010594031906" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9YpiF8N5yk075DaNwtIdTp4NAY7A3GUI6xxlD4PepV2GQtAOLCPggYSKnrm_Pmf5XXZb1YI1LGmtxCPNGf1fynDZfv3UODu6OWLnTzZAMQiKk7VuITWMhO1vmn3-6sLNzBAEMgPjDhCj/s1600/_DSC9994.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9YpiF8N5yk075DaNwtIdTp4NAY7A3GUI6xxlD4PepV2GQtAOLCPggYSKnrm_Pmf5XXZb1YI1LGmtxCPNGf1fynDZfv3UODu6OWLnTzZAMQiKk7VuITWMhO1vmn3-6sLNzBAEMgPjDhCj/s400/_DSC9994.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499838187140755538" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And lastly, just to mention the two setup shots I posted (and some shots I stuck on twitter while I was shooting) were taken with the iPhone cam which is pretty good when you have some light. Here's a pic I took of a very brief break in the clouds out of the skylight :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSsxs-8fqZSEUCDz1eWS808GVU0Og3Rt1f-g2NOYlRtMUUqWdLAA-GyCc8KthDwKVmL269MM36-kJ8EM3fezmanFItyPQBHRdN-mUoaPG_OekSfSocejax5wopwfX0TFk8-7R-C3Vs4H4H/s1600/IMG_0445.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSsxs-8fqZSEUCDz1eWS808GVU0Og3Rt1f-g2NOYlRtMUUqWdLAA-GyCc8KthDwKVmL269MM36-kJ8EM3fezmanFItyPQBHRdN-mUoaPG_OekSfSocejax5wopwfX0TFk8-7R-C3Vs4H4H/s400/IMG_0445.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499838561110950882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Which is now my iPhone background :)<br /><br />Sorry for the longer post (and the dodgy design as my normal blog editor isn't working so using blogger), especially if it's bored you! Just thought I'd share.<br /><br />Cheers all<br />Ian :)<br /></span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-60949033488064824222010-06-05T15:10:00.001-07:002010-06-05T15:10:24.550-07:00Golf, HDR and food!<p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArK83WZhOI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/u2UuxrFDO2U/s800/_DSC8870hdr.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArK7RkFs1I/AAAAAAAAAjM/Tv1VHLXO6qI/s800/_DSC8870hdr-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Had a very nice shoot the other day up in St Andrews. It was a beautiful day and the drive up was really enjoyable. Especially after the stressful couple of weeks we've had (see previous post!). The commission was to shoot some food and a few internals for a bar & grill that overlooks the 18th hole of the old course, and since The Open is about to start all the stands were up and the town was packed.</p><p style="clear: both">The shot above is the first thing you see when you walk in and I instantly knew I'd have a problem reproducing the scene since it was such a bright day outside and quite dark (at least for a camera) inside. As I was shooting food also I only really had an hour to get the internals done. Normally I'd approach this by exposing for the windows and then lighting the interior, but this was a large area with a very high ceiling. I actually did use the flashes on a couple of other shots to light the corner I was shooting in, one of which is below...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLATA2xCI/AAAAAAAAAjY/a6zZP8xzhv4/s800/_DSC8764.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCe_1O8je5WNuE4yPoKzojJ3aojhjyGziZPuu3dDSAhJyERc6CQkGmCn4IEFQsZ-KLRbF_lK_urEvDYj_szuk6YQoHx0zZEIndnFYKp0OC8mYOn99NBvBT9zOowzf9wvy3SQtlsP7_xLN/s800/_DSC8764-thumb.jpg" height="259" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />But that wouldn't work for the main entrance shot as the space was just too large for me to light with three flashguns, plus I was up against the clock. So I decided to resort to something I hardly ever do....HDR. I don't like HDR. I know it's quite a fashionable thing just now but I'm just not a fan. The only HDR that looks ok are the ones that don't look like HDR. But, it was the only way I could get this shot at the time, so I took 9 exposures. </p><p style="clear: both">The darkest...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLB8nawBI/AAAAAAAAAjg/0ZlLAkr6Jt4/s800/_DSC1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFraoJYGR018B7qh6LJBu_xsCl6FfSz3PMoWMvTBAneF55wxnUD5gfaSeOcvL_Gk2dG5MPC00LSdo8OL897RWJBajK4m0ggJQFrufBxkC4ieKEjvWRLtLpNDG10SI2TbsupDmqxXCCxSQ/s800/_DSC1-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />To the lightest...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-YvjAQ80RIInGKdxt6J3ERKPKUwXD9PuGywM6mAroPCYBMWGliEs-BlVdwRcSwz3m5nGdmz9Tm3t77paKqthEE56jML7uh5IuCFrI29dQQg1bFByQdxRo06WXYKoWGpk5_rCpj_AI6Kli/s800/_DSC8878.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bFpsizPNxZc0Ql62N06VHMZYPGBqSbhf7-hbp6pT0OqDPoEa_ASHDoAsrqDYaGgEEtBAjf2Wcypgf4VzRIhGmYtMNTqqoT8egCQDv1PNfwpQcgCEvvfdO_Qy29Szccs-qiw7YmaUbnt1/s800/_DSC8878-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />and I blended them into the shot at the top of the post. I have to say it's pretty impressive. Given time and some studio lights I could do much better, but for a quick job I'd say I'm pretty happy with the results!</p><p style="clear: both">As you can see by this pic, when you don't have a window in the frame it's much simpler :)</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLISg2t2I/AAAAAAAAAjw/_8CyEnqoY0o/s800/_DSC8844.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyUSYoyomUSjEEFeK8VqwudhyMDW8NzxUGl5t05Avd0pO3dNzz8h6iL83agBF1eY9a4KYjk0CoVYSGjJ0MA3m-4kVWSBcvUG0inGA5CcuADLOjFcJto-T_OCZVgrXMoiXHxzRT7qkc0dqe/s800/_DSC8844-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Have to say this was a lovely place with a fantastic view of the 18th hole..</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicG3QUEF3hVjX2t_iPBARIjMUGwxJ_v0dG_VD_stYb5iGQPb29LsP8aQq6sVy2VT5EqpLXvtz5mekLgkVXlPb-GVoAQQPwRfEB63LNfGF56Yy3H8yOKdISGqBSihboXKfohLK8jtVpidxI/s800/_DSC8916.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimQo0dy9BfyyqtZeudKdRaGJLqqa6Dh1CZJ4gHTMR78Mf4reyKoGaB2tlYqdigZQQAcCAy9u9rZIKjaWToKfLD2e_d45n9CY_wkiuKCFuHEnsnq9YJyfZTsuuhUfQDdoPH9H-X4ZYAmTgF/s800/_DSC8916-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />And some lovely food...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLMF9IqYI/AAAAAAAAAkA/x9Q7ZqWlECU/s800/_DSC8959.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqefxH-CbWfd_q3ePA6jOXWmymIjDaiPgw5ZSLIou_4_ZPVHl73Ttt5WmvzQc-Tp-slwwloUE7LwVZ1qCleRqw5x2zK56fBTe4RxOe99Mxyl6qII5ow0MGiMhb6ssir7igWUQWwhM0Ae7/s800/_DSC8959-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLN2Tri9I/AAAAAAAAAkI/_1crxGzFqHM/s800/_DSC8996.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfWWkKpZqHn4Tb0M5dzzQwPdBq7zoXJKKYfDB1Rt5Ko2TzWdzu4WNxsWBpN4CzTczbHu-iRFfTwIrR6Wtc6lU9932SLCvqyAOHz9T3P83bJSWHekbjbvqrzRAXvWJiLkYKlRwmslqeKYhW/s800/_DSC8996-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc_rpm_xf7S8taRgyWSHTqhKk5T7S15oxKMRsZbLerDHkpiW7TXIuEdF-dLP7Ya9moNLG1lfwvx-fBpkMiJ6nX1pgN9DWdkT9RRhL3ECM-WSHOFFNpqdYyhl9lgDOi5kDDQrEPIHqg6f2d/s800/_DSC9000.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRK5WRmCmQ-jIuYFIhpACQot2vj3jUawsP3Ge2HgqxdYh8pKyDp1nJ-shV1MDQh2ntFG0JjNRdY827wMZLr5ktcwYr8hXxhCfpExsW2z4sclgN2KvQoE_7MK8jPiwFChlkye3xJKtvbXY/s800/_DSC9000-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLRdOyvOI/AAAAAAAAAkc/JVYe5bWAuyg/s800/_DSC9014.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLQX-363I/AAAAAAAAAkY/HGv2KvPHC2M/s800/_DSC9014-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Loved this dish (Scallops above), I thought it looked so colourful and really well put together.</p><p style="clear: both">And finally...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLTnHg0aI/AAAAAAAAAkk/YCQ76dzzQ4k/s800/_DSC9030.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/TArLSmph4DI/AAAAAAAAAkg/NIXqSaynxHc/s800/_DSC9030-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I really liked the purple chair in the background which worked so well with the bokeh.</p><p style="clear: both">I shot all the food with natural light coming in from cam right. I didn't even use a reflector as the windows where quite large and the light wrapped around the food.</p><p style="clear: both">So, I admit to not only using HDR but actually liking the results, hopefully though that's because it's not overdone like so many HDR images are these days IMO, and I also admit that for the first time ever I'll watch some of the golf just to see the 18th hole ;)</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers<br />Ian :)</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-21192880632070788842010-06-05T03:14:00.000-07:002010-06-05T03:21:59.490-07:00Samuel the menace<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF46UA8bB8SzwDfzg9LBp8FAsvz-LmTQRjN_5cNDQAZghWIucPjtMSKbDpG7g8NdGaDp0YffAz_IYXBIFiYArCVqckXo7uUXoMbqj_mq-NcjWX3ZLrWKLJw8PGplCBuWySpio5XbX0muPV/s1600/_DSC8709.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 499px; height: 339px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF46UA8bB8SzwDfzg9LBp8FAsvz-LmTQRjN_5cNDQAZghWIucPjtMSKbDpG7g8NdGaDp0YffAz_IYXBIFiYArCVqckXo7uUXoMbqj_mq-NcjWX3ZLrWKLJw8PGplCBuWySpio5XbX0muPV/s400/_DSC8709.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479230984073741346" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" >Well I've not posted anything for a few weeks and here's the reason. This is a picture of a wee menace! 2 days in intensive care, three in special care, then out and back in a couple of times. But now he should be home for good. So apologies for lack of posting but hopefully almost normal service will resume shortly and you prob wont even notice a difference from my normal ramblings and my sleep deprived ramblings!!<br /><br />Cheers<br />Ian :)</span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-26675999253691349742010-05-09T14:36:00.001-07:002010-05-09T14:36:08.717-07:00Killer flick of light in killer kitchen!<p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S-cqmxOu5dI/AAAAAAAAAhw/4bnYOmc651s/s800/_DSC8278.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S-cqlplL_oI/AAAAAAAAAhs/kJ3m1ge9eL4/s800/_DSC8278-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />This house didn't really qualify as a <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2010/04/flashy-pad.html" target="_blank">'Flashy Pad'</a> post since I used natural light for almost all the shots. However, I did use a flash on the shot above to give a little highlight to the really cool kitchen at the far end of the room. This room was great and the kitchen was awesome, but it did present a slight problem in terms of exposure.</p><p style="clear: both">The main problem was that the kitchen units were pretty dark, while in front of them was a bright white table and chairs right beside the sliding glass doors. Luckily the sun wasn't streaming in the kitchen directly (if it had I'd have had to light the whole kitchen to close to the ambient level) so I could expose how I wanted and add just the one flash to light up the kitchen. The flash is placed on the floor behind the middle chair. I tried bouncing the light off the chair to get a bit more even coverage but it just gave me horrible shadows everywhere so I stuck with some direct flash :) The 'killer flick' line is of course taken from the great <a href="http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/" target="_blank">Joe McNally</a> :)</p><p style="clear: both">Below is the same shot without the flash...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S-cqpviqnvI/AAAAAAAAAh4/QOgiV67a-ws/s800/_DSC8274.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S-cqnjPF7VI/AAAAAAAAAh0/JG7hRjmwbok/s800/_DSC8274-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />It's not a bad shot by any means, but I think the details are important with this sort of thing and I think the flash highlights the kitchen which is the main feature of this room really.</p><p style="clear: both">I love the shot actually, I like the balance of having the green of the grass there to lift the colours, it really does this great room justice.</p><p style="clear: both">Below are a few other shots I liked, some from this house and some from a different house on the same day. Both had these great kitchen rooms and basically, <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-want-that-kitchen.html" target="_blank">I WANT THESE KITCHENS!</a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiURnX9pOTiGV_JpUUNDNXSRd4IGXYCK1vAO6u7hPMkak6FnXARR9uIO8qCG6Bo_mtbaSoNqjlhICUTwB5LYB73IpYWzMsgjMwDkh0ICF6Owx0_pWV8Oa6rHv3HbRm4DpagIdCM5iioVu/s800/_DSC8168.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S-cqqGNKnEI/AAAAAAAAAh8/a9TVcumCNdA/s800/_DSC8168-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxNogT6CkG0K27xsJ-1ld3ebM0989VwIPna6EYAmFjc6xSp2HjvbA1uaHRi7nclXUhQJKvwO8rB7edhl66Tc3BJB_IyaOP4UJ-8A903eIGZ5ggV7tfvMvv8Durrx-sorVPDid0QKNmC-Y5/s800/_DSC8064.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuUuyBD7iLUnUikhPUUBUABBWm0TA-yCyRLzQKBiqndyZb5am9jSI14vvDl5ajEg2NDRQZQ9ZZ-iP9WxiR0sIaCuTMfEzKq1clfXEdx8EVMWCQGdi34MrK_wVn_QfBErmoj-FknUBqzJPG/s800/_DSC8064-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />And lastly, here's a couple of details shots I really like. These houses (like most showhomes I'm lucky enough to shoot) had some really nice interior design which makes it a real pleasure when looking for some details shots...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmsF3a_dGt2FIKkflYTyMNckRh_fEHj7AsK4oN4Gff0J8heIRdu60SzExB98ItCmXCVCp2vFMuFKe5_kKEkA3Yf2EURj4Qwu92CxPQOptRyZSC1wbxcJP4w2lt8Jq6hQW5NDRNE7dqBT5/s800/_DSC8317.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgexZWQoG00_RvvFhu9n32VAvEcFSdbjhGSrc0VT3UuudPg-oNncZf1qp7XPLQoS50_uOJlgsjgPKWDEP1tZcsc5KcpMnyk65p0zyQFXNSZtWtlcuvipEegThX7qOaMT7T9TftYpo5Ifpfq/s800/_DSC8317-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDbJlH88sAvAs2qKn3pTi8zwM9pTMLvzz0eEgsiDopVVSDKZm3KzHX-8lSD1ebODKsZfdDvDfElbTdk9ModHphG-3iY8RAy7D7CWoCV6kGFpGeQZkTDqWdlVHgo4f1FgpToh-iYxVvCZRn/s800/_DSC8321.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S-cqvtO1p_I/AAAAAAAAAiU/WUY7QznG7SU/s800/_DSC8321-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Thanks for reading/looking</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers<br />Ian :)</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-48490197787715365982010-04-24T16:01:00.001-07:002010-04-24T16:01:04.958-07:00The Flashy Pad 4<p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYLQKeUdGZZrk2uCq3w60P6sGE7xUp9VD77JwQkqlnMDTukzYilDQJR10oHplVyJk3qGJW-I509ksyQSyK1Ug5pTU_GjPd7Gaz7TCzi4lxZIC1iRwYbaB3n4UYcA4GtG6_9l5HijrwD-A8/s800/_DSC7650.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S9N39bA2mAI/AAAAAAAAAgc/F_uXeb8dg3U/s800/_DSC7650-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Just another wee example of using flashes for interiors. I was shooting for one of my clients last week and was lucky enough to have some nice weather for my exterior shots of the development, but I also had to take shots of the new showhome. For this, as I've said before, I would much prefer some cloud cover for a softer more even light. However, it wasn't too much of a problem with this house but I did have to break out the lights when shooting the living room. The shot above is the final and I'll show you how I got to it.