#HrdLight–Sevensin…Steam Punk

Another frame for my #HrdLight project.  Taken at a local studio.

2 Light used in this.  Key light is a Bowens studio head with a 30 Degree Grid boomed over head (love that position) and the background light had a bare reflector and red gel.

Jess (Sevensin) was great to work with and really suited this type of light, I asked Jess for a strong symmetrical pose.. hands on  hips (use this allot) to create shapes/symmetry in the frame.

A larger version of this image can been seen in the Gallery for this project.

Really enjoyed this shoot and will be looking in to Steam Punk some more in 2013.

Rick

Personal Work – In Studio – Model: Alana Elliot

This shoot took place a little while ago back in January this year.  I had the luxury of looking after and running a friends Studio (Ians Studio)whilst he was away on holiday, in-between running some events at the studio I booked a model along with Mark (newtophoto co-host) and had a day in the studio working on some personal work for my portfolio.

You can find out more about Alana on the links below.

Her blog - http://alana-j2012.tumblr.com/ 

Her Model Mayhem - http://www.modelmayhem.com/1943375 

Alana’s communications pre shoot were great, and she was amazing to work with, professional, great range of poses and expressions and was able to connect with the camera  (you could feel it) and nail the shots.  I will be working with here again soon, thank you Alana :)

Below are some more of my favourite images from the shoot, some of which are in my galleries on this site. All images shot using the Canon 500D, 50 F1.8 or 24-105 F4L, but remember the gear does not matter.. what ever you have go shoot.

#1 (By the way this was taken at ISO400, perfectly clean in good light) Don’t be afraid of increasing the ISO, it can help shoot faster with flash as a lower power is needed.

#2 , #3

#4, #5

#6,  After the softer images above I went for something harder and more dramatic using hard light.  30’ Grid

#7 , #8

Love these images, especially number 1 in fact its been printed and I am in the process of finding a frame I like.

Thank You

RIck

Project Announcement: #HrdLight (Hard Light)

Just a quick blog post  about a new project I am starting.  Its a personal project/personal work…but may include work from client shoots also.

Some of you may of guessed what the project is from the title #HrdLight – It’s a portrait project based on using and experimenting with hard light.. no large softboxes, umbrellas in fact no soft anything… just hard light.  The example above is just that an example, I want to shoot all new work for this project.

Hard Light (#HrdLight) can come from using strobe, mid day sun, torches… the list goes on.. its all about the size of the light in relation to the size of your subject and also the working distance as working far away can make a large light source hard (Think Sun).  

What is hard light? - Well its Hard/Harsh Light... you will get shadows and a very hard lines between hightlight & shadow (Light and darker) areas of an image, to what degree depends on how its used.

Why hard light?  Well why not -  no seriously I love it..and like drama and shadows so want to experiment and grow my use of hard light,  will it work for every subject..may be.. maybe not depends on how you use it but it will be fun to find out.

This will be an on-going project and not a 365 picture a day project.. I am planning to shoot models, friends, family, strangers (read anyone I can get in front of the camera) for this.  

Whilst its a project based on using #HrdLight I will still be working with my subjects to make the images, getting to know them and working to find a frame that suits them as well... so there is more to this than a project based around a way of using light, as always with portrait work you have a subject to work with / understand. 

Images will be blogged on this site and sent out on twitter with the #HrdLight and I will also add them to my 500px account until the project is complete and can be added to a gallery / page on this site.

I’m shooting tomorrow no wait today (crap its 2:15am) so I’m hoping to get the first image for the project. 

FYI - If you or you known somebody would like to be photographed (18 Years or older) as part of this project then you can email me here  Please use "#HrdLight" in the email subject. I am only looking for people in and around  Stockport, Manchester and Liverpool (Basically local). 

If you have any questions about this project if you are considering contacting me about being photographed for it let me know. 

Thank You

Rick