Looking at the Professionals - Robert Seale

Robert Seale is a Houston-based photographer specializing in dynamic editorial, corporate, and advertising portraiture. 

After majoring in both journalism and art, Seale began his photography career the way many young photographers do: working as a newspaper staff photographer.  He eventually landed at the Sporting News, where he spent nearly 11 years shooting Super Bowls and World Series games as well as cover portraits for the popular magazine.

His love of portrait work led him to a Houston-based freelance career specializing in shooting people for magazines, prestigious design firms, corporations, and advertising agencies.

Seale is known for his lighting skills and his unique ability to coax a variety of creative concepts from a single location in a very limited timeframe. He’s equally adept photographing celebrity athletes,  busy CEO’s, and normal folks in any environment with any level of production necessary to tell their story.

As a sought after speaker in the photographic industry, Seale has taught lighting technique and portraiture at a variety of photography workshops in the US and Canada.

He has won awards from The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, was a finalist for Life Magazine’s Eissie Award (Sports-1998), and was featured in the Best of ASMP (2008).

His editorial credits include Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Men’s Health, SLAM, Businessweek, Barron’s, The New York Times Magazine, and over 200 covers of The Sporting News.

As an annual report and advertising photographer, Robert has worked on projects for ExxonMobil, Tellabs, Schlumberger, Marathon, Reebok, and Under Armour.

To see some of the photos that Robert shoots click HERE.

Studio Flash PS180

Technical Specifications

Output Power - 180w
Guide Number - 48
Power Control - 1/6 to Full, Stepless
Recycle Time - 0.5 - 5 secs
Triggering - Photo sensor, Sync cord, Test button
Model Lamp - 50w
Colour Temperature - 5700k
Built-In - Umbrella holder
Mount - Universal

Trying out my new Studio Flash

Venue
Ma's conservatory

Time
Morning

Equipment
Sony Alpha 200; Tripod; Phoshot 180 Studio Flash; Light stand; Reflective umbrella; Silver reflective; PC sync cable

Comments
I positioned my nephews on the sofa, facing the windows (blinds shut) with the flash to their right reflected off the umbrella. The silver reflector was positioned on their left to bounce light back on their left side. The flash was attached to the camera via a PC sync cable.

The hardest part of this shoot was trying to get them to focus on me and not the iPod games they were playing. as you can see I am not as interesting as killing monsters so I too the shots as best as I could.

The things I learnt most from this shoot was how difficult it is to keep children's focus during a photo shoot and how much brighter a flash with a GN of 48 is compared to my other flashes. When I have a easier to model to work with I will explore fully how to use the power of the flash more effectively as I don't feel the results show the flashes full potential.

To see the photos from this shoot click HERE.

Experimenting with long shutter times

Venue
Linlithgow Palace and Loch

Time
Night

Equipment
Sony Alpha 200; Tripod; Torch (to see what I was doing)

Comments
As it was a crisp night I decided to take the short walk to the Loch to try and get some long exposures of the Palace lit up at night. It was extremely cold but the Palace looked really good all lit up so I set up my tripod and took a few test shots. I was using a shutter speed of a second but the shot was too dark. With my battery life disappearing quickly I extended the shutter speed to 10 secs and then 30secs. With these longer exposure times the pictures became clearer and showed the Palace to its full glory.

This exercise highlighted how much longer you have to have the exposure when shooting at night to ensure that you get an even, full exposure. Also how long shutter speeds are very draining on the camera battery.

To see the photos of this session please click HERE.

Shooting Light Trails

Venue
Friends living room, Linlithgow

Equipment
Sony Alpha 200;Tripod; Black card; 2 x Maglites; Glass of blackcurrant squash; Black cotton

Comments
After reading on article on shooting light trails I thought that it would be an interesting thing to try and so off I popped to the shops to get card and cotton. I lay the card against the wall and placed the glass on the card so it would serve as a background. I tied the cotton to the smallest
Maglite so that my hand wouldn't be in the shot and used the other Maglite to light the drink up from above. I set the aperture to f/9 to reduce the amount of background light into the shot and then played with the shutter speeds between 4 and 10 seconds until my battery finally ran out. The smaller Maglite was swung in circles around the glass during the exposure time to hopefully leave light rings surrounding the glass.

