Kylie and Steve
The weather couldn’t keep these guys spirits down as they had such a beautiful union in the thick of it on the quay in east Sydney Harbour. Thankyou for choosing us for being part of it. Best wishes.
The weather couldn’t keep these guys spirits down as they had such a beautiful union in the thick of it on the quay in east Sydney Harbour. Thankyou for choosing us for being part of it. Best wishes.
An interview with me
A small interview with me in studio and Georges Cameras, talking about tips for beginners and gear.
Once in a while I get asked to stand in front of the camera. While it’s not my favourite thing to do I’m glad I got to share some of my tips in the most important things I’ve learnt and my go to tools. Thanks to Georges Cameras for this little snapshot into my work.
Tools talked about: H6D100c Hasselblad - OMD EM1 Mk2 Olympus - Profoto B10, B1, D2.
Please feel free to comment with any questions and I will get back to you. Subscribe for workshop updates and freebees.
Best,
Dave
Vivien and Chris's Day
Biggest congratulations on Vivien and Chris’ Wedding, may your forever be perfect.
Big thanks to Vivien and Chris who I unfortunately wasn’t able to meet till the day and a special day it was! From the amazing outfits chosen right down to the ring of flowers round the puppies neck! The kindest most loveliest people one can meet especially as distracted by a big event there was. These two shared some beautiful and funny stories including the father of the brides hilarious and touching speech (of course the best man played his part well too!).
Over in a flash, we thank them so much for having us on board Myself, Jenae as assist and Pete for videography.
Wishing you the happiest forever.
HoKim's Wedding!
HoKim’s Wedding Blog
It was a pleasure to capture Ho and Kim's wedding day.
This amazing couple had their stage 3 to their marriage celebrations in Sydney and they were lovely enough to choose me as their photographer. We explored around Sydney City and the Sofitel Darling Harbour.
Heres a small selection.
Taken on Hasselblad with one single Profoto B1x and A1 and various simple small modifiers.
Perth Photolive
Retouching for Photolive Perth using the Olympus OMD EM1 Mk2 and Profoto A1
I was thankful to be brought over to Perth to teach at Photolive (a photography expo run by Camera Electronic Perth). One of my keynote topics was retouching so rather than sit down at the computer and do the typical "watch me work". I wanted to show the thought process from capture to retouch as what goes through my mind on capture is really important to what the outcome will be.
I brought in a fantastic Model and Singer Sumi to be our model and heres a list of the gear below:
Camera: Olympus OMD EM1 Mk2 and 45 1.2 PRO lens
Lights: Profoto B1x Large White Umbrella Diffused with a specular fill from an A1 with dome diffuser and black card so there was no bounce from the ceiling and a white Profoto L Bounce held camera left.
Capture: Olympus Capture - Retouch Photoshop
My motive when retouching is to keep the real person there including texture and shape so as seeing below the difference is not massive and the end result is still Sumi. Using a range of methods that I have brought together unconventionally I can get a fast amazing result I would be happy blowing up on a billboard.
Sydney and Melbourne Retouching Workshops Coming soon. Subscribe to be notified.
Lighting Setup
Middle Earth just got Lit
Lighting with Profoto in Middle Earth commercial images for SONY and William Patino Workshops.
Since watching Lord of the Rings, my first ever 'M' Movie over 10 years ago now I dreamed of visiting this extraordinary place. Not only was I lucky enough when I started my career as a travel photographer to visit over 10 times but made friends for life there with one of my early mentors William Patino. Since then Will has not only just ran workshops in NZ but moved to Te Anu in the south island from wollongong in NSW, Australia.
As my career changed towards the love (and obsession) of portraiture I was lucky enough to be asked to visit again to capture some Commercial Stills for some workshops of his coming soon, I also got to work with a video crew helping direct (one of my other passions) some footage for him.
I knew having these two responsibilities and various locations would mean I had to keep setup simple. So I packed a light kit of the following:
Camera: H6D100c with 28mm; 80mm and 50-110 mm lenses
Lighting: Profoto Universal Trigger with B1x Profoto Studio Battery Light and a single modifier 4" double baffled (with an extra baffle) Octa Box and pole. 1 x Profoto Black/White Large Bounce
The thought behind it: I wanted flexibility of lens but a light kit and a modifier that could be soft and punchy in both respects and match the ambient light in one modifier. The 4" Profoto Octa was a good mix of all as at full power in the day with no or one baffle I can overpower the Sun with harder matching light and also come sunset or low light I could diffuse and have a nice wrap with the large circular shape and diffusion create soft light.