</p><p style="clear: both">First off, here's the natural light shot...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemRoIM0X-AXd1DfK9y_h5cDF58zOhyphenhyphenVejYtXCXeTL-7IeOs8sFHR0jdKw22Dw7T14e6XoSTGUTEvs5K_Au09WLD0psSIW1RdlPT-35V2I0Rj1m4qX_794vN1yce9IseEqHwaOtamYdsR-/s800/_DSC7648.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdqD3Sam4zHIkYnk7J-pPk6kFS2_kneW56nlgS-1LRzGnHUVgDmHXLses_dZb4AU-TOJEDI80M4c65geFOr0n5ncMP-bFrbeUVfkXDcJ_nD7u2tPE1NrOOPlUKOfRNt9I_u48VlRwRuoZ/s800/_DSC7648-thumb.jpg" height="259" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Not a bad shot but because of the shape of the room I needed quite a long shutter speed to let the ambient soak in to where the dining table was, basically where I was taking the shot from. It was also taking a lot of the saturation out of the scene. Sometimes I like this look but here I wasn't happy with what I was getting so I knew I had to light the shot. So, first off I set the shutter speed to 1/250th (my sync speed) to see what the flashes on their own would do...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLiN8bq-OkLEkioVdl5sg266dknajuf_BF1NLC6F7rldlf5UyV1LVpZ7u-t-m9bptrPIZ5cNtp_t_i56EKv2IwsNiXIcRnfTnriaSUyW6hGKD7JyqMWPChBnPnuypLoY6OrvgxKekMStu0/s800/_DSC7641.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgizlzt-xxRhg3CKnqa8zcBM4dRF3G-aTeXO8ZSCcN8UIGyH03mV0512b9vZAhZiOBozRtFf9zIuBGtE1vPyX8LZwPIy9C3w6mdQKUXVA65jJCQjd9lwbItm8IJeKj3_pYUVMQrQD0XCaVp/s800/_DSC7641-thumb.jpg" height="259" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />This was just a quick shot to see how things lay. There's two flashes, one behind me up on a stand right into the corner of the room and another in the far right corner. That far one was just pointing straight up and I could see that I needed to bounce it off into the corner too because of the harsh shadow on the ceiling light. So I turned that flash around to get more bounce and to get a softer light. This got me to here...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S9N4Dy6dEgI/AAAAAAAAAg4/15l4Bc7VBbk/s800/_DSC7642.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHSNWtQ_XYZXUGQXjVLCmJiMb3ZlXpDrVxtFijSU4v8U1Vv7M_4w4tuYesGSHRHEHG5k0wbrzpfdAAVeq2a5H4qbvDPiw6Y1oJqmTDtyK3qljjh-ARGe4Ry2-zVmLkekOHFIfLO5eQNlD/s800/_DSC7642-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I knew now that I had to open up the shutter to let some ambient in to fill in those shadows. Now I did have an option here. I COULD have broken out a third flash (a trusty Vivitar 285) and placed it to my left to give me more light and an even coverage. Then I could have kept the shutter speed fairly high in order to keep the sky looking blue. Problem is I'd also have kept that BT van in the shot too :( I'd already asked them if they could move it (they were nice, but said no!!) so I had left this room as long as I could. So I decided to let the ambient soak in a touch more to nuke the windows. The view wasn't integral to this shot anyway so it wasn't a major problem. However, the flashes brought a much more even light and some colour and texture to the shot that was lacking in the ambient light only version. </p><p style="clear: both">I just want to add another shot here that was ambient only. I just loved the way the light from the window fell off the blue wall...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wBDefcarhgUEtbahLDIO-JpOKvhFjZIjzp0wwFuFgWSa94KOAGCX5y_O5_Gl3HQR0S7hkxEHkzzvue_Zzu76pn0hEMBq2yBXI9FMmRIZrAHBnVd_9M5z7FPhhAul7yiTgcw61ECVZHgL/s800/_DSC7664.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJ7Pz6toOnYGdkOptTIcUtaFvnrFFxllp4KE8Tetm5rr0mSV_kTux35_TWI6QB53TmqeJ45wL1W3eThkhb5E8mOXcn0gSbbmUvNc9Rf5551INwPQuftLBvf08xMKbX2gack-L9Cm18I93/s800/_DSC7664-thumb.jpg" height="272" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />As you can see from the shot below, it's quite often advisable to keep the window or light source out of the shot, particularly if you're wanting to concentrate on a gorgeous light like this. I only add flash if I need it, it's a tool in the bag and not the first stop saloon (is that even a saying?)...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR-RWxgg-MhW4OZCMe5uqo8wFba_kJAEcspEBPGN0mTpxM3aCAXS3XMBF1lBriO4PZ8Fp5Omlmebls2Dzyn9xGtYPOzfsRjiRWeTj1dYtKRoC1ix9yKXUT3VZ-m0Y8y2Z13t7n3SXclC3X/s800/_DSC7665.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mAqj1eRqtCam6Nks_-DMgfKlhBZaRK2-PFDhnGWxGctn-YvCsCKoGeuC4o3ZMpVK1sTSizKszH7xJXU74iPJvF1Luba3dbAOGjfuwSArDYjU7QjsMRJ0UODMwbWsdAzWR6DemkXTO0uQ/s800/_DSC7665-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Actually, here's a couple of others from the shoot that I quite liked...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsurc_aLLwIsC0-SIpUvp11xolo7ynzUq6aoW61CYf5Fw4peDO2DNZiD9haQpoDtWoEGVDr0vCuPcAr4tgK3iV-MvnPrS3efqN8nRRvLDLRhhBWhoOclIrz7gOdeEQnagTyl0Iwxy6ORZt/s800/_DSC7700.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFXZrDbjUx38IBe7fzoPXcIyDa-P0uGxrKoaPWWbQIBakAqojf_bqHOks59cmZJfvqvOAYtdV1pf00wsmilqdxqixV1ikB4K76w4GLv3uXRDeK9ZlrkYo60DyU8vzftfeRVRm2nMn56Rf/s800/_DSC7700-thumb.jpg" height="555" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />And this one which I actually really really like but I'm not sure anyone else will. Two versions...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S9N4KSynO9I/AAAAAAAAAhc/grOtkAXxzJM/s800/_DSC7718.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S9N4JdDnqhI/AAAAAAAAAhY/X4j-mFpySGc/s800/_DSC7718-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />And a black and white version...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S9N4LrOtxPI/AAAAAAAAAhk/8IoQ2TE_a_I/s800/_DSC7718bnw.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S9N4K9e3FaI/AAAAAAAAAhg/9Hly2GhhPuc/s800/_DSC7718bnw-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I like the almost pastel colours of the colour but I also really like the grain and moodiness of the B&W. What do you think? Good, Indifferent, or crap? Would love to hear opinions!</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers<br />Ian :)</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-5222816060214304422010-04-20T13:53:00.001-07:002010-04-20T13:53:12.515-07:00Flashy Pad<p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDtQ97VkNPLbmR89trbpEufPPq5OmHbGRoD4lXsnHlv4tH9AgyvzDYGbOpMBbXYCq7jxem7bsywXhxT4bmI3Qh0L3t8exVMUiV-AaI471rNgOxU26M0gpfLA1O30Oh8uhbtBTsapJv0Y0/s800/_DSC7211.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8YZop-OBdy8ZkWQOaS4QBg8M_-MHyvWqQvR7RCMwjg_jVxkYII0YL67SMgb586NXUz0OdRoGo9nCNCO0mFoWYcsRMt14j3nZuyqy3bZZPRAnNUoaQO2LR2VOZxkm8upG3Nw27nW9R2yiW/s800/_DSC7211-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I thought I would post up a few photos from a showhome I shot last week. The reason I'd like to post them is to show how I used a couple of flashes to even out the light in this livingroom. I always carry three flashes with me on every job but I don't always need them. If I'm shooting interiors I ideally like a nice cloudy day which will give me a softer light. If it's a sunny blue sky day it would give me <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/04/flashy-pad.html" target="_blank">shafts of light</a> that are much much lighter than the rest of the interiors, basically far too much dynamic range for the camera.</p><p style="clear: both">I know a lot of people like to use HDR these days by bracketing between 3 and 9 shots and combining them in the computer, but that's not for me. I rarely see an HDR photo that I like and I'd MUCH rather know that I've got the shot before I leave the site rather than later on after half an hour on the computer looking at a picture that just doesn't look quite right!</p><p style="clear: both">There's a few things you can do to deal with these shafts of light such as pulling blinds down or even using a white sheet to cover the windows to soften the light a bit more, but if you have the <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/04/flashy-pad-continued.html" target="_blank">windows in the shot</a> then this isn't really going to work so well. Also, if the view is important for the shot then you really only have two options, light the room up to the same exposure value as the exterior ambient, or go the HDR route (you could take one exposure for the view and one for interior and mask in photoshop but to be honest, quite often just two frames like this don't sit well together.)</p><p style="clear: both">So anyway, on the shot above you can probably see a marked difference in the exposure of the upper and lower halves of the room. This was due to the angle of the sun coming in the window behind me. Also note that the lights are on. Some clients prefer to have internal lights on and some prefer them to be off. It's a matter of preference and it can even depend on the type of room you're shooting. If there are <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-want-that-kitchen.html" target="_blank">small spotlights</a> then I'd usually prefer them to be on, especially if there's any reflective surfaces showing. I usually shoot between f11 and f16 which gives you a nice 'star/twinkle' effect from point light sources that add a little bit of extra interest in the frame. But for lights such as these I quite like them to be off so they don't burn in too much during the exposure. This also means the white balance is a lot more straight forward of course.</p><p style="clear: both">So I turned the lights off and took another shot to see how the shadows on the wall were affected...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2cmMdP83xCJM4h2e3N22RmnjIbnxh1luzZSYTUoYsbPKOhRr4GCgVWOphbg4RGjpqXiFTRzMqSTdf0VcXIaHGw8qRamHYs8R9rYn15dblHSazmdGGJFsM5k-MkMW9AkFTOgQW0supi5V/s800/_DSC7213.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfoBd6MgxOHaK3WrkdIhh6I9pqZnyNzkEzqVRkS3u0YWY0UemOLvZqwunQpr_YMUd78DYtFQcgvuQijj33RUrUgZ03ECzV3GRT4MwLl78JzP6CmgPyWEoadlisY90XB0rcdo036d5ZXe2D/s800/_DSC7213-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I could see straight away that I would need to set up a couple of flashes to get a more even coverage. One option would of course to fix it in post production, but, as with the HDR, I'd much rather get the shot in the camera before I leave the site. Also, if I'm honest, it's also a bit of professional pride for me to get pictures as close to finished in camera as possible. I do of course post process all images but if you can do it in camera then I think you should.</p><p style="clear: both">Anyway, to even out the exposure I put two flashes fairly high up in the corners of the room behind me, both pointing into the corners with wide angle diffusers on. Pointing them into the corners gives a much more even coverage because it's making the light bounce off in all directions. This is really important to reduce shadows. One place I always look at when I'm looking at interior shots are the ceiling lights. You can usually tell where the dominant light is coming from by the shadow.</p><p style="clear: both">In the next shot you can see the coverage isn't quite even enough and so is giving me a bit too much of a harsh shadow on the ceiling light...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUz_EaayUM6zqv6FFfQXsBd3_Sp3pxtedqlHmVx1TUX4sCcj5QgJuKIwpmLadtWU6JWxwRRIuSAqMocP1Hu4jAtBjtcu57Uasns6XL4Tmmi2k9dLv50_ULxKYQw01JdfDXIMtHngnuGxya/s800/_DSC1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicT8uTo6wMqBdXXlMGI5YLA01pVywjz4AkNOZqzKEf_fUh6oWdZOBHoPSBArMVEItBaMEjdXxELSb4LkgXy6-SXWD1E7i6FK57hRcyUcYeo2UmHTn6PhCNRmVWHtyBrUs3h-xi0jz55f7u/s800/_DSC1-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />You can see two shadows from the flashes but you can also see that the shadow on the far wall has pretty much disappeared. This told me that the power of the lights was fine but that they needed to be backed off from the ceiling a bit. More distance means more coverage as they hit a wider area of the wall. This would fill in those shadows nicely. So I backed both off a bit (basically lowered the stands by about a foot) and shot again to get the final shot...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Hec7mZL3K7mE_h329kp0Hj9SfmR-9seTVt7Vm0VZaXTrj_n6HEzuoM2mGqmnHLCN6YVzfvuTxy1dFT9SqpxUnsvfh-v5Rw_SYpV5pgKatJkUzL4fspnoa9qDx114nm_lIaAyF5nktxe5/s800/_DSC7222-full.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMw4Am9jy74jyPWlUEWWAxuqN6DJsUsZE1OUtXhLarl_hHMAt2OkAaH3oeMyNc3YkKVLweuM4klZm4EF-8UfEoNlJn1PSfXd3d4u7ULLSEFl5MizMSPmvdTF-ynkJjTzMHhQq562g_zug/s800/_DSC7222-thumb1.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="377" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />This might seem like a lot of effort to go to for a shot of a livingroom but it's details like this that make a difference. For the final delivered shot I also cloned the chair which has some of it's leather covering falling off (which I missed on the day!!) and tweaked the white balance a touch.</p><p style="clear: both">There is a nice even light in the room that I think makes it look clean, fresh and inviting and there's no harsh shadows to distract or draw the eye to. There's definitely a time and place for higher contrast looks but for most interior shots a nice bright, clean and fresh look is what is asked for.</p><p style="clear: both">Apologies for the longer post as it's probably a bit rambling but I get carried away easily :) Please leave a comment with any thoughts or hints for me or others, it's much appreciated.</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers<br />Ian :)</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-61040365150341452722010-04-19T06:52:00.001-07:002010-04-19T06:52:11.707-07:00Nice house and Scooby Doo too!<p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAq6inzXFhQQXx6i-y6AUef1i2cx7QIhXE0h6FMOxVXV45xKXf-Y5g3J-2CoLCqJ6GkfVrlOW921knn8hSWdYs0i19c-p-X74Wha6VrT0nX75x4V0fACZselagtIDfhQhS6VJE3iMsRybO/s800/_DSC7339.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8xf9cLmQBI/AAAAAAAAAfM/8nuPBDu7Xck/s800/_DSC7339-thumb.jpg" height="272" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Just a few pictures from the weekend shoot. This was a lovely show house from David Wilson Homes in Dunfermline. The site is in the early stages so I had to do some extensive cloning on the picture above. In particular on the right side of the frame there was metal mesh fencing which was a challenge to remove :) And also the lower right window is basically a copy of the one above it since the fence went right in front of it. I've changed the reflection a bit so it's not that obvious but it was the best way to 'rebuild' the window.</p><p style="clear: both">I was a bit lucky with the weather too as it was a pretty cloudy morning but there was one patch of blue sky drifting slowly towards the right part of the sky for this shot. I had to wait about 10 minutes for this but it was worth it. Always better to get a nice sky in camera rather than having to replace it in post production in my opinion.</p><p style="clear: both">Anyway, the house was lovely and had a great kitchen...