I had to experiment the distance above the glass of the second Maglite to make sure that the scene wasn't too bright, not that easy with LED Maglites but for my first attempt I was pleased with the different results. For contrast there is a shot with no second light source.

On the whole I was pleased with the results although the light from the larger Maglite did reflect off the smaller Maglite and is visible in some of the shots which is a little disappointing but something I can improve upon in future shoots. When I have more battery life I will set this shoot up again and explore a wider range of shutter speeds and background and light colours.

To see the photos from this shoot please click HERE.

Shooting around Linlithgow

Venue
Linlithgow Palace and grounds, Linlithgow

Equipment
Casio Exilim Point and Shoot

Time
Afternoon

Comments
Due to bad planning, forgot to take my battery charger for my DSLR, I was using my point and shoot camera again to shoot the Birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Continuing with my building theme I tried again to take interesting pictures showing texture and perspective. I am not totally sure that I captured what I was trying to achieve as I felt a little limited with only 3x zoom with mostly automatic settings. However, I am pleased with the church steeple photo and the doorway to doorway photo. I think that I have used the Rule of Thirds well as I have positioned the interesting aspects of the buildings in the key 1/3 areas.

The photos of the Loch were so I could try and stitch them together in Photoshop Elements which I managed to some degree of success. The blending isn't perfect as each shot was metered differently and therefore wasn't easy to merge without showing the join lines. I'll try and duplicate the process but using my DSLR on manual in the near future.

The Snowdrops were shot as they looked pretty on the roadside and the ducks are for John, hopefully he'll tell me what the unusual black and white one is on Thursday.

To see the photos from this shoot click HERE.

Shots around Edinburgh

Venue
In and around central Edinburgh

Equipment
Casio Exilim 12.1mp Point and Shoot Camera

Time and Weather
Shots taken between 1100 - 1500 hrs; cloudy day with sun trying to break through

Comments
As I was travelling into Edinburgh on the train I decided not to take my DSLR as I wanted to travel light. I took my Casio point and shoot as it is versatile as well as being small and easy to fit into my pocket. Although the Casio has some manual setting it is shoots predominantly in AUTO mode so I tried to control as much as I could.

As Edinburgh has some amazing buildings I decided to focus my shoot mainly on the buildings to try and capture the historic feel of the city. I also took some shots of things that are typically Scottish, like the Bagpipers. I also tried to experiment with some of the things that I had read about recently like composition, perspective, silhouettes etc.

As I have been shooting in manual recently I found not having full control a little frustrating at times as I didn't have full control over the creative process. That being said I tried to use this limitation to my benefit by trying to bit more flexible in my approach to framing, composition etc.

The position of the sun trying to come through clouds seemed to hamper some of my shots as I wasn't able to position myself due to terrain so that the light was in a favourable position. This did lead to two good silhouettes (well I like them). After the session with Steve on the Rule of Thirds I tried to use this theory when positioning the items of interest in the picture. I feel that I have been able to do that to good effect on a number of the building shots.

Steve also spoke about using items in the photo to frame other things within the picture. I tried this on a couple of occasions and I like how it draws the eyes into the shot. I will be experimenting with this on future shoots. I also tried to use lead lines on a few of the shots to lead the viewer through the picture, hopefully to some success.

Overall, I had an enjoyable day around Edinburgh and loved how using a point and shoot camera made me think differently about my composition and style. I will look forward to returning to Edinburgh with my DSLR to see what I can do using manual settings.

To see the album to pictures from Edinburgh please click HERE.

Busy Week in Scotland

I spent a few days this week in Linlithgow, near Edinburgh visiting a friend and thought it would give me some great opportunities to experiment with some of my composition and subject matter. I will write up the individual sessions and put my photos in my albums so you can see what fun I had.

