Photo Rebel » Lightroom

The Lead Mines

gwyncole — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:35:47 +0000

A while back Graham and I did a photo shoot with Hannah down at the Lead Mines at Clywedog Dam in Powys, Wales. My goals for the shoot was to create something special with a bit of class about it. An evening gown in the middle of an ancient ruin seemed a good contrast to me…

This frame from the first location needed no post-production treatment and is straight off the camera.

I always take close-up and wide angle frames when on a photo shoot. I particularly like this frame in Black & White.

This shot could have been taken anywhere that has trees or a small woods.

I used a bit of flare from the sun to soften the look of this frame in the woods.

A change of location to the river...

Using the sun again to add a bit of interest into the frame.

I took several frames like this one and it works in colour, Black & White and a warmed up desaturated look (above).

A change of location to another part of the river with this frame from a high vantage point.

Blue's and green's... beautiful complementary colours.

Time for something different and dramatic.

This kind of frame can also work in Black & White.

Perhaps something more fairytale...

Change of location to the old Lead Mine buildings.

Exploring different angles...

I love Hannah's expression in this image.

Colour or Black & White... whatever take your fancy...

The sun was starting to set at this point in the shoot.

This establishing shot shows the Lead Mines and the dam wall in the background.

Time for a few close-up portraits.

I love this frame!

Add a bit of light for this simple photograph.

I then went for a much cooler look...

This image makes you wonder what Hannah is thinking about?

My last frame of the day...

Into the Light

gwyncole — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:49:06 +0000

Here are my top 50 photographs from another workshop with Damien Lovegrove and Martin Hill. I’ve long had a desire to learn how to capture specific types of images and from this workshop, I learnt how these images are created. Enjoy…

I love how the lens flare softened this image of Katy McGee.

Photographed using natural light...

Exploring different angles...

I changed the colour palette slightly in this set of images.

Time to move location to the window.

Going high key.

Then Damien showed us how to create images like this! This was one of my goals of the workshop.

I love this image!

Same location and exploring different poses, looks and exposures.

A quick frame in the bathroom...

Out come the shutters of the window... photographed in natural light.

This is another of my favourite images of Katy McGee.

This frame always gives me a little smile...

It was time to use the Lupo lighting system... beautiful...

I love Katy's pose.

Going for a calmer picture of Katy.

Katy makes it so easy to create wonderful images...

Back to using the Lupo lighting system.

I need to purchase a lupo system soon

It was time to change over to Martin Hill. My first frame outdoors using the Lovegrove Gemini bracket.

Exploring different post-production options.

Ri just looks beautiful in her bridal dress.

Martin Hill got the big guns out (the broncolor lighting system) for some amazing images.

Every time I look at this image, I see a bride in a war torn region of the world. Yet, it was photographed in Gloucestershire. The camera angle had to be perfect to get this look!

I absolutely love this image.

I just liked how this frame looked in Black & White.

Back in doors with Damien and the out came the lupo again...

Again... Katy McGee makes it so easy to create wonderful images...

Exploring different angles...

I love the colour in this frame as well as Katy's look!

Its the look!

And this is my favourite image out of this small set.

Back to window light...

It was a hard choice between Black & White and colour. In the end, I thought Black & White worked best.

Same location, different angle...

Katy is full of magical ideas for poses.

See... magical!! I love this image because its just so unusual.

I had a hard time working out the best look for this image (in post-production). I decided to go with something punchy...

Working with Katy is so much fun!

Damien allowed us to use his homemade filter to soften the photograph. I love it!

Just so many images to share...

The images work just as well in Black & White.

Straight off the camera!

Last frame of Katy McGee...

Time to get back out doors with Martin Hill and the lovely Ri.

Photographed with the Lovegrove Gemini bracket into an umbrella.

My favourite frame in this set of 3 images.

Martin Hill let us out with the broncolor kit again... yeah!! set us free!!

Magical....

... and there you have it.... the last of my top 50 images of the day!

Maunsel House

gwyncole — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:06:30 +0000

Back in June I travelled to Somerset to attend a Damien Lovegrove and Chris Hanley photography workshop. Simply put, what an amazing event in an awesome location, Maunsel House. Picking which images to post for this blog was quite a challenge! So many great images to choose from…

The first session of the day was with Chris Hanley.

This was lit with an Arri 300w light.