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSh8bxNJRZlyjToqi6N9nlP_Nc06IzGEU38yozv26EWldB07QpiCzgL-yC8NK3J3S31ESXjD27QwW3HUhOw4z_ZYJqd7u7q51Y_RtmcINTNATfH1owBMsN64rkWIGO4rU8ebBVF3XIbP5O/s800/_DSC7373.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjde4mSiorLiST-1IQcCO1KCjqI_j8RJXJuKHGepUDUoM4qFgJI4rPgZBu6Pn9t5hdK4HhdNpTI11SdUs0NMcGZqNXSbLov4yRCcDYEbKW-cJ_MLYnJb1SvnrvKgZPoV_XldK2PClFExBJ8/s800/_DSC7373-thumb.jpg" height="255" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Being an ex-chef I always like looking at <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-want-that-kitchen.html" target="_blank">new kitchens</a> and this one was really spacious!</p><p style="clear: both">There was also a sales event on that day and we had the scooby doo van turn up for the kids for a while...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8xgCVxWLzI/AAAAAAAAAfg/uG5cP00jfk0/s800/_DSC7450.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilcOiB_RM_X3hQAxohJRP_Ug6pjK2trmNOwsPJJ52CFeNvjEy23q-s85GrDb53y5E9NEebBUZkMwiJPgt3uWIb_Sm36VDtBfLKLvxRElzDiYczeSqDahZm6hmFk5TbXU0ARjXJlO3B-oLv/s800/_DSC7450-thumb.jpg" height="261" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I took most pics of the house with natural light since it was quite cloudy so I had a soft enough light. I do have a <a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/03/flashy-pad.html" target="_blank">'Flashy pad'</a> post to put up from a different job last week though so I'll be working on that over the next day or so.</p><p style="clear: both">Thanks for reading :)<br />Ian</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-80013794866749220772010-04-16T11:35:00.001-07:002010-04-16T11:35:26.266-07:00Lancers<p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8ityuAVcYI/AAAAAAAAAeU/ELzqKvv_kK0/s800/_DSC7169.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzriJ4cZrvjs9V-qbpcuRl5ihdoeaO8UDOxoIqE43m9lJBtBk2tA5WIHqyZs8D3YMsv7ZMx8S4VqKY4CIKiviWsBrBi6jbqaw4st40IWA8hWDLSv7_ufbSD5nhNueOorn82uD3TdzlXDe/s800/_DSC7169-thumb.jpg" height="261" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />I had the pleasure of taking some pictures for the newly refurbished Lancers restaurant in Edinburgh a few days ago. It's a very modern, stylish place with friendly staff and amazing food. As usual we were a bit time limited having to take interior, food and portrait shots, so we had to move to different lighting for each. I'm really happy with how they came out so I thought I'd share some here :)</p><p style="clear: both">The shot above was taken with a softbox cam left balanced with the ambient spotlights for the background.<br />The food shots below were mainly taken with natural light behind and a flash off to cam right.</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8it0IfX1vI/AAAAAAAAAec/cNTc3GOyWUM/s800/_DSC7085b2.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8itzDD1XhI/AAAAAAAAAeY/3VqrCSfu8cE/s800/_DSC7085b2-thumb.jpg" height="570" align="left" width="378" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz3ULm9PUdPBsBzr5pCCw1-xHNtwvahlzkBdZ967tpe1KuLpSVt5oROkXR6qWk2gTusz6UOd7dHqBhSNcczWxxdjqASMJntWuiYm_1tSYRDV-0GFLUi7sudgaNJQl93QxFy9MxYfOs0zJY/s800/_DSC7133.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLsRkFDhBpCcO3SIsLGmHzeSUjpLB5MiNjvW7FITD5aFjBtp4Z_0lTx7LeRtFXxnn26A87nljoZQEwtyJguZWt0fMPy14xv4jKvivYBxKLJMyMtCfX7nTT0rOavBbbCh3zARrLgGPiYvN/s800/_DSC7133-thumb.jpg" height="549" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br /><br /></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3r4WKMqls83UVL-320g2DaScI2Wpt4pwF7AOsVqZMeGJ7ANu9bcJ2ocJFin2V9P0EDO1rm4fkLRIk5_cvr1Kvt3LkTWsjv6_RufR2HDkOTDG1LfUT2yZMY7SlA48zvKd0_YXDtS0JXAG4/s800/_DSC7125.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8it2JE2Z8I/AAAAAAAAAes/H5N6Q7sDeHY/s800/_DSC7125-thumb.jpg" height="261" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a></p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8it42N9hgI/AAAAAAAAAe4/LcjMJj5GcwI/s800/_DSC7062.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8it33WO_wI/AAAAAAAAAe0/3AZSF7D_RGk/s800/_DSC7062-thumb.jpg" height="261" align="left" width="379" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />And here's a nice wee outtake which I really like...</p><p style="clear: both"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S8it7EkJzeI/AAAAAAAAAfA/2zMMQWCnu-4/s800/_DSC1.jpg" class="image-link"><img class="linked-to-original" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuOaUfrjDYXlArnBWkc5UbuSVgW2fwq4Z411ifIW4ZRI5sLD0YUsAg9TJLP8vo6MHiuHh_EoQjXE2ywNiyxFbzPyMKAaRQVPIt3wnxLQqHTLzp3ss5XBqrLja6AVCfXhCX-EdY6l2-6Eb8/s800/_DSC1-thumb.jpg" height="258" align="left" width="380" style=" display: inline; float: left; margin: 0 10px 10px 0;" /></a><br style="clear: both" />Hope you like these, if so leave a comment :)<br />I'll be updating more frequently from now on so check back here or my <a href="http://twitter.com/ianmonkphoto" title="Ian's twitter" target="_blank">twitter</a> for updates.</p><p style="clear: both">Cheers<br />Ian</p><br class='final-break' style='clear: both' />Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-86703209339337914352010-04-16T07:03:00.000-07:002010-04-16T07:14:57.790-07:00<span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);font-size:130%;" >Yes, yes it's an update!</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2saKMrH4rokdKhjldT6arUGi1u4iJYu8nypFn4_KLLaNrNLVW7oyRYvrw0Hc87nK2hnFGOmWrlpMFG6ekI6NQ0kImEJstyoz213equZ5RthM-NYbs0OgVsXyrvI9Y_PNGza8nXme9Y0Z/s1600/auchterarder-house-1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 403px; height: 284px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2saKMrH4rokdKhjldT6arUGi1u4iJYu8nypFn4_KLLaNrNLVW7oyRYvrw0Hc87nK2hnFGOmWrlpMFG6ekI6NQ0kImEJstyoz213equZ5RthM-NYbs0OgVsXyrvI9Y_PNGza8nXme9Y0Z/s320/auchterarder-house-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460735822044696690" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Well it's been far too long since I updated the blog. I've spent the last couple of months concentrating on the business side of things which is a necessary evil :) I've decided to post up a couple of tear sheets that relate back to recent posts just to tie these up really. Above i</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">s a Double Page Spread opener for a beautiful new build house feature that we shot at the end of last year. I love the picture and I think it worked really well as a DPS opener.<br /><br />The next picture is from the last Braehead Food School shoot we did. It's the full page opener to a recipes section.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0Apd-m7Yrlq6uLAUN7VtvndeGooBNWuRNyBavluNX8oaqfYOjZjx_e272m3IEfxjuCbTsjncwuW46GNiGSVvhAw_p77n3OvN5ry8XR7evo1mLj1uddMAx5IAYOdr6TucJVt_HFnijsQT/s1600/recipes-jan-10-2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0Apd-m7Yrlq6uLAUN7VtvndeGooBNWuRNyBavluNX8oaqfYOjZjx_e272m3IEfxjuCbTsjncwuW46GNiGSVvhAw_p77n3OvN5ry8XR7evo1mLj1uddMAx5IAYOdr6TucJVt_HFnijsQT/s320/recipes-jan-10-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460737088481596866" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />I'm currently planning some new blog posts so keep an eye out for updates :)<br />On a related note, does anyone have any recommendations for offline blog editors for the mac? Coming from windows live writer to the built in blogger editor is really rubbish :)<br /><br />Cheers<br />Ian</span>Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-28345541732853546902010-02-06T11:50:00.001-08:002010-02-06T11:50:36.449-08:00Healthy food!<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S23H756WrwI/AAAAAAAAAcs/J1f3AyYutLE/s1600-h/_DSC6139%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC6139" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="286" alt="_DSC6139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPS_5f6N7UXswjonigT_hF2wy_X56w-u_STBDweoQPPJlx88MJ3F5hEJoT8Qf7cnC-ZwhbnikKfgJUyo5NdmYUO9O5WdazXqKgPgInGTyJUWCxkpB2UT93jKYtjvAuHPiKwxeHj0AsaQt/?imgmax=800" width="401" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>Just a wee sneak peek at the latest shoot I did for the <a href="http://www.homeplusscotland.com/">Home Plus Scotland magazine</a> recipes.  The magazine will be on the shelves in a couple of weeks time and the recipes will be up on the website then too!</p> <p>Sometimes it can take ages playing around with the lighting and the angle/composition etc, then other times it just works pretty much straight away.  Luckily, this was the latter.  I put up a small softbox to camera left and feathered it off to the back of the bagel which gave me the shot below…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5xH8KK1K3KbTBU_73kE26kDuDfBAFPEEMVXv3WWD-NcnLn_RUiBA7lGVgYCo_EsGjhEYL9kn6n85sjlQxeBNQdE8HQCQcsfqCxuN_Ik1RMaYsMODqM0HK6ESiD9hxfmFg0l415QiQkO_u/s1600-h/_DSC6137%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC6137" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="281" alt="_DSC6137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFiG1-xL0UDvcqwyBCpzwLk4i7JLmZKT0CJEnWs7SE9L35HKrvTYCkbvw7lOxyTrUlTNL8H4zW1U8dqaTDvCJGo9lXj0ABmb3w6NwDXtimghxjJWhuGdxmLLVJfGmCS198IwKtYCOaIYr/?imgmax=800" width="397" border="0" /></a></p> <p>I was pretty happy with this shot but I wanted a bit more light in the right of the frame but I knew I didn’t need to actually set another light up.  I always carry some white A4 paper in my kit to act as a quick reflector so that’s what I grabbed here.  It really worked on the bagel (top shot) as it gave it a bit of a glossy highlight so I used it for the Endamame beans below as well.</p> <p>There’s a wee setup shot below to show where the paper was placed…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnjzgBAwQuBTyPRqfxn5VQY5YnPUEfGDhryuvSOzIrNajAGhJpktI6YOnsOMuLLOUtO5AkLl3OqnXLWVZkM0kvGA7dTc0V64PwdPCcU4yydwHAFpXOQsLS7CXqouY36ijk5UAeiYPS_s6h/s1600-h/DSC_2332%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="DSC_2332" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="278" alt="DSC_2332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg25X5zr9pVuF6cffUcr-MMstexz6h8_vttVkSOHiPjKDAk3-eGfxj067tgIZbWwGJof1s8jR09_DN3o_fPQ9nCWQv04lIuUJ5c3HH1KLDgHMLu54j2TIJye7YgagaT1mliRXFwx1jcOWbt/?imgmax=800" width="394" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>You can also see how the softbox wasn’t pointing straight at beans, it was feathered off to the side to soften the light a bit.</p> <p>Here’s one of the actual shot of the beans…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawohS-sEDBeUxiDdLszMfyLqKlA8IJNQ4GHmLeVqkHBZAdlLqtbr2O_-rXMXN72fQ1w1SO_uAVB7mYMubuVKAI24NyJeVOlk6jOaC8zSvJ32QFP1EDlNJVwvAnC4IbpHbwe-egj8I8fkr/s1600-h/_DSC6174%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC6174" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="517" alt="_DSC6174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoEjGL0cSI8Yie234S2mq83euAzzT-nhSabubPVSDV1rp37IBRv5iNk1YrrkW9qsJY41UYM7sX8CLSgWSZZ3CT9IaIBRoihFunN-nulxSFZQEvPliXwGa8J2Qq2CEj4hRkVM7EaWF_Ms-T/?imgmax=800" width="365" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>I also had to take a photo of a smoothie for the magazine.  I had expected three but in the end was given one so the ideas I had for composition went out the window.  I had noticed that they had a really nice bar with spotlights above it.  I didn’t have too much time so I decided not to light this shot.  I wanted to place the drink under the spotlights and expose for them letting the ambient go dark with an out of focus background.  Problem was the ice on the top of the smoothie was blowing out so I had to move it behind the light slightly.  That shot looked like…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOLPeCFunGiFHqi4nQu_zz30BNOMzfWRbq795eY_C9Fx59x5rCxlg0_siPf1EtcrZzeigwe2ea46cCRsmGw3_xBnkeXiXGN3-Uq1YJm8fQppUVWbWoLHFKgCutoV5T2DL7Uf3FkJTTGAN-/s1600-h/_DSC6218%5B7%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC6218" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="486" alt="_DSC6218" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S23IArl-fKI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/QqTKXIepADE/_DSC6218_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="351" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>I quite liked this shot but the napkin is still a bit too hot.  I moved down the bar so I could get a better bokeh and exclude the bar pumps which might not have fitted into the tone of the recipes. The shot that’s been used in the magazine is this…</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtg4qgoy_GK0het7YSBtLBIRSClkb2kyOiChLPOSXFF3W9TA9PoBQbWYQEl3yrSgXdR1z32gyTYdr10Uxpq4UukJexQFcsfmJwzY7aALEDyCjE1wlep6mpuymRWAWRJ4lOiqTJFAV0uyQB/s1600-h/_DSC6225%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC6225" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="262" alt="_DSC6225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3Ycr89oMydPodWfPkmiTIXHWqCIq9kBLivGO2F1OomzdkQHgQrQzwuho6SFY8H20oeUCbo7H68JZsIuGzF_202WNKhAyC88gpmm0OPh9dRSO426DSjbfln35Vl7evjQpqG3Zv9bBNXyV/?imgmax=800" width="370" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>I’m quite happy with this shot, especially considering I didn’t have much time to set it up and my original plan went out the window.</p> <p>Oh aye and here’s the picture of the chef, who was a thoroughly nice guy!</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0W_nwIbhfCgoMkrWKBAJfb4eg4uYQcJ633e77i6tUAC9oYM3ZSW2hF44rsA_fv5IFsq6ILdlkfztjjWD9RTfCj4sQEyqpK_5OKxI6_xKxc1M7lQN8F2Ce-LmB6n7WolsRZ_DRuS-EzIq/s1600-h/_DSC6162%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC6162" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="476" alt="_DSC6162" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S23IC2MHz1I/AAAAAAAAAdg/WUEZ2eH5A9g/_DSC6162_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="336" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>For this I had the softbox up high cam right (that’s not it in the frame btw, that’s a curtain) and a CTO gelled flash on the floor behind to give a nice warm light to the background.</p> <p>Cheers <br />Ian :)</p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-46997645979281297082010-01-16T15:44:00.001-08:002010-01-16T15:44:54.292-08:00Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year!!<p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S1JPbvp0j3I/AAAAAAAAAb8/sYLmF-IPtNs/s1600-h/DSCN1722%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="DSCN1722" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="297" alt="DSCN1722" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S1JPcD4XNNI/AAAAAAAAAcA/hcSMNoYZ4ws/DSCN1722_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="391" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Really hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed the snow as much as possible :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Been really busy over the last few weeks so I’ve neglected the blog a bit so I thought I’d drop in a few pics taken with my coolpix over the hols.