30/11/2008 by jim.

Whenever you get a famous personality come to town it invites the typical media crush to get a photo while trying not to offend fans and annoy the subject themselves. It becomes very tempting just to shoot with on-camera flash and get the same shot as everyone else.
On this occasion Kate Adie arrived later than she wanted and three photographers ended up with 90 seconds to get our photographs. Fortunately all of the fans - a sell out event, were seated by then so I ushered her into a small area where I had set up a speedlite in a Lastolight ezybox at approximately 45 degrees to a chair and set Canon’s iTTL flash metering system on to ratio. I used a 580ex on-camera to fire the off-camera flash, giving the off-camera flash 3 stops more exposure than the fill in flash.
Using Canon’s iTTL is a way of shooting that the Strobist fraternity are only just starting to embrace but I have found it an excellent method of using of-camera flash when set up and shooting times are pushed to the limit and manually adjusting flash power outputs is not possible.
At least you end up getting a shot that is not the same as everyone else.

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15/11/2008 by jim.

I was looking for an image to use on a friends Birthday card and realised that when you work for the Press you have to be very careful when you alter the content of an image.
No such problem here. I wanted an image of Gateshead that a talented artist would appreciate.
I hope that you like it Alan.

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14/11/2008 by jim.

The traditional business portrait can be a tricky assignement. It needs to engage the sitter with the viewer straight away. It needs to have a degree of animation to make the subject dynamic, it needs a degree of power to instill confidence.
For this portrait I used my favourite light - a 1.5 metre Octa on an Elincron Ranger Speed powered head. It was still daylight outside and the curtains didn’t close so I need to overpower the ambient light. I needed to use 100 ISO to get the best quality from my camera. I wanted a greater depth of focus than usual, shooting at at least f16, I wanted drama yet maintain shadow detail and the Octa makes that possible. I also used a couple of small Canon Speedlites using good old Strobist techniques to add a little hair light and also to put just a hint of light into the background.
I miss the old days of Film Star portraits when they all held a cigarette in their hands. Hands are weird things to photograph, leave them out and the subject looks too static, include them and they can just appear to wave about in thin air. They can add power to a portrait but they also have the ability to do exactly the opposite.
Lots to think about and the pressure is usually intensified by lack of time. Busy men have tight deadlines. You just got to love doing business portraits. I do.

Posted in Projects, Strobist, General photography | No Comments »

07/11/2008 by jim.

It’s a particularly sad day for me. I get back from covering a couple of assignments to listen to a message on my answerphone informing me that the rumours circulating about the closure of the Spalding Target are true and the next isssue will be it’s last.
It’s sad not just because I have lost a client that I enjoyed working for but also because three people who I have come to regard as friends have lost their jobs. As newspapers in general are going through a tough time along with the rest of the economy, they will undoubtedly find it challenging in the job market right now.
Another reason that I feel a real sense of loss is that working for the local press has renewed my faith in human kindness and compassion. Over the last few years I have covered many assignments that have highlighted these wonderful qualities in the population of this fast growing Town. Young people in particular are prone to receiving bad press but contrary to many stories that populate our National Daily papers, the Target gave credit where it was due, to the many youngsters in our Town that play an active, positive and meaningful roll in our community.
Taking photographs for the Target has shown me exactly how much positive energy there is in the population of Spalding and that has been an emotionally rewarding experience for me.
Next Wednesday 12th November, 2008 will be a sad day, not just for me but for Spalding as well.

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