Behind-the-scenes of the rooftop pool shoot

A week or so ago posted a picture of a lady in a blue dress next to a swimming pool and in this post, I wanted to go along give some insight into the background and the behind-the-scenes of making that shot.

I had with me my Elinchrom Quadra along with my Elinchrom 100 cm x 100 cm softbox hoisted up high on a light stand. Luckily for me, I had an assistant holding the light as the wind was blowing a gale without their assistance there was no way I could use any sort of like fodder modifier like a softbox as a thing was turned into Mary Poppins and flown off the roof.

In the shop below you can see that I had softbox roughly about 3 m away from the model. The placement of the softbox was as close as I can get without having the shot and I did this on purpose to ensure that had soft as possible light. Because of the high winds, I removed both external and internal diffusers as there was a high chance they were going to blow off the roof, and I really didn’t want to go collect them. 🙂

Behind-the-scenes of the pool shoot
Behind-the-scenes of the pool shoot

As you can see shot was taken in full sun’s on the left side of the model without the artificial lighting that part of her body would have been incomplete shadow and to be honest would have looked like crap, so the only way to get around that is to punch a light into the shadows to reduce the contrast between the left side of her body and the right side that was in the sun.

The light itself is fired by a remote trigger that sits on top of my camera gives me about 70 m range so was able to get back a considerable way and take the shot using a 200 mm lens.

After a little bit of mucking around and getting the exposure right to rest, you could say is history.

Model by the pool
Model by the Pool

Another weekend down

Wow, what a fantastic weekend and OMG what a sunset we had this afternoon.

After a weekend here in Canberra with two consecutive mornings hitting  -8° I took the opportunity to take my family camping. hahahaha

Yes I know right! Completely batty and completely insane but with all the cold into super frost that we experienced we got time to bond and capture my own memories, only to get home this afternoon and be greeted with the most amazing sunset.

What memories did you capture over the weekend?

Amazing Sunset after Subzero Temperatures
Amazing Sunset after Subzero Temperatures

An Afternoon by the Pool!

Over the weekend I had an opportunity to capture some interesting photos from the top of the building with the rooftop pool. I must say it was an interesting shoot as the wind was blowing and the sun was out and to be honest, it’s not really the best environment to be shooting but I think the outcome is spectacular.

Luckily for me, the make-up artist was happy to hang around and hold my Elinchrom soft boxes and lights from blowing off the top of the building, I even had to take off the two diffusing panels as I thought they were going to blow off the building never to be seen again.

Here is one of the images that we captured and I’m sure that those trees behind had leaves that morning. hahahahahaha

Glamour on the Rooftop
Glamour on the Rooftop

In my next post will show the behind-the-scenes image and walk you through the set up an understanding of why a position to light where I did and the power on which it was on, along with my camera settings and other information required to set up the shot. 🙂

Invest in yourself

Today is not only my birthday but it also marks a new beginning in my photographic journey. It is a day in which 2 new Canon 5D IV arrived on my doorstep to close off the final pieces in part of my photographic business plan.

It marks the day which I now have all the equipment I need to be able to shoot on location at events and the images I take are sent live across a wireless network to portable Wacom Workstation Pro table, where an assistant will process before uploading the images to either my online store or a Google Drive account where my clients can access them within minutes of the images being taken.

For competitions, I can now shoot while these images are being worked on in the background and never need to walk away from the action. Competitors can now get access to view and purchase images of themselves and their achievements within minutes, not hours, days or in some cases weeks.

Gala and awards clients will now have access to their images before the celebration drinks have been finished and allow them to capitalize on their own marketing of their events.

For weddings, the bride and groom can have access to their images in the fastest possible time as they can not be processed while we are still shooting the event.

2 Canon 5D IV's with battery grips and 64gig super fast SD Cards
2 Canon 5D IV’s with battery grips and 64gig super fast SD Cards

Over the last month, I have been investing heavily in equipment as to bring the dream of being able to delivery super high-quality professional images to you in lighting speed, speeds that are not normally associated with progressional event photography.  I know you are going to love this new service as it takes event photography to a whole new level.

Bring on a new beginning and remember to always back and invest in yourself. 🙂

Teenage Depression Is a Real Killer

Would you believe that one in four teenagers suffer from some mental illness and depression?

The statistics around depression in teenagers is mind blowing and frightening, it takes the lives of our children and debilitates many others. Fighting the scourge is one, we as a community need to band together and tackle the social issues as segregation become more complex every day.

Fighting depression, especially in our children, is something I feel very passionate about and why I donated my time to photograph the inaugural Arbonne Foundation Charity night here in Canberra.

It was an evening of fine dining, lots of laughs and more importantly raising money to help our children. The night raised $7500 and will go a long way to supporting our children through grants and other means.

If you’d like more information over to their website at http://www.arbonnefoundation.org/

 

Anyone up for some fun?
Anyone up for some fun?

 

Behind-the-scenes
Behind-the-scenes

 

Me with my game face on. lol
Me with my game face on. lol