Stepping Outside - Photo Shoot with Flo

I did a photo shoot recently that stretched the comfort zone again for me and allowed me to challenge myself. The shoot was done outdoors and it was a chance to try some key shifting or at least to balance the ambient light with the single flash that I was using. One catch though, the infrared wireless trigger that I was used to using in the studio was not really working as well in wide open spaces and it was really critical that there was line of sight to the flash from the camera. Luckily I had an off camera flash cord so instead I shot with the camera connected to the flash that was mounted on a tripod with a softbox. I would later on place my wireless trigger on the end of the off shoe cord and have it aimed at the flash and this worked really well except that I always needed an extra pair of hands. For this session I got to work with Flo again whom I have shot before and this time she brought along makeup artist and stylist Sharley. We had about four different outfit changes and started late in the day when the sun was already going down but this session below is the one we finished with after the sun had completely gone down. I'll have some of the other shots as well in future posts. The location for this series was completely improvised. I think the backdrop and the colors from her dress work really well along with the hair and makeup. My favorite set from the entire shoot.

Location Shoot - Billiards Room with Natasha

For my last shoot I left the safe and controlled environment of the studio and did a location shoot at a billiard room with model Natasha. As soon as I stepped in I knew it was going to be one of the more challenging lighting situations that I have dealt with in awhile. This place had bright fluorescent lighting all around, tungsten lights above the billiard tables and neon in some areas of the ceiling. Also behind the bar area there was a very flat fluorescent light. So for billiard area shots I wanted to get some of the ambient from the lights above the tables to maintain the look of lit billiard tables. Solution was to do a three light setup and just feather in enough ambient light by playing with the shutter speed till I had the look I wanted. For the bar area I pretty much did away with any ambient and did it all with a three flash setup. One flash had a warm gel on it to light the bottles behind the bar and then Natasha was lit with a softbox as the key light and a shoot through umbrella for fill.

Model Shoot - Vienna

This is a model shoot I did a few weekends ago with Vienna. We had a hairstylist, Ivy and makeup artist Melissa helping out on the shoot as well. We had three different looks that day and tried some natural lighting as well as some work with flashes. Vienna wanted to do a sexy but innocent nerdy look and brought along a fake apple that had me fooled that it was real right up until I actually picked it up. Here are a few shots from the session.

Model Shoot - Flo

I had the chance a few weekends ago to work with Flo and makeup artist Bella. Flo showed up already in makeup and had this really interesting design on her face. At first I thought it was just a pretty random design that Bella had drawn on Flo's face but if you looked closely you could see that it was actually her name. Pretty cool! We went through a few makeup and wardrobe changes throughout our shoot and Flo was amazing with her posing and facial expressions. One of the best I have worked with so far I might add. Before I knew it I had filled up an entire compact flash card, something I have never done before in a single session. I usually average anywhere from 100 to 120 shots per hour of straight shooting so after a two or three hour shoot I have somewhere close to 450 frames. At the end of the session with Flo after having to change flash cards I had over 700 frames. Here is just a very small sampling from that session.

Model Shoot - Rose

As promised here is the other model named Rose that I shot on the same day as Erica from my previous post. Rose is a lifeguard and Aquafit instructor and even with all that swimming and the damage she says it does to her hair and skin you could never tell that from these pictures. I should mention that Ivy also worked on Rose's hair and did a great job. I have really come to appreciate just how important it is to have a good makeup artist and hair stylist as part of every fashion shoot. They are just as important as a talented model and sometimes can make or break a photo shoot.

Model Shoot - Erica

This past weekend I had the chance to work with a model, Erica and a hair stylist, Ivy on a photo shoot. Erica has really long flowing hair so we really wanted to highlight that and Ivy did an incredible job giving her just the right amount of curls and bounce. Erica by the way also did her own makeup and is a regular in the Vancouver Fashion Week which happens to be on this week. Below are some shots from our session.

Erica also brought along another model and friend of hers which I will feature in a future post so stay tuned for more.