Final Photo Shoot (Part 1)

Venue
Bradgate Park, Near Shepshed

Equipment
Sony Alpha 200
Tripod x3
Jessop 360AD Flashgun x2
Reflector (5 in 1)
Remote Flash Trigger and receiver

Models
Terry
Becky

Lighting Setup
See separate blog

Comments
Had the assistance of my models local knowledge of areas that would give me an interesting venue to do the first of our shoots. They suggested Bradgate Park as there is an old Watch / Signal Tower on top of a hill that could give me a good background to shoot against. After walking out the car park and looking up the hill I liked what I was seeing as I had a couple of options of angles that would give me different connotations with clouds and position of the sun.

I was glad when walking up the steepening hill that I had been unable to borrow the college's portable lighting kit as it weighs about 4 times as much as my own flashguns and tripods. The natural slope of the hill also meant that I could get a low vantage point to take my shots without having to lie completely flat. I was slightly concerned that the sun (yet again) would be my nemesis as it was very bright but luckily there was a good covering of cloud which helped diffuse the harshness of the sun and give the sky a bit more contrast.

Having chosen where I was going to start my shoot I took a few test shots to make sure that my metering was ok. I then decided to use a mixture of flashgun or white reflector to balance the shadows and give the models more natural colouring. I really enjoyed the challenge of finding the best location to better show what I had in my head. Steve had suggested taking a page of thumbnails of the shots I was trying to reproduce to better aid me. It worked really well with the models too as they could see what I was trying do in each picture. My models were great and very patient which helped me no end.

Overall I am really pleased with the majority of the photos and they are a definite improvement of what I had taken previously. I feel that I am gaining more confidence in my ability and the use of my equipment which is making the whole process more manageable.

To see the photos of this and the later shoot please click here.