Giants
Sunday 23rd at Westbourne Park was a Giants Photoshoot, playing with perspective and wide-angle lenses. There were three models, two girls and a guy. The day was beautiful, incredibly sunny which has its own problems. Dark, harsh shadows everywhere, especially on the face. The male model is Walles Hamonde, later to appear in Transformers and Fantastic Beasts.
Walles Hamonde
It was a great opportunity to use my reflector, and sharing it with the guy I was shooting with, we managed to soften the shadows to get some really nice pictures. Initially, we were using the gold side, which is in direct sun, as the light's colour is changed and warmed up because a bit too overpowering and a bit too much like a spotlight. Changing to silver worked better, although it’s less 'warm' than gold it gave a cleaner look which worked well.
It was also fun to use the bright sunlight to do some interesting lighting effects. using the sun, as a spotlight so the background goes black..... There are a couple of images using that effect that has worked well, really giving the idea of a focused outdoor dance performance.
I'm now seriously considering buying a reflector stand to bring with me, the weather is likely to be extremely bright for the next few shots so having a stand means I don't have to depend on the kindness of other photographers and we can all shoot together.
In terms of the theme of the shoot, the first model was perhaps the easiest to work with, dressed in a summer dress, with fairy wings and a heavily made-up face, we shot her in the sunlight dappled forest on a wide-angle, reflector aimed at her face. Shooting wide-angled and at an odd angle will give an interesting perspective shot, which generally will alter how the size of the subject relates to the background, and shooting with the right background will ensure they look large. Considering the fairy outfit, however, there was an ongoing temptation to shoot small rather than large...