</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/S1JPc4X0hII/AAAAAAAAAcE/47qZlhsEgdU/s1600-h/DSCN1701%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="DSCN1701" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="297" alt="DSCN1701" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsE30Hf27rtqBp_n6-H5EYVj9JUOpNPcx4kKOAGieX-7gqbTY1Fp3cVRAHO88GZ9zt64NOdOPUDl_jXa17IS-ovzkcz2fy7UkMpgE8iOUBcHFTmQdm2Ef-0vFrPb6qlccBsVyv7t8FdKJw/?imgmax=800" width="391" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">The plan is to update my website and start posting on the blog again shortly so check back soon :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-34601097589720335512009-12-10T16:16:00.001-08:002009-12-10T16:16:19.536-08:00A lil something to whet the appetite!<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuBfZ6A8fo9_Vqla7Va9AY2T1nFtlM6RT6aRp9fiRvHy2FrFQBDJ5m0c17vGHAOK4-uDEh4XVmM0EH9tqDqxRH8o1nvIINoaka9_wr8uBvAZ2TyWDJSpWMgntj4p82M0PS-JyvtA7HGuq/s1600-h/_DSC4316%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4316" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="500" alt="_DSC4316" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPOh7L8nI/AAAAAAAAAbI/x1fZ_hG2Qow/_DSC4316_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="350" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">I recently shot the food for the Jan/Feb edition of Home Plus Scotland magazine.  This is the second time <a href="http://www.braeheadfoods.co.uk/CookSchool/">Braehead Cook School</a> have supplied the recipes for the mag and there’s another one coming up.  The first shoot at the school gave me some lighting and styling probs but this time I had added to my props kit and I was already aware of the lighting so it went great.  Also had <a href="http://blog.ifotou.co.uk/">Tom’s</a> help this time round.  It’s always great to have someone else to bounce ideas around with.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I’m working on a food styling post which will be up shortly-ish.  Like any type of photography the styling can make or break a food shot.  Styling is an art form in itself and I’m no food stylist but I wanted to put up a post just showing what I think about when I take food shots.  However, as it’s late and that’s not ready for posting I thought I’d just share a few of  the shots from the shoot.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">So here you go…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPPS9jylI/AAAAAAAAAbM/ZBn-6AcoQLU/s1600-h/_DSC4329%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4329" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="264" alt="_DSC4329" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPPq__zvI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/PlNSUvsx8xU/_DSC4329_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="373" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgodZMQayqMJquth5cx5_N20Ufmu3B7dhm6shzT-UxRN1wrKoD_U72Yb3JeNe18qPp6BpOY_ww2wGyVUscQ3vOYPrpb_M_0Tz662cUUvkLrVXUdRVH02NkHi5AvgVkEtfzgK_uJ59CeJhhB/s1600-h/_DSC4290%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4290" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="263" alt="_DSC4290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PwUPnY_e6y0F2p11GiWbx5UYeRxil-0eW3MUlDQw7LdFqcLpe_A8xRsS-vWOeSWHxj2kr-FYQIlDEu1Ekn2p8RvO6suXT-deVOwlwlqMpxUFhCAnctiAQasNiRAK9xD3sjptGHvXCHMU/?imgmax=800" width="375" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPRYNSaiI/AAAAAAAAAbc/2VcViBYjnj0/s1600-h/_DSC4294%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4294" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="457" alt="_DSC4294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydgdD8VzORr0cYh7chnYB_c9VRg1MjP4AWksxNTU5oHPcGUTeoZYhHNTZgTjMlQ9dF4VJVj5D-WTwsjhN-7M43MGYalxkURZP5HnYUHGMbJWXYgv4KAMJ8WtYQoqVnqgn3wcBLVUFm6Wv/?imgmax=800" width="322" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPSFLOVXI/AAAAAAAAAbk/XH7XrsiI1Oo/s1600-h/_DSC4381%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4381" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="444" alt="_DSC4381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHsY8k4oi1kHbDoklJd1_NzNDAbm_BpF02hkz3AHd75i6Hew8gXl7axU5BcdRV5MOrezAGvyW7zm5nj7hufQQiDlegGMD4IDr7SWjqnbAgXgu65F9XxG-o1e0fgJusgfls1t8JovrHjGz/?imgmax=800" width="314" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpJLDTGOwftREdxEB3rzx4rJzCIw29bph9JVI7W4CMuAOaxCXAGqyanrPVjaFnA6hhqEw_jHR2cFfjhcobWoX0QqHeSVdm0yAbXLSpGmIGmHUo0lZd6yPJJOn0ObITI2kgQcYaTIIsnQb/s1600-h/_DSC4384%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4384" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="258" alt="_DSC4384" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPTrKvMCI/AAAAAAAAAbw/noHSsVhdHvY/_DSC4384_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="365" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2SORq1PpqTE598_gO3bL252S3MPmymUwx3BgE0n5DzX4O-ezJXD3GbmJuhesyiO05ZxRWjwMA9l-F1NNIxhdHtMKkTWrfDi0uWdv83BIo3mo0kBFNHV4srPudOO8tUaNWd6wq9OeUXf6n/s1600-h/_DSC4409b%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4409b" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="494" alt="_DSC4409b" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SyGPUj6rypI/AAAAAAAAAb4/RP2vUr25oQ4/_DSC4409b_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="349" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><font face="Arial">The all new Home Plus Scotland website will be up early next week with loads of back-dated content so once it’s up I’ll link to it so you can hopefully get the recipes for a lot of the food shots I’ve posted before.  Tom and I can confirm that the food is fantastic!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-49264599735877931702009-11-26T17:18:00.001-08:002009-11-26T17:18:22.621-08:00House on the (windy) hill!<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixr1OBowpXNeiwmd13lCjpTZSIGFZhkbeMKXD1eOmaP51KFYj8sgb9qEuucC45kakTjHbv12IAGMHUTe_UCHjFvUJbxm-AyL1ugBnQo_-HgUQcHDuRfkU1nDx0OKsQak1Af9-pcVxdbZDj/s1600-h/_DSC4610b%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4610b" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="286" alt="_DSC4610b" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sw8o2wmiMMI/AAAAAAAAAa4/jz4RvRQqdGM/_DSC4610b_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="405" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">Just wanted to post a couple of photographs from a very recent house shoot we did for Home Plus.  Just finished processing the set and I really can’t decide which of these two I like the best!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The house was at the top of a hill and it was a very wild night up there, hence the title. </font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The top picture is obviously focused on the thistle motif with the distant lights slightly out of focus, while the picture below is the opposite.</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sw8o3G7U1YI/AAAAAAAAAa8/jfluPtD5Kxg/s1600-h/_DSC4612b%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC4612b" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="281" alt="_DSC4612b" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sw8o3TTiGSI/AAAAAAAAAbA/2RwB1eHVUxY/_DSC4612b_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="401" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">I do like both and have applied more editing than I have in the files being submitted to the mag, but I still can’t decide which I like most, so if anyone has any opinions feel free to leave them in the comments :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">It’s really late though so perhaps I’ll see them differently in the morning!  I’ll post a few more shots from the shoot soon.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-10213242707475826572009-11-18T14:30:00.001-08:002009-11-18T14:30:04.659-08:00Strobist fun!<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mgHBhQOUpgZJBSE4UWx_YTDKslKEMaJYxQ8_ELBKbTocQYJLPeDYSHmr8lIn957XcU91F1-HEvzfrF5p-PeFoFeE3b5blVOTzJWg0de_8SIi5O1Zv0LJFRNUJBPBVCyFTA9PI-8RuJKK/s1600-h/_DSC3686pp%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3686pp" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="576" alt="_DSC3686pp" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SwR1WeRp6hI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/MsRHrX5CHNQ/_DSC3686pp_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="408" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">The other day I shot the picture for Home Plus Scotland’s ‘Designer profile’ article again.  I’ve shot the last few of these and it’s always an enjoyable challenge because we like to try for something a little bit ‘edgy’, especially for a homes and interiors type magazine.  I also had the pleasure of Tom’s company along on this shoot.  It’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off of and Tom’s knowledge of photography is awesome. If you haven’t read his <a href="http://blog.ifotou.co.uk/">blog</a> then you really should.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Small flashes are just made for this kind of thing and thanks mostly to David Hobby of ‘</font><a href="http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/"><font face="Arial">Strobist’</font></a><font face="Arial"> fame I love using them!  </font><font face="Arial">This job was to photograph Brian Hinnigan who is one side of the husband and wife team of </font><a href="http://hinnigan.net/"><font face="Arial">Hinnigan Fabrics.</font></a><font face="Arial">  They are based in the Scottish borders and produce all sorts of really contemporary fabrics and we had the opportunity to shoot this picture in the old mill where the fabrics are created.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">It was fairly dark with lots of cool looking machinery (well, cool looking to a daft photographer like me who would probably lose a hand in ten seconds if he was left alone in there!).  When you’re using small flashes like this then the low ambient is perfect.  The shot above is the main shot that the editor has chosen for the full page image which is the usual format for this article.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The shot uses two flashes, one through a softbox fairly high to camera left, while the second is on the floor to camera right.  The softbox is lighting Brian while the floor flash is lighting the threads.  I kind of wish I’d added a third behind just for a blip of rim light but I do like the slightly ‘dark’ look of it.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I did use a third flash in the image below to light the background a bit.  It was shot through a brolly for a bit of diffusion. I also moved Brian along a bit mainly to get more string but also to avoid the pole that was running right through the middle of the shot.  In the end, I had to clone it out as we wanted to go with the picture above.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-RA3Ma5yR3fdsDMd52wuKdZ4p4HOP_F0vpEoxd6rPMhWhwLQnQ47qUiLKwsjX2F4wVSKP0zdx16I4e5CihbZ5jJIj839181OcDBJRXNxF2654v3fTtejCz4sJNtUSpPL6bTI8-lNsgDu/s1600-h/_DSC3691%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3691" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="567" alt="_DSC3691" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SwR1Xt-_chI/AAAAAAAAAaY/KdUKcN4G0S4/_DSC3691_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="403" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">At the time I quite liked the string shadows across Brian’s face but after living with the images for a few days I definitely preferred the top one.  Here’s another couple from the shoot.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYjWHo5kbwYWHwczDLKYXoXyvd4MMOPfsNOOzzaLp3ZKmEfE2AUOPgIP2tcZfR3HwBv4AmG3AnnZGa_nqbWtZAOjxCcdUJi8KyvdRTwJ69pKSfae1RSXa1a4fFIJO7EkRsuHqp4b8hWC2/s1600-h/_DSC3695%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3695" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="567" alt="_DSC3695" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhVs6efytcGK46BigxBNEjjVgB6RPpjZb0cw6jHdnoWb6leg5wIP6zGqpLja91n_IRMAMZIM7vejrwOnEIEhuZWi3jI-ObVv3BR3gpd-suxGhw2dIUBlnQ_EtO1bDIt6875z2zKiWLYln/?imgmax=800" width="402" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p><font face="Arial">You can see on the photograph above we moved the brolly to the right a touch to feather the light off because it looked a bit too strong.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuWs5Gtof37hEZgQJQWxneGekpJQMncw9b5fQ0rzIa-ZiEZ0uo2q5g8e0kq3JmF4sVyFUtOsBhHeYpGa98X-sTxEyXRc2c9wLYsoU9VTF82-WJpsIXoN15ugS1lfLl7vCsBDY6-KR_uyz/s1600-h/_DSC3712%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3712" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="571" alt="_DSC3712" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SwR1ZvhdVyI/AAAAAAAAAao/P74BoS7Fpx0/_DSC3712_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="406" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">This photo was shot with a softbox cam right quite high which gave enough light onto the background fabric as well.  I was standing on a (rather rickety) step ladder.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">And lastly this one which was actually the first composition we tried…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAStDswEbTcJ9eGx08M3Kb_9Yb9hWdWnEezSX0YfuIng-Jnv13gxaREHNQR1rfQDY1X1kdLPMRCsBUGJToCp1mYLw8i2q2Ej4mGmUrgMgaoT0NXnS9EyuUlUdwtXv71bE_I8tQyVL1x3Z/s1600-h/_DSC3671%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3671" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="284" alt="_DSC3671" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwAmaXGjq7leZ_OQEvvI6fEoFjaGaDUUr-3HtrJ_IIxFSd52lPWMMACiVoiCE-_lYcalAwhtZU-1MPmC9Nl_BTnXkGWQ8wHdq2CrUYEXwZQKLojtROtiPPy1djIC-eVfo8V2zDo-fZbpMb/?imgmax=800" width="401" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">I loved the look of this machine and as soon as we went in I knew I had to try for this shot.  It’s just a bit of a shame that all the spools of thread are on the other side.  There’s a few red ones there too but the composition wouldn’t have worked from that side.  We lit this one with the softbox cam right again, another flash camera left pointing through the machine to light up the spools and we did use a third to light the drum at the back but I can’t actually remember if we used it in this photo, doh!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I shot mainly portrait shape because the usual format is for a full page portrait and questions on the other page, </font><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileQWJnDQDOaYm_ZBp0uJ69kUg4jYnE8IvtkZYUWrFErastNRiCWWszdW2sGCyNsJgWTfQ3WxKPoEcLdr-un1fS9zdxR3xOYtJ8x7j1wMuZPYdzFWapT-5zhhwe-1bGRkwGNxg2OK2vweU/s1600-h/hps_blog_2%5B4%5D.jpg"><font face="Arial">like this</font></a><font face="Arial">.   But I was also thinking of a double page spread (DPS) possibility so I always shoot a few of both, just in case.  The shot above might work as a DPS but we’d have to add a faded black panel over the left page to fit the text on.  