Dragons & Mythical Creatures images by maree nichols-ric woods photography

ric woods photography is managed by maree nichols.What many people do not know about maree is her many talents that she brings to the studio.
Besides being an admin and marketing guru ( she will be running a course about this is 2012) who has increased profitability of the studio last year by more than 300% she is also a talented photographer.
Whilst I'm in Melbourne doing some R&R eating cake and looking through galleries maree is running things in the studio.So what does she do after hours after a big work day?
Make images of course. 'I just NEED to do it'.... she says. It was inspired by Dragons.

Below is a couple of images from her latest shoot, if you want to know more about it or book her for a shoot , you best contact maree[at]ricwoods.com , because I wasn't there....I'm eating cake

maree nichols - ric woods photography -02 4962 1066

"Cut Throat Carly" pin up photo shoot-ric woods photography

Carly commissioned us to create her "retro pin up portfolio". She came to the studio armed with a collection of amazing clothes and then her and Amanda her mother/assistant/coach layed out a wardrobe that we could have spent days shooting.

Professional presentation was key word in this shoot ,all the clothes came pressed and on hangers, the shoes we like art pieces. Maree did her make up magic and we were ready to create "Images with an Edge".

The most difficult part of the photo shoot was deciding which outfit was the best...The Sailor Suit...

This Killer "Spanish" influence full skirt with yards of petticote..

..OR...this huge cluster of balloons...

We also created a collection of romantic monochrome portraits at the end of the Photo Shoot...

See the Low Res Behind the Scenes Video below...

Beauty Shoot of Lucy-ric woods photography

Lucy shows us one of the best smiles we have seen in a long time. Lucy commissioned us for a beauty shoot, to capture what she looks like at this time in her life...... Learn more....photography and lighting workshop course booklet **HERE**

Tiarnes 18th Birthday shoot

Cherrie from O'Carrollyns private eco village at Port Stephens gave daughter Tarnie a portrait shoot for her 17th birthday.We had a great session . Here are a few un edited shots from that shoot.

We did several looks an Jo Nelson did a great job of hair and make up.

A beauty dish high camera left and a gridded spot camera right to light the chair and to drop some shine on her pants

We try to achieve several hairstyles during the longer sessions as well different lighting setups.

We shot other frames to be converted to Mono, these need to be lit differently

A GREAT GIFT FOR HER BOYFRIEND

Anna Lee commissioned us to do a beauty shoot for he,r as a gift for her boyfriend. The images were stunning. We shot on varius backdrops with a selection of lighting. After viewing the proofs she chose a selection of warm tinted mono images, in favour of colour.

It was a 3 hour shoot and although she was exhausted at the end of it, the results were worth the effort.

Portfolios,Make-up, Lights and Photoshop

We often get asked about lighting, light shapers,make-up and post production.We find that there are no set rules, just a few guidelines. There are few things that I like to do.......

We are appreciated by our graphic designers as we strive to produce the best exposures/negatives/digital negatives and lighting ratios "in camera".

If our images are being handled in post production outside our studio by a marketing company ( eg we shoot for little green frog marketing) or graphic artist which is often the case then image treatments will differ. Our images may be posted to web, print and/or newspaper print, television commercials or billboards or all of the above, then there is different treatment for each use. For example web uses sRGB colour and our printed brochures are in CMYK.I shoot everything on RAW and Adobe RGB and convert to sRGB as necessary. I know that there are times when I could bang out jpegs but I don't want to risk having a hero shot that could have been so much better in RAW.

I find a sense of pride when we able to consistently hand over image and see the smile as our graphic artist don't have to do work with images where the photographer has the "oh they'll fix it in photoshop later" attitude.

There is no substitute for good hair and make-up. Kiera (above) asked us to shoot a portfolio for her to give her partner as a gift.I took an image at our interview ( left ) using a softbox, its a good way to plan the shoot if I have an image of the person. Its good to know if the person is blonde, brunette,what body shape, if they wear glasses.

This all this helps with lighting ,backdrops etc.It's not always possible to meet first but its a luxury I like.The client also feels more comfortable.The image of kiera and the right is shot with a beauty dish after hair and makeup.Ive not photoshoped Kiera's skin in this image, its all lighting and subtle makeup. The most difficult images to shoot are the orange spray tan subjects....getting the colour balance correct I find a challenge.

Strobe shot through the ladder I believe creates a more 3D look to this scene.

Ebony (above) was shot with a gridded beauty dish. I really like this light, I can control the fall off to get the treatment I want.If positioned correctly I can get a highlight on the gelled background which can produce a subtle vignette.I adjust this highlight by bringing the key light ( the gridded beauty dish ) closer to the subject.The inverse square law of light ( doubling the distance from the light source to the subject= a reduction of 75% of the light) is a helpful when lighting subjects in the studio. Move the light closer to the subject and reducing the exposure and the falloff is very dramatic in short distances. By the way I light the background first before introducing my key source.

The image of Ebony above is shot with barndoor strobes lighting the seamless paper backdrop and the key light was a large softbox and white reflector.

The image from Sarahanne's portfolio shoot is lit from below by a small softbox and above from a larger softbox.I find this this lighting can make your subject look a little spooky if the light balance is off.Its unnatural for the light to be coming from below so care needs to be taken,I move the light forward towards the camera and feather it, this eliminates a shadow on the bridge of the nose.I wanted the focus to be on the eyes and although I used a softbox above,I dialed it right down sometimes less is more.Ive lost some hair detail in this low res jpeg that is evident in my finished tiff files.By the way I've been told that tiff files are the most robust of files,even more so than psd files,Can anyone verify that for me?

This image shows and increase in the hair light and a different position of her head,more detail in the hair and a little more light on the background,there is more information in this shot ,personally,I like the mood of the first shot.Its subjective,what do you think?

More images at my website www.ricwoods.com

Test drive Marees Costume for Beach shoot

I did a shoot the other day with Maree to see how her costume came up in camera.The shoot will be on the beach with 6-7 subjects at sunset.The theme? Well its a funeral, carnival, sideshow or circus troop...possibly the passing over of LULU the bearded lady or the Wilhelm, the sword swallower.....not sure yet...Maybe it was the Sabu the elephant.

In this shot Maree is lit by a 500w strobe on a boom through a grided beauty dish.Also edge lit by 2 500w grided spots for background seperation.Camera is D300 shooting RAW with pocket wizards to fire the strobes.

As you can see from my shirt, it was an energetic shoot...to say the least.Watch for images after the 7th April....ric