Shooting a Low-Key Portrait - Step by Step

1. Focus the Light

Keep the light focused on the model's face with dramatic fall off to shadow on the side facing the camera.

2. Set Flash Power

Play around with the output until you get the exposure you require

3. Select Exposure

Play around with the aperture until you get the required exposure

Shooting a High-Key Portrait - Step by Step

Producing stunning high-key portraits is easier than people think.  Follow the steps below to achieve success with portraits.

1. Set Power Output

Set the flash head to the lowest power output because the flash is set close to the model and ideally you want to shoot at around f/4.  You may have to dial in some overexposure.

2. Adjust the Exposure

After taking a test shot in Manual mode, check whether the exposure is correct for bright, but not burned out skin tones.

3. Position Reflectors

Position the reflectors you have to best produce the bright exposures that have low contrasts between shadows and highlights but avoid skin burn out.  Two reflectors are preferable.

4. Check Highlights

Make sure you're not clipping highlights by using the warning feature on your DSLR.  This is accessed via your cameras view mode. 

Home Studio Tips

• This lighting/exposure style will work for male, female, young and old models
• Shot high-key portrait against white or light coloured backgrounds
• Ask models to wear light coloured clothing or shoot to imply nudity
• Use reflectors and even lighting to avoid shadows on the model's face
• Use your DSLR's highlight warning feature to help assess how far you can push exposures before clipping highlights
• Two lights positioned to produce even lighting will also produce good results

Photo discussion with Steve

Had a discussion with Steve this evening where I outlined the two areas that appealed to me for my final photo project.  I highlighted that I like sport portraiture and portraits of old people.  The sports interest comes from my interest in sports from an early age but primarily track and field as that is where my personal interest lies, although any sport portrait that highlights the athlete form I'd be happy to explore.  My willingness to explore old people through photography comes from the interest in the stories that their faces tell or show.  I am a big believer that every line, scar and body feature tells a tale about that person so will hopefully interest other people when they view them.

I would happy to explore either subject matter but as my first love was track and field once upon a time I will endeavour to find some models who will help me explore this area further.  I will try and take some shots, once I have willing volunteers, in a relevant location, i.e.- track, to explore ideas and techniques and then hopefully bring it all together within the studio.

Outdoor and Location Portraits - Professional Advice from Matt Hoyle

Creating a photography is a bit like a sculpture. As you style it, light it, pose it and even as you post-produce it, you're chipping away things that don't make sense to you. What's left is something that is intrinsically you. How you come to select the subject in the first place has to be equally, if not more, personal.

Shooting Themes Projects
Shooting themes is about trying to capture the people of my time in a creative way. As a former creative director in an advertising agency, I tend to see in themes rather than individual, one-off portraits. There's nothing wrong with those but to carry through a vision with multiple images makes more of a statement. There are always going to be one or two shots that resonate more strongly with any particular viewer - it's a subjective field we're in - but you go further to strike a chord if you have multiple characters.

My advice is to begin with yourself. Any photographer who's going to succeed continually and not by accident has to do something that interests them and makes them feel something first. Otherwise they are just going through the motions and will create something quite hollow. Draw on your own world, your past, your present and your surroundings. This could be something that has touched you, whether in reality or in your imagination, or something around you.

Start with something accessible. Discipline yourself to your own neighbourhood to get a taste of a series before jumping into anything too grand. A really good photographer is going to make the mundane and bland seem quite unique and wonderful - just look at the work of William Ecclestone. The most important thing is to set yourself some guidelines and a focus. This will help you to overcome that series of a blank page, which you don't how to begin to fill.

Candid Portraits
When I started taking street photographs, the first thing I had to teach myself was how to find the places where there is what I call 'a hive' of good subjects. In other words, where there is a lot of activity that is likely to yield the ind of photos I am looking for. I went to these places in happenstance mode, ready for anything, and this really taught me how to observe. Of course, these hives are a subjective thing fro any photographer - mine could be very different from the next person's - but, for me, it was initially about finding interesting characters.