This room was awesome and crazy! Loved it.

Sarah looking great!

Next session was with Damien Lovegrove and the wonderful Chloe.

Damien continued with explaining how to light shots like this using Arri gear.

Chloe was never short of wonderful poses! She is amazing...

I love this frame! I knew instantly when I took it...

Damien encouraged the group to explore other camera angles.

The next session was still with Damien up stairs to photograph Sarah and Fran in different rooms.

I love the differences in color in this image.

Damien discussed his techniques of illuminating a room like this one.

Processed this frame of Sarah in Black & White.

The next session was with Chris Hanley.

This was the most amazing bathroom.

Then we moved into the bedroom shooting in ambient light.

With Chloe and rooms like this, there's no shortage of great pictures.

Chloe in the wardrobe...

Chris had setup a light inside the wardrobe and he really got the group to start thinking outside the box.

Back with Damien for the next session with Sarah and Franchesco.

Virtually the whole workshop involved Arri lights. Damien discussed how to light scenes like this one.

And some close-up shots.

This workshop was a nice refresher for these kinds of shots which we covered in Amsterdam on the Passion of the Streets workshop.

Still with Damien for the next session, we moved to the main entrance of Maunsel House.

Sarah and Franchesco were fantastic the whole day.

Decided to process this one in Black & White.

The last frame before heading outside for a few quick opportunities. The weather just called for it...

I loved what I saw through the viewfinder and quickly grabbed this natural light frame.

Chris again thinking outside the box.

The whole day was great fun!

Next... Chris took the group inside and explored more great opportunities...

Chloe made it so easy to great photographs.

This was shot with a 70-200mm lens.

This session with Chris was almost over.

There's something about this frame I like. Chloe on the extreme right and the animal in the picture frame near the top left.

Then it was time to ahead out again with Chris for the next session with Sarah and Franchesco.

Thought I'd use the door frame to frame Sarah.

Some more passion...

The last session of the day was back with Damien and Chloe with this classic Lovegrove style shot.

Another frame out of so many... this time in Black & White.

This was a funny moment in the day when Chloe wanted to go and look inside the Wendy House.

As it was such a great day, we went out into the fields nearby.

Every time I look at this photo, it feels like Chloe is pulling the sky in with her umbrella.

Finally time to rest from a busy day...

My last frame of the day.

Location Scouting – Newtown

gwyncole — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:49:13 +0000

Over the last few weeks me and my shooting buddy Graham Law have been location scouting in and around Newtown, Powys, Wales. We’ve found quite a few locations but needed a suitable model to pose for us to really make most of them work. We’ll hopefully be able to try these out soon… This last weekend, Graham and I tried to find as many different shots as we could in the same location. A very successful shoot, even though Graham and I were acting as the models.

Natural light photograph. ISO 200, 1/80 sec, F4.

Same location as the above picture, just a few meters away.

The next few images were taken under a bridge on the River Severn.

I like the bit of light that hits the underneath of the bridge walk way.

Landscape shot from under the bridge looking back over the River Severn.

Portrait shot in Black & White. A mixture of ambient light and flash.

Natural light frame using a Lightroom preset from Matt Kloskowski.

A wider view of the bridge area we were shooting in. This frame was taken with a 3 flash setup.

Day 4 – Catching up

gwyncole — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:58:18 +0000

Today has been about catching up with Barry and of course “cameras” was a topical subject! First we had breakfast at a lovely little place called “volumes”. They had a backdrop that would work great using a pair of flashes and a suitable model!! Then we popped over to the Apple store in a shopping center close by. Very nice!

The shopping center with the Apple Store. Photo taken with the iPhone.

Same location... Image processed with the Best Camera application on the iPhone. I deliberately went for an overexposed look.

Barry saw this guy sleeping in the chair and I couldn't resist not taking a photo of it! Image processed with Best Camera and Lightroom.

After the shopping center… we went off had coffee at a lovely location not far from Barry’s home. Definitely have to go back with my gear for a portrait session! So many photographic opportunities there!

This is where we had coffee. Image processed with Lightroom and a Wonderland preset (Creative Catalyst 11).

