Gothic shoot part1

It has been some time since I last posted a blog, a great deal has been happening since the Savernake shoot. What with weddings, christenings and course I have been a busy bunny. Fortunately I was able to find a late afternoon to photograph Laura in a Gothic style shoot.

Having received permission to shoot in a local church yard I took all my gear, Elinchrom Ranger as well as EX580 flash heads to photograph Laura in the graveyard. The theme was based upon Gothic, however for me it was all about the lighting and creating a dark feel to the images with 4 lights. The location offered a number of options, however I wanted to develop a theme from a painting I had seen which was painted in 1782 by an 18th century artist called Henry Fuseli titled the "Nightmare". I was not interested in doing a straight copy, just to develop the theme.

Setting up at dusk I wanted to shoot just before twilight so that there was enough light to work, despite having a head-light, and set an aperture that would render the background dark enough and use the Rangers to expose those parts of the graveyard and Laura that I wanted lit.

I had also intended to put a little smoke into the picture but did not have a suitable smoke machine that would work on batteries alone so I resorted to some smoke pellets from the local "Giant Party Shop". Never having used them before I was disappointed that they only provided about 10 seconds of smoke and the smell was just sickening - never use them again. I resigned myself to once again fall back on the trusty faithful - Photoshop©.

When I showed one of the final images to a fellow photographer he asked me if I had added the church window, well the emphatic answer was NO. It was all done with lighting. I must admit, however I did add the moon.

So with one light on the window, one light on the tomb behind Laura, one for the smoke (back lit) and finally one for Laura with a honeycomb I was ready to shoot.

It was an interesting shoot that I think produced some interesting images. I have been considering a night shoot for my courses using local ambient lighting combined with flash so if anyone is interested please feel free to email me with your suggestions.

Should you visit my website please look out for the new Flash course. It has proved so successful that I have added 4 more dates for next year.

PS: I have not forgotten about the Savernake Part 2 blog, that will be coming soon,just wanted to get these new images up first.

Terry

www.photographyworkshops.co.uk

Elinchrom Quadra off with the Fairies - Part 1

Extensive research and miles of walking was what it took to find the locations for the fairie and avenger series for the al-fresco shoot.

This was the first shot 100 ISO f8 at 1/125s

I found 2 (secret) locations that provide the opportunity for great texture, depth and creative lighting.

The brief was to provide several sets of images for Sarah that had a fairie and avenger theme. I knew that there was going to be some post-production, however it was all about lighting the sets to provide the mood and feel I was looking for.

So after several meetings with Sarah (the model) to determine outfits and props, as well as a visit to the local Party shop for a “plastic” Samuri sword which was to be post produced on the final image with a real sword, we set off to the magic and mystical forest.

A small addition

The plan was to use one of the locations for the morning and then the other for the afternoon shoot. So the fairie theme set for the morning was to be a 4 light set, main, background and a couple of texture lights.

When setting up more than one light I always set one light at a time. A light set needs to be built from the ground up so that you can see what each light is doing. I initially set the texture lights, one from the low right (at almost ground level), bringing out the root structure and texture. A sidelight at almost 90 degrees to the subject will always help to emphasise any texture that exists. I used an Elinchrom Quadra supplied by the “Flash Centre” with a 20-degree honeycomb grid to help control the direction and focus of the light. The root structure also needed a light from 45 degrees further round to the right and behind (90 degrees from the camera position) to create a little more depth and texture to the roots. Here I used my EOS 580EX with a Holne 1/4 grid. My shooting aperture was f8 at 1/125s on 100 ISO which was 3 stops above the under the tree canopy, therefore my lights would provide controllable lighting.

Sarah defending herself from the spiders

Once the side lights were set I wanted to light the stump in the background, to add further depth to the image so I set an Elinchrom Ranger, with a 20-degree grid to wash light over the stump in the background. It was important that all the secondary lights appear to come from the same direction and set to f8.

The main light was placed off to the left, elevated about 45 degrees and was another Elinchrom Ranger pack with a 20-degree grid. Grids proved a softer edge that snoots and have a tighter cone of light than reflectors or soft boxes. The plan was to light Sarah with the grid, providing a vignette to the light. The light was elevated, directing the cone of light down onto Sarah, but not spilling out on to the rest on the scene.

