Never Delete a Photo

I remember back in 2007 I attended the first ever London Strobist Seminar and apart from getting my photo taken by David Hobby of Strobist.com fame himself (Warning: The image may cause some people of a weak disposition some level of distress) I probably learned more in those few hours than I had in years of taking photos.

All the knowledge from that day was great and I would be nowhere near where I am today without what I learned in that seminar. So if you haven't already head over to www.strobist.com and either book yourself on a seminar or grab a copy of the lighting DVD's produced by David I promise you won't regret it.

Ok so I digressed...

In that Seminar there were two things that really stuck with me that day.

1. David didn't shoot in RAW only in Medium quality Jpeg and
2. Press photographers had to submit every photo so nothing was ever deleted.

The first point is irrelevant to this blog post but I had to get it in there because I think if there's one thing a Pro could do to silence a room it was say something like that (or break wind loudly). Thankfully a little while after that David moved to the Raw side... but again I digress.

The second point came about because years ago press photographers were all taking photos and then realising the girl wasn't anyone famous decided to deleted the images... except for one photographer. When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, this photographer had the only photograph of her before the event... so probably made a fortune.

I never delete photos in camera either, because you can't really tell from the screen on the back how good the shot is and also there may be elements of that photo that you want to use to fix something on another shot e.g. hand position or something in the background.

I only ever archive photos because I may have missed a great image the first time because of a tight deadline, my tastes have changed as to what makes a good image, or my post processing techniques mean there are images that I can re-do differently.



As an example I want to talk about Rianne, who was a great model (and I hope she's still doing it). I shot with her back in August 2010 at a group shoot with the London Strobist Group. At the time I'd discounted the image as I preferred the look of a few others with more complex lighting set ups such as the one to the left.


My tastes and post processing skills were very different back then and I think I would light this shot and finish it completely differently now, not that it's a bad thing, it just shows that my skills as a photographer are still developing.

With Rianne, I had the chance to shoot for quite a bit of time at the shoot which meant quite a few images to get through. We had a 2 week turn around to get these back to all of the models on the day so the selection process was extremely quick.

At the end of 2011 I was taking a break from shooting which gave me a chance to look back through some of my previous work and I picked up on some great images that I'd previously discounted.

After going through these images there's quite a few I wanted to have a play around with in post to try out some different toning techniques. This image was the result of going back through the photos that didn't make the cut in 2010. The smile in this photo is genuine and admittedly was a complete accident because I made her laugh at the time. But for me it's completely different to all the other images I took of her and that I've seen on her portfolio. It's actually more of a portrait than a fashion image as I believe it shows the real her. Anyway if you want to see the larger version of this image in all it's glory have a look at my 500px.com account here.

There are plenty of other images I could share where I have done the same thing but I'll just leave you with 2 points.

1. Never delete a photo
2. Always have a look through your old work, even if you don't find anything you can use, it's a good measure to see how far you've come.

New Years Resolutions 2012

It's that time of the year again where we do things like buy gym memberships that we'll never use, go on diets that never last and there's a surge of people looking for new jobs or making life changes. This makes it the perfect time to set yourself some goals to achieve over the next year that will really help to keep you motivated (Whether it's photography or anything else in life)

Normally by the end of November I look back on the year I've just had and I'm already looking at NY resolutions to set as goals, but this year I have been so busy I'm only just starting to look at this now. Before I get into listing some of things I'll be doing this year there are some rules that need to be followed.

The Rules of Resolutions:

1. If you write it down it's set in stone -  However you do have until the 1st of Jan to make changes but whatever is on that piece of paper/word document/tattooed on your skin on the 1st of Jan is final. This is to stop you trying to move the goal posts closer and should stop you being lazy about the resolutions through the year.
2. Make a couple of the resolutions take you out of your comfort zone - This will keep things interesting but also means that you're forced to try something new.
3. Keep copies of the resolutions everywhere that you'll see them - Whether that's on the bathroom mirror on the wallpaper of your computer screen, in your camera bag or on the front page of your note pad. Just make sure that it's somewhere that's going to keep them front of mind.
4. Every day as soon as you wake up read them - Like number 3 it'll keep things front of mind, but it'll also change your day when you have something to aim for
5. Keep track of your progress and Celebrate your successes - Make sure you know when you're achieving them and celebrate the success. This isn't something you have to wait until next December to look back at again and see if you have achieved it.
6. Tell other people about it - Just as I'm doing by posting about it on my blog, you should shout about what you're hoping to do next year and share it with others. Not only will it make you feel great about yourself when you share your hopes, but it's also an added piece of motivation in that you'd rather tell them about how successful you were than you haven't done it.
7. Finally if you don't achieve them all don't worry about it - You'll accomplish more by aiming high and missing than aiming low and achieving it all.

My Resolutions for 2012

This year I'm creating different resolutions for different things. Those of you that know me, know that I'm really into my fitness and philosophising about life, however in the interest of this blog I'm only going to talk about my photography resolutions. I'll be adding to this list over the next week or so and should have a finished article by the 1st of Jan.

