At the end of the studio session with Johemiane, I handed her the old camera. This was so she would be included in the selfie series. As I have mentioned before this camera is used to link all my model shoots together.
I initially shot from the same position and with the same lights as we had done for the photographers wife. This is explained in much more detail in the previous post or shown in the diagram below.
While that was giving me an interesting take, it was not what I wanted. So I moved both her and myself back into a more traditional pose and location.
The final image was shot using my Lumix G9 camera 1/200s f8 ISO200. I imported it into Silver Efex Pro. I used the Black & White recipe I had created for all of the images taken that day.
As mentioned in the previous post, my last studio/pool session of the summer was with Tanisha. She was off Indian descent and had a fabulous rich skin colour. I therefore chose a blue satin backdrop as I knew this would look great in the images.
We started in the studio with a range of poses. We also included a couple of outfit changes. This helped her and me get comfortable shooting together. Tanisha was a natural and this process ran extremely smoothly.
For my lighting I used two lights. My Godox AD300 was the main light which was positioned camera left in a 65cm octabox. My Godox V1 speedlight acted as a second light. It was in a 7 inch reflector and was positioned camera left and aimed at the backdrop. This was simply to provide a little separation and to push the lustre of the backdrop.
I had acquired a very funky phone from an op shop. I thought it was a great opportunity to use that. Tanisha had quite a bit of fun with her and it showed in the images.
All of the shots were taken on my Nikon Z6ii at f5 1/100s ISO100. These are not my usual settings for studio work. However, they were sufficient to gain full control over the ambient light.
As with other shoots we included the selfie image with the old camera.
We also brought in a silk veil as I knew that Tanisha would rock the lock with her big brown eyes.
I really liked how these images turned out. In the next post we head out to the pool.
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.
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.
My second pool shoot of 2023, and the third in the series, was with Kaylene. As before it started in the studio. It had been booked the previous week but the weather conditions that I had faced on that shoot were either worse where Kaylene lives. She drives a Tesla which auto systems did not like driving in low cloud.
For the shoot I was using my Nikon Z6ii tethered into the computer. The settings where F8 1/100s at ISO 100. The settings gave me full control over the ambient light.
The main light was positioned in a large softbox camera right at a 45° angle to Kaylene. A second light was at the rear of the room firing into a 7 foot umbrella fitted with a diffusion panel. This was set at a low power to simply fill in the shadows.
Kaylene was an experienced model so we were only using the studio shoots first is to get her comfortable with me. As such unlike the previous two shoots it only took around 30 minutes.
Kaylene has bought two outfits that we shot with both full lengths and with her sitting on the posing stool. I then grabbed one of the outfits that I had bought previously from thrift shops and we had a bit of fun with it and some other props.
Kaylene was easy to work with and it was no trouble nailing great images of her. The only issue that needed fixing in practically every shot was an annoying gap at the bottom of the backdrop and the floor. I had ordered the backdrop at what I thought was an adequate size. As it turned out they had included the area that was rolled over in the size in the printed size so the usable surface was about 10cm short.
We finished the shoot with an image for the selfie series.
My first shoot of 2023 was the second in the pool series with Camila as the model. As before it started in the studio.
I have mentioned previously that we do the studio shoots first to get the model comfortable with me. This makes for better images when we get to the pool. It also gives the model more variety of images that they can use.
For the studio shoots I was using my Nikon Z6ii tethered into the computer. The settings where f8 1/125s at ISO 100. The settings gave me full control over the ambient light.
I set up one of my printed backgrounds to provide a more interesting look. The main light was positioned in a large softbox camera right at a 90° angle to Camila. A second light was in a 7 inch reflector providing a hairlight.
Camila was more comfortable shooting so we worked fairly quickly through a series of poses and costume changes.
She had asked if she could bring her boyfriend with her for support. I was more than happy to agree to this. I find that anything that increases the comfort of the model improves the shoot.
I always say this. If somebody comes to a shoot, they have to be prepared to be in front of the Camera. Therefore we included him in a number of images so that they had something to take away.
I finished the shoot getting them involved in selfie series.
We ended up shooting in the studio for nearly an hour. Then we decided it was time to head out to the pool.
This is the fourth and final post from my 2022 Halloween themed shoot.
After we had finished outside the other two photographers decided that they had enough images. So we moved back into the studio and I shot on my own.
I started taking individual photos and let the models interact as they liked. Devon got right into character again and produced some great images.
With Katie I suggested that she mentioned we were doing her formal wedding photos. As usual my cat Beanie decided to make an appearance and ensure she got into at least one shot. When then added with the slight edition of a skull.
The main light was my Godox AD600 in a 1.5 m octabox positioned at a 90° angle camera left. This provided for in coverage and insured that we got catchlight in the eyes. A reflector camera right provided a bit of fill on that side. At the rear of the room an Elincron D400 fired into a 7″ umbrella with a diffusion panel to further provide fill.
I have bought a almost full size skeleton and so Devon had fun interacting with it.
Yhe month before the shoot I had travelled to Christchurch and spent some time in the Christchurch Museum. In one of the rooms they had animal skeletons on display. I thought these could be useful. So, I took a couple of photos. I then composed them into an image with Devon and Katie. I was quite pleased with the result
All of the images we shot with my Nikon Z6ii camera using a 24 -70 4.0 lens. camera was in manual mode set a 1/200s f8 at ISO100.
In my camera collection I have an old double lens camera . The camera doesn’t work but models seem to find it interesting. Therefore I have used it as a link image by getting them to imagine using it to take a selfie.
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