Category Archives: Models

Soft fabrics and hard rocks

March 9, 2015 whittyp Leave a comment

Late last week I answered a Facebook post from model Alex Hunt looking for a photographer to shoot on the weekend. I discovered that she wanted to expand on some lingerie images that she had taken previously and I suggested that we shoot at Palmer Head gun emplacement as I thought the contrast of soft fabrics and the graffiti covered walls would create dynamic looks.

We arranged the shoot for Saturday afternoon but left it until the morning to confirm as the forecast was for gale force winds, heavy rain and thunderstorms. Saturday dawned fine and while a little breezy was not anything that we could not handle. We therefore decided to the do the shoot.

I picked her and her friend Lillian up and we headed up the hill. To our shock and dismay we discovered that the whole site had been treated to a new coat of grey paint. Our urban look was therefore replaced with industrial.

Despite being inside the opening in the building and how exposed it was meant that the wind was a constant issue. We shot in two locations in the building and used a combination of a single flash in a bounce umbrella as well as natural light.

We started with the lingerie that Alex had brought with her and then we moved onto using one of my drape material. I even incorporated a fake fur that I bought sometime ago.

We even tried some of my longer drape materials out in the wind but didn’t really achieve the look that I would have liked. The strength of the wind made shooting outside quite difficult and some of the places that I may have considered just too dangerous.

At the end of the shoot I managed to get a shot of Lillian who had the most amazing eyes, but didn’t consider herself photogenic. She could not have been further from the truth.

Editing the images was an absolute breeze and I was able to deliver them to Alex the next day. We plan on doing some more shoots together.

Models, Nudes

Milky Waters (mildly NSFW)

February 16, 2015 whittyp Leave a comment

Those who have looked through this blog will realise that water tends to play a major part in my outdoor natural light shoots. The issue that you run into though is finding a place that is safe for the model as well as not too public so that you can try out options without offending people.

Now the weather in the Wellington region is not really conducive to outdoor swimming pools so it is not that easy to find one. However just before Christmas i saw an ad for a kids paddling pool that was 1.6m long, 600mm wide and 400mm deep. It sounded like it would be perfect as you could shoot full length in relative safety, and at only $20 was pretty cheap.

I had not actually planned any shoots with the pool when i was contacted me by Rebekkah (who I had shot before) who wanted to do a water shoot with Kristara (who I have shot on a number of occasions). They wanted the water to be cloudy so that it was only an implied nude as well as there being flowers in the water.

I filled the pool up two days before the shoot in the hope that the sun would have a chance to warm the water because I knew that in unheated water there is a very definite amount of time before the goosebumps start growing on top of other goosebumps.

We had had a really dry January so it was a little bit of a downer that it was planning to rain on the day of the shoot. We decided to proceed because the girls were going to get wet anyway and I knew that shooting with overcast conditions was actually better for the colours and light control than a clear blue shy day.

LR_Pool-3 Now the pool holds over 500 litres of water so I was really not sure what to add to get the desired milky effect. Google was absolutely no use as it kept bringing me to examples of using a slow shutter speed to make moving water appear milky. In the end the suggestion was that simply add milk, but how much was the question. I bought a three litre bottle of full cream milk and just before the shoot starting to add it. Just over a litre produced the desired effect.

Both girls were wearing black which when we went to fuller length showed up to well so I suggested that they be removed and replaced with Grape leaves which covered very well.

Rebekkah had also seen some shots of water running down a face so we tried that. Getting the correct amount of water flow and the angle of the head was a bit of trial and effort and it is not something you can do without an assistant.

Kristara and I had planned a nude shoot in the past which never quite timed right so before she froze I shot a full length in the water.

You may have noticed no pool edges in the images. Basically they were removed in photoshop.

I am really pleased with the way that the pool performed and the models appear happy with the finished results.

Models, Nudes

Waterfall shoot with Sian (NSFW)

January 16, 2015 whittyp 1 Comment

The second shoot at the waterfall for 2015 involved Sian as the model. I have shot Sian twice before and so I knew she was very comfortable in front of the camera. The shoot happened earlier than the previous one as she wanted to go house hunting in the afternoon.