I might try it and see how it looks.  Worst thing about working with your own images in layouts is that you can endlessly tweak them to death.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Thanks for reading! <br />Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-29547916630663058772009-11-10T15:59:00.001-08:002009-11-10T15:59:33.473-08:00A wee walk up the Pentlands and some snaps!<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4M2VsdqzoP7KYORnnvCdLVGQ7C8E2n1QUXLZO5aL-aJhiNVK5bnSbLqKzxWeGYKXHp5Djs7Tx7BgzCPF-0nVCCeKv2PT17vK2tCiGuK8CRnFzRIXpi2Teu_R7stGvffc4JZzENgZ-C_WI/s1600-h/_DSC3645%5B6%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3645" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="292" alt="_DSC3645" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKWyJjsMfebLXY4Ol4JwMJv-0Zhuk_qXtd2MSk0w3qNaQgzqlwZOK0EGAPNWv51GPQhTGuwQ1VELhh21mQX_DmOKjR_splt78SoUgvbxvv63w4OhOj4PHaxvC7_GyFC7IL9mxks2WwBNs/?imgmax=800" width="409" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">I’ve neglected the blog a bit recently, mainly because I’ve been really busy and not had much of a chance to sort through all my processing.  I have a couple of posts in the works but I wanted to post a few landscapes I took at the weekend during a hike up the Pentlands.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I’ve been concentrating so much on work that I haven’t taken the camera out just for fun in months, so even though the extra weight in my rucksack nearly killed me, I made a point of taking the D300 and a few lenses with me, and I’m glad I did as we had a fantastic day for it!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">So here’s a few pics from oop the hills, we went over Turnhouse Hill, Carnethy Hill and Scald Law (which should be Scald mountain as far as I’m concerned!!).  This is all part of my ‘getting fit’ plan so expect to see more from hillwalks around here :)</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-OH497BI/AAAAAAAAAY8/EasX8un6X3I/s1600-h/_DSC3629%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3629" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="531" alt="_DSC3629" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0HLNAMNEHDrYWlb-9nOr5XNTOFpC3OXSkZ6kJnAvYqPQGyeIPezWt2VF43XB9JEyAR70wu6dIv5lKK5K0Ii9kF3ZmZi3GPRG1inJm7d6xvkibRnRcM1B6FrMgmw_b9g7WKuhVDzgpACx6/?imgmax=800" width="376" border="0" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-PYSoP6I/AAAAAAAAAZE/wqn4qolTtIE/s1600-h/_DSC3606%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3606" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="262" alt="_DSC3606" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-P3D_FeI/AAAAAAAAAZI/7vvi5yYFeg8/_DSC3606_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="374" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iBGTKRfAhf-JbK-DFrglio2hvg55JwSV6-wxzZjJivjBburi_qNw2OU5X81mFgc19cEo7_8Di5g9GnePkVbTzWM1sZzySFkiiwzJEw9R9Dt6pmOyOAf90YOS09cc5iqTTLfNyIe3orZo/s1600-h/_DSC3634%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3634" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="259" alt="_DSC3634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6NPxEbNUH_6JdjRn0uIXe5MYPrcJp4miIhaXr8907MGlakwCZwwfcwsRQsAXFCXIxRFUykxhBF9dOH6kGaUtKsx1tC2Gw_7lFhHW2o1StYZCKEZ9P_jwmNdCn-W3whIHYOt02NI7FPcZ/?imgmax=800" width="370" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-Rv0GKnI/AAAAAAAAAZU/3nOFs_iF-AQ/s1600-h/_DSC3643%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3643" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="257" alt="_DSC3643" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-SC6w-LI/AAAAAAAAAZY/mtgRP6R4U_k/_DSC3643_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="367" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHOI8XZVefR6oWwKryzgvwW78TYpnENpFs2XPZWZHIT_-pp6dDEuP2YTvnXawU_3MfBILd-tCxaRefaeeeiOJNdxIw_jm1vy10d5EWBOaNuEECq8DwxbABskbF1hLrTvdy4XfawS6RQpx4/s1600-h/_DSC3610%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3610" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="509" alt="_DSC3610" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAiuylyXruZQu0zLEbSC3kI9ybXPntFsyB03zaaZVcWAE44eMDgjjonU9dpE_Giw39JMGR8OBiGql-TWa5lnNLhMX4_b2pXtZlPaqnXoa0GH468zyq9yK5Uad3YTRg3wDWU1H1vNfsrLS/?imgmax=800" width="360" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Above is Scald Law!</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKv_YZuE13U84OGNva1xMh46Yroc3q4P7qOuq_PNuwr55j-nvxfW0x9RwuFDanc11EIi7IxPQW6MTX5j_TmRYvGGUt81EJqVPNvwwFU2wOOucOlrduc3Fi7lmYzWCp1RumsElST6nBc6aF/s1600-h/_DSC3593%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3593" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="497" alt="_DSC3593" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-UqFqtfI/AAAAAAAAAZo/3qRPv5I9SBQ/_DSC3593_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="351" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xzaSQOsE9EIsANnLk6uboMFBwv82CFyxMbM5K6cMZUm55ZadtdA5KlNM9boIoGsmN3IQHmYHFsmT38naicZOOYHH1_qjHorz3fq7urCpt9Iii6Q6idfjAfMMr2yDTeKHyo7_8_JXrl4n/s1600-h/_DSC3595%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3595" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="496" alt="_DSC3595" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-VpxMZWI/AAAAAAAAAZw/AhW2IzMLjo0/_DSC3595_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="350" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYgTjskSBiW9rCG-cYsqVQtm-7c-_easkQYwjKZJSPJy1a9ZSxvFAhKrrfTzK9A4lG_j-oi88-nY_7J17FxsqqCuMo8e4KA1_Wb8FpNOIGKadaeqZooaSQGQINW8MkJbveMcWNmL6Q7xGP/s1600-h/_DSC3652%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3652" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="238" alt="_DSC3652" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP703vUU8uI1kuSwSu8pCHANTUcSJp0gi3T6W-uaaKNb1yI5VoDcXSPJ0mhRuhlg5gvWtgFyF_REP2W1xfPlWetySZPewo912xSmb-49oAY5rvcLMMqqF8vOHNKZX9Dh_xUYRXY_-SNtp9/?imgmax=800" width="340" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">One of my bro in law who is considerably fitter than me.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAiT0sqjpG-2nz24qcGTk_6pTJToWgn6_0ZdCcHlgFc-8vKo0JA18BXvuJdcmLipnWok-2yOtFfRCtjmeB82mOpC71oGu8naa40iYdkph3XAgNTI61hEssRv-MPkKw1ptG6iDMBoxLZh6R/s1600-h/_DSC3613%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3613" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="239" alt="_DSC3613" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Svn-XYoQAtI/AAAAAAAAAaA/SuRQ0Km9JHk/_DSC3613_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="338" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">And lastly a pic of a fellow photographer, although I think he’d hiked up specifically for some shots.  I think he was waiting for some more dramatic light.  Usually a sure fire bet in November in Scotland but this day was beautiful, you can’t win em all I suppose.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_mK9hb7IFsUo2XxrswIEiwsc2WglB9mwFKrLaDILilTz1UeTuWyRl653oQU9R26XffqapsWdJxkdbDS-TfTdtD4cQVcsbjgEupQbvdASNBQj8klfVWigyRavoj2pWkpjKLZbMa-my3PaN/s1600-h/_DSC3631%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3631" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="237" alt="_DSC3631" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6h58dU25gosL1sDUVaSDr8VU7EeutBRtF4VY71FQlYBovOhZ0YAz0tG-KW6UUpGoxuk83CIArQm_bIFDb9F9NiPAOwdw3ku8j0hlDL45diHU_uyMBVd1Vjr44ckofrkTBmOaMZieInheF/?imgmax=800" width="338" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">If you’d like to see these larger you can check out the </font><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32978793@N05/sets/72157622778561930/show/"><font face="Arial">flickr set here</font></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-66472443097435967182009-10-15T14:07:00.001-07:002009-10-15T14:11:26.830-07:00Cosima’s World….and some food!<p><font face="Arial"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYjHY90SBONM5GP9njqr1whZf4doY_U4PJzmFcCs7cCzov7V9j8iWc6WEnxDmKdFxKwp8PzlYFTLrbtDc-5rv5o-506INUS8ntZcxNkv3rYcfLjeMRnaaw_D2BxfaA6dKB5c2PDyN3n0l/s1600-h/HP-Nov-09_cosima%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="HP-Nov-09_cosima" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="565" alt="HP-Nov-09_cosima" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKbR6VDN656nRhyx1QuqwT2aM8DklBdu9dNmgKMSNqgvJacLcfO2pZv7zhbcLlIHwKniagMuKt84pjgwbZf5TQ9xQemC2TrGMBLL0DWNxKrvPPM32cc7y-fZVSzg5Yq4WJRgH6AjNOdXt/?imgmax=800" width="409" border="0" /></a> </font></p> <p><font face="Arial">With Home Plus Scotland magazine’s Nov/Dec issue hot off the press I thought I’d post up a few pics from one of the house shoots I have in this issue.  It’s one of my favourite shoots and It’s not so much a house shoot as a showcase for a very talented interior designer and ceramicist called </font><a href="http://www.kittyanddude.co.uk/"><font face="Arial">Cosima</font></a><font face="Arial">…and this is her world :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">As you can see by the shot above we ended up with so many nice ‘detail’ shots that the editor Leah wanted to try a montage for the leader page.  I had the chance to design it with her which is always great but it’s always a double-edged sword when working on a design with your own pictures, but I think we’re both really chuffed with how it came out :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Here’s a few more from the article…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_rSAvBMXQqKpY95QWrPYrFfQY0N1RF0p58Mxj3u9ANRjerfgcN-btkP0QmzOH6Fi316ShuPmwsiYLj0Z2p8gQMOYws-mN9l4oFYtTzSJ04lA9Kci-1PqyX01N7Vch1M6BwA-EX43dqUr/s1600-h/_DSC2370%5B9%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2370" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="301" alt="_DSC2370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3VnKorYxNkGWp9vJoLJXoVhsfYqrdJebAOtBqo3lIasSDiCJtnD3rwc0SUWQnej_JosPg71WLXy1SVldF8raDcgXGgI75ly8zL6IUYWXwqKFW52rV-G8J6M9wxCVPdVrJ2Gsd-a4k8rVW/?imgmax=800" width="402" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdRC9gROLWuapxeVLjwEuso4HKGqS1Bcuoe2s-CyAXSIJKhat0Hb6PJQCZbMvGE88VYaapMfi5-WScVki_eD1mOkKy3iXlvVSRJqsioDfUUpcaR9MYJrsz0V1t8kk9wAz51Mkb6i9SDri5/s1600-h/_DSC2451%5B6%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2451" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="292" alt="_DSC2451" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/StePA9afoGI/AAAAAAAAAXo/DpOWSwn_tns/_DSC2451_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="407" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0BAu3IdXNjhFB0gkwhDSxKS75KSr0zP8Uxw5eI5dIQ06S2l3iitD75_XKZsi6uEYlAS0nCH4Yb4G-05gSg4SoCz9HHpXr9q7pfdfrTZX_kg3GZLR7zYcy2nlXJ7scXWsvhYWam-fZgoc/s1600-h/_DSC2444%5B7%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2444" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="293" alt="_DSC2444" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/StePCoa-wgI/AAAAAAAAAX4/kH5-MPXR_eE/_DSC2444_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="405" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/StePDcvbtdI/AAAAAAAAAYE/KcFNdhl0NcQ/s1600-h/_DSC2406%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2406" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="287" alt="_DSC2406" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/StePDzTimzI/AAAAAAAAAYI/vrBWyR2JdDk/_DSC2406_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="403" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/StePEQ4eEoI/AAAAAAAAAWs/TbiMp6BzFco/s1600-h/_DSC2423%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2423" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="449" alt="_DSC2423" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/StePEzyF1JI/AAAAAAAAAWw/Ef4tuHxtUUs/_DSC2423_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="317" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Cosima’s portrait at her desk :)  The house was mostly shot with natural light but I wanted this shot to be quite bright to suit the pinks and blues of the room so I had to use a slightly longer shutter speed to almost blow the windows out (it was quite an overcast, dull and rainy day) and I used a softbox quite high to camera right to fill in the shadows and get the catchlights in Cosima’s eyes.  Really happy with this shot but I wish I’d kept a bit more detail in the desk!</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Y5-gttEsYg90exGxrxAn2lhRCaAVbB9nva1kaQfYtqiTz33ZK_DkIGGqTX0hdl6PKhdw1Zic81tmQmAOS5UeseTM83p1K2bgN5JJtYe_6nUs9pS4fM_Q1TMToQRC5XMfCUpkcorojrbu/s1600-h/_DSC2477%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2477" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="286" alt="_DSC2477" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmj7bMoaw6bLa4EJ2lwIyweA_ft8W-U5o1lZVAfU86Pi_OilPpXoJ2nmvi4I5I-xDVdRie1VriN5JE3pLC6ggTsym31Nqlkrsd3Pjj4uXtmxvP66UhPMyWzg-NNmRNyvkqWoNqbCeJtTiP/?imgmax=800" width="401" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Finally, here’s the food shots from </font><a href="http://ianmonk.blogspot.com/2009/09/home-plus-scotland-food-taster.html"><font face="Arial">Braehead Food School</font></a><font face="Arial">, well it’s the leader page for the food section…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtVOkeS0eiHdpPWe1NjMLIOq8G_iXUjAXbXUXlEhW25ZKW3OFKckyzwWQdp0oNWFr25u2IjiW5EAn1FShyphenhyphensIoPfaQQdZgASA9dNEqmx2wo_DweKxi-xKA1Mk1aKsD8LMDRjj6dYoCmxYP/s1600-h/HP%20Nov%2009_food%5B12%5D.jpg"><img title="HP Nov 09_food" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="552" alt="HP Nov 09_food" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDa7FE8UVR2LkaId35aOSy5D4Cmemcli14ENeoziuX4y1rQ9o4dsBecZLANiVEIVjwbL5-Ft2GKLcpBZULStzQxYwPhIk43kzGx9CRGLetxJsfFDvl_mWzJpH4n6McOfbEcAvyLbHJN82/?imgmax=800" width="405" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Hope you liked the pics, as always Home Plus Scotland is always worth picking up :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-52152992889855709682009-10-04T15:46:00.001-07:002009-10-04T15:46:54.909-07:00A different kind of lighting!<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SsklvVJUTXI/AAAAAAAAAVg/FDcwpCYCSi0/s1600-h/_DSC3282%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3282" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="300" alt="_DSC3282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8Q11wpg4ad33VvXAC2dsXv6yoOvkhV6ZtTMLQ3Jb68kC1ejTCKmgFQoU80YU3VI2bFQjPO3yLLNNlFisAs-RlJOqBziSGgmE1dyFJmaisE5Qj81MdUvMhZcvEii4YTrbWFkveCFXJ1J-/?imgmax=800" width="428" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">It’s not the usual kind of lighting I’m into but I had the pleasure of shooting a few pictures for The Meadows Lamp Gallery in Marchmont, Edinburgh recently.  