Day 199: 50 shades of studio lighting!

I’ve been looking forward to the latest Happy Camera Studio Lighting Workshop. Finally, I have a lovely Leica camera that can let me use the EVF and mount a Pocket Wizard trigger on my hot shoe, and my own Pocket Wizard at that. In previous workshops I have had to forgo the EVF, and resort to live view to remotely trigger the lights. Otherwise, I keep the EVF but have to have the lights just permanently turned on. Either is far from ideal. But now I have my own Wizards, a hot shoe going begging, I am ready to play!

We spent the morning looking at a few lighting scenarios, exploring the studio, reviewing all the source material of different techniques m(A) had gathered, and selecting the sort of effect(s) we were hoping to achieve. I always like the dramatic, the key features emerging from the dark shadows. I keep harking back to my favourite Louise Brooks portrait taken by Eugene Richee. I have a large reproduction hanging in my sitting room and hope one day to try my own version. I need a girl with a sharp bob and strings and strings of pearls!

We practised with a one light set up and gradually added more light to either correct a problem or achieve a certain look. It was fascinating to see effects of a diffuser, a reflector, or something heftier like a soft box. Once we’d examined a few option our selected model appeared. The popular vote went to Tash, she looked fun, versatile and had a dramatic fringe with long red hair. This time we hadn’t set a theme, just asked our model to bring a few outfits and go as wild as she liked. First of all she gave us a black pallet of a black polo neck and black trousers, with her hair all tied up in a bun.

Some of the original lighting themes weren’t finessed and I was getting too much noise. I opted for black and white to alleviate the problem. The only problem was that Tash kept putting her arms behind her back and making it appear that she had no arms at all. We added a gold crown we found in the studio, introduced at least one arm, and shot some more.

For those who got the reference, we could immediately see shades of Anatasia Grey in some of the poses!

SL had been very taken by the silver shoes Tash had packed. We asked for something "flowing" and she changed into this little dress.

Then there was some crazy stuff with gels, which BB insisted were repositioned with more precision (Vorsprung Durch Technik!) and as Tash is conveniently a dancer too, we asked her to throw us some shapes. I was thinking "Tales of the Unexpected" or maybe a Bond girl.

And then in post, I tried combining several exposures, hmmm Tash meets Medusa!

Then we through my pink McQueen scarf into the mix and encouraged Tash to try some spinning. We also tried a few jumping shots but in quite a tight studio setting, I didn’t think I captured the moment well.

Then BB suggested a little mis en scene that he’d been contemplating. He wanted a smouldering change of mood lighting, a dramatic change of outfit (or perhaps lack of…), which definitely elicited a few raised eyebrows from SL and myself. Tash, the consummate professional, donned a dark lacy body suit, the killer heels, the smoky makeup and posed for something a tad more PG astride one of the studio chairs.

 

Joking aside, despite it perhaps being a little too much information regarding the inner workings of BB’s brain, I loved the outcome. We opted for trying to make Tash laugh, anyone know any jokes? Certainly m(A) sneaking up behind her for a cheeky behind the scenes (BTS) shot had the photographers laughing, if nothing else!

 

We then brought the polystyrene walls in to add a darker edge and again, I thought the noise I was experiencing with the smaller apertures was either adding too much pink (yes, sometimes even I think there’s too much pink!) or just over exposed hotspots which was much easier to calm down in monochrome. The advantage is that is also adds to whole film noir to our model trapped in an ever decreasing space.

Somehow we persuaded Tash to change again and then seeing how we were suffering from a dirty floor in any of the full length shots, we tried to flood the scene with light to hide a multitude of sins.

This led to a final change of scene. How about if we go with the light flooding and have Tash all pale and ethereal with wild tendrils of hair? She dug out a white floaty, chiffony shirt, little lace shorts and toned done her makeup, removing the dramatic lipstick and smoky eyes. When we’d been reviewing some of the high-fashion shots earlier, we’d been talking techniques to add movement to the hair. Apparently the top tip is wafting a board just out of camera shot, that causes little puffs of air to add some hair action. JT turned out to be a very fine wafter!

Tash finally managed to change back into civvies, escape and head off for another job, and we had a little more cold fancy pizza whilst, in my case, checking out the fruits of our labours. It was a fabulous day; we crammed in masses of outfit changes, various scenarios, lighting setups…and pizza. I learnt lots and yet again, have a very Happy Camera!