The ‘look’ in some of my photographs

gwyncole — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:00:13 +0000

One of the problems I’ve encountered in post-production with my images is imagining how they can look unique? I want some of them to be different, but give a familiarity and look that provides an alternative to the actual scene in real life. My earlier attempts in post-production were pretty basic and it remained so for a long time. Slight adjustments to exposure, brightness, contrast, colour, etc… My main problem was that I couldn’t imagine how the photograph could even look different? I guess I was conditioned by the scene when taking the photo, then further conditioned when chimping on the image on the back of the camera, and again conditioned when I saw the image on the computer. I had seen the scene and image so many times, I couldn’t possibly imagine how else the image could look?

So as a tool to help me imagine things differently, I used Lightroom presets. Lightroom comes with a few presets, but I needed much more serious help in looking at these images differently. Initially I used a whole bunch of presets by Matt Kloskowski (link). This helped a lot until I found the Wonderland Presets (link).

I have been using the Wonderland presets as a tool to help me gain a new perspective. I don’t always use these presets in the final image, but from time to time, I stick with a look that I think works. If I do use a preset, I use the preset as a basis to build on and I make further adjustments to get to the image I want.

However, after being on Damien Lovegrove’s session with his picture editor, Marko (link), I’ve gained a whole new perspective on post-production and I’ll be using the Wonderland presets less and less. Amongst the many things I gained from Marko, colour accuracy (or at least believable colour) in skin tones is highly important. This may seem obvious… but seeing the way that Marko works was a technique I’d not come across before. Using presets like the Wonderland series does mess with the colours of skin tones which is why I will be adopting Marko’s approach more and more…

Okay… lets go through the images…

Wonderland: Creative Catalyst 08, ISO 200, 32mm, 1/250 sec, F7.1.

Wonderland: Creative Catalyst 19, ISO 200, 28mm, 1/200 sec, F18.

Matt Kloskowski’s Sin City - Light Red Preset: ISO 200, 35mm, 1/200 sec, F18.

Wonderland: Creative Catalyst 09, ISO 200, 45mm, 1/200 sec, F18.

Matt Kloskowski’s 300 Look - Strong: ISO 400, 67mm, 1/125 sec, F8.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 11, ISO 400, 24mm, 1/100 sec, F11.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 14, ISO 400, 24mm, 1/125 sec, F11.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 58, ISO 400, 32mm, 1/125 sec, F8.

Matt Kloskowski’s 'Sin City - Light Red' preset, ISO 400, 58mm, 1/125 sec, F16.

There's no wacky preset used for this. I guess I just like this frame ISO 400, 24mm, 1/125 sec, F16.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 15, ISO 640, 200mm, 1/200 sec, F2.8.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 19, ISO 200, 50mm, 1/160 sec, F18.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 30, ISO 200, 70mm, 1/1600 sec, F2.8.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 19, ISO 200, 195mm, 1/200 sec, F5.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 29, ISO 200, 50mm, 1/1000 sec, F4.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 26, ISO 200, 1650mm, 1/250 sec, F2.8.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 29, ISO 200, 24mm, 1/1600 sec, F4.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 32, ISO 200, 35mm, 1/1600 sec, F4. Added a blue gradient in Lightroom.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 51, ISO 1250, 105mm, 1/30 sec, F16.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 51, ISO 800, 24mm, 1/125 sec, F8.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 51, ISO 200, 24mm, 1/125 sec, F8.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 19, ISO 200, 24mm, 1/1000 sec, F4.

Wonderland : Creative Catalyst 19, ISO 200, 105mm, 1/500 sec, F4.

Home no more

gwyncole — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:21:19 +0000

In the town that I live, Newtown in Powys (Wales), we are having a new Tesco store being built. The town already has a Morissons, a Lidle and local grocery stores. I’m not sure if we really need something as large as Tesco’s, but time will tell…

On the land that the new Tesco’s will reside on was the home of one of my good friends. In fact, for a couple of years, I lived in on the property (between 1988 – 1990). So seeing the property getting knocked down was a very sad moment. This happened over the last few days… so many fond memories…

Image processed in Lightroom. 10mm at 100/sec, F8, ISO 200, +1/3EV.

Back in May, I had hired an ultra wide angle lens (Canon EF-S 10-22mm) for a wedding and took the opportunity to photograph the building.

In Adobe Lightroom, I decided to base the look of the image on Matt Kloskowski’s Surreal Edgy Preset (video, preset). I changed a couple of things and eventually got the image I was happy with. Below is the before and after…