It’s such a lovely shop and I could have spent hours in there, but unfortunately I only had about half an hour. </font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Still I’m really happy with the shots I got and the one above is my fave :)  Here’s a couple of other detail shots…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SsklyaF6OkI/AAAAAAAAAVo/w-GOnfVmpDk/s1600-h/_DSC3285%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3285" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="306" alt="_DSC3285" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SsklzzvaUZI/AAAAAAAAAVs/5sTrwLxzQ0s/_DSC3285_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="437" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sskl061mEOI/AAAAAAAAAVw/CdXApI67y24/s1600-h/_DSC3315%5B7%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3315" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="317" alt="_DSC3315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3U2KqHtZEtxOa6MVWqZh3vBUEi_DyZdm0Qh3xO3PrFmrsHladmJLurA73a42sFigfSB045_EUXp1YqppJobkChwcg0LSarUiTjqcRrWmUTTEP4axdympYtjVA285r6rJ260VTGtCqMxc/?imgmax=800" width="437" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwt1feMCahpkq2Astkt4cuoAShDPWyLL4u3uKZA9uKLP_w_M1LkEJNKbC0yc9tRPb3Fl075sSh-tLR9m_XjDwh-e5NWclRvcQcRUh9BSHb-nAi8Lj_hxwauvryiTyXRZ2u8iVvg01RDTk/s1600-h/_DSC3315bnw%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3315bnw" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="304" alt="_DSC3315bnw" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sskl3GVjncI/AAAAAAAAAV8/38i_9ax_rhA/_DSC3315bnw_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="434" border="0" /></a>  <br /><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-27734791709611217152009-09-29T15:30:00.001-07:002009-09-29T15:30:56.910-07:00Souper reflector!<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SsKKi5ZxQiI/AAAAAAAAAVA/gfm0YK9ufOg/s1600-h/_DSC3095%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC3095" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="301" alt="_DSC3095" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7QZkA1cNM-LzB8VxOe0Io-MObpiNrknuzdzYwNH5xt4ZpwYRIopXsAudxEevpbfJaaz0qMt-2kYIGSAGy6He1yf_ETvZfjLwbwihsGGvQsG6Yj48N7nF2jszA5fphrVL7IvgF49hoFWo_/?imgmax=800" width="432" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Haven’t had much of a chance to update the blog recently so I thought I’d put up this post about how I often use a wee reflector for food shots.  The shot above isn’t anything to do with that though, I was just really happy with it :)  I had noticed the reflections of the blinds in the glass partition and I knew I wanted to use them somehow.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I placed a flash with a Honl grid on  just out of the frame camera left pointing at the subject’s face and another bare flash on the floor behind him pointing up.  I did have to clone out a hotspot just above him but other than that there’s minimal pp on this one.  I used my trusty Sigma 150 macro lens which I find is a great lens for portraits!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Anyway, here’s the picture of the soup that we will be most likely running in Home Plus Scotland…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SsKKkIbrrxI/AAAAAAAAAVI/uyNtoPF4WUM/s1600-h/_DSC2916%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2916" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="298" alt="_DSC2916" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYms22nSj8g9xEdsqw8WlBNjpDlOimLpVVWYPQKnESoFH7UjrnkTD01jCd9p1j7N1HSAeBZaO_gmSJgTkMthIpABuiRY9wB9laqDumaljzV3zZ4SxFQD_mJdvVsj9QyDvRynkfYCmQXeEo/?imgmax=800" width="428" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">The specular highlight on the soup (the bright reflection on the surface) was deliberately placed to give a visual indicator of the ‘texture’ of the soup.  I used only natural light here as there was a small window camera left and without the reflector the soup looked quite ‘flat’ and not as appetising.  My first attempt with the reflector was this…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirSbDYC7qZ_VsgqV4v-lUcLsI3PkYZR0LOda6n9thrM2ZO0xTYxzFbEk8zUNU1tRMXOXW8v2gOhSa4s7-ryccy3cxi2WSp1wxUnRRr6MNBysn7xv_qHUlfMae167FMUgp4S0Ze9fom0sDd/s1600-h/_DSC2911%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2911" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="302" alt="_DSC2911" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVsvE1Ni9AmEUohTWNptIuY6WAQL8i3WYY9AGWkHBsArWlZ7AQIkGzlqnuU3WuuyJS_M1-9qIejkCGmQ0C9QW5NnHFMuc5-iftc76SnHd5sYB7X7CgJDtyQ1UPTxazJCyh_ohMOJ0xepU/?imgmax=800" width="433" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p><font face="Arial">The specular highlight just isn’t prominent enough for me and basically looked like an accident, so I angled it to get more of a direct reflection to get this…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjGMxwnye1ubQG8mNT1qxjsK2VB2wab9ugXp_K_4YXNvyU0G-dsUpCIZQxz0_1wgT0w8EEUM57NvBmyaH4rxoI_WzVqBjkbKeGnRQgVhcoXldUlNzG8Rpj8qG00ex019CHWqaM5Pmyg8e/s1600-h/_DSC2915%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2915" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="299" alt="_DSC2915" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1XODM8DayWCEZD7v42nKBpxjYthhCpSmurRmEpltIZLhSK8bdbBCkXuLGgSKw-BkqZM5XMASu-hUVykL-QNbBX24LmsV2oth4ThSLTmhvkrrnCc38ksCQqOo6k-ZWcT0EcTR59nyfjve/?imgmax=800" width="429" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">For me this was too much and it made the soup look much thicker than it actually was.  So after another adjustment I got the picture I was happy with.  The main reflector I use is just a gold coloured cake board that I bought from Asda for under £1.  They are brilliant because you can get different colours and they are easy to carry around and replace.  I know many studio based food photographers use small mirrors but as I travel about and shoot food on location these cake board things are ideal.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I’m looking to expand my food kit soon by adding more props.  Trip to Ikea beckons I think!  Or if anyone has any tips on cheap props I’m all ears :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-49105134403491010232009-09-15T15:33:00.001-07:002009-09-15T15:33:28.854-07:00Home Plus Scotland food ‘taster’!<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-WSA3hrJzsFHsWxwyZh-XFRrdA0VqIqJ_oiuz3V8pfkxI591FC8vLLvwPLTE0sV6P8Zos6Vj2xVCB772Z-g4Dw5p1xFQp9GvNxCKKVMYj73K-wwPvlJFRMOktZ13KbpXNfpc1rV0DTN9/s1600-h/_DSC2841%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2841" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="575" alt="_DSC2841" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdu8cqM_r80o2I9q7Q_-G3myTIhIbq77VEBs_N0flr2ZrZP4r-sTWYR5hPSD_aRrwiC0IUUNeQZxpVb5j1ND9BmdXTdXjdqFSWsTrB4orall4skyYKVh3F_ax4ldrWrG9JUULwtcNdhPh9/?imgmax=800" width="405" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Just another wee ‘taster’ (excuse the pun!) from an upcoming Home Plus Scotland (HPS) magazine feature.  HPS are changing the food pages to make more of a food ‘section’ and so the fantastic chefs at the </font><a href="http://www.braeheadfoods.co.uk/CookSchool/"><font face="Arial">Braehead Cook School</font></a><font face="Arial"> have agreed to help us out with recipes etc.  HPS are going down the route of more seasonal ingredients which is a great idea.  Anyway, had a long but good shoot today and if anyone’s looking for a nice day out or even a present with a difference I can totally recommend the cook school courses (I’ve been on one and plan to go again!).</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Here’s a couple more pics from today…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUgJq4HyXuELk95ZcPgipXDDneuGM-bB0Gr_gd9p8kgFHP6_ewVrgteQUxXmqiWrbRZCbhpvOxy2J3KTPkjga7zIuIaJdjHYLadTCui7-v4ZmiXx4TrjYYqK_97gfIJZtqtNsnMAsNBhi/s1600-h/_DSC2793%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2793" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="278" alt="_DSC2793" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SrAWLBqNKQI/AAAAAAAAAUs/77gPnrob5zY/_DSC2793_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="397" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfabb6ZO4mCo7mOCEa0LRozd4zINPzcVJdeckxRtg1TmijVxSBZDT1CbEOGogPo5kEbzlAZR1AdHKYYKwIlb_fbAo3dUQ0qicfFp3epAJt1t6IfCz6cWJgeD-Z9dQ9DjIWDagzPivip0Yf/s1600-h/_DSC2768%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2768" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="276" alt="_DSC2768" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SrAWMS-pTuI/AAAAAAAAAU0/egFdzMp4W74/_DSC2768_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="394" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SrAWM9fVdQI/AAAAAAAAAU4/6EWiYpgdvp0/s1600-h/_DSC2810%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2810" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="552" alt="_DSC2810" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SrAWN64yUdI/AAAAAAAAAU8/L61HcMPftpo/_DSC2810_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="377" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">I used mostly natural light today although I was tempted to get out the softbox, but I made do with a small gold reflector which is great for adding a touch of specular light.  For example, I used it just out of the frame on the above shot of the chocolate sauce.  Without it the light on the chocolate looked a bit dull and boring.  It also added a bit of nice highlights to the edge of the slate.  I shot this composition because the chocolate mirrors the slate edge a bit.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Once the feature has run I’ll probably upload a small set to flickr and post a link here for anyone who’s interested.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-29649403710647240142009-09-09T14:35:00.001-07:002009-09-09T14:35:19.629-07:00Home Plus Scotland sneak peak!<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4O71ur7xjv26KRQ6EpSkjdspMVbG6A8ariuqIbpVfpDMDNPdb3mCrkhiUW2ssNH086yPiRluPCe2Q0H-V_FfXnryXzq-VsVvFLmKBtGvr8YiKGkVc3wrUXWbM7cndix2YGra8AVX21enp/s1600-h/_DSC2641%5B8%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2641" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="291" alt="_DSC2641" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SqgfgJ55-bI/AAAAAAAAAUE/bte-mKaPZVU/_DSC2641_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="400" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">Just a sneak peak for a house shoot we did for Home Plus Scotland magazine the other day.  It was a lovely house with a lovely owner.  It’s also been styled by an interior designer that we’ve never featured before and it’s always nice to meet new people in the business.  I thought I would post just a few of the ‘detail’ shots as a wee taster for any of the HPS readers that might be tuning in…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2O4H9hX0xeY8pQ7u5gf0N-vRUrZpVb5-Z9tR65UL9X3PNJC86XT1hkrL20prINjNEUNuXjWc7jMDmfbgJT9WbeDHcXcSwNEn_mifenBkomtqDlEQh6L1lyYHUFvjKjXI6WsHAvQfg4gfz/s1600-h/_DSC2686%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2686" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="546" alt="_DSC2686" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7zC8qHb9-beNIJuzed5W-I-fjYtmJ-wfZMCc3YlhoHBdTzH0D-Z0FckrJC9UKJWQNvDILt78Cu-OhZ9CxOZT3Ko5Ia8faKahI3puh_wAsjxcY07tQf2tWQOqw06WgPF7cRkvNajFdgXjV/?imgmax=800" width="377" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMKCBV-Fwq7rVJfBDkJaj3w7I9nY8h5Nr6AOg5ln8BSKcsXvl0akIborSAy0E6Np8bQTnsKKhTTYaEXWjgo-9r6rlvzF06XKTP_Os-63fVkUF4OJq40D7s-9vRm7QEgyxc_QsVzcbpjvjP/s1600-h/_DSC2652%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2652" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="524" alt="_DSC2652" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SqgfkPD8oyI/AAAAAAAAAUU/ibj_hkk2eHc/_DSC2652_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="371" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVJF79HKl8X6BjBWVrUwMftZPm0zy7z4F6OgPM12cdgwTOct3m4hDhDjCSdWeZxQXnq6AKFSDpLRps470Xo5Jnv11TRVIvdYKpfX_tggjz43BNngnHO1-uPLLlXCy136Aqi03kt5g6O1j/s1600-h/_DSC2644%5B7%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2644" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="515" alt="_DSC2644" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SqgflsshOyI/AAAAAAAAAUc/q6oPhwfuSBE/_DSC2644_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="371" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">I actually didn’t use any lights on this shoot as it was a pretty miserable day outside with loads of cloud and rain.  Luckily there were plenty of large windows to let the light in and the clouds gave me quite a nice soft, even light which is my preferred kind of light for interiors.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The full shoot has some lovely images, particularly the kitchen, so be sure to pick up a copy of Home Plus when it comes out (middle of next month I believe!).</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-23417968700937332672009-09-02T16:46:00.001-07:002009-09-02T16:46:03.737-07:00Water drop shots<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJSM8ay3KIAstZIXYrZufcBPyMtspdBN5Kho5npXq75TVwcplM5XQ0EM2HWrr4PWkM-Y29TzNQICl_HjVwaGdacxMh_nR9Q2rG-c39H_99OHOeOV2Oha5_1X1rYp8W_upIk6hzjxaLtW6k/s1600-h/_DSC2269b%5B6%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2269b" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="290" alt="_DSC2269b" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdB3mCxFVjbhcZkw0ZF8So0R94YrOphBW8vZhfYssXHVOcGw-lnTZpJ28wq-7xK2pg4BF6_M_yoGqAe4I-KmRPCv5FCDoGfCegq3wAsLuu0vPcfAcRsnWCXB_T6yZ-Rf8wvwF85ea9NYx/?imgmax=800" width="403" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Had a terrible week and I needed something to take my mind off things, so I thought I’d try some water drop shots.  After about 300 shots I had at least three that I liked.  I quite like the shot above because it’s not clear that the whole cd is under water, and it’s like the music is exploding from within, well at least that’s how I see it.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The other two are…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sp8DrDQRN8I/AAAAAAAAATw/1goVufkJPl4/s1600-h/_DSC2276%5B7%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC2276" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="286" alt="_DSC2276" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sp8DsnYY5OI/AAAAAAAAAT0/IE67oFHuKzA/_DSC2276_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="408" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHP7DanfJF82GUr36nZ8kNNmTAD8vkWezOQjWy3c98Zem49ensV642ODBMgufSoOlx4UDzVLcuaToHTFAHVGerTy7m6HGemmjuYVYt-rBsheph6skr6Udku5HJCgSiPCXY_rW1iCFf1Yl/s1600-h/_DSC1931%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC1931" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="567" alt="_DSC1931" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/Sp8DuhvIXgI/AAAAAAAAAT8/jfLnL5whcaQ/_DSC1931_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="403" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><font face="Arial">These are processed way more contrasty than my normal stuff but it' seemed to suit the pics.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-11651381166931533102009-08-26T15:51:00.001-07:002009-08-26T15:51:54.769-07:00Shady shooting!