I was to shooting on a tripod with the Powerbook G4 and Capture One so that I could get a decent view of the final images. My 1D Mark 2 has a very small view screen and I wanted to view the largest image possible, incidentally the whole day consumed Powerbook batteries. A generator was considered but without a support team I needed to keep equipment to a minimum.

The concept was to create, as realistic as possible, a fairie image holding a butterfly and also an aggressive fairie defending her self. Why? - I have no idea, it was just one of those occasions when I tend to think outside the box. I did not want to create stereotype fairie images. I can’t say I am into fairies, its Sarah who has the passion for them, it was an opportunity to create interesting and more complex lighting sets.

Final Image

These images could well form part of my creative lighting course so if you are interested please email me.

Terry

terry@terryhewlett.com

www.photographyworkshops.com

New blog coming soon

Sorry for no new blogs, it' been manic just recently. I have just completed a shoot with Sarah, developing a fairie theme, here is a taster image.

In my next blog I will talk about how this shots was created as well as the post production work on the finished images (7) which will be uploaded on the next blog, so just watch this space.

Terry

www.photographyworkshops.co.uk

Get close and personal with your flash

PRESS RELEASE

Creative Flash Course 22^nd November 2009

£65.00 per delegate

How many of you are frightened of your flash, not sure how to use it properly, or want to just get creative but not quite sure how.

Why do all your images look either over-lit or the background goes dark or you loose all the detail, or the lighting just looks flat?

Well no need to worry because all you need are clear, concise and easy to understand instructions that will take you through the whole process of taking control of your camera flash (not pop-up flash).

Photography Workshops have developed a 1-day course that will teach you how to understand,

and more importantly help you take control of your flash, and from that create stunning images.

All you need to create memorable photographs is within your grasp and requires just one flashgun, that’s right just one. Forget all those complicated lighting set-ups, with just one flash gun, this course will demonstrate in very simple and easy to understand terms how to get the very best out of what is to some people an alien piece of equipment.

Most people will be content to leave their flash on the camera and bang away; well photography workshops will show you how, with very inexpensive add-ons, the way to create images just like the professionals.

Being a professional Terry Hewlett lswpp lbipp, who runs these courses, has used the all-singing and all-dancing equipment and understands the complexities of lighting, but more importantly knows how to simplify the system to produce stunning results.

This 1-day course will strip down all the confusing jargon and illustrate just how simple it is to generate images that will be the envy of everyone you show them to.

The course will include subjects like:

ØHow can I use my flash properly

Ø When and where to use flash.

Ø What all the numbers and buttons mean

Ø The relationship between shutter speed and aperture

Ø How to control the flash when on-camera and off camera

Ø The quality of the light

Ø Working manually with your flash

Ø Using a light meter to measure ambient and flash combined

Ø Bouncing flash

Ø Light modifiers

Ø Using gels

Ø And how to be really creative with just one flashgun

The course is held in the National Trust Village of Lacock, in the county of Wiltshire, in the same buildings (not the Abbey) where William Henry Fox Talbot (11 February 1800 – 17 September 1877) more than likely worked on the negative / positive photographic process, which he invented, and was the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19th and 20th centuries.

A buffet lunch will be provided and during lunch Terry will be on hand to go through with individuals any aspects of the day they have not fully understood. The course starts at 9:30 am and finishes around 4pm on Sunday 22nd November 2009.

The course costs just £65.00 (including a buffet lunch)

For a booking form or just more information then please email terry at:

terry@terryhewlett.com

01249 750777

www.photographyworkshops.co.uk

Wedding Photography workshops (Aug 09) Part 1

Over the past five days I have been running my wedding photography courses both for the RPS and mine, with a great bunch of delegates producing some fantastic images. The primary element they all wanted to learn was how to use their flashguns both correctly and creatively, and the general comments after the course were “ well I never thought I could do that – that has really opened my eyes”.

The first 2 day course was for the RPS with 15 delegates, however this course does not include the shots inside the Church, as well as only being 3 shoots and not 4 as on my 2 day portfolio course.

After an initial introduction, and a what’s in the bag session, we started getting to grips with the flashgun. I provided instruction on how to control the flash output either through ETTL (canon) and flash compensation or working with the flashgun on the manual settings. I went on to demonstrate how you can control the ambient light with the shutter.

