Skip to main content

Creating Portraits with my New Bowens Lighting Gear and a Lastolite Skylite

It seems like the wish list is never ending when it comes to kit. Even with this new kit I still have 3 more very desirable items I wish to acquire over the next 12 months. But I'll have to see how the budget goes first.


Anyway, in order to have a test run I requested the assistance of a couple of lovely young ladies. The first being Vickie Deakin who is a newly qualified makeup artist. As she is a friend of my step daughter I'd seen her work on Facebook and thought she was worth a try. I'd used makeup artists in the past but hadn't found one I was happy with, until now that is. I, myself don't know much about makeup but seeing Vickie work I am confident that she does. And I look forward to working with her again in future.


And the second is our lovely model Faye Strachen. I stumbled across her photo on Facebook as she too is a friend of my step daughter. I liked her look and I wanted to work with someone more typical of the sort of person who might use my services, rather than an experienced model. And she worked perfectly for this task at hand.

The 2 images above were created using natural light that I modified using the Lastolite Skylite that fits perfectly in my trifold door. I love the light this gives and it was perfect for this look. However its not always possible to get this quality of light (depending on the time of day I am shooting and just how bright the light is at the time) so I can't rely on it. I'm currently working on using my large softbox in conjunction with the Lastolite Skylite to achieve this look whenever I want it. I shall post more on this subject when I feel I've got it just right.  For now though, here is a pull back shot of how I used the Lastolite Skylite with the trifold door.


Makeup-wise, we started with more of a day look for these bright boudoir type images then worked our way up to dark smoky eyes for more of the beauty shots. And it was for these beauty shots that I started using the new lights. This technique has been taught by Faye and Trevor Yerbury and it was something I wanted to try, although I added a third light from below to add a little something else to the shot. For this I used my new Bowens strip boxes (100x40cm) along with my old Bowens 60cm square softbox on a floor stand. It created beautiful soft light along with some interesting catchlights.


The same technique was used for the image below.  Its a bit of a ringflash sort of look, something else I've been wanting to invest in but that is quite a lot out of budget so the ringflash could be years away for me. But it sure would be fun.


Here is a pull back image of this lighting set up.  I will definitely be using this again.


The next 2 images were created with the beauty dish. This is a lovely light too. I don't have a pull back of this set up. I often forget to do pull back shots but I'm trying to make a point of doing so more often. The beauty dish is a gorgeous light that works so well with beauty type setups, hence its name.




I that brings us to the Fresnel spot light. This is such a great light and I just did not do it justice. It was definitely one of those cases where I tried to do too much in one session. We all pretty much had had enough by this point. But I just had to try it. I've wanted this light modifier for years and I finally have it now.  So I'd better start making good use of it. But this is what I got for now.  I'm really looking forward to getting to grips with this new tool.


I am going to love working with my new equipment and really getting to know it all like I know my large softbox. Thats the problem really.  I am so comfortable with my usual lighting that its hard to move away from it. But I'll get there and I'm going to have great fun doing so.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fine Art Portraits of a Beautiful Young Girl

So this is really becoming my thing lately. I am having so much fun working with children individually where I can direct and interact in ways that bring the best out of my subject. This has certainly become a process now of creating rather than taking photographs. And its what I have always wanted to be, a portrait artist rather than a photographer. I cannot put into words fully just how rewarding this is. For each of these shoots (as with nearly all of my shoots) we begin with a consultation where we discuss what we would like to achieve in the shoot. Here we will consider the type of clothing and any possible props. We will look at both the clients clothes and my ever growing collection so we can pick what will work best. In all circumstances we are heavily guided by what the child in the portraits wants to wear as I see this as vitally important. If he or she is uncomfortable its going to show and the portraits won't work. But most are happy to play dressups and wear a com

Never Work With Children or Animals

Or so the saying goes. But I have to say that working with dogs has been so lovely. They have been almost entirely a dream to work with. I say almost entirely because we have had a few moments where a dog has needed to settle. And one moment where the dog had settled but one of my cats decided to have a look through the glass door which, as you can imagine, rather quickly unsettled the dog. Still, that didn't stop us from creating incredible work. In fact it was during that shoot with the cat instance when I created two of my favourite pieces, shown below. (It was while sitting on the couch here when he noticed the cat peering through the curtain) I don't know if I've just been lucky or all dogs are just easy to work with. I photographed a french bull dog puppy and I thought that would be tough as he hadn't had time to be properly trained yet. But he did everything we wanted in no time at all. And this included the props we used here (below), which to me

Family Portraits with Fine Art Flair

I have a love and hate relationship with family portraits. I love the finished piece and creating something that is truly special to the family. I love that in years to come something I made is going to be a cherished and valueable memento for this family. What I struggle with, is getting all members of the group to look their best at exactly the same moment in time. You would be surprised at how difficult this actually is, particularly when it comes to 6 children. But I always get there in the end, whether it is the luck of a moment or with the aid of Photoshop. I ensure that everyone in the portrait is looking their best, even the dog. Seeing as this family is actually made up now of two families we also did portraits in their respective groups which I chose to do in different style to their main group. I love adding a bit of style for the overall main group and what you see above is something that is proving popular with my clients. I love adding props and giving a sort of Vani

Introducing Claude - Another Fantastic French Bulldog

I know this breed is becoming very popular, I believe even set to take over the top spot for most popular breed from the Golden Labrador, but I never expected to get quite so many in my studio. Can't say I'm complaining though. They have such a wonderful character and I love to capture those adorable squished up faces. This client came in not just for personal portraits though. Instead she is developing a line of homemade all natural dog treats called Claude's Little Doggie Bag  and these portraits are to be used in her labels. Which is partly the reason why these images differ quite drastically from my usual style. This client had a very specific idea for what she wanted on her labels. But again, this is perfect for me because I just love variety. I don't really want to be creating the same work over and over again. This gave me the opportunity to revisit a style I've not used in some time. This little guy was just 14 weeks old so as  you can imag

I am Still Me: A Story about a Transgender Boy

  Meet Leo. Leo is 15 and currently going through an epic transformation that has momentarily turned the lives of himself and those around him upside down. A mum who once had the daughter she always longed for is now coping with the realisation that she will be living the rest of her life with a son instead. When your child is born you have certain expectations of the typical life they will lead but most of us know and accept that it won't necessarily end up the way we imagine. Not every person wants to marry, have kids or be involved with the opposite sex. Most of us have come to accept this and can adjust to whatever comes our way relatively easily. But few of us have expected to have to deal with a change in sex. Its not that we've hoped it won't happen, but just that it never occurred to us that it might. This is a new adjustment that we as a society are being presented with today, just like so many others that have come before. When I first heard that Phoebe