Winter Wedding

Been a while since the last blog post, so here is one to keep you on your toes! Not my usual type of post, as this is purely a sharing exercise.

I'm not currently a regular wedding snapper, I've done my fair share but it's not an area I advertise or chase around for work. And as a result, I find shooting the occasional wedding to be extremely enjoyable. Doing something you don't already do every day is good for you. Think of it as one of your 6 a day.

Hope you like the pictures. And congratulations to Sophie and Matt. :)

 

Time is money, even when it's free

Go to any popular photography community website and you'll probably not have to look very long before you come across an article or forum thread about working for free.

It's understandably a hot topic and will probably always be a contentious issue, with the ever-growing numbers of keen amateurs swelling the ranks and scrabbling for a foothold in the industry. Working for free is seen by many as the only way to grab some precious market share.

Originally this post wasn't going to be about working for free, but it's relevant because these images are from a free shoot. This is Deb Hodgson, a singer songwriter who I approached via a mutual friend. Remember, it's as much about who you know as what you know - work those contacts people!

Having met with the lovely Deb and talking over our respective plans & creative aims, we decided to schedule a free shoot: the aim of which was to work together on some new images for her new album. We both had ideas on the sort of shots we'd like; Deb with her album in mind, but me with one eye on developing my portfolio and getting into the music scene... purely photographically, of course - I can't sing a note.

So Deb came to the studio and with the help of the always excellent Anna White we made some gorgeous images, a couple of which I've included here. There are still some left to post-process, but the image at the top of the page is already in print and being used to distribute some sampler CD's to some of Deb's contacts, both here and in the States.

In summary then, I'd say that working for free is good. In the right context and under YOUR conditions. Don't be bullied by 'clients' who, in response to your quote, say 'But we can get Mickey Mouse to do it for free'. If they want free, and there is nothing in it for you, then walk away.

Be selective with what time you give away, it's valuable stuff.

Faster, faster!

Now for a complete change of pace from the previous blog post... or so you might think!

This type of shot has been fairly well documented on the internet already but let's face it, what hasn't? So what I thought I would do is talk more about the thought process than the actual kit.

Having said that, you do need a certain amount of kit to get these shots but I'll keep it brief.

You could argue that the actual camera is the least important part of the jigsaw here. You don't even need remote triggering, as the built-in timer function would work fine. What you do need is a way to attach your camera securely to the vehicle (whether that be car, motorbike, skateboard, hamster...) and due to the composition I wanted to achieve, for me that meant buying a suction cup mount.

This is basically a big sucker with a standard spigot for mounting accessories: could be a light, a clamp or in my case a Manfrotto Magic Arm. This is an adjustable two-piece arm with the camera mounted on the end. It allows you to adjust the position of the camera and lock it there.

Now, ideally you want three points of fixture to the vehicle - just like using a tripod on the ground - but due to the curvature of the bodywork and the kit I had available this wasn't possible, so I improvised by tensioning the arm against itself. It's just a case of getting the camera as solid as possible so that any bouncing or vibration is kept to a minimum.

So, camera locked down, car clean, road clear... now what? Brief the driver: Go as fast as you can and don't stop!

Wrong.

Driver brief is more likely to be: Keep the wheels straight while I push the car.

Honest! As I said before you want as little shake and wobble as possible and in extreme cases the running of the engine can transmit enough vibration to result in a blurred shot. And another reason for pushing the car is speed. As in, you want the car moving sloooooow!

This is where you have to think. Slow moving car, but you want fast moving shot, so that means an even slower moving shutter, right? But it's daylight and even stopped down to f16 and using ISO 50, you're still getting a light reading of maybe 1/30sec.

Options:

- Wait until it gets darker (perfectly viable option, unless you want a daytime shot!)

- Stop down even further if lens allows (but risk reduced image quality for little benefit)

- Neutral Density!

Neutral Density filters are effectively colour neutral tinted glass (or plastic) designed to reduce the amount of light entering the lens without altering any other qualities, resulting in slower shutter speeds or wide apertures depending on your preference. And by stacking them (ie. putting a 1x ND on top of a 2x ND = 3x ND) you can add another layer of control over these ambient light situations.

The shot above was taken at f16 and with a relatively fast (for this technique) shutter speed of 0.5 sec. This was just long enough to get smooth blur on the wheel and road surface whilst being short enough to cancel the effects of bumps in the road. It's a balancing act depending on the conditions you are presented with. Improvise and adapt!

Hope that was interesting, and any questions in the comments section are welcome!

Tilt Shift Portrait

The crazy-ness continues, hence the continuing lack of regular blogging. But, in a vain attempt at being 'online active', here is a shot from a not-so-recent shoot with make-up artist and hair stylist, Anna White (website is still under construction, but keep checking).

The model is Aimee and she did a great job - particularly as this shot was created with the 90mm tilt shift lens... which means manual focus and a bit of extra tweaking to get the tilt angle just right... and therefore extra long pose-hold times for the model!

That's it for now! Will try to get some more posts up soon. Honest!

Facebook and Twitter... and a new studio

The last two months have been completely crazy for me. 

I've finally decided to take the plunge and open my very own studio! It's been a long time coming, but you've got to take these decisions when you're ready to... not when someone else tells you to or even if an 'unmissable' opportunity arises... at the end of the day if you're not ready, that's it. 

So, we're not quite open yet but very close. And the only reason for not being open before now is that I've been too busy! Which is good really. 

Part of the grand plan is to improve the online presence of 'Stuart Key Photography', and these days that inevitably involves blogging, Facebook and Twitter. So, I've recently setup a Facebook Group (tied into my personal page, as the creator) and a Twitter account. 

So far there is not much content, but you have to start somewhere right? My biggest concern at this stage is how am I going to make time to keep all these things up-to-date and interesting? Any tips on useful smartphone apps or tools which may help would be very much appreciated. 

Not sure how/if this will work, but here are links to the Facebook Group (guess you'll have to 'be my friend' to join it!) and Twitter:


Stuart Key Photography on Facebook


Stuart Key Photography on Twitter


Seriously, any help on how to keep all the balls juggled in the air would be appreciated! Thanks.