While these waterfall shoot are intended to incorporate drapes or nudes we actually started with Sian fully clothed as I have had this dress in the cupboard for a while and I wanted to test out shots closer to the top fall. As this part of the location is fully visible from the track I tend the ensure that not to much skin is on display from this point.

I have wanted to use this dress in a water shot for a while and given that this part of the fall is fully visible from the path made perfect sense.

We then moved onto using a length of a satin type material on the large rock and around the top of the second falls. This material is nearly 5 metres in length and when it gets wet becomes fairly heavy. As such I impressed to Sian that she was in a secure position on the rock before she let the material go anywhere near the water.

This length of satin is about 5 meters so it was able to stretch a long way. We had to be careful though because when it got wet it became very heavy.

We then moved down to the pool at the bottom of the lower fall. Sian was willing to go into it and so we used my monopod as a gauge to work out how deep it was. Once it was determined that the pool was not too deep Sian took a position by the falls. I wanted to try a longer exposure but there was no place to mount a tripod so I attached the monopod to the camera instead. The shot is not completely sharp but close enough for essentially a hand hold at 1/6 of a second at f13.

SIan was willing to go into the pool and go without the drapes. Her we tried a slower shutter. — Sian was willing to go into the pool and go without the drapes. Here we tried a slower shutter.

We then moved out of the pool and Sian wrapped a length of red organza around her. The shot is nice however the material in the water does not have a lot of live to it unlike the blue organza used in the previous shoot. This was totally due to the angle of the sun not directly lighting up the material.

This red organza spread out great, however where it went into the water falls a little flat.

Sian then agreed to lose the drape and we would slow the shutter down. This image was essentially hand held at 1/13 second at f22. The shot is virtually straight out of camera. I would have to say that it is my favourite image of the shoot. It has a very classical look to it.

I was relatively pleased with the results of the shoot, however when Sian looked at them she thought that she could improve on some of her expressions so we are planning another visit to the falls. I also still have a list of other models who want to take part so this series will run for a whole yet.

Models, Nature

Back to the Waterfall with Grace

January 10, 2015 whittyp Leave a comment

Last year I took a series of images at a local waterfall with models in fabric drapes (which you can read here) and decided that this year I would work further on the series. So I posted a casting call on Facebook and got enough interest for a whole series of shoots. One thing that had disappointed me about the images from the previous series was that the underwear the girls was wearing showed through and disrupted the flow of the fabric. So this year I made it quite clear that no underwear was permitted.

The first shoot in the 2015 series took place last Sunday with Grace (who had been a make up artists on a number of my shoots as well as being my book queen). Her mum Caroline asked to come as well and I was only too happy to have her along as a extra pair of hands.

On the Saturday I went up the falls and checked that nothing had changed significantly since last year. It also gave me the opportunity to scout out the area and plan where each shot was to take place. The little falls are down a slope from the main track which in summer is very popular. Given the lack of clothing I wanted to work out how much of the shoot area could be seen from the track.

Sunday dawned beautiful and we went through three drapes for the shot. We started on the main rock with a multi colored silk. Then we moved slightly down and shot a white lace material and finally with a blue organza that I ordered specifically for this year.

The blue organza took on a plastic look when wet

The area is quite slippery in areas and as cameras and water don’t mix I tried to particularly careful.

Light was quite an issue in that in some areas there was not enough and in other too much. For some images a flash was used to add a bit of fill and in some cases it was bounced off a gold reflector to add a bit of warmth.

The next shoot in the series is tomorrow.

Models

Trying out a new studio with Ali

December 23, 2014 whittyp Leave a comment

I met Ali through a casting call she had placed on Facebook. She had wanted to have some lingerie shots taken, and I generally make it a rule to never go into a shoot like this without meeting the model first. It helps build up a rapport and a trust which is really important.

We met at a local cafe on a Sunday morning. She had agreed to shoot with another photographer the day before and had not enjoyed the experience at all. He had constantly pushed for her to reveal more than she wanted and she had found the whole experience sleazy.

