BlueScope Cardiff-ric woods photography

ric woods photography provides high quality images for industry

LUCKY LUCKY STEVE !!

LUCKY LUCKY STEVE !! was reluctant to put an entry in the box at the local vets clinic. He eventually did and scooped a $10,000 cash prize sponsored by Beyer.. Steve said he will holiday in Canada with the winnings. Sadly his pet has to stay home. Last year his brother won $5,000 in a competition at the same vet !! Where do I sign ?

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Merry Christmas to ALL.We hope you all enjoy the break.Maree and myself decided to make our Christmas Card the other day.

Set-up:We placed an SB600 high camera left fired by pocket wizard,2 SB24s optical trigger left and right onto the background.Shot the cameras under the same lighting then dropped it into the shot in post.I did the tree illustration for another job.





By the way, a special mention of David Barnes at ProAm photo lab on Brunker Rd Adamstown. Thanks for your great work through the year and providing us with excellent service. We encourage local photographers to support their local labs, they cannot compete with the mass printing franchises for cost...but they can give you better quality and service.

GREAT JOB BARNSEY...

LITTLE LIGHTS -BIG RESULTS...a seminar on the off camera flash

Maree and myself ran the first of hopefully many photography seminars last night. Ebony was a fantastic subject and all enjoyed the course.

This session was based on using off camera flash to create several different end products.We showed how to make a pure white ( knock out ) background to provide graphic artists with clean images....if you provide them with clean images like this they will love you forever and it DOES general repeat commissions.

Behind the scenes look at the set we built for this shoot.

Here is the cropped image we were looking for



Next we changed the lights again to create a street grunge look


Many of the students captured Ebony is strong images

Here is a quick video grab of the students in the studio setting

The next seminar is in 2 weeks, there are a few spaces left. Those interested can contact Maree by email maree@ricwoods.com or call the studio on 02 4962 1066.

Its a great night

"The Crew" Little Green Frog Marketing-less director jamie

Its become a tradition of mine now to photograph the staff of little Green Frog Marketing on the morning of Melbourne Cup Day. They approach the day like tigers of fun.

HUGE softbox over camera,silver umbrella high camera right for some POP. white reflectors left and right of subjects.D300 nikon

Fine Furniture-by Rod Jackson

Its not very often I get to see such fantastic workmanship.Rod Jackson creates fine furniture.This piece we photographed to present to a panel of judges, these judges "invite" you to present your furniture in an exhibition.

This mostly handcrafted piece is wonderful in the "flesh".The only lathe work was to separate the ends on the legs and the collared grooves.These legs are had crafted from square lumber.OUR goal was to make images that show case the finer points of his work and get his piece selected.I feel we have achieved the brief.

Its valued at $10,000.00

What did my client think?

"G’day Ric,

Well, what can I say, except they are brilliant !!!!! It will be hard for me to select the number back to ten as they are all so good.

I can’t stop smiling and showing the photos to staff.

Kind Regards

Rod"

Thats how we like it .....

Lttle Lights -Big Results-lighting seminar

Hi it’s maree,
I’m excited to announce that I am now taking bookings for

‘Little Lights, Big Results’ – a seminar based on off camera flash.
The seminar will take place in the Carrington studio on;
Thursday 19th November 2009 from 6.30 – 9.30pm
The seminar will cover;
• Light Shaping
• Light Modifiers
• Creating a pure white background
• Working with grided spots
• A Great Studio experience
The seminar will be structured as follows;
• Studio set up before students arrive
• One hour of the " Nuts & Bolts"
• Two hours of practical, participants shooting
• Two sets / lighting changes
• Model Supplied
• Students will be paired with a shooting partner to maximise time with the model. Shooting time will be structured to ensure everyone get equal opportunities to shoot.
• Certificate issued to all students who complete the seminar
• Special voucher to save money on future seminars
I have limited the group to 8 students to maximise learning and more importantly shooting time!!!
Plans are already in place for a dynamic set, theme and model for the shoot session.
The cost of the seminar will be $70 for pro-am students and $80 for others. This price includes your worksheets for the night, tea/coffee and the guarantee that your memory card will be loaded with outstanding and unique images.
Spaces will fill up fast so contact the studio asap to put your name down and bring your money/credit card along on Tuesday to pay your deposit and secure your spot.
maree nichols – production manager

contact :maree@ricwoods.com

LOCATION PORTRAITURE WORKSHOPS.(participants images below)

We are running some location portraiture workshops at ProAm photography lab Adamstown .
Maree has been the model,subject,victim and Ive been the tutor,bogey man and box head.
The participants are doing fantastic and we are having a great time. More images on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricwoods/

LOCATION PORTRIATURE- a class I'm running at ProAm Photo Lab

These are a few of the images were by the participants of a workshop I'm running that was arranged by David Barnes the owner of Pro Am a film lab at Adamstown ( nsw australia)

This was the third night of the 5 sessions and I decided to take the group outside to use some off camera strobes and gels. The previous week we were shooting inside ProAm and the group had a great time with Maree ( my prod mgr/second photographer/very often photography subject). Everyone was very quick to learn how easy it can be to create beautiful light with good exposures and lighting ratios.

