Fantasy Fashion
This was my first use of the second camera, the Konica had the 50mm lens and the Sony had on the 55-200mm. This covers most of the ranges I use when doing these shoots.
There were two models, both lovely and experienced. and we had an hour with them each. They changed outfits and we then have another hour with each of them.
This was the most successful shoot I have done, from a personal development point of view. I really tried to tell a short with the shots I was doing, and considering the reaction I received from people who have seen them, I think I succeeded. There are some that I am particularly happy with.
I did not spend too long directing, but the direction I gave came out very well, it lead to some very good pictures.
The second camera was particularly useful, it gave me more time to think about the shot I wanted, and more opportunity to use the technical features of the lenses to bring the right effect.
If not my strongest photograph, then the attached in the tunnel is the one that has had the most positive feedback. This was taken at one of the underpasses near Waterloo Station on Southbank. The model, Chloe, was part of the Fantasy Fashion shoot, the outfits were somehow different than I was expecting, too much Lord of the Rings growing up perhaps. This was the first 'Senior Shoot' I attended and I found it extremely productive. Smaller groups meant more time with the model, but that also meant more pressure on the Photographer.
Chloe was one of the best models I've worked with within the past year, she was more than happy to try anything and was extremely professional with her own ideas which she put forward.
This was also my first shoot using two different cameras, my Sony and an older Konica model. For these shots, it was a big advantage as the lower resolution camera was fine with the 50mm lens and the better Sony handled the zoom. It’s an effective way to work, I found, as it reduces the time wasted in swapping lenses.
This shot was originally intended to have Chloe looking back over one shoulder, but it worked far better without, just with her walking towards the light. It had a small amount of editing, mostly desaturation, pulling the blacks up to increase the darkness.
You can see, however, the heavy noise, something which is a regular complaint of the Sony range. There is little which can be done to address this, short of post-processing and trying a different manufacturer.
Left at the Prom
Working with the other model, Bella Sokol (who later appeared in one of the Harry Potter films, I got one of my best shots of the year. It is the only landscape image to make it into the year’s collection I pulled together. It is a personal favourite of mine, I had a very definite image in my head here as to what I wanted to achieve here.
This was probably my most planned shot of the year. I saw the location and knew immediately the effect I wanted to give. Something in the vein of a girl left at the roadside on the way to her Prom.
I tried multiple lenses across both of the cameras I was using that day to get the effect I wanted, the girl and the fence in sharp focus with the luxury car just a suggested blurred shape in the background. It took a number of attempts but I'm very pleased with the result. In the end, as you can see, it was a very fast shutter speed with a wide aperture which gave me the result I was looking for.
I am extremely pleased with how this image came out because it turned out exactly how I had envisioned it.
Left at the Prom: Bella Sokol