Posed Portraits
With my posed portrait shots, I want to take the viewer somewhere that being a fly-on-the-wall, however observant, cannot take them. I want to tap my subject on the shoulder and say, 'Hey, talk to me, relate to me. Let our personalities meet for one moment and let me see the essence of you.' In doing this, eye contact is paramount and you're not going to get eye contact without getting their attention.

If you find, by research or pure chance, a hive of wonderful people, or even just one, and you feel that the unguarded moment is not going to give you a good enough shot, or you think the person is so powerful that you must approach them, then you must make that decision. By doing so, you're running the risk of them saying no and it's a time when you have to have your wits about you and be skilled in dealing with people. This is something that I don't think they teach enough on any photography course; just like being a teacher, you can be knowledgeable and academic but if you're not good with people, you're going to be terrible at your job.

Outdoor Lighting
For outdoor photography, unless you particularly want the harsh shadows of midday sun, go for what photographers call 'the magic hour', which is either at sunrise or sunset, when the sun is at it's lowest , creating deep colours and long shadows of buildings and trees. Both times of day have a different quality of light so find out which you prefer. If you do decide to shoot at midday, or if that is the only time you will find your subjects, avoid a totally open area like the middle of a field or beach. Shoot somewhere where there is some sort of shade or cover so that light on the subject is reflected and therefore much softer than harsh, direct sunlight.

Studio Lighting

This can be challenging and even those photographers who have been working with it for years are still learning all the time. While there is a steep learning curve to using flash, you can embrace it quite easily to begin with, allowing you a great deal more creative control over portraits than simply relying on daylight alone.

Things that Professional photographer Bjorn Thomassen says to experiment with:-

• window light with flash
• flash vs. reflector
• studio flash
• white backgrounds
• flash on location
• flash outdoors
• reflectors

These are areas I look forward to experimenting with over the next few weeks.

Composition - Positioning the Subject

When setting up a portrait, one of your first considerations is how to position the subject within the available space, whether it be a clean white background, a blur of colour or a detailed environment. A lot of photographers talk about finding the light and putting the subject into it, as though the rest of the picture will somehow follow. Steve Shipman has never subscribed to that. For him, the priority is finding an interesting or unusual situation. Once this is established, you can make it work by experimenting with framing and composition to achieve a balance and harmony between the subject and the background.

Here are some of the things that Steve says we should experiment with:-

• The Rule of Thirds (something we covered at college last week)
• Going in close
• Stepping back
• Precision framing
• Lines and shapes
• Depth of field
• Colour
• Unusual angles
• Movement
• Family groups

I will look to experiment with some of these over the coming weeks.

Composition - General

Composing a portrait photograph is about putting in place the building blocks of a picture within the frame of the camera. It involves decisions on where to place your main subject, what other elements you are going to include or exclude and how they will relate to the subject in a way that will enhance it. Light, colour, movement and technical considerations, such as depth of field and lens focal length, also play a part.

Sometimes it is a quick and intuitive process, at other times it must be considered at length, but it is always highly subjective. By experimenting and studying my own pictures and those of others, I can work out my preferences and develop a personal style.

Loking at the Professionals - Matt Hoyle

MY COMMENTS
I feel I have a lot in common with Matt as a person and hopefully one day will be as successful as him as a photographer. Like Matt I have been observing and studying human nature and interaction since I was in my early teens. I have always been fascinated by how people interact together and can spend ages watching people in everyday situations. I think sometimes that if you could take a photo of a group of people and showed it to different groups of people they would all come up with a different story of who the people are, what they do for a living, what they are talking about etc. This thought provoking type of photos are what Matt Hoyle produces in that he chooses interesting subjects to photography as well as using post production techniques to make them slightly different from the norm and therefore opens the photos up for discussion.

Matt has done a series of photos of older people - some swimming, some boxing - and has increased the colour saturation and contrast and made their faces really interesting. I not only love his choice of subjects but also the way he uses post production techniques to highlight the interesting characteristics of his models. One of the things he loves as a photographer that now we're in the digital age he has complete control of the whole photography process. I am looking forward to developing my skills in all areas so that I can have complete control over the photography process.

