Posted in Flash on February 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »
A while back I did a portrait shoot in Eton near Windsor which was a lot of fun! Below are some of the frames I took…
Image taken with one flash.
Found an arch way nearby and used 2 flashes.
Back to a single flash in the same arch way.
Same setup, slightly different camera angle.
Posted in Outdoors on February 24, 2010| 6 Comments »
Okay, I’ve already published photos from this location, but I thought I’d have another go because I really wanted to get the active lighthouse in full swing. And there are a few other images also from the session…
The lighthouse in full swing... ISO 800, 30 sec, F11, manual mode.
About 30 minutes earlier.
The active port of Blyth in the distance.
A group with their dogs on the beach. ISO 800, 1/15 sec, F6.3, -1/3 EV.
Getting really dark... ISO 800, 1/20 sec, F4.
Posted in Flash, Lightroom, Outdoors on February 23, 2010| 2 Comments »
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.
Posted in Outdoors on February 14, 2010| 2 Comments »
I’ve moved up to the Newcastle area in the North East of England and there’s a whole new set of photographic opportunities here. Today I wondered about the area nearby and took these images in Whitley Bay and Seaton Sluice.
A couple taking a walk on the beach together on Valentines Day. I went for a Black & White look to give a timeless feel to the image. I also wanted the lighthouse in the background to be prominent in the frame to give context of where this photo was taken.
The beach front at Whitley Bay.
A mother out with her child on the beach... went for a Black & White look for the same reasons as the first frame.
I like the leading lines of the wall in this frame. It was fortunate that the sky was quite dramatic!
I like the seaside buildings in the background.
This was taken at Seaton Sluice.
A few minutes later and a different position, I managed to get the rays of the sun in a better composition within the frame.
The beach at Seaton Sluice looking towards Blyth.
The beach was covered in dappled light from the sun peering through the clouds.
Houses overlooking the sea at Seaton Sluice.
Boats moored up...
A boat coming in... and I also like the person sitting on the rock in this composition.
The windmills at Blyth. There are 9 windmills plus 2 huge versions!
Posted in Flash, General Ramblings on February 7, 2010| 2 Comments »
I had the opportunity to meet Dai Robs, a good guitarist & singer and his acoustic solo work is an absolute pleasure to listen to. I decided to go for a low-key look for the images for something a little different. When I saw Dai performing, it just seemed the right thing to do, have him appear out of the darkness with his guitar. You can find out more about Dai Robs here (link).
Graham had the idea of the split lighting which I think works well. ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F11.
To get the low-key look in a pub environment, I used a fast shutter speed and small aperture to kill the ambient light. Then relied on flash to illuminate Dai Robs. ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F13.
Posted in Flash, Sports on February 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Last weekend I was invited by Joanne Poole to photograph her 18th Birthday Party. It was a whole lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed photographing the event. I ended up with around 200 photographs that documented the event. I took wide angle photos for “context”, telephoto shots of people enjoying themselves and “detail” shots of the tables etc…
The stars and Happy Birthday wishes spread out across the surface of the tables.
Joanne Poole. Happy Birthday! 😉
Joanne with her friend...
The birthday cake...
Joanne welcoming her friends to the party.
The guys enjoying the beer...
One of Joanne's friends.
I took many shots like this of people enjoying themselves.
Joanne with her boyfriend Kevin.
Everybody cheering for Joanne before she got her cake...
The girls...
Another one of the girls...
Joanne is a very successful Arm Wrestler in the UK and has won numerous competitions! Joanne is 13 x British Champion winner (Junior & Senior Together), 2x International Champion, 2x European Silver Medalist and World Bronze Medalist. Truly an amazing achievement by the age of 18. You can follow Joanne here (link).
I’ve photographed Joanne a few times before and below are a small collection of those images.
I took this back in early 2009. Key flash through an umbrella and the 2nd flash with gobo lighting the wall.
High key shot of Joanne .
Its easy to see why Joanne has won so many competitions! 😉
Joanne arm wrestling with her father, Richard Poole.
This was taken in the summer of 2008. That is definitely a competition face!
Photo Rebel 