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Day 272 : punk it up!

Today has been much anticipated, we’ve been looking forward to today arriving for months. This is the rescheduled and rescheduled and rescheduled second studio shoot. Mr Macro has found us an amazing venue for our efforts today, a much in need of refurbishment old cinema and art venue in Woolwich. There's loads of space, lots of potential, grungy stairwells, retro velvet seating, funky red walls, black and white tiled floor, old electrical boxes and a stage. The group has poured over model cards and chosen Karis for our modern punk theme. I wore the super spiky necklace I bought in Iceland which always makes me feel a little Viking and my Alexander McQueen skull ring to get me in the mood and lend out as props if needed.

As a surprise there was a second model waiting for us, as well as C, our fabulous stylist, plus two makeup artists/hair stylists.

First we have a tour of the undoubtedly eclectic venue, and for some of the spaces we had to don hard hats, so possibly a bit harsh for our models to put them in peril! We then sort through all the clothes and accessories, holding various items up, trying pieces next to each other and choose our look(s) for today.

The models are bring primped, coiffed and styled and we chose our first location and start playing with the lighting.

We all start together working with the black and white stairs. We’ve selected some tartan and red accents to counterpoint the black and white of the steps we’ve selected.

The model is a little hard to work with, we wanted a less pretty look and more spiky in her posture. We want fierce! We’re amateurs so we need the models to almost be psychic and anticipate what we need. I've been able to get the pocket wizard to respond to me this time but annoyingly I have to abandon the EVF so I really can't see properly what I'm doing. I want my inbuilt flash to trigger the remote flashes but they’re not keen!

Now the second model is ready we split the gear and photographers into two groups. We are rather taken by a fabulous white coat against the kind of Art Deco red wall. I cannot get the lights to work for me for this costume. We’ve only got one pocket wizard so everyone else ’borrows’ Macro’s camera which with his eye-fi card inserted we can see directly on the iPad. I've never had a DSLR and I'm just not used to any of the controls so I just have to muddle through with my camera and work out why it cannot seem to see any light. I give up on the white coat but I manage better when we add blue gels to the lights and someone holds them for me. I'm not sure I've they have the punk look but we’re swapping models now.

We go upstairs to try something a little more grungy in the stairwell. Our model is very obliging, tirelessly flinging her legs up on the bannister to give us the look we’re going for. We’re still having lighting issues. I think in our eagerness we just keep not letting the lights recycle and then get repeatedly impatient with them whilst our poor model contorts herself time and time again.

We don't have a huge amount of time remaining but we’re keen to get some photographs in the “danger, danger” room. The ambient light is failing but we’re determined to try a few more poses. Our model is amazing, coming up with great, spontaneous poses for us to experiment with and we eke every moment we have left. My battery fails after the first one-two-three shot I have with the lights and there's not enough time for me to dash back down and up again with a replacement. I think I've managed a couple of shots I'm proud of.

AL has baked a farewell chocolate cake for C, our fabulous stylist, as she’s returning to Belfast. We’ve also got some bubbly to toast her. It’s been an exhausting day but also huge fun and predictively now I've a yen for my own speed lights. I foresee shopping in my future!

 

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It's fashion darlings!

We've been looking forward to today for ages. I've never worked in anything resembling a studio before and I don't go out of my way to photograph people but this seemed such an opportunity. And we've chosen a model, a look - glamorous vintage Hollywood, a lighting scheme, polished up our lenses and are raring to go.

We have two talented stylists envisioning our desired looks who've amassed a fabulous collection of be-sequinned, satiny dresses, fur stoles, cloche hats, long gloves, cigarette holders, folding binoculars and oodles of sparkly jewellery bits.

Our model is coiffed and painted whilst our expert photographer tutors us on achieving the look we’re aiming for, using more traditional lights and the power of remote flash synching.

It certainly takes longer than I originally thought to get the perfect look and having so many eager photographers with itchy shutter fingers in our compact studio, it’s tricky to get your own personal time in front of the model, directing your shots and controlling the flash lights.

It was a great experience, I especially loved the ’Audrey’ look, we were very fortunate with our model and she knew how to work it. I didn't realise I’d learn so much, become so enraptured by the process and am now keen to try more.

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