This was a too fantastic opportunity to miss.

(Ignore the weeks between posts…..)

For Nigel’s latest workshop, he organised a day in the Ulster Aviation Society with two fantastic professional models… and a smoke machine.

Yup, the coolest toy you could ever want on a photoshoot, a smoke machine. Well, in this case we had a smoke machine, helicopters, fighter planes and a replica Spitfire…..

Video has it’s own set of lessons and skills, and it’s an interesting difference in post processing.

The following video is far from perfect, but I was pretty happy with it for a proper first attempt.

Some things of note:

• You need to be really smooth with the controls, the gimbal does an amazing job of reducing shakes but if you’re jerky with the overall controls it will appear in the video.
• Some panorama shots just don’t seem to translate  for me (yet). Rotating the drone at altitude doesn’t really give me the sort of impact footage I was hoping for. Maybe I’m rotating too fast or too slow, but it just isn’t right.

More will follow…

With the rise of consumer drones and the improvements in image quality and ease of use with these platforms, I guess it was only a matter of time before I picked one up. I’d looked a a bunch of different options from self build through to Octocopters, but eventually settled on a DJI Phantom.

DJI seems to have the market quite well covered in terms of semi-professional/high quality drones for video and photography folks and certainly the one I bought could be confidently flown by anyone with a few minutes training (my 10 year old daughter was able to get the basics in moments!). A lot of these models come with GPS stabilisation and a host of advanced flight features like Return To Home and Point of Interest, which makes the flight aspect simple, allowing you to concentrate on the image(s).

Road to Dungloe, Easter 2016

Over Easter I finally managed to take it to Donegal and use it in anger for the first time. I was incredibly impressed by the output of it, especially given it was a windy day.

Donegal Coastline. Easter 2016

As with other aspects of photography, there is a lot to learn and I suspect there’ll be a lot of images that just don’t work. It’ll be an interesting thing to learn over the coming moths/years.

One other interesting aspect of the whole experience is the video output from the drone – probably the thing people are using them the most for. Prior to Easter I’d have proudly told you I didn’t know how to turn on the video mode on my SLR, but some of the footage captured on the Phantom is stunning. I’ll share some soon.

I enjoy gig photography – it’s not a controlled environment so you’ve got to grab as you go. But unless you’re photographing a rock concert, the lighting is never going to be on your side and even with F4 lenses and a 5Dmk2 I find I struggle to get a decent exposure. I’m not sure I’m quite ready to spend serious cash on an F2.8 though.

I think as well that my ability to discuss failures, or to ask myself questions in public has been impacted as well. When you have “clients”, it becomes second nature to act confident and knowledgeable. This leads to me internalising my questions and actually reduces my willingness to share.

I’m still enjoying my photography. Still looking for opportunities. And indeed, some personal opportunities are just around the corner.

Anyway…. enough of the self reflection and meandering.

One of the cool things about project briefs, or at least the ones I’ve picked up in the last 6 months is that they involve people. And photographing people, it turns out, is one of the most fun things I’ve found to do with a camera. Even when shooting to a timetable, when you have an amateur model who’s willing to let you experiment with lights and have a bit of fun for the camera you can get some fun photographs.

I’ll try to post more often going forward.

OK.

Like a lot of photographic techniques, I’ve played around with this before as part of my “have credit card – will photograph” approach to gear. However, without really knowing what I was doing I fell into the hole of simply using my strobes as studio lights without any real thought about the advantages that little portable lights can actually provide. I’d read a bit of The Strobist over the years, but I’m not a book learner and need to be physically shown for something to sink in.

Sunday was just that sort of day.

We worked through a series of lighting setups, ranging from how to get the most out of an environment without the viewer ever realising there were flashes used through to using flash to make a statement and give a photograph real punch.

Throughout it all, Nigel was helpful and forthcoming with his tips and advice – Like I’ve said before, sign up to his classes (but only after I’ve booked my spot). Complementing Nigel was Sarah, the highly talented and professional model he’d lined up, and Catherine, Nigel’s wife and professional make-up artist.

Here’s some example photographs from the day. (It’s worth pointing out that they have been post processed, but only very slightly).

Both of the above were shot using two flash heads for depth and contrast without over egging the light.

These were shot at lunchtime, in quite a bright street. Lighting here was totally controlled by the flash.