<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW8dMnetqI/AAAAAAAAATQ/SP0RIxJDPm4/s1600-h/_DSC1745%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC1745" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="554" alt="_DSC1745" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLtdLg_5ohvuvYjcSUZ6wLlgVQEdzz8UhDSDkrbvmHjt82Pae9VK54H6pnMTEwc8gxpB5cMmB4WL-o6ieQA-CoomlcQy2R0OKF8AnfB8dTp4woA73JZm25FD0I8EHT4vFdsyAqL1pvwbM8/?imgmax=800" width="393" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">Just a quick post about shooting outside on bright days. If you’re already into photography then this is old news to you :)  but I thought these images illustrated the point quite nicely so hopefully someone somewhere might find it useful :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">As you can see the above shot was taken on a really bright sunny day.  I wanted to use the hedges to frame <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey</a> and I wanted the path to be the background but this meant I had to deal with a very harsh sidelight.  I quite often hear people saying that ‘natural’ light is the best light, but that’s not strictly true.  I think what they usually mean is that window light is a nice light.  It’s nice because it’s a large lightsource compared to the subject and so the light hits the subject from wider angles and therefore wraps around the subjects contours giving a very pleasing transition from light to shadow.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">If you put someone beside a tiny wee window then it definitely wouldn’t be as nice :)  It’d look a bit like the picture above, because the light would be relatively small and so would be very hard, making a sharp transition from light to shadow.  The same thing is happening above because the sun, while bloody huge, is relatively small because it’s </font><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmU_q5xrnto"><font face="Arial">far away</font></a><font face="Arial">.  If it was a cloudy day then the cloud cover acts like a large soft diffuser and gives a much more even light, but on this day the sky was clear blue.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">So the solution was to move <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey</a> back a bit to one of the shadier areas where she wouldn’t be in the direct sunlight…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW8fYmywEI/AAAAAAAAATY/cvQgzEDAEYU/s1600-h/_DSC1748%5B8%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC1748" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="535" alt="_DSC1748" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrymiJiTCds5q2EKEij4o4v34a6H-O_czf-BIDZjz-EkNAhnOS-WZ7xW4xbHuoETaO9OMc5uLWSgfAw1gkHzku_ignlxRMIadDZtu48Ib0kBVMAYjlVmV0icupWqlnE9xA75tAYFThpCC/?imgmax=800" width="389" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">So while this sorted the high contrast problem we now had <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey</a> standing in the dark.  So this is where the softbox came in.  Sometimes I can use three or four lights but in this instance one was easily enough.  The softbox made the light a bit bigger and therefore a bit softer for the reasons I mentioned above. For the pic below Leah was standing on her tip toes holding the softbox high and pointing down towards <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey</a>.</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW8hKv-4FI/AAAAAAAAATg/7HefuRzDw8I/s1600-h/_DSC1753%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC1753" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="553" alt="_DSC1753" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3c7zVuBFs4YOJLKLeO23NfZIrTCuTxz0CXFqHkjNOxO-c-uqdp0PIfG8N8g_duEA-RS69I423GAY1Kjj8fN64kB7pFIkyAmne0EL5FLUSGpifExBt9ccCNKuU8MYKgLGM_-D0nceFThMw/?imgmax=800" width="393" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">This is the reason you quite often see a photographer using a flash on a sunny day.  It allows you to light on two different levels, one is your background (or anything that’s lit by the ambient light) and the second is your flash.  Of course I was limited by the power of the flash I was using and by my choice of aperture.  I’d ideally liked to have blurred the background a tad more by using a larger aperture but because I wanted to use the flash I was limited to my flash sync shutter speed of 1/250th so I shot this at f4, ISO 200.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Anyway, must also say a bit thanks to </font><a href="http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/houstounhouse/"><font face="Arial">Houston House Hotel</font></a><font face="Arial"> for letting us use their lovely grounds :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-5001587777436515912009-08-26T15:21:00.001-07:002009-08-26T15:21:04.803-07:00ps… fashion!<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW1M6Pf2kI/AAAAAAAAASo/ltYQxPHANsU/s1600-h/hps-fashion242%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="hps-fashion242" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="552" alt="hps-fashion242" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW1Np2G1uI/AAAAAAAAASs/Ul-ey8r2c3s/hps-fashion242_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="389" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">I’ve been so busy processing wedding images last week that I’ve not really had time to update this blog for a bit so I thought I’d put up a wee post about a great fashion shoot we did on Monday.  </font></p> <p><font face="Arial">It was for a new ‘lifestyle’ supplement to go with Home Plus Scotland magazine called ‘ps…’  It’s the first time we’ve done anything like this and we didn’t want to go down the route of just requesting PR images because you see the same images floating around other publications so we decided to go and do our own shoots.  </font></p> <p><font face="Arial">However, the organising that goes into something like this is incredible and as we are producing Home Plus at the same time (as well as a few other mags!!) and because a couple of larger clothes chains let us down (you know who you are) we had to scale our plans back a bit.  BUT, Leah did an amazing job of sourcing some really beautiful clothes and I think we have some fantastic images.</font>  </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW1OrBdhGI/AAAAAAAAASw/G7UDuo8qVkc/s1600-h/_DSC1700%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC1700" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="551" alt="_DSC1700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQKLrMpij50CLsBtVmZDJk7ySBDoz0xavp4k-uuINxiJDDN8Jec9vGXf0C8_l9_BvG5Chfr5LLqHNEKRJ4_Q06tkDaFyF3xdDrQBD-diInJrHlfvN0k_38neVx6jA304XB7-VSOicynzl/?imgmax=800" width="388" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Have to say a huge thanks also to our model </font><a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799"><font face="Arial">Stacey</font></a><font face="Arial"> who was just brilliant, very natural and had so many different looks and poses she was so easy to work with (book her for your shoots now!"),  and to Jade our make-up artist who gave us some really beautiful looks to compliment the clothes, to Leah who was an excellent stylist and to <a href="http://db-images.blogspot.com/">Duncan</a>, who owns the studio and also help out with lighting…(ahem)</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_2-aXfdTeh68Yy4BspjrFsDoEvE4Wrtb-jBry5V8vl8OEoMwzsjNbcOaG5HJUrbEoNoPW8dbhWJTqZgtDG2rlyycB7nqmBioiUrgru5DSlxbN8R7rwPtYVK37UfU6mDYUnjECJTCid5ca/s1600-h/hps-fashion016%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="hps-fashion016" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="527" alt="hps-fashion016" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUTXRXEoJz2ycv_ISTbZOIj-VQazezPleNQ8sWX0XKJH9P4E_tgcunpACI-R3iwnoZqTRnjh7YFzvWeBoOBVa4x2lzQ2XO-owfsdM4I7KTUoZ7EEBQ0VLyWpSKRnJlFY42aBYJWmjPALaR/?imgmax=800" width="360" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">For the studio lighting we used a grey seamless paper background, one softbox camera right as the key light and one softbox behind <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey</a> feathered off to the edge of the background to give a bit of a gradient effect.  We also had a slaved light underneath the key light through a brolly to get more light onto <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey’s</a> legs to show the tights and shoes up a bit more.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I was also shooting tethered to my laptop so everyone could see the images as they were shot, and looking at the laptop screen is such an improvement on looking at the back of the camera, it makes it easier to see how the lighting etc is working.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">For the outdoors lighting I used one flash only through a 60x60 softbox, handheld by Leah.  It was such a bright day that we had to find some shade.  Going to post an example of using shade in another post :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I don’t want to post loads of pics before the magazine comes out so I’ll only post two more which just so happen to be two of my faves (apart from the shot above of course!)</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SpW1RY0fjMI/AAAAAAAAATA/BwVve2xljRA/s1600-h/hps-fashion075%5B9%5D.jpg"><img title="hps-fashion075" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="536" alt="hps-fashion075" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyleNfwMfN9omz5sSA5JX11oXtoqD1so6Tpn5JpbdNgl2_UVjEkJOIhGIVbnWibVbdHzMIH01YpGh4ni1PIR5MDTkQK8dSDeb4dgAOTK2ihb4BGiXR0GvzDyRORqpK6t5L8MwKXFyqVrY/?imgmax=800" width="381" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8FM2_UpN2OK-QGNgLohznkMIshtlfe2gnDZvpHafqPHUHYo8b4OUqqsrzyTCcT2nKouUTdF2O6kEgNWxcpfUt-fHSZrgabza_3a29SHQUIvZ8ncgWEPlYtKlt97rYq8lqVNa2IttOCbSf/s1600-h/_DSC1744b%5B6%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC1744b" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="534" alt="_DSC1744b" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7nOGJYcbzLW-0gePmpxXbYEHSCFcvT26kpcoytSxJ6pH0DMU-5Xeip6PMJITRo0aSx3_keKoeEyx1fEbIhoFNjJwwYH2dyY0nN2QBf3pKL2HWvvqtlNirZd9KJnA1kQOGg6LxB3zrWbVH/?imgmax=800" width="383" border="0" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><font face="Arial">I love these shots, the one directly above was actually an outtake as I was taking ‘walking’ pictures and for some reason totally missed my framing on the last shot.  It’s not a great shot to show off the clothes but I still love it for <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/830799">Stacey’s</a> expression, and the framing of the leaves just seems to work.  Although, I have to admit the leaves were quite a bit greener than they are here, I changed the green to a more autumnal colour to match the clothes, and the fact that this ‘ps…’ will be the Autumn/Winter edition :)  Anyway, this one might make a nice cover!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Really enjoyed this shoot and I think I’ll definitely look into doing some more fashion work.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Look out for ‘ps…’’ around Scotland as a free pick-up A5 mag end of next month, after that it’ll be bagged up with the next edition of HPS!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-54670367655030004962009-08-13T06:26:00.001-07:002009-08-13T06:26:22.798-07:00Home Plus Scotland<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7YvNFO8e7otyDLxKwsx62ndSq9dzlVIiVK-aOdIr81O2ShR2S40LCLCyyCmbK6eGnVFSpPAYadWlImWy4BtWydn1yYXa2iJf_zJRpBI-R6Vy0AAbrwLTf8V2K4br0zV_DSBWvCLBRsMIB/s1600-h/hps_blog-cover%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="hps_blog-cover" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="518" alt="hps_blog-cover" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SoQUX0TM6aI/AAAAAAAAARs/lGHSO5PySjE/hps_blog-cover_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="396" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">We received Home Plus Scotland back from the printers today.  Our last couple of issues had a few colour problems so we were using a new printers.  You never quite know what you’re going to get back the first time but we were really impressed with the colour, clarity and sharpness of it.  I’m particularly chuffed because I had the cover this issue and a couple of house shoots, and also a wee feature on my blog, and it’s all come out looking fantastic.  If you’re passing a newsagents or a WH Smith you should definitely pick up a copy.  </font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I really think the magazine is going from strength to strength and it’s just looking so good now, very fresh design and a good balance between interesting features and product pages.  Also, next issue there will be an a5 lifestyle supplement called ‘ps…' bundled with it (as well as going out on it’s own for a month(ish) beforehand).  I’m going to be doing two fashion shoots, one studio and one on location so I’m really looking forward to it.  We have two great models lined up and the clothes etc have started coming in for it and I’ve picked up my grey background paper :)  I think it’ll be a really cool wee supplement.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Anyway, here’s a couple other tear sheets from this issue, this one is from the shoot with Lyken and I think the black really suits it,</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileQWJnDQDOaYm_ZBp0uJ69kUg4jYnE8IvtkZYUWrFErastNRiCWWszdW2sGCyNsJgWTfQ3WxKPoEcLdr-un1fS9zdxR3xOYtJ8x7j1wMuZPYdzFWapT-5zhhwe-1bGRkwGNxg2OK2vweU/s1600-h/hps_blog_2%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="hps_blog_2" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="299" alt="hps_blog_2" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SoQUatOifpI/AAAAAAAAAR0/UQ0qqFJ71Kw/hps_blog_2_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="403" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">The next is from the same shoot as the cover.  The colours are a bit subdued here but in the magazine it’s much more vibrant.  I think it’s to do with the pdf I made of it.</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SoQUbbJ3I5I/AAAAAAAAAR4/v5MOb5KimG4/s1600-h/hps_blog_1%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="hps_blog_1" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="298" alt="hps_blog_1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidp_3QC9-DRe-16LaXzwZdP5P1jm1UhVyn0zqZAvLTx6YKXOz2xI2ljDQSHMnR3FqIFLmrE6kui9ZachNS7qDEbl5-ucuEUioNSaXLKkPJvqmTS1falMyYmIM_3dgIbu4ozC_4AJ0XBpBX/?imgmax=800" width="404" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">This one is from a house in Fife that we did.  Worked with a really good stylist (Ali McCulloch) on this one and she dressed up the table really well, it made all the difference.