Dancing at Dawn

The last 4 weeks have been a very interesting time for me.
7 months have passed since my last post here, and though I am kicking myself for letting things slip, I am also feeling a lot more positive than I have in a long while.

I am now at the end of a 4 week hiatus from medicine; time I took off to evaluate my direction and work on the business aspect of photography.
Plenty has happened, and a lot of big decisions have been made.
However, most importantly, I have taken a lot of photographs!
Case in point, my dawn shoot with Savannah, a local girl with a passion for dancing.

More info and a few important lessons learnt after the jump.




Under normal circumstances I am not a morning person, I wake up with my bed-clothes securely nailed to the mattress.
The only time I feel any different is when I'm heading out in the pitch black with a camera around my neck.
Invariably it's to make the drive south to one of my favourite beaches for some landscape work.
Lately though, I've been concentrating on my location lighting and environmental portraiture, and had been looking for a dancer to shoot at dawn for some time.

As lucky breaks go, running into Savannah's mom at a business expo was quite serendipitous.
We got to talking, I made the offer, and 2 weeks later we had an appointment at dawn to hopefully make some magic.

I pride myself on thorough preparation and planning, and made time before-hand to discuss what we'd be doing, costume choices and get an idea what they hoped to achieve.

But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men...

Basically, the setup was quite simple: Myself and one assistant with a light-stand - 2 x 580EX II flashes shot through a translucent umbrella - bread and butter off-camera flash work which doesn't deserve much space here.

But,as the purpose of this post is to offer a few insights and pearls of wisdom for fellow photographers planning a shoot like this, I will avoid talking about the lighting, and focus more on the logistics, as this is where things often fall flat.

I usually have a 1 man debrief after every shoot, and write down the things I fet could improve the outcome next time.

So here are a few pieces of advice.

1) Pick your time wisely.
I have a list of tide times which also give accurate times for sunrise and sunset.
I planned on meeting up at the beach 30 minutes before sunrise, as this would give us time to set up, find a spot and go through the brief before the light started showing.
Trust me, if you've never shot at dawn or dusk, you'll have no idea how brief your window is for getting that sumptious warm light.
You don't want to waste it.
Planning on being there well before you intend to start shooting is a wise plan. (And it allows for late starts and difficulty getting out of bed)

2) Pick your meeting spot, and carry a (charged) mobile phone
Murphy decided that this would be the first slip up of the day.
Ocean beach, where we were shooting has 2 car parks, 1 of which I never notice because it's always pitch dark when I get there.
Needless to say, we were waiting at different spots, and a 6:30 start turned into a 6:50 start.
Luckily not too much of a problem as sunrise was at 7:05, but the prep time I had envisioned got drastically reduced.

The mobile phone suggestion is also a smart one. The last thing you want is to be stuck somewhere for legitimate reasons with a model trying hard to get hold of you, or vice-versa.

3) Fake eyelashes and nice catch lights don't mix too well.
Savannah's mom did an awesome job with her costume and make-up.
I had asked for flowing, bright clothing and she had delivered.
Not only that, but she had done a great job with the make up.
However, it was only back home later, whilst editing, that I noticed her fake lashes and our lighting position had robbed the eyes of light and detail. (as the photo below will demonstrate)
Granted, this may be fixable by simply lowering the position of the light (It was slightly high and angled down at her), but I'll try both options when next I get a chance and see how things go.




4)A REAL waterproof groundsheet.
This little pearl is probably the one that frustrated me most on the day.
My intention was to shoot Savannah leaping gracefully through the air. I knew that I would be on wet beach sand, so I admit I felt pretty smug when I thought of packing in an apparently waterproof groundsheet. (Thanks Kathmandu)
Long story short - it wasn't waterproof, I got soaked to the skin from chest to knees and got far fewer attempts at the shot I wanted and ultimately never got.

Now I know some of you are thinking, "Hey you were wet already, why not just carry on?"
Fair point, but we'll talk again when you're working with soaked undies and the shoot hasn't really got started yet.



5) Don't forget the little stuff!
Packing the night before is crucial, but this is useless if you forget to pack something.
In my case it was my Petzl headlamp.
I love it, and want to say that it goes everywhere with me, but then I wouldn't be writing this, would I?