1. Shoot more for myself- 2011 was a lot of shooting for clients and other people and my own work took a back seat, 2012 will have a lot more time dedicated to what I want to shoot.
2. Shoot Fitness Models- It's something I've always wanted to do more of and as an added bonus is great motivation for my fitness goals for this year.
3. Use more local talent- living so close to London I tend to gravitate towards the talent pool there but there's loads of talent in Essex, Kent and Herts
4. Assist other photographers on shoots- I learned a lot doing this years ago and don't do this nearly enough now.
5. Upgrade my camera- I have been saying this for awhile now but I think it's about time I got a new one. Now that it's on the list I can't put it off anymore.
6. Shoot some lingerie, glamour, boobs- Not something I've done before but in the interest of taking me out of my comfort zone I will make that sacrifice.
7. Shoot for shits and giggles at short notice- I tend to plan, plan and plan a shoot, I know what I want, I know what model I want, I know what equipment I need to do it. Here I'll try booking a model at short notice, doing a shoot in a forest, park or even in the street just to see what happens off the cuff
8. Do a shoot when I go travelling- I don't do this nearly enough, so I will book a shoot when I'm holiday this year.
9. Take an opportunity when it presents itself- Some of the most successful photographers I know are successful not because of their technical knowledge or how good their photos are, but because they have the confidence to (in the words of Nike) "Just Do It"
10. Build a strong team with MUA's, Stylists and Models that I can use again and again - Just as a good team, we'll know the abilities of each member and the limitations so we can get the right result every time.
11. Print a portfolio I can show off to people- I've always used a digital portfolio, but I think it's important to have something printed that I can take with me to show people my work.

It's a start, I'll be adding/modifying these over the next week or so but remember whatever is here on the 1st of Jan is what I'm sticking to.

Anyone else fancy sharing their new year's resolutions? If so drop me a note in the comments below or on Twitter and I'll link to them from here.

I'm now on 500Px

I've been looking at creating a portfolio site for some time now instead of just using flickr links. A few of you guys have been telling me about 500px so I thought I'd check it out and so far I'm impressed!

Come find me on there and say hello, I'll be posting quite a bit over the next few weeks.

Joanna Martin as Cinderella

You may remember a few months back I did headshots for the Santa Monica Players (SMP) and wrote about it in a blog post entitled 30 Actor Headshots.

Having had such a good laugh on that shoot, I jumped at the chance when the group asked me to come back and shoot with them again.

The Brief

Coming into Panto season (a tradition in here in the Uk) SMP are putting on a production of Cinderella this year and wanted something a bit different to help them promote it.

The brief was simple, instead of a normal Panto Style photo, they wanted something a little bit more elegant and on location. They would arrange costumes, location and the talent I just had to let them know what I my vision was for the shoot so they could arrange it.

Scouting the Location

A few weeks beforehand I decided to meet up with Luke from the group and have a look at the location they were thinking about. This was partially a location scouting exercise but at the same time it would really help me to visualise what would be possible with the actors in the shot and a chance to get a bit more info around the brief.

I'll do a blog post on how I scout a location and give you some tips in the near future

The Location was great, a large Georgian Manor with a grand exterior. What wasn't so great was the amount of scaffolding on the most scenic part of the building at the rear, the adjacent buildings which weren't in the same style and sign posts and wheelchair ramp at the front of the building. Having seen all this beforehand really helped as I could think about how I would work around this before the shoot.

The Shoot

The night of the shoot was freezing cold... and to make things worse there was a lot of fog. As it worked out the fog around the house was probably just the right amount to help diffuse the streetlamp lights and add a bit of extra atmosphere to the shot.

As I was setting up the first thing I thought of was balancing the colour of the ambient light from the street lamps, but compared to the non-balanced version, the person in the foreground didn't pop enough. I decided to balance with a bare flash as it kept the whole scene looking quite warm.

Lighting Info
I realised that the two street lamps in the back were in a perfect position to act as rim lights to wrap Joanna in light without me having to use two more flashes. I wanted to see how long the exposure would be to get the effect that I wanted so I took a multiple frames at different lengths to gauge not only how the ambient light was looking, but how much it affected the colour of the white dress that Joanne was wearing. Once I had that ready it was time to start adding lights.

The main light was a large umbrella, basically a 45" Softlighter without the diffuser directly above the camera
Light two was a bare flash to the right to add a bit of fill to the side and overpower the effect the ambient was having on that part of the dress
Light three was a snooted flash boomed overhead pointing at the shoe that was left behind to create a spotlight.

Here's a lighting diagram that gives you a rough idea of what was happening

Post Processing


There was a little bit of tidying on the image, like removing signs and railings from the building. But even with the spotlight I wanted to put more emphasis on the shoe in the background. Having added a bit of sparkle to the tiara and the shoes, I thought I could lead the eye from the dress straight to the shoe by adding a bit more to the dress.

A little bit of sharpening later and I'm at the final result. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Tickets to see Joanne performing in Cinderella with the Santa Monica Players are available from www.smptheatre.co.uk I'll be around on the Saturday so if you're there say hello!

How to get work you want to get.

I have a long history of corporate and product photography but you won't see much of this in my portfolio, but why? I remember years ago earlier on in my photography career I read a piece of advice that has stuck with me for awhile now.