After a very brief demonstration we went outside to start creating some bridal shots with delightful Katie (she is my daughter so I am biased). However I will not be able to use her shortly as she told us the other week that she was pregnant, I am not sure how Mark her Husband will feel about using Katie for a shotgun wedding shoot!

This first image was shot with just 1 speedlite un-modified and you can see the hard shadow it has created. The ambient lighting was rather flat and so I wanted to use the flash as the main light.

This first set up was against an old barn type door that was more than likely used by Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of the negative positive process, as he lived in the adjacent Abbey in Lacock at the time. The first shot I set up was using a single speed-light, and at the same time demonstrated the use of a light meter. It never ceases to amaze me how creative you can be with just 1one light, despite all the electronic triggers suddenly stopped working all at once. Henry was upset I think so after a few kind words to him they all started again.

I used the speed-light unmodified (no soft box or umbrella) to demonstrate the edgy light that I personally like, however we did move on to using a shoot through umbrella to produce a much softer light. The use of an umbrella is brilliant on location it is light and easy to carry, however does need either a “voice activated light stand” or a sandbag to hold in down in the lightest of winds.

Here I went for a much softer feel to the image and shot this one with a shoot through umbrella.

The general rule is the smaller the light source the harder the light will be, a larger light source will be softer.

This is the RPS course, with 15 delegates and 15 wellington boots.

When shooting outside, with off-camera flash, I first need to take an ambient light reading, as that is what I will be balancing my flash to. The reading is an incident reading, unlike the reflected reading through the camera which I often use when shooting a wedding, however care is needed when taking “in camera” meter readings, say at a wedding, due to the fact that they are reflected light readings, so I tend to take an evaluative reading as opposed to spot readings to prevent either under exposure if the reading was taken from the dress or overexposure if the reading is form the suit.

The advantage of getting into the ford was the ability to get images like this, with Mark the groom in the background.

This again was a shot from the ford but with the flash zoomed to 105mm to vignette the light.

Once I have my ambient reading I then make the creative choice for the flash, do I want it as a fill or the main light. Once I have made this decision I will then set the flash manually to the desired output.

Here is a shot of the 6 delegates on my wedding course, showing the light activated light stand.

This is the image with just 1 flash plus shoot through umbrella

Shimples.

enjoy

www.photographyworkshops.co.uk

terry@terryhewlett.com

Creative lighting Aug 09 Part 2

Creative lighting Aug 09 Part 2

This is the second part of the 1-day creative lighting workshop help the other week. Initially we shot in the grounds of Bowood and then moved on to the Brunel Bridge in Chippenham (post: Monday, 10 August 2009) to get a little more creative.

After the railings we moved under the arches to create some close up contemporary portraits with a single Elinchrom Quadra. Sarah needed to change from the wedding dress into jeans and tops, primarily because we now wanted to move away from the wedding theme and also the dress had become dirty with the climbing antics of Sarah.

The first image shows the simple set up using a reflector and grid to produce the shaped lighting. We wanted to bring out the stone texture and so placed the light tight to the wall. I would love to have found a location that has a great deal more graffiti, maybe even Banksy, however my council tax has been used by the town council to clean up all the graffiti around the town so it is becoming more difficult to find these kind of locations locally, maybe I need to travel further.

Incidentally if anyone knows of any locations I am prepared to travel for these 1-day workshops providing enough delegates attend (maximum 5),

After the bridges we moved to a more exposed location to demonstrate flash control in full sun, so we travelled to Avebury the site of the Neolithic standing stones.

The exercise here was to balance the ambient with flash to retain the detail in the sky and initially with only one flash. Under these circumstances the little speedlights are sometimes just not man enough, unless you use a bank of then.

The process here is to take the ambient reading and then a flash meter reading, balancing them to create the sort of image you are looking for. The first shot here shows the set up with the Quadra, using the sun as the hair light and at the same time retaining the sky detail. The second shot is the final image.

If Quadra’s are not available the same can be created with a conventional flashgun, provided there is enough output from the unit being used. I have shown a set-up I often use at weddings using my speedlight with the Elinchrom Skyport Universal received and radio transmitter.

The Elinchrom Quadra and Skyport triggers and hot shoe adaptors can all be purchased from the Flash Centre

If any one is interested in a 1-day creative lighting workshop then please get in touch.

terry@terryhewlett.com

www.photographyworkshops.co.uk

Taking miniaturisation to new heights,

The Quadra lighting system.

www.photographyworkshops.co.uk

Before I move on to the next part of the shoot, to be continued in the next couple of days, I just want to provide some technical information for the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra units we were using on the day, which incidentally performed faultlessly.