I promised her that that I she would have a much better experience with me. I thought that it was a great opportunity to try put a new studio in Upper Hutt run by Paul Maka-Kea. We arranged the shoot for Friday night.

The studio is based at Trentham Racecourse and is huge, offering a seamless backdrop, a small bed set and plenty of other space.

Once Ali arrived we discussed the various shots that we were going to do and then selected the outfits for each. Given her first experience it was importantly to take the shoot slowly so we started with fully clothed sequences against the white seamless and then using some of the furniture.

Part of the area includes a very large powder room with full length mirrors and so I knew that I wanted to incorporate those. Having a room with mirrors presents interesting challenges when it comes to placing the lights but not impossible.

When I meet a model for the first time I always ask them what they do not like about themselves. Ali said her feet so it became a little bit of fun throughout the shoot when I said that I would break her of that phobia by having lots of the them in the shots.

By the time that we moved to the bed set Ali was very relaxed and it came across in her images.

We had planned to do a series of high key images but simply ran out of time however we did finish with another series against the white but this time with Ali only wearing a white shirt.

She tells me that she really enjoyed the session and we are planning on doing another one early in 2015 to get the shots we didn’t get around to.

The studio space worked out really well and I intend to use it again next year.

Models, Workshops

Ballerinas & Steampunk at the Rail

November 18, 2014 whittyp Leave a comment

On the Saturday afternoon of the Central Region PSNZ Conference there were three field trips scheduled. I decided to go on the one over to the Silver Stream Railway museum. Not necessarily because I wanted to shoot trains but rather because I knew that models had been arranged for this location, and that sounded a much better option than other two trips.

We had arranged for one of the old engines and carriages to be available. Unfortunately we were not able to arrange for it to be steamed up.

The last time the Hutt Camera club organised the conference the same venue was used for a field trip and that time the models had been dressed in wedding dresses as “trash the dress” had been a theme of the main speaker. This time they continued with the usual theme in that we had Kylie in full ballerina gear, Chrissy in classic 50’s outfit and a couple in steampunk outfits.

This made for very interesting shots and a fun afternoon, even if the light conditions were extremely difficult.

I loved the outfit of the museum person and asked that he pose with Kylie. He reluctantly agreed.

It took a couple of attempts to get the timing of this image right.

Models, Pinup, Workshops

Pinup on a Sunday Morning

November 17, 2014 whittyp Leave a comment

On the second day of the PSNZ Central Regional conference I took part is a completely different workshop that centred on Retro Pinup and was run by Ngahuia Davey at Ataahua Pinups. These are the type of pinup images that were popular in the 1940’s and 50’s that have recently come back in popularity.

The room was set up with a white seamless backdrop on one side and a red on the other. Nga has organised two models, a number of costumes and a whole lot of props. She had also provided a sheet with the most common poses used and so the groups of photographers took turns with the trigger for the lights and giving instructions to the model. As modelling lamps were turned on many of group shot without the use of the strobes.

The two models were very different is just about every aspect. Ivory was experienced in both modelling and particularly this style and so she moved effortless between the poses and even suggested her own. Sharon on the other hand was very new to modelling and was very nervous. She required quite a lot of direction and it was fairly obvious that she was not overly enjoying the experience.

It was quite a bot of fun and something that I think I would like to try further at a later stage.

Models

Fun with the Cosplay shoot

November 2, 2014 whittyp Leave a comment

I was approached by Angie to see if I was willing to shoot her and a friend in various cosplay outfits as they wanted to have some fun together. It turned out the friend was Kristara who I had shot previously.

They had originally wanted a garden location so we arranged a time for them to come to my place as we have a large and very private section. Unfortunately on the day of the shoot the weather packed in and so we ended up shooting in my studio. It can get cosy in there when you have a number of people and all the lighting gear.

We ended up shooting later than planned due to makeup taking longer than planned and a muck up in communication as to where my place was, however once everyone was here the whole shoot took 90 minutes. I did not consider this too bad as they changed twice into different outfits.

