Well Blogsters,
It's been a hectic couple of weeks, along with attending a family funeral I have been working LOTS and hence have a backlog of shoots to share!
Rather than bombard you with all the images at once, I'll do them on a shoot by shoot basis with a little bit of explanation on lighting.
First I'll start with the images from
The Vicarage Boutique Hotel that I have been sitting on for a little while. I am so happy with these sets as it has taken me out of a slump I had gotten myself into and starting to actually
think about lighting again.
Huge thanks to
Tim Miles-Hayler and
Millie Dollar for being so patient with me and allowing me to create the images that were buzzing around my head.
For the first two images I wanted to go for a light and bright feel so started off with using the available light. The problem was, I didn't want to compromise on the quality of the image by cranking up the ISO as even at f1.4 we were still getting a slight bit of shake.
So in comes the lighting kit!
I don't think I've mentioned my lighting kit as yet! After developing a love affair for
Bowens when working for
Calumet Photographic, I knew there was no other lighting that I could have. I plumbed for the
Gemini 500 Classic kit with an extra reflector and grid set, as it was a set-up I had used and was comfortable with.
I'm more than happy with my choice and have had no problems so far! *touches wood*
ANYWAY, using the softbox to lift the foreground lighting worked perfectly to light Millie but it threw the background into darkness which even a lot of setting changing could not overcome. The images were starting to look fake and not at all like I had wanted so we added in the second light for fill. I hadn't up until then used a flash without some form of light modifier attached and Tim suggested simply using the reflector directly onto the wall to create a wide dispersion of light. It worked a charm and produced the natural looking images above.
For the second set, Tim took the lead on this one. He had spied the location and wanted to use this more than the others. The window was in quite a tight spot with a bath to one side just out of shot and a toilet the other side. Using one of the Bowens with softbox and me sat on the toilet with a reflector Tim shot away. I used the same set up but adjusting the camera settings slightly to cause the bright, over-exposed window. It was at this point I had wished someone was taking behind the scenes images as I was crouched up under the sink to get the shot!
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| The infamous outtake now not an outtake! |
Tim took the lead in the final room, he went for more of a low-key look using the grid to cause a spot on Millie, throwing a lot of the surroundings into darkness.
I was still chasing on with the lighter theme again with bounced background lighting and softbox on the model. Millie decided it would be a fun shot to swing from the chandelier, Tim was on his toes pulling the background flash out of the way and I snapped! A fluke if ever there were but one of my favourite shots to date.
After being a little worried she had pulled too hard on the light fitting (it was fine) Millie was slightly more sedate for the rest of the set but no less sultry!
We packed down, and I shot the rooms, as that was the agreement for the loan of this beautiful location!
Then we headed home to meet Sali and prepare for the
Day of the Dead Shoot!
Keep subscribed!
Miss Rain x