If you click on Matt Hoyle's name in the blog called 'Looking at the Professionals' to see Matt's amazing photography.

Looking at the Professionals - Matt Hoyle

BIOGRAPHY
Based in New York City but originally from Los Angeles, Matt spent his 20s as an advertising creative director in Australia. He then left the industry to pursue photography and was soon awarded Canon Australian Professional Photographer of the Year. With his photographs appearing in Luerzer's Archive, Communication Arts, Cannes and D&AD, Matt was soon back in America and shooting full time with clients like Saatchi's, Rolling Stone magazine and New York magazine.

Matt's work is known for its richness in colour and character as well as for his unique post-production technique. His first book, Encounters, was released in 2007 to great reviews. In Matt's personal projects he loves documenting people and their stories.

Commercially, Matt shoots for some of the most respected agencies and magazines both in America and abroad. His fine art exhibits regularly and has been hung in galleries in New York, Los Angeles, London, Dubai, Australia and Paris.

INTRODUCTION
I've been an observer of people and sensitive to my surroundings my whole life. I grew up in artistic environment: painting, drawing, writing and making music. Creative people always want to share something of what they see with the rest of the world and they'll find any tool to allow them to do that. For me, photography was never just about an aesthetic - a beautiful landscape or the way the light hits a piece of glass - it was always very much about an affinity with society. People have different ways of behaving and expressing themselves and these differences are visual.

To me, photography is not so much about the process. There are many fellow photographers out there who are into the equipment - the look of it, the bells and whistles of the most up-to-date camera or old-school way of shooting film with a large-format camera, which is a production just to set up. this is all cool - photography should be enjoyable or why get into it in the first place? But for me it's about the end result. I want a camera that is an extension of my creativity; something I can use to find, frame and capture my 'pages' of the story with little effort. And so the DSLR is my tool. It fits in one hand, can be snapped in a heartbeat, allows me to see its results and experiment or, if necessary, correct on the fly. It has changed the way I work and had given me the freedom to do more and better photography.

The DSLR has already digitised the image for convenient transfer into my computer, where the other aspect of my photography takes place. Post-production is a big part of photography today, whether you simply want to colour-correct, put a better version of a head on to a perfectly formed body, or, like myself, transform the image into a mood and feel that reality just can't deliver alone. The digital process has allowed me the best luxury a photographer can have: the freedom not to compromise a vision and to have full control over every shot from shutter to print.

The DSLR is not only my most valued tool, it is also now an extension of me. I can get it to act and react with minimal effort and, for me, that is where effortless storytelling and photography come in. I can spend less time thinking and fiddling and more time feeling and doing.

EQUIPMENT
Camera - Canon EOS - 1Ds Mark II; Fujifilm FinePix S2 Pro; Nikon D100
Lenses - Canon 24-85mm f/1.8L; 50mm f/1.2; 85mm f/2.8
Lighting gear - 3 Canon 580EX Speedlites; Canon infrared triggers
Accessories - three 20inch white satin reflective umbrellas; Manfrotto portable light stands; umbrella adaptors for the light stands; Epson card reader
Bags - Lowepro backpack (with computer pouch)

When shooting on location I like to travel with the most portable yet effective kit. To me, the Canon stable of equipment works best. The zoom lens is my hero as it's crisp and gives me the freedom to zoom in or out quickly and frame the shot without having to move myself.

The 580EX Speedlites are quite powerful and allow me to shoot both a head-and-shoulders shot and a group of a few people without needing any extra lighting gear. The umbellas I use are satin, which gives me a crisp yet soft skin quality so there are no harsh shadows but still lots of detail in the textures.

