Outdoor fashion style shoot. Who is going to join in?

Garry Edwards

Garry Edwards

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Garry Edwards
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As per the title, basically we’re going to photograph a model in a woodland/farm setting in West Yorkshire on Friday 10th August and video the shoot. We have room for a few people on a ‘first come’ basis.

You will be expected to help carry lighting etc, hold reflectors and generally make yourself useful. In return, you will see how these shoots are done and of course you’ll be able to take photos yourself. You’ll need to sign the usual model release, in case you appear in the video.

There won’t be time for any instruction as such, but it will be a useful learning experience for everyone.
Michael Sewell will be doing the photography, directing the model etc. He’s the friendly, polite one.

As long as it isn’t sheeting down with rain the weather won’t matter, but you’ll need wellie boots because it can get muddy at the farm.

We will start from my studio in Bradford at 10 a.m. and will then drive to the venue together – because there will be stock in the fields we all need to arrive and leave together, to make sure that farm gates are shut properly. These things normally take pretty much all day, I doubt whether we will leave there until about 3 p.m. Once we’ve finished, you can either bugger off or come back to my studio for a debrief/QA session.

Transport. It’s a farm track, so don’t even think about coming along in a Jeremy Clarkson special, you’ll need a reasonable amount of ground clearance, but there’s bound to be spare passenger space for anyone who doesn’t have a suitable car.

We need to KNOW who will be coming, so please don’t say that you’ll be there unless you really will, doing so just takes away the opportunity from someone else. Please post here if you're taking part, we'll sort details out later by PM.

Our model for the day will be Josie Henry(photo by Michael Sewell)
CalthwaiteHall_069.jpg
 
I'd love to see how its done Garry and I don't mind carrying bags at all :)

I'm free that day too, so count me in! (If you can confirm it so I can book it in that would be great, don't want to double book :) )
 
I would love to go there because I know that I could learn from Michael Sewell. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend because that is the day of my sister's wedding, and I'll be the one to do photography. I am hoping here Garry that there will be next time.
 
Mank said:
I'd love to see how its done Garry and I don't mind carrying bags at all :)

I'm free that day too, so count me in! (If you can confirm it so I can book it in that would be great, don't want to double book :) )
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You're in.
I would love to go there because I know that I could learn from Michael Sewell. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend because that is the day of my sister's wedding, and I'll be the one to do photography. I am hoping here Garry that there will be next time.
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Well, these things do come up occasionally, it's possible. Michael does run outdoor lighting courses though, I think that the next couple are booked up but I'm sure that there will be more.
 
West Yorkshire? That's north of Watford, isn't it? :LOL:

Shame, it's too far for me to travel...you should try and "get down south" from time to time Garry :wave:

Darren
 
This sounds good Garry. Can you put *Sarah* and myself down for coming. We enjoyed your talk at the TP Convention and certainly don't mind lending a hand lugging gear around a muddy field. Hopefully we can learn something as well. (y)

Sarah is off work anyway but I'd need to book the day off if you could confirm over the next few days. Thanks.
 
Delta Skies said:
This sounds good Garry. Can you put *Sarah* and myself down for coming. We enjoyed your talk at the TP Convention and certainly don't mind lending a hand lugging gear around a muddy field. Hopefully we can learn something as well. (y)

Sarah is off work anyway but I'd need to book the day off if you could confirm over the next few days. Thanks.
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Yep, you're in. The talk at the TP convention wasn't really me at my best, this should be much more useful, especially as it's Michael who has been voluntered to do most of the work...
So, so far we have
Mank
Delta Skies
Ms Delta Skies:)
 
Can I come again please ?
 
domino1999 said:
West Yorkshire? That's north of Watford, isn't it? :LOL:

Shame, it's too far for me to travel...you should try and "get down south" from time to time Garry :wave:

Darren
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If you are able to sort a model and location, and we can get people interested, I'll come to you at a future date.

Yes, I know I'm not Garry, I'm polite.
 
Michael Sewell said:
If you are able to sort a model and location, and we can get people interested, I'll come to you at a future date.

Yes, I know I'm not Garry, I'm polite.
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Thanks for the offer Michael. Photography is merely a hobby for me. I wouldn't know where to start finding a model/location :shrug:
 
domino1999 said:
Thanks for the offer Michael. Photography is merely a hobby for me. I wouldn't know where to start finding a model/location :shrug:
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I think that this is the real problem. Location doesn't usually cause a problem in that a good photographer can make pretty well anything out of any location - but finding a model who will
a. actually turn up
b. looks anything like her facebook or modelling site photos
c. who has any idea how to model

is a much bigger problem. That's why it's usually better arranged by a pro who has the contacts, but then of course it costs a lot more money.

