Day 149 - Self Portrait

I wanted to experiment with some very strong side lighting, so I put myself in front of the camera for the first time in a while.  I used one flash in a shoot through umbrella camera right and placed a second one rear camera left on the background to give a tonal gradient opposite to the one across my face.  I asked Sian to press the shutter as I find the trial and error of using the remote release and a tripod a little frustrating.  In return, she suggested I take my t-shirt off.  Fair's fair I suppose.

Day 148 - Growers and Grocers

I had a fantastic day shooting with Marie-Claire for a story she's writing about Slaithwaite's Green Valley Grocers and the growers who produce local, seasonal goods for the shop.  Frankly, I was astonished at the gardens that we saw.  They ranged from small terrace plots with a few fruit bushes to huge greenhouses and orchards.  Best of all was the enormous three sided plot dedicated to rhubarb - Slawit's own rhubarb triangle!

As well as being a professional journalist, MC doubles up as a member of staff at the shop, so she didn't escape the camera either.  I'll save the rest of the pictures for elsewhere!

Day 146 - I spy with my little eye

I think this is my most frequent view of Jessica, so it's good to record it for posterity.

Day 141 - Nicola Toomes

Nicola manages a hyperlocal new website, Aboutmyarea, for the HD7 postcode area.  She very kindly volunteered via Twitter to pose for me as part of my project on people in the Colne Valley.  Nicola grew up in Slawit and this was taken in her Aunt's back garden, looking over the reservoir where Nicola used to play as a girl.

Day 136 - Jess on Moonraker

Here's a picture of Jessica on the Moonraker floating teamrooms in Slaithwaite.  More natural light.  Whatever next?

She might look thoughtful, but I suspect she's just wondering where her bacon has got to.

Day 135 - Hannah

Hannah makes another welcome appearance on the blog, today helping me try out a technique for a natural light portrait.  Yes folks, that's actual natural light coming from the sun!  Not a flashgun in sight.

Having said that, this is an interesting example of a lighting technique I wouldn't even have thought to try before I started experimenting with off camera flash.  The warm, evening sunlight is being used for backlighting and the soft light in front comes from my big white board, held by my glamorous assistant.  That way, I get those fantastic golden shades, a more flattering soft light on the face, a halo effect on Hannah's blonde hair, separation from the background and a shallow depth of field from a fairly wide aperture.  Happy news all round.

Despite the different subject, light source and resulting feel, this is actually a very similar technique to the one used indoors for the sea holly the other day.

Day 134 - Sophie Nova

Something a little different today.  I had an unbelievable shoot with Sophie from Model Mayhem out on the moors near Marsden.  Despite the cold wind, it was a fantastic experience to work with someone as professional and creative as Sophie, who brought something new to every location and shot we worked on.

We covered a number of different styles and I haven't had chance to edit all the best shots yet.  I'm hoping I can show more from the shoot locally later in the year.

Strobist: Cross lighting using YN460-II (1/2 power) camera left rear as hair light, Sigma 530 DG Super (full power) camera right as key.  All working about 2 stops below ambient to darken the sky.

Day 129 - Night Portrait

I was hoping to get another interesting dusk portrait shot in the garden tonight, but Sian was a bit later home than anticipated and the blue evening colours were gone, leaving me with some inky blackness to work with.  Cheaper than a velvet backdrop I suppose.  Nothing if not determined, I stuck with the original lighting gameplan of a single flash in a shoot through umbrella with a warming 1/4 CTO gel.  Instead of a wide open aperture and long exposure to maximise the background light I decided to stop it down, shorten the exposure and up the flash power to compensate.  There was no sky light to maximise so I might as well have the extra depth of field and guarantee I had no camera shake.

Here's the final result.

Day 122 - moody me

As I was a bit grumpy this evening, I thought I'd take a picture to match.

Using the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, I stopped down the evening light to f/8 to get some brooding clouds, then lit myself with a single flash camera left with the Lumiquest mini-softbox.  I only managed a few frames before the rain came down, but I think this one works reasonably well.

Post-processing has a mono overlay to give the bleach bypass look.

Day 121 - fluffy jumper

Inspired by the cover of my last Photography Monthly (last until they get a new editor anyway), here's Sian in a nice fluffy jumper with some tasty backlight to make it glow.  Key light provided by single flash with a shoot-thru brolly.

Day 118 - Stacey at Marsden

I've got another great photo shoot to show off in this post.  I met Stacey from Model Mayhem near Marsden for some shots on a country chic theme...

These shots were both taken with the sun behind to light Stacey's hair and a bare flash camera right for fill.

After a bit of that, we tried something a little different...

Bare flash behind with a purple gel and another flash camera right with Lumiquest Softbox III.

Note - Once again, I've got a little out of sync with my days, but I think we're back on track now!

Day 115 - Sian in the garden

One the signs summer is on its way is the evening light hitting our little garden, creating the perfect spot for a nice glass of red wine.

Day 108 - Chair portrait

More thanks to Sian for posing again, although at least this time she got to sit down.

Strobist:  Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot-through umbrella camera left, YN 460-II bare above right as hair light.

I think this lighting setup is getting there, but still needs a little tweaking to lighten up the area around the eyes, which each get a shadow from one of the strobes.

Day 102 - Sian's new top

My thanks to Sian for modelling her new top and even putting some make-up on.

Strobist: YN 460-II with Lumiquest Softbox III camera left as key.  Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot-through umbrella camera right for fill.

A second one with slightly different post-processing after the click...

Day 101 - hug a hoodie

Who wouldn't support David Cameron's youth policy with hoodies like this roaming the streets?

Day 99 - Dad

Here's my Dad, not looking too tired after a week of us staying visiting.

Strobist: fill with Vivitar 730AFC on low power bounced off the ceiling, YN 460-II @ 1/8 with Lumiquest Softbox III for key camera right, Sigma 530 DG Super @ 1/32 bare gobo'd  rear camera left as kicker

Day 96 - Southend photo shoot

I had an excellent photoshoot with Jenny from Model Mayhem today, mixing up the bright sunshine with some off-camera flash at the seaside.

A few more of my favourite shots from the session after the link.

Day 92 - Elspeth and bump

Elspeth very kindly offered to model her bump while passing through on her way to the Dales.

This was lit using a Sigma 530 DG Super with shoot through umbrella camera left, bare YN 460-II behind Elspeth for a hair and rim light, and ambient as fill.

Click through for a few more from the shoot.

Day 87 - Annabelle portraits

Annabelle is turning into quite a good model a the moment.  She's very happy to sit still while I pull faces and hand her toys.  I'll try to make the most of this before she gets mobile.

This was taken using the a shoot through umbrella with the YN 460-II as the main light and two other flahes to light the background.

Another smiley colour portrait appears after the click.

Day 85 - on the floor

Here's a picture of Jessica lying on the floor.  I've no idea what she was up to, but I do know it was taken with just window light.