At the end of the studio session Johemiane expressed a desire to get some shots outside. So we all moved out the an old swing that we have hanging in an apple tree.
I grabbed by Nikon Z6ii as the other camera was still tethered. Wow you’re shooting and a natural light as it was 6 pm I was not getting the results I wanted. Shooting in aperture priority mode the Shutter speed was falling to 1/15 of a second. While in-body stabilisation makes it possible to handhold at such slow shutter speeds, it does mean that you will never get a sharp image when your subject is moving.
I went back inside. I grabbed the Godox V1 speedlight in the 65 cm octabox. Then, I positioned it camera left. I was still shooting using Aperture Priority with the flash set on manual at a very low power. This meant that it complemented the natural light rather than overpowered it.
The images were an extra bonus to a great day of shooting. Johemiane was a great model. You can find her on Instagram @Johemiane.
I mentioned in my post about her pool shoot that Megan was a photographer as well as a model. In that capacity she would organise meetup for Wellington photographers which she would model.
f4 200mm 1/640s ISO100
One such shoot took part in princess Bay which is on the south coast of Wellington. Now shooting outside in Wellington can be fraught with difficulty unless you get a really good day. Fortunately this was one of them. The weather was really nice and the beach was packed.
We started the shoot around 6:30pm in the evening and went through to 8 pm. This let us go into golden light as you can see in the first image in this post.
As I did not know in advance what I could be facing I packed a very full camera bag. That included my 50mm f1.4, 24-70 f4 and 70-200mm f2.8. The last lens is one of my favourites especially shooting in group environments. When I am not directing the Model I can stand back and shoot more candid images.
f5 56mm 1/250s ISO100
I have stated before that I love reflections. The rocks gave me the perfect opportunity to try to achieve some.
We each took turns posing Morgane on the rocks and then with props. She then went into the water and I tried to get some some shots with action.
f8 200mm 1/60s ISO200
As this was an outdoor sheet I had the camera in aperture priority mode. As the light was somewhat contrast I had it said to spot meter so that I could ensure that I was getting the perfect exposure on Morgane’s skin.
It was a great evening and I was pleased with the results. As I am off to the one organising such events it was nice to be able to simply turn up and shoot.
This is the second post on my shoot with Dawn at Fort Balance. It includes all the shots taken outside under natural light. This was after we finished the original Catwoman in the headlights mentioned in the previous place.
We moved around the complex which gave us many options to shoot. It also gave Dawn the opportunity to really play into her character.
For these series of images I was using my Nikon Z6ii camera with the 24-70 f4 lens set at f4. It was in aperture priority mode as I was happy to let the camera control the shutter speed. The majority of them seem to be around 1/200s second. Towards the end of the shoot, I did have to push the ISO up to 400. Even then the final images were at 1/50s.
Despite the fact that the fort is nearly a kilometre up a hill it is amazing what people take up there. We found this couch and I just had to use it.
The fort contains many different opportunities for shooting such as ladders that enable you to shoot down from above.
The Walls also gave the opportunity for Dawn to behave like a cat. Anyone who has seen the original Batman series will know that the Catwoman character did do overemphasised cat behaviour.
Anyone who has a cat will know that they like to find comfy nooks in which to sleep. I spotted an alcove complete with a cushion. It was a no-brainer that we were going to use it. The lighting in this particular area was not the best but my camera easily handled it.
Dawn was a great model. She was really comfortable being in front of the Camera which made the whole process so much easier. It also meant that we got really great images from the session.
Finally when we got back to the car it was time for a selfie shot to add to the series
The 1960s when the original show screened was also the time of the rise of pop art. Therefore I thought of appropriate to create a version of my own. This went across really well when I posted it.
Morgane and I spent about half an hour shooting around the garden. It was then time to head into the pool. Unlike the previous three pool shoots, Morgane had a new preference. She did not want to use sheers but rather preferred to be in a bikini and coverings.
As I mentioned in my previous post Morgane wanted to do her own editing of the photos. Therefore, several images on this page are straight out of the camera. They show the surroundings of the pool.
We started the shoot around 6:00pm in the evening. We did not have to worry about high overhead light. As the day was also reasonably warm we also had time so I positioned my Lumix G9 on the end of the boom. The image below shows how the camera is connected to the boom arm.
The actual connection is not designed for this purpose. Rather it is a bracket to attach a collapsible soft box to a speedlight. It worked really well for the camera, especially as it enabled me to get it completely level to my subject. I was controlling the the camera via the Panasonic app on my iPad.
The camera was set in Aperture Priority at f8 as I wanted a decent depth of field. ISO was set at 800 as I wanted to ensure a reasonable shutter speed. The images ended up being between 1/125s and 1/200s.