And no, miserable old Garry won't be doing any in the effluent south:) I used to live there and although I like looking at London, IMO the best view of it is in the rear view mirror... For me, it's West Yorks, North Yorks or, if I can find my passport, Lancs only I'm afraid:LOL:
 
You're in. The list now reads
Mank
Delta Skies
Ms Delta Skies
Big John
ChickenDipa
Cowmageddon
 
Garry Edwards said:
Yep, you're in. The talk at the TP convention wasn't really me at my best, this should be much more useful, especially as it's Michael who has been voluntered to do most of the work...
So, so far we have
Mank
Delta Skies
Ms Delta Skies:)
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Thanks for the speedy response Garry. We're looking forward to it.

BTW Ms Delta Skies is *Sarah* on TP :)
 
Garry Edwards said:
And no, miserable old Garry won't be doing any in the effluent south:) I used to live there and although I like looking at London, IMO the best view of it is in the rear view mirror... For me, it's West Yorks, North Yorks or, if I can find my passport, Lancs only I'm afraid:LOL:
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Surely you mean "affluent"? :D

And we're not all filthy rich. If I was, I'd have upgraded my 350D to something more modern by now :(
 
domino1999 said:
Surely you mean "affluent"? :D

And we're not all filthy rich. If I was, I'd have upgraded my 350D to something more modern by now :(
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No, I meant effluent - I've been much more affluent since I moved away:LOL:
 
Whereabouts is the field ? I work near Keighley but commute from 'tuther side of the Pennines so I try to avoid getting into Bradford via the car park aka M62 so meeting up at the field, if possible, would be preferable depending on where it was.
 
skiking said:
Whereabouts is the field ? I work near Keighley but commute from 'tuther side of the Pennines so I try to avoid getting into Bradford via the car park aka M62 so meeting up at the field, if possible, would be preferable depending on where it was.
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It's a farm off of a road off Street Lane, Morton. Street Lane runs between Swine Lane and the Village of Silsden, it's a bit remote.

So from Keighley, towards Bradford on the old road, just past Riddlesden, left at Swine Lane, left at the Silsden sign (Street Lane). If you want to join in we can meet there at about 10.45
 
You're in. The list now reads
Mank
Delta Skies
Ms Delta Skies
Big John
ChickenDipa
Cowmageddon
Skiking
Wambam
 
Would love to come along to this please Garry.
 
Couldn't reply before, have been running a lighting workshop today.
Everyone who has posted so far is in, but let's close it now - we have 12 people and that's enough.

The final list reads
Mank
Delta Skies
Ms Delta Skies
Big John
ChickenDipa
Cowmageddon
Skiking
Wambam
Kieron Nevison
dan_yorkshire
commjo
fidsey79
 
Unfortunately Fidsey 79 has had to pull out, so we now have one vacancy...
 
Everyone has now been sent a PM with details.
 
I'm heading over from Leeds if anybody wants to car share and save on fuel / fancies some company ? John .
 
I was going to print this out for the people attending but thought it better to post it here, to save both paper and time:)


Michael and I will be pretty focussed on the shoot itself and won’t have either the time or the capacity to explain things in detail as we work, so I thought it might be a good idea to explain, in advance, our likely approach.

I say ‘likely approach’ because these things aren’t carved in stone. We have a pretty clear idea of what we want to achieve but how we actually go about it will depend on the weather and the direction and quality of the natural light, and we don’t know these things in advance.

Objectives
1. Produce fashion shots of a model in a rural setting
2. Make a ‘behind the scenes’ video showing how it’s done
Once today’s video has been shot, a second video will be made in the studio, with Michael talking to camera and explaining the process, the soundtrack will then be used on the video we’re shooting today.

The first job will be to scout out suitable locations. We may do the shots in one location or we may use several, it depends.

What we have in mind is some shots of our model running, shots of real movement are more difficult to achieve than static shots, but the results are far better, the primary reason for this, especially when the model is wearing a dress, is that dresses only look good on someone when you can see the shape of the body underneath the dress – it’s the movement of the body that we actually photograph, not what is covering it, and this can only really be achieved when the model is actually moving.