I demonstrated how long it takes to set up a scene using 4 strobes and how the strobes are fired by pocket wizards. I have 6 of these and this was great as it enabled me to have 2 students shooting at a time. This is easy on the recycle time for the strobes.

I have 10 + Maree in the group and its fantastic to have people so eager to learn...for me it doesn't get much better.

I used this lane way beside ProAm to demonstrate how easy it is to find and interesting shoot location when you sculpting with light.

The focus was to create not only interesting images to to use it to demonstrate how to direct the subjects, pre visualise the image, synchronise the action and the camera...Here Maree is the victim of some crazy stalker (me)

...then Maree found a bag snatcher...

Below, this is a great double page spread...I can see almost see bold text running down the right side of this image...

The group learnt how to drop the ambient light right down but retain detail

Then the paparazzi became to victim of an unwilling subject.

We then turned around and lit the wall behind us for another completely new scene and tone...

Maree as always gave plenty of great subject matter....

I really liked some of the images captured by those waiting to shoot with the radio triggers

We even kidnapped "the Pizza Guy" for a few of the images.....

I'm looking forward to the next session .We will shoot some inside portraits and Ill show them my post production tips. If your interested in participating in Location Portraiture Workshops shoot me an email enquiries@ricwoods.com

Blue World Order Shoot-behind the scenes

Several people asked us for a little more about the on site with the band Blue World Order.

Maree-another image from the "Tule" shoot

Maree with $20 worth of tule.

Tech info: On boom above camera gridded snoot on SB600 1/4 CTO@1/4 zoomed 85.Camera right lower snooted-SB24 magentax2.Camera right top of frame snooted SB26 red gelx2,top of frame snooted SB26 CTOx2.D300 24-70 2.8.Triggered by PW.

I "see" it...click....gold.

I do many,many portraits and every now and then through my view finder I get a glimpse of gold. ...and that is the primary reason I make images...tech info 24-70 2.8, D300, gridded beauty dish high camera left,60x60 softbox right & rear of subject for separation. Fired by pocket wizards. This will be in my web portfolio www.ricwoods.com.

Passmores Business & Managemet College Corporate Shoot

We had the pleasure of shooting the students of Passmores Business & Managemet College. The shoot was to provide a corporate style of portrait for the graduating students CV. We shot approx 44 individual portraits with several shots for each student and teacher to chose their favourite. 3 full class shots and several shots of the entire college students and staff. This required 5 different setups ( including the moving around of 40+chairs etc) and for each person to chose their image as well as all the required releases and information gathering. We arrived at 9am and had left by 12.30pm. This requires a smooth work flow and good communication skills with your clients as many of these people are camera shy.Maree was fantastic on the production side, she mustered the talent, created the paper trail and I shot each student, she helped them chose their image. This is where shooting tethered to the laptop is a great time saver.It directs the images directly on the the laptops hard drive with almost instant viewing of a large image. ( one disadvantage that still makes me nervous, is that it does not save a copy to the card in the camera)

It was a great shoot and we were really impressed with these young professionals, they are bright and well groomed and I guess that is why Passmores places most into jobs.

Once back to the studio came the editing and the electronic "vanishing cream" to eliminated those odd skin blemishes amongst this crew. Burn student a copy and presto... their First corporate portfolio shot.

TEENS AGAINST WHALING-Skye Bortoli

Skye Bortoli is a wonderful young lady on a mission. At a recent shoot for the launch of a new product she filled us in on her quest. www.teensagainstwhaling.net is a strong group of young people determined to stop the slaughter of whales. Their latest goal is to send 1,000,000 postcards to the US President. Billabong is one of her sponsors and if you buy one of her stylish T shirts ( see film clip) , Billabong will donate $5.00 to help the cause...