6) Know you gear.
For small location work I use my Pocketwizard Flex TT5 and Mini TT1 radio triggers. I love the freedom to use high speed sync when I want it.
On this occasion, they were misfiring at times. VERY annoying when you've got a jumping dancer getting impatient at having to "try it again".
It took no time to ascertain the flash battery packs were fine, and my only conclusion was a battery problem with the transmitter. I wasn't carrying a spare on the day, as they are meant to last for months. (Note to self...)

Instead of struggling on, I opted to switch to my back-up transmitter (Elinchrom skyport) which allowed me to complete the shoot without issues.

The important point here is to not get flustered when things go wrong. Keeping control is good for yourself AND your subject.
Knowing your gear, how it works, what issues to expect and how to fix them is very important.

Incidentally, the pocketwizards worked fine back at home without any battery changes. I am working with Pocketwizard's tech support to figure out if the problem is related to a known issue with radio intereference from the flash units themselves, but it has taught me to carry a good supply of spare batteries wherever I go

Which brings me to my next point...

7) Have a backup plan
Redundancy is good. Knowing what to fall back on when things get sticky saves headaches and time.

8) End on a high note
The whole point of a shoot like this is to make it fun for your subject.
Truth be told, every shoot is a chance to refine your technique and approach.
But NEVER forget that without a subject you have no shoot.
Look after them, make them laugh if you can, and keep them interested in whatever way you need to.
Looking after your talent is good karma, and the right thing to do.



My thanks to Kymm and Savannah for their time.
I look forward to our next shoot, and the opportunity to improve on the work we've done. (And to using a REAL waterproof ground sheet)


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Revenge of the leftovers

Once a year the camera club I belong to plans a weekend trip to Tiri Tiri Matangi Island, a smallish land-mass, 30 mins by boat off Auckland's east coast.

The island is a bird watchers paradise, and admittedly this is what draws most photographers.
I however have evolved, and realised after last year's trip that the patience for bird photography was something I just didn't have. (And me cursing just ruins the birdsong anyway!)

So this year I came with the idea of furthering my flashwork and using the abundance of fellow photographers to work on a few shots I'd had rattling around in my brain.

And so there we were, flashes, gels, willing subjects and a soon to be less than cold fridge.


The idea initially was to see what effects we could get by placing a blue gelled flash and a fisheye lens inside the fridge.
Flash was placed off camera, triggered with Elinchrom Skyports which I have absolutely fallen in love with!

Our first attempt was a good start, but as it often is with an idea, you roll with what you get and refine things from there.

Problems:
1) The camera needed to come forward to accentuate the effect of the fisheye.
2) We needed to make sure the flash was positioned in a way to avoid casting shadows on the subjects.
3) The background really needed something to make it pop - Enter a second flash with a yellow gel, triggered with a hotshoe photo receptor



Attempt number 2 fixed some problems, but highlighted a few others that should probably have been expected.
1)Hide the legs of the light stand - Add more people or adjust position of the light stand.
2) The lighting in the kitchen needed to be worked on as well - added a 3rd strobe gelled yellow, triggered with another hotshoe photo receptor. Admittedly, I had huge reservations that there would not be enough light hitting the photo receptor to trigger it, but I was proved wrong.



When in doubt - overcorrect!
Way too many people in frame, and consequently the blue light was not hitting everyone.
Admittedly by this time our antics were drawing a little interest, which is always good for the guys who have never seen/worked with off camera flash.

Regardless, things were getting better, and the number of problems were dwindling with each shot.



Final shot!
Definately still in need of improvement, but admittedly we quit there to be kind to the fridge (And the bottles of wine which were meant to be chilling - quite a lot of food ended up outside of the fridge while we were shooting.)

The final image was taken through photoshop to tweak the colours a little and clone out the remnants of the light stand.



Below is a quick setup diagram.



Hope this helped.

Happy Flashing!
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Lighting and Fighting

Waiting around for something to happen is a surefire way of wasting a lot of valuable time.

I have spent an inordinate amount of time lately getting to grips with my equipment; soaking up knowledge, watching tutorials, reading magazines and trying hard to turn my mind into a sponge.

Fact is, theoretical knowledge is useless if it isn't put into practice.

You can photograph friends and fellow photographers until your index finger falls off, but the true test of your skills requires working in real situations - You need to know if you can get things right when the chips are down.

So what do you do?

You go out and make something happen.
The world is full of interesting people...

