Mountain Biking

Going bush was a mission to find this track. After a long day at work we made it through the traffic then down a bush track for 30mins then hiked for another 30mins. All worth it when we made to the mountain bike track. Down near the bottom there was some pretty cool man made corners and jumps.

Paul and Rudi getting the bikes ready

The signs and the Burm

Mountain biking only sign and all my gear

I started off with my 70-200 2.8 and ran a fast shutter speed to highlight the rider and burm. Paul took a few goes to try and get high around the burm and this was the result.

We were losing light pretty fast and i quickly tried out a fisheye shot but a little too quickly and didn’t dial down my  flashes then blowing out Rudi’s shirt, face and helmet.

I had 2 flashes on tripods and one on a home made clamp in the tree to the top left of this photo.

This clamp cost about 5 dollars from the hardware store, made some small modifications with a 1/4 inch screw on the end and the results, you can clamp this anywhere.

Fisheye landscape shot, still a little blown out but works well with the sky

Next spot JUMPS!!!!

It was almost dark by the time we made it back up the hill to this jump, 2 flashes on tripods to the right and one clamped to the tree to the left. It took me a while to get the power out of the flashes as i still wanted details in the sky but not to blow out Rudi.

The final shot, Paul boosted the jump in almost pitch black darkness. I ran pretty slow shutter speed, dialled down my flashes, just caught a bit of then sun setting, some nice sky and lit the rider and the ground up. Seeing it was a pretty slow shutter speed, the  rider wasn’t lit completely. Not a bad effect and can work in some situations. I think this shot turned out pretty good and i was happy with finishing the shoot. Paul couldn’t  see anything after the flashes went off anyway and almost crashed after each jump so  we walked the 30min walk back to the car in complete darkness. Well worth it. Some cool shots.

Motorbike Shoot

My friend Jack has an awesome motorbike so i lined him up for a photoshoot. We had limited space and had this photoshoot at my work. Didn’t really look as cool as i thought but i made it work. I wanted to get this shoot done mainly to try out some new equipment,eg umbrellas, light stands and my new softbox.

I have been learning a lot about controlling light. Directing flashes, softening light and using light how you want it to achieve the light you want. It seams relatively easy but if you’ve ever tried it, it’s not.

So this is the first set-up. The bike has a hell of a lot of chrome, the sky was getting moody and i was working on my light as quick as possible. It turned out really nice. If you look close enough you can see my set-up in the reflection in his visor. I had the softbox over my left shoulder on the subject as my keylight, an umbrella on slightly lower power over my right shoulder, i also had another speedlight to the right of frame for a slight bit of backlight. Here’s the set-up shot with my 24-70mm

We tried out a few different things with this set-up and here’s another photo i liked, i moved my speedlight around directly in front of me to add some light backlight onto the ground

Seeing both Cheryl and Jack had sweet ass bikes i wanted to have some shots with both. The ally i was working in wasn’t very wide and the only real backdrop i had was a dirty big rollerdoor.

With this shot, i had both large umbrellas either side of me and a speedlight just behind Cheryl, after this shot i wish i had 2 of them hidden to balance out the light on the ground. Shot with the 70-200mm

We took the bike inside were i could get control the light a bit better. Apart from the lack of room and lots of stuff on the factory i ended with this shot. I love the soft light over his helmet and jacket. This was created with the shoot through umbrella over my left shoulder. I had one more umbrella behind the subject throwing some backlight on the helmet and over the bike. Shot with 24-70mm

This shoot was a success for me as i wanted to control my lighting and really put in very subtle light in places i wanted it instead of blasting it everywhere. Also gave me another chance to try out my 24-70mm 2.8. Such a nice lens. Thanks for reading

Lululemon Ambassadors Shoot

The yoga based store “Lululemon” in the Queen St Mall in Brisbane required shots of their new ambassadors for 2010. It’s kind of a sponsored team. They have new ones every 6 months. Each ambassador was chosen from hundreds of applicants. Each person i worked was awesome. Really nice people and really FIT. The requirements for the shoot i had to worry about. “Make the shots very very natural” which means no flash..It can work in some situations but most of the time i like using off camera flash to either fill shadows or highlight the subject. Locations, subject requirement, clothes and make up were chosen by Kirsty Innes. She was on location with us the whole day changing clothes and directing the shoot making sure everything ran smoothly. Here’s some behind the scene shots that my girlfriend shot. The photos will be on display in the store over the next 6 months as of next year. When they go up, i’ll get some pics and post them on here. I used my new 24-70mm lens for most of day as it’s fairly versatile with the zoom. I also used my 70-200 for some long shots.

In this photo, we had a great view of the city so we went out on the cliff edge while Karla did some stretching

Karla is a Triathlete some shots on the bike were very appropriate, using my 25-70 i started off cropped in 70 then zoomed out as she got closer finishing up at 24mm really close while still trying to the city buildings in the backround

Bamboo in the botanical gardens, I loved the colours we got in these shots, Julie was amazing and did some crazy poses

This shot didn’t work out for me at all, due to the sun being so strong, she was squinting, i was trying to get the red men and the river in the backround but it didn’t work with the sun but it made for a nice behind the scenes shot

This waterfall is kinda hidden in the gardens, it did have a nice rock that Julie took no time at all to jump on and try some yoga moves. This location would work better late afternoon or night time. Water can create some awesome flowing motion when using slow shutter speeds, some flash on the subject and putting your camera on a tripod. You can create a whole different feel to the photo, for this photo though, i shot a long lens over the water with no flash..Stay tuned for more photos shoots as i have a lot more lined up for the next 6 months and a lot of cool things in the works…

Making = Spending Money

I’m gearing up for my new photography business in 2010 so that means having all the equipment i need to shoot just about anything, anywhere. So to make money you have to spend money, so here’s what i’ve been buying over the past few months and i posted prices also if your interested in doing the same, now i just have learn how to use everything to it’s maximum capacity without breaking it. These are IPhone photos so just info shots..

List and cost
2.8 metre lights stands x 2       -$160
42″ Shoot through Umbrellas   -$56
Manfrotto Lite Tite Swivals       -$120
Cheaper Brackets from China   -$30
Speedlight Softbox                    -$80

Souped up my Camera

Canon 24-70mm 2.8 lens    -$1600
5D battery Grip                     -$200
Battery                                   -$100

IMAC 24inch -Expensive

“Lake” Boarding…

I have lots of mates who do a lot of different sports which it’s great for me as i get to learn to shoot lot of different things. Matt B is wakeboarder and he told me about how he set’s up a generator with a tow rope attached at a random lake have some fun. Here’s some shots. We had to wait for the light to drop so my flashes could capture the action.

This is the set-up

Wake Skate as well, most of these shot were after the light had gone so it was pretty hard the guys to see anything but the loved the results, One of my favourite shots of the night

Lovely long carve with the wakeskate in pitch black darkness but slow shutter speed and great flashes made it out to the middle of the lake..Good night