I took the overhead shots. Then, I repositioned the camera. I shot close to the water, which enabled me to get Mogane’s reflection in it. Because it did not want too much focus on the background I stretched some frost cloth behind the pool
The light had faded somewhat by the stage. So, I positioned a speed light with an orange gel at a very low power to camera right. This added a kick of golden light into the images.
We are both pleased with the results of the shoot. It was interesting shooting the same scenario with four different models at different times of day. I would learn heaps from each shoot that I would then apply to the next one.
I had thought that Morgane was the last of the pool shoots. However, the following month, I did one more. That will be covered in a subsequent post.
The final pool shoot in the series that I had booked was with Morgane. She is both an experience model as well as a photographer. The shoot was different on a number of rules from the previous three.
Firstly she was not interested in doing a shoot in the studio. She requested that we shoot around the garden under natural light. The second difference was that she likes to edit her own images so images from the shoot receive minimal processing from Me before they were provided to her.
We planned the shoot for the early evening to ensure that we had the best light based on the experience from the previous three pool shoots. As I was not going to be restricted by the size of my studio I decided to shoot differently. I fitted my Sigma 50mm f1.4 prime to my Nikon Z6ii and all of the images were taken with that. It is a great lens but not when you are in a tight situation and trying for full length images.
Because I did not want the background to be in focus the camera was shooting at f1.4 using aperture priority. This meant that the shutter speeds ranged from 1/160s to 1/400s.
Morgane brought some variations in her outfit and towards the end of the shoot we brought in the watering can so that it was not static posing.
At the end of the shoot I had a pose with my vintage camera that I incorporate in all of my model shoots.
Once we had finished the studio shoot we headed out to the pool.
We scheduled the shoot for much later in the day. I knew this timing would give us much more control on the light. The pool was positioned north south. By 5 o’clock, it was in the shade of a line of trees on our boundary. This meant that I did not have to deal with the direct overhead light.
The light levels were lower than I preferred. I needed to set ISO800 to maintain reasonable levels when shooting at f7.1. The camera was set in aperture priority mode with the overhead shots taken at 1/100s. The ones lower down were taken as 1/50s. This speed is quite slow for a portrait. However, the Lumix G9 has brilliant stabilisation built-in. I can handhold to almost the second.
Unlike the previous weekend the weather was warm and the pool had a chance to warm up. This meant that we had the time to set up the camera overhead and control it via the Ipad. Even so the total shoot lasted only six minutes.
The flowers were fabric which meant that they behaved completely different to actual flowers. Real flowers float whereas the fabric only stayed on the surface for a short period of time before sinking.
The boom arm and camera did appear as a reflection in the image. Knowing that this would happen I was careful where it was positioned. Then it was I knew that I would have to fix this in post. This was achieved mainly using content aware fill. In the lightest version of Photoshop, I would use the Remove tool. It does a much better job of removing such distractions.
This was a great shoot and again I learnt important things to build into the next one. The most obvious was that I needed to work out the background in someway. I had been removing elements in Photoshop but I figured it would be easier to do it in-camera.
The final shoot in the series booked for the following weekend so I did not have much time to wait.
As I planned to shoot the four sessions within a week of each other I had not bothered to empty the pool. The shoot with Camila took place nine days after the previous one with Shirley.
As I mentioned previoulsy, the pool that I constructed for these shoots was built on a wooden frame with an internal measurement of 1.1m (3’ 9”) wide and 2m (6’ 7”) long. It was fitted with a double liming of black polythene. It was then filled with water at approximately depth of 30cm. As the ground sloped it was actually deeper at one end.
Once we had finished the studio shoot Camila stripped down to her underwear and we headed out to the pool. While the conditions were ok for photography with a lot of cloud cover they were less than ideal for the pool. We had not had much sun over the previous three days so the water was very cold. In addition the air temperature was only sitting around 18°c (64.4°F).
Therefore no that we did not have time to muck around. While the camera positioned on the boom does give you the best viewpoint it was not really an option. Getting it positioned and linked to the app on the iPad can prove problematic and takes time.
As both the camera and ipad go into sleep mode it is not something that you can set up in advance. I therefore decided to ditch it and simply handhold the Camera.
This then introduced the problem of a reflection of me in the image. I knew that I would have to fix this in post. This was achieved using a combination of content aware fill and the clone stamp.
It is interesting that the latest version of Adobe Cameron Raw has introduced a reflection removal tool. While it seems to work well on window reflection, I tried to run one of these images through it and it totally failed at removing my reflection.
The camera was set in aperture priority mode shooting at f5 ISO200. We only shot for a little over a minute. It is a reflection of the lack of light that the camera used shutter speeds between 1/60s and 1/80s. The previous shoot with Shirley was between 1/400s and 1/800s.
