Bridal Test Shoot at Castle Oliver

It's been a while since I've posted anything. That's because I haven't really shot anything for some time. Been busy doing other things which were supposedly less productive. Anyways, finally got off my backside and got together with a couple of cool people and did a test shoot at Castle Oliver. www.castleoliver.ie . Check it out, such a cool location for a wedding venue!

I had this wedding dress hanging in the store room which I got off somebody with the promise I was going to thrash it. Never got round to it. Glad it was still in good shape for this shoot. We complained lots on the day about how the dress was asymmetry, a real pain etc but the dress just looks great in the photos. The details on the dress look so beautiful. Makes you think eh? Just because it doesn't look good immediately doesn't mean it won't turn out to be awesome in a photo. Something to think about when you're shopping for your wedding dress.  Now I can't wait to thrash it, especially when we're expecting a nice hot summer in Ireland.

I had the pleasure to work with a couple of people for the first time. Kathryn who played MUA for the day and Aisling who kindly offered to model the dress for me.

Check out their profile:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/1618144
http://www.modelmayhem.com/1059711

Please note, we weren't going for that happy bride look so they'll be no smiling bride in this photo set!

The first exercise of the day is to look for symmetrical framing location. I've always wanted to do a shot like and this alcove with the windows around provided some beautiful light. One just can't beat diffused window light when it comes to beauty light. 

Another window light shoot. I wanted to practice classical potrait poses. The sort you see in classical paintings. So the poses were rather rigid but elegant. 
Again, window light. Aisling is rather good at the poses which made my life so easy. Styling is just fab too, isn't it? Kathryn would be the person responsible for it. I also have Carol to thank for lending me her accessories.

Mona Lisa smile. :-D


Okay, here I decided I'd try something radical with the colour and overall setup. Bright sunny days aren't great for photos. All the cool outdoor location in Castle Oliver are nowhere in a shade. Sure, one can overpower the sun etc but it's very hard to stop your subject from squinting. If you're getting married, pray for cloudy weather or shoot later in the evening when the light is kinder on your eyes. After the photos are done, may the sun magically reappear again for that perfect wedding! :-D


More attempts to overpower the sun. Like the above, it's just bare flash. One really doesn't need any modifiers when trying to overpower the sun for that shiny finish. 


For the above and below, we decided to try something with a little more attitude. Okay, not the sort of pose you'd see in a normal wedding picture but who knows. Maybe some of you would like to try it? Alternative weddings / gothic weddings, anyone ? I'm game, send me an email! I'd even give you a discount for giving me the privilege to shoot it! Kathryn and I did however joke that she looked like a child bride in these ones. Aisling wasn't impressed. 


Ok, that's that. Hope you enjoyed that. Till next time. 

Limerick Strobist Meet : Meelick

Meelick community hall was location for this month's strobist meet. The plan had been to shoot to the theme of Hollywood Glamour. But somehow, I don't think I adhere to it too much. I have done very little studio work as I generally work outdoors. The other boys on the other hand arrived with their Elinchromes. The community hall was a large place so we were able to have 5 light setups and background. Good fun.

This time round, we had a stylist and MUA so the models were better kitted. Enjoyed the experience. I even got the chance to do a portrait for Neville, who wanted profile shots for his webpage. He is a tango dance instructor.

I'll start with Neville's shot, probably my favourites from the day.

The above 2 images had to light sources. 2 soft box to camera right and left, firing perpendicularly to Neville.

( I added a slightly sinister twist to this image. Pure natural light. The low contrast feel is due to the smoke from a smoke machine )

Anyways, if you're looking to learn a bit of Tango, look up Neville Gawley here.

http://www.limericktango.com/

I only used the modelling lamp here. One large octabox directly above Gemma.

This was Barbara's first time modelling. I just love the expression here.  One softbox to camera left.

One modelling lamp from the octabox directly above Ania. Also her first time modelling. Did very well.

Simple cross lighting. Two soft boxes, one to each side of Laura, aimed perpendicularly to her.

Thanks for reading. The Limerick Strobist group try to meet as often as possible. All levels of photographers are welcome. Please follow our group on flickr for future meets.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/928502@N22/

One of photographers Dave made a video of the meet, you can see it here.



Cheerio until the next post.

Limerick Strobist Meet

For this month's Limerick strobist meet, we met for a shoot in Adare Manor. I never realised how big the grounds on Adare Manor was and there certainly was plenty of locations to shoot. A big thank you to Jody for getting us access to shoot there.

