-3°C outside, 100°C inside / Model shoot

Ok guys, haha, that title for the photoshoot was based on true weather in Asutralia when it was really freezing in winter last month. It's a bit warmer now when September comes and that spring comes as well but back then, it was so cold. When I walked to the studio, I check the forecast in my iPhone and it said -3°C, seriously I can breath fog as well in 9am. That's why I put that title for this shoot. And how's about "100°C inside"? You'll know soon

I'm so happy that we can access to CIT studio easier this semester. And we can play around with Broncolors, one of the best brand for lighting equipment in the world.
I have 3 models came in, Emma Wannell, Saira Mueller and Jodie Nixon. The theme, well, should be hot and sexy glamorous despite the winter coldness outside. That why "100°C inside" happen.
Makeup by Charlotte Clark

Let's check them out:

Emma Wannell

Easy lighting setup with one zoom reflector on boom over head, background was 2 white partitions put close together in end side. There is a lighting setup shot for this one, check it out.

Jodie Nixon

Then I change another lighting setup for next look of them, still played around with white partitions but this time I put a door in and switch key light to back light. The white partition did good job as a huge light reflector. Lens flare were accepted, well, that's my style as well.

Saira Mueller

Played with underexposed. 

Another lighting setup, I kinda like this one. I used 2 partitions to block the light to create a very narrow and long light fall on the model and even on the CYC wall.

And the next lighting setup, again, white partitions and the props door, with 2 overhead zoom reflectors. There is a lighting setup shot for this one, check it out.

Last one, I play with a .. supermarket rack as cookies, LOL, to create some cross shadows on Saira:

And that's it. Working with 3 gorgeous models and various lighting setups, I've got heaps of photos after the shoot. But I was so lazy to edit them, as usual, so I just picked out a few good ones to post them here. More will come, well, when I get some spare time to do.

Melissa Tan - Tribal Princess

It was a shoot with Melissa Tan, a fantastic model who came from Malaysia. And this was our last chance working together before she traveled back to Malaysia when she finished her degree in Australia. We decided to go with the warrior / tribal style and Anna Dixon lent us some fabulous wardrobe and accessories that looked so good in the style I like.

Here are photos:

Check the text in the images for credits.

Elizabeth Payne - Live In Sydney

This was the photoshoot I did in holidays with Elizabeth. We drive to Sydney and stay there for 2 days, walking around to do high fashion editorial - like fashion shoot. Assisted by Elizabeth's boyfriend, Sam, and 2 makeup artist, 1 hair stylist in Sydney, we create such a beautiful work, well in my opinion.

This time, check out photos:

I really love those, especially those shots in the urban night scene. Here you can watch the behind the scene video:

 

Credits:

Models: Elizabeth Payne & Sam Rooney

Makeup Artist: Sarah Jane Bryan & Aimeè Bower

Hair: Carolina

Wardobe: Anna Dixon

Make a studio shoot with speedlites

Hi guys, I'm sorry for not updating my blog for like, ages. Been busy a lot when semester ended then holidays was fantastic with Melbourne and Adelaide. Well I've been shooting a lot as well but I didn't have many time for blogging although I had many great results from photoshoots. I'm so glad to work with a lot talented people to create some such wonderful images. It seems that the poll on my blog shows result that you guys need more tips and tutorials. Very well, I've been always trying to remember to take setup shots for you guys, not in all of photoshoot but yeah I did.

Here is one of the shoot that I setup to use my speedlite as studio strobes to do beauty / makeup shots. Check out the photo first:

So, basically I used one speedlite fire through square softbox on a lightstand high above model head. I added another speedlite fire bounce to a white card board below model's face to fill the shadow under her chin. Here is the setup shot:

And yes, it call 'Hollywood lighting' a.k.a. 'Butterfly lighting'



So, let's move on the next lighting setup. Check out photo first:

A bit high key photo. And now, check out the lighting setup shot, you will figure it out:

Yep, 3 speedlites, 2 from both sides and another one to fill by bouncing to a white card board.



Then, let's move on the last lighting setup:

This is my most favorite shot of the day, I love how the light look very soft, the shadow in the middle of her face created 3D look but still have a few details in the shadow area, filled by a card board (hold by my girlfriend's sister)
Check out the setup shot:

And yes, that's it. You can see that we can always achieve all kind of artificial lighting by any mean any how. It could be continouse lighting, studio flash or small portable flash. The most importance thing is how we manage to put the light direction in the way we want. And that's it (again). I hope you guys like this little lighting tips I share to you and well, feel free to share me yours.


Credits:
Model: Chloe Morello and Jodie Nixon
Makeup by Chloe Morello
Assistant: Simone
Location: Jodie's house

Hair shoot with Priya Chandra

Priya Chandra is a talented hair stylist that I've worked with her in a few photoshoot before. I especially love the shoot with her in CIT studio: http://lamtrancit.blogspot.com/2010/03/hair-shoot.html

This time she asked me to help her with her hair competition (again, another competition). I always love to do beauty and hair shoot so I worked it out with her.
We did a on-location shoot with 2 models, Ronise and Eden. We came to a large graffiti wall in Civic to do some of our first shots over there. But after tried with a few shots, I didn't really like that wall anymore so I asked them move to .... another wall.
This wall has some shadows on it, created by the sunlight went through the leaves so it might has the same effect with "cookies" or "gobo". Grab my chance, I quickly setup my flashes to shoot in front of this wall before the sun could be lower. And here is the lighting scheme:

I tried to make a nice sketch but I forgot to bring my Wacom tablet with me so I used the touch pad on my laptop to draw this haha it looks really bad but as long as everyone can get the idea about how I setup my flashes so it will be fine.
But here the explanation in words:
• SB-25 behind model left, shoot thru a grid.
• 580EX model right, bounce to a large white pillar over there (40cm each side I think)
So the main light was the sunlight coming directly on model face but diffused by the tree leaves above. The 580EX did its duty to be a fill light. The SB-25 did its duty to slightly add a little bit rim light. And the sun, once again, excellent in its duty, created interesting shadow on the background. With focal lengths around 180mm ~ 200mm and aperture at f/6.3 ~ f/7.1, I could make the shadow on the wall turn to be blurry.

So the result look like this:

Model: Eden (above) and Ronise (below)
Hair by Priya Chandra
Make-up by Kylie Bersinic


Bonus:
Large size of Eden's photo, I really like how excellent Kylie did with the makeup:

 (click here for 3810 x 5716: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3335/4601369688_558196499b_o.jpg)