So heres a few examples from the trip and lighting diagrams to show you how I achieved these natural looking results:
Location 1: Milford Sound Sunset
Right on sunset the light was fading and this one was made easy for the Profoto Light location as my motto for natural light is simply "think about where the sun is". The sunset light was nice and soft but being direct also had a little bit of hardness, so 2 baffles a little bit further away just behind the subject boomed at a similar angle to the setting sun. Used ambient for Fill. I positioned will so that he would naturally have short light across his face looking natural and dramatic.
Will Milford
Lighting Diagram 4" Octa 2 Baffles B1x
Set 2: Fiordland Forest
In the middle of the day, diffuse and overcast we entered the forest for the next stage of the video production. For this shot we were sandwiched between forest with a river running. The natural light source here was from the diffuse curtain of cloud peeking between the trees. This is scene with no additional light.
Will here gets lost among the trees a bit too much and as the hero of the image we needed him to stand out. I didn't mind the light being a bit brighter and as the source was the gap between the trees behind I got my assistant Ben to hold the Octa at a similar angle to the gap and a bit brighter to seperate Will from the scene. As there wasn't much space to get Ben out of scene I needed to blend the two images in post.
Finally I want to share the hero Headshot.
Location 3: The Plains between the Mountains
Simple headshot 1 hr before golden hour, the light was getting soft but was still fairly strong and direct. I wanted the Light slightly short again and just off the actual light that way the shape to Wills face remained and the light wasn't too flat even though it doesn't fit the 100% natural light angle, sometimes its a compromise.
Finally the light from the Profoto unlike any other flash meant the batteries I didn't need to charge once in the week having 4 batteries on me and the quality of light meant that it almost perfectly matched real sunlight colour and tone with the chosen modifier. Unlike other flashes with colour casts, the camera on 5500 k didn't need tweaking at all. Shows how reliable this simple lighting setup can be and provided me amazing results.
Thanks for reading, hopefully this simple lighting setup can inspire your own images. Happy shooting.
Dave.
Melissa and Gareth
Melissa and Gareth's day was a pleasure to be part of. From the Ceremony with family and friends at the HMAS Watson Chapel which the service was heartfelt and personal; To snapping a few shots at sydney harbour right to the reception where it was a beautiful affair. Thanks for making my job easy and looking so good, following a few of my crazy thoughts definitely helped in making a few of your photos unique and stunning. My best wishes to both of you on your lives ahead.
Melissa and Gareth's day was a pleasure to be part of. From the Ceremony with family and friends at the HMAS Watson Chapel which the service was heartfelt and personal; To snapping a few shots at sydney harbour right to the reception where it was a beautiful affair. Thanks for making my job easy and looking so good, following a few of my crazy thoughts definitely helped in making a few of your photos unique and stunning. My best wishes to both of you on your lives ahead.
Ben and Emily's Wedding
Ben and Emily's Wedding Bunnyconnellen, Queensland, Australia.
Set inland country Queensland, Australia Ben and Emily's wedding was really cute. From simple homestays in the morning, to the cute Bunnyconnellen farm it was a quintessential personal wedding. Even though a rushed day, it almost seemed laid back with a fast ceremony, lots of laughter and some tender moments. I'll let the few images speak for themselves.
Thankyou for allowing us to be a part of your special day.
New Zealand Travel Mag
New Zealand Travel Mag experience.
I was fortunate enough to have a few words about my New Zealand experience in the latest issue of New Zealand Travel Mag along with a few landscapes please find the link below:
https://issuu.com/queenstowntokaikouranz/docs/nztm_issue_15_magazine
Thanks for reading and big thankyou to the Magazine and editor Rachel Gillespie.
A November Photo Essay in BW
Photo Essay BW
A photo essay for the month of November. Thanks to Rewind Photolab and George’s Cameras.
Sarah - 120 Film
