Archive for February, 2008
Sassy & Co.
Posted by Paul in Commercial, For Website on February 15th, 2008
It’s been a really good week this week for one reason or another. We’ve had fantastic light (which is always a bonus) and we’ve been producing some stuff that looks really cool.
We were commissioned to create some images for a fantastic hair and beauty salon in High Wycombe – Sassy & Co – that is owned and run by Kathryn whose wedding we photographed last year.
The guys there are entering the L’Oreal hair-colouring competition and needed some images for their submission. A couple of models, some subtle makeup and the most amazing hair colouring and styling and we were grabbing images that just looked stunning!
To do this one, we actually set up a fairly sophisticated light rig in the salon itself so that the guys could make any changes they wanted easily and quickly (it’s easier than trying to turn our studio into a hair and beauty salon!) and we could capture the images with the models looking absolutely perfect.
Although we started out with the intention of using a white background, it was quickly apparent that a jet-black background would look much more striking and show off the subtle hair colour and tone. It just goes to show that often you have to make it up on the spot, no matter what your plans were – the results are definitely worth the effort though!
Both Katie and Carl, the two models, were brilliant – very easy going (they’d have to be given the level of detail we were working to) and striking to look at. Not the hardest photos I’ve ever had to capture as pretty much any angle worked!
Hopefully the images will do well in the competition – I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, if you want impressively great service and some seriously talented hair-dressing/makeup then you should give them a try.
Coral
Posted by Paul in For Website, Lifestyle on February 11th, 2008
One of the great er… joys of bringing a new camera online is that you have an entirely new set of operating parameters to get familiar with. Our new Nikon D3 is something of a revelation really, with unbelievably beautiful tones and an almost impossibly low level of noise – even in near-darkness. However, it also does things slightly differently to our D2Xs’s, particularly when it comes to the exposure and focus.
So, whenever new equipment is required, I like to run a quick session with someone (who isn’t paying for the privilege!) just to make sure everything is second nature and I don’t need to be worrying while on a commercial session. I also really enjoy doing it as there’s no pressure, we can just go and shoot (just like it should be!)
Coral very kindly agreed (again!) to come and be my target for a few hours this morning. Over the years, we’ve actually photographed Coral quite a bit both as a client and as a volunteer when I wanted/needed to try something unfamiliar, and she is one of those subjects who a) always photographs exceptionally well and b) is VERY intelligent/funny/charismatic to have around. Which helps when I’m busily trying to work out why the multi-segment metering is over-exposing by a fraction.
Anyway, I wanted to put the camera through its paces in both a studio situation with our radio triggers and flash (this can be temperamental – our D2Xs’s sync to the flashes at a different shutter speed than the new D3: the manual doesn’t bother to let you know this…) and out in the village. The light is absolutely stunning at the moment so this was just a fantastic way to spend a Sunday morning.
I reckon we’ve caught some absolutely gorgeous images of Coral and I’m feeling quite smuggly satisfied – though it does have to be said that she is quite clearly an easy subject to work with (and the D3 is almost effortless in capturing unbelievably smooth skin tones). Nonetheless, a morning’s work well done and one new camera ready to roll!
Enjoy!
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