Temple Gold Carpet Hair & Fashion Show Newcastle Panthers 31st May 2009

We are shooting Temple Hair & Fashion Show at Newcastle

Panthers Sunday 31st May 2009

These are the DLs we had printer for the event.This is one of the pre lim stills from the Whittaker's Jewellery Campaign I shots a little while back. The stills were put together into a TVC ( television commercial)

by Little Green Frog Marketing and Good Eye Deer. This why is very important to work with releases.

For the event we will be shooting production stills, prep at the Temple Salon in the Junction,backstage, Arrivals of the models and the VIP's such as Peter Morrisey fashion icon, Sonia Lipski Miss World Australia runner up & Ann-Maree Bowdler a local Miss World Finalists.

I like to do a reccy of a venue where ever possible no only does it give me a feel for the event but I can check out flooring, lighting, power points etc.I like to make my self known to the events manager, techies and grips. If I get their mobile numbers it good insurance no to need it.
We will be setting up a full studio scene inside the event to create interest and blur the lines between the models and the audience. We will be encouraging people to be photographed on the set as well as the models as they come off the cat walk. Shots of the VIP's, sponsors,the clothes and the hair need to be captured. These images will be sent to Vogue,Oyster, Harper's Bazaar etc.. so they need to be technically top end as well as interesting content.We will also captue the movement and colour of the event,to do that you need to get in real close and use a wide angle. I remember hearing a quote from a pro in a book somewhere, he said " If you pictures aren't any good...your not standing close enough"...

We found a perfect alcove during the reccy. We will be setting up a roll of white seamless paper here.We will let the lighting fall off to a light grey so we can capture both blonde's,brunettes and redheads with the correct contrast. The setup needs to be able to work with singles,groups, full length and 3/4 shots. Ill use a large soft box and a hair light.Add a reflector with the darker clothes and add a black panel for the white clothes to give good edge definition.

OHS is important so we will setup ropes so the photographer doesn't walk backwards into onlookers...as I do.Tappe down leads,sand bag everything,gaff tape every thing, hide the ladders...and remember some of the audience will be drinking in VERY high heels.We will use panels taped to the floor over the paper so that people dont go through the paper in their heels on an unsafe set.You will see the downlights in the set area,they will need to unscrewed to stop the colour cast into the shots.Ill shoot at 125th and about f11 to give me sharp images free from movement, the hi f stop will mean that I can shoot 2 rows and keep them all sharp.You need space for that, one of my pet hates are group shots made with a wide angle lense...The front row has hands like the HULK, the second row (if its a large group) has tiny heads and everyone that gets to stand on the edge just gained 40kg.

I use theses images to explain to the other photographer (not present) the catwalk position and height.I would normally use my 18-200 kit lens for the reccy shots so I can plan my kit when I get back to the studio. The 18-200 is a great walk around lens, it means I only need one lens on camera when I'm doing the research, these were shot with the 24-70 2.8 and as you can see more reach will be needed..We will probably set up some strobes attached to the hand rail from both sides, and drag the shutter to grab the coloured spots ( if they have them).The models are only at the end of the catwalk for a second so being on the ball is esential. Its better to bump your ISO up a lttle so the strobes power can be reduced for quicker re-cycle times...much better.

There is lots of work behind the scenes and Garth and Christie Belic at Temple Hairdressing at the Junction ( 02 4961 2277) need to be congratulated for taking their 1st Birthday grew it from a few regular clients and a cake to Panthers and 700 plus guests...Well done guys. I think tickets are for sale at the door or through temple...If you drop by...I'll SHOOT YOU !!

I'll keep you posted on the results

BLUE WORLD ORDER SHOOT

We did a band shoot the other day Rob of BLUE WORLD ORDER has been wanting to update their website for some time.We had scouted a few venues looking for something a little different than the wrecking yard stuff and urban grunge that is the signature of bands that play rock.


Rob found this factory that he said he could rent for a slab
so Maree ( my prod mgr) and myself loaded the gear and headed out.
We didn't know what to expect so we needed to pack everything we could.
I use a trolley for my gear that is secured by tie down straps.The reason I like this is that I can take lots of gear in one trip if I'm working by myself .I don't suggest you carry half your gear to the shoot leave it there and go back for the rest....that doesn't work.

I also take things like towels,umbrellas and ground sheets.It was raining really hard so I can load the trolley under the umbrella ,cover the gear with the ground sheet and off we go.

Its a good idea to have a fluro vest,steel caps ,safety eye wear and ear plugs on board if you doing stuff like this,with the insurance ( I do hope you have public liability) and OHS stuff if your not prepared..the shoot is over before your started. There is a short video at the next entry , its got no sound but you might get a glimpse of the gear on the ground sheet, many times I need to packup in the dark..all camera gear is black and hard to find.One of those headlamp LEDs is always in my kit.I carry sandbags for the stands as well.The ground was covered in very sharp metal shavings that Maree was picking out of her shoes after the shoot so good footwear is advised.Another important thing is a change of clothes in the car.Once on a wedding shoot in a rather exclusive businessman's club I tore that backside out of my trousers setting up some strobes just before the toasts...without a spare pair....there would be much black gaff tape to start a new fashion...


We were shooting a D300 with a 24-70 2.8.It was firing 2xsb600 strobes left and right of camera gobo'd to eliminate lens flare, I think they were at about 1/4 power not gelled.I wanted a clean edge light as I wanted to go mono in the final images with some blue in the shadows....non of these images are finished, this is not about post production , this entry is about the setup.
Maree needed to gobo the umbrella because the flare was a problem in some images. You can see some flare in the lower colour image, it looks OK but Id rather have the image clean, you can put the stuff in later.


I fired 2xSB600 strobes through the umbrella.Its much better to fire 2 strobes at 1/2 power than to struggle with slow recycle times with one at full power.The SB28s have optic triggers but I still fire them all with pocket wizard radio triggers

We were to shoot a few different group shots and a few solo portraits.Its a good Idea I find to shoot a few wide to allow magazine text and remember CD/DVD covers are square.

Blue World Order-band shoot ric woods photography

We shot about 90 images in the 90 minutes we had in total to setup and bump out...it was Friday afternoon at knock off time for the factory and some were keen to lock up on time. These are few of the band member profile images, these will be cropped and cleaned up in photoshop as necessary
rob -guitar


crooksie-bass

bono-percussion

I usually supply extra images of backgrounds etc and details to make the web builder and graphic artists life easier. AFTER I fill the clients brief/shot list I will shoot images I think will work and on deliver may give a few suggestions on the use of some images.This image below may work behind text on the back of the CD. Most clients appreciate the extra effort, Ive found the less experienced stylist can be a little rigid in taking on suggestions

I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes glimps...ric and maree