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKV2aM79O30fW5FUhCMPZKvrzhQEEtwpr-n39c7TLF_TkYAgkuH11DRw0TgpYBhvDn11Xck9b2LTSlnmbP-hqPeRpshn3HFZz-QCDtSOZJ7rQ4k48bmvFuWGJ5rGzwK4d3CifWVkR9YrC/s1600-h/hps_blog_3%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="hps_blog_3" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="514" alt="hps_blog_3" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SoQUdmD9coI/AAAAAAAAASE/ZyzqwYFwb4I/hps_blog_3_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="374" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Last but not least is the blog watch feature.  It’s now a regular feature we run and it’s a great idea by the editor to highlight different design type blogs.  This issue she wanted to highlight mine since it’s linked in with the magazine and the Home Plus Scotland website will be up soon too so I’ll be linking to that.  Took some persuading as there’s many many many better blogs out there but I’m still quite happy with how it came out, apart from the picture of the ugly bloke!</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SoQUeg72waI/AAAAAAAAASI/0mhAT0GJ-yc/s1600-h/hps_blog_4%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="hps_blog_4" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="278" alt="hps_blog_4" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTnsjFiRJmu0G6RkLRTgs228pSfvocUeoQJrChEBrnDGSNbfUgZuf5lYNcuHHxTUsXot60NTxMCQuc1kcZsDaJF5CVm38-QrlZ6p9pNvzS6LOP2ud5U9ENv_g32S8YigOEfHiH4j1o7v1/?imgmax=800" width="377" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Anyway, if anyone wants a glossy mag to read I’d definitely recommend HPS and not just because I’m involved with it, I really do think it’s a great mag :)  I’ll blog up about the fashion shoots too, they’re coming up in the next few weeks.  Also going to try some new food shots for HPS which will be fun.  Oh and I have a wedding to shoot this weekend!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7527850277059898201.post-80564707206929355552009-08-01T15:16:00.001-07:002009-08-01T15:16:33.685-07:00Lykenography<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRIKTHVMBpvC-fkp-EG9nDOhYvyIv1BB3bLBcB4kj5dLZb0xG5sbRx3Y67R52p62KBun4i9GTYrNysqpUL-uL_0_sqRWcVez7rjoIaEpB7oHeiJeDNtvYSI2eS-0E6XrSmyQ0BC9fGW8g3/s1600-h/_DSC0844%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0844" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="286" alt="_DSC0844" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJmLlo1MBNhZKdM4yw9gIeiYW4rpLlQWctk6kvmZeLp1cQ6WBZ0bFeNG15X9HftZWrcJ_hGAS5ol3xRdJoDGTbInq4qO0b13oK2c5IHSKO7VbZRjo06dT1W33h3n1nfgZ3cuHahQ8vLM5r/?imgmax=800" width="408" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Had a great shoot with a really cool artist up in Dundee on friday.  I was taking the picture for a piece that Home Plus Scotland magazine are running on <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken</a>, an artist who has a background in graffiti (no pun intended lol).  While <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken’s</a> weapon of choice these days is canvas he’s still involved with the graffiti scene.  He’s away to Belfast this weekend to take part in an organised cross community event on the Shankill Road.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Usually when a graffiti artist gets their picture taken they have their faces covered for obvious reasons, and while <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken’s</a> creations are all legal he still likes to do something a bit quirky as a kind of nod to this tradition.  Hence the cool 3d glasses :)  He also wears them because he doesn’t take himself too seriously which is something I can totally identify with!!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The main graffiti on all three walls on these pics are <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken’s</a> work and they look great, it’s such a cool location.  The shot above wasn’t meant as a set-up shot as I actually wanted the lights in the frame but it also shows off the place quite well, and I think it’s quite a cool shot :)  It’s obviously a three flash setup.  The third is on the floor behind <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken</a> pointed at the wall.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">As well as his 3d glasses he has this really smart belt buckle that’s in the shape of his name.  I saw it on a picture that he’d sent to us and I knew I wanted to do something with it.  After a couple of test shots I realised we’d have to light the reflection rather than light the silver itself.  So I pointed the softbox at the bright orange and green graffiti you can see behind <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken</a> on the shot above and had him stand sideways to it…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-g1ah-MI/AAAAAAAAAPw/p7i2E3h8pKc/s1600-h/_DSC0801%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0801" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="276" alt="_DSC0801" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6KI5AwfXPZKhXgrQY3eWNE_acDgG4clXnjCkc4P_fC43QuQwqqHKGYfwXWioxGAtLE8OaJv0uvkUyV53hDvAtVY4RA9-7TONBBmALpj5p6cjlyJuvs-E8w_nx8CyBHNJ2In4epYclYtSg/?imgmax=800" width="394" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">I love this shot.  Like my last post about taking detail shots in house shoots and how that can give you more of a flavour of the house than an all-encompassing 10mm wide shot can, this shot for me says it all.  You don’t need his face in the frame :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Another shot I thought turned out well was this one…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiubNAVKRO1eKV2mzGyHvCIetdgwTMJSP3-5uMU5dRoxpgqKJV8idoRwVdetznK97AY8FkCUtyR85VCjwIU_ZCuYOAuPuNH2XcZEVjnekgRU6kGST2GSuljJ7NuIL-hABgbKGU1ruv2dW4s/s1600-h/_DSC0795%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0795" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="516" alt="_DSC0795" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-jav7DJI/AAAAAAAAAP8/50R0VNvsbV0/_DSC0795_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="364" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">But as <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken</a> pointed out it’s not clear that the colours are a reflection.  It almost looks like a psychedelic buckle.   If I’m honest, I’d wear one like that but he has much better taste than me :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">This next shot is one I took specifically with a double page spread (DPS) in mind…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-kmXM_FI/AAAAAAAAAQA/G6nFYvdDQr0/s1600-h/_DSC0771%5B8%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0771" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="297" alt="_DSC0771" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-lZvmvRI/AAAAAAAAAQE/KogmkWntyF8/_DSC0771_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="408" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">The piece is going to be two pages and I knew we’d have some nice colourful backgrounds so the idea was to try and get a possible full dps background shot.  The orange is pretty bright though so there would have to be either a dark gradient added or a faded black box over most of the right hand page.  Might not run like that but regardless, I really like this shot.  It’s a two light shot with the softbox off to camera right and a bare flash just out of frame camera right really close to the wall.  Once Home Plus is out I’ll post up a tear sheet.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">I wanted the texture of the wall to show so I had it raking across the wall at an extreme angle.  I thought about using the snoot like I’ve <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32978793@N05/3481648650/in/set-72157617404449478/">done before</a> with graffiti but it would have been too extreme as I didn’t have much working room.  Looking at it now though I wish I’d tried a tight beam shooting up from the bottom right corner.  Next time :)</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Next shot I wanted was one of <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken</a> standing against the wall with a hard light projecting his shadow over his artwork.  I decided I’d use some on-axis fill since <a href="http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/">Mr Hobby</a> himself has been really talking this up recently.  I set up the shot without the fill first to get the shadow right…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd0P_1pRVPnEukIIBfFw5kWlnWfC59IagrnYq1k5eAGlCiAma-cRLnGn69q6cGOYsTJDSivd3FE1K_llenWfZ-M6ywTJyg2seYs_u24KfC3PZPkNMNBDclXHBSd8hsDlfOacmtKZM8v-Aq/s1600-h/_DSC0806%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0806" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="277" alt="_DSC0806" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixvQDZTPBwk0QS12FUpPlPtoYipuLTmB6uWP1yAF0LlTM6Wr-Yjun2qln_ShH2vEkUN768yXMCN234LxEQZDiiJHr_mduvEI-KRnTVcID2CJTQlgbVXH3flqvyXHIwTQQd0qybN8OXCnGk/?imgmax=800" width="395" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">This is just one flash obviously off to camera right.  I actually really like this shot without the fill light in it but once I added the fill light it just brought out the colours…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-oEpWMYI/AAAAAAAAAQU/_8rO86aLaPo/s1600-h/_DSC0808%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0808" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="274" alt="_DSC0808" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwenIQ9LYQSNWbeiIDi5z1Ueo_BXkDBIj6DjgagocWo1876udpCXnmQAQFwyoCkyrWRMJiH7jGwz0hMrj5OnfoJ_v-PJpLjiq0BZh6BAvBFRXkbj9iaV8JTQm4wvgsBu1SReNeHBuwlpKH/?imgmax=800" width="391" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">I’d be really interested in hearing other opinions about these shots.  I like both and can’t make up my mind which is better.  Perhaps I went ott with the fill and somewhere in between?  Anyway, the fill is the softbox right above me.  I was half crouching underneath it.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The last option I wanted to give the mag was a lighting setup I’ve seen used quite often for sportsmen.  Basically it’s just two lights, one at either side of the subject (setup same as the first pic posted).  I added a third to the background…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2dbOEzQLS_LjLxgILRcjt0EJnMUkMIFtZBtLDOnOYkxbhrr5YuZt_JgNZV3xV0bEcLFa8i8ixMCkAevEIXro5Ph4DtVTtVtVJFUAGVpGQ4N1DHYPEF9dpungiBE2WFw65-r2ZzUOvom78/s1600-h/_DSC0838%5B6%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0838" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="522" alt="_DSC0838" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-qA9p-xI/AAAAAAAAAQg/EAF8_rbYtEo/_DSC0838_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="373" border="0" /></a></p> <p><font face="Arial">Again, pretty happy with this shot.  I had thought I might need a reflector for a bit of fill in front but I was happy without it.  Interestingly, the background light was my vivitar 285 which occasionally doesn’t fire and I got a couple of shots without light on the background which I kinda like…</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyZ9xOSg1rY84KzE8g4uNgFFV2SoM6nSG9HXLsz6RSTC9MgM3a8Z_UxDtQKWSCd0N9Fc0yt-0tRrBcp5A6SHcOG9FqueEvlTz_C4wbTln7eoO9f5NhvAnA7w3td9s8LJwBy7jjZYvYjLX/s1600-h/_DSC0837%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0837" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="523" alt="_DSC0837" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspE3Bs_dpiOrPUySuAYhzPcXb7fj8snn5lFFdyISZdHJt9_NH99NZB8NUsOyC_Lg7nA8xNTym62t8aR1LnXcC-JbHCWnVU5smkDO_x8xocnOphtaN_DSvlPXIs-I82NYI9KUkrj4xMQ5k/?imgmax=800" width="369" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Again, I’d love to hear any opinions on which one people prefer.  I like both!  The one without the background light makes me think it’s been taken in a street somewhere with streetlights on either side.  No idea why!</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Here’s a full length version I took of this same setup which we thought looked like something out of ‘Heroes’ :)  I think it’s a cool pose and the floor looks great.  It’s just that white strip at the top that slightly bothers me.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvL6AgR_EBPL4f49GuWJ5VXkLk7SZkIlw2F2YI1Eg7Ew4voaWdVSZb6s97FL2FI_YwG01EcZmo9_hEdDg5yHJ_wQyHRYipGNG2U8_an7IC-5NpAHucf2qHjhlqOgDpQmBmXccQEEYR7uPV/s1600-h/_DSC0840b%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0840b" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="509" alt="_DSC0840b" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRuI32-Tmp_giqEb7I7_53kMeo0y4Bg9ihoD8q8eHWExLr9HxygwXXSbnNHRcM5mrZVORfgQbEDXa37TizCGNO2OrGGJzWrQ0HI0VErfWJhsdn23p9pkkihhzcLzFbE4W0IHaoZce6Zsh/?imgmax=800" width="356" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">Lastly I took a couple of shots at the end while experimenting with the lights…</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KuRdhIfNBHo/SnS-uYmmYmI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/akimnHwGnwg/s1600-h/_DSC0863%5B3%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0863" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="258" alt="_DSC0863" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUXTJxxjIeiUZMXcBrIhiGUvHPEEwiLuvnu5_NRzjf5lA7icp5_QUpCr4gjaxll5961hi21qkKzFr9TLPdauZ1nkexkC2PsIxQd8iuMXAXxy4Tt8jdJIWnWwWToEVgOuxI9i0BIhxr7IQ/?imgmax=800" width="368" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">For this shot I had three flashes set up.  A bare flash just out of frame camera left but pointed right at the lens for a bit of flare (most of which I took out in post doh!) and highlights on his hair, and the softbox also cam left but obviously in front of <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken</a>.  The third was pointed at the background and it also bounced a little fill back to the shadow side.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">The last shot was a similar setup but without the flare.</font></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigL1Bsm85HDYov-IfETmG0W1hQW75q1aKu7qh3WsuhQny54B-8_okKBqnTAa05Fn2z21gqV72uYTQjrxZe5CjtDnMFKW25J_0DQevIkFA-Lag1TH5fhkhdRC2jRgfNvSMIY-A7soSF6z7z/s1600-h/_DSC0875%5B4%5D.jpg"><img title="_DSC0875" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="500" alt="_DSC0875" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjGiUqHxeQJw_bqRfKjha4soHWLg9WPQqKugdC3dPAdXmCJaaWtOrIyL_FAkCZzH4NfYCE7QNXvAxvr_xbrpw2fkuWDBb3RAK583-a9t1UEbU8gIFs2omzjdRY8Ar8b4-bOy7JG_wvaZwx/?imgmax=800" width="352" border="0" /></a> </p> <p><font face="Arial">The shoot was good fun and <a href="http://www.lykenlove.com/">Lyken’s</a> a great guy so hopefully will shoot him again in the future.  I’m also uploading these to my <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32978793@N05/">flickr</a> so if anyone’s interested they can probably see them bigger there.</font></p> <p><font face="Arial">Cheers <br />Ian :)</font></p> Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14405074866499089315noreply@blogger.com4