This was going to be perfect for the look and feel I was after, ‘Freedom and the Open Road’ which seemed highly appropriate after the last 18 months or so that we’ve all been living with the pandemic.
I couldn’t have wished for a better location and with it being so close (just a 10 minute drive from Ian’s studio). So, once an exact spot had been decided on, and the position of the sun checked using the PhotoPills App to see where it would be , we were all set for 11am the following morning.
I’ve recently updated my Developing your Style PDF where I go through what I truly believe is the way to develop your own unique and recognisable style.
As photographers, or indeed any form of art, I think it’s fair to say that we all want to have a style that is uniquely us, rather than a body of work that looks no different to the next person; but how?
I hadn’t actually intended to post this here on my website, but having shared the story on social media, and seeing the responses from people (some that were hilarious) I just had to add it here too for anyone that didn’t see the original on the likes of Facebook and Instagram.
Some of the comments posted on social media, I’ll add to the bottom.
Right, here goes…
Conditions were absolutely perfect for some long exposure photography, and wow, what a stunning location!
We arrived around 5pm with the high tide expected at 5.20pm, and had to wait maybe an hour or so before some of the hidden rock formations became visible. This gave us plenty of time to set up kit and think about where we would position ourselves; this being made a lot easier from Doug having been there before.
It’s fair to say that the Covid 19 Pandemic has affected each and every one of us in one way or another; be it with the loss of a loved one, a friend, or how the restrictions placed upon us have affected our everyday lives.
I can only talk about how it’s affected me, or rather how it could have affected. Now I say ‘could have’ because I know what I’m like and I know, that even with no pandemic to contend with, I’m the kind of person that gets restless and agitated if I’m not constantly working on something new.
As a Portrait Photographer, pre March 2020 it was easy. I had portraits to take and I had my 39-45 Portraits Project which in all honesty, I’m happy to say
Back in May 2019 I was at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, Wiltshire photographing and filming Mark Billy Billingham (former UK Special Forces and star of TV’s SAS: Who Dares Wins and Who Dares Wins Australia) whilst he was on his ‘An Audience with…’ tour.
Having met up with ‘Billy’ early in the afternoon, we set up on the stage hours before the audience streamed in to take some portrait and promo shots as it was shortly before his first book The Hard Way was released…
Seeing as I’ve revamped my website and also tidied up previous blog posts, I just wanted to make sure I included this one from early in 2020 when I spent a day with one of my closest friends, Brian Dukes, and photographed his incredible Ford Mustang.
We photographed it on a former airfield which saw action during World War 2, and is now owned by another great friend of mine Tom as it forms part of his farmland.
You’ll see in the video below, how I lit the image and that was by taking a serious of photographs with a flash positioned at different parts of the car; these images were
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been putting a lot of time into not just revamping my website, but moving it to a completely new hosting platform (thank you SquareSpace). I’m going to be writing a post about why I’ve done this, but needless to say I am VERY happy I finally made the (much needed) move.
Anyway, as part of the moving process I connected my Google Analytics account to the new site and what was really interesting to see was that ‘Invisible Black Background’ was still ranking high up there as one of the search terms used by folks and that lead them to my site. If you didn’t know, ‘Invisible Black Background’ refers to a photograph technique I named and that was featured in the New York Times, and is basically a way to make it look as though
Following on from a post last week, here’s a full length (10 minute) video where I go through ‘hands’ on use of the NEW Sony A1 and how I lit and photographed a recent surfer portrait on the beach at Saunton Sands at around 12pm on a VERY bright, sunny day…
Sony A1
Sony 85mm f/1.4 G Master
Westcott FJ400 (LINK)
f/1.4 , ISO 50, 1/8000sec in High Speed Sync
Portrait of a female surfer on her board awaiting the wave…
This is the result of one of the most challenging, but great fun, photo shoots I’ve had to date; not because it was taken at around midday on a VERY bright sunny day and camera and flash settings related BUT sea, waves, sun and kit related.
Getting beyond the breakers at Saunton Beach in Devon meant being chest height in the water; me with camera and a great guy named Jim, a surfer, who helped us out by holding and positioning the lighting.
Ordinarily a relatively easy shot but not so when you have waves to contend with constantly pushing you this way and that, your subject (Molly, a Surfing Instructor from Walking on Waves Surf School) is constantly moving and having to counter the waves to maintain a pose, AND your lighting is moving; also, keeping an eye out for any rogue waves that may (and did) appear, meaning a well timed jump up with arm stretched high to keep the camera and lighting safe.
Sony A7RIV (camera)
Sony 85mm f/1.4 G-Master (lens)
Westcott FJ400 (light) – LINK
Having rehearsed positioning on the beach and dialled in the settings, this is what I went with to give enough detail in the sky and light Molly with the FJ400 in High Speed Sync…
ISO 50, 85mm, f/2.0, 1/2500sec (High Speed Sync)
*For a full list of the kit I’m currently using, check out my GEAR page
Initally when on the beach I’d opted with Single-Shot AF, but very soon after getting in the water, realised that Continuous AF was best choice, and with Back-Button Focus.
This was definitely the way to go along with a Focus Area of Flexible Spot: Medium because the rise and fall of the water would knock the focus point elsewhere onto a wave, when I had it set to Focus Area: Zone, AND because of the waves our positions were constantly shifting.
All of these settings I have programmed so that they’re available at the press of a button rather than having to dive through the menu…
Ordinarily I would also shoot tethered to my laptop which would be in a shade so I could see the screen clearly despite the bright sunshine, however for this photo shoot, this just wasn’t possible.
The LCD on the back of the camera, despite being at full brightness, was incredibly difficult to see. I didn’t want to use the viewfinder as that would give me tunnel vision with my face pressed against the camera, and this I definitely didn’t want as I also needed to keep an eye out for any of the rogue waves.
Ultimately this is where complete trust in your kit comes in. I knew that once I’d dialled in the correct settings, the camera would lock on to Molly with Face Tracking and Eye AF, and it certainly didn’t let me down.
Believe me I was more than a little on edge once in the water with all the kit but thankfully, despite a few splashes, everything survived, however I do now have a waterproof camera housing on order as I’m going to be doing a lot more of this kind of stuff AND underwater / split above and below the water.
Having taken some advice I’ve opted for Outex (Dome Lens Pro Kit) so I’ll definitely keep you posted how that performs once it arrives and I start putting it to test.
One of the many things I love about photography is how I can recall the when, where, how, who and what happened as I look at the photographs in my portfolio; this photograph will most definitely be one I won’t forget.
VERY excited about the kind of images and videos I’ll be working on in the future now that I live in Devon; first things first though…that watertight camera housing 🙂
As always, if you have any questions or comments please do make use of the comments section below and I’ll get straight back to you.
Cheers,
Glyn
•Video sponsored by Sony going through the ‘Behind the Scenes’ coming soon.
© Glyn Dewis 2024