Skye was a great professional and easy to shoot. The brief was to do some lifestyle shots, light, happy and young...that came easy. We also had a huge shot list of the new product she is launching ( a secret at the moment). Monique , Skye's mum and Skye we able to keep up the pace with the help of fruit juice, biscuits and a huge bag of red frogs that eventually evaporated.....Well done, good luck with your worthy mission.

Sparke Helmore raise the bar for Business network meetings...

Hunter Business Chamber organised an network meeting recently at Sparke Helmore on the foreshore in Newcastle. Sparke Helmore arranged a full fire drill ( joke) whilst we were in the building, in true spirit the chamber members continued to network and exchange cards on the sidewalk...WELL DONE . At ric woods photography we have reportage in our blood, never far from the action, this enables us to capture this moment in time. Seriously there has never been a better time to capture news photos as well as HD videos with the latest compact cameras. Even though some of the accessories might be a bit out there, there are many good products on on market.

3 Sisters Shoot

Maree and myself shot 3 gorgeous sisters the other day. The girls commissioned us for the shoot to give their parents a print as a gift. We were shooting both outside in a local park and inside the studio.We use different lighting set ups during the shoot to obtain different looks. People of different ages have their own ideas of the look they want.Some people like contrast and others like a light mood. We provide colour and mono images. I like to light Mono images differently colour to get the results I want.

The sisters are very attractive and have vibrant personalities so I chose to shoot the outside images with a shallow depth of field and allow a little camera movement to portray that dynamic feeling. Pin sharp has its place and so does movement in the image. Photography for me is about not only filling a commercial brief but also bringing a little something else to the client. I always deliver the requested brief and get lots of information from the clients about their personal tastes. The primary focus for this shoot was a GREAT picture that their folks would adore.....It had to have not only great technique as this would be a very large print, but we had to capture the energy, humour and close relationship between these women.

Maree my prod mgr and second shooter is fantastic on a shoot , she watches the details that I may miss looking through that small viewfinder i.e. small strands of hair across the eye, crooked belts,necklaces and comes up with interesting additional poses.

These is NO SUCH THING as a self made man/woman. I am surrounded by many people that bring expertise,skill and creativity to www.ricwoods.com

Waterford County Shoot ...

Photography is FANTASTIC, I enjoy it a great deal.The people I work with are very creative and they do inspire me. Most of the time when I'm on a shoot I'm full of adrenaline and coffee.

Here is a short movie behind the scenes of a shoot from the Waterford County Land Development campaign. It was late last year on a very cold day. I had previously blogged a few images from this campaign but the small movie is more entertaining for some.

Being self employed it can be difficult to take time out to walk on the beach, eat a good meal,catch up with the family and have some fun creatively,like the blog...Today, I was able to do them all...and secure a new client from Interstate.

The creative for this shoot was under the watchful eyes of Jamie Gilmore ( Little Green Frog Marketing) and his talented crew of young bloods.
By the way all my experiences with horses have been a little on the edge...including this time....Yes they do smell your fear

I was shooting on a D300 Nikon ( Raw Files) Lenses were 80-200 2.8,24-50 2.8 and my fave 24-70 2.8. ]

This is the images as it appeared in the sales brochure...

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

I did a shoot for The Little Green Frog Marketing Think Tank. It was to update some of their staff portraits. My brief was to shoot was to supply images to the written brief

IMPORTANT NOTE:I always ask for a written Brief .Ask the client to drop their thoughts and suggestions in an email ...that doesn't mean i always get a brief.Creative people think in videos and when your a stills photographer if you cant get a written brief it creates a risk that your client may not be happy, because they haven't thought in a stills photography mind set.It also give me invaluable in site into planning the shoot i.e. talent look, costume,venue,camera angle etc This time Mary ( Gidget) gave me an excellent brief with poses, etc Fantastic.I follow the Brief and then add some of my ideas when they crop up.

Prior to the talent arriving Ive read the brief and am able to plan the lighting. Three of the images would need to be deep etched so they are shot on a white back ground son the graphic artist can drop them on their chosen back drop.

I am doing a self portrait holding a grey chip .It helps as a tool to remove an color cast. Lights even strobes do have a colour cast especially as they age.

The images on the left below of the before and after are virtually straight out of camera ( they are cropped etc) . As you can see the contrast needs adjustment shooting into the white paper background which acts likes a large light source.

IMAGE 1: Below is Katie aka Lucy from an old TV show "I Love Lucy" I think she nailed the character.


Image 2 : Mary aka "Gidget" from a an old TV surf series

IMAGE 3: Dominique "Shirley Temple" arrived with a selection of Lollipops, this one was the smallest.