The total time from the first to last image was a little over a minute. Despite it being a very short shoot we got the images we were after and Camila really liked the end results.
In May 2022 my camera club was hosting a one day portrait workshop being run by Wellington commercial photographer Lindsay Keats. They were having problems getting models for the session so I offered to help them find some.
I posted a casting call on Wellington Facebook group and subsequently two models Devon and Mumtaz agreed to come along. Devon had experience as an actress and Mumtaz had modeled before.
The workshop was based out of the clubrooms which are in the grounds of the Gear Homestead in Porirua.
Devon 1/125s f2 80mm (63mm equivalent) ISO100
I had not planned on shooting but rather helping the others and assisting Lindsay. I had packed a portable backdrop and some lights which were set up in the clubrooms.
Lindsay is a Fuijifilm ambassador and when I got there I discovered that Sam from Fujifilm had also come along. He had brought with him some gear to play with. I immediately grabbed a GFX50s which is a medium format camera.
While we were waiting for everybody to arrive I noticed that Devon was standing in a pool of light. So I tested the ability of the camera to shoot indoors without flash. It was fitted with a f2 lens set at 80mm.
Devon 1/200s f2 80mm (63mm equivalent) ISO2000
With full medium format cameras, the crop factor works on reverse. The 80mm lens was the equivalent of 63mm lens on a full frame camera. I did have to crank the ISO up to 2000 but that did not present a problem.
When everyone had arrived Lindsay decided that we would actually outside and shoot under natural light. I only had to adjust the ISO on the camera.
1/200s f2 80mm (63mm equivalent) ISO100
Most of the participants stayed with Lindsay and one model. So I was able to take the other one away and capture them. This was also to guarantee them that they would get usable images.
I did have to share the camera so my final shots with Devon were back with my Lumix G9.
1/80s 24mm (48mm equivalent) ISO400
It was a fun afternoon and all of the participants enjoyed themselves. Devon and Mumtaz were excellent models and I arranged other shoots with them later in the year.
My style of photography generally involves one or two models and myself. Therefore, when the opportunity arises to shoot with other photographers, I will take it for the social aspect.
I saw a post on a local Facebook group. It was about a meet up starting at the Photospace Studios in Courtney Place. I was not sure what the plan was but I thought it was a good opportunity so I went along. The studio had been booked by a couple of the photographers who were practising their techniques. They are also arranged for several models to come in and were happy for others to join in.
The studio has a large bank of windows at one end. I took this as an opportunity to practice blending natural light with flash. While it had a number of backdrops and lights I was happy to let the others use that area.
I had taken my Godox V1 speedlight. I also took a small 26 inch soft box. I positioned each one to camera right every time.
The first model I shot was Natalia. We did a series of shoots images utilising the light coming in from the windows. As this was changing I was having to adjust the shutter speed on each image.
She had brought a white shirt. I asked her to wear just that to create a different look. All of the images in this post were shot on my Lumix G9 at f5 with ISO400. The shutter and focal lengths did change as shown against each image.
1/125s 36mm
Also present was Armish. I don’t normally get to shoot with a male model so this was a good opportunity. We did a couple of images of him initially with Natalia and then by himself.
1/125s 24mm
The final series of images where with Sean and Libby who were a couple and photographers as well. They were more than happy to pose for the others. It was good to be able to capture images of a couple who were comfortable interacting with each other.
1/80s 36mm
When I processed the images deal with several that looked much better in black-and-white than colour so that is how I presented them to them.
1/125s 24mm1/125s 24mm
All of the models appeared to have a good time and I got positive feedback when the images were sent to them.
I always take some time to photograph a model when they are booked for one of my concept shoots. I aim to create images that they may be able to use within their portfolio. It was the same with Sara after we had finished the monsoon girl shoot.
Sarah changed out of her wet clothes. We then headed across the road to the wharf in Evans Bay. There, we took a series of images. These images tried to reflect different moods.
1/1250s f5 70mm ISO200
All the images were shot using natural light and as such I had the camera in Aperture Priority. I set f5 so that I would still have a reasonable depth of field on Sara. This setting allowed the background to fall out of focus.
They were all shot with my 70-200mm f2.8 lens on my Nikon D600. The individual settings are shown against each image.
1/1250s f5 70mm ISO2001/320s f5 70mm ISO200
Towards the end of our session I swapped lenses to my Lensbaby Composer. This is a totally manual lens that creates a very narrow area of focus within the image. It creates great results but it is quite tricky to work with.
1/2500s f2.8 ISO200
When I delivered the photos to Sara, she was really pleased with them. That is the ultimate time of any model shoot.
Looking back now I realise that the images could have done with a little lift from flash.
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