My Lowepro backpack manages to carry everything I need, including my computer, without me having to check it in at the airport as baggage. It saves me from hauling excess equipment while travelling. I have an Epsom card reader, which I take on more remote location shoots when I don't want to risk bringing the computer along. This works nicely as a portable hard drive as well as a viewing device with an ample image area. The Manfrotto light stands are quite robust while being the most portable, collapsible stands in their range. They are also easy to pack on the side of my backpack.

Portrait Take Two Update

Well last night play around with my flash equipment went a little better but still had some dark images. Will put full review on later when on laptop and will put pictures up too. Hoping to do a more detailed shoot later.

Slow progress is being made, I think. Am looking forward to picking Steve's brain Thursday and having a studio tour.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Took a set of images last night playing around with flash power setting using my off camera flash cable. Was interesting to see the difference that the amount of flash has on the shadows and exposure. Was only a impromptu session so to see the images click HERE

Portrait Take Two

I am going to set up my equipment again today and try and improve on the nightmare that was Monday nights shoot.

I will be using my Sony Alpha 200 with my portrait lens and one of my flashguns. I will position my model in front of a light backdrop with the flash coming from over my left shoulder.

Hopefully I won't find this session as frustrating as earlier in the week and my results will be an improvement. I'll blog later my result.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Completed the shoot with mixed success as to start with the photos were stil dark without even an outline of my model but suddenly after taking 4 or 5 shots the images became clear and I was suddenly able to see images on playback. The only thing that I can think could be wrong is the wireless flash signal. Will have to ensure that the wireless flash trigger is connected properly before I start shooting.

The images haven't been edited other than coverted from RAW in their shot format and the model wasn't dressed up properly as I didn't know if the photos would come out.

To view the photos from this shoot click HERE

Health and Safety (My view)

I feel in our modern society it is crucial that Health and Safety guidelines are adhered too to protect myself from our growing sue culture.  Having some found some research that details basic H+S advice for Freelance photographer I will endeavour to follow these guidelines as much as possible.  I will also look into designing some generic Risk assessments for comment photographic scenarios as well as having blank pages available to complete adhoc Risk assessments whenever the need arises.

Please see later blogs for these Risk Assessments

Health and Safety Guide

Health and Safety Guide

Fragmentation of the industry, reduced budgets, more freelance staff, and inexperienced workers, all contribute to the potential for accidents within the workplace. If planning, co-ordination and communications are poor, the chances of serious accidents happening can be significantly increased. There are several things that a company and its staff and freelancers must do to ensure health and safety in the workplace.

Health and Safety Policy
All companies with five or more employees are required, by law, to have a Health and Safety Policy. This policy details the company's actions on issues such as risk assessments and contracting staff, or manufacturers, and names the people responsible for its implementation.

The Health and Safety Policy should be made available for all crew to see, including full-time employees and freelance staff.

Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is just that - assessing risk and checking safety measures. Risk assessments should be carried out for the production office and for all locations and studios to be used. Risks are assessed as low, medium or high and then re-assessed when new safety measures have been put in place.

Some risks will be much lower once safety measures have been introduced. Other risks will always be high, such as the use of explosive substances. As long as all safety measures possible have been put in place, channels of communication established and everyone knows who is responsible for what, then the chances of serious accidents should be minimised.

Establish Responsibility

• Employers have a legal responsibility to control the risks to health and safety that arise from the work activity and to make provision for the welfare of employees.
• The employer has a responsibility to make sure that they are contracting with acompetent, legitimate company, or person. They need to check out their safety record, find out who else they have contracted to, and how long they have been established.
• Employees also have a legal responsibility to take care of themselves and the people around them that could potentially be affected by their work. It is up to the employee to know and adhere to the health and safety arrangements, as set out by the employer.
• Suppliers of articles and substances for use at work also have health and safety obligations. They will need to be informed exactly what the items will be used for, in order to make an informed judgment as to their safety under those circumstances. If anemployer is contracting people for special services, such as pyrotechnics, bothcontractor and employer have responsibilities.
• The contractor should do a risk and hazard assessment of the job. Make this risk assessment available to all relevant crew and keep a copy on file. If the risk assessment has highlighted any additional risks and/or problems, you must identify who is responsible for them - you or the contractor.
• Communication is often the key to improving health and safety at work. Many mistakes are made as a result of inefficient, or non-existent, channels of communication. In a company, key people are often designated to perform certain tasks in relation to health and safety, such as risk assessments. You must make sure that these individuals know their responsibilities and how to carry them out. You must also make sure that any freelance crew or ad-hoc staff are aware of the Health and Safety policy too.