It was a cold day out. Our MUA's car broke down on the way to the shoot and half our models dropped out 24 hours before the shoot.  So things were a little messy but we had a fun day just the same. The locations were so varied and the models looks were different too. So there was a huge variation through out the day. Even amongst all the photographers, the style and approach varied so much even when the shots were taken on the same location. That made things really interesting.  Since we were not shooting to a brief, we just shot whatever came to mind. Fun fun fun.

( one flash shooting thru a white umbrella directly above and slightly in front of models. I didn't have time to setup up an up light to fill some shadows from underneath so I told the models of lift their chin up. Sure, they look a little aloft but that's the mood I was going for. This location had some interesting tree features but I only managed to set up for two locations )

(This is where I was surprised by the result of the lighting when I decided to place a flash , gel with CTO, shooting thru an umbrella,  just outside a door shooting through. The lighting looks so natural, reminescence of some warm sunset in some warm country. You won't think this was some dark, cold and smelly attic of a shed somewhere in cold wet Ireland)

( One of the location was a ruin of an old house somewhere on the grounds. It was cold, 2 degress out and the place inspired something of a pensive dark cold image for me. Here's one to the Echoes of old dead memories. One flash fring thru a shoot thru umbrella to camera right and just behind model. )

( It was really dark in this attic. Barely any light and and the camera had a hard time focusing. One bare flash about 15 feet away, firing wide at 24mm and one shoot thru brolly to camera light for fill. )

( There were lamp shades lying around the place. I just had to use it. haha. Lighting info as image above)

(I popped in next door only to find Tatyana bound in chains. Not sure what the other lads were up to but I shot away! Shoot thru brolly to camera left, directly facing model)

If you're ever in Limerick and interested in flash photography, we meet or try to meet once a month. So drop us a line. My main photography website is http://www.wakphotography.com/. Contact details are on it. Alternatively find us on Flickr. Search group for Limerick Strobist.

Highway Drama

This week I met up with Tatyana once more for a shoot. This time round the location is the newly constructed dual carriage way in Limerick. I've always wanted to do a shoot of some sort on a highway as I've always been fascinated by highways and roads. Finding one where you can do a shoot safely is kinda hard in Ireland. But these ones are not open yet so no traffic passing through. I thought I might as well do a shoot now while I still can.

I wanted a film noir feel to this shoot. I also wanted to incorporate a section of the road with the flyover. I love the way the strong lines of the flyover intersects with the roads. I wanted dark shadows. I always wanted some drama. Decided on 2 ways of lighting.  1. Using ambient light, nicely diffused through thick Irish rain clouds with a flash working as hair light.  2. Cross lighting, hard edge lighting and lots of shadows. Then I wanted lots of movement. Hence why the shoot with Tatyana again. It's not often you get model who can jump in her high heels.

We were there for a total of 30 minutes before the security guys showed up. Managed to talk them into letting us shoot for 30 minutes more. So we eventually shoot for a total of 2 hours. It was also starting to rain so by the time we had packed up and moved on, it was starting to rain heavy.

Here are the images. Hope you like them.

( cross lighting. Flash to camera left shooting thru Lumodi beauty dish and flash to camera right fired bare)

(same lighting as above)

(natural light directly above. Bare flash camera right)

(bare flash camera left)

Zack Arias' short film Transform.

I'm posting this video by Zack Arias because it's exactly the way I feel about my photography at the moment. It's not a new vid, it's been on the web since February 09. But for those of you who've not seen this before, it's well worth checking out.

Terry Richardson shoots Pirelli Calender 2010

Cool video of Terry Richardson shooting the 2010 Pirelli Calender. He uses on camera flash for his work. It's kinda strange to see that as the images from that sort of lighting always turn out pretty flat. But then, just as he claims, the images look raw. Consequently it's the contain that takes the center stage, in this case the models. Having said that, the girls are just gorgeous, you can shoot them in any light, they'd still look good.

NSFW though. Contains nudity


The Making of the 2010 Pirelli Calendar from Rafael Rubira on Vimeo.

And here's his official website: http://www.terryrichardson.com//

Street moves

One of the thing I enjoy about photography is acquiring unexpected images. The original shoot location for this image was unsuitable so we had to move and then improvise. Tatyana, who agred to model for me on a short notice,  is enthusiastic and fun to work. She can jump better than most models I've shot with and her ability to do so makes for interesting images.

Light info: Flash to right and left of model, bare. Grid flash to camera left pointing at background. Grid flash in front of model for some fill.