The Quadra offers advanced features in a compact and lightweight unit; this new flash system represents one of the most significant advances in professional lighting in many years. The AS stands for ‘asymmetrical', which means one flash-head can fire at 66% power and the second head at 33%, for a true 2:1 lighting ratio when needed.

Other significant features include an in-built Elinchrom Skyport radio remote receiver for wireless triggering and control over power settings. The new Ranger Quadra AS with head. (Source: Elinchrom.)


At 400Ws output, the Ranger Quadra AS is less powerful than Elinchrom's Ranger RX at 1100Ws, but is significantly lighter and packs enough punch for location portraiture. Two lightweight heads are available, the standard RQS and high-speed RQA which freezes action with a 1/6000s strobe burst. The 12-volt 3.2 Ah lead-gel battery charges in only 1.5 hours and delivers up to 150 flashes at maximum power or 2,000 flashes at minimum power. The modeling light is a low-energy 20W LED array delivering the equivalent of a 50W Halogen lamp with a colour temperature of 5500K.

• The singe head pack that includes a
• Quadra Pack
• Battery
• Q Head
• 2.5m cable
• and a charger

With a web price of £1121.25 Inc Vat with the ‘S’ head and an extra charge of £27.60 for the ‘A’ head that has a faster recycle time - (price correct 12^th August 2009).

The twin head packs cost £1493.85 inv Vat for the ‘S’head and an extra £28.75 for the ‘A’head (price correct 12^th August 2009).

The kit includes

“The full works”

• 1 x ranger Quadra Pack
• 2 x Ranger Quadra Batteries,
• 2 x Ranger Quadra Heads (A or S)
• 1 x Charger
• 1 x Skyport Transmitter
• 1 x Strap
• 1 x Fitted Case
• As an extra (£67.85 – 12^th August 2009) you can get the Elinchrom Quadra to EL Mount Adapter that will take all the Elinchrom soft boxes etc.

Ultra compact power unit: 1.4 kg

• Battery: 1.6 kg
• EL-Skyport Integrated
• Led daylight modeling bulb
• Intelligent eye-cell

INTELLIGENT BATTERY POWER OPTIMISATION

• Auto Power-Off.
• Programmable Pilot Light duration.
• Super efficient LED Pilot Light.

INTELLIGENT SLAVE CELL

• Red eye pre-flash auto-detect.
• Programmable and pre-set effect modes.

INTELLIGENT FLASH POWER OPTIONS

• Two outlets – Asymmetric 2 : 1 ratio.
• Single high power channel.
• Single superfast flash channel.
• EL-Skyport Radio remote control of power settings and Flash trigger.

RANGER Q HEAD

• Compact, lightweight.
• Interchangeable cables.

Read what the British Journal of Photography said about Ranger Quadra. PDF

Read what the Professional Photographer Magazine said about Ranger Quadra. PDF

Download the Elinchrom Photokina News, which includes details of the Ranger Quadra. PDF

Full Specifications:

• Weight: Power Unit 1.4 kg / Battery 1.6 kg / Total 3.0 kg
• Pack size: 15 x 8.5 x 21 cm
• Head size: 9 x 8 x 11 cm / 250 g
• Cables: 1.5 m, 2.5 m (standard) and 3.5 m
• Flashes: 110 Fast, 150 Slow recycle
• Battery recharge: 2 hours
• Power: 6.6 f-stop range: 8.2 – 400 Ws
• Recycle tIme : 2.2 seconds, full power, fast
• Flash duratIon (at full power, t 0.5):
• Q head
• High power channel A - 1/1300 s
• Superfast channel B - 1/3200 s
• Both channels – 1/1800 s
• Ranger A head
• High power channel A – 1/3000 s
• Superfast channel B – 1/6000 s
• Both channels – 1/4000 s
• Colour temperature: 5560 K
• System optIons:
• Customised compact accessory range :
• Elinchrom bayonet adaptor : Ranger Quanta to Ranger S and A head adaptors.

The Quadra Units can be purchased from the Flash Center:

Now watch the video

Contact Brian on 0121 327 9220

Brought to you by Photography Workshops

terry hewlett photography lswpp lbipp

www.forevervisual.com

Terry