Health and Safety for Photographers

Health and Safety advice for Freelance Photographers

It is recognised that the photographic industry is largely made up of organisations employing between one and four persons and the majority of these are self-employed. The 1974 Health and Safety at Work etc. Act places broad responsibilities on employers, employees and the self employed. 

• It is the duty of every employer, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

• For employees to take reasonable care for their own safety and that of others.

• For self employed people to conduct themselves in such a way that people not in their employ are not exposed to health and safety risks.

The following health and safety considerations should be taken into account before, during and after assignments. The following relate to assignments on location:

• the photographer should have current employer and public liability insurance, including cover for people engaged by him on an occasional basis. Remember, these certificates should be securely archived for forty years

• the photographer and his assistant should have motor vehicle insurance which covers their vehicles for business use

• the photographer should have a formal agreement with the customer outlining their requirements

• should carry out a visit to the location to discuss arrangements with the customer, requesting where necessary, permission for access and right to take photographs

• should carry out a risk assessment particular to the areas where the photographer may wish to take photographs

• should ensure that where necessary the location has adequate fire precautions and signage in place

• should consult with the customer, where necessary, of the location on any risk assessment they may have carried out and what actions were required and have these been effectively implemented

• should share with the photographic assistant any health and safety concerns and if necessary the location management

• should ensure that all equipment is maintained and safe to use, especially flash equipment

• should ensure that all employees including those self employed are trained to use equipment safely

• should take precautions to minimise any identified potential problems related to safety affecting the assignment and to any other people at the location.

Risk assessments are very important to identify any potential hazards that may be encountered either on the photographer's premises or on location. There are several risk assessments the photographer should undertake in relation to his premises. These include: 

fire precautions

using display screen equipment (DSE)

manual handling

control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH).

Fire precautions relate to having adequate types of fire extinguishers, which must be regularly serviced; displaying escape and emergency signage and ensuring escape routes are free from obstructions. 

With the increased use of computers and digital equipment for manipulating images it is essential to consider the people who use them for long periods of time. It is very important to ensure that the computer, the workstation and the working environment meet current safety regulations, to lessen the possibility of wrist and eye strain. 

Most photographers at sometime have to lift reasonably heavy and bulky equipment, such as flash lighting. A risk assessment will highlight the potential damage to the human torso, which may result in long-term absence from work. Training can help people to store equipment at correct heights and how to lift objects. Also, a risk assessment can indicate where mechanical aids such as trolleys can be of help. 

With the advent of digital imaging in the industry, chemicals for processing and printing (wet processing) are not so widely used. There are however certain products used which are hazardous, for example, batteries and printer ink cartridges, along with industrial cleaning substances. These should all be listed as required by COSHH on a risk assessment. 

Electrical safety is also very important. All electrical equipment such as flash equipment, kettles, microwaves etc. should be tested (usually referred to as portable appliance testing) at specified intervals. The electrical wiring installation of the photographer's premises also requires testing at specified intervals. A competent person should carry out all testing and records of these tests must be kept. 

Location safety mainly resolves around 'trips, slips and hazards'. Each location should be assessed to ascertain hazards and where possible to control these to reduce any injury resulting from an incident, especially to any member of the public. Photographers, their employees and the self employed should work within the framework of the Health and Safety at Work Act, and where reasonably practicable, take steps to ensure the safety of themselves and others around them.

Exposure Play

Yesterday afternoon I set up a small still life scene at my Dad's place using some rock samples; salt and pepper pots and a bottle of wine with a label and placed it all on an antiques wooden storage box. I used a lounge lamp to light the scene and set my camera up using a tripod to ensure that the focal point didn't change.