Lighting for the shoot was two elinchroms in the large square soft boxes.

The first look was relative simple however it included ears

The final look was very elaborate including coloured wigs

Balloons added an extra effect to the tea party being held

Fashion, Models

Chaotic Sunday

October 10, 2014 whittyp Leave a comment

Generally speaking when I go to a shoot I have a pretty good idea what I am going to be dealing with. Last Sunday turned out to be the complete opposite to norm.

I have been asked by a model to help out by shooting her in some clothes that had been designed. She arranged the “studio” and I arranged to meet her there. When I arrived there was no sign of her and the studio turned out to be room in a hall. Shortly after the designated time the designers, who turned out to be four third year Massey university fashion students, showed up. As part of their degree they had to design a collection of clothes in the style of a well known designer. In this case it was Andrea Moore.

They had been told that the room we had booked had white walls and wooden floors. The room we were shown into had green walls and a maroon carpet. I had been told that we were shooting in a studio so had left my backdrops at home.

Eventually we managed to secure a better location at the same time as the model showed up.

They had sent the model some mood board images to pass onto me which she had not. Fortunately they had examples on their phones for me to see.

They had a range of outfits and wanted to have simple “look book” images, then some to use as campaign images and then to go outside and shoot more campaign images in the city.

As they wanted bright images for the look book I chose a simple two light arrangement as shown in the diagram below.

The soft box to camera right is the main light for the subject. The second soft box is there to light up the background. Both lights were set to f7.1.

The idea in a look look is to maintain consistency in the set so that the clothes are the focus. To help with this the camera was sat on a tripod and the model did not move much relative to it.

Once we had a good series of images we then moved on the campaign images that were allowed to be a lot more lively. The girls had brought in a number of props and I say the possibility of a fun shot using them.

We then moved outside. My daughter was assisting me and she noticed that the pattern on the hood of one of the outfit lined up rather neatly with Emily’s face so we took the following image.

Not to far away from the building was a park bench that I thought suited the theme. We then moved down to Caro Drive to shoot around a pedestrian crossing. I decided to use a little selective colour with this image to make it pop.

I ended up shooting 360 images in the 3 hour session. These were put up in a gallery for the girls to decide which images they wanted to edit further. They chose around 40 which were delivered to them.

A chaotic start but a good session non the less. To Jess, Amelia, Rosie and Miriam all the best.

Models, Nudes

Keeping it hidden (slightly NSFW)

October 7, 2014 whittyp Leave a comment

They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and it is true that if you can capture catchlights in the image, and the eyes are sharp then people will connect.

A number of years ago the family spent some time in Egypt and it was really the first time that I encountered women wearing the full burqha with only there eyes showing. It was amazing how good looking quite a lot of eyes appeared.

Then a couple of years later we had a secret Santa at the work Christmas party and I was given a blue plastic mask. I instantly knew what I was going to do with it, and it has been used in quite a number of shoots since.

Over the years I have collected quite a range of masks, and I really enjoy using them in shoots. In most cases the mask actually focuses attention on the eyes while at the same time adding a little element of mystery to the image.

Most masks have been very successful apart from one. It is a replica of a full faced venetian mask that I have used in two shoots. The shots are good but to me there is something that I am not quite getting. I suspect that the mask actually needs a very elaborate outfit to set it off.

This was the first shoot using a mask, and still one of my most favourite shots.

Using the same model as the original blue mask, but this time with a small black one

A simple mask with contrasting colours of the drape

This full face white mask unnerves a lot of people due to its lack of features

This is the first shoot using the full faced venetian mask

The most recent shot with the venetian mask

pwfotos

Category Archives: Models

Soft fabrics and hard rocks

Milky Waters (mildly NSFW)

Waterfall shoot with Sian (NSFW)

Back to the Waterfall with Grace

Trying out a new studio with Ali

Ballerinas & Steampunk at the Rail

Pinup on a Sunday Morning

Fun with the Cosplay shoot

Chaotic Sunday

Keeping it hidden (slightly NSFW)

A photographic journey

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A photographic journey