Elastic Ingenuity

I had a near disaster on a shoot of a commercial property in London – my camera tore the thread from it’s base and the connection plate, rendering me unable to put the camera on the tripod. I was really lucky the camera didn’t smash on the ground, the camera strap just managed to catch on the tripod handle.

I was shooting long exposures and night time scenes, my client had just popped off for half an hour and I was panicking. My solution was a local Rymans and the strongest elastic bands they had. I used six bands to attach the tripod plate to the camera base – which did the job, phew!!! The only compromise was I couldn’t get to most of the controls on the camera back! Got to say if it wasn’t for the bands smothering my camera my client wouldn’t have been non the wiser. H.

UV Mat – Image of the Month – May 2011

It’s always exciting and challenging shooting for Spacekraft (Multi Sensory Solutions). Often mixing unusual ambient lighting with daylight and flash, this example is of a special needs pupil interacting with a UV Tactile Mat. I used a long exposure for the rooms UV lighting to give the mat the vibrant colour, my controlled flash is then isolated onto her face. The Spacekraft sensory room makes a great backdrop!

Hannah Two Styles

This is a great opportunity to illustate two different styles of fashion lighting on the same set. It’s a quick way to vary a shoot and the client was really happy to have extra options for image use during the upcoming Autumn/Winter 2011 season. Good brownie points!

Style 1:Hannah leaning against the wall is lit with one Sunlite reflector near to lens with a small amount of bounced light to fill-in the shadow slightly.

Style 2: The next style is with Hannah stood from the wall, lit with a medium octa – softbox, honeycombed clip light on the hair and a snoot onto the fabric jacket. Simples!!! H.

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Dirty Dog Snow Goggles – Studio Shoot

If you ever fancy a tough brief to shoot then try shooting goggles!

The big issue with this product is the massive amount of reflection in the visor – it’s as good as looking through a fisheye lens reflecting everything in the studio, including me!

To get round this I used my studio infinity cove to reflect back into the goggles, carefully placed black boards to hide the mirror image of the camera and then blended two differently polarised images to create a smooth, clean and crisp image for each goggle shot. I’ve included a snap of the set to give an idea of the set, which is lit with three elinchrom ranger flash lights.

Finished Image

Set with infinity cove for reflection in the Goggles

I was recommended to Dirty Dog by an old colleague in Wales. The client is really happy with the finished results(below) and the images will be going live on their web site soon. Many Thanks, Harry.

Image of the Month – November 2010

Panoetic are a new web design company based in Bradford and needed a quality group shot of the team for self promotion. I really enjoy shooting groups and CEO portraits and wanted to keep this image informal with the boys looking relaxed in a modern environment. I shot this with my Phase One camera and used mainly natural light with front and side fills of flash to keep there faces crisp and clean. I wish all the best and good luck to the boys at Panoetic! Harry.

Portrait – Before and After / Post Production

Lucio Sergio Dos Santos – Jujitsu Black Belt

Lucio is one of a handful of Jujitsu Black Belt instructors in Britain, I recently photographed him for K2 Fight Gear (Martial Arts Clothing), modeling some of the range. He’s Brazilian and a really interesting character – and his face reflected it.

In this image he’s doing a classic fight stance, his face is dead pan so as not to give his opponent any clues on his next move – I suppose it’s a martial arts poker face! We only had time to photograph full length outfits for the new website, so I quickly moved in close to capture this pose – with the intention of creating a powerful portrait in post production.

Below is the finished retouched shot (b+w) and original (colour). I’ve blended four various contrast layers, softened the focus away from the eyes and added grain to give it a analog film quality. Hope you like it. H.

Onfire Shoot – McQueen/Dean Style!

• A selection from the A/W 2010 Onfire Clothing catalogue photography.
• Recently shot using my Phase One 645 Camera and P25+ digital back and tethered directly into the laptop using Capture    One Pro software.
• The results are full of texture and depth. I’m really happy with them. H

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WOW Academy – Behind the scene and some final images

Capturing the image.

Harry directing the shot.

THE FINISHED IMAGE – 3D FILM STUDIO

The scene of the set-up.

Final adjustments before shooting.

THE FINISHED IMAGE – MOTION CAPTURE SUIT

Shooting to the laptop

THE FINISHED IMAGE – 3D GAMING

Ellen Whitaker shoot for Caldene

Just got the finished adverts back for a recent shoot I did of Ellen Whitaker (British Show Jumping rider), and I have to congratulate her on her professionalism and patience. It wasn’t an easy shoot to model on! The client said were doing the advert in the middle of summer but we want it to look like autumn/winter – “Oh Great” is the usual response a photographer has through gritted teeth. Anyway, the solution came through the use of the old smoke machine. The art director Matt, had a great time taking control of the smoke machine, running up and down the background filling the trees with copious amounts of smoke. My assistant Andy, controlled the reflectors and I controlled the the camera waiting for the correct amount of mist in the image. Anyway, Ellen was taken for granted in all the fuss, but she did a fantastic job. After the shoot, two files were processed of the chosen image, one in full colour, the other with the colours muted and warmed to a golden glow – the files were then blended together to create the autumn feel. The client is very happy – which makes me very happy too.