I then spent about an hour playing around with the different setting that affect exposure including - aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings. The results were really interesting as I now have a much better understanding of how the three different elements have direct effects on how the finished pictures looks.  The kit I chose was my Sony Alpha 200 with my new portrait lens. I chose my new lens to give myself chance no only to get to grips with how ISO, shutter speed and aperture affect the exposure of an image but also how it works so that when I go to take some portrait pictures later I have a better understanding of how to use a larger aperture.  I used a normal household lamp to keep the lighting constant to ensure that the metering was not one of the variables.  I also chose to keep the focal point the same so that the depth of field could be reflected fully in my experimentation with apertures.  For the still life I chose a variety of objects that had different textures, shape and colour to see what effect changing the different variables would have on the surfaces of the different objects. To make the change in depth of field easier to notice I borrowed an idea from John and put a wine bottle with writing on it so that I could see how the different variables affected the clarity of the label print.

If you click HERE it will take you to the album that shows all the different shots that I took ranging from low f/stop numbers like f/1.8 to larger numbers like f/16. There is also a wide range of shutter speeds ranging from 1/160 sec to 1 sec. Different ISO settings were also used from 100 to 3200.

The different results show how changing just one variable can have a huge affect on the photo. You can make the photos seriously under or over exposed as well as getting the perfect exposure. I found it interesting that how an image could be so changed just by changing one element and how if you changed all three you could still achieve the same shot as the previous one.

That is something that I am going to explore in a later photo shoots.

A photo session using my reflector

Last night I had my first frustrating session of the year so far. I was trying to duplicate a photo shoot that I had read in this months Practical Photography about setting up a small studio in your home.

I used my friends conservatory as it is a nice space to set up a shoot and has enough room for my equipment. The set up went well. I hung my cream background on the french doors for my model to stand in front of, had my flashgun behind me and to the left of me to help play with shadows and my camera with my new portrait lens, Sony 50mm f/1.8 SAM, to try and get used to using it. As I was following an article out of my monthly magazine I had to choose the most relevant equipment from what I own to match as closely as possible that of the kit used in the article.  I do not possess a soft box or a flash light powered by electricity so I had to use my flashgun with a diffuser.  I only have one reflector so tried to use that in the most beneficial way to try and duplicate what I had read in the article. 

The set up turned to be the only part that went well. I set my aperture to f/2 to get lovely clear shots of my models face, shutter speed to 1/160sec which is my camera shutter sync speed and my ISO to 100. I used my flash on manual set to 50mm zoom, ISO 100, aperture to f/2 and on full power to start with. I positioned my model in front of my background and took a test shot. The result was completely dark, I could not see any of my model in the review. I tried a few more times and only had the same disappointing results. I decided to add my second flash attached to the cameras hot shoe and although it was a little brighter it was still a very poor shot. I experimented with different flash power but with a very frustrated head I gave up as I was unable to understand why it wasn't coming out with 2 flashguns.

I took a test shot with the built in flash and it was crystal clear - I had done nothing different with the camera setting so was at a complete loss as to what had gone wrong with using the better flashguns. I set up the 2 guns again but the results were the same. I will be asking Steve on Thursday for some ideas as to what I was doing wrong.

To rescue the session so that I had some shots showing the effect the different surfaces of my reflectors I positioned my model in front of the background and took a test shot using the ceiling light to light the scene and no flash. I then took a series of pictures using the silver, black, gold and white sides of the reflector.

To see the photos showing the effects reflectors have on shots please click HERE

Looking at the photos I feel you definitely see the effect the different reflectors have at either lifting or increasing the shadows. I cannot see a lot of difference between the silver and the white reflector other than the fact the silver has a slightly shinier look. The black one seems to increase the shadow of the left side of the model whilst the gold reflector gives the models skin a much warmer feel.

I am looking forward to experimenting with the reflectors and will try and do an outside shoot using the different reflectors to see if using natural light has a similar effect than that of ceiling lights.