You don’t always need flash to create stunning portraits. Believe it or not, the images contained in this post were shot using nothing but natural light. No flash. No reflectors or other modifiers. Just beautiful, soft, natural light.
So, where do you find it? Soft light is all around us. You just need to know where to look for it.
The more I use them, the more I am coming to appreciate the versatility and speed that working with small flashes can give. Take my recent shoot with Alana for example. Continue reading Speed lighting on location »
A few days ago I mentioned that I’d bought a couple of Honl Speedgrids to attach to my Speedlites. The original post can be found here.
I had the opportunity and the pleasure of using one of these, the 1/4 Speedgrid, during my Notting Hill Beauty Shoot and here is an example of what one can achieve with these magic little devices.
As a comparison, I’ve also included a version that I lit with just available light. Both images were shot in the same room with the model standing in exactly the same place. Continue reading On the grid… Part 2 »
Here is a selection of images taken during a recent beauty and make-up shoot over at Notting Hill.
It was a very busy day. Four great models and 2 MUAs. Three changes of outfit/looks for the models. Three shooting locations: my portable studio, low light and soft, natural light. And all this within just one basement flat.
I think that is why I love doing this – I can turn up at a location I’ve never seen before with a plan and the kit to make it work. Very often the location will throw up many more opportunities than I would have imagined. Take the low light images in this set for example. When I saw the hallway with it’s black and gold walls, the shaded wall lamps and the picture mirror I knew instantly I would get some really great shots. It pushed me to the limits of my equipment but nevertheless, it performed admirably. For the techies, most of the low light work was taken hand-held at ISO1600, f2.8 at about 1/30 to 1/15. Continue reading Notting Hill Beauty Shoot »
All through my research and reading this year one argument keeps on coming up, time and time again: studio or available light?
The arguments go along the lines of
“Anyone who insists on only using available light does so because they don’t know how to use flash”
and
“Natural light is beautiful. I don’t need flash because I know how to see available light”
And different variations thereof. I’m not going to take sides here, personally, I don’t care which is better. I’ve created beautiful images using studio flash, daylight and a mixture of flash and daylight.One little pearl of wisdom I came across was “once the light has left the flash it doesn’t care how expensive the light was” (Adam Duckworth, Advanced Lighting Course, April 2009). Such a simple observation and so very true. It is also extendable to include sunlight and moonlight too. Continue reading A Little Light Debate… »
Hi, I'm Gavin the photographer.
I used to work in IT until a few years ago. I was under a lot of stress at work and getting really p*****d off. Then one day I chose to give it all up and follow a dream. Everyone I knew thought I was nuts, that just made me try harder :-)
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