"Don't put your best images in your portfolio, only show the work you want to do more of"

Regardless of what we think as an artist, in order to understand what we do, people like need to put everything into boxes/genres so they can work out and understand what they're looking at. The same goes for anything creative, if you're in a band and someone asks what kind of thing do you play, you either take the arrogant step of saying, "It's completely different from anything you ever heard, we play what we play" or you say, "It's a mix of grunge and country".

In photography if your portfolio consists of car photos, but you want to shoot fine art, a client won't see that there are similar lighting principles and control over the image, they will assume you are a car photographer and have no experience of photographing a building. Similarly if your portfolio consists of soley of scantily clad women that wouldn't look out of place in Nuts magazine then you might want to re-consider what you're showing a client interested in corporate head shots.




For me, I shoot a lot of varied subjects but then I have a lot of different portfolio's for different clients (made so much easier with an ipad and digital portfolio). But keep yourself open to everything, because you can always transfer learnings, but be very clear on what you want to do more of and adapt your porfolio to that.

30 Actor Headshots

Hot on the heels of my shoot with Emma, I was assigned to shoot headshots for the Santa Monica Players local theatre group who were putting on a production of the wedding singer. The complicated part of it was, that I needed to do 30 head shots in just under 2 hours.

For those people that are thinking don't school photographers do that all the time? Well yes they do, but a school mugshot photograph is much different to and actor head shot. The actor head shot needs to show the subject in good light (somewhat glamourous) at the same time as being true to how they really look. Looking at a lot of actor head shots beforehand I was thinking as they are part of a theatre group and they were going to be showing these photos in the programmes along with on the boards outside of the auditorium (for potential talent scouts), I decided that we needed to have something consistent, and that meant the lighting had to work for every type of face.

I was told that I'd be able to shoot at a rehearsal session so I was hoping there was going to be enough space to set up a makeshift studio. Basically I have a couple of lightstands with Manfrotto Superclamps attached to the top and my boom arm running across the top with a king sized white bedsheet clipped to it, sounds a bit ghetto right? well to be honest a lot of the time I'll use a blank wall or a projector screen, whatever I can find to get the same sort of look.

Luckily when I get there, they've got a separate room that I can set up in and take the shots whilst the rehearsal was going on in another place. There was plenty of space as well so I could go for a big set up. I recently picked up an absolutely huge light stand which I wanted to use with my boom... wait didn't I just say I was going to use that for the background? yes I did... bugger! Well I solved this by using another light stand as the cross bar for the background, all hail the superclamp!

There are two other main pieces of equipment that I used for this shoot, the Lastolite Triflector 2 (which is an expensive bit of kit but it's awesome) and my photek softlighter 2 (which is like a giant brolly octabox type thing but gives really amazing light). I boomed the softlighter overhead and used the triflector as a fill in front of the models and this set up gives a very nice light for portraits.

You can see the set up I was using below for the group shots at the end. The only difference for the head shots was that there were two flashes on the background on each side and just the photek was used not the umbrella as well.

Basically once the light was set up I didn't have to worry about changing it a lot, a slight tweak here and there for a couple of people but all in all the settings remained the same. This allowed me to concentrate on the actors and getting the right expression from them for the shot. You'd actually be surprised how uncomfortable actors are in front of a camera that takes stills as they're used to moving around, sometimes it's better to just let them do that and shoot.

I've created a contact sheet of all the headshots which you can see larger on my flickr page by clicking on the image.

I'll be down at their production of the wedding singer (June 15-18th) and from what I saw at the rehearsal it would be well worth getting tickets from their website www.smptheatre.co.uk 

Actor; Emma Feeney

It's been awhile since I updated, not because I haven't been shooting, but more because I've been so busy shooting and travelling around the world. I know I know it's not a good enough excuse but it's great because it gives me some posts to work on.

I've been working on quite a few portraits recently which is a change from working with models. I do like working with people that aren't used to posing for the photos, something about having to build that rapport with people very quickly to make them comfortable at doing something they're not used to (I'm pretty sure that sounded a lot worse than I meant it to).

Emma is an old friend of mine, working for the music industry by day and serious actor by night (and weekends). She needed some industry style 8x10 headshots that she could hand out at castings. A headshot is one of those simple things that as a people photographer is one of the first things you'll learn. It's one of those things that is easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master.

So I arrived at Emma's house and being in the uk space is always an issue. There was no way I could get  my background up and get enough space between it and her. So we pulled a painting down from the wall and used the blank wall. Even though it was an off white colour I knew that this was a black and white shoot and if I wanted it pure white I could hit it with enough light to blow it out.

So the light set up was a 60cm softbox overhead and a reflector underneath. Using the small box helps with the contrast of the image and I'm not the biggest fan of completely shadowless flat lit portraits.



Easy right? well I got lucky as Emma is photogenic already, but being an actor that has to play various roles, it's great to have a neutral serious headshot but we wanted to make sure we got a few varying expressions to basically show off what she can do. Apart from being a lot of fun it really does make for an interesting set of photos. But more to the point it really shows her personality which in this case can be a real advantage.