What we really want for this is bright sunlight. And, just like a landscape shot, we choose our shooting position so that the background is lit well. Unlike a landscape shot, we have a human subject, our model, to light too and so we will light her separately because the chances of the sunlight being right for both the model AND the background are somewhere near zero.
If we aren’t lucky with the weather then we will need to create our own sunlight on the background, and it’s because of this that we have plenty of lighting equipment with us. But there’s a limit to what we can do even with the most powerful lighting, so if we end up having to light the background we will probably have to use longer camera lenses to restrict the amount of background in shot, and also shoot from a higher position, again to restrict the amount of background in shot.

Lighting the model for moving shots involves far more than just ‘balancing’ the light by producing fill flash – all that that will achieve is flat lighting. So, our approach may be to produce rim lighting (light from the side and a little behind) to make her the centre of attention and to make her ‘pop’ from the background. Typically, we use softboxes and reflectors for this, and powerful lighting allows us to overpower the sun if we want to. The positioning of the lighting is absolutely critical, and so is the timing of the shot, so we typically take quite a few shots to make sure that we end up with something that works for us.

These shots may be better with the background out of focus to some extent, this is achieved by using a neutral density filter, which allows us to use a wider aperture. I don’t know what Michael will choose to use, typically when I’m doing this kind of shoot I bring along 2 stop, 3 stop and 4 stop ND filters. But this can create autofocus problems, this is partly avoided by using large aperture pro lenses, but even with the right lenses we may need to use manual focus.

We’re hoping that we will also be taking some shots in totally different clothing with totally different, heavy makeup. Our MUA will have her work cut out, because it isn’t any easier for her, working outside in whatever weather we happen to have available, than it is for either our photographer or videographers. These will probably need to be static shots, because the lighting needed to emphasise the qualities of her face etc will require static poses (but see below). Again, we have enough lighting equipment to cover all bases, but will probably stick with a beauty dish as the key light. But we may need to add rim lighting too, which is where strip softboxes with honeycombs fitted to them come into their own, and we may or may not need to add fill light too.

One of the problems that we always encounter with this type of shoot is that lighting stands are designed to be used on flat surfaces, and of course our surfaces won’t be flat. Because of this, and also because of the effect of wind, we have to make sure that the equipment won’t blow or fall over, and we tie everything down with guy ropes.

Other than the obvious, i.e. using a full frame camera to get the best possible image quality, shooting at the native ISO for the same reason (and to give us more control over depth of field, and getting the colour balance right, that’s about it.
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Can't promise, but you may still get a running commentary.
I have a terrible habit of thinking out loud.
Least ways, you'll know my thought process and how it changes during the shoot of a specific scene, what influences those changes, and how the image develops.

or I might say nowt!
 
mrdaviesuk said:
Garry is this slot still available? I assume not, but it seems silly not to at least ask the question.
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Yes, still available, I'll send you details via PM
 
Can somebody post up the meeting point on Google maps if you get a chance as I'm not 100% sure on this . Failing that I'll head to the studio and follow from there . Or if anyone would like to meet up half way so that I can follow you . Thanks John
 
BigJohn said:
Can somebody post up the meeting point on Google maps if you get a chance as I'm not 100% sure on this . Failing that I'll head to the studio and follow from there . Or if anyone would like to meet up half way so that I can follow you . Thanks John
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Sorry, entirely my fault. Street Lane is at the junction with Carr Lane, not Swine Lane as I stated - I go there every other week but didn't realise that the name changed.
Those who want to go to the meeting point need to turn into Street Lane and park, there are houses etc there at that point and plenty of width to park, which disappears a bit further on.
From Bradford Road, Swine Lane, over the canal bridge, follow the twists and turns, 40 then 20mph speed limit and turn left into Street Lane, then park. Street Lane is signposted from Carr Lane, the sign says 'Silsden' and the road name is also showing.
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This is the equipment we'll be using on the shoot, along with various light shapers of course.

Different model, the model in this video is Jade, who put up with us photographing her on our lighting demos at Focus this year
[YOUTUBE]NK0-qWr1MIM[/YOUTUBE]
 
Thanks Garry and Michael for another gray day . I really enjoyed it , and learnt quite a lot from it . A good insight into the thought process around the shoot . Not really sure who everyone was but nice chatting to you all even though I was overrun with NIKON shooters .
 
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