Lighting change now, Jamie the owner of the Little Green Frog helps here.Jamie a good mate always gets into character when I point a camera at him. Here I think here he's being Kevin Rudd.(just kiddin")


The styling of the shoot was handled by the whole crew. I like to be influenced by the other "creatives", it makes for better images.



IMAGE 4: Megan aka "Mafiette" was looking good against black.The Mafia was the influence for the look.

Corporate Indoor and Outdoor Shoot

I did a shoot the other day for Andrew, a corporate client who works in alt. health and life industry.I didn't post his site because I checked and he hasn't posted the images yet, my ego wont let me be blamed for the ones hes currently using. (I'm smiling)
The idea was to produce some clean images that can not only be used on a website but also brochures.Following my advice Andrew agreed to having Jo Nelson do his hair and keep an eye on the shine that may be present under the lights.

In the studio (www.ricwoods.com) when shooting men that don't have a full head of hair I do not use a hair light.
I generally use a large soft box in clos, if the guys have deep character lines, and a white reflector.It gives some contrast to the shot but has good detail for print and web. Remember you cant EASILY put detail in later and having black holes in print is not the go.

We tried various outfits but Andrew and myself were pleased with the white shirt on the white background.The correct exposure ( I know I mention this often) is important so that I keep a clean defined edge with the white on white.These studio images are shot with a Nikon D300 and a 24-70 2.8 lens ( which I use often)

These images will easily lend themselves to being dropped onto another colour background or natural image like clouds etc for his brochures.
We went outside as Andrew wanted to have a natural shot with his car to show the distinctive number plate. That is my hair and makeup artist on the reflector trying not to sail away...Jo is little and light. You can see the reflection in the subjects face of the Styrofoam reflector which creates a pleasing fill light. I was lucky to be using this as a big gust of wind came and as I grabbed the reflector the wind snapped a bit out of the side and Andrew was swatted with it (I'm pleased he didn't sue). This Styrofoam is not real good for the enviroment but great for photographers. You can get several grades and the cheapest is not the way to go, as soon as you touch it, it turns into bean bag filling. You can buy the stuff from Insulation Industries, tell them I sent you over to buy the damaged or dirty interior suspended ceiling tiles. You can gaff tape them into a folding book, they are much better in wind than those expensive folding photography types. I also use blocks of the stuff for kids to sit on and for product photography.

I am able to use the many places near my Carrington Studio to the best advantage for shoots. We have waterways, the harbour, industrial backdrops including sheds, boats ,trains, waterways, boat ramps, marina, bridges, parks and sports ovals and a walkway through the mangroves....a top place. I sound like a real estate agent.

This image was shot with an 85 1.4 portrait lens.This is a fantastic lens, especially when you want to isolate your subject in a crowd, or drop the background, in low light its a dream.It has creamy tones like European glass. I believe I was using an aperture of f2 for this with a circular polariser.This reduces the reflections on the front window. Circular polarisers only work for best effect if your 90 degrees to the sun, we were lucky in this case it was just about right.One disadvantage Ive noticed with the polariser is that you can get a blue halo on some edges due to the colour spectrum shift. I'm not a scientist so I don't know all the correct lingo, but I do know a bit about light and i do see it. Adobe bridge can pull some of it out but not completely.

On a personal note Andrew was real pleased with our work and we had lots of good laughs during the shoot talking about motorcycles and what we got up to. That was in my previous life, the image below was 22 years and 5 driving licences ago...

the next images was was 3 years ago....the camera was always around... I don't need to own a motorcycle, my old boss lets me borrow them...a real cool guy.

I really enjoy working with people and finding out about them .....I love this job......

TEMPLE GOL:D CARPET HAIR & FASHION SHOW-Panthers 2009..Photographer to Art Director in a SLIP !!

This is the Studio we created inside the auditorium

(all images are un edited to show exposures . Digital does not like to be over exposed,Im mindful of highlights..watch the histogram NOT the screen image)

A big thank you to our FANTASTIC assistants...well done

Photographers, Jamie, Maree and me..

LATER THAT NIGHT......

I slipped on a broken glass and spilt drink ( I was informed later) whilst shooting the Gold Carpet Hair and Fashion Show at Panthers last night.Popped the shoulder out and went from Photographer to Art Director...in and instant...OUCH !!! Maree and Jamie both put it back in but the verdict was in I couldnt carry a camera.
Ill post some images from the night soon...Thanks again to Maree and Jamie for stepping up and getting the Shoot done.