We all know interesting people, sometimes we just don't realise it.

Case in point is the trainer/owner of a local boxing gym that I had the pleasure of meeting recently.
We got to chatting about average and mundane things, and it's fair to say a certain rapport was established, without which I would have been hesitant to proceed with the idea I had.
To be honest, the idea only came to me a day after meeting him, but the opportunity was there if I felt like pursuing it, and I did.

So I phoned him up and explained what it was I was interested in doing; taking promotional shots of boxers.

It turns out that he is staging a rather large fight night quite soon and is desperate for a few good photographers, and so I jumped at the opportunity.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I ended up at the gym 2 weeks later to photograph 7 fighters in his stable that will be on the fight card that night.

In preparation for this I had looked up a few good text effects and searched through boxing blogs for images of stances and poses that would be usable.

In the end though I settled for their neutral stances and worked from there.

Here is a little known fact that we photographers need to remind ourselves of: Most people have an abundance of mundane and embarassing photos of themselves. They are aware of it, and they hate it.

Finding an opportunity to provide a person with images that they love is what makes the job so challenging.

Get it right and the reaction from your client is absolutely magical.


In the words of Joe McNally, there are 3 things you need to convey to your subject when you first meet:
1) This is going to work out fantastically
2) I am really good at what I do
3) I'm not going to waste your time
Being able to convey this confidence is not something you acquire by reading; you've got to be there in the thick of things, making mistakes and learning from them.
This is why pro bono work has been such an essential part of my development. This shoot was no exception.

Becoming a successful photographer requires more than just knowing your craft, you have to pay attention to the "business" side of things too, in almost equal proportions.
To me that means mastering 2 fundamental principles; Giving your clients what they want, and getting a fair price for the work you do.

Now price is a debatable entity. It is not always a monetary reward. In fact, establishing good connections and garnering great word of mouth can often be far more valuable than the price you would have charged for the work you did.

Working for free is hard work, but approached correctly it is an immensely valuable tool.
So what did I get out of this shoot?
1. A chance to use studio lights on location, and put what I've learnt about lighting into practice.
2. A chance to make mistakes, and the realisation that I can recognise them and correct them on the fly.
3. A chance to hand out business cards.
4. A chance to do something good for some really nice people who were exceptionally generous with their time.
5. A chance to use a little creativity to produce an end product that is more than just a picture.
6. At the end of it all, 7 happy subjects - and that's the only payoff worth focussing on.

Here's to the next opportunity presenting itself soon.

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Mangawhai at dawn

It's taken a little time, but I've finally started taking a few confident steps into the realms of off-camera flash.

I've been toying with the idea for ages, weighing up the cost of gear against what I think the benefits may be.
Honestly, I wish I had done it a lot sooner.
Let me share a couple of thoughts with you.

Before I get started though I have to tip my cap to two amazingly generous photographers who provided the impetus and information to get started - Zack Arias and David Hobby.

Zack Arias is an Atlanta-based photographer who, amongst other things, runs a series of workshops aimed at using off-camera flash.

David Hobby is the driving force behind Strobist, a blog dedicated to off-camera flash. It is without doubt the most user friendly and comprehensive collection of information I've discovered

Thanks to you both. It is because of people such as yourselves that people like us get to improve our skills.

Mangawhai
Mangawhai is by far my favourite place for dawn photography, and it was with this aim in mind that 4 of us woke up in the wee hours of a Saturday morning to make the one hour drive out there.

The weather was nearly perfect, despite one or two showers we drove through on the way.
Cloud cover was a little thick over the horizon, but the light came through well enough for some good landscapes.

However, the real fun started when we pulled out the lightstand and flash and started doing the strobist thing.

Everything came together quite comfortably and flowed very smoothly. It's such a great feeling to set up an image, work through what your lighting will do, figure out how you want to balance ambient light with flash, and then getting the image that you had planned at the end of it. More skill, less luck. GREAT!

For first-timers we made great headway and I tink it's going to be great to get out again and build on what we have learnt.

Admittedly, it's made a huge difference to my work and has opened up a number of fresh and exciting possibilities.

But as always, doing something you love is much more enjoyable in the company of like-minded individuals.

So to those of you who were there, thank you.

Who knows, perhaps one day it might be us who start big things by sharing what we've been persistent enough to learn.

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